Guilty Pleasure - The Millionaire Matchmaker

So I'm not usually one for reality shows - but I am absolutely IN LOVE with The Millionaire Matchmaker on Bravo. Her name is Patti Stanger and she is a cross between my two friends Kathy and Liza (for those of you who know them, you will can't deny it). She owns The Millionaie's Club, which is a matchmaking company for, what else, millionaires. She is so blunt it's rude, but she's always always right. Usually what she does is interview several candidates for a "mixer" and introduces the millionaire to them and lets them pick. More often than not, if the millionaire picks someone she thinks is not a good match (she throws those ones in there for temptations sake, you know the type, bleach-blonde bimbos usually), the date ends badly. The show is sometimes over the top, fixing up gay couples and what-not (last week one of the millionaire's was "bi-curious", the other one was an adorable farmer from Indiana that I would contemplate leaving my husband for), but Patti is uncommonly old-fashioned. Not by Mormon standards, mind you, but by the worlds standards definitely. She has this code of conduct - no lying, cheating and so forth--and if you don't live by it you're out of the club. My favorite rule is that you are not allowed to have sex until you are in a serious, MONOGAMOUS, relationship. How often do you see that on television? Ummmm never. The show is hilarious (I recommend audiences ages 17 and up), and is definitely my telivision guilty pleasure. The show is on Bravo, or you can watch on bravotv.com.

Akiane - Child Prodigy

http://artakiane.com/gallery.html

It is impossible look at this girl's amazing talent and not clearly see Heavenly Father influence and blessings. If you read her story and descriptions of her paintings there is no question of her faith in God and compassion for mankind. It's truly amazing. She is only 15 now, and her website will show you which paintings she did at what age.

So...apparently I suck at blogging

Wow...I am not good at keeping this up. Here are some updates: James is now going to school at BYU-I and looking for a good part-time job. So far he is enjoying himself, except his math class. It's that stupid "math for the real world" class, so it's all 14-page story problems. He has a fitness class and an American Foundations (formerly American Heritage) that he goes to with a friend. He is planning on majoring in Healthcare Administration. I am still working at ERA for my dad, and crossing my fingers that business picks up.

A couple of weeks ago James surprised me and got a puppy! Her name is Phoebe. She is struggling with potty training. Melaleuca Pre-Spot (for laundry) seems to be working pretty well on the puppy stains. She is a cute little thing and likes to play with Tirra's giant chocolate lab. The other night she was wrestling with Chris & Kristy's chihuahua mix, Cindy Lou. Cindy Lou is a little smaller and very quick, but we like to think that Phoebe won the sparring match. Our apartment lease ends in July and we are hoping we have our credit straitened out enough that we can buy a house and have our two cats (Brutus and Kratos) come home with us and Phoebe.

All in all James & I still like eachother and don't fight like some other newly-weds have warned us we would. We get along great even though we are struggling financially (who isn't, right?). Sometimes you're the big dog, most of the time you get you're toys snatched away. And the big dog gloats about it.

pictures posted!

I finally posted some reception pictures on Facebook. Check it out. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=3585973&l=b44f3f365f&id=623127432
These are the ones that my friend Janel Young took (see her blog address below)

Password!

Sorry everyone - to see our pictures you can go to http://hymasimage.com/Home/tabid/36/Default.aspx and click on Online Viewing. Our file is labeled "James and Melissa". The password is "wedding" (all lower case). You can order online or call (208) 745-1289 if you want prints.

Quick Update and Pictures

So I'm finally married and things have settled down enough for me to pop on here and give a brief update. James and I are living in an apartment in Rigby, without our cats. Our landlord wants an additional $400 deposit for us to bring our cats in....we could have a dog, but for cats we have to fork over a small fortune. Weird to anyone else? I guess dogs don't scratch carpet....but cats don't pee everywhere. I am still working at ERA Real Estate, James is looking for a new job because his advertising job just isn't working out. We are looking on Craigslist.com everyday and send out probably 4 or 5 resumes a day....no winners yet. Most of those send you to a job-finding website and make you do that song and dance. It's very frustrating.
We met with the photographer yesterday and did a quick run through of all the pictures she took, now we have to go back through and pick the ones that we love for our book. You can see the pictures at hymasimage.com. If you would like copies, you can order online for 20% off (but Evelyn doesn't do any further editing) or you can call Evelyn with the numbers you want and she will edit them and so forth and still give you 10% off. For candids of the reception, you can see some of them on my awesome friend Janel's blog: youngmom1220.blogspot.com. She took about a zillion and she is going to teach me how to scrap-book them. James's younger brother Kurt's girlfriend Mesa (got that?) took a bunch of pictures too, and I will post some of them here and on Facebook, so watch for those. My cousins Tiffany and Christine took pictures too, and I believe they posted those on Facebook.
It was a wonderful day that James and I will always always always remember and love. Thank you to my wonderful Mother for putting it all together, and my wonderful Dad for letting us go nuts on the party and giving me all the time off of work!

Bridal Burn-Out

So we are winding down on the wedding plans and I find myself caring less and less about the details. I will give my mother vague ideas of what I think I want, and then follow-up with "I don't care, do whatever you want."

"What kind of flowers do you want?"

"Daisies"

"Ok...what colors?"

"Lime green and yellow"

"Well what about adding some pink and orange? What kind of flowers do you want with the daisies....you can't just have daisies. And what about your bouquet, what do you want that to look like? Do you want lots of flowers or only some flowers?"
"I don't care.....do whatever you want."

We have had similar conversations about the cake, the food at the reception, and countless other details. The great thing is that I completely trust my mother to make it wonderful without me doing anything at all. She could do the whole thing without a single opinion from me and I'm sure I would love it. Our current worry is my dress. We had to order it in my size months ago, and it is supposed to arrive this Friday. Which means we have less than 3 weeks to alter the thing and make it temple worthy. I refuse to wear cap-sleeves. I realize the wedding is during the hottest time of the year, but I tell you I will NOT have cap-sleeves...3/4 or long sleeves. I will not be one of those cookie-cutter Mormon brides with those stupid little sleeves. Plus my arms are Kobe-Bryant-long, and shorter sleeves would just accentuate that....not exactly a feature I want to show off.

After several mix-ups and mishaps, we are finally starting to mail out the invitations...IF I can get my wonderful groom to get addresses for his friends (which I asked him to do months ago...but whatever....get used to it, right?). The invitations are perfect, I absolutely love them--even though we had to jump through hoops to get them done correctly.

And through all of the frustration and anxiety, I am still excited to get married! You should all be receiving invitations shortly, and I hope to see you all there!