Shhh...it's a secret!

Patrick and I for quite a while have wanted to put up some art in our house. So, I thought I would give it a try for Patrick's Birthday and give it to him as a present! I am really pleased with how this is looking so far...considering I haven't really painted before! I am going to do then next
layer today and I bought another canvas so I may paint something else too.

Decorating the Choir Room!

Here are my amazing girls decoupaging our letters! This was such a great day

The Final Product!!!!!

2 months until the wedding!!!

Our Engagement Pictures!!!

I cannot believe how fast we got our pictures back.....so quick that I didn't even have a chance to post when we finally got them done! There are almost 900 pictures that we have only started looking through. Here are some of my favorites so far.

Grandma's

Grandma's are amazing! I am blessed to have my Grandma Fern as well as my almost official Grandma's; Grandma Nadine and Grandma Donna! Patrick right now is with his brother and dad in Colorado visiting Grandma Donna! I wish I could be there with them and I would love to see Grandma Donna, it has been such a long time! I remember when Patrick I first were dating, she lived with Patrick parents and I used to go into her room all the time and we would just talk! I am glad Patrick is there with her now. Here is a picture of the group including Patrick's Uncle Brian and Ric as well as his cousin Richard!

Herbs

Well I am trying my hand at growing my own herbs: Rosemary, Oregano, Parsley, and Basil! I also have some mint that my mom gave me as well. So hopefully I will find my green thumb!

Tyra, I know you are a pro at this! If you have any tips for a novice I would love it!

Is it really May?

Over two months ago Patrick and I planned to get our engagement pictures done yesterday! We thought, May for sure would give us some nice weather for our pictures with a backdrop of the great outdoors...but we were so wrong. Yesterdays downpours and roaring winds made the pictures a no go. BUMMER!!!! Our photographer says he rarely cancels a photo shoot even due to rain but the wind was the biggest factor! Patrick probably would have looked like he was standing next to Cousin It with my hair blowing all around my face! We have rescheduled for the 20th so keep your fingers crossed!!!

Everything wedding!

Now that the wedding is drawing nearer, OK so three months still, I feel like any spare moment I have I am thinking wedding! It is just so exciting! Invitations are picked so now it is definitely getting to the homestretch!

Thanks to Tyra and her ETSY store, I found a great woman who is going to all of the inviations, placecards, programs and all other paper details. It is nice to know I am able to support someone's buisness like Tyra!! She is also spending so much time chatting with me to get the ideas ironed out and it is customized with what I really want, something I would not have found ordering through the normal invitation avenues, especially without spending an arm and a leg! If you have never checked out ETSY take a quick browse! Here is Tyra's store, she makes the most wonderful quilts and baby products! http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5126216

These are the amazing placecards I found on the ETSY site!!! This has really shapped all of the details! I am so happy with how everything is coming together and I can now start to envision how the whole place is going to look.

Patrick and I are going to sit down today and pick out music for the reception and go over some other details! Also today we need to decide what we are wearing on Tuesday for our engagment pictures! So excited for that too.

Anything Goes opens this week!

Shows are April 30, May 1st, 2nd, 7th and 8th!

all shows are at 7pm at Tumwater High School!

Just a little sneak peak for all of you for the wedding!

I am having such a great time with the planning. I really love how much time my mom and I have spent together because of it. I think we must call each other at least five times a day:)

Love you mom!

Wedding website!!

I know, I know, so much for a new years resolution of keeping my blog updated. But here is what I have been working on!

www.ewedding.com/sites/breeandpatrick

200 days until the wedding!!!!!

We can hardly wait. We are having a great time planning the wedding and are checking things off the list left and right. Right now I am working on a wedding website! Hopefully that will be ready to view in the next week or so!

08.08.09

Can you believe is has been eight years since.....I have been able to wear earrings!!!! Yes one day, I picked out my earrings like usual, headed to Olympia High School where I was student teaching and then it began; the itching, burning, the swelling of my earlobes! From that day on, I have only been left to wear necklaces, bracelets, one brand of watch that I am not allergic to, and thank goodness my beautiful ring!! I tried every type of earring, nail polish, neosporen and to no avail, immediate reactions, until this Saturday!

My parents and I were headed to Bellevue to go to a nice dinner and an opera to celebrate my dad's birthday (It is actually today, so Happy Birthday Dad! You are the best!!!!) We got up there early, and went to the Bellevue square mall. I have had my eye on some amazing jewelry for the wedding from the Swarovski store and since they have one there we decided to check it out. The jewelry is amazing! I had pretty much came to the conclusion that I would be wearing clip-ons for the wedding but then the sales lady said that their earrings are made with surgical steel. So I gave it a shot! One minute passed.....nothing, five minutes...still nothing, day three wearing them ....still no signs of an allergic reaction!!! Yea. I LOVE these earrings, however, in retrospect I probably should have purchased something a bit more universal while my ears get used to earrings again, I will look pretty silly sporting these with my Tumwater High School sweatshirt this Friday:) Now I am going to scour the Internet for other earring manufactures that may use surgical steel too!!!!

The most expensive chocolate I have ever had!

Reagan for the past several months has been home alone during the day. I put up a baby gate blocking the stairs and she then has the entire downstairs to sleep, play and to go outside when she wants through the dog door. Usually when I walk in the house she is sitting on the couch curled up in the blanket and then she gets up and runs to me. Wednesday though was an entirely different story.......

So I got home around 7:30 and as usual came in the through the garage to spot Reagan not in her usual spot but across the house in the living room playing with something. As I got closer I realized is was a bunch of wrappers completly empty and shredded. Lindt truffle wrappers that is, both dark and milk chocolate! Along with the wrapper confetti were patches of melted chocolate in my extremely light carpet! As I shared my disbelief with Reagan at the mess she made it starts to hit me......she ate CHOCOLATE!!!!

Now in a slight panic considering chocolate is poisoness to dogs, I realize how many delectable, soft centered truffles she has devoured and immediately called her vet. Being late in the evening she told me to take her to the emergency vet close to our house. So I hurriedly packed up Reagan and we headed out.
Upon our arrival we were quickly ushered into an exam room where I relayed my dogs fine taste in chocolate. They rushed her to the back and injected her with something to induce vomiting. Shortly thereafter pieces of fine chocolate start to come up, then I hear the nurse say "there's some wrapper in here too", followed by " just got and entire truffle, wrapper and all!" I couldn't believe it!!!!

The vet came into the room and told me Reagan was doing well considering how much she ate, however her heart rate was was 190 and should be around 130. Chocolate contains theobromine. A naturally occurring stimulant found in the cocoa bean, theobromine increases urination and affects the central nervous system as well as heart muscle. While amounts vary by type of chocolate, it's the theobromine that is poisonous to dogs.

At this point she tells me that Reagan will have to stay overnight to be monitored. She might need oxygen, EKG and IV fluids depending on how the night goes. They were really great telling me that they would call if there was any change throughout the night.

So I finally left and of course fell apart thinking about Reagan. Patrick was in Bellevue working so I was on the phone as much as I could be with him and keeping him informed as well as my parents who were at the Governors Ball. It was a hard night for me.

Luckily since I get up so early, I called at 4:30 and they said Reagan was doing great and I could pick her up! We are so lucky that she is ok! However that choloate ended up costing me $458.00 ($8.00 for the truffles) but well worth it.

New Mindset

Yesterday I started a new fitness routine!!! It has been really tough with Patrick working in Bellevue to get a workout in (he was my workout partner and most importantly my motivator) and the class schedule at our gym was just not fitting into my schedule. So I started P90X. So far so good, it is a hard workout and utilizes a lot of the things Patrick and I did at the gym. I love the intenet componenet of it too, it hopefully will keep me accountable. I actually log on and say when I am going to work out that day or the whole week and then I log in at that time, do my workout and mark when I am finished. It links you up with other people who are working out at the same time as you and actually shows who is there and those that missed their workout!!! So think of me at 5:00 for day #2.

Christmas in Leavenworth Patrick has been wanting to have a family Christmas in Leavenworth for the last couple of years. This year we made it happen. Patrick's mom, dad, grandma and grandpa were up from California so it seemed like a perfect opportunity! On Christmas day we had my parents come over and we opened stockings and some gifts, had a little breakfast and then loaded up the vehicles for a beautiful drive to Leavenworth. It was a little surreal to have snow all the way there.

This is Patrick's Dad, Grandmother and Mother enjoying some Bavarian delights!

Here is Patrick and I doing the same! Like our hats? There is a very small but completely stuffed store filled to the brim with hats! Patricks is a true Bavarian hat and very warm I might add. By the way all of our last names Osgood, Yancey and my mothers maiden name Connah were all in the German book of last names!
We also did some with tasting with my Parents!

Leavenworth is absolutely beautiful at Christmas!