The final five

In five days I will be married woman. How weird is that? As I write I am surrounded by wedding stuff...it has taken over the entire condo. Luckily I have had not only my mom, but also my grandma, out here the past few days helping me prepare. Mostly they have been working on wedding stuff while I have gone to my big girl job to escape it all. I am so grateful for all of their hard work! There is still so much to do but I feel like they have tackled many of the big projects! I have the rest of the week off of work to prepare myself for marriage....and to run errands, make schedules, pack for the honeymoon, and pick up my friends from the airport!


I wanted to share some photos of the condo, but right now it looks like wedding threw up on it. So instead I'll leave you with some cute faces to tide you over.

Henry lookin' cute

The Cake lookin' for food

These things don't happen in California...

This morning as I went to take out my trash I was startled to discover two little eyes staring back at me from inside the trash bin! OH MY! I let out a little screech and and slammed the lid back down. After the initial shock, I realized it was a raccoon! In the trash bin! So then I carefully opened the trash back up to confirm it was in fact a raccoon and not a scary monster! The poor thing was terrified of me...I felt soooo bad! There he was, trapped in a trash bin, scared out of his mind, and then to top it all off a crazy red headed lady comes and screams at him! Poor guy...it was totally not his day. I was slightly worried that he would attack me...but he was crouching in the corner out of fear...and I just about starting crying right there...talk about the saddest thing ever! So of course I had to come up with a plan. I put down all my stuff and struggled to lift the big heavy lid up so that my little scared friend could escape. I hope he does. I have a half day at work today, so I plan on checking to see if he got out as soon as I get home!

These kind of things rarely happen in California. We do see our fair share of raccoons...but I have never found one locked in the trash! When I was in college we had a family of raccoons that lived by my dorm...they were sooo cute! Let's hope that mr. raccoon made it out safely!

Quick Update

I know, I know, I've been a bad blogger these past few weeks. But I've been crazy busy! So I am resorting to illegally blogging from work. Let's hope I don't get fired. I want desperately to post some pictures of the new condo, but I just haven't had a chance to even sit down, let along take pictures and post them. I will try to do that this week. I am adjusting to the new place as are the boys. They finally have sniffed all there is to sniff and hopped in every box and are starting to relax and be more normal. Henry loves to get on top of the kitchen cabinets and both boys love going out on the screened in porch. So far we have seen: wild turkeys, geese, ducks, chipmunks, squirrels, and bunnies. My boys are in heaven. You'd think we were living in the country will all of this wildlife surrounding us! Pancake's favorite thing about the condo is the master bathroom (which might be my favorite thing too). He loves to lay on the floor while I am getting ready or taking a bath in the jacuzzi tub. Yes, you heard me, the jacuzzi tub!!!! Love it! I will try my best to post some pictures soon...but don't be mad at me if I don't...after all, I am getting married in 13 days!

Julie in Kentwood???

It's official. I moved! Jon and I found a great condo to rent. We will move him in after the wedding. I now technically don't live in GR. I now live in Kentwood, which is a suburb of Grand Rapids. But I'm totally not changing my blog title. It will just have to do.

As luck would have it, it poured rain the ENTIRE weekend. Like crazy rain for two days straight that never stopped. So needless to say we got wet. Wet would be an understatement...we got drenched! It was painful...but at least it is done. Well...I still need to unpack....yuck. We had help moving from Jon's best man, Danny, and his parents and sister Erin. They made it 10 times easier that's for sure.

So now, I'm in the condo all alone with Pancake and Henry. Pancake totally loves his new digs! He has been exploring every nook and cranny. Henry, on the other hand, either hides in the closet or under the bed. He'll come around eventually.

Well, I'm off to work on unpacking...it really is a daunting task. Can't wait until my mom and bridesmaids are here to help! Pictures coming soon!

Little Boxes Made of Ticky Tacky

I know I've been a bad blogger this week. But I have a good excuse. I'm moving. As if my life weren't crazy busy enough with the wedding and all...Jon and I had to go and rent a condo and then decide to move me in to it...this weekend. I'm excited, but overwhelmed....which is totally the story of my life these past few weeks.

Needless to say we've been doing a lot of this lately.

And this.

And some of this.

And of course this.

p.s. if anyone can tell me what t.v. show my title is from, you get a gold star for the week.

One Month

One month and I will be a married woman. How crazy is that? Where did the time go? Didn't I just post that it was 100 days away...how did that become 30 days so quickly?

Let me just say that I am excited. Overwhelmed? Yes. Nervous? You bet. But definitely excited.

Last night we had our first pre-marital counseling session. We had to take an online test a few weeks ago...and let me just say we were so nervous that the pastor was going to tell us we were incompatible. But....much to our delight he said we were a very good match for each other! We talked about our strengths and "growth areas" as a couple and had some laughs...and some touching red-eyed-try-not-to-cry moments too (we held it together!). We left the pastor's office feeling uplifted, happy, and excited for our marriage. We both feel that our pastor will help us create a wonderful and personal ceremony. The only problem is I think we both might cry through it....I just hope I'm not a blubbering hot mess. We'll have to work on that one.

This is Sydney

Continuing with my meet and greet of California pets, this is our dog, Sydney. She is a 10 year old collie. She is far from being "Lassie-like"....but we still love her crazy self. Syd likes to sit in chairs...a lot. She also likes to poke her head through the cat door in the kitchen. We sometimes call her "bear" (don't know why) or "head" (when she pops her head in the cat door) or "Foo" (don't ask), or some combination of them like "Sydney-foo-bear" or "Foo-head". Yes, my mom and I are insane.