1. What did you do in 2009 that you'd never done before?
Got married!! Visited Europe!!! Got married!!!! Had a breast reduction!!

2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I did fairly well with my resolution for 2009... only strayed a few times... this year I have one I'm going to try.. it won't be easy.. but that's what I thought last year too!

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Yes.. my niece was born.. and my best friend's baby girl was born.. and wow, lots of people actually.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
This is the first year I can remember nobody close to me dying.

5. What countries did you visit?
England, Ireland, Scotland and France.. and technically Germany too, even if it was just the airport.

6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009?
Other than money, which I guess is a given these days for everyone... I hope in 2010I have a new kitchen and perhaps an idea when we can GTFO of Florida.

7. What dates from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
October 10 - my wedding day! also.. August 22 .. the day my neice was born. and Jan 6th.. the day I had my breast reduction.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
After years of deliberation .. I finally got over the fear and got a breast reduction.

9. What was your biggest failure?
I didn't acheive to make my weight loss goal.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Nothing major.. just some colds and whatnot.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
I would say the wedding, but I only paid for part of that.. so I guess I'd have to say the best thing I bought is the honeymoon!

12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?
I have no idea.

13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?
Nonody really.

14. Where did most of your money go?
Wedding/honeymoon

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
WEDDING/HONEYMOON

16. What song will always remind you of 2009?
Geek Like Me by the Wonderstrucks

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) Happier or sadder? Happier.
b) Bigger or smaller? A little smaller.
c) Richer or Poorer? Richer.

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Running in the morning.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Ice cream.

20. How did you spend Christmas?
Opening presents with my husband and the fur-kids... then having dinner at mom in-law's house.

21. Did you fall in love in 2009?
*queue the cheese* .. I fall in love more and more every day with my husband.

22. How many one-night stands?
0

23. What was your favourite TV program?
True Blood and Glee

24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
I do not HATE anyone.

25. What was the best book you read?
The Twilight series.. go ahead.. make fun, I don't care.

26. What was your greatest musical discovery?
I'm a bit embarrassed to say this year wasn't musically the best.. I have been a bit of a slacker.

27. What did you want and get?
a Husband and a kitty (not 1... but 2!)

28. What did you want and not get?
A raise. (Got a good review, but the firm didn't give raises this year due to the "economy")

29. What was your favourite film of this year?
I'm going to Avatar.. only because it's the best movie I can REMEMBER.

30. What did you do on your birthday
Celebrated at home with take-out and husband

31.What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
2009 was actually the most satisfying year I have had in as long as I can remember. I can't really think of anything that could have made it better.

32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2009?
I'm not big into "fashion" .. I pay enough attention to not look like an idiot, but I don't really have a personal concept.

33. What kept you sane?
My husband, my bunny, my kittens, and my optimism

34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Edward Norton.. just like every year.

35. What political issue stirred you the most?
Healthcare.

36. Who did you miss?
Pete... especially this year.. It would have been so wonderful to have him around for the wedding.

37. Who was the best new person you met?
I don't recall meeting anyone who particularly stands out.

38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009:
Bringing 4 pieces of luggage on an 8 day cruise is not necessary.

39. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year
No clue

John got a netbook for Christmas... I can't tell how I feel about it. It's compact, portable, has good features like a built in web-cam, super long battery life ... really there is nothing wrong with it... Nettie we call her. But I just can't get over the size. I mean the screen size.. 10.1... it's SO small. I have to scroll to even just look at one picture. I don't think I'll be able to get used to that. And the keyboard will take a bit to get used to as well.

That's all.

Look! It's a Timon!!

=)




In other news... we are back from our wedding/honeymoon and we had the BEST time!1 Still getting back into reality and will make a full post later this week/weekend!

The wedding was wonderful!! I'm so happy with the way things turned out. The only complaint I have about it is that the DJ was full of fail. But other than that it was great. The ceremony was awesome. I never in my life felt so much emotion.. it was awesome.

cartooncheryl I got your note!!! What an awesome surprise!!! Thanks!!! =) =)

I'll have much more to say about the wedding and some pictures when we return from UK.

Travel over here was much better than we expected. Lufthansa is awesome! We watched a movie then slept for most of the way, in between meals and glasses of wine during the flight. The stewardess even gave us a complimentary champagne toast and a rose, for the wedding. It was cool.

After being awake for about 24 hours, and traveling for about 12-13.. when we finally got to the hotel we took a nap for a few hours, then headed down to Piccadilly Circus to see some sights. It was interesting and we had fun!

Tomorrow most likely we will do some super touristy things!! We're looking forward to it! =)

Thanks again to Steve, Petra, VA & Glenn for coming!! It was so great to see each of you!!! It really meant a lot that you were there!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY dj_steve_rbn!!! Hope you have a SUPER day!!

I got my hair highlighted last night! I've been wanting to do that for so long, but could never justify the cost. With the wedding NEXT weekend (OMG OMG OMG OMG) I thought it was worth the expense. I love it! It's very subtle and natural looking, she did LOTS of little highlights instead of thick streaks. My hair looks like it's been kissed by the sun. It's awesome. It really makes a difference!!

WOOHOO! =)

That is all!

Driving home from the gym tonight, my "power steering" light came on and suddenly my steering wheel tightened up so much it was almost impossible to turn. John had just gone to sleep an hour and a half earlier and has to be up soon to go to work, so I didn't want to wake him. Fortunately I have AAA, so I called them and had my car towed to the nearest Saturn dealership. I had to ask a friend of mine from work, who happens to live near me, to meet me at Saturn and drive me home. Thankfully she was able to.

I left my car there overnight and await their call sometime tomorrow morning. Hopefully this won't cost an arm and a leg. Last thing I need 10 days before the wedding is a ridiculous car repair fee!!

So, my brother and sis-in-law hired a photographer to go take some shots of my niece. Here are just a few from the photographer's blog... SO CUTE!! It's not fair that she lives far from me.. I want to smother her with kisses and hugs so much!!!

See the pics HERE!

So, it turns out London was not constipated. .. He was blocked

Around 10pm on Monday night I was holding him in my lap and rubbing his swollen belly.. I happened to notice some blood around his little kitty penis =( I immediately brought him to the vet ER where they determined he was blocked. The ER vet was super nice, he explained everything to me, answered all my questions and was very understanding having a cat of his own with this problem. He hadn't urinated in over 36 hours and his kidneys were very close to being severely damaged. If I would have waited til Tuesday morning, he may not have been savable!! I'm so glad I brought him in when I did.

I left London there overnight, they unblocked him and gave him a urinary catheter and a fluid catheter to help clean out his kidneys. I picked him up in the morning and took him to his regular vet where they have been keeping an eye on him, flushing out his kidneys, and helping him get back to his old self! They called me today to tell me that they ran more blood work, and his levels are much better. They took the urinary catheter out and are going to keep an eye on him tonight to make sure he is urinating okay. Assuming all is well, hopefully I'll get to bring him home tomorrow.

Poor little guy, I feel so bad for him. It was so hard to see him in such pain and be totally helpless.



In the meantime, a certain adorable little bunny I know has been having a jolly old time without the fear of being mauled to death by a giant cat. This morning, when I got out of the shower, I found him in the most unusual place...



to clarify... that is in fact, my dining room table!

I'm pretty certain London kitty is constipated. I've seen him on more than one occasion today sitting in the litter box with the sad look on his face for more than a few minutes, then come out and no leaving anything behind. He's gone into the bedroom a few times this morning and let out a couple of meow cries, and he's not even excited about his favorite toys. I feel so bad for him. The vet is closed today due to the holiday, so that's out. There is a vet ER nearby, but I'm not certain this is considered an ER visit, as least not yet. I did call them however to see if they had any advise and they said to give the kitty a little mineral oil.. so I did that just a little while ago. Shortly after I did that, he left me a nice "thanks Mom for all your loving care" present in the form of a rather large pile of kitty puke. (Kitty's first vomit!) .. I'm not sure if that got rid of the mineral oil, but I don't want to give him anymore so soon. The ER place said I can give it to him 2-3 times a day, so I'll wait til a little later on and give him another dose.

If there is no improvement by tomorrow, we'll have to take him to the vet, but I'm hoping he will get better.

Anyone have any experience with this??

My sister in law, who is due any day now, went to the Dr. yesterday and found out the baby is breech. Today they went in to try to manually turn the baby, but that didn't work out so she is scheduled for a 1pm C-Section. Sooo at some point this afternoon, I will become an aunt for the first time!! I'm super excited! Angie is holding up well. The turning process was a bit painful, but according to my brother, she is a "trooper". She is resting now for a little while before the surgery.

I'll post pics when I have them!!

Not too much really ... sleep, work, gym, dinner, play with pets, sleep, work, gym, dinner, play with pets, sleep, etc.... Can't complain though.. life is good. 73 more days til the wedding, 75 days until the honeymoon, and about 5 weeks or so until I become Aunt Sandy! Woohoo! Exciting stuff to look forward to over the next few months.

Handed in my 'self-evaluation' at work, hopefully sometime this week or next I'll get to get my yearly review over with.. and *hopefully* that will include a raise. With "tough economic times" we are living in, I don't want to get my hopes up, but my firm seems to be doing fine, so maybe .. who knows. I guess only time will tell.

Got an RSVP from Pete's parents.. they will be attending the wedding. That means a lot. Pete was such an important part of my life for so many years, it's truly sad that he can't be there in person, I know he would love John if he got the chance to meet him. I'm honored that his parents are taking the trip though. It really means a lot. I've been thinking about him a lot lately, especially since I got his parents RSVP. I wonder if he was alive where he would be in his life, if he would have gotten back together with his ex-fiance, would he have gotten the transplant he was waiting for, etc. I miss him.

VNV played down here this past weekend. John and I were supposed to go but at the last minute John wasn't feeling well. He felt bad since he knew it was something I wanted to do, so he told me to go along without him. It was weird going to a show solo, but I made friends with 3 of the people standing next to me, and just danced the night away with them. One of the guys was seeing VNV for the first time, so it was cool to share the experience with him. The other 2 people were awesome, a gay guy and his 'hag'. They knew I was alone and they made me feel very comfortable. I actually had a really good time. Of course I was wishing John was there the whole time, especially when they were playing his favorite songs, but I understood why he couldn't make it and I appreciate that he suggested I go. He is awesome.

My mom has to have her thyroid removed. They found 2 lumps on it, each one is 2" fortunately they are not cancerous, but for some reason they can't just remove the lumps, they have to remove the whole thing. It causes her to have problems swallowing and she feels like she is choking sometimes, so I guess it's a good thing they remove it. Apparently it's not a very high-risk surgery, but of course it has us nervous. She will have to take a pill for the rest of her life to compensate for the work the thyroid does, which she isn't looking forward to. She originally was going to do it after the wedding, but I think she wants to get it over with and have it done sooner.

That's all for now!

"A bunny nibbles all day long,
A bunny doesn't think it's wrong.
He nibbles mittens, mufflers, mops,
He only pauses when he hops.
He nibbles curtains, lamp-cords, shoes,
He only stops to take a snooze.
Sofa pillow, ribbons, rugs -
He takes a mouthful, then he tugs.
Galoshes, boxes, books and string -
A bunny nibbles everything."

heh... thank you again crazy4cats for this awesome book. Definitely the cutest story I think I have ever read. And inspirational too! We're working on a friendship between the 2 species.. definitely better than it was, but not quite as good as it is in the book!

Sure, he was a weird, but he had a really messed up life, a victim of a childhood stripped away and an entire life under the watchful eye of the media and millions of people, it's enough to make anyone a little crazy. I imagine.

But for crying out loud, let the man rest in peace. I'm so tired of people condemning him post-mortem. Whatever he did in his life, whether he did it or not, is between him and God.

People need to recognize the immense impact he had on music and the good he did for people and remember that.

Nobody is perfect.

So the fur kids are getting a little more used to eachother. Still isn't perfect, London still tries to chase Ronin around a bit more than we are comfortable with, but at least there are times when Ronin fights back. We just wish it would happen more often. London has gotten big! I'm so glad I've been taking so many pictures of him when he is little. I already look at the pictures from when we first brought him home and he is like more than double that size now. Amazing.

When he is playful, he is disobedient. I assume that's normal, but I don't know what to do about it. He jumps up on tables and kitchen counter and no matter what we do, he doesn't stop. Also too, he is known to bite down on my finger or arm when he is playing. He isn't doing it to be mean or try to hurt us, he is just playing, but he doesn't get it that that kind of playing is not allowed. I get mad at him for about 5 seconds, then I look at his little kitten head and then give him kisses. I'm such a sucker.

( a cute cat poop story )

This past weekend I flew up to NY for my bridal shower!! I had a great time. I flew up with John's mom and sister, and stayed with Liz (maid of honor/BFF) at her mom's house. It was awesome. I got some really nice gifts and had a lot of laughs. Most of all, I got to see some family that I haven't seen in over a year. It was wonderful! It was also really nice to get back up to NY. I miss it up there. Love my life down here, but miss things about NY.

Less than 4 months til the Big Day!! ACCCCCCCCCCCKK!!! So exciting!!! =)

And finally, here are a couple of pics!

( Read more... )

Well, it's been about 3 weeks since we introduced the kitten into our home. Things are going well. The rabbit and the kitten seem to be getting used to eachother, but they aren't exactly best friends just yet. In the beginning, London (the kitten) would chase Ronin around the house, and Ronin was just run away and not stand up for himself. Perhaps it was our fault for introducing them to fast, we were anxious. But since then, we have worked with them and we definitely see some improvements. Ronin has begun to "man up" and defend himself. When London tries to go after him, or pounce on him, he will turn to him, make this cool grunting noise and lunge forward, causing London to back away. We get really proud of him for this. We want to make sure that as London grows up, he knows not to mess with Ronin. We don't think London is trying to hurt him, we understand he is just a kitten and is just playing. It's just the two of them have 2 COMPLETELY different ideas on how to play. But they haven't tried to kill eachother, so that's good. They spend time just doing their own thing... not bothering one another, and that's good too.

Perhaps if we got an older, more chill cat, we wouldn't have this problem. But I really wanted a baby kitten. And I could not be happier that I finally have one!! It's as awesome as I imagined! Well, except the scratches ALL over my body! John and I filed his claws today and it is much less painful now! We also ordered SoftClaws (little silicone caps that you glue on to the claws). We really would like to not have to declaw him, but we want to make sure he can't hurt Ronin. So we are going to try them out.

In other news, got the new VNV Box Set the other day. Haven't had a chance to listen to the whole thing yet, but so far I really like the Frozen Plasma remix of Carry You. It's super!

Also, we saw Star Trek on Friday night and absolutely LOVED it! I'm so glad John made me watch the show (The Original Series anyway).. it really gave me an appreciation. And the movie was outstanding. Especially seeing the character development and how the relationships grew. So cool.

In conclusion... here is me and my babies ... taken last night!!