Wedding shoe perfection...almost

So I have had a vision of my wedding shoes since before G proposed (I had high hopes for you babe..wink). I mean, the shoes have always been more important to me than the dress. Seriously.  My perfection shoe vision has always included hot pink, which I perhaps not-so-coincidentally chose as one of our colors. My vision was working out quite nicely. Until I my first google search, after which I realized quite quickly that it was going to be more than an afternoon with the laptap to find a pair other than something resembling stripper shoes. But tonight I found these beauties (here):

The heavens opened up and I think I actually heard a little chorus of hallelujah playing over my head. They fit my vision to a T! (T strap? Ok..terrible pun.) If only I wasn't an amazon. (FYI, in Dani lingo amazon = being 5foot9inches tall). However, it is now my new quest to craft myself a pair similar out of less high strappy heals. Wish me luck, blog followers! And if you get any leads on pink strappy sub 3 inch heels, please send them my way.

Buttons, beads and bows

So all my blog stalking lately has got me inspired to get in touch with my crafty side. And with a wedding in July (basically the only thing on my mind) it was a no brainer. Between G and I we have 4 adorable nieces as our flower girls, and I wanted to give them some jewelry to wear in the wedding. I am mildly obsessed with the JCrew Pearl & Ribbon necklaces and decided to use it as my inspiration. (I saw a grown up version done on a blog last night, but in my sleepy late night state, I can't remember where...)

Anyway, after an attempted-quick-but-turned into not-so-quick stop at the craft store, this is what I came up with...

They were actually pretty easy to make, and at about $3, cheap! And every bride to be can appreciate that. I wanted to personalize each one, and initials were out (they all have names starting with A), so I settled on the name beads, which I loved in the end. The buttons were my craft store "eureka!" moment, but I love how they add a little whimsy. I also like the ribbon tie instead of a clasp...adjustable to a perfect fit, and soft and less scratchy on little ones skin. One down, three more to go!

Where has the time gone?

Time is a funny thing isn't it? For instance, I'll share a funny story from my day.

I got out of work today a bit earlier than usual, and my drive home was filled with excitement of thoughts of all I could get done with my "extra" time in my day. However, this was squashed when I pulled into the driveway and realized both my house keys and wallet were nestled inside the house in my gym bag, not in my purse. I spent the next hour and a half on the phone with G (who is not-so-conveniently out of town) devising a plan of how to get into our house which I have so affluently demanded be more secure than the white house. The credit card swipe didn't work (thankfully for my own sanity), the idea of breaking the window was ruled out (as it's winter and replacing a window is not in my skillbook) so we settled on a locksmith. Ok, necessary digression...to sum it up, my "extra" time was shot, and when I finally got into the house, it was almost 7. Not that this was all that late, but my motivation went out the door with my $100 and the locksmith.

But I guess it wasn't a total loss. I spent the night planted comfortably on my couch, catching up on my girly DVR'd shows, and reading up on friends fabulous blogs (new favorite is A's craft central, here); which made me realize that I have my own blog which I've been neglecting. And this made me realize (yes, this strange string of events really is how my brain works...ha) that sometimes we get so caught up in "time" and using it wisely, that we neglect the lighter side of life.

So the moral of my story? Well I guess my point is, is that I need to hold myself accountable to spend more time "wasting" time. You may think that's easy to do, but for someone who has spent the last 3 months moving, packing, unpacking, renovating, planning, cleaning, there hasn't been much time left over to "waste". Whatever that may be...blogging, crafting, sewing...we'll see. But here I am! Stay tuned for more....

High Flier

Some pics of Uncle Ben throwing Zack into the deep end. He was certainly the best at it, as you can see from the amount of air he got! And had to throw in the pic on top of Zack losing his shorts...too cute!

Pool Party!

This past weekend we all celebrated Mom's birthday in her pool. My niece and nephews are such little water bugs! Despite the clouds in the pictures, it really was a perfectly hot day for the pool.

Just because I think they're pretty...

Going along with our veggie garden, I decided to spruce up our front porch (which as you can see, really needed some sprucing up) with flowers. Not as delicious as the green beans, but much prettier.

Our little garden

If you ask my mom, she will assuredly tell you that I did not inherit the fabulous green thumb of either my parents. My mom creates beautiful flower gardens every year, they are seriously incredible. My dad has a huge vegetable garden every year, and ends up with more tomatoes, cucumbers and pumpkins then he knows what to do with. Me however? I kill house plants. Hearty, impossible-to-kill house plants. But, there may just be hope for me yet!

In April, Greg and I were bored on Sunday afternoon and decided to buy some seeds at the hardware store and try our luck with a little garden. At that point, we weren't sure where we'd end up living, so we just planted them in a little plant tray. When we moved to Manchester, we dug a little spot in the backyard, transplanted our little seedlings, and hoped for the best. As you can see, we didn't do so bad. I "harvested" 27 green beans last Thursday!

What a month!

I realized a couple things today...1, that I haven't posted in a while. 2, that a lot has happened in the last month! First things first, Greg's job offered him a position in Manchester, New Hampshire, and it kind of made the most sense, so we decided to give it a whirl. The following all happened as a result...

1. I quit my job with the Y of 8 years, without having a new one yet.
2. Had my first job interview, almost ever. (My last interview was for a camp counselor when I was 19!)
3. We moved to New Hampshire.
4. Officially graduated from college...finally. :)
5. Was offered aforementioned job (only 7 days after my last day at the Y, and only 2 days after I finished my last class.) I'm now an Auditor with Plodzik & Sanderson, an Auditing firm in Concord.

I am amazed at how everything worked out so well. Needless to say, Greg and I are settled in to our temporary teeny apartment, and having fun house hunting. There is a prospect in the works, so more on that when the time comes. :) I love the new job and other than that, we're just loving life exploring what our new state has to offer. We joked when we decided to move down here that "Who knows, we might even like it!" And so far, we do!

Prima Ballerina

My niece Annabelle had her first dance recital Sunday afternoon. When my sister in law told me last fall they had signed up Anna for dance, I was psyched! Dance was my life when I was little. And to boot, she dances for the same dance school that I did...taught by the same dance teacher that I had before I hung up my dance shoes for good (over 15 years ago!)

As you can see from all her flowers, she had quite the cheering section, and definitely had no problem being the center of attention either. Kudos to Miss Morita and Anna!

Jumping on the blogwagon...

Hi family, friends, fan followers...welcome to our blog.

I've been following the blogs of family and friends for quite a while, and think that with all the upcoming excitement for Greg and I, it might be time to start my own. Now, I know without adorable pictures of babies and kids and new puppies, we can't compete with the cuteness of those blogs of all our family and friends. (Although, if you ask me, I think Greg is pretty darn cute himself!) But we have already had quite a few adventures together to date, and I'd love to keep you all updated on all the things yet to come.

Stay tuned...