101 Days to go.

So, I got my wedding dress and I LOVE it! But can I be honest and say the whole experience was a little too much for me. I actually had a really hard time with the entire thing and wasn't really looking forward to it. Isn't that sad!!!!! I felt a TON of pressure to pick the right dress or to have the first one be "perfect". I had cruised threw magazines for months and not one dress stood out to me. They all kinda looked the same after a while. Not to mention that at EVERY shop I went to (6 total) I kept getting lectured that I was "late to the game, and there are going to be fees." It got kinda old, but eventually I kept having the style narrowed down until I found THE dress. not what I had initially thought, but it was the only dress I put on that I felt like me. so WHEW that was over.

I have come to realize that I am not over excited about the wedding, but I am SO excited to be married and super stoked about our honeymoon. We are going here and we get to fly first class/ business class there (Thanks to my mom's expiring airline miles!). I am not sure why I am having this adversion to planning the wedding - maybe it is because this entire "wedding industry" is over priced and I just don't see the point. Invest in your future, not just one day. With all that said... I still want my "day" to be perfect - and if I have shared that with my family and friends, well it will be. That is what matters to me.

A month. A MONTH!!!

How has it been almost a month since my last post. As you can tell life has been pretty non-stop busy. So, I am taking some time out to give you all an update.

Much has happened - I am now working with a firm out of Texas that handles Life Settlements - which for those of you who don't know - Is basically investing in life insurance policies. The supreme court ruled back around 1918 that a life insurance policy was deemed property and well there are people who realize they don't need them and can sell them to investors who wish to keep them going and then get the benefits of cashing out the policy. I am really excited about this for a few reasons - 1. I have found I love the world of finance and am currently looking for a full time job in this new world, eventually leading to my stock brokers license. and 2. It is just interesting. Not enough people are knowledgeable about money. If you need some place to start - check out Daveramsey.com. I took his Financial Peace course and that started me on this journey.

anyway... back to my busyness... I am still doing freelance design work here and there, recently started working for the Census, and picked up a part time gig at Macys. (this was pretty much for the discount). The Reverend and I are both pretty excited about this. We are going to need some new stuff and what better way than to get it with a discount!! :) So with all of this - my "work" hours seem a little crazy. I keep telling myself that all this craziness will all be worth it in the end. Let's hope I get there.

Well on top of all that for me - The Reverend has had some changes as well. The biggest one impacting me is that his college minister has stepped down and for the mean time The Rev will be filling in. At this point in time there is no end date to this temporary position, so this means his normal job on top of taking care of the college kids. So, I have jumped in with both feet and am doing my best to help him. So far we are into week 1 of the official "take over" and so far so good... I have a feeling though that these college kids are going to wear me out!!!! HOW, HOW did we stay up so late, function on such little sleep and eat like crap all the time. I am sure you will be hearing more stories as we go along.

Other than that - there are a few more things, but I will not bore you with the details.. things like we are debating whether we sell The Revs house he has back in GA or keep the renters, trying to find a post wedding place to live for us, picking out furniture for said place, crossing my fingers that The Rev can finish off his Doctoral project in time for the wedding so he can graduate in December, making sure the puppy gets out every once in a while :), and trying to find more time in the day.

I feel like I have many wedding details to finalize, but not stressing too much - lots of things coming together and when I have time I try to do something in hopes that later I will have more time.

for now here are some pictures....

This is my nephew, Bradley. He is going to be 2 in a few weeks and is SO CUTE!!! a few weeks after his birthday he is going to become a big brother. WOO HOO!!! Still waiting to see if it is a boy or girl. :)



We received our first few wedding presents off our registry! That was fun! Here is The Rev trying to sort through all the boxes. There were about 5 total we had to go through.

I started packing up a few things for the move day, Aug 14. I know I am early.. just trying to stay ahead of the ever growing TO-DO list.



EASTER EGGS!!! So, how come this seems more cool than it actually is? This is a lesson in patients because the eggs don't dye as fast as you think they will. still pretty though. :)

How to Get a Man's Attention 101

LADIES!!! For those of you looking to find a man. I have a solution for you. :) The Reverend and I were driving on the freeway the other day and saw this car. Naturally I took a photo to document it. The license plate said T BARBIE on it. No judgement, just stating this incredible fact. One word. AMAZING!

The food we eat.

Food. I LOVE FOOD. But there are changes I am starting to make to the food that I eat. One of the them is the elimination of High Fructose Corn Syrup. Now this isn't easy because there is food out there like - oreo's - that I LOVE. But Trader Joe's has some great alternative with no hfcs. The Reverend and I started noticing that so much of what is at the grocery store has HFCS in it - especially condiments, cereal, and really most packaged food. For those of you interested in what it actually does to your diet, here is a great article! (Notice the part about most of our corn products are genetically modified - DONT GET ME STARTED HERE!! I feel like this issue is very scary. If you don't know anything about this, I encourage you to do some research because it will impact us and the next generations for sure!)

I really started reading up on this whole "organic" thing about 8 months ago when I choose to come off the hormone shots I was receiving for Endometriosis. I had been on some form of hormones for three years and it definitely took a toll on my body. Fed up with the emotional roller-coaster and tired of a body i didn't recognize - I decided to stop.

I met with a Naturalist who lead me to this book. I recommend it for every lady out there. It is SO helpful if you would like alternatives to western medicine.

Also, I love this book!! and I am a huge *closet* Jillian fan. My sister had this book and it became a must read for me. She is very detailed on what to keep in your diet and what to eliminate.

And if any of you are more interested here are some books I have enjoyed on nutrition: Food, Inc, Super Foods RX, In Defense of Food, and Optimal Health Revolution.

For those of you in the Redlands area and want information on Farmers Markets or organics - here are some links I recommend. Redlands Organics, Organic Produce Buying Club/ Co-Op, The Farm, and Local Harvest (go "home" and you can find things in your area if you are not in Redlands).

Words.

In my early childhood years one of the physicians running those hearing & eye test at my school informed my parents that I could potentially have a hearing problem. So, my parents, being the amazing people they are, took me to see a few hearing specialists. I remember having to do all these strange tests. In the end they paid the money to have the MD come back and say "She is FINE! She just hears what she wants to hear." This has been pretty consistent through adulthood as well. I suffer from "selective hearing" as my mom calls it. HAHA.

On top of the selective hearing - there is the "random comments" I can tend to throw out. There are times in my life when I say things. Afterward when realize how it sounded to the receiver, I am mortified and apologize profusely because "THAT IS NOT WHAT I MEANT!!" It is a curse!! I am not sure whether my brain runs too fast for me to process or if I am just so scatter brained that this happens. It could also be that I, at times, can be a bad listener. I blame this on the fact that I am listening to the thoughts running through my head instead of actively listening to my company. This leave me with being "that girl" who interjects random ideas - well they aren't random. I just didn't help the listener get to the point that I am already at.

Here is the latest: My mom and I were in the living room and the TV was on. Wheel of Fortune was wrapping up and I noticed that each contestant was receiving money. So I mentioned my observation to my mom. This is how the conversation went.

Ruthie: Does each contestant win money?

Mom: Yeah. They make something around $1,000.00 just to go on the show.

Ruthie: Wow,..(pause)... you don't even need a personality to go on this show. (longer pause) Mom, You should go on this show!

Mom: So, you don't think I have a personality?

Ruthie (with confused look): No, that is not what I said.... OH!!!! NO!!!

Seriously! How do you recover this? My mom, at least, understands my *suffering* and so gives me much grace. I still think she should go on Wheel of Fortune.