CERT & Bridesmaid Dresses

This morning I headed down to a CERT class... the first hour was a terrorism class (how CERT can help in those situations, not how to be one...) followed by a class on deployment procedures (for when we go somewhere to help. Both were really interesting, but to the point. I love a good, informative class that keeps it short!

After that Mom, Nicki, Skyler and I headed over to David's Bridal to try on Nicki's bridesmaid dress and Skyler's flower girl dress. I'm not going to post pictures so that I don't give away too much of the wedding but I do have to say that I have the two cutest flower girls on the planet and completely hot bridesmaids.

After that, Mom and I headed over to pick up Mike's wedding ring... it's ready! It's a really classy ring and totally says Mike... I think it's perfect! I can't believe how quickly everything is coming together!

When I finally got home this afternoon, I worked on some macaroni salad for one of our BBQs tomorrow. I also made some homemade macaroni and cheese - it was so delicious!

Home Made Macaroni & Cheese

Now I'm finally settled in on the sofa for a little bit of relaxing before I head to bed - not a bad day!

Snow Day

The last couple of days have been awesome from a weather perspective! We got a nice little cold front that brought us our first snow of the season! We had some snow yesterday that led to a power outage... that lasted for several hours. It was a bummer because I was supposed to have my first work from home day in a while. I ended up at the Starbucks in Jackson, where it was noisy and caffeinated. Thank God, my future sister in law, Nicki called and invited me to come work from her office!

The bad news about the power going out is that not only do we lose our electricity, but we lose our water. That means we basically only have what's left in the pipes & toilet tanks. So no showers and only as many flushes as there is water in the tank. While that doesn't sound horrible, it does get annoying after a while. Mike is currently researching generators... we think it might be a really nice investment for us. We're looking for something that is going to power pretty much the whole house. One of the neighbors has one, and every time the power goes out, their house is like a beacon on the hillside.

This morning we woke up to some more snow... a good solid inch of fresh powder. I took Shadow down to the pen to play in it and he had a fantastic time frolicking around. I took some awesome pictures of the views we have and, of course, the pup playing.

The View of The Valley From Our Deck

Pretty Shot of The Trees

Shadow With Snow on His Nose

Later in the morning, I met up with Nicki, Skyler, Mike's mom, Mike's aunt and Nicki's dogs for a walk along the Mokelumne River. I took Shadow along for the adventure and was pleasantly surprised... he does really well with Molly and Ruby (Nicki's dogs). We walked for about an hour and a half. The river was absolutely raging and it was beautiful to see!

I spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing and napping. I picked up another cold and I'm really hoping that this one doesn't get as bad as the last one. At least I have a three day weekend to try to rest up!

Movie Review: Tangled

Over the long Thanksgiving break, I was invited by Nicki and Skyler to head out to the movies. It's been forever since I've actually been to the movies and even longer since I've seen an animated film.

I could not have been happier with either. I absolutely loved "Tangled". This is Disney's take on the old fairytale of Rapunzel. Mandy Moore does a fantastic job bringing Rapunzel to life.

Here's the storyline:

After receiving the healing powers from a magical flower, the baby Princess Rapunzel is kidnapped from the palace in the middle of the night by Mother Gothel. Mother Gothel knows that the flower's magical powers are now growing within the golden hair of Rapunzel, and to stay young, she must lock Rapunzel in her hidden tower. Rapunzel is now a teenager and her hair has grown to a length of 70-feet. The beautiful Rapunzel has been in the tower her entire life, and she is curious of the outside world. One day, the bandit Flynn Ryder scales the tower and is taken captive by Rapunzel. Rapunzel strikes a deal with the charming thief to act as her guide to travel to the place where the floating lights come from that she has seen every year on her birthday. Rapunzel is about to have the most exciting and magnificent journey of her life.

I definitely recommend this movie to anyone who has kids and even adults who fondly remember movies like "Beauty and the Beast" and "Snow White".

Click here to watch the trailer!

Happy August 1st!

Well, it's been a couple days... things have been busy! Mike left for a fire on Thursday night, so I've had the house to myself for the last couple of days. Friday I headed down to Folsom in the afternoon for our 2010 Back Pack Drive count (we're getting close). I co-lead the annual event - Intel buys the back packs and the employees donate all of the supplies needed to get the kids through the school year. We pick one school and on the first day of classes, we go in with brand new back packs for the entire school. It's such a cool event to be a part of! We're moving steadily towards our goal, and we deliver next week... I can't wait to see the looks on the kids faces! After I finished up there, I headed into Bed Bath & Beyond to get some new towels and sheets... much needed on both fronts! Nicki and Raymond invited me over for pizza, so I hung out with them a little on Friday night.

Saturday I ran a ton of errands and started cleaning the house. Then, in the afternoon, Nicki, Skyler and I headed out to the Amador County Fair. I was very surprised... it was way more fun than the State Fair was this year! We saw a ton of animals, played some games and went through a couple of the exhibits. The theme this year was "Welcome to the Jungle", so they had this whole exotic animal exhibit... including an armadillo and a porcupine! I had never actually seen either one of these, so it was pretty cool! I also had my obligatory funnel cake (it was way too hot at the State Fair and I didn't feel like eating anything sweet or fried). It was delicious!

Today's game plan is some serious laziness... I have some more cleaning and organizing I want to get done this morning, but then I plan to just be mellow for the rest of the day! I can't believe that it's already August!!! Where is the time going?

Book review to follow a little later today!