I've had it already

Well, it has been one week since I got engaged and I'm already ready to elope. BF and I want a fall wedding, preferably in the mountains of NH. Supposedly, this is one of the most popular times to have a wedding in New England as everyone wants to have their wedding during leaf peeping season. So, a lot of the places that we are looking at only have one of our dates open or some of them, no dates at all (we gave them a choice of three).

Not only that, but everything is so GD expensive. A wedding is ONE DAY. Yes, I would love for a nice wedding, but the fact that one has to spend $30,000 on ONE DAY is ricockulous.* One place that I knew would be out of our price range was just $27,000 to rent the reception hall, an outdoor area for the ceremony, and proposed food and alcohol costs. HA HA HA HA HA.

Sorry for the rant. I probably should have waited a few weeks to start planning my wedding instead of jumping right in. That way I wouldn't have become a bitter bride-to-be just yet.

*This is my word that signifies that something has gone above and beyond ridonkulous.

Our first attempt to make friends

So BF and I decided to suck it up and check out a local Meetup group on Sunday night. The group is all about people that love food- both going to restaurants and cooking it so we figured that it was right up our alley. BF was a little perturbed that we had to go during the Pats game, but I convinced him that there would definitely be a tv at the restaurant (I totally made that up- good thing I was right!).

17 people were scheduled to show up, only 8 actually did. BF was the only boy. But, I had to hand it to him, when he wasn't watching the game, he was definitely joking around and fun. And he said that he was the wingman! The organizer picked a great tapas restaurant so we were happy to at least find a good restaurant.

At one point we were talking about people that said they were coming, but chickened out. One of the women who did not show up is a member of the Boston Tantric Group. Ummm okay. BF joked that if she came to the next event he might have to say something like, "I could talk to you for hours and hours!" HA HA HA.

So we decided that we would definitely go to another event. The only drawback of the night? One of the women that happened to sit across the table from BF was ridonkulously annoying. She was a college professor of art history and kept throwing out that she went to Brown for grad school. I have no problem with people that go to Ivy League schools. I do have a problem with people that talk AT me instead of having a conversation WITH me. That is what this woman did. She found herself way too interesting and just wanted to hear herself talk all night long. BF was very patient with her....I had to turn away and talk to others once in a while to get a break. The way I look at it? You aren't going to like everyone in the group and now BF and I know who to stay away from at the next event!

The first few days....

Proposal stories from the past few days:

*After BF proposed he said that one of the lines that he thought about saying when I pulled the ring out of the mussel was "wow! Some fisherman's wife got screwed!" Thankfully he did NOT.

*After calling our parents BF thought it might be funny to just change our status to "engaged" on Facebook and not call/ text anyone else. I nixed the idea because I do have a small number of friends that are not on Facebook and it's just not a nice way to tell some of our close friends. So, we took a picture with my camera phone and sent the picture of the ring with my smiling face in the background to all of our friends. Unfortunately, some of the picture messages didn't go through, so some people ended up finding out through Facebook anyway. Oh well.

*At first, we were a little underwhelmed with the reaction from both of our parents. However, I reminded BF that his mom already knew about the ring because she held onto it for some part of the summer AND that my parents knew that we went shopping for rings back in June. So while it was exciting that he finally proposed, it wasn't like it was totally out of the blue. Since we have now talked to all of the parents again since breaking the news, they have seemed very excited to help us out with the wedding process and we feel better.

*The reaction from people on Facebook was a bit ridonkulous. I had something like 50 wall posts congratulating me. BF was a little sad that he had all of 6 posts. Poor guy. He's learning that it really IS all about the bride pretty early (just kidding!).

*On Friday night BF and I went to the bookstore and bought a book on "real weddings" by the creator of the Knot. So far, we found out that we should have called my parents first to give them the news so we already suck. We called his parents first because they also live on the East Coast and by the time we got around to calling people, it was almost 9:30pm. Since my parents are one hour behind, we knew we could still call them a bit later.

Giving you what you want

So here is the ring:


I guess BF has been wanting to propose for a few weeks now, but has been putting it off. He bought the ring the DAY AFTER we went ring shopping in mid June. His mom held onto it while we lived with her (just while I studied for the bar this summer) and once we moved down to MA he kept it underneath the passenger seat of his car!!! Boy is he lucky nothing happened to it!

While I was at the grocery store last night, he bought champagne at the liquor store. We decided earlier in the day that he was going to make mussels in white wine sauce. So when I went to get wine glasses in the other room he wrapped the ring in plastic wrap and put it in one of the mussels in my dish. He said that while we were eating, he started shaking so badly that he was trying to think of what to tell me if I asked why he was shaking. Of course I didn't even notice.

I went to dig out the mussel and noticed what looked like a bottle cap wrapped in plastic wrap and said 'ewww what is this?' BF gets up and starts to walk around the table to unwrap the ring and all I could do was laugh. I really had no idea how to react.

He got down on one knee and said that he didn't have a speech prepared, but that he loved me and would I marry him. Before I said yes he started to put the ring on my right hand, so I stopped him, said yes, and then we put it on the correct finger. Silly boys.

HOLY CRAP I AM ENGAGED!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ha ha the irony

Ha ha the irony of writing yesterday's post. BF proposed last night!!!! I am now engaged!!! Definitely still in a state of shock. Details to come tomorrow.

Whoa.

I'm not asking much

I'm not asking much. I don't want BF to spend a lot of money on a weekend away, or even an expensive dinner. I don't see him as the type of guy who would take me to a large sporting event to propose (although I love the Eagles, it would be weird to be proposed to at the Linc). I don't see him taking me out to an expensive dinner just to put the ring in my dessert.

What I do expect is something a bit more romantic than the way my dad proposed to my mom. My mom happened to be ironing and my dad said, "I think we should get married." Don't worry, I rag on my dad a lot for the lack of imagination/ romance.

So while I don't need BF to spend extra money on where he proposes, I do want some thought put behind it. Some nice words about wanting to be with me forever, how much he loves me, how much he can't wait to spend the rest of his life with me/ have kids, etc. Maybe even a little story about when he first realized that he wanted to marry me.

The setup could be free. On top of a mountain after a hike. On a little beach that we land on after going kayaking. Something that doesn't necessarily cost any money, but has some signifiance for us.

Then again, I will probably be happy with the proposal whenever it happens. Thank goodness I don't iron so that BF could copy my dad's "charms."

Randomness

*I got a new phone today after two years with an LG. Since I can't access my personal email account or Facebook at work (the horror!), I decided to get one that has a big enough screen so that I can surf during my lunch break. :-)

The touch screen is going to take a little getting used to. The only thing that bothers me so far? That it is called the Glyde. I HATE when companies misspell names of products intentionally.

*Last night I trolled the small number of posts on the local Craigslist looking for potential friends in our area (no I haven't posted anything yet as I am still worried about that whole "swinging" thing that you guys warned me about!). Some guy posted about meeting new people and I responded. He said that he had about 15 people that were interested, but wanted to wait until 30 people wanted to meet up. To me that's kind of silly. Why not hold a happy hour and even if 5-10 people show up that gives people more one-on-one time to get to know each other? Maybe it's just me getting antsy.

*I also found a post that led to a bunch of Meetup groups in this area. Has anyone ever used Meetup before? If so, was your experience good or bad? I found a group for kayakers that sounds like fun. There was also a foodie group that is meeting for tapas about 30 minutes away in two weeks. BF and I thinking about checking it out....

*I was up way too late Monday night doing absolutely nothing so work was tough yesterday. I hate walking into work with red eyes looking like I had been out boozing all night. Me thinks it won't impress the head honcho..... Nor will the half falling asleep at my desk. I hate the taste of coffee, but knew that my caffeine mints would probably make me a little jittery. By the way? The caffeine mints below? Are freaking awesome. I would highly recommend them. They definitely got me through law school.

So Lonely

So BF and I have instituted Happy Hour/ Appetizer Fridays. Don't get too excited- it's just the two of us. You see, we don't have any friends. At least not any within an hour of our podunk town. It really stinks. We both have friends from college (and BF from middle school) in the northeast, but no one close by.

We really love our neighbors as they are all really nice and helpful. However, we don't see inviting any of them over for cocktails any time soon as they are all probably in bed by the time we are just getting the drinking started! We joked about trying to head out to a bar to make "couple friends." BF said that he would have to be the wingman.

I was thinking about putting up an ad on Craigslist to see if there are any other young people in our town or anywhere nearby. BF somewhat scoffed at the idea...but how can it hurt? The Craigslist in our area is pretty sparse, but maybe there are people out there? Otherwise, it's going to get very expensive always traveling to see other people....

Ring Watch 2008

Well people...I hate to say it, but I don't think that I will be getting an engagement ring any time soon. I know that I had discussed it here, but I have a bit of an update. This past weekend BF and I were chilling on Friday night, relaxing and drinking after a long week of work. I don't quite remember how it came up, but I joked about getting engaged. BF then said, "what makes you think that we are going to get engaged soon?" When I looked over, he looked completely serious. Ummmm that would be us looking at ENGAGEMENT RINGS back in June.

I am not pressuring BF in any way to get engaged right now. But why go ring shopping almost three months ago if you are not at least thinking about it? Why ask me if you need to ask my parents for my hand in marriage? I'm very confused.

There are two possibilities. 1. That BF really isn't thinking that he is going to propose any time soon. This would mesh with a discussion we had this past spring about BF "not being in any rush" to get engaged.* 2. That BF is trying to throw me off the trail, as he does love surprises. I obviously hope that this is the right one. Maybe I didn't see a statement from one of the jewelers? Only time will tell......

*Which is why I was so surprised that we did go look at rings.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So continuing on the subject of getting engaged, I have had some funny thoughts lately. As I mentioned before, I really never thought about getting engaged while growing up. But after the bar, I kept thinking that it would happen. Obviously, it hasn't yet.

But the oddest thoughts keep popping in my head. We passed by a bridal festival sign last weekend and I thought, "BF should pop the question before this festival so that I can go." Or thoughts like, "we should get engaged soon because planning a wedding takes about a year. What if we decide on a summer wedding? If he doesn't propose soon then we will have to wait until 2010 to get married."

Ummm where the hell are these crazy thoughts coming from???

I'm kind of a big deal

So I'm kind of a big deal at work- it is a nice and welcome change from past jobs. I'm not a huge fan of the almost two hour commute every day as it does cut into the amount of time BF and I spend at night. After we get done making dinner there are only two hours or so to check email, check Google Reader, and play my words on Scrabble Beta/ Wordscraper.* I'm sure that as soon as I get my computer at work that time at night on the computer will decrease as I can do some of these things during the day.

How much of a go-getter are you at work? My boss got into a car accident on Tuesday nights, cracking a couple of her ribs. She still came into work on Weds morning to go to a meeting. I was shocked. I went to the meeting with her...had to drive the company car (felt bad driving over every bump in the road), carry her bag, etc. Although she promised that she would show up, clearly there was no need for her to go. Thankfully she left after the meeting and hasn't been back to the office.

I think that if I was to get into a car accident, I would not come into the office the next day! At my first job after college, I didn't want to lose any vacation time so I came into the office with strep throat three days in a row. I would do a few hours of work, and would then be ordered home by my boss. Strep throat is very different from cracked ribs though- not to mention my ulterior motives in coming into work.

Here's hoping she is feeling better soon as early next week we have a conference at [redacted] casino. Too bad there will be no time to gamble! I wish that I could tell you guys more about my job- what I do, where I do it, the awesome programs that I am involved with, but I don't really want that information all over the internets. Needless to say, I am happy as a clam and feel that I am actually helping people with my work. It's a great feeling. :-)


*I have decided that I don't like either of them and will be deleting both apps on Facebook. Bring back scrabulous!

The issue of divorced parents

I am lucky in that my parents have been married for over 30 years. BF's parents? Divorced when he was in college. It wasn't what you would call the most corgial divorce. Ever since then, BF has had to split time between the parents on holidays.

Recently, BF's dad emailed him and asked if we wanted to host Thanksgiving. I had already made the decision not to fly home for Thanksgiving as BF and I will see my parents earlier in November for a friend's wedding. We agreed to host, but I told BF that he should clear it with his mom first. This Thanksgiving is not just a worry about splitting time...BF's mom is getting married the Saturday after Thanksgiving. What if she wanted a rehearsal-dinner-type event on Thursday with family before the wedding? Not only that, but she will have enough to think about with the wedding on Saturday....making a holiday dinner would just add to the stress.

In the end, BF's dad has to fly out to CA anyway so we will be hosting BF's sister, husband, two kids, BF's mom, fiance, and grandmother. I'm not sure where everyone is going to sit, but I'm sure we will figure out it. Thank goodness BF is going to cook most of the dishes. This will be our first time hosting Thanksgiving dinner- the pressure!!!! I have already put my foot down and said that we MUST make my mom's stuffing. Man that sh*t is good.

Merging

Last Friday BF and I set up a joint checking account to pay our bills and a joint credit card to use for expenses (i.e. grocery store). We also each got individual checking and savings accounts. This is a pretty big deal. I see it as us moving forward as a couple, facing the world (and debt) together.

A friend from college sees it differently. Said friend (DG) and I were IMing last night and had an interesting discussion. He is in the military (currently in Iraq) and is off-and-on with his girlfriend. They have big trust issues. We started talking about marriage and pre-nuptials. He is all for a pre-nup; I am not. You would think with my J.D. training that I would agree with them. I guess that I do in certain situations. If one person has a lot more money than the other and/or if the couple lives in a community property state, then I could see it.

DG has put a lot of money away every year since he has been in the military. He is worried that if he gets married and is a bigger saver than his wife, she will get half of his 401K if a divorce does occur. I told him that's why you need to KNOW the person you are marrying. You have open and honest conversations about the future, putting money away for retirement, etc.

I read recently that couples that keep separate bank accounts and just split up the bills are more likely to split up because it's "easier" to walk away from the relationship. BF and I certainly didn't get a joint checking account so that we are tied together financially and therefore won't split up. I see it more as symbolic of our relationship- that we are a team.

Right now BF is making a lot more money than I am. But I am scheduled for three promotions in the first two years of my new job (that I start MONDAY!), which means unless BF gets a raise in those two years, I will move much closer to his salary. By that point, I see us engaged or even married. We both have about the same amount of debt. After two years the pay disparity will be a lot less. I see no reason for a pre-nuptial agreement.

I see joint accounts as making decisions together on what we will spend our money on. Obviously, going out and spending money on clothes or something is not a big deal and asking your partner wouldn't be an issue. But, putting a dollar limit, say $500 or $1000, on what a partner may spend before having to ask permission from the other partner seems reasonable. That way money that could be better spent saving for house repairs or in a 401K and won't go towards new surround sound speakers or a future shoe fetish I might pick up.

If you are part of a couple (married/ unmarried), how do you guys handle your finances?

Going crazy with boredom

So today is my last free weekday before I start work on Monday. I have been going NUTS this past week. I keep commenting to BF that this has been the slowest week EVER. I personally think that he is a little sick of coming home to my crazy rants. I have been making conversation with anyone possible. I am now best friends with the local bank lady and know way more than I should about the person I talked to on the phone about switching my car insurance. Not having anything to do after three years of law school and then studying for the bar? Really sucks.

I know that I am very lucky that I have a job. I should be enjoying these last few days of freedom before starting work again. Instead, I am bored as hell. I am staying up way too late watching tv, sleeping in too late, and generally being very lazy. At least this past week my Wii Fit came in and I got to test it out. (It's great.) BF suggested reading books as I have complained all through law school that I didn't have any time for books. I told him that I have been catching up on all of the magazines that I got (Entertainment Weekly, Sports Illustrated, and Newsweek) this summer but couldn't read because of the bar.

I have been rationing the few errands I have left, trying to do only one a day so that I don't run out. BF left Wednesday after work for Indiana for a work trip. He came back late last night....his time away did not help with my boredom. Later today, his boss and wife will be coming to our new house to discuss work stuff. I have never met them before and I suspect it will be an interesting meeting. They know that I was the girl that kept him in Colorado for two years, even risking his job to be with me. At least people visiting the house might make me do more today before they arrive. I don't want them to think that we always live with boxes and stuff all over the place!

Have a great weekend everyone!

SMUG

As a Prius owner (yes, as in the hybrid) I am happy to be doing my part for the environment. When we moved across the country earlier this summer and gas prices were hovering around $4? Boy was I a happy camper that I was getting 50 MPG. It definitely saved me a lot of money.


Most of the people that I see in the Prius are older (at least 50). And according to Stuff White People Like, white. So, when friends ask me about the car, I am happy to let them know that no, I don't have to plug my car in at night. And that I do still have to put gas into the car. Most people even want to take a ride in the car to see what it is like. I'm hoping that the more people learn about hybrids, the more people will buy them.

I am annoyed though by Prius owners that have license plates that say "high mpg" or something of the like. Everyone knows that hybrids get good gas mileage...why else are there waiting lists for months on end for a new Prius? A license plate like that is basically bragging about the car and thinking that they are somehow superior. (Okay, okay, I will admit to bragging about the MPG to friends. But it's more to get them to want a Prius- I swear!)

BF wants me to get a license plate with "SMUG." Any South Park fans out there? *cricket* *cricket* Well, if you want to know what I am talking about go here. I think that it would be funny for those who got the joke, but everyone else would just think that I am a**hole.

The issue of exes

Staying friends with your ex after a break up is a tricky thing. The last serious boyfriend I had before BF was Herb.* Herb and I dated for a grand total of 9 hot and heavy months. Three months into the relationship we were talking about marriage. The sex was great. He was adventurous, intelligent, outgoing, and funny. I didn't care that he was in college and didn't have any money (he went into the military for four years after high school). I thought that even though he wanted to live abroad after college, that he always wanted to travel despite not having any money, etc. were exciting things, not warning signs that he wasn't ready to settle down. Things were going fine until he decided that he wanted to study abroad and didn't think that it would be right for us to stay together.

However, he didn't end up going abroad. He stayed in the same city and for another nine months, we were basically boyfriend and girlfriend again, except without the label. At the time, I hated my job. I knew that I wanted to go to law school, but wanted to make sure that it was the right choice. I ended up moving 700 miles away to work as a paralegal. I had to get away or else my heart was going to be broken again.

Herb started to date someone else right after I moved. I was devastated. I had purchased football tickets before I left, and decided to keep the "date" (as friends) anyway. The weekend was fine, but I decided that I needed to move on with other men. Then, that New Years Eve, I get a drunken message from Herb saying that he still loved me. Ahem, he was out with said girlfriend that night. I didn't think much of it, but a few weeks later, he let me know that he broke up with his girlfriend and missed me.

Fast forward to law school. I had just moved west and was still talking to Herb. He talked about possibly moving out west to be with me. I held out hope that he finally had grown up enough to figure out his life and that I was what he wanted. Fortunately, he didn't make that decision.

The reason for the background on Herb is because I was talking with him via Facebook last night and he is currently getting his masters abroad. He is thinking about staying in the country for his current girlfriend.** I don't love him that way anymore, but I wonder why he thinks she is the one to settle down with? Before he left the country Herb would call me (sometimes drunk, sometimes not) and tell me that he would never find a girl like me. That no one would ever live up to me. (These phone calls would upset BF, but that's a story for a different day.) So has grad school changed Herb that much? In the end, I am very happy that I decided to move away from Herb. He was so much fun, but our futures were never meant to be. It just took time away from the relationship to realize that I needed a more stable and grounded man. Thankfully, BF came along and we have been happy ever since.

So do you guys keep in touch with exes? Do you wonder or care why your ex becomes serious with someone after you?

*Name changed of course. Can you imagine doing sexy times and saying Herb?
**This could totally not happen too. This is the first I have heard of this new girlfriend and when asked about her he said: "she's cool." I'm sure that he wasn't worried about holding back to protect my feelings so only "she's cool"???

Ain't gonna happen

BF: *chuckles*

Me: What are you chuckling about?

BF: I was just thinking how funny it would be to get married at OSV. You know, have people dress up in period costumes to go to the wedding.

Me: Why would that be funny? I was reading somewhere that people do a lot of theme weddings. But I think that you have to be really obsessed about something to do that.

BF: You didn't read that somewhere. You saw that on 27 Dresses.

Me: Oh. Well, I'm sure that people do have themed weddings. But that won't be us.

My girl card is gone

So yesterday as BF and I headed to the store to check out some tables, I had a thought that I probably shouldn't be shopping and instead I should be studying for THE BAR. *sigh* After three years of law school and then two months straight of studying for THE BAR I guess it is just ingrained in my head. Here's hoping those thoughts go away soon.

So shopping with BF? I should have known better. He claims to have an aversion to the mall. I think that this is true only when he is shopping for clothes. He wants to get in and out as quickly as possible. Home furnishings however? Holy f*cking sh*t. We shopped for EIGHT HOURS yesterday. Yes, you read that right. Part of that time was driving and we did stop to have lunch but the fact that we were gone all day shopping? Ugh.

We did get some things that were badly needed. Curtains for our front window so that we can watch porn (just kidding). Lamps. Plants. Etc. The most annoying part of our day? Shopping for plates. When we left the west coast, we ended up giving all of our plates away to the Salvation Army because we only had a few left. We must have gone to 5 or 6 different stores looking at plates. Some were too expensive, some were too ugly, some were too hard to care for (not microwaveable), etc. Luckily, we found plates at the last store we went to that we both agreed on and were not too expensive. And thank goodness!

During our search we joked that we wouldn't be using the plates very long as we would register for nicer ones for the wedding. And after the day we had shopping for home furnishings? I don't even know if I want to register anywhere!*

*Oh who am I kidding? Who doesn't want free stuff!

Manly meat

Hello lover!

(Photo from Yahoo Sports)

I like my men manly. When I was growing up, I used to read Teen Beat with my sister, fawning over boys like Kirk Cameron. WTF? As I grew older, I started to fawn over rockers- people like Axl Rose and Anthony Kiedis. I even named our two goldfish after them. Again, WTF? But as my taste in actors and musicians has changed, one thing has stayed the same. I love me some manly sports-playing men. Growing up in my midwestern city? Michael Jordan was my unrequited love. He was so sexy with his bald head and huge smile. You could also tell that he put his heart into every single game. Now THAT's sexy.

After Michael Jordan retired (again and again), I had to find a new unrequited love. I found Brett and it was a match made in heaven. The scruff on the face. The love of the game. The clean image (minus the whole....uhhh painkiller addiction). My ex even gave me a tshirt that says "Got Favre?" instead of "Got Milk?" Even now that Brett's ass is a little saggy in his uniform? I still want to grab a piece of that adorable booty.

The reason I go into manly men is because thankfully, BF is a manly piece of meat. I have dated other guys that just can't cut it. I am still a tomboy, even in the last year of my 20s. I don't wear a lot of makeup, I would rather pants or capris over skirts and dresses, and I use one product in my hair after getting out of the shower (partly because I have curly hair and us curly hair people have lots of issues). I need a strong guy that doesn't mind a strong female.

One thing I can't stand? Men taking longer to get themselves ready than me. If you are a man that uses more products in your hair than me, we have a problem. I bet that Brett doesn't use ANY product in his hair. Okay, he probably doesn't need to because his hair is so short. Regardless.

I'm all for a guy being romantic, but when the guy is more sensitive then me? We have a problem. I dated a guy after college that was a musician. He was sensitive. I walked all over him. It wasn't as fun as I thought it would be. So when Brett cried after announcing his retirement? That's okay because it was for the love of the game. Hell, I cried after my last meet in college. (I'm also a girl so it's okay).

Speaking of crying, I am going to need my manly man to be there for me if I suddenly break out into tears Wedsnesday night while I am at the bar after THE BAR is over. I do love me some manly hugs.

No posting again until Thursday.....send good thoughts my way tomorrow and Wednesday. Thursday I will be back in god knows what shape.

We are the main attraction

BF and I have been at our new house for a grand total of 4 days. In those 4 days I have met 6 of our neighbors. They have all stopped by to say hello, introduce themselves, ask if we had any questions, etc. I don't think that I have ever known 6 of my neighbors in any of the cities I have lived in since college! The town that we are now living in definitely has more of a "small town" feel where everyone knows everyone. I'm sure that it doesn't help that everyone that we have met (save for one house) is at least 50. They probably don't have anything better to do with their time.

So while it is nice of the neighbors to come over and say hi (And give us fresh lettuce from their garden! And invite us to use their pool whenever we want!), we do kind of feel like we are on display. For the past couple of days we have had PODS outside in the driveway and I think that it calls attention to us even more. Last night as we were playing outside with the dog some guy ran just past our house, watching us the entire time, and then turned around right after our driveway, watching us yet again on his second time past the house. Very odd.

On a similar note, it's been really hard to study this past week. I want to be excited about our new place and start putting stuff away.....but I need to be studying. This is our first place that is OURS. The condo that we lived in together out west was BF's and while I lived there for a year, a lot of my stuff had to be put in storage until we moved into a bigger place. We finally have room for both of our furniture. While I had somewhat of a say in where things were put at the old place, I feel like we are working together more as opposed to individuals. It's a nice feeling.

One of the first things BF had to do after we unpacked the PODS? Mow the lawn. I took a picture of him doing it because I thought that it was so funny. When he came in after a few hours of mowing (it has a small deck and kept getting clogged b/c the grass was pretty long), I asked if he was ready to be this domesticated. :-) He promptly told me that he was re-thinking his need for a big lawn in the future. Ha!

A girl can dream can't she?

Growing up, we always had a dog. Our first dog was was a Dalmatian, but I was too young to really remember him. We then got an English Setter who was a great dog, but very high strung. Unfortunately, his life ended early when he got hit by a car. The last dog we had while I was growing up was a Black Labrador. He was the best.

After college I wanted a dog, but didn't think that I could handle the responsibility as a single person. I wasn't home at normal hours and left the city a lot to visit friends all down the east coast. I didn't think that I could spend the time that was necessary to train a dog and felt that it wouldn't be fair. I also had no idea where my life was going at that point and didn't want to get a dog, only to have to give it up in a few years.

But right before I started law school, I started to think that it was once again time to get a dog. My parents warned me that I would not have time to take care of a dog as a first year law student. After my first week I agreed! But then, as luck would have it, I met BF my first semester of law school and low and behold? He had a dog. And not just a dog but the cutest, furriest, best dog EVER!

Don't you just want to snuggle with her?

How can you say no to a face like this?

She really is the sweetest, most friendly dog you will ever meet. At 100 lbs, she has no idea how much she really weighs! Then, as third year rolled around I started to think about how much fun it would be for her to have a buddy. Once in a while when I was bored in class I would go on to various shelter websites and look for Bermese Mountain Dogs....or Saint Bernards...or Great Pyranees...or various combinations. Once, I was ready to drive to a neighboring state to city about 7 hours away for a puppy that was part Great Pyranees, part Bermese Mountain Dog. Seriously the cutest puppy EVAH.

But, as much as I wanted a puppy, there were a lot of things up in the air this past year....where I would get a job, where we would live, etc. BF even thought about getting me a puppy for graduation (OMG!)....after the bar was over of course. However, my dream is still just a dream right now. While I am really excited about my job that starts up in about a month? My commute is probably going to be at least an hour. And BF's commute the opposite way? Most likely at least an hour too. That means that getting another dog (especially a puppy) would be unfair. *tear*

Until then, I dream of a dog like this or this, or even another one of these. So, uh, can you tell that BF and I are big dog people?