And now it's time for another Blog: Brandon's 35th Birthday!

What a weekend! Phew! It was Brandon's 35th birthday and I wanted to make it AWESOME 'cause I loooooove him. So, I spend all day Friday cleaning for the party on Saturday, then that night I took him out to a very special dinner at Portland City Grill, high above Portland on the 30th floor of the Unico US Bancorp Tower. I chose this place because I really wanted to make him feel spoiled, as he has taken me out for so many lavish seafood and steak dinners. This place had a pretty good reputation on Yelp.com, so I took a chance and made a reservation on OpenTable.com. We had a little trouble figuring out the parking because I didn't know they had parking right below the building! I was misinformed. But once we parked and rode the elevator to the ear popping height of 30 floors for dinner, we were greeted with smiles in the dark ambiance of the PCG.

The view was stunning! The city lights were coming up as the sun went down and enormous storm clouds circled at the edge of the city hills making an almost surreal view. I wish I had taken a picture, but was focused on the man I love, and dinner since we were both hungry! We ordered soups to start; mine was the cream of asparagus (comfort food), and Brando had the seafood cioppino(sp?). For our delectable entrees, I decided on the Seared Ahi Tuna with a spicy rub that made me say "oh mama!", and the birthday boy decided on a little ol' helpin' of a 10oz. filet mignon!! And did he stop there? No! He went the distance with a crab/bernaise/asparagus topping! Oh yeah! We took turns sampling each others' dishes and then continued chatting and munch away while staring lovingly into each others eyes! So romantic and awesome! The only downside was that for about the first 20 mins of our excellent meal there was a table behind me laughing and yelling as loud as humanely possible. I was good enough to let Brandon know that in about 5mins I was going to strangle the whole table, but ultimately decided to ignore them. They are lucky they left....

Sadly, we found ourselves a bit too full for dessert. And opted to find something to go on the way home. Well, the ramp to 26 was closed (lame) so we had a little stress trying to maneuver through town to the super-secret back way home. Brandon spent time stewing over what he wanted for dessert and the choice was made to stop at Sonic and pick up a good ol' fudge sundae. But while driving I continued to spout ideas of other options...pie from Marie's? Coldstone? Fred Meyer poppy seed bundt cake? But no, he persisted, onward he drove toward Sonic...Soon, at a stop light I thought Albertson's chocolate chip cookies and milk. Just in that instant, Brando said, "I have an idea..." to which I immediately queried, "Albertson's chocolate chip cookies and milk?" Brandon got quiet, the light turned green, he said, "Get outta my head!" To which I replied, "No way! Really?" And we drove on to Albertson's to GET that choc chip cookies and milk.

It was a good night, my friends. But more fun was to be had for Mr. Brando. After the night of cookies and romance we got some good sleep and the next morning Brandon asked me to cut his hair, but I hemmed and hawed and told him I could trim it a bit but didn't really feel like cutting it. While secretly, days before I had hatched a plan. A plan for treating Brandon like a king! So I said, "I can't cut your hair." He asked, "Why?" I revealed my plan, "Because someone else is cutting your hair! I made you an appointment at Hair M for a skilled haircut and a luxurious 55min massage at exactly 1:45pm!" He was shocked and pleasantly surprised. How could I treat him to such a rich dinner and still treat him to such amazing pampering?! Well, I planned ahead! Oh yeah! My husband didn't know my cunning and desire to make him feel amazing on his 35th birthday. But like I said before, I LOOOOOOVE him.

We still had a little time to kill and needed party supplies and to drop off Mr. Stinks for his grooming appointment at PetsMart. So we hit our fave cafe, Insomnia for breakfast then went on to Costco. Soon we arrived home and it was time for me to get ready for the party (more cleaning, bleh) and for him to go off and get pampered. The party time came before I knew it with friends and family all around and Brandon looking quite handsome in his new haircut and feeling worked over with his excellent massage. Mission accomplished! Everyone had fun chatting and watching the antics of my friends' 3yr old. Brandon had picked out a "cookies and cream" cake which I topped with the "3" and "5" candles I had purchased the night before on the cookie run. Brandon got some new blu-ray movies, a Count tee(Sesame Street), and some iTunes points.

Last week on Tuesday I went to a class with a few of my friends on loving and honoring your husband and what that means, while growing in your relationship with God. It was really wonderful. I didn't really know what to expect, but the speaker, Judy was truly sincere and yearned to share some good knowledge wit us. I really felt comfortable, entertained, and went away with some new perspectives and warm fuzzies. And it gets better! There are three more Tuesdays where we will enjoy some insight from Miss Judy and socialize with some REALLY great ladies. So, I'm looking forward to trekking back out to Wilsonville tomorrow night.

Right now, Brandon's sister, Pam, is staying with us for a few days. So, they got to hang out yesterday and hit Uwajimaya and Fry's while I was at work. Brandon picked out some more cool blu-rays for his birthday and was really sweet and picked a couple I would enjoy too(ie. Princess Bride and Pirates of the C: The Black Pearl). I stayed up too late again last night and got up too early. Unfortunately I am still tired. I don't have to work til 1pm, so maybe I'll sneak in a walk with Hendrix and a nap? We'll see!

Keep on Truckin'

So, still been pretty busy lately. I never really get the chance to get bored. I spent a good three hours in the last couple days moving a bunch of free dirt from my neighbor's driveway onto the edge of my lawn where I am planning to make a raised/mounded bed for shrubs, trees and flowers. My plan is to cover the ugly parts of my lawn, and define the space a little more. I am also putting in some bricks next to the driveway to expand it a bit. Brandon was sweet enough to help me this morning, but yesterday I spend a good two hours out in the hot sun moving dirt. I am sore today, but not as sore as I thought I would be. We'll also be getting our siding done in the next few weeks! Our cute little house will then be a sharp moss green with white trim. I couldn't help myself last week and put together a few potted flowers around my house. I needed some color to go with the sun that's finally come back to Oregon.As you know, I have also cleaned and rearranged the family room and yesterday I bought a nice little TV stand at the GW Outlet for $15. I had to clean it up and put it together correctly (it's almost as good as new). Not only was it a great deal, but it came with two free DVD's that were never cleaned out of it (Premonition and The DaVinci Code), two owner's manuals, three old remotes, and the base of an old TV antenna.

Brandon and I took a bunch of old DVD's and CD's over to FYE and exchanged them for a bunch of new CD's, DVD's, and Blu-Ray's (Too many to list here). I'm so excited! Woot!

I was laying down to try and take a nap before work on Thursday and it ended up being more a meditation session. I just had a moment of reflection and clarity. It occurred to me that I felt so blessed because I have such a wonderful husband, home, family, the ability to get the medical/dental care I need, and being able to pay my bills and buy the groceries I need. There were times in the past where I could hardly pay my rent and the stress of being really broke was breaking me. I was also thinking back to the end of last summer when I was walking in the park and looking up to the heavens and feeling such an overwhelming feeling of the long weight-loss journey that I was beginning at 230lbs. I am now at 211lbs. which isn't ideal, but so much closer to how much I weighed when Brandon and I started dating. My goal for the summer is get back under 200lbs and keep on truckin'!!

The Epic Battle of Girl Vs. Braces Goes On!

So, I was so productive yesterday that I expected to wake today and take on the world once more! However, my teeth had a different plan. Upon taking a sip of water in the morning a couple of my teeth were throbbing with pain! After calling my orthodontist and leaving a pitiful message, I continued my day in the hopes that this pain would subside and that I could just go forward with eating and accomplishing all my awesome plans. Well, the pain continued to be a nuisance, and I also discovered that cool air aggravates it as well. While trying to get things done the discomfort made me crabby and snippy at my loving husband. After having a horrible ordeal trying to get a newly purchased wheelbarrow into my sedan (another long story) along with 8 bags of paver's sand, I had had it and bawled for about 5mins in the car in order to pull-it together and go into Lowe's to get a couple more things. Yikes!

So, finally made it home and took a shower and some ibuprofen. In the middle of shaving my legs I ran out of hot water, which made a relaxing shower anything but. So, I opted not to go to Salem to visit Brandon's grandparents whom I love dearly because I would only feel like a crabby ol' stick in the mud.

On an unrelated tangent, I REALLY want an elliptical trainer in my family room. I cleaned and reorganized the whole thing in order to make space for it. An added bonus to my obsessive cleaning tactic is that now the family room is more cozy and focuses on the fireplace more. :) Happy times! I need to go take some pictures of all my hard work planting flowers! Maybe I'll post them next time. Till then, keep yer britches up and eat some ice cream.