happy holidays!

Our first Christmas as Mr. & Mrs. was wonderful :) Unfortunately, Ryan had to work on Christmas day, so my family rearranged our schedule a little bit and did our morning tradition on the afternoon of Christmas Eve. It worked out though, and Ryan and I were still able to spend some of the holiday together.

We spent Christmas Eve going to church, and then to my Aunt Lori's house for our get together with my dad's side of the family. Always a good time! We were there until almost midnight sharing laughs and playing games. I was sad to see the night end!

Christmas day was very relaxed, and it was fabulous. My family and I spent the majority of the day just lazying around. We enjoyed a yummy ham dinner cooked by my mom before heading over to my Uncle Scott's house for my mom's side of the family. As always, there was plenty of (loud) cheer, laughter and wrapping paper throwing! Never a dull moment at a Law family gathering!

It was wonderful being able to just spend time with the people I love the most <3. My parents, who just two months ago helped us out tremendously with our wedding, still went above and beyond this year for us for Christmas. Some of Ryan's family did the same for us when we went to visit for Thanksgiving. We are beyond blessed and so very thankful for all of the wonderful people in our life!

I did not take ANY pictures this Christmas, which is very unlike me. I'm so sad! I wish I had at least one photo to share -- and I don't :( I will be very sure to snap as many as I can on New Year's Eve!

I started back at work today. Even though I was only off for four days, it was extremely tough getting up and out of bed this morning! It was even harder driving to work on the empty roads, knowing that more than half of the city was at home, snug in their beds enjoying a day off. Oh well, at least this week is a shorter week!

Until next time :)

tis the season to be jolly :)

No words. Just thought I'd share a few pictures of Christmas cheer around our home :)

it's beginning to look a lot like christmas..

It's been over a month since my last post! I apologize for that. Things around here have been pretty busy! Between our Thanksgiving trip to visit Ryan's family in Colorado (was a blast!!) and me pulling in overtime at work pretty much every night the past few weeks, things have been hectic.


Our trip to Colorado was wonderful. Not only did we get to spend time with some of my husband's family, we also got to spend some much needed time together. Sure, we see each other every day, but with my work schedule and his school schedule (and work schedule on the weekends), we only ever get to squeeze in a few hours of hanging out each evening. So, we were together 24/7 in Colorado, and it was nice. It was honestly the most quality time we've spent together since our wedding -- probably, even before that! We rented a car, so we were able to go out and do stuff on our own. One of my favorite things we did was re-visit Estes Park. That place has a particularly special place in our hearts because its where Ryan proposed to me last Thanksgiving :) This time, we got up there earlier and were able to explore a little more, have breakfast and do a little shopping. I even bought myself a little souvenier -- an Estes Park hoodie! Ryan also joined in on the souvenier buying and got himself a baseball tee with Colorado Rockies written on it.


Since returning from our trip, things have again turned crazy in our lives. Things at work, for me, have been pretty busy. Plus, with Christmas literally around the corner, things are even crazier. I just got most of my shopping done yesterday. I will never again wait until the week before Christmas to do my shopping! The mall was INSANE and I was not a happy camper. However, I got what I had planned to get, and got the heck out of there! I have just a few more little things to buy up in Erie and I will finally be done with my shopping. Good thing, considering the holiday is five days away!

I'm looking forward to my mini holiday break from work. This will be the first time EVER in my professional life where I don't have to work on Christmas -- and I get paid for it! Seriously. It's a wonderful feeling :) I can't tell you how nice it feels to know that I won't be working crazy overnight hours, while trying to squeeze in travel time to Erie just to be able to spend a few hours with my family for the holidays! So, hurry up 3-day work week!!

adventures in newlyweds pt. 1

We've been co-habiting for a little over a month now. And for the most part, its been great. Of course there are the minor annoyances, both parties guilty. He, for instance, loves to leave water glasses all over the place and crumbs on the counter. He's also the king of clutter. Me? Well, between my hair and the cat hair, we probably have enough to knit several winter scarves! I guess I never realized how much I actually shed until I had someone telling me every. single. day.

Our first big marital "adventure", if you will, happened just a couple of weeks ago. One saturday while Ryan was at work, I decided to clean out the fridge, and get rid of all of the rotting produce and old leftovers. One of the leftovers contained a (rather) larger container of pulled pork. I started breaking it into chunks and feeding it into the garbage disposal. To be honest, I never knew that pork was not something to be put into the disposal -- let alone about 3 lbs of it! Later when Ryan returned home from work, he tried everything to fix it from taking the pipes apart to buying a snake auger and drain-o. Nothing worked. So, we had to call in a professional and $120 later..it was a lesson learned. Oops!

Our next adventure just happened earlier this week. Back in October amongst the wedding stress and excitement, my darling husband forgot to pay the water bill. We discovered this, but at the beginning of November. As soon as we did, I set the bill up to be paid. However, the water company did not decide to cash the check in time, and low and behold, they decided to shut our water off. Fantastic. Ryan took care of it right away, but we still had to wait a night without water! We made the best of it though, going to Walmart and stocking up on a bunch of gallons of spring water. Let me tell you, showering with a bottle of chilly water is no bueno (I didn't feel like heating it up..I'm lazy) The next day, our water returned and things were once again kosher.

Like my dad said, its just some stories to add to the books to tell our kids someday!

goodbye october..

October has come to a close. The month went by so fast, it feels like it was just the beginning of the month and we were finishing up last minute wedding details (and stresses!!)
I'm actually kind of sad to see it go. October is my absolute favorite month of the year (I'm pretty sure I've already expressed this numerous times..) and after that, comes my least favorite season of the year.I adore the holidays, but I do not adore what the holidays bring -- cold and snow. ugh. Already this week, I've had to scrape frost off my my car windows every morning. I dread when I'll have to go out there and shovel snow off of my car and the driveway before I can get out!

At any rate, it was an enjoyable month! Between getting married, enjoying the fall sites and pumpkin patches, I loved it :) The weekend after we got married, Ryan, Rainier and I went to the pumpkin patch. It was the guys' idea to go, and I was like a kid in a candy store!

We had fun picking out pumpkins, watching apple cider being made, and buying some apple cider (mmm!) One thing I didn't get to do, was go to any haunted houses :( Maybe next year..


We carved our pumpkins a few days before Halloween. As we were carving, I told Ryan it was a tradition I plan to carry on with our future kids. As a kid, I always carved pumpkins with my dad and siblings and loved it. Its something I am not willing to give up! . I think that I enjoy carving pumpkins more than my husband does, but luckily he is a good sport about it :) Our pumpkins turned out pretty decent for them being free hand. I meant to pick up one of those pumpkin carving kits this year, but I never got around to it. We ended up winging it, and we were both pleased with the results!

As for trick or treaters, I had NO idea how many to expect as this was our first Halloween in the house. I ended up buying entirely too much candy, so now we are left with two giant bowls of sweets (not that I am complaining..) I think we got like 12 total kids. Oh well, live and learn! I'll have to remember that for next year..

I'm a married lady now!! It's very strange. I have a husband. It still feels weird saying it. Yesterday at Bed, Bath and Beyond while getting a receipt adjustment, I had to tell the lady that Ryan had used his card in the transaction. I almost said "fiance" but caught myself in time.

As far as adjusting to married life and learning to live together -- we are doing quite well! Technically, we haven't been alone in the house together for even a week yet due to family and friends being in from out of town, but so far so good! I chose a long time ago, before I even met Ryan, to live by myself until marriage. In my opinion, it just makes marriage seem more special, and something to look forward to. So, we stuck to it, and here we are! Trust me, it was worth looking forward to moving my stuff in to the house we bought together in May, and officially moving in. It still doesn't seem like "our" house yet. I know that in time, it will. Especially now that I am here and adding my personal touches to the decor :) Luckily, my husband really has no qualms about what I choose to hang up!

These days, I'd much rather prefer hitting up stores like Marshalls or Ikea, searching for fun decorations for our house, rather than going shopping for clothes. Is that sad? I guess its just what happens when you get older! Renz and I had a little GNO last night, and before dinner, we stopped at BB&B. We were laughing at how instead of buying clothes, we were getting excited over buying things for our houses!

I had a 3-day weekend from work, and it was fabulous. Friday was spent getting a new license at the DMV. I'm a little frustrated that I had to get a new photo. My old license picture was so nice, and now my new one sucks :/ I'm stuck with it until 2015. sigh. I tried getting my SS card changed too, but the SS office I tried going to was a condemned building. wtf. Oh well. I'll just save time and mail it. I'm not in a huge hurry to have it back, it just needs to get done.

I spent all of the doing absolutely nothing, and it was fabulous. I did venture out for about a half an hour to bring lunch to Ryan at work, but other than that it was sweats and the couch. I spent a good chunk of time editing senior photos I took for Katie's younger sister. I think they turned out pretty nice!

fallllllllll.

It's finally fall!! My favorite time of year, for sure. Between the cooler temperatures, the comfy hoodies, the gorgeous changing leaves and the pumpkin spice lattes -- I love it all. I have to say, I am most happiest around September to the middle of November. Even though the worst season of all comes after Autumn, it doesn't matter.

Things have been busy around here between my new job (and new hours) and getting things squared off with the wedding. We are 12 days out, which is a little crazy. I cannot believe how fast the past 11 months have gone! It really feels like I just got engaged. For the most part, all of the bigger stuff is good to go. Now, its just a matter of making sure a few other...minor things go according to plan. But at this point, I'm putting my faith in God's hand. I've never been a super religious person, but I can honestly say that I have been doing a lot of praying lately. Mostly for things that are really out of my control, but nevertheless, it has helped me a little by just bringing me peace of mind.

Other than that, things with me have been great. I've slowly started decorating the house. I wasn't going to do any decorating until after I moved in, however, I was getting the itch. Plus, Ryan's family will be here for the wedding, and I know he really wants to impress them with the house. I really like making a house a home! There is still plenty more that needs done, but its a start! I will post pictures once it gets there :)

I went home to Erie this past weekend, and had a pretty good time! It was also a successful trip because Mom and I got a few things done for the wedding. My bridal shower is coming up very quickly here, so we had to finish up addressing all of the invites (I had already filled them out throughout the week -- all 70, ouch!!) to get them in the mail. We also accomplished picking up some of the table decor for the reception, bought my wedding invitations and ordered stuff for the shower favors. With just 87 days until the "big day" -- things are moving quickly!!

Aside from the wedding stuff, I saved some one-on-one time with my nephew, Joe :) I rarely get to just take him out, just him and I. So, I told my sister ahead of time that I was going to take him out for a few hours. We headed out early on Saturday with our destination being Waldameer. Upon arrival, I discovered that the park did not open until 1pm. It was just turning 10am. Awesome. So, I made the quick decision to head up to the mall to check out the pet store, then go from there. As soon as we got there, Joe spotted the section of ride on toys in the middle of the mall, so of course he had to climb all over them! Aunt Katie was out of quarters, which was just as well because Joe didn't care. He had a blast either way! We also hit up "Build-A-Bear", which we thought he might be a little too young for -- but he proved us wrong! He was awesome there, and had a good time "creating" his teddy bear he picked out. Which, by the way, he named "Gene"

The rest of the weekend was spent with the family, between doing more wedding things and just hanging out. I never got to make it down to the Peninsula, which is a shame because its absolutely one of my favorite places to be during the summer <3

courtesy of the red, white and blue :)

It's very hard to believe that its July already. This summer is truly speeding by, which is not really a good thing considering I have a wedding to finish planning. I mean, I have the big things done, but its the little touches that will drive me crazy!

Elisa and I went out shopping today. She was in search of a dress to wear to a wedding, and I wanted to scope out bridal shower invites. My mom has been looking in Erie, but anytime she found one she liked, there weren't enough packs in stock. So, I took it upon myself to utilize some more resources and check out Pittsburgh's supply. I ended up finding invites I liked, so I grabbed enough packs for 70 invites (yes, we know a lot of people!). Next weekend, my mom and I plan to get them addressed and sent in the mail, seeing as my shower is a little over a month away.

Ryan and I decided to go to a Pirates game tonight. It ended up being fireworks night too, which was a pleasant bonus :) The game itself was fun, albeit the Pirates lost by like 10 runs -- not that it was a big surprise! But the fireworks display was fantastic! Zambelli always does a wonderful job at it. Ryan was super impressed with it. lol.

I tried to get some good shots, but fireworks are next to impossible to capture in true form, and I didn't have my d-SLR camera with me. Hopefully we'll catch another display tomorrow night and I can try to get some good pictures!

When I got home this evening, I began organizing my closet. The other day I picked up a 30-gallon tub from Walmart to start packing up some of my clothes to take to the house. I decided to pack up all of my sweaters and heavier clothing since I won't be needing them until after October (although in Northern PA, who knows!), when I officially move into our home. My closet has much more space now, which is nice! I actually have a bunch of extra hangers too, which is also a plus. Normally, I'm scrambling to find hangers after I do laundry! Either way, I'm excited to start organizing our walk-in closet. Ryan is already living in the house and has started to take over the closet, so I need step in and regulate ;p

Before I go, here's a quick snap of my big boy, Jack. He says, Happy 4th of July, ya'll!!

limbo, anyone??

As much as I hate summer, I love it at the same time. I guess you could call it a love/hate relationship ;p I had this gorgeous (and ridiculously hot!!) day off today, so Elisa and I made plans to go to the Wave Pool at Boyce Park. I've been a Pittsburgh resident for nearly 3 years now, but never made it there. It's a nice place! If you've never been, I suggest checking it out!

After spending a few hours in the heat and sun, I am exhausted! We laid out the majority of the time, but somehow, Elisa was able to convince me to get in the water and float around on the double raft she rented. I don't hate water, I hate being in a bathing suit in public!! I will admit though, I am glad I did, because that sun was a scorcher!

Last night was a complete BLAST! We did something a little different (okay, A LOT different) I ventured out with three of my friends for some bar roller skating. Yes, roller SKATING. Talk about throwing it back to the late 80's early 90's! It was so much fun! My feet were killing me by the end of the night! Mike and Chris wore hilarious outfits. Actually, mostly everyone that was there was wearing some sort of throwback outfit from the past. It made the atmosphere so much more fun!

We all decided that its definitely something we want to do again. Next time, I WILL be hitting up the local thrift store and finding the goofiest, and most outrageous outfit I can find!!

HGTV -- for real!

So, we ended up closing on our house about a week ago, and since then, its been work work work on the house! That was our plan, though. The house itself is in pretty good condition -- it just needs some cosmetic updates. I personally do not like all white walls, so the first order of business was picking out paint colors for a few of the rooms we decided to paint. Lucky for me, I'm marrying a colorblind man, so he put his trust in my judgement and let me make the final decision :) I think I did okay!

We decided to go with a deep red for the dining room. When we initially started painting, we still had the (ugly) plum carpet down, so I was very apprehensive about the color. However, once we finished the walls and ripped up the carpet, I fell in love. I think it goes very well with the hardwood floors and the white trim. Exciting! Next, we painted the upstairs family room/ryan's "man cave", and went with a darker blue. I love it as well, and it will be paired with a darker beige carpet.

Speaking of carpet, we ordered ours, and it should be in within the next couple weeks. I'm excited! Its going to look like a whole new house in certain areas. Who would have ever thought that home improvement could be so fun??

be the match.

Not too long ago I stumbled upon a post by someone else, regarding a little boy suffering from leukemia. Apparently, they were having a hard time finding a bone marrow match for him, and were desperately looking for donors.

This, of course, got me thinking. How come I have never thought about being a bone marrow donor before? Possibly because I didn't know much about it, other than remembering that scene from 7 Pounds where Will Smith's character donates bone marrow, and is then bed ridden for the next week. But, I decided to research it anyway, and less than 30 minutes later, I was registered through The National Marrow Donor Program.

A few days ago, I received my testing kit. It's quite simple, and consists of swabbing your inner cheek a few times, and sending those suckers off to be tested. Testing takes five or more weeks, and sometimes, they won't always find a match right away. But, needless to say, its out there and if someone comes calling, I'm ready to answer!

I figure, if I can give someone else a chance at life, while causing myself minor pain, its definitely worth it to me.

Sorry its been so long from my last blog! I think my biggest problem is all of the other "outlets" we have through the internet. Unfortunately, I've been sucked in to Twitter and probably use that the most out of anything. The problem with that is, its just so much easier to punch in a quick one liner of what I'm thinking at that moment, instead of waiting to get to a computer and type out a whole blog post. Plus, with the convenience of my Blackberry (crackberry?? yes.) -- it takes Twitter to a whole new level, having the application literally at my fingertips. Plus, I admit I'm a bit of a creep and like to know what celebrities (and my twitter friends) are doing at any given moment. sigh. Seriously, what will they come up with next?

And that brings me to my next topic -- Chatroulette. I'm sure you've heard of it by now, and if you haven't, I highly suggest you google it. Yesterday, my sister and I were chatting via Skype, which by the way, was also my first time using that. I know I'm way late to the party there, but I never got around to installing the program, nor did I really have a reason to. When Ryan was in Iraq and then when we were long distance for a year, I had a crappy webcam, so it was pointless. However, now, I have a reason to use Skype -- my nephew! They live an hour and a half away, so it will be nice to see the little guy more often, even if its just over a computer screen.

But I digress. So, my sister and I were chatting on Skype, as I mentioned, and she brought up Chatroulette, asking if I had ever tried it before. I hadn't. But of course, curiosity got the best of me, and I clicked on the website. Immediately, a random shirtless dude popped up. I freaked out, and clicked out of it. But then, as they say, curiosity killed the cat, and I tried it again. For the most part, I saw "normal" people on there. Most looked as confused as I was, especially when I got an Asian man, sitting on the phone speaking mandarin. I didn't try talking to anyone, of course. I would just give a quick wave, and see what came up next.It's definitely strange, yet strangely intriguing, that at any given moment, you could come face to face with a complete stranger, halfway across the world. I have to warn you though, if you do plan to venture into the world of chatroulette, please be prepared to see some, um, male genitalia, for lack of better terms. Of course, you can always click "next" to make it go away :)

It's been such a fun weekend so far, I'm sad to see it end -- especially now that I'm working an "official" full time job, with benefits and everything. It's only 10 extra hours per week, but it seems to take up so much more of my time.

Anyway. First awesome news -- I'm going to LA in April!! My mom and I scored tickets to "Ellen" which is so fantastic. I am so excited to go to the show, but probably even more excited to go to Los Angeles. I've never been there, but always wanted to go. April can't come soon enough!!

Lee and I finally had a chance to catch up last night, and it was so great. We started with dinner at Red Robin, then went to see Shutter Island, which ended up being a wonderful movie. I definitely recommend it, especially if you enjoy a movie thats actually unpredictable.

Then today, Melanie, Katie, Elisa, Stacy, Jess and I all met up to look for my bridesmaid dresses. After dealing with the wretched sales girl, we ended up finding one that we all loved. I'm super pleased with it! The dress is in latte with a truffle sash :) To spite the rude salesgirl, none of my bridesmaids are ordering their dresses from that particular David's Bridal so that she doesn't get the commission. Rude, but she was terrible!

How was everyone's Valentine's Day? Mine was pretty nice! Ryan worked his usual overnight on saturday, and when he got off work, he showed up at my apartment and woke me up with my gift -- an edible arrangement bouquet of fruits and chocolate covered fruits, a balloon and a little teddy bear :) it was really sweet and a neat little change from flowers. He gets me flowers on a regular basis as is, so this was something different. He was very proud of it. lol.

We had to have an early day since he had to work that night, so we got a move on our day starting with a matinee of Valentine's Day. Even at 11:30a, the theatre was packed! Luckily, I thought to order our tickets online so we could bypass the huge ticket line and grab them from the machine, but even then, we still had to sit closer to the front! But the movie was pretty cute! I enjoyed it, anyway. Ryan didn't care much for it (well..it WAS a pretty big chick flick haha), but he went for me. After the movie, we went to Johnny Carino's for lunch. Yummy! I could eat their bread all day long. Their food isn't amazing or anything, but the bread? Ahh!

I got some more wedding planning done! I booked our DJ and I'm actually pretty excited about it. His price is very reasonable, and as part of the package, he offers a new multimedia feature for 2010 weddings. Basically, he'll take any photos we give him, and turn it into a video slideshow to play during the reception. I planned to do this anyway, but all I have to do now is supply the photos and they put it together. I'm already planning out extra little slideshows for the father/daughter dance and mother/son dance (that's if I can get enough pictures of Ryan and his mom through the years). Plus, the DJ also has this cool thing where he'll play music videos along to the songs during the dancing portion of the night. I think that will be a cool touch! I also have an appointment with a cake lady next weekend when I go home. I don't know much about her, or what she offers, but my aunt recommended her and said her cakes are delicious and she too is decently priced. I spoke with her on the phone to make the appointment and she was very friendly.

This sunday, all of my bridesmaids and I (except Ryan's sister who is in Kansas) are going to meet up and look at bridesmaid dresses. That should be fun! I already decided on the color, now we just need to find a dress that everyone looks good in, and feels comfortable in. I don't like the idea of everyone wearing different dresses, so I want to make sure all my girls feel comfortable in whatever they decide on. Hopefully we find the dress this weekend and can knock another thing off the wedding "to do" list.

Other than that, I feel like I have a decent grasp on my planning. I'm avoiding looking for a florist for the time being because flowers are so dang expensive, and it pains me to fathom spending all that money on something that's going to die in a few days anyway. Sigh.