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....