Not Finished....

Disclaimer so I don't look like a fool: It's late. The rest of the new blog background must wait. :-) Ha ha.

Sunday Sunshine... Ramblings of a Soon-to-be-Bride's Mind...

I thought that beginning in November my life was going to slow down. Nope. I looked at the calendar and realized that November is now OVER. WHAT THE??? Apparently it's now December. But somehow, it still seems odd for the calendar to be saying, "YAY! Christmas is coming!", when it's still 75 degrees and the palms trees are blowing softly in the breeze.

* Shrug *

1. I have a love/hate relationship with wedding planning. As I'm sure many of you have experienced, it's fun to research and get ideas and blah blah blah, but I have come to the conclusion that I would like to throw all my ideas at someone and tell them to plan it. Ha! I have decided that in world of wedding, I am NOT a control freak. If someone else can take my ideas and make them look pretty, I am so willing to let them do it. Any takers?

Continuing on with this subject:

I love the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. I love this reception center called Northampton House. I have never loved stake centers. Now of course I mean no ill will towards those of you who have had lovely receptions in LDS church buildings- but because of all of YOU, I am possibly leaning towards this option. We'll see. I am just weighing what the monetary difference will be after having a church decorated in a way I'd be happy with and buying a cake and blah blah blah. Because of my previous comment I may just turn it over to a reception site and be happy with that. So I need some responses: Pros and Cons. Stake center VS reception center. Battle it out, ladies.

Next:

I grew up in Layton. If I had the reception at said Northampton House, in American Fork, would I lose a lot of my Laytonites who otherwise would have come had I held the reception in Salt Lake? I really love this place... thanks to my soon-to-be-sister-in-law Kristy for telling me about it.

So all of the pictures of today's post are little wedding inspirations. While, of course, the colors are not all correct, I am loving these things. Yup.

Yes. I am thankful for wedding planning. Even if it causes me to lose sleep because my mind is going a zillion miles per hour and I am dreaming of flowers and Tiffany Blue shoes. (PS: If any of you know where I can find some cute Tiffany Blue shoes... I need to know!)











2. Hopefully this is the week we'll be hearing about Chuck's job offer. I am so grateful that that boy is so good at what he does! Seriously- I don't know many people who can walk into jobs like he can... Both of us seem to be able to do that. We are blessed!!!!

3. My cousin Yissa will be welcoming a baby girl into the world on Tuesday! That's the plan anyway...

4. The Christmas season is now officially in full swing. I've been cranking the Christmas music as I gather address, google everything "wedding," and pull my hair out over how much it's all going to cost. Thank you Bing Crosby and Judy Garland for easing my nerves.

5. I went to JoAnn's yesterday and refrained from taking advantage of the 60% off Christmas sales. That took discipline. I am thankful that I have such an attribute. (And it also helps that I took every extra penny out of checking and put it into savings...)

6. My sister is almost done with school for the semester! Yippee! That means only ONE more, Biff! You can dooooooooooooooo it!

7. I had a GREAT Thanksgiving. I had to be at work for all five shows that day, and I have to say that it is the most pleasant day I have ever had at the stage! It really was great to have everyone in happy moods. We were smiling, laughing, being nice to one another... everyone was hanging out in the Green Room... it was awesome! And the food was great. I was also able to come home to a bunch of fun people from the ward and have another Thanksgiving dinner with them. I am thankful that Hannah, my roommate, was able to take over everything and get the food made while I was at work all day. She's the best!

8. Peppermint ice cream with hot fudge is heaven sent. I love it.

9. I'm thankful for a wonderful ward and stake here in Orlando. Today we had a lesson by the stake that laid out guidelines for "A Celestial Life". The lesson was simple, with lots of those "seminary answer" kinds of ideas, but I was reminded that it IS the simple little things that really make a difference in our lives.

10. Thanksgiving leftovers make me REALLY happy.

11. Yoplait now has a "Raspberry Cheesecake" yogurt that's LIGHT. (AKA Fat Free). It's yummy!

12. Becca and Heidi are coming back for their Disney callbacks! Crossing fingers for them!

13. I love my ring. It sparkles.

14. I am grateful for a certain lady who made my Christmas, three years ago, the most memorable ever. She knows who she is. (The pictures are a little bit of me reminiscing...)





And for some reason I don't have a picture of my very favorite of the gifts. On Christmas Eve, there was a knock at my door and Santa's "helper" was there with a bag for me. Inside was a FANTASTIC blanket that, to this day, I use every single night.

15. Being the nerd that I am, I have been really inspired to recommit to my journal writing in, possibly, a new way: LDS Journal


And that concludes this edition of Sunday Sunshine. I want comments. :-) Hee.

Yet ANOTHER Reason to Love This Baby!

Yes, my friends, that is a LEMON. Ah- she takes after her aunt Amy. I love her!

Some More Sunshine...

JB's. Hot dogs from Chevron. The CAR WASH! Money for the little market down the street... For some reason today I was just thinking about some of these things and decided that I needed to do another Sunshine post.


Maybe I was craving ice cream or something, but I couldn't help but smile when I thought about my grandpa taking my cousins and me to JB's all the time when we were kids and making us get the "Sundae Bar" before we actually ordered food. Oh, what a great grandpa I have.

Sunday Sunshine

Happy Thoughts of the Week:


1. I am thankful for laughter. I never posted Halloween pics, but, well, this is what happened to Chuck after a night of me being dressed as "SPRINKLES" the cat. Fans of THE OFFICE will get it. Oh wait, in this picture he is a bunny. WELL, here's the AMY version:

I folded the bunny ears into cat ears. We had a costume night for "Office Night" (since it was the day before Halloween...), so I went as Angela's cat. Chuck was... himself- an office worker.

Anyway, I am thankful that the boy I love makes me laugh and puts up with my crazy antics and will even pull a few of his own out every so often. I always said that I needed someone who could let me be the entertainer, but who could also entertain ME every so often. There's never a dull moment.


2. I LIKE filling up my car with gas now. In fact, I LOVE it. I love that for a little over $30 I can FILL my tank. I don't feel guilty going to Wal-Mart more than once a week. I don't feel guilty for driving to the airport four times in four days. Because guess what? I CAN AFFORD IT!!! THANK HEAVEN. It makes me HAPPY that I don't feel guilty ever time I get in my car to go somewhere other than work! Yippee!

3. I love roommates, and I am thankful for mine. I have always had such great roommates, and today was just a FUN day with these Orlando girls. We sang and danced as we reenacted "Meet Me in St. Louis" and belted out songs from "Anastasia."

4. This weekend I had three incredible girls here with me. Jenny Latimer, Heidi Webster, and Becca Schwartz came out for the open call going on here at Disneyworld. They were all called back for my role and roles in the Hoop-Dee-Doo Review as well. I LOVE having talented friends. I love having memories with these girls. I love that we can talk for hours about old times and all of the things going on now. I love that I have ROOTS with them. Young Ambassadors, MDT, whatever- they're all part of my life that I hold really dear to my little heart, so it did me worlds of good to have them here this weekend! Love you girls!

5. This week at work I felt GREAT. I have been so blessed by Heavenly Father to not feel anxious and frustrated with my work. Obviously my Utah trip and the cruise helped a LOT in getting me back into a good place, but I didn't even get burnt out until the very end of my week. I am REALLY thankful for that.

6. Ben Parkes was also in town for that audition. He got a callback as well! I love Ben and his crazy sense of humor and the fun we have with him. COME BACK!

7. My sister put this slide show of Kensie's first birthday together today. I'm a sucker- bawled through the whole thing.

http://biffandbrett.blogspot.com/2008/11/birthday-pictures.html

8. Cleaning is fun, and I got to do a lot of it on Wednesday! I scrubbed the house and it felt GREAT!

9. I got myself back into a workout schedule this week. Mmmmmmmmmmm, I did well until Wednesday when all the craziness broke loose with church stuff, people coming to visit, etc etc. BUT it felt WONDERFUL to be active again! And this week I am determined to make it over to 24 Hour Fitness to check out the new gym!

10. I love massages. No, I wish I could report that I got one this week, but I DID get a coupon for $20 off. I might take advantage of it. Oh wait, I have a wedding to pay for.

11. I put a deposit down on my photographer. Yay Travis Gugelman. It'll be so much fun to have my dear, and ridiculously talented friend shoot my wedding.

http://www.gugelmanphotography.com/

12. I am thankful for the pretty bling on my finger. I have never been THAT kind of girl. I've never thought of what I wanted for a wedding or a ring or whatever... but I LOVE looking at the sparkles on my hand. It's FUN!

13. I like these colors: Tiffany Blue, Black, and White. Tell me what you think. They make me happy.



14. THANKSGIVING IS COMING! And later this week I am SO breaking out the Christmas stuff!

And while we're on that topic, please refer to my favorite Thanksgiving ecard of all time:

http://www.hallmark.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ecard|10001|10051|626150|147551;-102001;11443;-102034;92054|ecard|P1R6S|ecards?&totalCategories=58&sortBySelect=&categoryId=92054

15. I love that I only do two shows tomorrow. My job is cool.

16. I still love BYU. Even if they did lose.

17. I am grateful for my church callings. I do a lot in this ward, and it's WONDERFUL. I am grateful to know so many of the people and to be able to serve and get to work with so many of them.

And my concluding happy thought?

18. I am thankful for Utah and the possibility of being back there soon. More info to come. ;-) Hopefully tomorrow.

The Weekend from Heaven!

And so, the adventure began...



Welcome to the Disney Wonder!!!


Casting Off!


In case we become the Titanic, we have really cool life jackets with whistles and lights built right in!


Home Sweet Home!


Let the eating begin!!!


Shuffleboard!



Crazy wind at the front of the boat! Not quite as sexy as, "Jack! I'm flying!"



Performers Always Wear Their Retainers


More food!



Still Eating While in Nassau...



Sleeping in Nassau...
Pirate Night!


Pirates at Dinner. ?????

Escargot!!!



Pirates of the Caribbean Viewing on the Deck!




Mary Poppins: The Way to Find Your Room


CASTAWAY CAY!!!!!




Best Part of the Trip: SOFT SERVE COOKIE DOUGH ICE CREAM!!!




Why Are We Doing This????

What is Our Towel Animal Tonight????

NO!!! We Won't Leave!!!!