from start to finish, the day had its moments.

[from past weekend: our saturday with current pix of us included in entry]


Sandals Voucher for Jamaica + upcoming Honeymoon

Jimmy got the voucher in the mail saturday as he finished paying the final balance for the trip, I think, a few pix to document this :D







Saturday before leaving apt and at University Mall:





University Mall Courtyard- This is us sitting at a table, after a visit to candy shop to check out Davant Sweets-










Starbuck's Break







Jimmy hated this picture as I took it when he wasn't expecting it and he looked annoyed. He always gets testy when we are at the mall and he is in a hurry to finish things while I'd like to enjoy my time there since we hardly ever go and I see no reason for being so crabby. Its the weekend and we rarely go out, I was trying to have fun!





I got this coffee cup at starbuck's because it was not that expensive and I had admired it the previous time we were there and really wanted it since it was so pretty. I rarely drink coffee but drink green tea, chai tea, or cocoa on occasion during the colder months so I thought it would be perfect.

Plus Ive never had my own personal coffee cup so I thought it would be nice for those rare occasions. I really loved the floral print and colors especially paired with the lovely pale aqua blue inside the inner rim of cup and mixed in with red floral print- that is what I was drawn to. I am a very visually stimulated person.

Btw I had my usual at starbuck's - a grande iced caramel macchiato [spelling?] with extra caramel. they put a little too much caramel and i couldn't get the drink to come out of the straw. of course because i am a klutz, i accidentally spilled coffee on my jeans and the rest of shopping trip, all I could smell was coffee lingering from my body. That annoyed me, I don't like that smell of coffee if you spill it all over something on you.

Luckily i was able to wipe it up good and we did all of our laundry last nite [we did it in the middle of the nite so we ended up being up pretty late, watched SNL in between loads and waiting for everything to be done. by the time we went to bed we were exhausted. i fell asleep right away]

Tux Fitting at Men's Wearhouse for Jimmy

I was sitting in the back of the dressing room while the young alteration girl had my Jimmy try on his tux for our wedding. I'd have taken a picture of them but then that would have embarrassed him, so instead while he was busy in the fitting room and the salesgirl went in the back, I took a quickie picture of myself sitting there in front of the 3-way mirror to capture the moment and memory plus I was mesmerized by the way the mirror reflected so many angles .

Not to sound vain or anything, but I admired my own outfit, while passing time. This mirror made me look better than the one at home and it looked like I definitely lost weight so that made me feel happy as the past year or two Ive felt pretty down about my heaviness. I was wearing some black skinny jeans which I got last year and couldn't even wear because a few months ago, they wouldn't have even fit.

If I sound obsessed over my weight, its because I've felt stuck in a rut for 2 yrs now and it makes me happy to be able to wear clothes that were too small not long ago. It also motivates me to keep myself in check so that I don't gain that weight back. I haven't felt very positive about myself in a long time and it feels good that I can feel this way now but I'm still hesitant, because I'm afraid that if I feel truly happy, I will end up back in that rut again, heavy.

It's blurry but somehow I still like it. I think I might actually look thin and if it seems like I am stuck on that. If I seem fixated on this and surprised, it is because I never thought I'd feel good about myself again and it just seems like some kind of miracle. I did still weigh 101 pounds when I last checked. I was around 107 over a month ago.

I still would like to lose some more weight but I am satisfied with the weight I am right now, if that isn't possible. I feel much better with myself at 101 than 107. Before I actually would have times where I'd get very sad over it and feel so awful inside over it. Depressed.and Hopeless.

These pix serve as a reminder to myself to keep striving to eat healthier and take better care of myself. I am going to try my best.

After alterations, we stopped at michael's arts and crafts for some wedding favors geared towards candy, the tins to hold them and then had dinner at Chili's before heading home. He watched his game he was anxious over missing of course and I spent some time organizing, cleaning and writing.

I took this picture on our way home while in the car. This is where we live near. We live in a college town. It was very overcast much of the day although both yesterday and today felt like fall was in the air and looked brighter than this at different parts of the day and felt quite breezy with right amount of sun/warmth.

That made me pretty happy, the feeling of fall, although you cannot tell by the looks of it.

Florida doesn't really show 'seasonal change' like other states do, it is tropical after all. :)

Saturday evening we spent doing laundry and watching the latest Saturday Night Live episode which had the most hilarious rap by Amy Poehler with other members of cast.

I loved the eskimos rapping alongside Amy and the cheesy portrayal of todd palin in snowsuit with that funny looking shaped goatee. fucking hilarious. LOL

We loved it so much we rewinded and watched it a second time and are keeping it to record to a vhs tape hehe

Here's the clip that appeared on a fox show. they tend to be slanted in their beliefs there and are known to be very conservative right wing but it was the only clip I could find of the actual rap skit. I didn't really listen to what the hosts of that show said on this video as i just fast forwarded to make sure the SNL rap skit was covered in it! For those interested and who love a good laugh, take a peek :D

they no longer allow embedding so here is the link which allows u to play the SNL snippet:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6ya39slPgs

PS sarah palin is annoying. they rave about how great palin was and how she knows how to have fun. i still think palin is tacky and do not agree with their thoughts at all. i think she looked like she was 'pretending' to be hip but she is so far from that, its not even funny.

over the weekend-- it's a mouthful!!

We went to the Men's Wearhouse where Jimmy registered himself and the groom party, this past weekend, at westshore plaza near downtown Tampa.

Jimmy's tuxedo will be a black: a Calvin Klein 3-button classic tuxedo suit, the inner vest matching my dress, in champagne while the groom's party wearing a simple tux with a victorian lilac color vest, matching the bridesmaids dress color perfectly since they are connected to david's bridal and offer all their colors to match at the tuxedo shop.

All men in the groom party will be wearing ivory dress shirts underneath, rather than white. we've been told since my dress is champagne/ivory that to keep it from looking dingy, all clothing/main colors should be ivory rather than white which i already knew and would have never done myself but jimmy didn't know it so i'm glad the man emphasized they all had to wear ivory and should stay away from white since it would make my dress look dirty and diminish its beauty etc.

Anyway, so that's one thing we got done this past weekend, setting up the groom party with tux's and registering. This week we may concentrate on ordering the wedding invitations so we can start sending them soon and compiling addresses- we started to get addresses of his relatives this wkend when we stayed at his parents for the 4th of July.

We think we've found a good photographer/DJ pkg at Celebrations of Tampa Bay and want to either set up an appt this Friday or Saturday with my mom or get that rolling with her.

We have not found a florist and are having a hard time finding ones in the area tampa bay/clearwater area that are known and do weddings. Online the websites Ive found mostly suck and seem cheap, u cant tell how nice the flowers are at all. I'm just trying to brainstorm what florist we can go with and how to find a good one who knows how to do weddings!

I am also considering Etsy for its artsy cute creative reasonably priced handmade jewelry but dont know how reputable it is and see a million beautiful necklaces and earrings I want. Not sure what style I want in terms of jewelry other than I either want to go with silver and crystals or silver and rose quartz or silver and moonstone [some pastel color] but I dont know for certain yet. I should share some examples of styles I like on etsy.com just to give an idea of what look I want. Im going for vintage, antique, romantic, I think. Anyone know etsy.com, shop there, or know anyone who they'd recommend?? Just curious.

I spent hours and hours last nite and didnt go to bed til after seven am this morning because I got pulled into the whirlwind that is the net and sites that consume- like etsy.com LOL everyone i see, i virtually want to buy but am broke right now. that sucks.

Mostly I am worried about some of the quality of the jewelry which looks a little frail or like it might not be solid enough or good enough quality to withstand breaking. I'd hate to buy something that broke during my wedding day or even within a short period of time. Even if the prices are reasonable, if the material quality is poor and it breaks after one or a few mos, than I've wasted my money. I like my necklaces to last five years or more and my best ones do last that long but lately all jewelry seems flimsy and breakable and cheap, unless you are buying top of the line fine jewelry with platinum gold or white gold- which i cannot afford but wish i could.

Next week Jimmy is off on vacation so I've got like two dr appts [and they have made 2 or 3 other additional dr appts in the next month or two.] I hate this new dr. its like they assigned me six appts in two mos because they are so booked and everything is a hard long process. it is tampa general clinic and it is not near here, it is far away, not in a great area/neighborhood, and inconvenient with their hours open and to get there. I have in addition, another appt tomorrow, at the spirometry clinic in downtown tampa by davis island. it sucks. Its at 9am but since its far and theres a lot of traffic we have to leave by 8am. I am not a morning person. I often dont fall asleep til after six am. I wonder how I will pull this off. It sux but I'll get thru it somehow. :/

The tampa gen. clinic seems to cater mostly to homeless and welfare cases which is why it seems i have a million appts and crappy dr service. i cant wait to get married to get proper health ins. under jimmy. i can barely take this anymore. the psychiatrist i had FINALLY FOUND last month, just canceled two wks ago to say they no longer take medicaid. this after jimmy called 25-30 psychiatrist drs just to find this one who promised they took my disability. well now they dont and i am almost out of options.

I did ask the primary care dr at tampa gen. last week for a recommendation. they said they would send it to my mailbox. they did and it was a huge disappointment. they simply sent a xerox copy of what I already have and have used many times to no success--- my insurance 1-800 number to find a psychiatrist- that is the number ive called so many times ive lost count and they are the reason i havent found a dr. no one knows what they are doing. they tell me a dr is covered by my ins. then when i try to make an appt with a new dr, the new dr tells me they do not accept my insurance at all and cancel me. it sucks. Anyway, leaving off on a more positive note. ....sorry to complain!

We are going to Lido beach near Siesta Key Beach [in Sarasota] for a day and a half next wed/thurs. It is supposed to be one of Florida's most beautiful beach and cleanest. We will stay over nite at holiday inn, just the two of us. I've never been there and it will be nice as weve never done anything like this as a couple in our entire relationship. I hope for blossoming intimacy, connection and romance. I think sometimes you need to put aside time and do special things with your lover/partner if only to reconnect and further deepen the relationship. Yes, I am one of those people.

Then thurs when we return, early evening were going to a downtown tampa hotel to see a presentation on Sandals all inclusive honeymoon pkgs as weve decided to go with Sandals and St. Lucia was recommended by his parents friends this past weekend who both said they absolutely loved their stay there at the Halcyon and recounted how beautiful, nice, clean it was. so we are considering that island but will know more - as the presentation will cover all Sandals carribean Island Resorts -- after we go to that meeting next week. :)

That's about it on this end. I just thought to update on some of the recent stuff, some of it involving wedding plans. More later and more to share, I am sure...Coming soon!!!