.10 days till my bday.

So my birthday is 10 days away and to say I'm excited would be an understatement. Carson's dad is being overly generous and treating for Carson and I to stay in Vegas for 2 nights at the Hard Rock hotel, along with giving us some spending money and gas money since were driving. I've never been to Vegas and Carson's only been a few times when he went on tour with his old band. Its going to be my 21rst so I think I might indulge in some gambling, nothing crazy maybe try the slots or something simple. This will be our first weekend get-away in a long time, we go to Idaho every summer (for the past 3 Carson been joining me) but other than that we never get to vacation since its so hard to get time off from both our jobs at the same time and then on top of that find a place for the dogs to stay. For this weekend though they get to be spoiled rotten and stay at a ranch boarding physicality up in Topanga Canyon, we went and had a "meet and greet" a couple weeks ago and it looks like they are going to have a blast and never want to come home.

I feel like I have a lot to do in 10days and I think I'm starting to stress myself out when I really should just take a deep breath and relax. I usually do a pretty good job at over stressing myself when it comes to something that should be fun.

I went shopping this past weekend and got a little carried away in my search for a cute "out to dinner" dress and some clothes for Vegas and ended up returning everything but this adorable denim jacket and a high waisted floral skirt that I fell in absolute love with. With my new denim jacket it gives my old dresses I wanted to never wear again a new "flare" so I got to fall in love with them all over again, it was great instead of spending money I really shouldn't have in the first place I invested in one item to make all my old ones seem new, I was very very pleased with myself and my purchase.

Well the calls are starting to come and my day at work starts. I'm looking forward to the up coming weeks though next week is only a 4 day week thanks to Thanksgiving and then the following I'm taking Monday and Tuesday off for Vegas : )

Abigail and Clover soaking up the warm sun : )

.away.

So ive been away for a while, ive been stressed out lately at work and home so much that I can barley catch my own breath. I feel like no matter how hard I try to clean or keep things neat and tidy at home it never stays that way for long, I like to put the blame on our 2 dogs and 2 cats for getting into EVERYTHING and all the shedding that takes place but in reality I get lazy and end up making little piles around the house and then the little piles turn into bigger ones and before I know it its completely overwhelming. At work there as been so much paper work lately I don’t know where it all came from because its never been like this before, I try to catch up but when I turn around I just have another huge stack its like a never ending war and I swear im about to throw up my white flag.

I think I need to work on making a list of things I want done and to take care of and maybe work on one thing at a time, my mom always tells me this but I hate to think that she could be right ; ) so I tend to ignore her but usually end up wising up sooner or later.

Enough about being overwhelmed and negative. This weekend was busy and fun and a nice change to get my mind off of all my stupid problems. Saturday Carson and I went to his schools Halloween Carnival in Topanga Canyon and first let me say that Topanga is such a cool small little community, I just love it! So we went there and at first it was so hot and we had to set up our "touch and feel" booth with this thick black plastic that I swear made it like a sweat room....a few hours past and all the little kids started showing up in there adorable costumes and I couldn’t help but be so so happy, I love seeing how excited all the kids get about everything from candy to there friends costumes to the "spooky haunted forest" overall it was a great time. After that we went home and showered then headed off to a birthday party where Carson had done a piece of art, it was interesting to say the least....we almost left after being there for only 10min but ended up staying and had a really great time. I entertained myself just by watching everyone else, and it was a lot of fun. We ended up having Carson’s friends stay the night at our house and didn’t go to bed until around 3 leaving me very tired on Sunday because im a grandma and usually go to bed around 9 or 10 ( I know ). Sunday we spent relaxing and just hanging out, we rented Coralline to get more into the Halloween spirit and Carson made some popcorn it was a good way to end the weekend and get ready for Monday.

So after the longest post ever, if anyone has made it this far here are a couple pictures from this weekend. Don’t get excited I forgot my camera so there from my blackberry and there aren’t many.

carson's sailor outfit at the carnival

I look stupid but whatever, I was a lame indian

carson made me popcorn and put it in my tiger mug : )

they had these chips at the carnival and they were really good tasted like pringles except less salty, I really wish I could find them to buy more.

.obsessed.

with Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros-Home

its been stuck in my head for the last 2 weeks, I swear its become ridiculous.

.rainy day.

Today was my first rainy day, it was nice to bundle up for a change although it is supposed to be 82 and sunny come Friday. I used to HATE the rain and cold weather when I was younger especially in high school I was pretty lame. My mom used to let me and my brother stay home on rainy days and we would all watch movies or go shopping together, looking back I had it really good, I don’t know any other parents that did that for their kids and my mom probably shouldn’t have but oh well. Work was long but luckily not too busy today so it went by quickly.

When I came home I changed into some long john pants that I got over 4 years ago but I LOVE them, there warm and comfy and familiar then I threw on Carson's supper thick flannel, lit my favorite candle from Anthropology (capri blue jar candle, red, volcano) and now im watching the Office on my couch with Bourbon at my feet waiting for Carson to come home and couldn’t think of a better way to spend the night : )

I'll leave you with a picture of my childish pants and comfy flannel, the picture is horribly dark but at least you can see the pants, and that's all that matters.

.halloween spirit.

I love just about every holiday but especially ones you can get really into, I probably get a little carried away and look like the crazy lady on my block but I don’t care. This weekend Carson and I picked out some pumpkins and carved one...actually I carved the eyes and Carson did all the detail I was too scared I would screw it up somehow. Any who so we did that and then I went to Target and got a little carried away BUT they had all these great Halloween lights that were only $2.99 for a box that was 17ft or something like that so I think I bought 5 boxes and on top of that I bought a special box of pumpkin lantern lights to go over the front of our fence. Carson was gone skating so when I got home I wanted to have them done before he got back as a surprise (he gets really into things like I do so I thought this would be a fun surprise to come home to) I quickly remembered why I always have help from him come xmas lights time, I couldn’t get the lights to stay over the windows if my life depended on it after getting extremely frustrated and spending 30min on each window I finally showed it who was boss and was very proud of myself. Carson came home and was surprised and happy so all my frustration was worth it : ) it wasn’t dark yet so we waited and when it finally was we turned on the lights to find out that the 2 boxes I picked out of supposable "purple with orange tips" looked pink. After everything I went through putting them up I really didn’t care. We now have orange lights over our windows "pink" over the fence and the pumpkin’s over the front of the fence, we are defiantly the most festive in our building.

The rest of our weekend was spent relaxing and cleaning around the house, we took the dogs across the street to their favorite field that they haven’t been able to go to in a while because there were too many fox tails and it wasn’t worth the risk. This weekend went by extremely fast and I was hoping that I would have today off because its Columbus Day but I guess that’s only for schools, sadly. So it’s a start to another week of work, so far so good.
Ill leave you with a couple pictures of our jack-o-lantern and our ridiculous Halloween light show we have going on.

.excited.

The more I see pictures and trailers for Tim Burtons Alice In Wonderland the more excited I get and cant wait for it to come out. I love all Tim Burton movies and I've loved Alice in Wonderland since I was little so I am really excited for this.

.grateful.

Sometimes I think I take for granite just how lucky I am. Carson and I have been together for over 4 years and we obviously have had our bad times, but lately everything has just been so blissful that it’s made me appreciate our relationship so much more. Its really weird to look back at when we first started dating and how we've both changed so much since then and to look at how far we've come. We have our own little family now with our two dogs Abigail and Bourbon and our two cats Bulldozer and Clover we live in our cute little apartment and I really don’t think I could be much happier : )

.mawnstirrs and rowboughts.

For one reason or another I forgot to post this last thursday, or I thought I did...I guess im still learning this whole blog thing : ( still I figured I would just post it late

Last night Carson and I went to a little art show that he had some pieces in. It was fun and nice to finally meet a couple people he’s been talking so much about lately. We didn’t stay to long because I had work today and he had an early morning class to go to, but while we were there it was fun.

I’ve been trying to get into a better routine in the morning I feel bad for Bourbon because it seems like he’s always getting the short end of the stick. Being that he’s a little "temperamental" I have to walk him alone because he requires my full attention to make sure no people are coming around or other dogs around the corner, ect. so I try to take him out for a good walk before I leave for work in the morning but somehow he’s always getting gypped. So point being I really need to start getting into a better routine and didn’t know if anyone had any ideas that helped them out? Just getting committed and to get started?

Eventually I would like to start working out myself but that’s a whole other story. I'm going to leave you with a few pictures from the art show


TGIF : )

.cutest dog contest.

please vote for bourbon to win cutest dog : )
it takes just a minute to register, all you have to do is enter your email make up a password and your set. You can vote once a day everyday until sunday. THANK YOU!
heres bourbons direct link to vote

.case of the mondays.

I hate Mondays. Its always hard to get into work-mode since my office is closed on the weekends it seems like everyone is calling and has the most important question that simply cannot wait, the day seems like it drags on forever, time freezes I swear. Today was cooler which was a nice change compared to it being 80 at 9am. I took my bosses dog to the dog park to help time pass by and stayed there for an hour, work kept creeping along but my day completely turned around when I got home. Carson had the day off today because the schools had a holiday and were closed so he had decided to BBQ some nice steak along with making me a delicious baked potato and a little salad. It was really the best surprise to come home to I was starved and had a long day and there couldn't have been a better thing to come home to then dinner all ready for me. After dinner we went over to our friend Christine's house to help her get the last of her things from her old apartment and move them into her new one. After helping her move this past weekend it makes me completely dread the thought of us having to move again, so I think were going to hold off until we find the absolute perfect place. When we were done helping Christine we did a little grocery shopping and ended up calling it a night and going home watching some TV and sharing some mango sorbet. So all in all my Monday ended up being just what I needed.

.welcome.

So I've been going back and forth with the idea of a blog for a while now and have finally caved in. I decided that it will be nice to share photos and such with people I don't see on daily bases.

Every summer since I was six I've been going to Priest River Idaho to visit my dad and grandma. My grandma lives on a ranch with about 100 acres of land right on the river she has horses, and cows and lives down a dirt road where you only have a neighbor about every mile or so. I love going there it is completely surreal how untouched everything is, its quiet and peaceful and even though I've been going since I was six I always have fun. I just got back at the beginning of this month but I wish it was already time to go again.

Here are some pictures from my trip this year my boyfriend Carson and I drove for the first time because we brought our dogs (another first, we boarded them last year) and it made the trip even more enjoyable then I thought it could be. Our dogs Bourbon and Abigail had a blast they got to be...well dogs and run around free smell new things go swimming in the river and go camping it was a blast to say the least. Enjoy.

this I think was one of my favorite pictures from the whole trip. My grandma and grandpa took us out to dinner for our last night in Idaho at one of there little local restaurants and we had to leave the dogs in the car. When we got back this is how they were; Abigail ready to drive along with Bourbon ready to navigate and my dads two dogs just joining along in the back, it was almost to perfect.

this picture was taken from my grandmas back porch, when you play the guitar or sign my grandmas cows come from all over the pasture and watch you.

someone made a diving board out of some logs lying around right above a six foot deep little swimming spot where we camped.

this is from our camping spot in the morning it was so cold out you could see steam coming off the water

I love card games, especially little kid ones. the simpler the better, this is Carson and my dad playing crazy eights its so much fun playing with them because they both get so worked up over it and as you can see it always makes for a pretty good time.

the view from the little island we camped on you can see my dads head down the river

my grandma and I on her horses down one of the dirt trails around her house this one led to the "swimming hole"

driving through Washington

Abigail and Bourbon in front of our tents