Drip Drip

While Helya was here a few weeks ago, I decided we were in dire need of pampering and stress relief, so we went to Sycamore Mineral Springs for a soak in the hot tub and a one-hour massage. Unfortunately for me, I started feeling sick that day so I popped a bunch of DayQuil and stuffed my robe full of tissues. So there I was, robe-less and face down on a table with my arms pinned down by my sides underneath several layers of sheets while my precious kleenex were hidden away deep inside my robe across the room. For the first 10 minutes of the massage I was feeling great - relaxed, calm and peaceful. That's when the DayQuil started to wear off and my nose started to run. It wasn't a steady stream of snot where you have to wipe your nose every second, but it was the excruciating kind of runny nose - a tickly stubborn dribble that shakes hands with every single nose hair.

Now, instead of enjoying my massage, I could only concentrate on how to avoid dripping on the masseuse's shoe underneath me. How embarrasing would that be if all of a sudden, SPLAT! an AUDIBLE booger droplet landed on her shoe and she had to wipe it off mid-massage!? Would she even continue with the massage? I wouldn't if I were her. So I HAD to improvise. I moved my face just enough to the side so that I got a little wipe on the sheet covering face rest. I had to do this three times over about 10 minutes and she must have noticed because she asked if my head position was uncomfortable. I lied and told her no! I just had a hair in my face. She bought it! Luckily, for the second half of the massage I was face up so now gravity was in my favor. But ew. Boogs in the throat wasn't any better.

Advice: If you have are feeling ill, and you have a massage appointment, stuff your nostrils with tissue before you lie down. There's nothing worse than paying good money to worry about snot.

Four Months Until "I Do"!!

January has been a good month for wedding planning. I've checked a lot of things off of my to-do list and still going!! It has been really difficult to make some decisions, but I am trying to keep the mood light and not get too overwhelmed. Thanks to an amazing weekend with my maid of honor, complete with yummy food, a massage and hot tubbing, I am refreshed and ready to get on with planning the details for the day and all of the events leading up to it!

We have most of our vendors booked:

• Venue - Edna Valley Vineyard
• Caterer - Anacapa BBQ Company
• Photographer - Applemoon Photography
• DJ - Brian from AVS
• Florist - Adornments
• Baker - Christine's Cake Creations

And some other fun things:

• Picked up Steve's ring!
• Helya has started planning the Bachelorette Party
• I got some lovely little flats for dancing at the reception
• My mom is coming this weekend and we're going to start working on our centerpieces - twine covered wine bottles. You'll have to wait and see the finished product!
• The next phase of the invitations should be ready this weekend and then hopefully we can start printing and assembling!
• Steve gets fitted for his suit on Friday
• We're ordering the favors this week - time to start nourishing our living gifts!
• My mom and I are meeting with the coordinator at Edna this week to discuss details about tenting, tables, linens, lighting, and on and on and on....
• We're also going to meet with the baker to pick out cupcake flavors and decor
• At the end of February I'm going to get my dress altered - but it's a big secret what it will look like in the end! :)

Are you sick of hearing about my wedding yet?! ;)

Stormy McStormerson

A huge storm is hitting the central coast this week. But last week we had a storm that brought in such big surf that we could hear the roaring of the waves from our house! Our house that is 7 miles from the shore. SEVEN MILES. Steve usually can't even hear me call his name from our front door to the edge of the driveway. But we could hear WATER from 7 miles away! So at 11pm on Wednesday night we donned our rain gear and drove down to the Pismo Beach pier to see the action for ourselves.

Now let me take a moment to explain something about myself. I don't have nightmares very often, but 95% of my nightmares include a body of water, giant waves, and sea creatures all crashing together to form The End of the World! This is probably the reason why I've never been on a cruise, I freak out snorkeling in 3 foot waters, and I swim only in water where I can see my own feet. It could also possibly be the reason why I CRIED while we were at the pier on that Wednesday night.

Yes. I CRIED. I blubbered and squealed and covered my eyes. And while we were standing at the edge of that wooden pier, beyond the edge of the Earth, looking out over the creaky railing into the blackness of the black ocean on the blackest night of my life, a ginormous black wave would sneak up on us and BOOM! smash into the weary legs of the pier causing the entire structure to shake and rumble. At first I was okay. As we began our descent down the pier the waves didn't seem very scary. There was lots of pointing and Wowing and Oohing and Aahing, but no crying. It was the dark emptiness beyond the tip top of the pier that really struck me.

The waves became a surprise. Would the next one be tiny and would we just laugh at it? Or would the next one come up and over the pier and wash us away? Or maybe it would make the pier crumble and fall into the ocean. Then we'd definitely be eaten by sharks or strangled by Octopi or both at the same time! All of these thoughts went rampant through my mind and then, you will never believe it, but my head spinned 360 degrees three times after only 10 seconds of looking into the evil soul of those waves. I kid thee not.

That's when I sprang back, looked at Steve who was leaning his entire body as far over the railing as he possibly could in order to get a closer look at the beast below. And I lost it. Tears gushed from my face. I pictured him being swept away by a tsunami-sized wave while I witnessed his death, helpless, cold, and alone. I imagined us hand-in-hand, flailing down the pier towards the shore, trying to outrun the Wave of Death, but no no no, there's no way to outrun the Wave of Death! It would tease us by tickling our heels and then it would hurl itself at our backs, and of course we'd trip and fall and get tossed around by the monster and we'd struggle to find each other under the blackness of the icy water - if we were going to die, we were going to die together!

So that is why I cried. I begged Steve to step away from the railing and go back to the car ASAP. But, as we were 3/4 of the way back down the pier towards safety, I looked up at his wide-eyed wet face, smiled, and said, "That was fun! Let's do it again!" This time, I didn't shed a single tear.

Divine 2009

2009 was quite the year - an engagement, a celebration of The Best Mom on Earth, and the purchase of our first home! These milestones will never be forgotten and 2009 will always be a daydream away if life gets tough. I can only imagine that 2010 will be just as memorable with a PARTY in May and an adventure in Tokyo. Thank you to all of my family and friends who made this year truly special. Life would suck without you and I mean that with all of my heart.

Divine 2009 from Jaime Rogers on Vimeo.

iBook funeral

I won't only be saying goodbye to 2009, but also to my beloved iBook. It's been acting up a lot lately, but I had no idea how sickly my poor computer was. All of a sudden it wouldn't turn on, but I could still hear the fan blowing. So I let the battery run out and tried plugging it back in and ta da! it came back on!! I was relieved until it I shut it like I always do after use, and I came back, opened the screen, and BLACKNESS again!! BOO!!! Looks like I will be spending my Christmas bonus on a brand new macbook. I am a little bit excited since the new macbook has a built in camera, better iPhoto, and lots of other really cool features, but I am so sad to be losing my baby. The iBook changed my life! Cheers to you iBook..and here's to a bright future at the recycle shop!

My 2009 slideshow will have to be postponed until January. Stay tuned...

Happy New Year!

Photobooth Fun

This year at our Company Christmas party, they had a photobooth from Moore Photography. Turned out to be the highlight of the evening!!

ROAR times two

The most annoying thing in the world is losing cell phone reception in the middle of a conversation. "What did you say? I can't hear you, you're breaking up! What?? Repeat the last 5 minutes of what you just said because I could only here every other syllable!" UGGG that crap drives me INSANE.

Edit: Mom, don't worry I'm never annoyed with you - just the cell phone! With all this advanced technology, I don't see how not having reception is even possible!!

SO for those of you who can never talk to me anymore since I don't get very good cell phone reception at my house - we now have a land line with unlimited long distance. If you want the number, I'll give it to you. But, if you know me at all, you know I prefer email over phone calls anyday. Is email too impersonal? I dunno, but I bet those of you who email me and read this blog know more about me than those who strictly use the phone. Get with the times people!

Ok, enough ranting for now.

(I've noticed a trend where if my contacts are really bugging my eyes, I get irritated about other things more easily. That is the case right now. ROAR eyeballs!!)

Twenty Seven

Steve took me out to Madonna Inn on Saturday night to celebrate my 27th birthday. I chose Madonna Inn because I wanted to go somewhere festive and bright! Oh my, Madonna Inn was the PERFECT place for holiday cheer. They had the entire place decked out in snowy Christmas trees, giant ornaments, garland galore, flowers, tinsel, and everything else that you might consider to be a gaudy Christmas decoration. They had it all! My favorite part was the old-man band playing Christmas songs and other lovely tunes and watching all of the cute couples cha-cha-ing and swinging. I had a tender Filet Mignon (what else?!) and a complimentary (giant!) piece of Black Forest Cake, complete with a sparkling candle. What a treat!! Thank you Steve for taking me out for the third year in a row! I'm a lucky girl.

Urine Scented Carpet #2

Last week we finished our second bathroom re-model. And by re-model I mean replacement of the urine saturated carpet with something more sanitary. We also installed another new toilet so now our guests can find comfort in the fact that they no longer have to expose their precious bums to a crusty-butt-rusty toilet seat with 20+ years of who-knows-what all up in it.

BEFORE

AFTER

A Plan for Japan

A friend of mine has a co-worker that grew up in Japan. She asked him for suggestions for our honeymoon. Here is what he said:


I suggest below.

Tokyo Area

O-daiba --> Bay Area / Great night view / Nice restaurants / amusement park / good mood for honeymoon

Asa-kusa --> Traditional style Tokyo / Sen-so-ji (Temple) / Mon-Ja-Yaki (Local special food) should have it / Restaurants are not much clean but do not worry Japan is not same as China.

Ueno --> Many Museums / Zoo

Kabuki-Cho --> Most energetic night area in Asia. Very bright at night like Las Vegas. Please be careful to get into Bar or mysterious store, you will get unbelievable charge. And if you refuse that charge, you can see Japanese Mafia. You can try if you want. It calls Bo-tta-kuri. Becareful.

Rop-pongi--> many many many foreigners dancing all night. A lots of night clubs. You can find your friend, may be.

Aki-ha-bara--> The town for Electric store / Holy land of Man-ga (Japanese Comics) /Maid Caffe / You can see strange young Japanese people. (always wearing costume but not Halloween.)

West of Japan

Kyoto is oldest town in Japan. They have many (more than 100) temples and traditional style town. Some of them are world heritage.


Did that make you laugh too? Did it also make you really want to check out Japan? Me too! I can already tell this is going to be an insanely awesome vacation.