The things I don't want to forget...and a final highlight video

It has been quite a journey on this little blog.  For over 2 years I have been sharing my ideas and plans and the little ups and downs of planning and participating in a wedding from the bride's perspective.  It has been a blessed joy. 

I never would have imagined that I would have actual 'followers' who would care to read what I had to share much less provide me insight, feedback, encouragement and support throughout the emotional roller coaster.  Heck, half of my wedding was probably designed or carried out by ripping off ideas from fellow blogger brides! 

This site has been my opportunity to vent and brag and talk unrelentlessly about all things wedding - something my family and friends never would have allowed as all of you have.  And that's only because you are along for the ride as well with your own plans and dreams and big celebrations. 

From the bottom of my heart I want to thank you. 
As one of my final three wedding recaps, I wanted to share some last minute reflections and most excitedly the very last closing montage from our wedding video courtesy of Gary Freedline of Video Keepsakes of Bevelry Hills.  It has been so cool to share the actual 'live' events from our wedding day along with the photos and it is all because of Gary.  This last video is a favorite because it recaps our entire day for the bride and groom.  Have fun with it!

I do remember things from our wedding rehearsal and wedding day that I wanted to share so that I don't ever forget them. Here are a few of the sweet moments, funny things and just plain 'weird' things that I recall:

* Mr Fix It's dad (Pops) came up to me and my daughter, Little Miss at one point during the reception and hugged us and said "I am so happy that you two ladies are part of our family now and we love you so much!"

* At the rehearsal, Mr Fix It pulled me away from all the guests onto the deck and practiced 'dipping' me for our dance. We didn't actually do any dipping on the wedding day, but at least we had that moment together.

* At the rehearsal, Mr Fix It pulled me aside and we stared out over the venue and the ceremony where we would stand the next day and he said "Are you happy? Are you getting everything you ever wanted?" I just smiled and told him "Of course!"

*  Just before the walk down the aisle while waiting in the bridal cottage, my dad took my hand and knelt down beside me and said "Just breathe."

*  The dance floor seemed full enough and definitely was not too small. Though a lot of guests didn't dance I don't think.  One of Mr Fix It's good friends was acting all crazy jumping up on the fireplace hearth and shaking his bum at the dance floor. Then he began bouncing his girlfriend off of his knee.  And I of course had a blast dancing with my small group to You Shook Me All Night Long while the youngest kids loved dancing to Miley Cyrus' Party in the USA. 

Share time:  If you have already taken the plunge, what are the things you don't want to forget from your special day?

H-moon Recap: Blogging from the other side of the world

It was near the end of April and we were halfway through the first of our two week honeymoon.  We had already enjoyed the Gold Coast in Australia and were now arriving at our second (and final) resort in Bali, Indonesia.  In Australia I was able to walk directly across the street from our rented apartment to a little convenience store that offered internet service.   So each morning I would check my blog (and maybe even post something real quick) and then check my e-mail (just in case my boss needed something while I was gone) and then log on to Facebook where the time change would mean I could chat with my daughter who had just arrived home from school.

It was perfect because Mr Fix It would usually still be sleeping or be out in the waves across the street surfing in the morning so this gave me something to do and also helped crave my withdrawls from not having daily computer and e-mail/blog access. 

In Bali at our first hotel, they even had internet access directly in the hotel lobby which was wonderful because again, I could just walk down whenever I had a free moment or Mr Fix It was surfing/sleeping.  And of course, the internet was a bit cheaper in Bali :)

The last 4 days of our Bali stay, we were at a resort called Blue Point Bay Villas.  It was set back on a cliff top off a road...basically, I'm saying it wasn't in a large city.  But just up the street (about an 8 minute walk maybe) there was a little internet cafe.  I had to walk out of the resort and down a long dirt path past construction workers and out onto a main road (with no sidewalks and lots of curves!) to get to it.  But it was there.  And so 2 or 3 days I did head down and use the internet. 

Mr Fix It didn't mind...he actually wanted me checking my e-mail to keep up with my daughter and also check in on how our dog was doing - he ended up passing away the day before we came home from the honeymoon :(  But I was so glad we were able to find out *before* we got home so that we could process it and be prepared.

All in all, some people want to totally 'shut down' while they are away or on vacation and avoid the computer and e-mail/internet at all costs...but not me.  I need my fix at least a little bit!  Sometimes I'd only be on the net for 15 minutes and some mornings close to an hour.  Since it was early enough before our day started, I didn't feel like I was missing out on anything and besides, we are super early risers :)

Am I totally crazy?  What do you think about blogging or using a computer while you're on vacation or even better, on your  honeymoon?  Would/Did you do it?

I'm a guest blogger - times two!

I have been totally humbled by blogger friends recently asking me to write guest posts for their blogs while they're away on honeymoons...so this week, I will be directing you on over to two of my favorite bridal blogs!

So excited and honored to have been asked by Kristin over at Happily After All to write a guest post while she is away this week after just getting married this weekend!  Lucky girl!  I know her wedding was amazing as she put nothing but personal touches and creativity into all of her amazing DIY goodness!  Seriously, if you don't follow her (and if you are a DIYer), be sure to check out her blog and browse through the archives.  You won't be let down...but today, check out the guest post I wrote for her about true love and affection.

And also today, Em over at Burning River Bride (who is Kristin's wedding twin since they got married on the same day) asked me to write a guest post for her while she is also away this week.  Now if you follow Em, you know that she is all kinds of fabulous.  So pretty, unique and just plain fun and honest!  I look for her comments on my blog every day and am disappointed if I don't hear from her.  I couldn't regurgitate a previously written post for her so I wrote up an entirely new one on having fun in your relationships...be sure to check them both out and say hi to them to wish them well on their new married endeavors!

Four weddings and another wedding...

Seriously, today I know of at least FIVE wonderful weddings happening right this very day that have been a long time in the making here in blogger land.  So I just want to take a moment to wish the amazing ladies well for all their amazingness.  I know they will be beautiful and pray their days are as fun and special as ours was.

Best wishes for a very LONG and memorable day, girls!

Emily over at Burning River Bride - Seriously gorgeous...lots of fun...super encouraging...and always excited for others...wish her a huge amount of love and joy today!

Kristin over at Happily After All - The queen of DIY projects and creativity, she was setting up her own church ceremony days ago with all of the super cool projects and items she has shared through many a tutorial on her lovely blog.

Shannon over at Always a Bridesmaid, Finally a Bride - Such raw honesty and yet so beautifully womanly all at once.  She shares wonderful stories about not only her wedding but her fiance (almost hubby now!) and their lives. 

Cristy over at a Cupcake Wedding makes no apologies for her style, abilities and thoughts on her wedding.  I love it!  She has many a devoted follower because she tells it like it is and doesn't let anyone or anything stand in her way.  I cannot WAIT to see how it all comes together because I know it will be truly amazing since it is truly hers (and her hubby's).  :)

Laura over at the Bride Side of Life had a few hiccups in the days leading up to her wedding.  But everything worked out and she is now in Julien, CA ready to marry the man of her dreams.  Give her some encouragement and leave her some nice comments to return to with lots of congratulations!

Be sure to stop over and leave a wonderful comment on their blog today and consider following them if you don't already...I'm sure you won't be disappointed!

I'm a guest blogger on a Bride's Brain!

So I have totally loved and valued reading Jenn's posts over at A Bride's Brain.  In addition, she has been a wonderful, faithful commenter here on my own blog since almost the beginning.

She got married several months ago but they waited to take their European honeymoon until just this week.  So when she e-mailed me asking if I would write a guest post to share on her blog in her absence, I was completely honored and humbled by the offering and of course jumped on the opportunity.

So head on over to her blog and check out my post from yesterday :)

How to blog live on your wedding day - or from anywhere

You may remember from my posts here, here and here that I tried to blog live from our wedding venue on our wedding day.  Well, I LOVED reading all of the fun comments on mine and other people's blogs about live udpates.  And a few of you asked how I was able to do this, so here is a super easy and brief tutorial so you can do it, too!!!

From within your Blogger administrative settings, after you've signed in:

1) Click on Dashboard
2) Under Manage your Blogs, click on the Settings button under the blog you want to post to.
3) Under Settings, click on E-mail and Mobile
4) Under Posting Options, create (fill in) your e-mail posting address. Add this e-mail address as a contact to your cell phone, PDA, etc.
5) Be sure the Publish E-mails Immediately option is selected.
6) Click Save Settings

Now, all you need to do is snap a photo on your cell phone or iphone or whatever. Send the photo as a text message to the e-mail address you selected for your Blogger posting options. You can create a post heading by typing in the Subject of your text message. The actual text that you type in the text message will be the 'text' in your blog post.

That's all there is to it. You are simply snapping photos on a cell phone and sending them as text messages to your e-mail address to post to your blog. Voila!

So fun. I only wish that I would have had more time throughout the day to share more. Once things got under way in full swing, I threw my cell phone in a bag and never checked it again the rest of the day. I wish I would have gotten my bridesmaids in on it, too because they could have easily snapped shots on their phones and texted them to the blog. Oh well. Hopefully some of you will have fun with this, too.

And honestly, it gave me something to do sometimes when I most needed to keep my mind busy (more to come on that in a future recap post) :D

Miss Me?

While we're gone on our honeymoon (look out Australia and Bali!) I figured I'd leave you with a scheduled post that I saw over on an Enchanted Life While Becoming a Wife's blog a month ago.  It's simple...complete the ABC's of me:

Age: 37

Bed Size: Queen but when we move one day, so getting a California king!

Chore you hate: Cleaning toilets and dusting - there's always dust floating around!

Dog’s name:  Our beloved, Kuta...he was named after the beach where we are headed to in Indonesia right now!

Essential “start the day” item: Toothbrush/Toothpaste, moisturizer and lip gloss

Favorite color: I don't believe in favorites...love warm browns and bright light blues...also deep dark purples and greens

Gold or Silver: silver

Height: 5'8"

Instruments you play: None :(  Wish I had learned piano.

Job Title: Office Manager or Executive Assistant.   Depends on who I'm talking to.

Kids: My 15 year old daughter

Living Arrangements: Just moved into Mr Fix It's house - and it will be paid off in about six years!!!
Mom’s Name: Lou Rae (don't ask...I don't know where they came up with it but her dad's name was Louie)

Nickname: Sassy Stacey or Mr Fix It calls me Lizzie when I 'lick my lips like a lizard'

Overnight hospital stays:  EGH!  When I delivered my daughter and had to have a cesarean section

Pet peeve: People who throw their crap all over the house - like my daughter and Mr Fix It who can't seem to remember where things like dirty clothes, keys, books, etc go.  Really?

Quote from a movie: I will call him, my mini-me!

Righty of Lefty: Righty

Siblings: Baby sister (20 months younger than me)

Time you wake up: 5:45 on the dot or earlier.  I can never sleep past six am ever :(

Underwear: Boy shorts are my fave.

Veggie you dislike: Asparagus

Ways that make you late: Rarely ever late.

X-rays you have had: dental, something from my car accident last August, x-rays when I was a little girl...I'm sure there's plenty.

Yummy food you make:  Steak Diane, Carmelized Green Beans and Rosemary Garlic Red Roasted Potatoes

Zoo animals you like: Not big on zoo's...which is funny since there was one at our wedding venue...I guess the tigers are pretty cool.

Such sweet blogger friends...

Do you know that I follow over 200 blogs in my Google Reader?  And most of them are bridal or wedding related!  :)

Well, of those 200 there are many, many of them that have become great 'online' friends and support and encouragement throughout the past 8 or 9 months I've been blogging!  And I just wanted to share some of the amazing comments and 'behind the scenes' e-mails I received in the last week or two leading up to my wedding day:

Disclaimer:  I hope these ladies don't mind that I shared these wonderful comments from them :)

I can’t believe your wedding day is only two days away, and I just wanted to send you a message to wish you the most beautiful of days! I know you’ve put so much passion and energy into your wedding, and that you’ve gone through a lot of rough spots lately, so I hope your day is all that you’ve imagined. I’ll definitely be thinking of you and following along with your wedding day blogging. I can’t wait to see the pictures and hear all about it! Congratulations, Stacey! I'm so happy and thrilled for you! - Bicoastal Bride

I know you're probably consumed with a bazillion different last minute wedding things (and joys! and definitely the joys!) but I just wanted to send over some almost-wedding well-wishes of my own. We've been popping into each others blogs for a while now, and I can't believe your amazing, beautifully planned wedding is pretty much here! I wish you all the love that such a special day deserves, and I hope it's everything you and Mr Fix It wanted it to be. Congratulations on your wedding and marriage. May you savor the joy of the ceremony and the celebration all day long, and may you carry that joy with you forever. - A Los Angeles Love

I seriously cannot- CANNOT- wait. I'm so excited for Friday. :)   - From Amanda, my wedding coordinator

Yey your big day is almost here! Enjoy this week! - Seaside Smitten

So excited for you!! Mine is in 39 days! GAH! Have an amazing week, check in if you can, and enjoy this time. You're going to be a beautiful bride :) - Burning River Bride

4 days? I cant wait to check in on your blog obseesively in 4 days. - But What I Really Hate is Laundry

YAY!! so close - A Bride's Brain

Can't believe you're just 4 days away! Congrats congrats congrats! - Recession Bride

ONE MORE WEEK! OH MY GOSH!!! Is it weird that I've been looking forward to your wedding and we only know each other online?


I'm so glad you have everything done and can relax for the next few days. The final countdown is on! - Salt Says

And of course, I can't forget my biggest blogger buddy, Mrs. T over at Ninety-Nine + Forever.  She sent me a package for my wedding all the way from Australia!  How sweet is that? 

Thank you to all of you lovely ladies for all your well wishes and I am surely going to be following along with all of your future events, planning and festivities for all the exciting things happening in your lives as well.  I also wish you a lifetime of joy and happiness!

Anonymous strikes again!

I'm still at the beginning of our honeymoon, but as I promised, I left some scheduled posts for all of you lovely ladies!

Over on one of the other sites that I am a featured blogger bride, I received an 'Anonymous' comment regarding my previous post about the 11th hour wedding guests and the B list that we had for our guest list.

So regarding my post, here is the comment that was left and my response:

Anonymous said...
I honestly think there is nothing tackier then a "B" list. You either wanted them at the wedding or you didn't.
April 14, 2010 9:38 AM

Born to be Mrs. Beever said...
I honestly think there is nothing tackier than people who don't respect people's budgets and size limitations. Wouldn't it be nice if I had the money to be able to invite the 400 people that I could have easily included and WANTED at my wedding? But unfortunately, some of us are not so fortunate as to have unlimited funds.

If it were up to me, I would have invited every person I've met since I was in grade school..because I am the type of loving person that includes anyone and everyone and *wants* them all there and celebrating with us. But that is just not realistic in today's economy and such.

The one thing I've learned in my life is to recognize and respect that everyone has their own abilities, opinions and ways of doing things. There is absolutely no reason at all to degrade, judge or name call just because you don't agree with something.

All you needed to say was "Personally, I don't think I'd ever be able to have a B list but I am glad it worked out for you."

But I guess you don't have that kind of 'tact,' especially coming from Anonymous commenters - lovely.

 
 
 
UGH!  Have you had any unfortunate comments or anonymous comments that left you frustrated and annoyed?  How did you handle it?

Rehearsal Day!!!

So, yesterday was my last full day at work...I am officially out of the office until May 3rd now because........

TOMORROW IS MY WEDDING DAY!

I seriously cannot believe that I will be getting married tomorrow!  After a 16 month engagement and what seems like eat, sleep and breathing nothing but our wedding for over a year now, I am finally going to be done with all of this planning and just party and celebrate!  It has been such a crazy ride...mostly good but not without it's share of breakdowns and hiccups along the way.  But that's just goes with any type of wedding planning, right?

Well, today I will be getting my nails done and then getting my hair washed, dried and styled for our Beever family pictures that we are taking right before the rehearsal at 3:00 pm today.  Then it's a super fun dinner and just relaxing with my girlies. 

My best friend, L flies in today from Idaho and will be staying with me tonight along with fellow bridesmaid, cousin A.  I really hope I get a good night's sleep.

Get ready ladies, because tomorrow will be filled (hopefully) with many brief obsessive photo filled posts throughout the day as I snap pics on my cell phone and send them over here to my blog :)  Can't wait to share with all of you.

Weather is predicted to be 72 degrees and mostly sunny!  Oh praise God!  Is it weird that I have been obsessively stalking http://www.weather.com/ several times a day for a week now?  The weather here the past couple days in the OC has been gorgeous and I am just hoping it keeps gettin' better through tomorrow night.

Oh, how I can't wait to see our guests' reactions to the wedding video I made right before I walk down the aisle!  So fun!

Have a wonderful day, ladies...

A nod to my upcoming brides!

Well, here it is....Monday of our wedding week!  OMG, Seriously?  I mean, seriously?  It's really here?!  This cannot be happening!

Ok, I promise to still keep up with my posts this week...I'm ready and raring to go.  I am also hoping to have posts scheduled for at least a few days while we're gone for two weeks on our h-moon out of the country....so don't leave me while I'm gone!  I promise I'll be back!

But before I leave, in case I don't get a chance this week, I wanted to be sure to give a shout out to the following lovely ladies who have (or just had) weddings coming up in the next few weeks while I may be busy or gone.  Be sure to check out their blogs if you're not already a follower and give them some lovin', encouragement and well wishes!

Girls, know that I can't wait to get back and check out all the happenings on your big days and all that I might miss while I'm away!  Best wishes to you all and may your day be blessed with love, laughter, tears of joy and emotion that will burn into your memory for the rest of your beautiful lives!

*  Patience over at a Reason or a Season (getting married next weekend!)
*  Laura over at With This Ring, I Thee Blog (gettin' hitched the day after me in a city right near us on a cruise line that was our runner up venue choice!)
*  Westside Wedding (tied the knot a few days ago!)
*  Kristal over at Planning My Purple Wedding (getting married May 1st - the day we return from our honeymoon)
*  Fellow Blogger Bride (from GetMarried.com) RhondaJoel over at the Adventurous Bride is sharing my wedding weekend with me!
*  Jaime over at WeddObsessed (getting married on April 30th)
*  Gaynor over at Our Day By Design (just got married on April 3rd!)
*  Jeana over at My Dream Ring just got married about 2 1/2 weeks ago!  Congrats!
*  Miss Hamster over at wheresmydessert getting married in May

So many weddings, it's just too much fun!  Did I miss anyone?  Who else is coming up near their wedding day very soon?  We're just 4 days away from ours now!

I will definitely be blogging on wedding day!!!

So, I just learned this past weekend how to take pics and video on my cell phone and e-mail/text them to Blogger to be able to post from anywhere!

I tested it out with this post

So you can bet your bottom dollar that I will post some fun things to share while hanging out on the wedding day!  I may even have some bridesmaids act as 'guest posters' that day while I am all up and busy gettin' pretty, gettin' photographed and gettin' married!

So excited...can't wait to share with all of you!!!

WEATHER UPDATE:  The weather report now says it will be 73 degrees and Sunny on our day!  Oh how I hope this continues to get better and doesn't go down hill!  And it even says less chance of rain on my niece's birthday on the Sunday before, too! 

Yea - hope things keep lookin' up for us!  We're so close now!  Tomorrow is my last Friday as a single lady!
8, count 'em EIGHT more days to go!!!

I'm a Bride on the Brink!!!

I'm really getting to the brink (see the P.S. below), but for now check out this feature I got to be a part of over at the blog on MyWeddingFavors.com.  I am so excited to participate in this fun little spotlight they post called 'Brides on the Brink.'  It's an interview with brides who are within 3 months of their big day and is meant to share some encouragement, advice and information with fellow brides about planning your wedding.

(Technically, I'm 49 days and counting now - not 30 yet - thank God!)

And while you're there, browse around their site and check out all their cool little favors and items they have to offer - I smell a giveaway coming VERY soon on my blog that you might be interested in if you like what you see at http://www.myweddingfavors.com/!  Check back on March 1st!

P.S.  Remember how I said that I was praying for the 'no' responses to come in because we ended up inviting 224 guests but our venue (and budget) has only been allotted for 202?  Well, as of yesterday we are halfway to getting the 22 'no' responses we need!  Isn't that silly?  I am actually hoping for about 19 more no's (not just 11) because I have about 8 other friends I'd like to be able to invite that are on our 'B list' still :(  Hopefully we'll get a ton of RSVP's in this week...the reply by date is a week from today!

Getting overwhelmed...

I am getting overwhelmed...there's still much going on and all is generally good.  But oh my...the days fly by like seconds lately!

And I want SO badly to sit down and catch up on all my daily reads of my fellow bloggers and I have just been so super busy at work and so super busy with DIY projects at home...really more just assembling stuff....but still.  It's time consuming putting together 180 favor boxes with tissue, takeout boxes, ribbons tied in bows and favor tags.  And then putting together 25 circus boxes filled with goodies for our family children.  But I can't wait to show you all the pics our photographer will get at the wedding of all these fun details.

I have also finally found the perfect votive candle at a local candle store to fit in my luminary table numbers so that I don't get the stupid shadow of the rim of the votive holder.

This week, I'm working on assembling ribbon wands and writing thank you cards from the bridal shower Sunday.  I'll post about these later this week.

I am so glad I am getting stuff done, but feel like such a slacker still.  And feel like I am missing out on all that has been going on with all of you!  Please forgive me and know that I will eventually catch up and be back over there...for now, I am learning that I need to keep my posts short and simple (and hopefully filled with pics).  It's just too hard to sit down and write some of the lengthier posts lately.  Which is funny since I am so long winded usually!

So since I can't seem to get over to all of your blogs lately...do me a favor and leave me a comment on this post about what's been going on with you lately!  Share something fun or exciting or something you're glad you've recently accomplished...and share something that you're maybe bummed or sad about or that is stressing you out that you need to vent about.  At least I'll feel like I am somewhat in the loop when I can jump back over to your blogs!

And before I forget:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MR FIX IT!!! 

YOUR LAST ONE AS A SINGLE MAN!

I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!

PS  As of yesterday, we've officially received half of our RSVP responses back!  Only 112 more to go!

Posting your to-do list on your blog

I remember a while back posting some kind of to-do list on my blog and I mentioned that it was not really for any of you but moreso as a journaling opportunity for me as I look back on this blog years from now. 

And I have seen many other brides do it, too.  I thought it was a good way to keep track of our progress for myself.  I also noticed other brides who post their task lists usually ask "Am I missing anything?"

Honestly, with 54 days to go until the wedding, it's becoming more stressful than helpful and so now I skim over those type of posts.  Mostly because there is no way in hell I am going to be able to think about whether or not someone else is forgetting something - do any of you honestly pull out your own to-do lists and perform a side by side comparison to fellow bloggers' lists to let them know what they're forgetting?

Besides, all I end up feeling is stress about my own to-do list and how there is still so much to do.  It makes me physically nauseous to read these posts now. 

So while I'm not knocking anyone who chooses to do this (since I am sure I'm in this category), I just wanted to vent about the stress and freak out mode that I enter when I click over to a fellow blogger bride's blog and see their updated to-do list...please forgive me if I don't comment or can't help you figure out what you're missing.  It'll probably just make me think of something *I* am missing and stress me out.

And the winner is...

Congratulations to Nicole-Lynn from Seaside Smitten

You are the lucky winner of my very first giveaway item:

100 Red Chinese Take Out Boxes

Nicole-Lynn said:  I would use these for a friends shower or valentine's day... oh the possibilities :)

And for your proof, here's the images from my list and the number generated from http://www.random.org/:

Thanks to everyone who entered and be on the lookout for another giveaway next month...one I think everyone would love to win and will be able to use!  Have a great weekend all!  I'm off to Disneyland today with eight 15 year olds to celebrate my daughter's birthday!  And in the rain no less! 

A great Uprinting giveaway!

LauraLou over at Lucky in Love blog is hosting her first giveaway of custom Uprinting postcards.  Something you should all definitely go check out here!  She has so many great projects and ideas on her blog...I love following along with her.

A quick update and many thanks to my blogger friends

I've spent the entire weekend with Mr Fix It and our puppy (even though he's 11 years old we still call him puppy).  I just want to thank you all so much for your kind words of support and encouragement.  It's been an emotionally draining weekend.  If you hadn't read from Saturday's post, our puppy was just recently diagnosed with a heart condition called cardio myopathy.  It means he has an enlarged heart which causes his lungs to fill up with fluid so that he cannot breathe.  It also means he needs to be on three kinds of daily medication for the rest of his life and could die of a heart attack at any minute.  :( 

We have taken him to the vet three times in the past couple days.  Friday morning Mr Fix It was sure he was going to have to put him to sleep as he suffered with wheezing and extremely labored breathing all through the night Thursday.  But the vet told him to let them try to treat him on Friday first.  I went to Mr Fix It's after my appointment with our caterer/coordinator on Friday morning and we picked him up that night. The vet told us Friday night that there is no way to know how much longer we have with him, but it is definitely not longer than a year.  But after they put him on the medication that day, he was definitely back to normal and able to breathe so much better.  Mr Fix It was very happy.

Saturday we took him with us as we shopped for tile for our master bathroom that Mr Fix It is remodeling.  He worked on the bathroom and I watched some NFL playoff games with Kuta.  Kuta was doing well.  But Saturday night, he was right back to his labored breathing.  Mr Fix It and I laid in the bed with Kuta between us comforting him and crying together over the fact that we just didn't think anything was helping him and we could not handle the emotions of watching him suffer each night to breathe. 

Once again, we took him in Sunday morning ready to say goodbye and end any pain he might be feeling.  But at the vet's office while we waited for 2 hours, he seemed fine once again.  We straight out asked our vet what she suggested.  She said let's give him just another couple days and try one last medication as a final resort.  We started him on it last night.  All day yesterday and all through the night he slept peacefully and has been fine.

Though he won't ever be able to be as active as he once was...we can't put any stress on his heart which means leisurely walks only and no running...we are hopeful that the new medication might make him more comfortable and give us more time with him.  We take him back in two days for a follow up and tonight and tomorrow night will be a big test of his condition.

I just keep praying that things go well at least to give us another 6 months with him as Mr Fix It has just had such a hard time these past few weeks...it breaks my heart to see him so torn up.  But today is a better day - rain and all.

Tomorrow - back to normal (hopefully) with my first official dress post in my gown!  :)

Card-box Giveaway

Hey, ladies...Jem-Aqua Bride is hosting her very first giveaway!  She wants to make one of you lucky ladies a gift card box for your wedding in your wedding colors.  Head on over to her blog and check it out to enter!

Oh Google Reader - What have you done to me?!?

Ok, so I admit it...I have only been a part of the blogosphere for a few months now.  And while I am familiarizing myself with how to follow blogs, schedule posts, learn the lingo, and navigate through Blogger, I never had a clue what people were referring to when they mentioned 'Google Reader.' 

Well, randomly one day I actually scrolled all the way down the page on my Dashboard and saw it...the little list of all the blogs I follow and a link to 'View in Google Reader.'  So I decided to check it out and boy am I ever glad I did.  How cool is it to have all the blogs I follow listed so neatly and in an organized fashion that lets me read them so easily?! 

Ok, yes...I'm an idiot and up to this point I had been clicking on each person's individual blog link from my own blog site where it shows the blogs I am following.  So make fun of me if you will but at least I'm honest about my stupidity.  :)

Anyway, now that I've found it I am able to catch up on my blog reading so much easier...it is a little frustrating that I need to actually open a separate link to comment on the blogs I choose to but that's nothing compared to how much more organized this is.

So what's the problem you ask?  Well, this is the problem:

Now that I'm following something like 247 blogs and since it's been the holidays and I've been sick and busy and all, I have fallen way behind on reading all the blogs I love!  And to top it off, Google Reader reminds me daily just how far behind I've fallen!  How the heck am I supposed to catch up on 785 new items?  UGH!!!  I feel so much pressure.

So that said, my new year's resolution is:  to clear out all the new items in my Google Reader and start fresh on January 1st.  I know, I know...it's really a bummer because I know there are posts that I will regret having missed or skipped over but I just seriously can't take the stress anymore. 

So if you see me commenting on your blog and I sound all air-heady (is that a word?) and out of the loop or have no idea what you're talking about when you're recapping some fight you had with your future mother-in-law or thanking everyone for their feedback on what color bridesmaid dresses you should have chosen, please forgive me for my ignorance.  I will try to search through your previous posts to catch up where I feel the need to be in the know.  :)

I'm not big on new year's resolutions but that's a good one for me based on where I'm at with my schedule and planning right now.  What about you all?  Got any new year's resolutions set yet?