I just ate...

A LOT of rice.

You're welcome, Kacie :)

Fourth...

So, in an effort to cheer Kacie up, I finally got on here to play the game she tagged me in. What I didn't know at the time was that she would be in the picture I found! Go to your pictures folder, click on the fourth folder in there, then post the fourth picture. Here's mine! Kacie, I hope you're feeling a little better... Reese isn't in pain anymore. I'm sorry you had to lose her though :(





In other news, I had an excellent Christmas! I got the boots I wanted from my awesome fiance as well as a jewelry box, which unfortunately hasn't arrived yet. We also got lots of other amazing presents and had the best time hanging out with my family. There were 6 dogs in the house at my grandparents though, as well as a ton of people, so it was sort of a madhouse! Our dogs, Biscuit and Molly, came with us. My grandparents HUGE german shorthaired pointer/boxer mix was there, of course. And my aunt brought her 3 adorable dogs with her as well - 2 papillons and the fluffiest little tail-less pomeranian you've ever seen! (he had to have his tail amputated when he was rescued because he had a wire wrapped around it...) We stayed there on Wednesday night and all day Thursday, but unfortunately had to come back since I had to work today. Sucks...

Ian left this afternoon to head to New Orleans for EIGHT DAYS for the Sugar Bowl. The game isn't until January 2nd, but he had to be there today because the team is arriving. Lame! My first New Years without him :( I'm sad.....

That's all I've got going on for now... Should be a boring weekend unless I can scrounge up something fun to do. Any ideas?

It's busy this time of year!

Which is why I went AWOL. It's been crazy lately!

3 weeks ago I went to the SEC Championship game in Atlanta. On Friday, Robin flew into Birmingham from Dallas and I picked her up so we could head to Atlanta! After a near-disaster involving barbecue sauce and awesome jeans, we made it there and met up with Ian and some of his reporter friends. We had some drinks in the hotel bar and hung out with some fun people. Saturday, we took our time getting ready and headed out into the freezing cold (with boots, socks, tights, shirts, sweaters, coats, scarves, and hats) and headed toward the stadium. We only had one ticket so we decided to go to Taco Mac and watch the game from there. It was insanely crowded and hot, especially with our thousands of layers on, but we had the best time! We met a really funny, really drunk Florida fan from Chicago who I think was in love with Robin. Afterwards, we headed back to the hotel and went to the hotel bar again. Good times! Sunday, we headed back to Tuscaloosa, but not before a stop in West End Atlanta and the sketchiest Taco Bell of all time. Thanks to Lizzie (Robin's GPS) we managed to find the nearest ghetto... we made it out alive, but just barely!

When we got back, all our friends came over and had an engagement party for us, complete with great food (we broke out the new deep fryer!) great wine, and great people! They all pitched in and got us 24 amazing wine glasses.

Then......last weekend, I got to see Robin AGAIN! Ian's parents had a beautiful engagement party for us in New York, and Robin came up with us. Our flight flew through Dallas so she hoped on the plane with us and we were off! We stayed from Friday - Tuesday and really had an amazing time. We got to the city and went to meet with the guy who made my ring to have him make a wedding band to go with it. We talked for awhile and decided on a princess cut channel set band to complement it. Something like this. So anyway, on Monday, my mom, my Aunt Grace, my little brother Jon, his girlfriend Mary Elizabeth, Robin, and I went back into the city to walk around and see some fun things (most of them had never been to NYC before) and we went in to Tiffany to try on a similar ring to the one we'd decided on. The guy who is making it is a jeweler who makes items for stores, and doesn't have a store himself, so there was nothing to try on - it was literally just a workshop. So I tried on the ring and HATED it. It was pretty, of course, but it just looked a little too masculine with my already very square ring. Soooo.... we decided on this. I LOVE it. I couldn't imagine the round brilliants looking good with my princess cut, but it's absolutely perfect when I have them together. I can't wait! Also, while we were there, Robin and I decided to buy each other the necklace we've been wanting. It's my new favorite! (Other than the gorgeous diamond one Ian had made for me, of course) :) This is my new favorite casual. It's here! Ok enough about jewelry....

The engagement party! That morning we drove all around Chappaqua (Ian's hometown) and showed my family the town and his high school, etc. My aunt wants to go back to high school if she could go to his school... It was absolutely gorgeous. We had lunch at a great little diner and headed back to the house to begin getting ready for the party. So many people came, and everything was perfect. It was great to get to meet some of Ian's extended family that I didn't get to meet in the past, and some of his parents friends that I've heard a lot about. Plus, it was great to see all of his friends that we haven't gotten to see in awhile! I can't wait to see everyone again at the wedding! Thanks so much to the Rapoport family for a fantastic time! On Sunday, Ian had to come back to Alabama to do some work, but my family and Robin stayed on till Tuesday. Sunday we went into the city and walked around and saw all the windows in the big department stores. So ornate and pretty! Kacie, you would've LOVED this. Christmas all around!! Then we went to dinner at Carnegie Deli where I saw the largest sandwiches of all time. Seriously, you can't even imagine how big they are. And delicious! Ian left and went to the airport :( and Robin and I walked around with Mimi (Ian's sister) for awhile. We found these boots that I want! So cute! then we headed back to the house and passed out.... Monday we did it all over again, but just with my family and Robin, since all the Rapoports had to work. We went to Tiffany, I shoulder checked Tommy Hilfiger, then we headed to Little Italy and had some phenomenal pizza. After that, we went into Chinatown and got some great purses :) We met up with Ian's mom Esta a little while later and walked around SoHo to check out some of the cute little boutiques. I want to live there!!! After that we walked back over to Little Italy and had some dessert (delicious cannoli!!!) at Ferrara's. Soooo good! Tuesday morning it was snowing (after 2 days of 60 degree weather) and we headed home... it was such a good trip though!

Now Christmas (and Hanukkah!) are here already, and I have presents to wrap... at least I've bought some of them. It came so fast!

I hope everyone has a fantastic holidays!!! I'll try not to take so long to update next time so it won't be a million words long :)

Slacking...

I know, I'm a slacker.

It's been soooo busy lately. Ian's whole family came in for Thanksgiving and we had a great time! It's always so busy and stressful having a ton of people around and staying at our house, but I love the company. Plus we get to see them again next weekend! His parents are hosting an engagement part for us in New York and I'm looking forward to meeting Ian's friends and family that I haven't gotten to meet yet. Should be fun! Plus, Robin's coming and that makes me happy :)

I know the update is brief, but I have thank you notes to write... the first of many, I'm sure. But the cards are really extra cute. My mom's a genius. If you want to see how cute they are you can send us a present and I'll write you one ;) haha just kidding... kinda.

So anyway, off to write!

A few pics from Halloween...

Batman and the King of the Bums!

Me and Hugh Hefner!

Batman and Batgirl!

Being all serious...

Batgirl gets hungry too!

Halloween, take 2

We're getting ready to head out for wine tasting, then to our 2nd Halloween party of the week. One more tomorrow night and we're done! Who knew that Halloween could be so exhausting??

I'm batgirl (ya know, since Alicia Silverstone played her) and Ian is Batman. I'll post pictures later!!

My abs....

Hurt! But it's a good thing. Waaaay back when (when I still lived in West Point) I used to go to an abs class 2-3 times a week and I LOVED it. There's nothing quite like the feeling of sore abs. I'm weird, I know. But I love it! Since we've been at this gym (over a year and a half) they haven't had an abs class for whatever reason. But now they do! And I'll be there twice a week (only because that's as often as they have it) :)

Our neighbors are retarded.

Ok, so we have these neighbors to the back of us. We share about 6 feet of fence with them, and they have a VICIOUS pit bull. Let me preface this by saying that I have NO PROBLEM with pit bulls, and I never assume a dog is evil just because of its breed. I had 11 stitches in my ear lobe once from a cocker spaniel, and never once had any problems with our Chow. That being said, this pit is awful. And it's completely the fault of the owners. The dog lunges at our fence whenever our dogs are out there, and you can literally see the fence flexing under her weight. She growls and barks and attacks the fence trying to get at our dogs. Molly, obviously annoyed, always goes to the fence and barks back, trying to defend her yard I guess. This happens, oh, probably at least 3 times a day, depending on how much our dogs are out there. The pit seems to be out there most of the time.

Biscuit and Molly love EVERYONE. I'm not saying this just because they're my dogs, but they really do. We've taken them to friends houses that have several other dogs (males and females) and there has never been a problem. The neighbor to the side of us had a golden retriever, and our dogs never barked or were agitated by him. But this pit.... is terrible. When it first started happening, we thought maybe it was because the dogs didn't know each other and couldn't really see each other through the privacy fence. All they could see was through the 1/4 inch spaces between the slats. So we got them on leashes and walked around the block to talk to the owner (who had just moved in) to let the dogs meet face to face so they would know each other and be ok. We did it out in the street so there wouldn't be any territorial issues, and all was fine for a few minutes. She had her dog on a leash, ours were on leashes, and we were talking and everything was dandy. I was petting the pit and she was completely fine. Then, completely without warning, she backs up and pulls herself out of her collar and pins BOTH of my dogs to the ground underneath her at once and is growling and biting at them. The lady pulls her off (FINALLY) and beats the crap out of her. Scared, we left. The lady kept saying "I don't understand - she's such a sweet dog!) Ha.

This whole incident was about 4-5 months ago or so. We've been dealing with the barking and lunging ever since. We even bought 2 big sheets of plywood and nailed it to the inside of our fence (it looks nice and ghetto) so the dogs couldn't see each other through the slats. That didn't work. The pit bull lunges the fence so hard that several of the nails have come out. I'm sure if she ever gets through the fence my dogs are goners.

I don't blame the dog at all. I'm sure if she'd been with a loving family she would be much more well behaved. But sometimes when I hear them barking and go outside to get my dogs inside, I can see either the lady or her boyfriend beating the crap out of that poor dog with a belt while she whimpers. Way to go.... try to make your dog less aggressive by beating her with a belt. Obviously, it's not working.

Then today, when they were barking at each other I went out quietly so I could catch Molly in the act (We're trying to teach her to ignore the other dog). The neighbors obviously couldn't hear me come out because as soon as I walked out the first thing I heard was "Get her! Get that dog!!). Those rednecks are ENCOURAGING their already vicious dog to come after my dogs!!!

I'm not sure what we're supposed to do. We're doing our best to train our dogs not to be excited by the dog barking and lunging at them, because I'm sure the other neighbors around just love to hear them barking at each other, but they are not helping at all. What do we do??!! Help!

Guest List

Who knew that putting together a guest list with addresses could be so exhausting!?!?! Only a few more and I'll be done.... finally.

Ian's gone for the weekend to the Alabama-Tennessee game. So I'm taking the opportunity to get some wedding stuff done and clean the house a little. I'm kind of glad for a low-key weekend... the last few have been very busy and very tiring so it's definitely a welcome change.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!!

My dogs are freaking out.

Stupid neighbor pit bull......

Work is a little overwhelming at the moment. I don't have time to do all the stuff they want me to do..... but I guess it'll all pay off in the end!

Ian and I are going on a dinner cruise tomorrow night on the Bama Belle as a client appreciation type thing hosted by Morgan Keegan (who I used to work for). The theme is Oktoberfest so it can't be bad :)

Let's see... what else? Oh, the best hairstylist of all time is going to be able to come all the way to Birmingham to do mine and my bridesmaids hair for the wedding. I'm super excited! For those of you in the Golden Triangle area you MUST go to Jamie's Salon in Columbus and see Jansen! He's the best seriously. I wouldn't drive 2 hours to get my hair cut otherwise.

Time to get back to last night's episode of the Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency. I can't help it, I'm addicted :)

The best thing about being a banker.....

Is being off on EVERY holiday.

Happy Columbus Day everyone! I think I'll celebrate with a manicure/pedicure. And I'm getting my hair cut tomorrow. And having engagement photos taken on Sunday!

I'm baaaack!

Just got back from Mississippi... I had a great weekend! I left straight from work in Birmingham on Friday afternoon and drove to my grandparents house where we had a big fish fry with all the fish that my stepdad caught last week. My uncle was also in town from Texas with a friend that he works with... the guy is from Louisiana and brought some boudin (pronounced boo-dan) which is a super spicy rice-stuffed sausage. It was so good... and great to get to hang out with the whole family for a change.

Got up Saturday morning and Mom and I headed for Brinkley, Arkansas, home of Low's Bridal, (<------ right there! that place is ginormous.) where I found my wedding dress! It ended up being the first one I tried on at the store (I'd tried on many many dresses before at Kleinfeld's (home of "Say Yes to the Dress" on TLC) and also at Christine's Couture in Starkville (fabulous store owned by a friend from high school). Anyway, it was the first one I saw and tried on there, and it ended up being the one! I won't spoil the secret, in case Ian is reading, but I'll say that it's made by Pronovias of Barcelona and is their White One label. And it's gorgeous. I can't wait!

In celebration of buying the dress, I made a trip to the gym this afternoon :) Gotta make sure it fits! Now I'm home and tired and soooo dreading the week of work ahead. I guess I'll lie on the couch and be a bum for a little bit and catch up on Project Runway. I sooo hope Kenley goes home.

Soooooo.....

I'm sick. I started feeling bad last Thursday, but willed it away for the weekend because we went to Athens for the Alabama - Georgia game (which was a BLAST, by the way). Monday comes along and a combination of already getting sick, having little sleep during the weekend, drinking too much, and walking a LOT, and I start feeling bad again. Tuesday is worse but I refused to go home because I want to be able to come in late on Friday so apparently I'm not as sick as I think I am :) Today's a little better...

Friday I'm going to Mississippi right after work to spend the evening with my mom and my grandparents and my uncle, who's in town from Texas. He's pretty much like my dad (and clearly much better than my actual one) so I'm excited to get to see him! My stepdad spent last weekend on the coast and brought home 800 lbs of catfish. Yes, 800 pounds. Which translates to a LOT of catfish. He's splitting it with the other people that went down there, but there were only a few of them so it's still a lot of damn fish. So anyway, we're having a fish fry out there and I'm excited!

And in more exciting news.... I'm going dress shopping this weekend in Memphis (or Brinkley, Arkansas, to be exact), home of Kacie's dress. I'm hoping to find something I love!

And in even MORE exciting news, I finally ordered Save the Date cards last night. Be awaiting yours in the mail (if I love you that much) :) Here's what they look like. Cute, huh?

And now, as I return to The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency on TiVo, I'll leave you with a picture that sums up why I didn't get over my sickness this past weekend. Picture taken at 8E's bar in Athens, which was awesome. Also included in photo are Quan and Tony - 2 friends from T-town who also made the trek over to Athens and who I hung out with while Ian was slaving away in the press box....

I know, I know.

That I'm a little late on this trend here. I had a blog once (a looooong time ago) but got busy or bored or something and let it fizzle out.

But now that pretty much everyone I know lives far, far, away, I suppose this could be a good way to keep up with everyone and let y'all keep up with me as well. If you're feeling especially stalker-esque, follow me on Twitter too! Or you can see mine and Ian's wedding website to see what the plans are for that :)

But for now, I have some TiVo to catch up on (c'mon, you can't expect me to pass on The Hills can you??) before Ian gets home and turns on football or something equally boring.