martha stewart does not live here.

so if you know me, you know i am not a suzy homemaker. not one bit, not at all. i take after my mother (no offense!) although i am crafty, all the other home-type "chores" are not my forte. i hate to clean. making organized systems is fun, but keeping them organized is another story. i can burn a bagel like nobody else. i have actually made mac-n-cheese taste horrible that not even the kids i was babysitting wanted to eat it. yes i'll admit, martha stewart does not live here. i rely heavily on my husband to cook. or else, we'd probably starve. or spend our life at mcdonalds. ugh. i have severe OCD and little things bug me. last night i broke a bowl. one of our beautiful bowls from cost plus world market. it was the first kitchenware that has broken. and i cried. it was just too beautiful...but even more than that, i couldn't get over the fact that i now only have 5 instead of 6. it bugs me that i no longer have a complete set. it's like my cupboard is calling out to me that one of the troopers is missing. i guess i'll have to buy a new one and get used to the fact that it's no longer one of the original six. yes, i have problems.

sometimes i feel like i'm a bad wife. but then i remember that kevin knew all these weird quirks about me before we got married (or atleast most of them) so he knew what he was getting into. it's his own fault because he's stuck with me, and all my craziness, now. tough noogies.

slowly but surely

this bug has really got me. although i am definitely feeling better, i am still exhausted. today i was lucky enough to re-enter into society. i went to work at noon and plan to stay until 5pm (we'll see!). the doc said to take it easy my first couple days back, because if i overdue it, i could end up getting pneumonia. yikes! ya know, a sick day here or there isn't too bad...but when you're quarantined into your room like a lepor so your husband doesn't get sick, life gets really boring. i couldn't have been happier to get back to work today. now, sitting here on my break, i can hardly keep my eyes open long enough to type this post. tomorrow will probably be a half-day too.

just an update on my progress. i am slowly but surely getting better. i miss my family and I MISS MY NIECE!!!

oh, and if any of you are looking to invest, campbell's chicken noodle soup and/or maruchan top ramen are both good options, i'm assuming. it's all i have been living on the past week. real healthy, i know. just a suggestion.

swine, swine go away

so it's confirmed. as of 9.30am this morning, doc says i have the swine flu. i figured i did considering i literally feel like i'm dying. honestly, i was thinking yesterday that if childbirth is worse than this, adoption here i come. i have been on the couch since monday and have strict orders to remain here until atleast next monday. thank god for vacation/personal business/sick leave at work. the worst part is that i'm bored to death at home all day all alone. i love monster, but she's not quite the conversationalist i'm looking for.

to tinsel or not to tinsel?

kevin's stocking is the moose. mine is the penguin. if only i knew when we'd have kids--i'd order two more without the customized names so the whole family set could match--yes, i have problems! i just think it'd be sweet to have the matching snowman and the black bear. i guess they don't have to match. i just have OCD..haha! anyway, we are still waiting. can't wait to open up our mailbox and find our two stockings waiting to be hung.

for some reason i really have christmas fever this year. i think it's because we have our own place. we have big visions for tree. we have to merge our ideas of christmas traditions into making our own. like, to use tinsel or not? or those bead ropes? or popcorn? i like the look and the idea, but monster will probably attack the tree to eat the popcorn. or what to put on top of our tree? an angel? a star? we can agree on ornaments and decorations (for the most part) so now it's just deciding what we like together. i'm big on tradition, so these decisions matter. i'm the kind of person that, once we pick an angel or star tree-topper, we'll use it forever. those are the little things that make up a home to me. like i said in an earlier post, we have been collecting ornaments for some time now so it will be so fun to put them on a tree. there's nothing like the first christmas :)

all the pieces are falling into place

we got a few Best Buy giftcards for the wedding and my birthday. since all the new fall shows have officially started, and kevin is obsessed with his xbox, we decided it was a good idea to put those giftcards to good use. now we have 2 LG flatscreens! it's so nice getting new things together...all the little pieces of making up our home together are falling into place. now, instead of bickering about who gets to use the tv, it's over who gets to use the couch vs. the bed. last night, kevin won. i really can't lay in bed and watch tv--i just fall asleep. i'm sure it's a sign of getting old. after all, i am TWENTY FIVE!!

now that kevin was granted an extension on his work contract until february, we are breathing a little easier. our lease is up december 31, so we are deciding if we'd like to sign another or move. a house sounds really nice right now, but may come with too many responsibilities this early in the game. perhaps a nice condo or townhome would be nice. a yard is what we'll be looking for. monster is going stir-crazy in the apartment all the time. and yes, she's our baby so her opinion matters :)

i started my new job on october 7th. it's been a smooth transition. training is going well--i seem to be picking it up quickly. now, halloween, thanksgiving and christmas are all around the corner. plus, lindsi's baby shower. i love the holiday season. we can't wait to get our own christmas tree. we actually purchased our customized stockings the other day. figured we should get them early so the ones we wanted wouldn't be sold out. kevin's has a moose and mine has a penguin. they're too cute. now we just need to get a customized "Garvey Family Christmas" tree skirt. perhaps my mother is interested in making one for us? {hint, hint} i mean, since she is a fabulous seamstress, i bet she could whip one up in no time! :)

another item we are going to purchase this year is ornament storage bins. we keep seeing them in the skymall magazine on airplanes. they are fantastic! holding up to 48 ornaments in individual plastic compartments. it's my organizational dream. since kevin and i started dating (and realized we wanted to get married), we started buying christmas ornaments that were either too cute to pass up, customized with our names, and/or on super sale. we have a nice little collection going. i'm sure we'll get some great hand-me-down ornaments from our parents also...

i just realized...i CAN'T believe this post is about christmas. kevin is going to kill me. there's a rule--no christmas talk, music or decorations until the day after thanksgiving. so with that said, i guess this post is over :)

vegas birthday bliss

this past weekend kevin's parents flew kevin and i down to vegas to spend a couple days with them to celebrate my birthday. it was a lot of fun. the perfect mix of partying and relaxation. they always spoil us whenever we visit. on Friday night (my birthday), they took us out to via brasil. the restaurant is unique in that it brings 18 different kinds of meats to you at your table, one by one, and allows you to have a slice or two of whichever you'd like! definitely a dining experience... it was delicious. even better than i remember it from the first time we went. after dinner, we went back to their place and had homemade carrot cake--it was delicous! i really really need to learn how to cook!

for my birthday, karen and tim gave me a beautiful framed photo of me on our wedding day. it was such a special and thoughtful gift. as of yesterday, it now hangs in our hallway! it's the perfect addition to our home!

saturday we watched the osu game and hung out at home. kevin and i hit up the strip that night. we just like to watch all the crazies and spend time in the chaos of the city. we don't really gamble and we weren't really drinking. just enjoying the nice warm weather! we also hit up in-n-out. that place always attracts weird people, too. we bought a double-double meal for a bum, complete with animal style fries! he LOVED it. ahhh, the joys of in-n-out!

i think it was on sunday that kevin and i went to see The Invention of Lying. it was a pretty good movie. pretty much all the funny parts were already shown in the previews. the humor was very dry. overall, the movie had a good moral. it's definitely only worth a rental. after the movie, we went out to sushi with karen and tim. vegas always has the best sushi. i hadn't had any in a while so it was great! it was a really fun dinner full of laughs and great food.

overall, i'd say our trip to vegas was a success. we're so lucky and spoiled to get to go again over thanksgiving! gobble, gobble...

life is good.

there is good news all around.

i started my new position on wednesday. i love it, or atleast i love what i know about it thus far. all the people are so nice and helpful. i worked in this department as a temp, so i feel like i've gone back home! :)

kevin's position at intel has been formally extended until february 12th! we have been hoping to hear good news for a while, considering the contract was supposed to end on september 1st. so, needless to say, a five-month extension is HUGE. it just goes to show the great work he's been doing at intel. i'm so proud of my hubby!

decorated the apartment for halloween/fall. it's a nice, chic mix of skeletons, pumpkins, fall-colored garland and gourds. kevin was a little bummed that i picked out the decorations myself. i just figured he's a guy so he wouldn't care. i could tell last night by the look of utter shock on his face that i was terribly mistaken. my bad. however, the apartment looks great. he helped me decided where to hang all the decorations, which helped to make him feel better about being left out. note to self: never decide on holiday decorations without asking the husband if he'd like to offer his opinion.

monster is as happy as ever. kevin has been taking her for nightly walks--we realized she was getting a little pudgy. she's our little baby!

i'm going to start planning another baby shower for lindsi, my sister in law. she is due to have another precious baby girl in february. she's actually due the exact same day sophia, her first baby, was due. what a weird coincidence! anyway, she wants to have her shower before the holidays and the end of the year so we are planning for early december. i'm so excited for another niece to spoil :) although sophia is going to have a reality check when the new baby is born, i think she'll still be a great big sister.