I love waking up every morning and not have to worry about going to work.  These last 2.5 weeks have been great!  I think I could get used to being a stay at home "wife" or fiance!  It wont happen until I have children but then I don't think it will be as relaxing.... hmmm.  :) 

I tried on some more wedding gowns at Mary Me Bridal yesterday.  I was a bone head and didn't ask Shirin to join me because I feel wierd asking people to do stuff for me.  I found 3 dresses that I loved but there's no way I could afford them.  I think the least expensive dress that I loved was $1,450.  Uhhh... this is for a dress that I will be wearing ONCE!  I can't justify spending that much on my wedding dress.  I know this is a once in a lifetime event (fingers crossed) but still $1450 on a dress???  The dress I like at David's Bridal is only $700!  Even that's a lot of money to spend on a dress I will wear once... but at least it's more in my budget!  But the dresses from last night were georgous... hmmm... I'll have to go to one more place before deciding.  I do need to decide ASAP though.  It apparently takes like 3 - 4 months to order the dress then I'll have to go in for a couple fittings to have it fit me perfectly.  AND there's only 8 months till my big day!  Time is going by so quickly - When Seamus and I picked the date of December 27, 2008 we had a little over 12 months to plan.  Now there's only 8! 

Date set - CHECK - 12/27/08

Location Reserved - CHECK - Rancho Capistrano in San Juan Capistrano

Colors Chosen - CHECK - Deep Red and Gold (we are getting married in an old spanish hacienda afterall)

Wedding party Chosen - CHECK - 10 close friends and family

Guest list composed - CHECK - 130 people

Guest Addresses Gathered - CHECK

Save the Date Magnets ordered and mailed - CHECK

Find and purchase the Perfect Wedding Gown - IN PROGRESS

Find and purchse bridesmaid dresses - NEED TO DO

Interview and reserve a DJ - IN PROGRESS

Contact and Book Officiant - NEED TO DO

Find a bakery that will make the best of the best Tiramisu for my wedding cake - NEED TO DO

Decide on flowers and find a florist - NEED TO DO

Invitations - NEED TO DO

Caligrapher for Invitations - CHECK - Bianca so graciously offered her beautiful handwriting skills and time

Inquire about a tent - IN PROGRESS

Inquire about heat lamps - NEED TO DO

And I'm sure there is much more to do but I don't need to list every single detail... in fact I think I should begin with what is on this list and once a few more are completed... I'll add more to my to do list.

This is the location of our Ceremony!

Here is where our reception will take place - imagine either a tent surrounding the area OR heat lamps to keep our guests warm when the sun sets.

So our shower upstairs is leaking... the pipes are not leaking but apparently our shower is not sealed properly.  SO... we have a little bit of dry wrought on our downstairs ceiling.  That means that tomorrow I have to make sure to be home between 12 and 2 so a handyman can come fix the shower and patch the ceiling.  Woo hoo!

I had a brief flashback of 1010 Arroyo Vista - only the hole is much smaller in this condo than it was in 1010.  AND we're actually having the hole fixed unlike 1010.  :)

I am getting more and more excited about camping in Yosemite.  I'm charging the digital camera and pulling camping gear out of storage.  I have a feeling that Seamus will actually cuddle with me all night long due to the cold temperatures we're expecting.  Woo hoo!  It's supposed to snow Tuesday night!!! 

Our last camping trip with Shirin, we spent 2 days under an 8 ft X 10 ft. tarp due to rain.  Believe it or not, I actually enjoyed camping in the rain with Seamus and Shirin... it forced us to sit back and do NOTHING!  I've never camped in the snow before.  Should be interesting.

I have been camping in Yosemite a few times in my lifetime - each trip was in August.  This will be my first experience in Yosemite during "waterfall season".  We may be a bit early for "waterfall season" but I'm sure the waterfalls will be spectacular!  I can't wait!  We'll have to be extra sure that ALL our food and toothpaste is in the bearbox - I have a feeling that the bears are starting to come out of hibernation!  Uh oh!  :)

Shirin came over after work for an hour!  YAY!  It's been like 2 weeks since we last saw each other!  I'm glad she was able to postpone going to her parent's house to see me.  She really is a great friend, I guess that's why she's my maid of honor!  Woo hoo!  I'm excited to have her with me as I make the leap into marriage.  :)

Now that everyone has truely had a chance to loook at my graduation pictures... I feel that it is necessary to write another entry.  What can I say about the last month and a little bit????  Lets start from our good old 4th of July weekend.  My friend Leslie got married up in Cayoucos (I totally butchered that)  so Shirin, Rachel and I drove up for the weekend.  We stayed in this awesome hotel.  Our room had our own private patio with a jacuzzi!!!  Yea baby!  Shirin and I took advantage of that.  The wedding was small but beautiful!  It's kind of wierd to see a friend get married.  Are we really of that age?  WOOW! 

Monday the 4th of July was great fun!  Seamus and I were cool and we went to a school to throw around a frisbee for a bit.  Then we headed over to Shirin's house for her family's annual 4th of July party!!!  There was a ton of people there, mainly members of Shirin's family, but I felt honored that I was invited!  We ate yummy food, drank lots of alcohol, and watched a great firework show  that happened down the hill!  Best of all... I didn't have to work!

The following weekend I went to a family BBQ in Moorpark.  Seamus came along and met most of my clan.  My parents brought my Birthday Present along because they knew the weren't going to see me on the actual day of my birth.  And guess what I got?  I got an old lady present and I love it!!!  They gave me a state of the art Sewing Machine!!!!  I sware it's the coolest thing ever... it actually sews things together!!!!  WOO HOO!!!  I don't have to stich a quilt by hand anymore!!!  I love technology!!

My birthday day went on with a smash.  My daddy-o drove down to take me out to lunch.  We went to the Spectrum and ate at this yummy mexican food place.  I don't remember the name.  After lunch he dropped me off because I thought I had a clinic meeting for work.  However, after he dropped me off my employer called saying that clinic had been cancelled!!!!  YAY, I had the day off!!!  Woo hoo!  Since I didn't have to work, Seamus took me out to dinner! 

So I thought my birthday was over after I woke up on thursday morning.  I was wrong!  Friday, Seamus and I took his buddy out to Dave & Busters.  We had dinner and played some games.  After that Seamus and I were going back to his apartment, this is when I questioned Seamus about driving in the slow lane going 55 on the freeway.  Seamus never drives in the slow lane.  In fact he's the guy that gets over in the far left lane and go's!!!  I was confused but didn't question it any further.  When we opened the door to his apartment I saw balloons and a birthday banner and then I heard 'SURPRISE!!!!'  Seamus and Shirin planned a surprise party for me!  AWWWWW I love you guys!!!  I didn't expect anything... that was sooooo cool!!!  It was a small party with some great friends!!!!!  I feel so loved!!!  YAY!

A couple weeks after my birthday, Shirin invited Seamus and I up to Vegas.  Shirin, her family and Bianca were going to Vegas Thursday night.  Seamus and I drove up Saturday morning to hang with them.  It was fun,  We had lunch at the Treasure Island buffet.  YUMMY!  Afterwards Seamus and Shirin went to gamble a bit and Bianca and I went shopping.  I needed new shoes for the night because I forgot to pack my black shoes.  I know I'm cool.  So I found 2 pairs and bought them.  Bianca found a bracelet and earrings.  We set off to find Shirin and Seamus.  While sitting at a light, I looked over and saw Shirin walking on the sidewalk!! PERFECT... Bianca yelled out their names and we made a U-turn!  whew!  Saturday night we went to Club Rain.  It was fun, Shirin, Seamus and I were playing "rate that girl / boy"  I liked it a lot!!!  We're so superficial and it's great!

The following week, Seamus and I went out to the Melting Pot to celebrate being together for one whole year!!!  He's a sweetheart!!!  He called the Melting Pot before we arrived and had them put red roses and balloons on the table for me.  So I found them when we walked to our table.  How sweet is that???  Fondue was great!!!  That friday we went to Big Bear for some good old camping!!!  Saturday we rented a fishing boat for 4 hours.  The guy couldn't cound and he ended up giving it to us for 5 hours.  Cool huh?  We putted around the lake and jumped in a few times.  Great fun.  After being on the boat for a while we returned it (well we were towed in because it broke).  Anyways, there was an awesome thunder storm.  No rain, just a loud sky!!  It was pretty cool!  We had a good weekend!

Yesterday, instead of having a normal work day, we took Andrew and a bunch of his friends to Pump It Up!  I highly recommend it to people with kids!!!  Adults get in for free and get to play with the kids on the bouncy stuff!!!  Being mainly autistic kids there, they wanted to play with the adults too.  So I literally jumped around for 2 hours.  Josephina, Yoko and I were exhausted by the time our time was up in the room!  Holy Moly, I think there should be a gym made out of bounce houses!! Great workout!!!  Well, after Pump It Up, Josephina and I still had a shift to do with Andrew.  So instead of working we took a bikeride with Andrew and his Sister Natalie.  We rode our bikes to the park and played around a bit.  I was exhausted driving home last night!!! I passed out at 9!!!!! Crazy!!!

Whew... I'm spent!