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!