It's Halloween Time!

Halloween is fast approaching and it is obvious in my neighborhood. My neighbors do not mess around when it comes to decorations. There are skeletons, pumpkins, cobwebs, Halloween flags, these houses are decked out. We moved to our new house in January, this is our first round of the fall and winter holidays. I decided I needed to step up my decorations game.

I went to Michael's because I had a 20% off coupon. Alas, my coupon was only good on regular priced items and everything I bought was on sale. But I did get some great deals. I love Michaels. Every time I'm there I have to resist buying loads of yarn, I have to keep telling myself that I have never finished knitting a scarf so there is really no need for additional yarn.

I picked this up for my door.



I love this so much! It is so perfect, especially since my neighbors think I'm a witch.



This little guy was a smokin' good deal.



Hello happy scarecrow, welcome to the neighborhood.



And my all time favorite, the scary, hairy spider in my tree.



This guy freaked me out so much, I almost couldn't pick him up to purchase him. I conquered my fears and put him in my basket. Now I think a need a few more spiders in my tree.

Introducing Sprout

My family is still reeling from the heart breaking loss of Maddie. In the healing process, my parents decided to open their house and hearts to another puppy.

Allow me to introduce you to Sprout.



Sprout is a fiesty, sweet, playful, scrappy little puppy. She already loves my mom, and whimpers when she doesn't get to sleep in the bed with her. Which means that she is now sleeping in the bed with my mom.

Maddie will forever be remembered in our hearts. Her picture is still prominently displayed in my parents' house. She was such a special little puppy and she will never be replaced. But I'm glad that my mom is able to have such a little lovebug like Sprout to ease the pain just a bit.

Team Brady's First Encounter with the In-Laws

After a bit of a rocky start, Brady and I became inseparable. We talked constantly via instant messenger when we weren't together, studied together, and were with each other during all our free time. Which actually wasn't that much seeing as we were in law school and working.

We started dating in our last semester of law school, there was so much going on. We were looking for permanent jobs, getting ready to take the bar, and getting ready to graduate! There were many parties, "bar reviews," ditching class to go to Dave and Buster's. Lots of fun to be had.

In the first few months we were starting to get to know each other's friends. And we had a lot of friends in common from law school, so that made the whole introducing your new boyfriend to your friends even easier.

So the first few weeks of our relationship are going great. And then, a huge obstacle is thrown in our road to true love....Easter. Now, I love my family, but my family can be, um, a bit much. They are fantastic people, but a little quirky. My plan was to get Brady to fall madly in love with me, and then introduce him to my crazy family. But then Easter reared its ugly head. I thought I could avoid the whole issue of whether we would spend Easter together. Easter isn't a couples holiday, it isn't romantic. There is no need for such a brand, spanking new couple to spend Easter together. But then, Brady asks about it and suggests we go to my family's celebration and then his family's party. Gulp, ok. I couldn't think of an excuse quick enough, so Brady was going to meet my family on Easter.

We go to my grandma's house on Easter, we walk in the door, Brady and my mom hug. My mom never hugs anyone. Things are looking promising, everyone is getting along. I was worrying about nothing. At one point, I'm standing outside on the patio, Brady is somewhere inside. My sister comes running out and whispers "Mom has Brady cornered in the kitchen, she's interrogating him about your ex-boyfriend." What?! Brady knew my ex, but that does not make it ok for my mom to ask my new boyfriend about my old, kicked to the curb, boyfriend. I freeze for a second in a state of shock and then start to sprint to the kitchen, hurdling a patio chair on my way. I find my mom, with Brady literally backed into a corner of the kitchen and she's asking him about my ex. Brady looks shocked and clueless as to what to do. I grab my mom by the elbow, drag her away, and give her a harsh scolding. I calm down, grab a mimosa, ok crisis averted.

The Easter festivities continue, everyone eats the amazing egg casserole that my grandma always makes. Everything is good. Brady and I are standing by the front door when, all of a sudden, I see my mom and dad charging towards the door. My mom has her dog Maddie tucked under her arm and is yelling at my grandpa, who is clutching his little dog and yelling back. My parents storm past me yelling, "we're leaving," and are gone. What the hell has just happened? Brady is looking at me like, "what the hell is wrong with your family?" Apparently, Maddie and Rosie, my grandparents' dog, were playing. My mom and grandpa thought they were fighting and got in a fight over which dog started the "fight." Which ended in the very bizarre fleeing of my parents from my grandparents' house.

The dog incident was our cue to leave. So we headed over to Brady's family's party. Finally, normal people. Easter was my first time meeting any of Brady's family. I walk in, wearing my best Easter dress, looking like all sweetness and good manners. Brady's aunt is working in the kitchen, so I offer to help. I get assigned the task of putting pie crusts in pie dishes, easy enough. Brady's aunt starts asking me questions, trying to get to know me, ok fine.

Aunt: "So how long have you known Brady?"

Me: "Oh we met at the beginning of law school but we just started dating."

Aunt: disapproving look down her nose at me.

Aunt: "So when, exactly, did you start dating?"

Me: "WTF, you nosy you-know-what, what does it matter?"

Me and what I actually said: "Oh about a month ago."

Aunt: another disapproving look, "hmmmm."

At this point I decide I've had enough of pie crusts and move on from the kitchen to try to get to know the other family members. And I am repeatedly met with cold shoulders. Seriously, no one would talk to me. Except for Brady's grandma and she basically wanted to know what my gpa, class ranking, job plans, credit score, etc.

So I politely eat my Easter dinner and we leave. I ask Brady, "what the hell was that?" He tells me, "oh you are just shy, you just need to open up a bit and they'll love you." Subsequent events with Brady's family were better and with time, I grew to be really close with these people.

A year later, at the next Easter, I finally found out why I had gotten the silent treatment. Brady's uncle pulled me aside and apologized for not being welcoming, and asked that I forgive their behavior as they were all in shock because they did not know Brady had broken up with his previous girlfriend and were very confused when Brady came walking up with a completely different girl on his arm. I told Brady's uncle that of course they were forgiven and then went to have a little chat with Brady. So, yea, that first Easter, Brady conveniently forgot to tell his family that (1) he had broken up with his previous girlfriend of seven years, and (2) he now had a new girlfriend name Courtney. Um, awkward. Only Brady's grandma knew that his previous relationship ended, which explains why she was the only one that would talk to me.

So, the first meetings of each other's families did not go smoothly. And there were many other subsequent awkward family meetings (Brady and my mother once got in a fight over a basket of tortilla chips at a Mexican restaurant.) But now, everyone gets along great, well pretty good, well as good as family can get along.

Crazy Legs

I am channeling Blair Waldorf today at work with my textured tights.

Sleepy Baby

Who needs a baby, when you have one of these?

The Beginning of Team Brady

Brady and my anniversary is this coming Sunday, October 11, 2009. I think that's a Sunday. I can't believe it's been a year since we got married. This past year was crazy, new house, new dog, new job for me, etc. It's been a great year though, and I'm looking forward to many wonderfully happy, blissful years of marriage with my fabulous husband. Wow, I just made myself throw up in my mouth a little.

In honor of our upcoming anniversary, I wanted to chronicle how Brady and I met, started as a couple and became engaged. This post will be the story of how we met and our first couple dates.*

We met in Fall of 2003 at Chapman University School of Law. During the first year of law school, the first years are divided into tracks, you have the same classes with your track for the entire year. Brady and I were in the same track. Chapman is pretty small and the tracks even smaller, so we became acquainted pretty quickly. I remember the first week of school or so, scanning the classroom seeing if there were any potential dating prospects. I thought Brady looked promising but then learned he had a girlfriend. Damn, the good ones are always taken! Brady and I started actually hanging out during our second semester of our first year, with our respective girlfriend and boyfriend. Yea, I know, awkward. But I can assure you, that there was absolutely no funny business going on, we were just friends and got along well. In fact, I remember telling someone, "It's so nice to have guy friends, you can't have guy friends in college because they just want to get in your pants. But look at Brady, he's my friend and he doesn't want to get in my pants at all."

Fast forward to our third year. Our respective relationships had fizzled out and ended (or imploded in my case). I know I've posted about how he asked me out, at least I think I have, anyways I can't find it so I'll recap. During our third year, I had been pretty much absent from the law school scene with the exception of going to class. One night, I ran into Brady who remarked that he hadn't seen me in a while. We chatted and it came up that I was single. It was within in days that he asked me out to dinner. My reply, "like on a date?" said with all possible shock and snobbiness. I told him I didn't think that was a good idea and didn't accept. The problem was, (1) we had been just friends and I truly was shocked that he asked me out, and (2) I actually wasn't completely single, I was seeing someone but it was not serious at all, I was more attached to the guy's DVR than the actual guy himself.

Brady and I continued to talk and he mentioned that the offer for dinner was still on the table. Two about-to-be lawyers dating, it's so romantic. Eventually, I asked him if he wanted to still have dinner and he did. We went to the Quiet Woman and had an amazing time. Although I ordered this chicken dish, simply because it came with stuffing and I didn't like the chicken which was obvious because I didn't eat any of it. Brady dropped me off after dinner and walked me to my door. And then he kissed me good night. I ran into my apartment, I was in shock and a little tipsy. We had ordered a bottle of wine with dinner, um yeah, Brady doesn't really drink wine. So basically I had a bottle of wine and some stuffing for dinner. I woke up my roommate, Annalise, yelling "Brady just kissed me!" And then I debriefed her about the date, probably over a glass of wine. I really liked my wine back then.

So we had a great first date, naturally Brady asked me out on another date. And I said no. Actually I said I had to "focus on school." Which was kind of lame. Really, what I had to do was get rid of DVR guy. And even though Brady just wanted to go on a second date, I felt that the decision to go on a second date was bigger than that, that if I was going to go out with him I should be ready to be in it for the long haul. We kept talking, he kept asking me out, I kept saying I had to focus on school. As we talked, I started to feel a real connection with him and wanted to explore it. But I had concert tickets with DVR guy and I couldn't get rid of him before that, I just didn't even know how to deal with that. "Um hey, DVR guy, can you give me back those tickets I got for you, cause I like this other guy better and you are kind of boring, and uh yeah, I'm going to need those tickets back." That was not going to work.

So about six weeks passed in between our first date and our second. The concert passed and I decided that I wanted to go out with Brady. He had sent me an email telling me that he thought we had a great first date and that he wanted to see me again. It was very well-written. My mom said, "he's either crazy or your soulmate, you probably should go out with him and figure it out." I agreed with her. We were talking pretty much daily at this point and he mentioned that he was going to Vegas for the weekend. By himself. So I slyly said, "I love Vegas, I haven't been in forever, I would love to go back." I pretty much invited myself to Vegas with him. After I said that, he officially invited me to Vegas and we had our second date planned. Crap, I still needed to get rid of DVR guy, who ironically was in Vegas. So Brady and I were set to go to Vegas that weekend, I think this was Monday or Tuesday when I talked to DVR guy. I called him and said, "so this isn't really working, I need to focus on school." The old "focus on school" works every time. And with that DVR guy was gone. And I stopped watching Lost, he had been recording it for me while I was in class. Moving on from DVR guy was a fantastic decision, I got a husband and Lost got really stupid at that point.

So Brady and I went to Vegas. He picked me up on Saturday morning. He even asked me what I wanted from Starbucks and brought it to my door. Back then my drink was a venti zen green tea, two bags with an inch of soy. A little complicated, but he got it right! Things were looking promising already. We had a fantastic time in Vegas. We stayed at the Wynn, ate dinner at Sushi Roku, shopped, had drinks, a damn good second date. The conversation was effortless, it just fetl really comfortable. That night, after a few drinks, I told Brady that I thought we were going to get married. And he didn't run! Amazing!

This is our first picture together in the gardens at Bellagio. This was about 3 1/2 years ago. I would like to note that dress now fits again. In fact, I wore it a couple of weeks ago.

So became the start of many Vegas trips, and the beginning of our relationship. That first trip to Vegas, Brady shopped with me for about 6 hours, that never happened again.

*Please note that this is the version of the story according to me. Brady maintains that I asked him if the offer for dinner was still on the table, implying that I threw myself at him like a shameless hussy. Please also note that Brady can be full of crap at times.