Flappers and Barbies and Brides...OH MY!

Since Hallow's Eve was this weekend I thought it would be fun to have a little belated Costume Party...aKa a walk down memory lane of all the costumes Chris and I have worn.

Our First Halloween together...

Flapper and Gangster

2006

This is my favorite!

Costume Contest: WON!

Barbie and GI Joe

2007

Costume Contest: WON!

One or both of us look goofy in every picture from that year. 

Since it's my blog, I picked a picture that I look sort of OK in.

Groupie and Slash

2008

Costume Contest: WON! (Mostly because Chris looked so rad!)

For actual Halloween we went to KISS 95 Halloween Bash and you would have thought that Chris was the real Slash. People were coming up to him to ask him if they could take a picture with him. 

Case in point...

The Bride of Frankenstein 

and the Monster himself

2009

Costume Contest: lost :(

Do you need a close up?

I can't believe we lost! The hair should have won the contest for us!

I loved my hair! I wish I could wear it like more often. My old stylist, Sara, came over and ratted part of my hair and then we ratted some extensions and piled them on my head. Chris' Franken teeth only lasted about 15 minutes. They fell out of his mouth and shattered when they hit the ground. Sad story.

I love dressing up for Halloween. Which costume is your favorite?

Up Next...find out what costume helped us reclaim our title!

baby Max Nugget

Rachel took this picture of Max one day while he was at her puppy daycare.

I just saw it on her phone the other day and immediately sent it to myself! 

Oh I love him.

It's hard to believe he was ever so small. Especially since he is large and in charge now!

See what I mean?

Big Fish

We went to Timbo's with Cody, Rachel, and Josh on Thursday night and ordered this...

Uncle Bob's Fishwich

I am trying to eat a little healthier for the wedding so I figured I would order a fish sandwich (yes I realize it's fried) instead of a 2/3lb burger stuffed with cheese and jalapenos and tons of other gooey goodness. Well I ended up with a fish filet that was longer than my forearm!

Just FYI, I DID NOT eat the entire crabby patty. 

The part that I did eat was extremely delicious though.

WE'RE MARRIED!!!

PSYCH!



However, we would be married if were able to stick to our original wedding date of October 16, 2010. Can you believe it?!? I'm not going to lie- I had a really nervous stomach ALL day on Saturday. I can't even imagine what it will be like on our actual wedding day. I guess I will have a flask of Pepto Bismol tucked into my garter.

We did take a little road trip this weekend though instead. A pre wedding mini-moon if you will. We went to Fredericksburg on Saturday and played tourists.

We started at Trade Days which Chris LOVED. He says Fredericksburg Trade Days is way better than Wimberley Market Days. I beg to differ. I see where he is coming from though. FTD has a lot more "guy" stuff to look at and WMD has more "girl" stuff. We will definitely make a trip back to FTD one of these days. We spent about 2 hours there. We didn't find much we had to have but I did score a cutter style tablecloth in great condition for 5 bones.

This isn't the exact one, but very similar.

tablecloth

Our next stop was Wildseed Farm which is right across the street from Trade Days. It was an interesting place. The Butterfly Festival was going on so it was pretty busy. I was excited to see that they had specialty pumpkins so I helped myself to 3 different kinds.

They had white pumpkins too but I had to draw the line somewhere. I joked with Chris that he better be glad that he was with me or else I would have come home with a carload of pumpkins. He said he knew, he had already thought of that. There were SO MANY cool ones though, I just wouldn't have been able to help myself if he hadn't have been there.

After we loaded up our bounty of pumpkins we headed to Main St. We decided to drive all the way down Main and make a mental note of all of the stores we definitely wanted to stop in. We found a parking spot and started our journey. Our first stop was dogologie. We bought Max a bag of homemade treats. He loves them. Then we stopped in a store called Heirlooms "Needless Necessities". Yes indeed did they haves tons of extremely cute unpractical items for us to snap up. This is one example:

dog not included

Lucky for us we were in market for a doggy tie. One thing done off of the Wedding Checklist. Find Max outfit for wedding. They also had a "teeny weeny yellow polka dot bikini" [read in a sing song voice] for little girls. GAH it was SOO cute! I have to just keep reminding myself that there will still be tons of cute stuff when our babies come around. They also had those heelarious shoes.

cuteness

I know there are some pretty tough critics of these, but I don't care who you are- they.are.cute! Obviously I'm not going to have a little Suri running around wearing toddler heels every day. That is a little much. These are baby shoes people. A baby that has no idea what their feet our, much less what type of shoes you have on them. So I say buy some.

We hit a few other shops up and down main, but once again didn't find too much that we absolutely had to open our wallets for. Don't get me wrong- you don't have to spend to have fun. We had a really good time together looking through all of the shops and people watching.

After we went through all of the stores it was only 2p so we decided to drive out to Enchanted Rock. O-M-G I got extremely car sick from all of the swerving around the curves and the speeding up and slowing down. I could NOT WAIT to get there. We got there and saw it from the main road and that was enough for us. We weren't really dressed for hiking so we headed back to town but decided that we should go back and get a closer look before it gets too cold. Needless to say I was really feeling sick by the time we got back to Main St.

Our next stop was the National Museum of the Pacific War. We wondered why such a little town had such an important museum. In case you're wondering the same thing Admiral Nimitz was born in Fredericksburg in 1885.

We are standing in front of the USS Pintado that has been placed to appear as if it is emerging from below. The Submarine Memorial truly is a sight to be seen. 

                   The Dedication Plaque reads:

                      Dedicated to the Men of the United States Navy’s Submarine Service in World War II, and to the 3,505 officers and enlisted men lost and now on Eternal Patrol. In proportion to their numbers, they extracted the highest price from the enemy of any of our armed forces in the Pacific, and paid the highest price in return.

It was a great experience. My favorite part was all of the artifacts that they had on display. I like to see stuff that people actually used and wore and read and wrote. They had letters that soldiers had sent home to their mothers, telegrams that were sent to families with news about their sons, and Purple Hearts given to soldiers. 

Here are few other displays from the museum:

I would really like to go back. Especially since we didn't get to see the last 3 rooms. We got there at 3:30 and they closed at 5. We didn't rush because we figured they would give us at least 10 or 15 minutes extra to finish up. Well no they didn't. In fact they come through and push you out like a herd of cattle. This guy literally almost started pushing me out. It was pretty frustrating. If you are going to kick people out at closing time then you should figure out the average time that it takes to go through the exhibit and stop selling tickets at a certain time. If you plan on going be sure to get there with enough time to complete the tour. 

After that we went back to one shop on Main St. for ice cream and a cookie. We ended up leaving with a lot more than just that. Croissants, Danishes, Cookies, Christmas Ornaments, and Milkshakes to be exact. 

We both decided we were beat (and let me just say that neither of our shoes were made for walking) and decided to head home.

And that is how we spent our Wedding Day that could have been. It was awesome.

no. 6 sweet as sugar

• I NEEEEED this luggage! I would need to do more traveling too. 

(steamline luggage)

• I totally bought this costume for Max a couple weeks ago. I brought it home and made him try it on and it baaaarellllyyy fit around his neck. There is no way it would have fit him by the time Halloween rolls around. I am on the hunt for a new costume. I wish I could find a dragon or something. 

(shark attack)

• I bought some of this lip balm at Market Days and I really like it. It's really light and unlike most homemade lip balms it doesn't have a weird taste. I bought the Peppermint Lip Balm-Tin.

(peppermint)

• A girl in my Education class has this cover and it's even cooler in person. This iPhone 4 case is fancy and futuristic looking. How long do I have to wait before buying another new phone case?....

(mirror, mirror)

• Of course I can't go without a wedding wist. Aren't these drink stirrers adorable? I already have something to use in the drinks though so this will just have to go on the "If we had an Unlimited Budget" Folder...

Max is BACK!

Chris has been bugging me to post about Max's near death health scare so I figure now is the time.

**Warning: Long Dog Post Ahead**

For those of you that haven't heard we had a very ROUGH week and a half with Max. 

It started on Friday 9/24. I bought him a new rope toy on Friday night. Well last Friday night he started making this noise like he was choking on something and trying to gag it up. I was certain that he  was choking on a thread from the rope. Little did I know this is what a doggy cough sounds like. I called first thing Saturday morning and got an appointment. We took him to the vet and they told us he had a form of Kennel Cough. Poor Max. If you didn't know this already apparently it was an going around the city. It already like the 10th sick dog he had that day. I was freaking out a little but they said that with antibiotics he should be 100% by Monday. 

Well no such luck. On Monday night when I got home from work he was 10x worse than he was on Saturday. I took him back to the vet that night and Dr. Anderson (my favorite vet) told me that he had pneumonia. I was by myself and she kept telling me how it could get worse but it shouldn't and that she would need to observe him on Tuesday. Needless to say- I burst into tears and wailed "Is he going to be Ok?!?!" The vet assured me that everything should be fine but it was just a precautionary measure to watch him for the day. 

She gave him a shot of intravenous antibiotics and this is what I came home with...

He didn't move from that spot all night. 

It was a little weird for us because as we all know this is what we are used to...

(hahaha, this picture still makes me laugh so hard!)

I had breakfast with my mom, nana, and Rachel early Tuesday morning and asked Mom and Nana to come home with me just in case I couldn't Max into the car. He was able to make it OK himself so we headed for the vet. He spent the day hanging out in the nurses station. (Let me just say that Max is a ladies man and no lady can resist him charm. He got super special treatment all day I was told). They also gave him a catheter so they wouldn't have to keep pricking him with the shots they were giving him. He was a little better by the time I picked him up that night. 

 On Wednesday he was 100x worse. He could not even pick himself up out of his kennel. He was in so much pain that he had tears running down his face. I immediately started crying. Mom came over to help me load him, kennel and all, into her car. I drove him to Petsmart and then cried all the way inside while I tried to explain to someone that I needed help to get him out of the car. He was OK after all that day. His shot for the fever had worn off by that morning so it had gone up again. They told us that the fever and the pain made hims just too weak to move. Break my heart. 

On Thursday morning we woke up to this...

 His paw was so swollen it looked deformed. I FREAKED out! I called my mom and she came to help me load him up again. Apparently the bandage wrapped around his catheter was too tight. In the meantime the vet noticed that he kept dropping his hocks. She finally figured out that he was suffering from Hypertrophic Osteodystrophy. It's when the growth plates of young, rapidly growing, large breed dogs become enflamed. IT WAS TERRIBLE. By Thursday night he couldn't walk at all. 

Can you tell how swollen his joints are?

It was just his front legs. We were carrying him around like a reverse wheelbarrow for THREE DAYS. My back was so sore from trying to carry him around.

I was also his personal chef. It must have been good because he is licking his lips. 

He is back to himself now. Thankfully. 

Can you tell?

We took him for his check up and he was being SUCH A HAM for the vet. You could obviously tell that she gave him everything he wanted every day that he was there and he was trying to get more of whatever that may have been. Would you really want it any other way though? We told her that we were having some problems making him listen and behave and she admitted to spoiling him a little too much during his stay. It was worth it. 

I guess Max thought he was in a hotel not a vet's office. 

If the shoe fits...

I was at my Mom's house the other day with Max to show her some wedding stuff and noticed that she had a little rug with witch legs. It was perfect size for Max. 

You know what that means... it was time for a little Halloween photoshoot.

This one is a little blurry but still hilarious. 

I was laughing so hard I could barely hold my side of the rug up.

He is back to full health so he is back to his witchy ways.

Our Happy Little Family

In my Education class this semester our teacher was telling us a few tricks she had up her sleeve of easy yet very interesting ways to learn information about your students within the first week. Instead of waiting until you have trouble with the child, requesting a parent/teacher conference, pulling information out of the parent as to why the student is so disruptful/unwilling/etc, and then adapting your teaching for that child based on the issues. You can gather information from the exercise she told us to use to skip the middle part and go straight to the adapting.

One thing she suggested was asking them to draw a family portrait. This may not sound like much but it can be very telling about the child's home life. For example, if they draw the parents far apart from each other this could mean that the parents are divorced or they don't spend time together or aren't loving towards each other in front of the kids. If they draw the Dad sitting in a chair and the Mom standing it could mean that the mom is always on the go and their Dad watches TV. If they draw a picture of themselves with their grandparents it could mean their parents are absent and that can create a whole bag of issues. All of these can be very traumatic to a child which in turn affects their performance at school.

On a happier note if they draw the parents standing together with the kids and hearts and flowers and rainbows and kittens this probably means they have a wonderful home life. Dr. Hale (my prof) said that one year she had a little girl that drew a picture full of those things and when she had her first parent/teacher conference with her parents she said she was pretty sure she saw hearts and flowers and rainbows floating around their heads because she could "feel" their love for each other and their daughter during the conference. So sweet!

This is exercise seems like it is a little more geared for elementary kids (which I do NOT want to teach) but I think I might try it out and see what I can get out of the junior high kids. If it doesn't work it's OK, it would be good to try though.

Our homework assignment was to draw our family portrait and bring it to class the next week. Here is my family portrait* (you can click on it to make it bigger):

I originally thought I would draw my whole family (mom, dad, brother, sisters) since we're not married yet but 1. My family tree is too complex and 2. Chris and I ARE our own family now even though we haven't been hitched. We have a house and a puppy baby together, I mean how much more of a family can you get? Haha.

Do you think my teacher will see hearts floating around my head from this picture? It was funny because after she assigned us the homework she said "Now I know everyone is going to go home and draw hearts, flowers, rainbows, and kittens on their family portrait so that I don't try to analyze your pictures for any disfunction." Everyone laughed and agreed. 

*This was Chris pre-haircut. His 5 o'clock shadow is pretty funny. Chris made fun of me because we don't any noses. I've never been able to draw stick figure noses. Do like Max' occupation? Cutest puppy Ever! He kind of looks like a fox in this portrait. 

Max Loves Reading and Sleeping

This past week Max decided he wanted to do a little online reading with me. 

Then we decided to watch TV, only he got bored and fell asleep.

Exhibit A

Exhibit B

Just in case you were wondering, he weighs SEVENTY pounds now and he isn't done growing!

We walked to Conquer Chiari!

Saturday morning we all got up early and went to the Conquer Chiari Walk that I posted about earlier this week. It was eye opening to see how many people are actually affected by this condition in our community, especially since we had never heard of it before until my mom was diagnosed. 

Leroy was ready for his photo-op, Max not so much.

We decided to have had shirts made that said "My Mom's a Zipperhead" on the front 

and the print shop printed "We HEART her" on the back for us at no charge. What a sweet surprise!
  It was fun to have Team shirts.

After the walk we had to rehydrate or should I say re-carbohydrate. Nothing like Chips and Salsa and  Cheese Enchiladas after a 5K walk!

Mark your calendars, next years the Walk will be on September 17, 2011

Conquer Chiari Walk Across America 2010

WHAT?  A series of coordinated Chiari walks held at the same time across the country.

WHERE? It is our goal to have at least one walk in each of the 50 states.  This year we have 30 walk locations.

WHEN? Saturday September 18th, 2010.  September has been named Chiari Awareness Month in several states.  In conjunction with the Walk Across America we hope to get more states to recognize September as Chiari Awareness Month.

WHY?  To raise awareness of Chiari; to raise money for vital research; and to get people involved.

In 2010 it is our goal to raise at least $300,000 for research. In 2009, more than $250,000 was raised with 90% of the money going directly to fund exciting, new research projects.

source

As many of you know my mom had brain surgery a year ago for Chiari Malformation. I am happy to report that her Doctor said she had a "textbook" surgery and "textbook" recovery. She is doing GREAT. Needless to say me and my family will be there to support the cause.  

If you can this weekend (9/18/10) go out and support the Conquer Chiari Walk Across America! 

Participation is FREE at the Cibolo, TX walk. T-shirts are available with a minimum donation of  $25.

For more information regarding the Cibolo, TX walk, to register as a walker, or to sponsor a walker, email Trinette Drake at tldrake14@att.net  , call 210-204-9340 or visit: www.conquerchiari.org  

Chiari Malformation: structural defects in the cerebellum, the part of the brain that controls balance. When the indented bony space at the lower rear of the skull is smaller than normal, the cerebellum and brainstem can be pushed downward. The resulting pressure on the cerebellum can block the flow of cerebrospinal fluid (the liquid that surrounds and protects the brain and spinal cord) and can cause a range of symptoms including dizziness, muscle weakness, numbness, vision problems, headache, and problems with balance and coordination. There are three primary types of CM. The most common is Type I, which may not cause symptoms and is often found by accident during an examination for another condition. 

(source)

Maxy Max

Our little Max is growing so fast! He is 5 months old and weighs 62.5 lbs! Chris took him to the vet on Friday while I was out of town and they told him that Max is overweight. Join the crowd Max. Poor Max is on a doggy diet now.

I found Max taking a little cat nap (err doggy nap) on the sofa Sunday. It was SOOO cute. 

I felt like I should tuck him in or something.

Max got his posts off today. Due to Hurricane/Tropical Storm Hermine it took us an hour to get to the vet since no one knows how to drive in the rain. It took me another hour just to get back to work. Anyway, Max was not a happy camper. I opened the car door and he almost ran down the street.

I couldn't snap a picture quick enough. He kept trying to get my phone in his mouth.

He lays in the kitchen while I'm cooking. I was singing him a song to get his attention. 

Can you tell how much he loves my singing?

He has almost lost all of his baby teeth. His adult teeth are way more ferocious than the baby ones but they are thankfully a lot less sharp. We have quite a collection of teeth that we have found around the house that Chris insists on keeping. I told Max we would put them in his baby book*. 

My mom thinks Max is getting jipped because the tooth fairy hasn't brought him anything for any of teeth. Haha.

**We don't really have a baby book for him in case you are wondering. 

SayWA!

What a lame state slogan. 

Anyway, I just returned from my whirlwind work trip and I am still trying to recover. I got the call at midnight on Wednesday that I needed to go and then had to catch the 5:45a flight Thursday morning. I got up at 2:30a to pack my bag and realized I pretty much had NO clean clothes. I was a pretty hot mess the entire time I was there, not going to lie.

Luckily we got to go into Seattle Friday night.  We were barely able to walk from running around the store for the past 2 days but it was totally worth it.

First- we started at Pike's Place Market. I have been to the Market each time that I have been to WA and it is still exciting, interesting, fun each time. There are always different vendors so I always buy a ridiculous amount of souvenirs that say "Seattle" and have the Space Needle on them. This is a bridge on the back side of the market that takes you down to the water to catch the ferry.

It is such a beautiful view. You can see in this picture the lovely steep hills that you get carry yourself up and down. (Side story- we were trying to find our hotel and drove up such a sharp hill/mountainside that our ears started popping only to find out that we turned the wrong way)

There are a lot of live performers around the market and this guy was the most interesting one of the day. He was painted silver head-to-toe and was moving and making noises like a robot. It was cool and extremely creepy at the same time. 

I talked my coworker into taking the uphill hike from the market on 1st to what they call the Retail Core on 6th. It really doesn't sound that far but since it's uphill you gotta really want to spend your money to make the trek. 

The Retail Core has tons of great shopping: Aldo, American Apparel, Anthropologie, Betsey Johnson, H&M, Louis Vuitton- you get the picture. My fave: H&M.

Since we worked up an appetite I told my coworker we should go back to 1st to eat at The Pink Door. She seemed a little perturbed but I convinced her it was completely worth it. 

We both ordered the Pappardelle al Ragu Bolognese (slow simmered meat sauce and fresh pasta). I had to show you my delicious meal (sorry for the blurry picture, I was trying to be incognito) 

And after:

Needless to say the trip is always too short when it comes to fun personal time. I can't wait for Chris and I to go back together and really get to explore. Maybe he will fall in love with city like I did and he will finally agree to move there for a few years. I always try to convince him and I got extremely close one night when were out with some of our friends that are planning on moving to Denver. 

Glad to be home in my own bed, driving my own car, relaxing my feet/legs.