In honor of tonight's Tony Awards...

... me with John Gallagher, Jr. I like that guy!

June 10, 2010

All these years of taking a bazillion pictures have finally paid off. Today, while I was browsing through some old photos, I thought, "Hey. Let's see if I've got a picture from this day from any of the last few years."

And as it turns out, I've got a picture for this day from the last four years.

Let me tell you. It's pretty awesome to look back through some digital files and be able to say, "I knew exactly where I was four years ago." 

I seriously need to get back into picture of the day mode.

But. Until then. Memory Lane?

Memory Lane.

On this day, in 2006, I was celebrating Gwen's 7th birthday. (On Monday night, we celebrated her 10th.)

On this day, in 2007, I was getting ready to move out of my fabulous apartment, away from my fabulous roommates (except Jenna, who stuck with me). And Jenna and I stopped to take one last photo shoot in our amazing room, with our amazing three bed set up that we all loved. (Mandy belonged to the other bed, in case anyone's wondering, but you can see here her mattress is already gone. I miss Mandy.)

On this day, in 2008, we were in the middle of the Great Couch War of '08. Where we each brought home a couch that everyone else hated and than had to sell on craigslist. This was Jenna's contribution, what we like to call the Not-a-couch. The Not-a-couch was scheduled to burn on what became known as Not-a-couch-burning-beach-bonfire night. It currently resides on our back porch. Still.

On this day, in 2009, the OSF gave me flowers because I was sick and he was leaving on a family trip and we had just started dating and we were all cute and mushy gushy like that. He happened to pick out a bunch of beautiful Gerber daisies, and I happen to think Gerber daisies are fabulousl, which was a happy coincidence.

And now here we are, today, 2010... and I had no picture. And it's dark, so no good picture was going to be had. So I told the OSF, hey, get over here, we're going to take a picture with my webcam!

And this is what I got***:

Love that guy. He makes me laugh.

Even though he wouldn't take me seriously about my "but I always take a picture on June 10! I just found that out!" argument.

*** Disclaimer: That is NOT a hickey on my neck. It is a bug bite that happens to look redder due to the Cortisone cream I just used.. I have never had, nor do I intend to have a hickey. Even after I'm married. It's just gross.

Just Another Manic Monday

I'm pretty sure I've used that title before, but it just fits, you know?

How was your Monday? Mine went something like this:

Did not want to wake up (who does on Monday morning?)
Went to work
Began grading Andrew Emmel's Business and Careers homework.
Explained to Andrew why I put Incomplete all over his work when he chooses not to answer #5 (the essay question) on every section.
Said hi to Nephi. Asked if he wanted to do Algebra tutoring, which I had prepared for on Friday.
Set up math tutoring in the back room. Today we did factoring by grouping, and learned the torture of factoring by grouping trinomials.
Welcomed Andrew and Francis to our math tutoring club.
Had fun tutoring math.
Really enjoyed seeing Nephi totally get it.
Felt really glad that I've been keeping up on his work.
Lunch time.
Left work.
Got gas.
Paid rent.
Got to Chris' place and settled in for homework in the air conditioned condo.
Read almost the whole chapter. Even watched the online bonus videos on direct instruction.
Fell asleep.
Woke up.
Went to Gwen's tenth birthday party.
Was really sad that Gwen is ten.
Loved hearing her talk about the zillions of books she's reading.
Saw a lot of myself in her.
Talked with Mike about teaching.
Talked with Jessica about the wedding.
Showed off my ring to Virginia and Genessee.
Tried to teach everyone what my new last name would be.
Hugged everyone good-bye.
Came back to the condo. The Monday night crowd was there for TV and dinner.
Talked with Chris and Cody on the porch while they barbecued chicken.
Learned we couldn't get our first choice videographer.
Learned of a new videographer that Cody knows.
Looked at the first engagement photo that was sent to us by Rico and Rachel.
Watched as Cody worked his magic to spiff it up and drop it into our save the date template.
Got really excited. It's cool.
Set up at the kitchen table for more homework.
Did not get any further in homework and opened up Jen and Justin's photos instead.
Opened my flickr account to upload to.
Became frustrated with flickr.
Made a shutterfly website to upload to.
Loved the shutterfly website.
Opened my book again for homework.
Decided to write a blog instead.

Team Trementozzi

So after our engagement session last week, Chris and I couldn't wait to get outside with our cameras. Luckily,  I had a date coming up with Jen, Justin, and Zoey to do some family pictures. Chris borrowed some lenses from work (Canon, for me, he had to just use his ol' kit lens), and we practiced a bit at our Memorial Day bbq. Chris even went scouting around Mission Trails for a good place to take our pictures. He found an adorable little park in a quiet neighborhood up there, complete (to Jen's delight) with thistles and miscellaneous pretty weeds.

Miss Zo was not a happy camper most of the time, despite our post-nap photo jaunt. We did manage to get some happy baby family pictures, but for the most part we had to keep the trio pictures pretty simple in order to keep her attention. You can't tell it in this picture, but she's actually looking past the camera at Chris- whom she adores. Jen says Zo's in love with all the dark haired guys.

When Zoey wasn't having it anymore, Chris kept an eye on her while we began some more artsy, amidst the thistles pictures. Seriously, these two are just so cute. I'm so happy they were all about sitting in a pile of weeds for the look we were going for. Best guinea pigs ever.

I was using Chris' work's 24 mm lens for these ones... you have to get super close, but you get so much extra width than with my 50 mm. I'm a little bit in love with that lens. And the zoom lens. Zoom lenses are fun.

So this was our first official tag team photo shoot. Yay for Team Trementozzi! Although... that is kind of a mouthful of a name... maybe we'll need to come up with something snazzier. Any suggestions? ;)

Currently I am...

... eating the beef and broccoli dish I fell in love with last month
... sitting next to the love of my life
... going through the gazillion pictures from our Jen/Justin/Zoey photo shoot today
.... not doing any homework
... not doing any wedding stuff
... really enjoying myself.

c:

Memorial Day

One of my students asked me at school this week if I would ever marry someone who was in the military, or if it would just be too hard. Sheesh. Where do these kids get these loaded questions from?

I told her a story about my friend Jon from college, who had a girlfriend break up with him when he sat her down one day to make sure she understood what the Air Force meant to him, and that flying for our nation was his place in life. She broke up with him. She couldn't handle it. 

Anyway I'll always remember this story he told me as we drove to a $5 country concert in Lakeside years ago. His dedication is remarkable, and I'm so glad he did find the right girl eventually- he asked her to marry him on a trip to Korea earlier this year.

So would I ever marry someone in the military?

I'm just glad I don't have to make that decision.

Along with pondering these kind of thoughts on Memorial Day, I also spent the day with my favorite person in the world, as well as the other Ch(K)ris' and their wives. We barbecued up at Mel's mother's house while Holz and Mel were housesitting.

I watched my babe swim:

Ate some fantastic carne asada and chicken:

And watched this guy eat. everything. all. day. long.

Happy Memorial Day! Thank you for everyone who does what they do to keep us safe. I love you all.

Wait a minute... wasn't she just six years old?

Yes, yes, she was.

Little Kayla, Jenafer's younger sister, whom I still can't believe isn't six-years-old anymore (granted, I was twelve during her six-year-old-ness), had her bridal shower on Sunday. Holy cow! She's six!

Okay, okay, so now she's 20. But still. 

I told her it wasn't fair that she, being a whole five years younger, was getting married before me, and she just hugged me and said, "Think of it as if we're getting married at the same time!"

All right, fine.

So Kayla's shower was adorable. And she was adorable. And Jen was adorable for organizing it.

Also, Jen's amazing at wedding stuff. Like this ribbon bouquet she's already got good to go for the rehearsal. I'm so glad she's on my side in all this wedding business. :)

Kayla was pretty much the cutest thing you've ever seen. She was so stinking excited about everything. And just adorable about every single gift. For instance, this picture here:

She pulled her new pan out of the bag and exclaimed, "This is my everyday pan! I will use it everyday!"

And then made that face. 

I can't handle the cuteness.

Happy bridal shower, Kayla Deyling!

I think the worst part so far of being engaged is making my closest friends pony up tons of money for a dress. It's seriously the worst feeling.  

Boo.

Sorry, guys. 

Disclaimer: This is not the right color. 

(Our color is quarry.)

At least Jenna rocks it.

Awful Blogger Alert

So I am sucking at blogging lately. Believe me, I have millions of things to write about. And I can usually get around to starting an entry. It's finishing it up that is eluding me right now.

So. I'm going to try to release some of these half blogs this weekend. I'll try to spruce them up a bit, but please don't feel sad if the latest entries are not quite up to par.

Well, you can feel a little sad. I'll feel sad.

In the meantime, you should check out the newest blogger to the blogosphere... Melody! She's pretty freaking hilariously fantastic. You'll enjoy her comparisons of cauliflower and broccoli. Enjoy!

The artichoke dip at our wedding will be fabulous.

If you learn nothing else from this simple blog, remember this at least.

We went today to try out the food that will be served at our wedding. The main chef offered a tasting for us at his condo, and we weren't sure what this meant? Were we getting a meal? Were we getting bite-sized pieces of the main dish? Why were we paying $50 for this?

But holy vegetables-that-I-don't-even-like, Batman; that artichoke dip was worth the $50.

We basically got an awesome sit-down lunch at the guys' place, where he served us all the main foods that would be at the wedding. We started out with a couple of the appetizers, mainly the dip and some sausage he had prepared. Then we tried the two different types of chicken he had, though he promised we would pick the second one (we did) and then we try the pasta too. At one point he asked me why I looked so dazed (this guy kept it real, P.S.), and I told him I was trying to figure out how he made this chicken so perfect.

And he told me his secret. Seriously, he did.

But I can't tell you. If I told you, I'd have to kill you.

Okay, I'll tell you part of it. The part about where he gets his chicken. (Drum roll, please.) He gets it at Costco. Apparently the stuff they sell us at the stores is the lowest of the low, and all the restaurants buy from specific wholesale places that serve the real, non Food Inc. chickens, so no matter how awesomely you cook, it will never be as good as something you will find at a restaurant. But apparently Costco does a good job of getting some of this good chicken. And also beef and fish.

So here's what we've learned: Costco chicken good. Vons chicken bad. And artichoke dip is in our future.

The Repentance Story of a Future Wife of a Designer

Get ready, people- this one's gonna be sappy!

In response to my frequent blog rants about the difficulties of being engaged to a designer who likes to design and wishes to design many things and constantly talks about the design of our wedding (and our invitations... and our centerpieces... and our bridesmaid dresses... and my shoes...), my designer fiance has written a rebuttal on his own blog.

If you haven't read it yet, you should. Among other things, he refers to me as a child with ADD. And calls me crazy. And something about the Easter bunny, which is really just ridiculous.

And while, yes, I maintain the fact that it is hard marrying a designer, I have also found the following to be true:

1) I love that Chris is a designer.
2) I love that he is creative and passionate and tries to incorporate both of those traits in everything he does.
3) This includes our wedding.
4) These are traits that I have always admired in him.
5) They are, in fact, the traits that first led me to him.
6) Would I ever want to change that about him?
7) No.

So in these last couple of weeks, as I have lamented the fact that Chris has opinions and wants to make our wedding awesome, I've also realized that I love him so much for it. Even when he's driving me slightly crazy with "the big picture, all the time" and I just want to look at "the little picture, for now, please."

Like he said, love is hard work. Sometimes you have to compromise. Sometimes you have to concede that the bridesmaid dress he picked out is pretty awesome. Sometimes you have to concede that you only bought those yellow shoes to get something accomplished that day. Sometimes you have to take a match and burn that damn Pantone wheel. 


Here's the sap part:

I realized all this last Friday, as I was driving home from work. I was on the 125 in rush hour, and I was doing that thinking and praying simultaneously thing that you sometimes do when you're feeling overwhelmed. Anyone know what I'm talking about? Well, I was feeling overwhelmed with schoolwork, with real work, with the wedding... especially with the wedding, and with Chris, for wanting to put so much work into the planning and the details and the research and the... let's just say it was overwhelming.

And then suddenly I wasn't overwhelmed with all that stuff anymore. It was back burner stuff. Instead, I was hit with the overwhelming blessing Chris is in my life. How he makes me smile, and laughs at the same things I laugh at, and is content to sit for hours with me on our laptops, and appreciates beauty, and appreciates me, and works so hard, and feeds me, and takes care of me, and a million other things that just take my breath away when I pause to think about them.

He is amazing.

And to think that God's given him to me, to stand beside me, and love me, and be my family, it's just so incomprehensible that such a blessing as he is could be given to me.

And I'll admit it. I was crying a little as I drove down that 125 in rush hour. And when he called me two seconds later with a wedding question, I blurted out, "I was just thinking about how much I love you!" And then everything was great.

So marrying a designer is hard work. And marrying a non-designer is hard work.

But I think we're going to make it just fine.

While shopping with my roommates at Barnes & Noble

The following takes place on May 7, between 8:30pm and 8:35pm.


Jordan: That journal cover reminds me of Mandy.

Sonia: Really? I think that one looks more like Jenna.


Jordan: No, when I think of Jenna, I don't think of so many colors. Like maybe three colors. Bright colors. But just three of them.


Jenna: I like that cover. I would get that.


Jordan: No, it looks like Mandy. Look, this is what you look like.

Jordan: Only with pinks.


Jenna: Really? I would think that would look like Mandy. 


Sonia: I think that one looks like Jenna, too.


Jenna: Here's mine! (Holds up a journal entitled Keep Calm and Eat a Cupcake.)


Jordan: No, here's Jenna for sure.

Jenna and Sonia: Oh, yeah...

Jordan: See? Three colors. Oh, here's another one that's totally Jenna!

Sonia: No, that's Jordan!

Jordan: (Looks at the book.) Oh, yeah, you're right.

Yes. This is a true account of a Friday night spent at the mall. We analyzed each other's personalities using journal covers at the bookstore.

I like those girls.

Telling our peeps

The invitations have gone out.

The calls have been made.

And ten lucky contestants have been chosen to play Wedding Party Idol.

Just kidding. There's no contest. We want everyone to just be best friends. 

(And we'd prefer if most of them didn't sing.)

(If your name is Sarah Trementozzi, you can sing.)

Yes, I sent invitations to my bridesmaids. And, yes, they all knew I'd picked them before they got their invitations. I'm all not-good-at-keeping-secrets awesome that way. 

I made the invites with scalloped note cards, envelopes, and ribbon from Joann's Crafts, along with Chris' nifty printer that only ruined three pages by rotating the little card halfway through the printer duct. (Is that the appropriate terminology for the part of the printer where you know something is going terribly wrong and yet your fingers can't reach in to fix it or at least salvage the quickly diminishing numbers of scalloped cards?)

Chris contemplated invitations for his guys, but in the end he settled on the quick and dirty method:

"Hey, Chris*. Want to be in my wedding? Awesome. Hey when do we want to go golfing** next?"

And since I just named off all the guys, here's the list of girls, for those of you who have tiny screens and can't read the girls' names on the picture above (or for those of you who don't know you can click on pictures to enlarge them....): my sister Britt, Chris' sister Sarah, and my amazing roommates Jenna, Sonia, and Mandy.

*Substitute Chris for Kris, Cody, or Ryan.

** Substitute golfing for watching 24 or going to a concert.

Cupcake Tasting

Chris and I got a bunch of stuff done this weekend. We met with Jarrod, who's going to be DJ'ing for us. We took a trip downtown to check out hotels for... you know. Later. We decided on the bridesmaid's dresses. And we went to our first cake sampling.


(Cup)cake that is. We went thinking we'd just buy some to sample. Which we did. Then when we asked about their wedding deals, they gave us four more to sample. 


We are now up to our ears in cupcakes.


But they're really yummy.

Beef with Broccoli = Heaven

Tonight I decided we needed a break from wedding planning and schoolwork.

So for a glorious two hours, I did nothing online. Instead, I went to Vons, got some steak and broccoli, set to making this great recipe, and made Chris turn off his computer for an hour and watch Planet Earth with me while we ate.

It was so nice.

And that beef and broccoli recipe is a-freaking-mazing. Seriously, as soon as I poured the sauce into the pan with the steak it was like heaven broke out in the kitchen. The smell was so intensely mouth-watering, and I basically stood over the pan and picked out pieces while I waited for the rice to hurry up and cook. (Sshhh, don't tell Chris, he thinks we got an equal amount.) And I had the foresight to make more than necessary and we both had a delish lunch to take to work with us today.

Beef and broccoli make Mondays much better, I feel.


We also still had some cupcakes leftover. Sheesh, I thought we'd never finish those things, but here's the last plate full, which we polished off last night for dessert.

And now it's back to school and wedding planning!