a little help from friends

"What would you think if I sang out of tune,

Would you stand up and walk out on me?

Lend me your ears and I'll sing you a song,

And I'll try not to sing out of key.

Oh, I get by with a little help from my friends."

I'm not going to lie, I almost did not blog today because I am exhausted, irritated, and just plain stressed. However, I knew you would all give me a little bloggie love if I told you about my day.

First of all, I'm so glad you all liked my stuffed tomatoes from last night! I have one hanging out in my fridge to make an appearnace sometime tomorrow!

I think my problem with today started when I woke up at 5:30 and couldn't fall back asleep. I got out of bed around 6 and decided to take my time with breakfast this morning.

whipped banana oats with oodles of toppings, monkey cup coffee, h20

i realized this breakfast would be perfect for the 4th of july!

cherries (red), coconut (white), and blueberries (blue) - of course topped with cinnamon and peanut butter

I left my house pretty early to go over to my parents where the dining room table is wedding central! Before I went, I got in a strength training session over at the gym. It was only 9:30 when my stomach started rumbling - I guess that's good and it must mean my muscles needed to be repaired! It also may have had something to do with the fact I ate breakfast at 6. I snacked on this bad boy:

delicious, but i'll take my cashew cookie bar over this one any day

I had no idea how intense the place card making would be. It took me probably three hours to do all of the following:

• print out
• tear apart
• put into table groups to make sure no one accidently got left out
• put into A-Z groups
• Alphabetize

My printer really didn't like these - I swear at a couple of points my printer literally SPIT them out at me. They FLEW out of the printer. It was kind of weird, but had me laughing nonetheless.

I also cut our favor cards as well. We are doing a donation instead of a traditional favor, so those will go in place of a menu card. At about noon, I picked up my mom and we went on some errands and to my favorite lunch place: Chipotle!

Chipotle is almost the only "fast food" place I can go to eat. I love the quality of the food, and I also love the morals of the company. Chipotle strives to use the best ingredients - I absolutely love it. You really can't see my burrito bol underneath that pile of lettuce - I always get extra!

Just so you're aware, however, I had black beans, fajita veggies, a plethara of salsas, guac, and lettuce

From here on out, I apologize for the fact that my picture taking was really lacking today. I had a really stressful afternoon. First, mommasita and I went to Costco to get sooo many lemons and clementines for my centerpieces. When I got home, I started to continue on my wedding duties when I got a call from the country club where we're getting married at and having our reception. I went in there yesterday to make our final payment and was sooo happy to finally have that past us. I got a call today from the accountant saying they made a mistake and forgot to charge us sales tax! I looked at the recepts, and sure enough.. they did.

Now, here's the thing: it was their mistake. Their mistake is costing us another $700. Something seems a little wrong with that. It would have been one thing if they were nice about it and didn't sound accusing (yes, she made it seem like I was TRYING to get away with not paying.. seriously?), but the woman was rude, very aggressive, and just not nice. She was not very sympathetic to the fact that that amount of money is a really big deal to a young couple who are paying for a wedding and just renovated a house. I was hysterical, FH was livid, but in the end... we have to pay if we want to get married. It is so frustrating.

After that whole debacle, I went to go pick up my wedding dress from the woman who steamed it. She is a friend of someone I know, and she did a great job putting my bustles on. However, when you walk into her house, you can definitely tell it is a house with smokers. The room she uses as her sewing room is totally smoke free, and the last time I dropped my dress off and picked it up, it was totally fine. Today, however, when I picked it up, it was hanging out in the living room. I took it home, unwrapped it as she instructed me, and my entire bedroom reeked of smoke. MY WEDDING DRESS SMELLS LIKE A BOWLING ALLEY. I am so unbelievably mad it is not even funny. Needless to say, hysterical again, I called mommasita. She assured me it would get better before Friday, but I am so angry about it. I even called the seamstress to tell her about it and she "just can't believe" it happened. Well, DUH lady! If you smoke in the house and leave my dress hanging in a smoke infested room, my dress is definitely going to smell like smoke.

At this point, I had given myself a stomachache from all the stress and was just done with the day. I had to meet FH, his brother, and sister in law for dinner though. His brother is marrying us and wanted to go over the final details of the ceremony. I am glad I went because I had a great time catching up with them. I didn't get a pic of my food, but I want you to picture a chopped salad with tomatoes, cukes, onions, olives, and mushrooms. There was also a homemade vinagrette on the salad. I wish I could have had something else, but we were at a pizza joint so there weren't very many options.

When I got home, FH put together the bed for our guest room and I put in a load of laundry. Guess what we found out!! Our washer is leaking. You've got to be kidding me. Looks like I will be doing laundry at Mommasita and Big Daddy Wayne's before the honeymoon.

I wnated to calm down so at about 9:30, I pulled oat (I meant to write OUT, but hey... Fruedian slip, right?) some blueberry muffin crunch cereal to make me feel better about my life.

Nice job muffin man, nice job. You did your job.

I know a lot of you are commenting about how calm I seem 3 days before my wedding, but I'm really not! I'm a crazy wreck.

In retrospect though, if the only bad thing that happens is my dress is a little smelly and I have to dish out more cash than I expected, so be it.

My bestie comes tomorrow (not the one who was featured on here before... I can have two okay?)!! I'm so pumped!

Question: Can you give me some words of encouragement for the days ahead? I would really appreciate it! I love reading everyone's comments. They keep me going for sure!

what's that sound?

Silence. Complete, absolute silence.

This might be the best birthday present ever - the kiddos (my niece and nephew if you're new around here) are off at the neighbor's playing, and I get to relax. Absolutely perfect.

This post is going to be short and quick, because I am going to take advantage of this afternoon and get some things done.

I had a date this morning with Kelsey - we were both supposed to make brownie batter pancakes. Mine, however, did not work out so well. They just would not set! Thanks for the birthday shot out girl!

i know, this looks gross. i may or may not have eaten half the batter before throwing it out :)

When in doubt, I go to oats! Whipped oats a la Kath to be exact. I didn't have any more almond milk, so I just used all water for the liquid. Definitely not as creamy, but delicious nonetheless.

topped with coconut, blueberries, cinnamon, flax, and pb

After this bowl, I didn't even mind that my brownie batter pancakes went bad (okay, I still did, but not as much) - you can never steer wrong with oatmeal!

My mom gave me my birthday presents this morning at, oh... 5:45 am. I cannot sleep lately. I think I'm getting super anxious about the week ahead (yay wedding!). Mom got me a few new reads:

I am so excited to read these two books. I'm going to try to save them for laying on the beach in Mexico on my honeymoon! Mommasita is also buying me my first stash of food for the house as a birthday present. What can I say? I love food - does anyone agree? Question: Do you find it odd I requested groceries for my birthday? :)

As I was cleaning today, I found this in my purse....

Yes, a zucchini.. things just keep getting weirder! Actually my FMIL gave me this yesterday and I forgot to take it out of the purse - haha!

For lunch, I whipped up some quick asparagus with olive oil and pepper:

And a huuuge salad that I really only ate about 1/3 of:

romaine, mushrooms, tomatoes, onion, chickpeas, 1/2 avocado, salsa, mustard

For some reason, I really wasn't feeling the salsa/mustard combo today. I'm not sure why, but I kind of ate the "goods" out of there: the chickpeas/avocado!

To finish up lunch, I ate some more healthy fats and protein!

date shmeared with sunbutter - yum!

raisins and cashews

Tonight for dinner we are going to Cooper's Hawk. They have an excellent gluten free menu - the funny thing is whenever I go somewhere that has a gluten free sandwich, I will totally get it even if it's a super fancy shmancy place. Portabello mushroom sandwich anyone? That is what I'm getting! Do you figure out what you are getting before you go out to eat?

After dinner, we are all heading to our new house for some cake! I probably won't do a follow up post until tomorrow. Have a great day!

it's true - i love to clean

There... I tried to be different this morning. Would you like to know what I did? I know you would! Whipped banan oats with warm blueberry "jam" topping, shaved coconut, and peanut butter.

oh yes..

I won't lie - this was delicious, but far too warm for me today. I was sweating while eating this. Unfortunately, when it's 90 degrees outside at 8 a.m., I'm sticking with the overnight oats! Tomorrow I'm back to the same ole bowl!

Today was filled with house cleaning and moving in all of the presents FH and I got from our bridal showers. About half of these items were stored into a closet until I figure out what I'm doing with my life.

see that red kitchen aid mixer on the bottom? it's like spotting "where's waldo"!


there was a lot of cabinet cleaning and reorganization going on

I forgot to take a picture of lunch, but I can assure you it was nothing less than delicous. FMIL and Grandma made us lunch and brought it over this morning so we wouldn't have to worry about it! I had a huge salad (with avocado - ::drool::) and some fruit salad with shaved coconut.

A couple hours later and a lot of hard work done, I was feeling hungry, so I snagged this larabar I stashed in the freezer (try it!). It totally hit the spot.

Just a few pictures to show you what we accomplished....

You aren't getting real pictures until it's all done! Then I will post before and afters - you will be absolutely amazed I am sure of it. FH and I are going back tomorrow after church to get some more work done. I love to clean - I hated the construction part of this, but give me a mop and a broom, and I'll clean all day!

On my way home mommasita treated me to this bad boy.

And then I went and met baby Travis! He is absolutely perfect - sooooo cute! Mandi (mommy) looks fabulous only after 3 days! I know she is going to be a fabulous mom.

When I got home from visiting, it was time for me to cook up something delicious for dinner. I needed soemthing with substance, and I went to pasta!

Overloaded Veggie Pasta

• one box pasta of choice (I used TJ's brown rice penne)
• any vegetables of choice (I used broccoli, spinach, zucchini, onion, red pepper)
• one can stewed tomatoes
• 2 cloves garlic
• fresh basil
• Italian spices (oregano, more garlic, pepper, salt, red pepper flakes)
• EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)

I can explain this in 3 steps - that is how easy it was!

1. Cook your pasta according to the instructions on the box.
2. Combine the rest of the ingredients together in a saute pan and cook until tender.
3. Enjoy your Italian feast with vegetables spooned over pasta!
   
   

it does NOT get better than this.

Along side was this guy - and yes, it is okay to have more than one salad in a day. A girl's gotta get in her veggies somehow!

The lineup...

for some reason, i really like this picture - something about the pasta being unfocused in the distance.

I went to go visit with FH for a while, and I made him some dinner. He is so tired he could barely move. Despite this fact, I asked him to head out to Bed Bath and Beyond with me! :) I'm so nice, right?

When I got home, I snacked on some fruit and nut cereal. I think I put every fruit and every nut we have in the house in this. I was getting a little worn out on protein muffins, so I wanted to try something different. I NEED a night time snack. Otherwise, I will wake up in the middle of the night ravenous!

There were:

• apples
• figs
• raisins
• blueberries
• cashews
• almonds
• banana
• cinnamon
• almond milk

Soooo good! I think I'm still a little hungry - another snack perhaps? Then it's time to catch up with you all - I have been so bad lately, just very busy! I swear I'm reading! :)

Question: Do you eat a night time snack? If so, what do you eat?

gps troubles, a wedding, and my debut as a model

Good morning! I had the best intentions of writing a post last night, but when I got home from the wedding, I was just too tired. I fell asleep the second my head hit the pillow. So, let's go back to tomorrow before the wedding, shall we?

Before we left, I thought it was best to eat a ginormous meal. Piece of advice: This is the best strategy if you have food intolerances and you will be relying on someone else for your meal. Always to go an event full. If there is something there for you to eat, great. If not, you're going to be starving.

chopped salad inspired by Kelsey

paired with rice crackers and hummus

When I looked at the clock after that, it was already 2:30 - and I still hadn't showered. We were leaving at 3:30. It was definitely a time crunch, but I did it!

hello cute dress I have only worn once before!

The wedding was in the city, so FH and I were on our way! This was the most ridiculous drive ever. We didn't know where the reception hall was, so we brought Mommasita's GPS. However, every single time I typed in the address the GPS thought we were on side streets and not on the highway (we were on the highway). It kept recalculating every 5 seconds and we couldn't get the directions! FH then had a great idea - use the GPS on his phone! A fabulous idea until his phone died. GREEEAT! We eventually found it (after almost hitting someone) BUT GPS's were not our friends yesterday.

Hello Chicago - I never seem to visit you even though you are so close. :(

At my cousin's wedding, there were a number of things that happened - which are very typical of a wedding.

There was dancing.....

There was drinking (by my tablemates).....

There was family....

my cousin and FH (no, we are not related, I know it looks like we are haha!)

FH looks a little angry in this picture...

And there was a photo shoot of FH and myself...

Yes, we are holding hands. No, it's not because of our undying love for each other. He was trying to tickle me.

I have no idea what I am laughing at - something was funny apparently.

When I got home (at 11 - I am a big party girl) I wasn't really that hungry, but I knew I needed to eat something if I didn't want to wake up in the middle of the night hungry. At the reception the only thing I could eat there were baby red potatoes - and yes, I had an entire serving bowl of them. I also brought along a LaraBar just in case - and yes, I ate that too. To fend off my nighttime hunger, I made some steamed veggies and ate a lot of unpictured cashews.

broc and brussel sprouts

After my snack, I was out! I woke up this morning around 7, and got right to work on a fantabulous breakfast. A repeat, but delicious nonetheless.

Whipped banana oats topped with flax, cinnamon, bloobs, and peanut butter

spoon pic is a little better than yesterday's

Time for some Sunday festivities! I'm off to church with the family! After that, I am going by the house to finalize paint colors (they're painting tomorrow), and then possibly going to the beach!

Question: What do you usually do on Sundays? Do you go to church, hang out with family, or just have a lazy day?