No Complaints

Sick Day

2011-06-27T10:05:00.001-07:00

DIY Bathroom Part 1

2011-05-03T22:36:00.000-07:00

Our guest bathroom was a bit of an anomaly to me. Its not a half bath or could even be listed as .75 of a bathroom.
From my past experience of renting a room from craigslist i learned the hard way to check the shower for a actual shower head. So when i toured our house for the first time i immediately noticed that the shower was in fact not a real shower but just a bathtub. Our house was built in 1979 so why there isnt a shower head is weird to me. Not like showers were a rarity in the 70's. Anyhoo, Geoff's friends from Plea for Purging and all their GF's were going to be staying at our place while they were in town for a fest and that lit the fire to get the shower working so that we didnt have 10 people using one shower!

BEFORE

After all the drywall was cut out i got busy editing a film on the couch and forgot to take pictures of geoff putting the cement backer board up and him and his dad cutting the tiles in the rain in the front yard and putting them against the wall. I did help geoff grout though so... i helped a little :\

Oh and i picked out the shower head. Here is the completed shower:

Shower Curtain

The shower head is at least 7 ft high.

We bought the slate tile on sale at Floor & Decor for a total of $36! The shower curtain was on sale at UO for $24. Shower head was about $50 from Home Depot. Window film so our neighbors dont get a peep show. And we also bought a new smaller vanity, faucet, and toilet all under budget too! We set aside $1,000 to redo it all but we've only spent $600 on everything so far. And thats including a new saw. All thats left to pick is paint and base boards and we're done.

Now if we could only get on Yard Crashers!

One year later...

2011-03-30T16:33:00.000-07:00

So Geoff and i just celebrated our one year anniversary. Can i just say, i told you i wasnt pregnant. We were married 3 months after we got engaged and a few people (who clearly didnt know us that well) thought i was knocked up. False.
Marriage is a lot more of everything than i could have ever realized. Some days i think ive married the easiest going person in the world and other days it feels like the most stubborn. We have changed so much within that year and learned even more about each other that i cant even imagine what the next years will unveil. I'm not going to lie, this year felt like two but i think its because of all the stuff thats changed since then. In hindsight, theres some things i wish i could do differently that may have made the transition from individuals to a team who has to share everything much easier...

Buy everything YOU want before you get married. Sounds selfish and shallow, i know. But once you get married the money you make will be both your money. And unless you are blessed with a lot of it, your going to have to ask if its OK with your spouse to spend both your money on something that only benefits you. This is still the hardest thing for me to adjust to. I cant just buy a dress from target or f21, expensive skincare products or tan without seeing if Geoff is cool with it. And lets be honest, he is a tightwad with money and not a chick so he doenst understand why i want another new dress or iphone when i have a perfectly fine one from a year ago. If you are engaged, make haste and buy all the pointless crap that makes you happy before you get married.
Save all your money. Singletons, i know what you're thinking but i promise you you wont get that much from your money dance and in wedding gifts. When you get married its like this evil bill fairy will appear and things that you didnt account for or something expensive will need repair and boom, there goes a few grand. Stressing about money is the worst thing to fret about in general let alone something that might be on the back of your mind when you are going to bed to get frisky. You cant eat love and it doesnt pay the bills.
Double Vanity. No matter if youre renting or owning, make sure your bathroom has a two sinks. Beard trimmings, toothpaste and counter space wars. This is no joke.
Let him play video games. And guys, let her do her thing too. You both need time apart from each other that isnt work related. Sometimes you just need to check out of life for an hour so you can regroup and be yourself. Sure, the timing may not be right because you want to complain and vent, but we all need to hit that reset button now and then so we can have enough patience to still like you.
Close the door behind you. Keep the mystery alive because once its gone its gone. And once a dude realizes its cool to fart around you or pee with the door open, things only get more graphic from there.
Register for a cork screw.

In one year together we bought a house, made it a home, started our own business, stayed debt free, stayed true to our no kids pact and have become closer together than ever. I am seriously so in love with Geoff still. He is the manliest, sexiest, funniest, hardest working provider to me and i still cant believe he wanted to marry me out of all the other smart, funny and beautiful girls he's ever known.

Best year ever!

ps- hawaii vid coming soon!

For Japan With Love

2011-03-18T12:38:00.000-07:00

Our friend Lydia from Ever Ours started For Japan With Love asking for donations for Japan hoping to get $5,000. At this moment its currently over $40,000! Please help those affected by the quakes in Japan by giving what you can. No amount is too small! Each ShelterBox includes a disaster relief tent for an extended family, blankets, water storage and purification equipment, cooking utensils, a stove, a basic tool kit, a children’s activity pack and other vital items.

Case of the Mondays

2011-03-07T16:16:00.000-08:00

Aloha!

2011-03-05T12:09:00.000-08:00

I surprised Geoff with a trip to Hawaii for our one year anniversary! Still here waiting to go snorkeling in that crater. Thought I'd share that surprise I mentioned to you! Haha

I am alive...More than ever

2011-02-28T23:11:00.000-08:00

No apologies here. I've been busy making my dreams and passions come true. This year has been beyond anything i expected. Par for the course when it comes to things you ask from God. Thanks, God!

So since i last posted something on here i quit my job and started a new fabulous one working for these guys. AMAZING. These past few weeks have been awesome. And.... this week is going to be even better!!!! But ill share that with you on thursday. Its a lovely surprise.


My office of 3 years. Good-bye J&L!!!

Heres some films geoff and myself have made recently. watch. enjoy. and please, share your thoughts.

Talk to you soon,
Mrs.B

Going, going, gone.

2011-02-06T18:03:00.000-08:00

well, he said "please"

2011-02-01T14:18:00.000-08:00

Geoff sent me this email he got a work:

He probably gets one of those a week. Maybe i should feature them more. haha

Business Boneyard

2011-01-31T10:31:00.000-08:00

I went to a office furniture liquidation store to buy a new desk chair and saw this... At first i was excited for the deals and what buried treasure i could find and then, after going down isle after isle, i felt depressed knowing that whatever i was looking at was in someones business that had to close down.

Two giant warehouse filled with office furniture and supplies of businesses that had closed down. It was humbling to say the least.

inspired

2011-01-19T09:41:00.000-08:00

not by just the film but the people in it.

choked up watching this.

Geoff + June

2011-01-04T11:13:00.000-08:00

We borrowed South Hill's lighting kit last night for a shoot and wanted to test it out. This is what i got:

staring at angels 90% of the time

she hates being the little spoon

caught again!

this is her Ramona from NY Housewives impression

she lives for the high-fives

i love my bitches

welcome back to monday

2011-01-03T13:51:00.000-08:00

Of course my natural reaction was: huh, my banana is bleeding?

matchies v2.0

2010-12-16T09:42:00.000-08:00

Ive always been told i look familiar to people, and not just from creepy dudes. I guess i have a pretty common face...

One of these is not me:

Facebook's ads are getting really good

And this was just text'd to me from Myra. Meet her new friend, my long lost twin:

Im the one on the right in case you couldnt tell.

cool guy

2010-12-15T11:16:00.000-08:00

I love it when Geoff tries to act like rico suave while doing things.

And then he smacks the squeegee into the car antenna and it bounces the squeegee into his chest

and loses all cool guy composure.

Love it.

Christmas List

2010-12-10T10:58:00.000-08:00

I know receiving presents isn't the true meaning of Christmas. But it happens.
I like to think of myself as a practical person in general. Here's whats on my practical Christmas (and in general) gift wish list:

Cake Plates!
Ive made a few from what i could find from thrift shops but i cant help but swoon a little bit when i see genuine vintage milk glass cake platter. I just cant fathom spending $40+ on a used old one. So appreciate them from afar. I do bake enough to where these would get a lot of good use out them... practical.

Camera Lenses!
A Canon 35mm 1.4 L and 70-200 2.8 L, to be exact. When we film i notice i lean toward the 35mm more than any other lens. And when we are shooting from far, and i need to get up in your grill, the 70-200mm is our go to. Both are a necessity for our company that we currently rent because they are so expensive. Practical.

A Standing Garden Bed!
Sure, i could bend down but that would strain my back. Strap some legs to that garden bed and lets grow our own food without worrying about the dog and gophers invading. Practical!

Shoes!
Im too embarrassed to share with you how bad my current shoes look. My converse, toms and mock moccasins souls are falling out and have holes in the toes. Now i'm not all about overpriced, hipster shoes but they are so comfortable to me. I'm a creature of comfort and i don't care. Practical.

iPhone 4 to go to Verizon!
PRACTICAL!

Macbook Pro 17"!
We want to replace our laptop with the newer Macbook Pro that way we both can be editing at the same time, in separate rooms, on location or while watching TV in the living room. Totally Practical.

Amish Heater!
Our living room is a addition to the house so it doesn't have a/c or heating vents running through it making it the extreme weather room. We don't have a fireplace in our house either and i miss it so much. What could solve both of these issues? THIS. They even make them with DVD shelves and come in black. Hello new TV stand. Plus i think this will hold June's attention longer than her shadow and keep her from staring attentively at nothing with me telling myself shes just looking at angels. Practical.

And what's at the top of my list...

June becoming a dog lover!
Let me clarify, June loves small dogs. Proof: This picture. This time last year my friend Amanda had her dog live with me and June for about 3weeks and June loved Rico. Its just June doesnt realize how big she is and plays too rough with them and i have to watch her like a hawk. Now, with that said, June HATES dogs her size and larger. Like she turns into Cujo. We have no idea why and i've tried contacting the dog whisperer but he didnt get back to me. We really want to have more dogs but we wont while June is still around and still misbehaves around other dogs. Shes lucky shes so dang cute. EXTREME PRACTICAL.

Geoff's Birthday Week begins

2010-12-07T13:12:00.000-08:00

Last year for Geoff's birthday we did absolutely nothing. He was gone on tour, i was renting a room from a stranger off craigslist and we were both broke. By the time he came home it was Christmas and Jesus doesnt need to share his birthday with Santa and geoff. So this year i'm trying to do something more special. That included one of his favorite comedians and favorite food.

Since Dave Chappelle and Bill Cosby werent in town, the next best was Daniel Tosh. He was sooo funny! Everyone was wiping tears from their eyes from laughing so hard. I got us really close seats at the gibson, though any seat there is a good seat, and its crazy to think a comedian can fill up the same gibson theater that weezer just sold out the week before.

Daniel Tosh

We tried Pink's Hotdogs. I got a polish dog with mustard and it was so cold. Gross. So not worth the hype.

Pink's

The next morning i made us heart shaped waffles and bacon while he watched football. I miss ~~eating~~ making breakfast food. I usually dont because of how fattening the waffles, syrup, bacon, muffin, butter, hash browns and all the other extremely delicious breakfast foods are, but its a celebration. So why not?

they kinda look like clovers

We* even hung Christmas lights on our house. Dreams come true people.

Geoff is seriously the hardest working, loving, and funny husband and i cant stop thanking God for giving me him as my husband even though he farts in the bed just to make me uncomfortable. This week hes aiming at working somewhere around 70hrs at his day job. This means he leaves for work at 2am and comes home at 4:30pm everyday. Hes even working Saturdays. Yesterday, im working out to my B.L. dvd in the living room and Geoff's sitting on the couch laughing at me one minute and the next knocked the frick out:

5:30pm. Face down. Limp limbs.

*we = him. i stood there in the rain and took pictures. im helpful like that.

motel brouillette

2010-12-02T11:40:00.000-08:00

Sometimes this is how i meet (sorta) geoffs touring buddies:

6:30am

They come over while we're asleep and we leave when they're asleep.
I'm glad we have the space to help other bands out. We're kinda the perfect resting stop for bands touring SD to OC or LA and aren't from around here.
There are 2 more dudes sleeping in the guestroom but i didn't dare open the door to sneak a picture. yes, i am a creep but i have limits.

4 day weekend

2010-12-01T16:11:00.000-08:00

So i am totally for four 10hr work days in order to have a three day weekend. When i get four days it seriously feels like a mini vacation to me. Especially when its as fun as the last one was.

I got out of work early last wednesday and was so excited for the holiday weekend that i broke out my old christmas tree. I figured waiting till the day before thanksgiving was long enough.

Not even one hour after decorating it June somehow knocks it off the table. I dont know how she managed to even get to it but somehow got to the center of a 5' X 5' square table. I can only assume she was chasing a shadow one of the Christmas lights were making. I was so pissed. She broke one of the super cute cupcake ornaments Geoff's mom just got me! Luckily, the shark was spared.

We got to hangout with Chris and Es while they were out visiting.
Watched Geoff play 3 games at the corona turkey bowl in the extreme cold and windy conditions. Being around Jolene and Es made it worth it.
Had our first blended thanksgiving!

The Cook's and Brouillette's

We had the Ron's sit at the heads of the table. Geoff looks like such a prep in this photo. He doesnt even drink wine either.

mmmmm.... deep fried turkey. so healthy and easy on the waistline.

Case and Point: World, meet baby Geoffrey.

Geoff has always been a slim dude so to see this is shocking. people joked with him and said, "wait till you get married..." but we both didnt believe it would actually happen to him. its a fact now. and i love it!

He literally farted on his moms head at this moment

Here's Pat hemming geoffs pants in my moms front lawn. He was in Kirk + Carrie's wedding and the 3-day suit guy made his pants too long and apparently too tight around the waist.

First Dance

Theres no chance you'll ever see me black friday and i didnt even get pictures of the insane people who spent that cold cold thanksgiving night outside waiting for stores to open at 3am. Its for the birds.

Other pictures:

Sleeping Giant recording vocals for their new album. YES, Joanna is singing/yelling in it!

me recording geoff, recording lil ryan and eric, recording their vocals

Lunch Pail Pictures

2010-11-24T15:42:00.000-08:00

as some of you have known, ive always been into video editing and anything to do with a video camera. and i love love. i love working weddings and learning all about the couples, how they met, fell in love. so i decided to mix the two together and try to make a living off doing something i love.

enter:

meet geoff and my company, Lunch Pail Pictures!

After teaming up with the amazing duo Shade Tree Films we have started a sister company, if you will. We are so excited and couldnt be more blessed by this. Seriously. Geoff and i feel like this is where God wants us to be and we hope to be working full time doing this, and only this, very soon.

Feel free to look around the Lunch Pail Pictures blog and leave some love. We will post all our new films on that blog.
If you know anyone looking for a wedding cinematographer, feel confident sending them our way!

team lunch pail + team shade tree = amazingness in 24fps

Photo taken of neighbor's house Nov. 18th

2010-11-22T15:24:00.000-08:00

I love my neighborhood!!!

J + A

2010-11-18T11:11:00.000-08:00

Heres a highlight video geoff and i made for Jason (gayson) and April's wedding day. And can i just say how much i love april and gayson?! A LOT! im bummed that april had to move from being a few miles from the Chateau Brouillette to Long Beach, but hey, i dont blame her one bit haha. Their new nest is so cool and filled with love and cool Owl art pieces. and kittens that hide in the bathroom and great you while you pee. Like i said, so cool.

Check out the fabulous job Mike Radford did capturing their wedding -----> HERE

Halloween Post

2010-11-01T15:59:00.000-07:00

Kelsey had a halloween/bday party at her house on the 30th and i was planning on going as Antoine Dodson but i figured there was probably going to be like 3 other people doing that and ran to joann's fabrics the night before and pick up some felt and hot glue and decided to be my favorite snack.

Ice cream cone (me), Indian maiden (Kels), Kelly Kapowski (Brenda H), Sister Mary Clarence (Mary)

Cast of Saved by the Bell!

I think they nailed it.

Mary + Marvin and Dexter (Adam)

Screech (Andy), White Men Cant Jump (Jonathan), Witch (Brenda), Kels and Me


This is when the crowd was around me screaming "GO ICE CREAM! GO ICE CREAM! GO ICE CREAM!"

Because seriously, who doesnt love ice cream?
Oh, i know who.... Geoff. He said that costume made him want to punch me. Its like that little devil on your shoulder that comes out to tempt you when you see the chic fil a cow walking around or chuck e cheese... you just want to step on the tail and see what happens.

Our Halloween day was pretty tame. Stayed in bed and eat cereal till noon watching boardwalk empire. The kind of morning you dream about on monday in the office. Then we went to Lakeshore church and heard PCH speak which is always a delight. Then we went to scottie's dinner fundraiser and hung out with everyone and ate s'mores by the fire. A random show was going on in corona so we wanted to check that out too so we went to Tom's Farms to see The Almost play. Idk how we didnt hear about that happening before the morning because its weird enough to have any band play in corona now that showcase is closed. but toms farms??? for real?! Geoffs good friends with the drummer Joe so we made it for the last 5 seconds of the last song and then just hung out with all the dudes in their tour bus/trailer for the night. Those dudes were super friendly and cool and i think it made geoff miss touring a little bit. If SG could tour like those guys do i wouldnt mind touring either haha.

catching up

2010-10-26T16:01:00.000-07:00

Lets see... last week was slammed packed with so many awesome things that it was on the border of not being awesome.

not complaining, i swear.
We had one of our best friends april + jason getting married and we were filming their wedding and i was also making their cake, cakepops and cupcakes, filming a promo of the new South Hills album at a studio in fullerton, working on a rushed video for a company that i contractually cant say nor tell you what its about thats how serious that job was (and yes this is me name dropping a unnameable company), whilst working my normal 9-5 and getting a whole day of jury duty.
Luckily, Geoff helped me out so much and so did many of my friends with the baking duties. And the wedding was one of the most fun and love filled weddings ive been to. I love Love.
God has been really throwing out a ton of opportunities at us for our small growing business. Im so so excited. When im at work all day all i think about is going home and working on editing things we shot and im looking up how to be better. Heather and grayson stayed the night with us on saturday and i seriously just picked her brain for the whole weekend they were here haha. I miss them. Maybe they can talk geoff into relocating to washington. Im not opposed!
Things have been amazing and wonderful and super busy but im starting to get used to the busy schedule again. I got so used to punching out after work and just hanging out and relaxing that i kinda miss it. This stress though is reeking havoc on my face and my body. I had no time to make healthy dinners so i'd eat some dino-chickies and tots. ten year's taste buds, i know. i swear ive gone up 2 pant sizes since we got married too. you'd think knowing you have to be naked in front of someone would make you eat less and be skinnier but no. (sorry dad and pat if thats tmi!)

A house plant

2010-10-21T15:45:00.000-07:00

Never ever did i think i would ever want something so bad from Tom's Farms Home Furnishings.

But, alas, here we are...

Riverside Juror Lounge

2010-10-19T12:23:00.000-07:00

My view for the past few hrs. Not pictured: the two large women that, out of all the empty seats, decided to sit right on either side of me. Guess I have a welcoming face.

*Jury

2010-10-19T12:20:00.000-07:00

nsfw

2010-10-14T08:19:00.000-07:00

...because you will cry.
my heart is broken right now. i cant imagine what it feels like to feel so hopeless that theres no other way out.

what can i do to stop a kid from killing themselves because they feel they're different? why cant people teach their kids to play nice and themselves be good examples? why is being gay where people want to draw a line in the sand?

Stop Child Trafficking Now

2010-10-11T21:11:00.000-07:00

A few weeks back geoff and i joined up with a group from remnant to do a child sex trafficking awareness walk in laguna beach. I was on a "camp high", if you will, from just attending shade trees workshop but still hesitant to bring my camera. im so glad i did though. even though it was incredibly hot and sweaty at the beach we had a great time. i wasnt aware that so many people had no idea about kids getting trafficked in our cities, let alone our country. its not just something that happens in other countries. it happens all the time in our counties. please help out by going to these websites and seeing how you can help save these babies, kids, and woman who are trapped in daily sex slavery against their will.

http://www.sctnow.org/

http://love146.org/

http://www.notforsalecampaign.org/

Here's a little ditty i made of our awareness walk:

Dimple Den

2010-10-11T08:00:00.000-07:00

I threw my lovely friend Kristina a bridal shower a few weeks ago and i was all excited to take a bunch of picture with my camera and really try to be more of that friend who always takes pictures because i never do. heres what i captured from the party:

Amy and Jessica playing games

Jolene and Ezra playing

Close up of the cuteness

food//presents

cute baby Ezra

Kristina opening presents

oh look he's laughing

Kristina opening more presents

awwwww...

and one more for good measure!

Between April and i taking pictures id say 90% of them were all Ezra being super adorable. could you blame us?

Stater Bros

2010-10-05T09:54:00.000-07:00

Rainy weather + Lake Elsinore =

notice he's wearing snow gloves

...this is why i always shop Albertson's instead.

Baby Haley

2010-10-04T15:43:00.000-07:00

Haley Stires

10.1.10

7lbs 12oz

21in long

One of my oldest and bestestses, Rachelle, was always the motherly type. even when we were kids she was the only one of us that could cook a whole meal by herself and used more than just windex to clean her room. mother of the year material, right?? she just had her second kid!

so cuuuuute... when i walked into the room my face immediately started doing that ugly scrunch that you cant fight and i started bawling. just a wave of all kinds of emotions + pms i guess. its so crazy that i was just feeling baby haley's butt through rachelles belly two nights before and then she was just laying there next to her. insane. kids having kids! congrats to rachelle and harley! youre amazing parents and i love you both <3

2010-10-02T13:05:00.000-07:00

Why yes that is a avocado as big as my face. Guacamole for dinner!

i hate this post

2010-09-29T23:12:00.000-07:00

So I've had pretty bad anxiety lately. Its the kind that will cripple me with dizziness, stomach pains, sweats and grinding teeth. I don't know how to control it.

I've realized what is causing it and its self doubt and insecurities usually with sharing things that im passionate about and love. The whole "what if everyone thinks its god-awful and i suck and i am totally unaware of it and think im super talented...?" is on repeat in my brain and i start obsessing over and over the worst case scenario. I get scared. Its so ridiculous and i feel so stupid for feeling that way.

I used to have a bad case of the anxiety attacks a few years back but learned how to control my thoughts and would pray when i could feel myself starting to go there but its like I've forgotten how to. I don't know where my confidence went. I feel like im not great at anything and im surrounded by soooo many of my friends who are all talented, gifted and beautiful. That can be intimidating at times. Sometimes i get into the 'why even bother' mind set and then i just start staying home and being quiet all the time. So lame, right? When did i get so freaking sensitive??

My last anxiety episode was on Thursday morning right before work. My mind got started and i couldn't even finish getting ready for work so i went to lay down for a minute to calm myself down and Geoff asked me what was wrong. When i told him what i was thinking he talked me through it and told me how crazy my thoughts were without making me feel crazy. I felt a lot better, got through it and went on to do what i was afraid to do. Hes been helping me with keeping my thoughts in check with reality and that's been the most helpful thing. Sometimes when you get so deep into your own thought bubble its hard to step outside of it and give yourself a reality check.

I cant be scared of sharing me. I know i will get rejected sometimes and it wont be the end of my the world.

hair whips!!!

2010-09-27T12:02:00.000-07:00

Look what i got to be apart of!

I just met Mary and Scott last week from the Shade Tree Film's workshop and can i just say how freaking cool they are?! Love them already!
Everyone i met at the workshop was super cool and the dudes of Shade Tree are truly some of the most humble, passionate and easy going guys youll ever meet.
On Saturday i got to be a second shooter doing video for Mary and Scott and i loved it! So cool to get some hands on, in the field training. Hope i was up to floataway par!

Test Taker

2010-09-24T13:26:00.000-07:00

So after hunting down orange color themed bridal showers for Kristina's next weekend i stumbled upon a color test. Never heard of it before but it looked interesting. Not sure how accurate it is. You tell me...

*red = my thoughts

Testcolor : THE personality color test

Test color is the result of original research conducted and validated by a team of
clinical psychologists, psychoanalysts and mathematicians.
Test color can generate over 50 million different answers,
each one written by an artificial intelligence engine for every test

The Color Test was done 4160709 times, thank you for your confidence.

Result of your test :
Your results present a correlation ratio with our model superior to 96 % .
( In a general way, a result can be taken into account if this ratio is superior to 30 %.)

Your Profile :

You are 45 % extrovert and 55 % introvert. (not surprised. this has changed a lot from 90%-10% since high school)

Independently of any order of importance :

You are imaginative and creative, you have always new ideas, and you know how to apply them. (until something bright colored catches your eye)

You are also strong-willed and active, your actions are determined by your own will, by the goals you settled for yourself, and by your need to act and to move forward.

Finally you are able to have an in-depth thinking, you think before acting, and you know how to communicate your knowledge. (unless its someone you look up to or think is cooler than you that's when you start blending words together like awesomeing; awesome + amazing)

Your understanding of your environment :

At first, at 36%, you are centered on your thoughts and your actions are determined by your knowledge and your experience. (ie. mistakes)

Then, at a ratio of 35%, you are attached to moral values and feelings, and you have an emotional relation with the environment. (wwjd)

Finally, at 27%, you are focused on the facts and on the reality, and your decisions are determined by your perception of facts. (keeping it real)

How you assert yourself :

In your relations with others, your point of view and your decision-making are motivated by your inner conviction at 59%. Dialogue and exchange of views with others are taken into account at 40%.

Also, your inspiration and your creativity, your artistic or spiritual impulse have an influence of 62%. Also your family and personal ties interfere at 37%.

Finally, your actions are determined by your will and your personal goals at a ratio of 63%. In 36% of the cases you take into account your own sensibility and your partner’s.

The qualities that characterize your personality at this time :

Your imagination at 23%

you are a creative person, with always new ideas, and you know how to apply them.

Your creativity at 21 %

you are creative, you know how to see beauty, you are intuitive and your inspiration comes from the inside. (im good at finding treasures at thrift stores)

Your intellectual performance at 21 %

You are intellectual and intelligent, you wonder and you inquire before taking any action and setting your values. (its true. i google everything!)

Your energy at 17 %

you are strong-willed and active, your actions are determined by your own will, by the goals you settled to yourself, and by your need to act and move ahead. (i think what its saying in so many words is that i tend to obsess)

Your dynamism at 16 %

you are dynamic and active, you are determined in your actions, you know how to communicate your ideals and your energy, and thus, you know how to boost people.

Finally, you are thoughtful and deep, you think before getting into action and you know how to communicate your knowledge, you are open and good communicator, you know how to attract people and engage them. (is anybody still reading this?)

The Morris Babes

2010-09-20T09:00:00.000-07:00

Thankfully Geoff and i brought our camera on labor day to jonathan's chicken and waffle night because we got to practice on the cutest kiddies. Nich & Ginny's triplets: Liam, Bella, Aidan and then Jacob & Teresa's daughter Delaney. The dads, Nich and Jacobs are twins themselves too. They seriously have the most easy going temper kids and they are super cute to boot!
Trying to keep focus on moving targets was harder than we thought and this was when we were first learning the manual settings so forgive the not so hot quality.
Delaney is in the pink Star Wars shirt, Liam and Aidan are in it too but im not sure which is which... Bella was surrounded by all the ladies so we didnt get any video of her.
Hanging out with my friend's kids keeps my baby fever at bay.

happy 400th post!

2010-09-16T21:42:00.000-07:00

Ive was never one to keep a diary or journal hidden under my mattress as a girl but maybe thats because I was(am) too lazy to write and by the second sentence my handwriting is so bad you'd think i was schizophrenic. Sorry this year hasnt had as many posts as years in the past but as you can tell, its been a big one.
The whole point of this blog is for me to share funny stuff, lighthearted-ness, and me with others. Ive tried to keep no complaints at just that. A place of no whining and complaining. This world has enough bad news, whiners and complainers you don't need someone like me chiming in. And in all honesty, i cant think of anyone who'd want to read me whine anyways haha.

too many more and thanks for reading.

Ford's 1st Birthday

2010-09-14T08:42:00.000-07:00

Baby Ford's 1st Birthday on Vimeo.

filmed and edited by geoff.
this video was his crash course in final cut and i think he did an amazing job.

92 years young

2010-09-13T11:42:00.000-07:00

This is my Great Grandma Waters (now Dailey, but shes always grandma waters to me). Yesterday she turned 92! Just thinking of what all shes seen in her lifetime is a bit insane. Everything that's changed since 1918... cars, buildings, and toilets, oh my! Its got to be a little bit heartbreaking too. Shes out lived her husbands, children and friends. She is my mom's mom's mom. She may just out live us all.

Great Grandma Waters-Dailey

This is my mom's dad, my "Papa". He is the reason i have everything i have today. My wonderful mom, job, house. He grew up in Massachusetts and met my grandma from his sister. They went on a date once and they didnt like each other. Then years later they ran into each other again and fell in love. He served in the Korean War, never graduated from high school and was an extremely successful businessman. He told each of us grand kids we were his favorite and always encouraged us to grow up and be whatever we wanted. He loved telling stories about his childhood and loved his wife and family. Hes a perfect example of what a man and a provider should be. He always did everything he could for us to prosper.
Hes also in the final stages of Alzheimer's. He got it really young and i was only about 17 so hes never been able to see any of us grand kids succeed or even get married. Its really hard for me to see him like this so i really dont visit him anymore. There's no recognition in his eyes when he sees me and he doesnt talk anymore. My great grandma, who lives with him, talks to him like hes still the same old "Jimmy" and its pretty funny and cute and sad all at the same time. I think this might have been the first time geoffs seen him too. Im really sad that my kids will never get to know him and my grandma but thats life i guess.
I went over to his house last week to drop off some meds and take a picture of my ggma and i was only able to get 2 pictures of him. It was really weird. After the second picture he closed eyes and turned his head away. It was like he knew i was taking his picture and he didnt want me to. The doctors all say that hes unaware of everything going on and he used to communicate through blinking but he doesnt do that anymore. It was really crazy and i kind of just stood there for a second and thought he might actually still be in there. As soon as i packed the camera away he opening his eyes again.

Papa

ur doin it wrong

2010-09-08T14:00:00.000-07:00

How have people been getting this so wrong for so long? How are there people like the Phelps family, people wanting to burn the Qur'an, and others who claim to be Christians yet persecute people who don't believe what they believe? How is that anything like what Christ would do?!

Im sorry but i thought Christians are supposed to strive to be like Him. Jesus NEVER did this to anyone he came across. He didn't lecture them, talk down or guilt them. HE DIDN'T CONDEMN THEM. He forgave them and loved them. Christ's death made a new covenant making the old one (the one God gave Moses) obsolete. Why do people still want to judge, condemn and persecute others based on the laws of the old covenant?

And please, don't think for one second that those people are doing all this persecuting "in love" because its not. If you believe that then you should really (re)read what the Bible says about love. God is love and He is not in any of those acts that they are showing. Its all in fear. And fear is not of God.
GOD LOVES THEM. He loves them, He loves those you don't love and yet He still loves us! And Newsflash: You are not sinless. I am not sinless. Sin is a sin.

And what do these people who are protesting and screaming from their soap box really think is going to happen? Like some gay person is going to be like, "oh, since you outlawed us to get married i guess i just wont be gay anymore" or "since you've really showed me how loving and accepting your god is i should become just like you and tear others down". Nobody is going to come to know God if you're misrepresenting Him. Show them who He is with your love and compassion! They will notice Him in you and want to be apart of it. want to know it. they'll want to know Him.

Ive never been so embarrassed, horrified and stirred up inside as much as ive been lately seeing people calling themselves Christians all while calling names, attacking and belittling others in the name of God. Its disgusting! Its ugly! And its not Godly or Christ like at all.

I think its time that all those people started wearing their WWJD bracelets again that way they can show their NOTW-ness and maybe take a second thought to the action they are about to take when coming into to conflict with someone who disagrees with their beliefs.

Be Christ like. Be love.

109 days till Christmas

2010-09-07T11:45:00.000-07:00

Besides sitting at my desk at work im loving today.
The weather outside, that feel of the day, and the fact that its already Tuesday! AND that its already September too! what the hell, time? can you please not fly by so extremely fast. im having to stand back all the time to try and soak my life in before the moments pass me by without appreciation.
I keep reminding myself that today is not Monday and i get really happy. But then i remember that that means im behind on my daily tasks since i have to cram both Monday and Tuesday's together. And although its not freezing outside, its not hot, sunny or sweltering out either! It was so dark out this morning i seriously though that i had missed the time change (again) and i didn't want to leave the bed. Well, Geoff still being in bed made it harder to leave too.
Can i please just fast forward to it being cold, rainy, cuddling on the couch, hot chocolate, socks, flannel blankets and movies.
Is it weird that im already so looking forward to thanksgiving (feast) and Christmas?

Hook Line and Sinker

2010-08-30T23:11:00.000-07:00

So if you've been follow this blog for a while you might remember me a year ago worrying about where my life was going and what God was gonna do with me. I was worried about my QLC (quarter life crisis) hitting hard! And let me tell you, i have a major case of the QLC's and its still raging. In my post last year i was whining and complaining (it happens)about my wants/expectations for this last year and how they all seemed to be crashing and burning before my very eyes. But, like always, God acceded them.
Another year of reflecting...
-moved out of the SheShack and into a place in eastvale
-started a couple of cake decorating classes
-june killed my roommates dog
-had a panic attack
-moved back into corona and rented a room from a guy named dick
-had a panic attack
-got ENGAGED
-found out dick was a sketchy dude and moved into my brothers house
-that was a bad idea so i moved into Andrews house
-planned the wedding
-had a more panic attacks
-move into our apartment
-married my soul mate
-got in a car accident
-got a house
-got a bad leak
-got to see my little brother and sister 3x this year
-needed my family more than ever
-got a lot to be thankful for
-finally found that middle ground with my job and am starting to enjoy it
-but i still got a camera and equip and starting my own company
-lots of self discover. always learning something new about myself.

So ya, that covers about all the criteria for a QLC: Married? Check! House? Check! Career? Almost there, Half Check!
Every year of my life gets better and more chaotic than the last. Maybe its just this season of life. Maybe its just life. I dont know. I love it though. I pray that it keeps getting to be more more. Ive gotten to that point where as much as i like to think i got it all understood, i know i dont. And accepting that made my mind opened up and ive learned and seen to many new and real things.
Its that whole i havent changed but i know im not the same thing.
Im still me- just in the process of becoming the best version of me.

BIG IT ON 26!

Birthday week begins!

2010-08-26T22:15:00.000-07:00

So i thought my love for John Mayer was more than most of his fans (i mean the guy has got his own label on this very blog!) but after going to his concert on Tuesday night in Irvine, clearly i love him as must as the next white girl.

Way back in the day, when Geoff and i were just friends, he admitted to me that he was into John Mayer just as much as i did and i about keeled over in joy. Finally someone who i can listen to his music to and not have to defend myself! We just get each other. John and i, that is.
I love his music so much. Not only is he an amazing musician and can make shredding the guitar look as easy as blinking but i genuinely love his lyrics. And i think hes really funny and witty.

When i heard tickets went on sale i pulled the birthday card and other incentives on Geoff to get us pit tickets and backstage passes. I figured if i aimed high it might hit somewhere not too far off. well it worked! he got us great tickets! not near the pit but they were so good! John was about the size of my pinky finger.
Maybe its because its been like 5 years since ive been to a huge production concert and not just a show but this place was prime for people watching. People with cheese plates and wine in the parking lot, drunk old ladies, lots of young girls drunk and over dressed hiking up to the grass in heels, lots of muscle tee (GTL) dudes on the prowl alone for said drunk ladies at the show were the creepiest. We sat in front of what im sure was a sorority of now old ladies who were so wasted they kept calling the organ a orca and ~~sang~~ howled EVERY EFFIN SONG. The smell of weed and fried foods was everywhere. John was in some tight plaid pants and made sure in wiggle in them and give the front row their money's worth. Oh, and tons of guitar solo faces! haha love it! all in all, this concert just showed us how talented he and his amazing band are as musicians.

Sights & Sounds:
I was going to post a bunch of videos i took on here (yesss, i was that girl) but i figured you could just YouTube him and see them so ill show you this one i took:
drunk chick a few rows in front of us giving her date a lap dance in front of all of us

classy.

walking into the stadium:
geoff: im going to be the only dude here with tattoos.
me: theres a guy with a sleeve and a v-neck on...
geoff: hes gay. doesn't count.
me: John Mayer has a full sleeve.
geoff: F*** John Mayer.

waiting for John to start:
me: oh look G Love is going to be playing here. i like him.
geoff: i'll give you some g love. some g-giant love. some g-geoff love. some crunchy lo-- oh wait, that doesn't start with a g...

awful attempt at trying to get a picture of us with my iPhone

J<3M about the size he was to us

John was so good. I had to hold in my swoon the whole time. I don't know what is it about those cold dead eyes and bad style but i cant help it. Don't judge me.

Before & After

2010-08-26T11:24:00.000-07:00

So since we have about 3 thrift shops within a mile of our house and money has been tight ive been doing a lot of thrift store shopping.
first thing i got: 2 wood night stands with leather tops and one of them has a light and outlet in the cubby.
Before:

After:

Cute night stands, right?!$10 for both and a couple cans of spray paint.

Remember this post about the stinky guest room? Well after replacing the matting and getting that smell out, and since Sleeping Giant's drummer Matt was living with us i decided to spruce the room up for him while they were gone on tour!

So now this is the new Guest/Natalie/Jolene/Matt's Room:

box shelf from tjmaxx, already owned trinkets

$3 frame from anthro, bigy bank from tjmaxx

hour glass from tjmaxx, box from sara plummer, candle on sale at anthro

$1 at the yellow thrift store around the corner! and it still works

I wish i would have taken a before picture but in my excitement i forgot. Just imagine that room with only the bed and shoved in the corner with one single lonely pillow.
Theres still a lot i want to do in this room like paint it but this will do for now. I still havent done anything to our room yet!
So if you ever need a place to crash and like an overly excited german shepherd following you around, inquire within :)

Ol' Mrs B.

2010-08-23T12:02:00.000-07:00

i love stain glass windows. i think some are so beautiful and ive always wanted them too.
you know what i love just as much as stain glass windows? saving money!
they are so freaking expensive, rightfully so, but still. im not paying that much. so when the blinds in my craft/hobby jumped off the wall i tossed their sorry plastic excuse of privacy in the trash and found this fake stained glass window film. not only does it make me feel totally safe from lurker eyes but its actually keeping some of the heat out of this room. win/win!

proof im an old lady inside

no shame!

Quiet little Sunday

2010-08-15T21:45:00.000-07:00

Today I woke up early, used a drill, didn't shower, made all my meals, stayed in my pjs all day, took out the trash, watched 4 episodes of mad men, used more dishes than any single person should, one load of laundry, watched june swim, bleached the toilets, rediscovered my love for cinnamon, put up stained glassed window film, played soccer with June, finished watching firefly and serenity, made our guest room more inviting, didnt count carbs, didnt exercise, practiced with my camera, only changed out of my pjs to get into new ones for bed. Lazy Sunday.
5 days till my husband comes home...

lesson learned

2010-08-12T08:19:00.000-07:00

hmmm... a crunchy side, no side view mirror, and texting. time to switch lanes.

9 days left

2010-08-11T23:42:00.000-07:00

my husband has been gone for far too long.

silver lining

2010-08-11T14:46:00.000-07:00

The benefit of having a pipe burst under your house for two days without you knowing...

...half of your yard coming back to life!

those two days when water was leaking it was going into our septic tank the whole time and i thought we'd have to pay someone to pump it out but it turns out that water is supposed to escape septic systems so our lawn got a nice cold one that one week of summer that we had about a month ago.
i guess the secret ingredient in miracle grow is pee and poo.

SeaNoEvil

2010-08-10T10:16:00.000-07:00

i brought my camera out to this art show to but to honest i was so nervous to whip it out. i thought i would drop it, someone would steal it and just all around paranoid.
There was some great art there by so many talented people and they were able to raise so much money for the Sea Shepherds. Matt Costa played, Michelle Rodrigez DJ'ed and then walked around like a pirate dressed as a biker, went to spaghetti factory, we gazed at pieces and picked favorites, watch the drunk groupies try to get with the crew, hung out with friends and made some new ones. Captain Paul Watson spoke for a long time and drunk people cheered him on. I respect everything theyre doing and back them. People like to talk down on them and say they arent doing much and how unprofessional their crews are but theyre doing a hell of a lot more to protect animals and save the earth than you and i are doing and they are seeing results from their efforts.

Jason from ToDieFor playing the best of the 80's

Matt Costa

The Sea Shepherd Crew

mark eats like a shark. eyes closed.

natorii

and one of meow meow for good measure

june is camera shy

2010-08-05T10:33:00.000-07:00

i bought the canon t2i last week and im still getting the hang of it. ive never used or owned a DSLR so its a good thing this camera is smarter than me.

canon 50mm 1.4 lens

the video it takes is amazing! it has the same size sensor as the 7D so you know its clear and crisp. we got this camera for its video recording abilities buuuuut since we dont have a computer that can handle that can handle the crazy amount of information this camera records at so i probably wont be posting videos for a while. le sigh...

The first time i tried hooking up the card reader to my macbook it crashed it and that was just transferring photos and a couple of short video clips. Luckily the Genius Bar was able to fix it but being in that Apple store made me want to get us a newer desktop. I've had mine from 2002! Its a dinosaur in the computer world. AND its a PC! So, if you know anyone whos interested in a macbook that has been barely, rarely used, super clean and is only over a little year old let me know. the money we get toward that will get put to buying Final Cut Pro and the computer. I know you gotta spend money to make money but we also dont want to be in debt to anything (not counting our mortgage) and plan to do everything we can to start and run this business that way.

finally

2010-08-04T23:11:00.000-07:00

guess whos camera finally came in...
same person who just finally got their laptop repaired!

SURPRISE, DAD

2010-07-29T10:07:00.000-07:00

So last weekend i got to fly out to denver to surprised my dad for his 50th birthday! Actually by the time i got there he already knew i was on my way because my brother, his wife, my uncle and aunt had already showed up in the early morning. But i got to see the surprise on video and he was totally stunned and teary eyed.

Im not a regular traveler. The last time i flew was almost two years ago and even then it was just a trip to colorado to visit them on thanksgiving. I feel like such a newbie when it comes to airports and flying. I almost missed my connecting flight on the way out there. My flight from ONT left late so i arrived late to Las Vegas and all ill say it that was the worst flight ive even been on and my motion sickness is not limited to just cars.

said couple so into petting each other
they didnt seem to notice the lurker
next to them taking their picture

As soon as i was able to run off the plane i bolted for the bathrooms which in that terminal was just two stalls and a line of women and children spilling out into the terminal. i had no choice but to wait and i thought i had 20 mins till my next flight started boarding. I got in and out of there so fast i stopped and bought some M&M's and water for the next flight and sat with the other people waiting for DEN in my terminal when someone over the intercom says, "CANDICE VAL-DESP...-BROUILEEE...? LAST CALL!" I jumped up and ran with my hand in the air like a child. Apparently the time on the ticket is when the planes leaves, not boards. So i had to do that walk of shame on the plane because i was the one that was holding the plane back. But i got to sit next to this greeeeat couple who pretty much sat there grooming and petting each other the whole time. I just put on my head phones and played Fruit Ninja and ate my free nuts.

The birthday ~~man~~ boy in charlie brown couture

family photo

Beluga Head a.k.a. Rusty

my dad and uncle freddy getting loose in the kitchen

Is was a fun and way too short weekend out there. I was only there one whole day so i feel like i just drove an hour and a half to my dads and back. Ive gotten to see them so much this year because of our weddings and my brothers, now this. i could get used to it.

Side note: Doesnt my dad look like Captain Paul Watson?

So ya, Sunday geoff got back home from being on tour for a week and a half at the same time as me so that was grand...

Regal

2010-07-23T13:56:00.000-07:00

I thought this got lost in the craziness of moving 6x in 6 months but I found it hidden in a bag in a box in a container in the garage!


Left: june tipsy on pool water 4th of july circa 2008. Right: fridge magnet!

Im leaving June this weekend to go surprise my dad for his 50th birthday out in Colorado! Geoff is still on tour so my bff Natalie offered to house and dog sit for the weekend. How amazing is she?! Nat came over late last night to get the house key and June lost it with excitement when she came over. Just jumping up and nipping her hands haha
Love bites.

the only rocky road i enjoy

2010-07-21T11:56:00.000-07:00

maybe it was the heat
maybe it was the restlessness from being cooped up in the house all weekend
maybe its because im pre.m.s.-ing bad

but i was on a chocolate flavored binge sunday. first thing i made was ROCKY ROAD ICE CREAM! its my favorite food (i <3 ice cream) in my favorite flavor but made to my liking! when i finally got to taste the final product i felt like this.

Heres how to make Rocky Road Ice Cream:

1 can of condensed milk. (i used fat free)
3 cups of half & half (instead of using heavy and light cream)
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Mini marshmellows
Almonds or whatever nut of your liking

Mix the cocoa powder and condensed milk over the stove on the lowest temp

till it looks like this.

Then take the 3 cups of half & half and vanilla and mix with the cocoa mix

till it looks like chocolate milk.
i used half & half milk to avoid that film-on-the-top-of-your-mouth feel you get with using heavy cream.

Then put the giant bowl of chocolate milk in the fridge to get cold.

Lick the pan and spoon clean in the meantime.

After about 30 mins or so the bowl should be good to go.

Hopefully before hand your machine's frozen stone or whatever it is that freezes the cream was frozen for about 24hrs just to make sure. You want it so cold the moisture from your finger tips makes them stick to it.

Pour the mixer in and turn it on!

In about 30 mins you should see it starting to freeze up on the sides, thats when you want to start adding in the almonds and 'mellows. I crushed the almonds with a cup and added them (i think 1/2 cups worth) into the mixture. then i just grabbed a few handfuls of mini marsh mellows and let the machine fold them into the cream.
so very thorough, i know.

The time it takes to finished depends on how or what you are using to freeze the cream up. mine only took about 45 mins. If youre using something like a jar in ice you have patience of a saint and you also need to get with the times.

ENJOY!

Life is Wonderful...

2010-07-20T10:29:00.000-07:00

...and then a pipe bursts under your house. and then your husband leaves for a week. and then you are thrown to the plumbers will.

what i thought was just a slow leak under the front patio of the house became a costly emergency.

one morning on our way to work we notice a little puddle in the front patio area and thought nothing more then hose must have leaked from watering the yard the night before. We get home that night and now its a huge puddle thats sitting in front of our doorway so i call the city and tell them there a leak from our water meter and they need to take care of it. The city water lady asked if there was gushing water and i told her no it seems to barely be leaking so she says she will send someone the next morning. The next morning the water is starting to run down the driveway and when i get home that night from dropping geoff off at the airport the water has reached the street and i have a note on the door from the city saying its not their problem. the next morning im calling around dealing with old men who sound like they hate their life. i set up two appts for a quote.
first guy seemed like he didnt care much and told me to jack hammer up the cement myself and then he will give me a more accurate price and will work from there. sure, okay buddy, let me whip out my jack hammer and get right on that!
second guy was friendly, timely, and helpful. he also explained to me that what i thought was the water meter was actually our sewage line and that he figured that out after he accidently lifted the cap to our sewage line and lots of mud and rocks fell into our sewage line to our septic tank revealing not a slow leak... oh no, a really big leak that was only barely noticable to us because when the cap to the sewage tank was finally start to back up from mud it came out to the top of the cement.
man, i miss having a landlord.
cant wait to see what our next water bill is going to look like.

the leak. so close to the actual opening too!

so after a leak detection, blowing out our sewage line, extenting our sewage pipe higher than the foundation, jack hammering the cement out of the way, repairing the leak, replacing the water pressure regulator, and replacing the front of the house faucet it was finally fixed.

every time this guy knocked on my door to deliver even more bad news i would just get so overwhelmed and start sobbing. i had no idea if he was lying, over charging me, what was needed or done right. all he sees is a girl whos "husband is at work right now" alone making these decision. so basically money signs! and looking back with a clearer head i should have gone with someone else because this dude seriously over charged me.

damnit i miss our apt now.

i know all is said and done now but i seriously felt so taken advantage of. its like when i went to this mechanic last december for a problem with my brakes. he started telling me it was all these things wrong with my car to make my brakes act up and he gave me a estimate of $900. he told me specifically this one part used would be like $500. so i called the scion dealership and got a price for myself and it was only $200. so i took my car and headed over to another mechanic and he fixed my car for only $120. it was just a clogged brake line.
i ~~hate~~ severely dislike men when they pull this shit.
and its so hard when i dont have a dad around to help me out and my husband is on the other side of the country.

Im really thankful for my mom and for geoffs parents. They are helping us out with the costs and were there trying to calm me down from crying my eyes out. And thank you to natalie and april and jason for checking in on me and keeping me company while i was stuck at home for almost two days waterless while that guy was working on the house. And thank you Obama for the first time home buyers tax credit. when we finally get that check in the mail half of it will be gone now thanks to this little leak.
Nothing was covered by the insurance company either. There to protect you, right?! haha

We're going to make it just fine financially thanks to the tax credit and the help of our parents but just sucks that we cant get ahead right now.
We get in a car accident the day after we get married. - HUGE deductible.
Geoff comes home from tour and was promised work but there is none. - only one income.
Now this. - Welcome back credit card debt.

oh the joys of being a homeowner and tour widow!

treasure hunting

2010-07-11T11:42:00.000-07:00

bored and waiting for a bunch of blueprints to come out of the plotter i found these things in our copy room at work:

the old paycheck printer:

i used to play with this when i was little and would fake sick to go to work with my mom. playing "office" was fun back then.

old motorola radio:

old mickey mouse candy dispenser:

i actually remember this one from when i was a little kid sitting in my grandpa's office

there's m&m's in there that are probably as old as i am

and the thing i lost it over....

its a 8mm movie projector.

my mom has a tone of reels in storage of when they were all little vacationing at the nearby lakes. i wish i knew linear editing!

right hand ring dreams

2010-07-10T11:11:00.000-07:00

so my birthday is coming up....

sleep cycle

2010-07-09T13:33:00.000-07:00

i love the sleep cycle app! as soon as i wake up i check the graph. yep, even before twitter.
for a couple days bryan and i would share our graphs via text at 6am! i love that someone else is as geeked up about it as me.

i had a dream last night that i was at a sleeping giant show with all our friends and all of a sudden i took it upon myself to introduce the band and a when i was introducing geoff i said he was the drummer and then played a drum solo and began to sing. but i was standing outside myself with my friends in awe of what i (my other self there at the show) was doing and apologized for being lame. then i realized that nicole had put a roofie in my drink! we all laughed at me and geoff was embarrassed.
sweets before bed = crazy ass dreams.

newlywed recap// 3 months

2010-07-08T11:33:00.000-07:00

So, I'm a little late on this post. Ive been sitting on the idea of writing this for a few weeks because i kinda didn't know how to go about it. I wanted it to be real but real for me equals being frank and over sharing and i know Geoff wouldn't appreciate that. But i didn't want to be fake and say its all sunshine and giggles either. So i think Ive managed to draw that fine line between being honest and still respecting the privacy of our marriage and the intimate stuff.

Some days I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that him and i are a team for forever. And let me say, we are a kick ass team together. We are now at the point where we just both start working without having to say anything and we get stuff done. I'm still learning that he is a grown man and doesn't need my direction on everything. Crazy concept for me to grasp. Ive just never really seen a self sufficient man before at home. My mom always did everything to take care of my brother and step dads.

Ive always wanted to be married since i can remember. I though that it would be awesome to live with the guy you trust with everything, your best friend, love, companion and that all my insecurities would disappear, and God would just be the center of it all. But it doesn't actually happen that way. Ive realized that yes, it is amazing and fun to live with my husband and play house, but, my insecurities haven't gone away. They've more shape shifted into different ones. Not that he doesn't do a good job of making me feel loved and safe, its just that I'm a human and sometimes my brain goes to worse-case-scenario on auto and i cant seem to flip that switch to off. I also didn't realize that you have to actually work at keeping God at the center of the marriage. At least for us. I love hanging out with Geoff and if hes home i usually just want to be in the same room as him (remember its only been 3 months) still. So finding that time, alone, when i can just talk and hang out with God has been challenging for me. Before we were married i had my mornings, evenings, and late nights to myself and would be able to talk with God. Before we were married i thought that when we did get married things wouldn't change so much because of the fact that we are always together. But, now, in retrospect, i can see we weren't together nearly as much as we are now and i have to discipline myself to leave and take that "me" time. It benefits us both. Luckily (sorta), Geoff has only been home from touring about a month and a half worth of time since we've been married. So Ive been able to get lots of alone time when hes gone.

Its gotten even harder when he leaves now. Before we were married it didn't hurt when he left and i was totally fine and cool with it. I missed him, ya, but not like it is now. I think its a combo of living in a new, unfamiliar area, no friends right up the street or coming over for visits and the fact that this is now our home and its not home without him. I get excited for him when he leaves for tour because its for ministry and they are always showing people Christ's love who have a serious misconception of what that looks like. But I'm also so bummed because I'm sleeping alone, coming home to a empty house and for the first few days all i want to do is bum it at home on the couch till hes back! BUT, when he does leave i tend to eat way healthier and exercise more. I bought a few of the Biggest Loser Workout DVDs and since the first time i caught Geoff trying to video tape me working out... he cant be trusted. Plus, the guy has a metabolism every girl dreams of and he can eat whatever he wants without worry of getting fat. Meanwhile I have a metabolism of a old old woman. I've started eating as much raw foods as possible (with the exception of grilled chicken) and have lost weight and my stomach has never felt better!

Other things I've realized since marrying Geoff:
-I will never be able to have a son named Beau (Bo). Because really, who wants to do that to a child- Beau Brouillette? and i really liked that name...
-My childhood dream of a shorter last name will never happen. Its ONE LETTER LONGERR. Oh well, at least its at the top of the alphabet.
-I still feel like a perv buying condoms. Not that i was buying them before, but this one time, it was a few days before our wedding and we were at the pharmacy and i was at the counter picking up my birth control pills. Geoff comes walking up and slams down this Costco size box of condoms! And the pharmacy technician is this guy i went to high school with but we aren't really friends, more acquaintances, and Ive been getting my birth control from this guy since we were like eighteen and i always thought, this guy probably things I'm a slut because i use birth control. So when Geoff, lost in the thrill of being able to buy condoms, slams down that box, i turn bright red. I explained to my high school acquaintance-friend that we are getting married in a few days and he laughs and tells me hes getting hitched in may and we all start chatting it up and condoms are just building friendships!
A few days ago we finally ran out (heyooo) and i had to get some more before Geoff came home. 3 months married and i still feel like a perv buying them.
-Watching Geoff play video games has become increasingly less interesting...
-Toothpaste cleans a diamond ring better than ring cleaner. So in the morning when i brush my teeth, i brush the ring.

We are still in the process of getting our minds to remember that we aren't two lives anymore that its one now. Not that we weren't considerate before but its more an issue with money. Like if i wanted to start a membership here and he wanted to buy something expensive there, we are still getting used to checking in with the other on that. And boy, has money never been so tight as its been these past few months. God's been blessing us with just enough to make ends meet so we are making it but with a lot of superficial/social sacrifices. We cut back on eating out, gas, buying clothes, going to the movies, pretty much buying anything. We've been doing really great at it really. It just sucks sometimes because with our friends, going out and eating is a very social thing and we're not doing that as often as we used to. Geoff was unemployed for 3 weeks so that hit our bank account pretty hard but now hes working for my family 3 days a week in the shop making things with steel and being manly. Let me tell you, my husband looks so sexy working out there. Just sayin'... So hopefully once this tour season is over we will have a second income that will come in more consistently. Thankfully, Geoff made us each save up a lot of money before we could get married and its all come in handy.

Babes. They are still on hold for us for about 4-5 years. Not only are we petrified to have one but i dont think we are mentally or financially ready anytime soon. Only i will say this, seeing our friends with babies does me make excited to have one in the future with him. Ive never felt that before until recently. We joke about what names to name them and how we only want boys. Well that last part isnt a joke.One thing that worries me about having a kid with Geoff is that hes too loving and wont be the disciplinarian. He just wants to be the cool dad and the favorite. I can see that now in how he treats June. Im always the one to enforce rules and while he just wants to let her do whatever.

Another thing we're realizing how we both argue and fight. He is usually silent and wont talk till he's ready (which is about 20-30 mins). When i get my feelings hurt, i want to talk about it till i feel better which doesn't really work with him so its still a learning process for us. Some space is usually the answer. Then we talk it out.

So, all in all, this time in our marriage is going great. I know I'm learning more and more about him and myself all the time. Marriage isn't as easy as i thought it would be, and i really thought i had over thought it enough and realized what it would be like. I'm still in awe of who i married all the time and how much i love him and he actually loves me. Hes more than i ever expected and knew that i wanted and i thank God endlessly for Geoff.

Here is a video of a conversation between geoff and i.
I was initially just trying to capture him singing while playing CODMW2 buuut it just got better so i kept it recording.
He had no idea the whole time it was taping, i promise! When he finally saw it on my computer last night he died laughing at himself.
so NSFW. a few f-bombs and such.

Be blessed,
Mrs. B.

Something you don't see everyday

2010-06-30T14:58:00.001-07:00

...let alone on a company invoice.

Isaiah 58:11 (New International Version)

11 The LORD will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.

people watching

2010-06-29T10:48:00.000-07:00

its just a natural tendency for me. and not because im being negative or judgmental or something like that. im just a curious person i guess.

last Thursday my mom scored Geoff and i 4 tickets to the angels v. dodgers game so we decided to ask my big-little-brother and his wife to come with us and make it a sibling double date first for us. the seats were amazing! 23 rows up from third base and a healthy mix of fans for both teams. its been almost two years since my mom gave me these seat tickets and last time we had them with had the drunkest 4 people in front of us (check out my bday in 2008 post).

Wendell is still the old man in charge of our section. hes seriously the friendliest man and kinda looks like sinatra to me. most people in our area are season ticket holders (thats how we get them) so these people all know each other. Wendell even brought pictures of his daughter and her kids to show the people sitting next to us.

arf! arf!

This is the old man who was sitting behind me screaming "WHO LET THE DOGS OUT!?" followed by two wimpy barks that a sounded like a squeaky toy.
<--------

waiting for the swing

This is the older gentleman is who swooped into the chairs in front of us once the actual ticket holders left to get food. Wendell let it slide because apparently they are buddies.

The original people in front of us were overly friendly. They heard us talking about how good their Ruby's food smelled and the mom offered us their chili cheese fries! Who does that these days?! really kind people, thats who! or child molesters. but i wasnt getting that vibe from them.

mmmmmmm

Geoff was working out in redlands that day and since we got the tickets around noon he asked that i pick up clothes and his shoes to change into at my brother house. well, i forgot. so Geoff had to sport his "dad shoes" in shorts.
hawt stuff.

show some love this sunday

2010-06-24T08:53:00.000-07:00

One of my best friend's good friend's brother died on June 11th. He was a police officer doing his job and was killed in the line of duty leaving behind his wife, two young kids. Natalie is putting on the fund raiser this Sunday @ 7:30 in corona at The Alibi for Tom's family.
The Alibi is not giving a percentage that night, just letting us use their restaurant. There will be a lot of raffles with some really good prizes, Jason from ToDieFor will be DJ-ing, Desserts, and fun fund raising going on all night!
ALL the money we make is going straight to Tom Coleman's family.
I really hope you can make it out for a bit and show some love to this family!

p.s.- I have (3) $10 gift certificates for The Alibi i got off restaurant.com so you can spend less to eat there. just let me know if you want one!

messy messy

2010-06-21T23:11:00.000-07:00

the clutter in our house is taking over...

office clutter

dirty kitchen

dining table turned into junk yard

i think most of it is all the junk mail we get on the daily...
i think some of it is because geoff and matt were home all day everyday last week waiting for work to come in and to find out if baby green would be born soon enough for the guys to play in KY... so stuff started piling up.
i think it couldve been because geoffs been focusing on the yard when hes got free time...
but ya, its unexceptionable and on friday night i had planned to clean the place up but came down with some sickness and couldnt do anything but lay in bed and watch whale wars. saturday was the same but with dogs 101 instead. i hate being sick. i had to call in sick on a wedding i was working with In The Now for the first time. made me feel worse. but im feeling better today. my nose is just constantly running and my ears are plugged up but its an improvement.

so, i havent told you yet! im sure a few of you are wondering who this "matt" i just wrote about is... Matt is SG's drummer for the rest of this summer and he is from TX and living with us while hes out here. travis was offered a job working for his parent's company and is no longer with SG. luckily, they found matt and he flew out here and is working out and fitting right in with SG. hes a really sweet dude and he got married 4 days before flying out to CA! crazy, i know! ive got to talk to his wife a few times over the web cam and she seems like a doll! hopefully she can come out and stay with us for a while too.
and yes, matt is in "the stinky room" but its not the stinky room any more. thankfully.
finally, one day geoff and i decided to pull up the carpet and this is what we found:

a 3'x4' oval of june piss.

a lot bigger than it seems

geoff shampoo'd the crap (no pun intended) out of the back side of the carpet and replace the mat underneath and the room's scent instantly improved! it was a ridiculous amount of dog urine and thats what happens when husbands sleep in while the wife is at work and the dogs gotta wizz :)
so ya, back to matt, hes a sweet, smart dude and a clean, fuss-free roomie living in the habitable guest room of our house.

note: we are not dirty people. honestly. im a lazy germaphobe and geoffs a neat freak. life happens. also, i cleaned the house on sunday night so its safe to come over for a visit <3

june gloom

2010-06-21T12:57:00.000-07:00

june gloom//weather

june gloom//pup

on Thursday Geoff left on a turn around trip to a fest in KY. while hes been gone ive caught a serious sinus infection or something and have been pretty much in bed 24/7. junes had no one to play with or entertain her. so shes been pretty lethargic and chasing light beams has become her new favorite game. its so pathetic and cute at the same time.

yesterday, after being cooped up for 2 days in the house i went to Micheal's to try and re-create a yarn wreath i saw on etsy. $30, 2 dexter episodes and one messy living room later i got this:

this is what im going for:

...i'll let you know how it goes....

any tips on how to make my felt roses look like those?!

junes first beach trip

2010-06-10T14:28:00.000-07:00

so, after weeks of begging and talking Geoff into taking June to the beach he finally said "lets do this!". so we did.

head out the window = heaven

we decided to take the Ortega hwy over the mtns to San Clemente since from our house its the most scenic and fastest. i drove us the way there so i could go slow-ish and not get June car sick and im actually more familiar with that road than Geoff (shocker). there were signs posted everywhere saying no dogs allowed on the beach but i didn't care. it was almost 7pm, no one was hardly around, and i just really didn't care. but Geoff was kinda spazzing about it and worried we'd get a ticket. we never did. its so nice down there. i like south orange county beaches over HB, Newport, etc. less people and its prettier looking. but, HB has the only dog friendly beach in the area. i digress...

Her first interaction with the sand was not very pleasant. she went head first into it (which is the norm for her when she has her "gentle leader" on. she tries to remove it that way), sand in her mouth and half her face. so i ran her down to the shore and had the waves wash up to her paws. she freaked. booked it away from the water so fast! i think the loud noise of the waves crashing and the initial shock of water hitting her paws was just too much. i was holding on to her leash (we kept her leashed the whole time. im still not comfortable with her unleashed out in the open like that. espesh if someone else comes around with their dog unleashed) so she pulled me out of the water and back to Geoff. i tried running her back to the waves again but as soon as we got close she planted her legs into the sand and wasn't budging! shes def not a beach dog. bummer. i really wanted to frolic in the water with her. so after walking around for a while we split and Geoff drove us home.

bffs4eva

not that hes a bad driver but she did get sick on his watch haha. about 5 mins from our house i noticed she was moving a lot in the back and then i noticed she started sniffing around. when she does that its a bad sign. i even told Geoff shes going to get sick and to slow down on the turns. as soon as i said that, BAM. BARF. in the back corner of my car. it was orange and watery (dog food + water). June has this look on her face like, im so sorry, i didn't know what to do! and with a cute face like her i just cant get mad at her for it. but i did fold the back seats up trapping the barf and her in the trunk area (its big enough) so that it didn't roll forward and get in the seats. i moved to the back and just pet her to let her know im not mad and to comfort her poor tummy. AND to keep her from eating it. as much as i wanted her to clean up her own mess, that's just wrong. haha.

the aftermath.

Geoff nearly threw up on the mess as soon as he got out of the car and looked at it, which meant that i had to do the honors. i did what i could but my car is getting detailed as i write this post haha. someone at Lenny D's is getting a good tip today!

hand made things i love

2010-06-09T11:11:00.000-07:00

i have some extremely talented friends. case and point:

Nicole: aka knitcole.
She made me these robots for my wedding by hand! she is so talented with many other mediums of art and could crochet you a bike or whatever you little heart desires.

Knitcole even put magnet in their hands

looks like they just got caught making out

Kristin: Fox Hole Jewelry.
Shes has, to me, one of the hardest jobs in the world. A nurse at a children's hospital. But sometimes when shes not saving little kids lives or hanging out with her rockstar bf shes making her own jewelry. Kristin posted this on twitter and im pretty sure thats how Fox Hole Jewelry was born.

Camille: i dont know anyone who hasnt instantly fallen in love with camille, her hubs and her adorable son. she made these sweet pillow cases for geoff and i. she knows of geoffs love for sharks and mine for jelly fish!

Kaelah: ive only recently started following her blog (thanks nicole) but i just love her and her style. she has an english bulldog that needs eye surgery and after losing almost everything in the nashville floods shes started raising money for it on her etsy. like this cloth flower and headbands, hairclips and bows.
not my actual friend in real life, but still, its hand made cuteness that i love.

florida + kristina - REMIXXX

2010-06-06T17:41:00.000-07:00

so in a random act of ~~crazy~~ kindness a stranger on youtube found the video i made for florida and kristina and was so moved by them that he decided to remake the video clip with some new music, new editing and some star wars inspired text. i wondered, how did this guy know that florida loves star wars so much? then i remembered fla was wearing a shirt and hoodie that were star wars related haha.
i had initially uploaded it on youtube but because of the song not being my own or something youtube wouldnt allow the music play but i just left it there anyway.
i present to you, "Epic Tear Jerker - Stranger Proposes" by, TimesWatcher

*i did not have anything to do with this. seriously.

the stinky room

2010-06-04T11:46:00.000-07:00

creepy hallway picture of the stinky room

to make a long story short: we think something died in the walls of our guest room.

when brett, my little brother, first heard me say that he thought i was talking about a person that was buried in our walls. but let me clarify: we think an animal (rat, mouse, etc) died recently in the walls of our guest room.
the smell started last week just days before my dad + fam were coming in from CO for my bigger little brothers wedding. perfect timing! at first i thought june might have pee'd in it the room while geoff was in the attic setting up our ceiling fan. but he shampooed the carpet in the room the smell just got worse!
ive called exterminators and all they said they could do was rip open the walls but there's no guarantee that they will find anything and ive called 2 home restoration companies and they both have bailed on coming over to our house this week. on monday this one company is going to come over and see what they think the smell is coming from.
so for now my hobby room has become the new guest room (not complaining) so my step mom and rory didnt have to sleep in the stinky room. but geoff uses the closet in the stinky room and im hoping that smell doesnt stay in his clothes or he goes without them. either way, i win.

so for now the window is always open in that room but the door is always shut and we are hoping that whatever it is will decompose fast, if it is even an animal causing that smell. neither of us know what dead animal smells like. but if you have any advice on what to do or who to call, please let me know!

in other news:

florida and kristina are engaged in case you missed my last post! so if you get an invitation from a "Andrew Thacker" dont be confused.
my brother james and his high school sweetheart, shannon, got married last weekend at a beautiful winery in temecula! so happy for them both!
last weekend wouldve been 2 years of dating geoff but now that we're married idk if you count that stuff anymore...?
started to design the branding of our soon to be film production company: Shutter Films.
i had 6 kids around me at one time last saturday and ive moved our 5 year plan to 8! yay for babysitting-birthcontrol.
my life is moving faster than i can keep up with so sorry on the boring posts and lack of them and photos. i didnt even get any of my brothers wedding because we were so busy the whole weekend running around. 3rd wedding we've been in this year.

florida + kristina

2010-05-29T00:22:00.001-07:00

on 5.27.10 geoff and i had the honor of helping florida out with his proposal. he stopped by my office and dropped of a container of rose pedals, a bag of baby candles, a digital camera and a video camera. the man was well prepared.
i couldnt be happier for them and fully support this marriage! florida is one of the greatest friends geoff and i have ever had and for him to find someone with as big of heart as him is so amazing and heaven sent. and ive never seen him happier, soft, lovey and considerate with anyone like he is with kristina. i love kristina and florida a lot!

heres a quick video of what i was able to catch on camera. the editing is rough but thats what you get with imovie. hope you can still feel the love.

p.s- id post the video from my youtube but i guess the song isnt WMP approved or something so there is no audio if you play it with them. lame.

name changes

2010-05-27T13:32:00.000-07:00

Dumb me. I didn't realize that when we were getting our marriage license in march that THAT was my final name change on that particular document. For some reason i thought that was when you picked it up. idk why... just going to blame it on the wedding brain.
Ideally, i wanted to have my maiden name as a second middle name or hyphened and have the longest name of anyone i know with: Candice Marie Valdespino-Brouillette
I wanted to have what i call a 3-liner.
on Geoffs drivers license his full name is so long that it takes up 2 lines. Even with my old name is was just one. but with this improvement i would for sure beat him.
Negative on that plan now.
I got my social security card in the mail and will be going for my DL in a few weeks. Takes forever to get an appt these days. I'll also be getting a new picture taken for it which would be cool. its the same one from when i was 15. not like much as changes since then though.
Seeing my name like this kinda makes me sad. its so final. well maybe not sad, more nostalgic? idk.
still trying to master my name signature though.

and a quick vid of June:

i know, i know. im totally the pet parent of the year....

i go straight to the source and she actually loves it

cool things happening this week:

my little brother is getting married on sunday to his high school sweetheart! im so excited to them!
because of this i get to see my baby brother and sister AGAIN this year!
just bought my ticket to visit them this summer (surprise!)
and one of life's biggest question's will be answered tonight. in redlands. at market night. thats all im sayin' for now...

Hubs does hair

2010-05-25T20:26:00.001-07:00

If only he knew how to give a trim...
Baby steps, Candice. Baby steps...

dream house

2010-05-20T14:01:00.000-07:00

so ever since we first started looking at houses we've been keeping a bunch of pictures in our secret "ssshhhhh" folder of what our dream place would come to be. while our current new-to-us house maybe not be our dream home that we will live happily ever after in, its a great investment home and plan to stay 5-7 years at least. and being the restless creative minds that we are we have some plans to make our house into our home.
i dont really know what my taste in home style is. i like clean, modern, hodgepodge, kitschy, vintage, gray, woods and brightly colored solid and patterned things ...you know? haha
i didnt get all the photo credits but the majority of them are probably from design sponge.

i love a bright colored door

and a bathtub with feet!

water cooler convos with my mom

2010-05-20T08:34:00.000-07:00

mom: i had to drop Jack off at the doggy day care this morning... (starts giggling)
me: whats funny about that?
mom: i said 'jack-off'. doesnt that mean something bad? (still giggling)
me: wow, its too early for this...
mom: i felt so weird telling them, 'im here to drop jack off!' hahah!

clearly, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

"DOYERS!" (dodgers)

2010-05-19T14:54:00.000-07:00

joanna and i surprised the guys with tickets to a dodgers game.

geoffs a major fan and hates the angels so i figured i owed him one.

left field bleacher seats with no one sitting in front of us

apparently we were sitting in a rowdy section. there are 6 security standing in the picture and by the 7th inning everyone around us had been kicked out. people really hated Lee the left fielder from the Astros and they really loved their beer.

the Bermuda's (ryan's "DOYERS" = dodgers en español)

a skinny, foot long, dodger dog. very anti climatic.

the Brouillette's

joanna: "meow!"

all in all, dodgers games are WAY different than angels games:

people: not many blondes. lots of cussing. not really a family friendly event but you if you were a dodger fan you were part of a family.hence all the dodgers "my town" ads. everyone there was screaming/booing.

stadium: not as clean, bench seating in our section was painful, easier to find your seat though but couldnt see if we were on the megatron (you know youre always looking for yourself on there too...), and dealing with LA traffic and parking was a bitch.

team: dodgers are way more entertaining to watch! hands down. homer in the first. a lot more runs, hits, and the players were actually engaging with the crowd more than the angels.and they have G.A.! he was my favorite angel player but he stunk last night.

if only the doyers were closer!

Almost a home

2010-05-18T15:56:00.000-07:00

Geoffs finally home.
He came home with a really long beard to his wife, dog and now his own
piece of California.
Sunday was their last show of this tour. Next one begins in mid June.
On Monday I took the day off work to relax but it was anything but.
The day was filled with riverside courthouse, social security office,
lowes, home depot, walmart and the 99cent store. By the time we got
home we wanted to go back to bed but our front yard was so
embarrassing and geoff was really excited to use his new lawn mower
and weed wacker. I baked some "thank you" cookies for our neighbors
who helped me out with the trash and mowing the lawn when geoff was
gone. They are so sweet.
And June hasn't left geoffs side since he's been home. She couldn't
seriously careless that I'm there. Don't bite the hand that feeds you,
pooch.

Thift store

2010-05-12T17:37:00.001-07:00

For a perfectly good globe and a belt for $5.
Lots of home furnishings for cheap + big empty house = This could be
dangerous.
Hopefully in 10 years you don't see me on horders.

day 4/5/end

2010-05-10T22:46:00.001-07:00

So by day 4... I had lost 3lbs of water weight and I had zero energy. I was having two "movements" a day and was barely sleeping.

Come day 5 and I could barely function. I barely made it to my doctor appt that day and had to pull over to a walgreens to use the bathroom. I was in there for 20 mins. 20 minutes of pure stomach pain and my legs falling asleep from sitting on the toilet for so long. And while I was peeing from my butt and calling my mom to pick me up because i was too sick to drive, i realized this is in no way healthy for me and I was ending it that day.

I felt like I broke edge.

How do anerexic people do this? How do you get your brain and body to that point where you can find comfort or power and control fighting a natural urge?

I can detox my body in a much more healthy manner. So now I am. But first, my first meal was with the ladies to lucille's. Florida's Kristina was working that night and she hooked us up with free dessert. But since i had gone so long without a full meal I couldn't finish my first meal because my guts shrank so much.

This may work for some people but I need food to function. And I love to eat too much.

Now I'm eating raw veggies and fruits and as little meats as I can and tea and water only. Pretty much only natural and whole foods. That's healthy I can handle.

Oak Glen

2010-05-10T22:45:00.001-07:00

First time up in oak glen and I LOVED IT.

The smell of 5lb apple pasteries and the beautiful scenery.
I'd retire there.

day 2/3

2010-05-06T11:41:00.000-07:00

so day 2 went a lot smoother than the first day. cravings weren't too bad and i only ate an orange and a few pieces of asparagus. just kept myself occupied and i was golden!

i ended up scoring a really cool vintage sewing desk off craigslist

i put it in my little hobby room and i cant wait to clean it up and use it! theres all these little drawers and hidden cubbyholes with nails to hold everything. i love organization.

i did a lot of cleaning that night from the surprise party we had for april on sunday at the house. she was totally surprised and there was lots of food and good times. there was still a lot of candy (temptation) around the house still and i had a weak moment... i had done so good all day and what would one little reese's peanut butter cup hurt, i mean its just one and i wouldnt eat the whole thing just half. so i unwrap its goodness only to take a little half nibble out of it but then this wave of guilt came over me and i couldnt do it. i couldnt nibble it. so i licked it. yep, i went there. i licked it. then i wrapped it back up and tossed it in the trash. june gave me this look like, PASS IT DOWN!
productive night, no?

day 3 was rough. i started off feeling so hungry i was feeling sick. and by 4 i was STARVING. joanna and i were meeting up in rancho to pick up a gift we got the boys and while we were down there we went to this vegan restaurant. i caved. vegan is healthy, right?! sooo delicious. my belly was so full by the end i could tell my guts have started to shrink.
afterward i met up with natalie and brie at generate. ive never been a fan of that service for a few reasons but i wanted to go and hang out with nat and brie so i went. it was really beautiful. people choosing to be baptized and everyone was getting lost in worship. even little natorii went and got baptized! we didnt know till she came back to her seat and was soaking wet! haha it was a really beautiful night. to celebrate they got pizza. ya, pretty much my weakness. thats what messed me up on day one! but since it was a celebratory pizza i couldnt say no to a slice. or two. :\ im back on the saddle today and so far im going stong. but, its only 11 am.

heres a video of the pinata from sundays bday party. it had to be reinforced with tape and strung from 3 different ropes so the guys couldnt demolish it in one swing. this aint your average pinata party! and forgive my weedy backyard.

the cleanse: day 1

2010-05-03T23:09:00.000-07:00

without getting into too much detail, ive been having a lot of stomach (upper and lower) issues lately and after talking to a few of friends who've done cleanses, ive decided to do one myself. plus i could use a quick fix to lose the few pounds that just dont seem to fall off and geoff comes home in 2 weeks (heck yessssss!).

the master cleanse.

day one is supposed to be to wane yourself off food. so 6-12 servings of the lemonade/syrup/pepper juice and organic fruits. so i made myself a big ass pitcher of the special lemonade last night and brought a jug to work. the cayenne pepper killed me! and i ate an orange for lunch and had a bunch of water throughout the day. i ended up throwing up in my moms car by 5pm. for serious. hi, im 12 and still getting car sick and ralphing in my moms car.
and since im being honest i must admit that i gave in and had a piece of pizza for dinner. i felt really guilty. and since we're being honest here i must admit that i had two pieces. oops!

so tomorrow im fully ready to tackle the hungers.

pre-made special lemonade (w/o the pepper), an orange, cucumber, and some zero water in case my electrolytes get low and i get the shakes. and instead of using grade B syrup im using Agave Nectar since its so low on the glycemic index. then to finish the night off with a sea salt flush. awesooome.

hopefully day 2 goes smoother and with less ralphing. my toughest times of the day are in the morning, after work, and forth meal time.

wedding picture time!

2010-04-28T12:03:00.000-07:00

On 3.20.10 i married my best friend.

we decide to have our "first look" before the ceremony. personal preference.

(i just realized i used that same picture of geoff twice. oh well, hes just that good looking)

the groom and his men

my beautiful bridesmaids

the ceremony
before we walked out Holly asked me about who i thought was going to cry. i said probably both our moms and dads would, but i definitely did not think geoff would. i mean its GEOFF. and we had been hanging out 2 hours before taking pictures.
i was so wrong...

as soon as i was walking down the isle i noticed he was wiping away tears. geoff had officially lost it. so naturally, i did too. it was a big beautiful happy tear fest.

WOOO!

family pics

oops!

the deets:
sweetandsaucy.com

inthenowweddings.com (best decision ever, seriously)

april and brett in a dance off

best wedding ive ever been to, if i do say so myself. the day could not have gone any smoother. everything was right on time and perfect! a day filled with God, love, and laughing.
thanks to everyone who came and spent the day with us. meant a lot to have you there. and to the ones who couldnt make it we were thinking of you too!

circa 1998

2010-04-26T10:03:00.000-07:00

yesterday i decided to go through every single box left in the house with my name on it.
it was like a gold mine of memories that i had totally forgotten about! and i discovered that i might have had a hording tendency in high school. i had a hardy collection of baseball cards, fast food table numbers, comic cards, weird bobble head figurines, weird little Buddhas, empty jewelry boxes, cards, notes, a bunch of old clothes tags, lanyards, and all my corsages from my high school dances. it was gross. it was like a disgusting time capsule from 1998-2002:

pictured: my fave and first jewelry box, h.s. play bill, fave number to steal, my first cell phone, stack of excellent comic cards, YMCA "rag", many formal dance pictures, working at fender, nirvana phase, notes passed between friends, tapes from our house boat trips to shasta lake, and the disco ball that hung from my ceiling fan in my bedroom.

i really wanted my old cell phone (with the glow in the dark case, naturally) to turn on so i could hear the ringer. my mom had her own tone and if i heard it today i would probably still get wide eyed in fear because i was most likely doing something i shouldnt have. aaaand i found an old mother's day card i never used. what timing!

memories trapped in time, people!

catching my breath.

2010-04-21T12:38:00.000-07:00

for once im my life i have everything under one roof.

a roof im currently living under too.

our roof.

i have to train my brain that this is for reals this time. not going anywhere for a long time and its okay to take things out of their packaging and boxes and throw the boxes away. its a happy concept im embracing.

all in all, its been more emotional than i expected. but im starting to catch my breath.

i got the keys on friday the 16th and Pat, geoffs mom, and i started cleaning out the place so that on moving day it would be good to go. luckily, there wasnt too much of a clean up since its all new flooring, appliances, etc and no one has lived in the house for we think 6 months. I did notice some tiny spiders and other baby bugs running from the vaccum cleaner

Saturday morning geoffs parents, my mom and florida came by bright and early to the apt to help take apart my bed frame and move some of our delicate things and the movers were about an hour and a half late! i was pissed since i had a visual of the time line of the day set in my head and they just pumped it all back! The movers were pro though. they wrapped up the couches, tables, desk, anything not boxed so well that not one thing was damaged. and of course it had to be 85 degrees outside, i felt bad for them. they worked their asses off. one stop at our apt, then two stops at my work, where we kept the majority of our stuff stashed. BARELY got everything into a 26' truck! and of course i had to have my over sized solid oak furniture which weighed over 500lbs each piece. by 4pm they were on their way and our bank acct had a nice sized dent in it.

then the discoveries of things that dont work in the house came up. apparently the hot water tank was empty because the valve that lets the water in was stripped and couldnt be opened. which mean that no hot running water. did i mention that i was sticky sweaty and hadnt showered since the day before. NOT OKAY. you'd think a home inspection wouldve caught that, but no. some outlets dont work either. so that night i had to bum a shower from my best friend from 7th grade and on, who is now one of my neighbors (!). not the high point of being a new homeowner haha. i stayed home alone that night. just june and i. i wasnt scared or anything. just felt alone and really lonely. i realized that i had just faced the reality that friends will think i live too far from corona to visit me unless i entice them with baked goods and bbqs.
and geoff's not here. i so couldve used him then for everything. emotional support, a laugh, his brute strength.

the next morning geoffs dad and i made a home depot run (so far ive only made 3) with a huge list of things i need for the house. we ran into almost all the people i know in elsinore that sunday morning in the home depot. my mom and craig (her hubs) who were there picking up parts for me, and harley (my aforementioned bff's hubs). my step dad took off the old valve and replaced it with a brand new working one. i was back to the land of clean clothes and hair! bug bombed the whole house too! then i tried to watch all 3 of the back to the futures but only made it to 2 before passing out.

so on monday i took the day off of work since there was still a lot to be done that day and i had been running on the same headache all weekend.

where once there was just a door....

now is a sliding glass door

(since the house has an add-on in the back there was only a single door to the back yard)

june just sat in the house watching the guys work the whole day. i think she liked the company of all of the people running around the house.

Then Verizon showed up and connected me with the rest of the world with high speed internets and tv. oh, how i love my tv. and instant netflix! if you think you see geoff signed on in xboxlive, its actually me either A. trying to learn MW2 and ruining his stats or B. watching Weeds and documentaries.

then the dishwasher started acting up. i called Whirlpool to tell them how it looked like it wasnt draining right but they said its normal. so i put another load in there and sure enough, water all over the kitchen floor... a technician is coming out today to look at it. yay for warranties. so between cleaning up the kitchen floor, putting away laundry and trying to make an organized mess of the house, i look out the window and June is out front gallivanting in the street! she went and pissed off all the neighbors dogs. theres 2 other german sheps on the block and they arent dog friendly either.

met my next door neighbors too. really sweet people.

all in all, i am so incredibly blessed to have my mom and Craig and to have married into a family that treats me like im part of the family. Ron Pat and Holly were all over and helped me out so much. and without Craig i wouldve had to pay a plumber an insane amount to fix it. and my mom is just plain old amazing and awesome. kept me sane. Nat's been visiting me a whole lot too! i live closer to her now! and april and jason came and hung out with me late monday night and hung up my curtain rod so i wont think there someone watching me on the other side of my reflection! you know you get creeped out by that too.

so yah. thats been the gist of this crazy past weekend + monday.

blessed beyond belief.

missing Geoff more than i could imagine.

tour widows

2010-04-14T21:42:00.000-07:00

We've been hanging out at home together every night alone since tour started again.

i think shes going through more geoff withdraws than me.

two weeks before geoff left for tour he got laid off from the church so he and june got to hang out at home all day together. they became bffs. secret language, inside jokes and all.

on the morning geoff left i woke up to him saying, "JUNE. JUUUUUNE" in his sleep. last night i woke up at 3am to find june sitting in the patio just staring out through the fence. waiting for geoff to come walking back home.

my hand hurts

2010-04-14T13:05:00.000-07:00

I OFFICIALLY BECOME A HOME OWNER TOMORROW!

i literally had to sign every single page you see piled here. i think ive signed all the Valdespino out of me.

i get the keys and its gets recorded in my name tomorrow.

cleaning party friday anyone! eh? eh?

oh and p.s.- we still aren't legally married according to riverside county courts. our form has to be notarized. with both persons present. oops! no one told us that rule. does that mean i get a do-over?

heather and april dance show

2010-04-09T09:52:00.000-07:00

Last night we were all hanging out at brendas apt and april and heath wanted to watch a webcam video they were bored in long beach a long time ago. They emailed it to my iphone so we could watch it from there since B's comp wasnt in the working mood. Well, this morning i check my email and guess whats still in there....

for your enjoyment, heres a little piano and dance number by april and heath circa 2005 in apes apt:

change of address

2010-04-08T10:23:00.000-07:00

for now on my blog will be found on:

http://sonotcomplaining.blogspot.com/

so make sure to update any links that you have connecting to this blog. thanks!

breaking world records

2010-04-07T15:39:00.000-07:00

we went to our first angels game of the season. spring has finally sprung.

it was snuggie night so everyone got a free one and at the 5th inning we all had to put them on for 5 minutes to break the Guinness world record. naturally people got really spirited once we were all in the same cheesemo snuglet and we had the best "wave" ive ever seen at a stadium. the ten year old inside me got pretty giddy about that.

this guy fashioned his into a turban


CLOSE UP: Then he just paced our whole section swaying with drunken excitement with his turban and sunglasses

this is my first Guinness world record attempt. So im 1 for 1.

I always wanted to be in the book for something (longest water slide)...

ps- es, yours is on its way!

moving again! ...yes, seriously.

2010-04-01T14:05:00.000-07:00

If you lost count, thats 6 times in the last 6 months.

God is so mysterious.

after getting settled into our cozy little apartment and all but waved a white flag at the housing market someone accepted an offer.

it happened pretty fast. last month our realtor showed me this property that had fallen out of escrow and is looking for someone asap and we should go look at it immediately so we can write an offer. we didnt want to get our hopes up so we just wrote an offer without seeing it. after our realtor did a little wheelin', dealin' and pullin' on the heart strings by layin the newlywed card on the seller, they accepted our offer! so in the same week we started escrow, we got married! insane.

geoff was the first to go check it out and he loved it. said i would love it too. so about a week later i finally was able to check it out. remember this post? and i gave a description of our dream home? it was in the first sentence? ya, well God pretty much delivered on that.

on April 15th, 2010 this will be our home sweet home!

front

kitchen

living area

the house is in lake elsinore and has 4 bedroom, 2 baths. and its got two additions to the house making it actually a 5bdrm house. through those french doors there is an add-on so theres like 2 living areas and in the back yard there is a detached house/room thats got its own a/c and electricity. geoffs making that into his art studio! and with all the extra rooms i can have my own room for crafts and whatnot. office. guest room. our room!
it doesnt look like much from the outside but we have big plans for it all. white pvc fencing, sprinklers, plants and palm trees. we even have some fruit trees in the back yard too.
oh and june will finally have a big yard and house to roam around in!

one downer about this all is that when we close escrow and get the keys geoff will be gone on tour! he finally got out of helping me move! and half of the stuff thats getting moved is all his stuff now too. jokes on me i guess. only, this time, i hired movers. so dont worry, i wont be asking for your help :)

i feel over the moon loved by God right now and blessed that He would give us such a wonderful place to live. its always once you surrender it all that you get more than you were even asking for. first, with a husband. now, with a place to call home.

you make my dreams come true

2010-03-30T20:42:00.000-07:00

this is pretty much how i feel everyday since being married.
same context as the movie and all.

and now im going back to being a lady :x

minimoon

2010-03-30T11:11:00.000-07:00

we stayed on crystal pier in our own private cottage with our own private back patio of the pier for 4 days. amazing to say the least. after the first day we thought how cool it would be to live there, on a pier, over the breakers. but after that first day we noticed a few draw backs you wouldn't think of like how loud it is to live that close to the crashing waves and not only can they get so loud that you cant even hear yourself pee but whenever a set comes in the whole cottage shakes! i would wake up in the middle of the night thinking it was an earthquake and geoff would just laugh at me. it was so fun! i wasnt a huge fan of SD area like 99% of people are but after this trip i kinda fell for it. i think la jolla is my favorite city down there.

favorite thing i did out there (besides geoff heyoooo)was go kayaking in la jolla. Es Kretzu said it was something we should do, so we did.
idk what we were thinking we were getting ourselves into but it was not was either of us were expecting. i kinda thought we were going to be in a bay like area with the 7 caves they were advertising but when we realized we were paddling from the beach to the buoys... it started out bad. im pretty sure i was useless the first 30 seconds of paddling. i couldnt grasp the fact that my whole paddle had to go all the way into the water thus dousing geoff (tandem kayak)with sea water hahah. we were in a race to get to the waves before they broke over us and i was kinda in a panic and i really didnt want to tip! dolphins and sealions came extremely close to our kayak and instead of going into the caves (the tide was too hide) we saw this major feeding going on in the water. i pretty sure every bird in a one mile radius was circling the water for fish.
the weather was just perfect that day and we were both doing something new together working as a team. love love loved it. i couldnt bring my camera on our lil kayaking escapade but heres some from the rest of our minimoon trip:

sham slam, jellies, star fish, before and after kayaking the pacific ocean, geoff serenading the surfers and some other goodness.

no, thats not jesus' silhouette. thats just geoff in front of a giant magnifying glass in front of an aquarium.

polar bear club

me, myself and i at crystal pier cottages (where we stayed)

He's still here

2010-03-24T23:24:00.001-07:00

So weird. And fun.

Accident

2010-03-21T13:12:00.000-07:00

Nothing like getting in a car accident on your way to your minimoon!
And we haven't even left corona yet.

Proud mama

2010-03-16T15:49:00.001-07:00

June finally figured out she can do her thang on the sod we put in the
patio!
I know I know.... Sounds dumb or completely stupid but it means so
accidents on the carpet in the apt or a constipated June!

engagement pic overload

2010-03-12T14:47:00.000-08:00

Heres the good, the bad and the ugly of our engagement session with Jaggerphotography! aka heath and gray! heath is one of the o.g. sheshack members and also a long time friend of geoff. i love heather. and her and grayson are so so SO talented in everything. and a super cute couple. its borderline sickening how adorable they are. they moved away to washington a while ago so when they said they would do our engagement pics geoff and i were so stoked. the first time we tried to do them in january we got rained out. i was so bummed but luckily they were coming back a month later and this is what we got :) ive never had anyone take pictures of me before and i always feel borderline ridiculous when i try to take one of myself so this was so weird. especially the kissing part. geoff claimed he didnt know what to do but all his band photo shoot experiences mustve kicked in because he looks so damn good! or maybe im just bias. either way you cant deny the boy is so photogenic.

carbon canyon, ca

8 more days....

its really happening

2010-02-26T09:42:00.000-08:00

yesterday we got the keys to our first place, which is also geoffs first time ever moving. yeah, MOVING AT ALL. thats just crazy to me. sure ive moved 5x in the past 4 months but even before all that and when i still lived with my mom we were moving about every 1.75 years into a newer house. so needless to say we have a major decluttering operation in his room and throughout his garage.
he was saying how he felt like he was signing his life away after going over the 23 page contract and 10 different addendum's but i reassured him that its easier to get married than to get an apt these days and it will all be uphill from here on out.

and no, we wont be living together before we are married. i will be but he wont. after all this time i think we can wait another 3 weeks.

while i went back to work he started unloading my stuff from storage all alone. he is the man.
i was helping him bring in the couch and he slipped into a planter and i was laughing at him, being the supportive fiancee that i am, and in doing so didnt realize the curb coming up. feet stand still, my body goes forward, knees hit the cement, face plant into our new (to us) lazy boy couch, and expecting my fingers to be smashed off since im still gripping the bottom as it slams down on the cement. luckily the couch has feet so digits were unharmed. my knees and pride were not. as i was still laying there on the ground trying not to show my embarrassment tony comes around the corner, "AWWWW... did i miss it?!"
at least geoff got a good laugh!

i dont know why God continues to bless me with so much. i was driving to work thinking about how much He has provided for me lately and im seriously dumbfounded and humbled. when money starts running out or i dont know where i was going to live or what to do, He would provide me with just enough. Andrew opened his house up to me, Travis opened his house to june, larger than expected tax returns and to give me geoff as my husband, i mean seriously?! i just cry thinking about how He loves me and how undeserving i am to have His love and blessings. there are so many people who have less than what they need and i feel guilty. theres just not enough ways to show my love or thank Him.

23 more days.
(till im married, corre. :])

home sweeet home

2010-02-23T13:11:00.000-08:00

this is our luxurious house: all 2500sqft, 4bdrm/2.5baths, half an acre backyard with a jacuzzi, back house for geoffs recording and practices and the white picket fence.

Dream home... no, but we are still excited and feel blessed none the less for being able to live on our own. geoff kept repeating, "we're really doing this, harry!" all night.

after another huge let down on a house we were fighting for we have to throw in the towel for now. its reached that deadline where theres no way we can find a house, go through escrow and move in before we're married so we went apartment shopping on saturday. This place was our first stop because they are cheap and some of our best friends live in the track aaaaand because they dont have a breed or weight limit on dogs! did you hear that? its the sound of heaven opening! WE ARE GOING TO BE A FAMILY AGAIN. geoff, me and june. its been so long since ive seen her. Junes been living with her uncle Travis in grand terrace. frolicking on their huge property, swimming in his giant pool and chasing grandma's cats from what ive heard. And Uncle Trav has even taught her how to sit still with food on her nose and is teaching her german. We signed a long lease with this apt since God only knows what Hes doing and this buying a house business is taking so long.

enter housing talk
there were 2 house in lake elsinore that we wanted so bad we were going conventional with our offers and not even bothering with FHA. so that helped us beat literally 15 offers that were all FHA right off the bat. for both houses it was the day before the seller was going to make a decision that some lame-ass cash offer would come in and steal our spot. and naturally the investor thats selling the house wants to sell their house asap so we even went with a private lender that would be able to close escrow in 15days(the usu- is 30days)! still didnt help.
we are still waiting to hear back from the bank on a house in corona thats a short sale from november. November! NOVEMBER?! apparently, the owners took a second on this house so we have to deal with two banks instead of just a hellish one. but the owners dont live there anymore nor are they still paying it so it keeps going up on the auction block and then getting postponed every month. but its a sweet house with a lot of room and potential so we are waiting for it. but now that since its coming closer to the obama money deadline we are going to have to start going FHA and can kiss standard sales goodbye.
end realtor talk.
i could seriously talk about homes all day and have been entertaining the idea of becoming a realtor but recently geoff and i have come up with an even better career path for us.
youll see eventually.

last night, after leaving multiple deposits on our apt and credit checks, we went to sams club for a stroll and dinner. we're such an old married couple already.

no i didnt surprise him, he posed that way.

now we can stock up on mass quantities of toilet paper and dog food for a good price.
plus to get your 35mm film developed is so cheap!

26 days till we dont have to say goodbye every night. cant come fast enough.

Happy Birthday Natalie

2010-02-09T14:51:00.000-08:00

Last weekend was Natalie (natorii, natsnap, natatatat) 25th birthday!
(shes handling the QLC much better than i am)
on Saturday we put on our ponchos and rubbah boots and went to Disneyland. Haven t been there in months, which felt like forever and had so much fun! the rain had scared all the crowds away and the longest line was like 15mins.

sleeping on tower of terror. except for nat.

amelia and nat lovin on the muppet man

then on sunday night 25+ of us feasted at Lucille's
(check out debi getting into it)

and a close up of (the best looking cupcakes ive ever made) the cupcakes i made for her:

i love natalie. she is one of the most beautiful soul + person ive ever met. loyal to a fault to her family, friends and God. always making you laugh. shes always been there for me since ive known her and im so blessed to have her as one of my closets friends.