A new beginning...

I simultaneously love and hate change. I can't decide if excitement over something "new" outweighs the feeling of wanting to projectile vomit, whimper, and curl up into the fetal position when change happens.

For now - I'm excited for the new change happening in my life.

I was just offered a position to be an assistant teacher to 2nd graders at a private school right by our house. It's a full-time gig, I love kids...and did I already mention it's *right* by our house? Like, I can throw a pebble from our backyard and hit the school. This means when Jordan is on shift, our poor Luna won't be in her crate for a gazillion hours (which she probably doesn't even realize, because she could literally sleep the day away) but nevertheless, mama can now go home in the middle of the day and play with her...and have lunch with my honey when he's home. Just perfect.

I feel like my dream of becoming an SLP is slowly becoming a reality. This is definitely a step in the right direction (as I'll likely be working with a group of students with 'learning difficulties') and hey...if I can get my feet wet in the school system, that's one less obstacle when I'm actually a certified SLP! Hooray, I say!

In other news, we just came back from our second mini-vacation of the summer in the Keys. We are so blessed! Jordan was picking up lobsters like it was his job while I drove the boat around him in circles, working on a nice shorts tan (kill me now)! It was a great, relaxing, week and we got to meet up with some family down there, too.

I also checked my last big thing off our wedding to-do list this past weekend and met with our rental vendor. They set a dummy table for me so I could physically see how the tables will look at our reception and I love it!

I may or may not have mentioned that we're going for a family-style, Greek-village theme...which means simple. No frou-frou, no muss, no fuss. I have to admit, when I used to visualize my wedding (because come on, which girl doesn't?!) it was not like I want it to be now. Maybe that's because I realized that to have that kind of wedding, my future husband & I would have to sell internal organs to fund it. This vision and version is much more our speed - we're too chill for the fanfare.

I can't wait for these next 9 months to fly by and see my handsome man waiting for me at the altar to commit the rest of his life (mwa-ha-ha) to ME! I am so blessed to have him in my life and I thank God for everything that has lead me to this very moment. +

Here are some pictures of life lately...

Giving kisses to her daddy

Luna, doing her favorite thing (please excuse the quality - this is a cell pic and the lights were off)

24 from one spot, in one day! (Look at my cool [literally] headband!)

Jordan with the ultimate catch - grouper and lobster. Y-u-m-m-y-y-y-y-y!!

Brain dump

Talk about neglecting a blog! I need to get better about this!

Here's my brain dump update:

• There has been a LOT going on since the last post. I've gotten through a couple more wedding checks and have already sent out deposits. I'm just happy things are coming together.

• We took a road trip to Atlanta in early June to celebrate the baptism of Squish, the daughter of our friends Niki and Sandy. It was a tiny peek into what our wedding will be like, in terms of the people, the dancing, the fun. It reminded me what our wedding is about - celebrating our new chapter with the people we love. The details are not as important!

• While in ATL, we drove over to Stone Mountain. J had many memories as a young boy there, so it was nice going there with him and listening to him reminisce. We watched a glass blowing demonstration (not on my 101 things in 1001 days list, but it was something I wanted to see anyway) AND we were hand-picked to have something custom-made...and take pictures of it being made BEHIND the scenes. Very cool (and hot) experience. We didn't make it to the Georgia Aquarium - but I realize that we would have to dedicate an entire day for that...and we just didn't have the time. Looks like we'll have to plan another trip back! ;o)

• We went to the North Carolina mountains for the week of July 4th. Jordan's family has a little cabin tucked in the woods. While there, we went ruby mining and whitewater rafting. Ruby mining was fun; whitewater rafting was...an experience. 

Jordan, my father-in-law, brother-in-law and one guide fell overboard. My sister-in-law, the other guide, and I were left on the raft to battle the hydraulic and try not to flip the raft over until they pulled us out. To add insult to injury, I got smacked across the nose with a paddle by accident and was a bloody mess. Good times!

Speaking of my "101 in 1001" list - I've crossed a few more things off:

8. Go to the mountains

25. Try 3 new recipes a month (Without even trying, I've been doing this steadily for the past few months...I am working on meal planning, so that allows me to try new recipes)

62. Start the envelope system (I need a half cross-off here...because I did start this and it sort of worked, but I dropped it after a month...I fully intend to re-start with my next paycheck)

63. Read one new book a month - Back on the wagon. Just finished A Discovery of Witches and starting Shadow of the Night.

84. Go whitewater rafting

93. Try 10 new restaurants - (9/10 - Shalizaar and Fog Harbor in SF, Bad Daddy's Burger Bar in Charlotte, Mylos Greek Restaurant, Athens Pizza in and Flip Burger Boutique in Atlanta, Kin Noodle Bar, 3rd on 3rd, & Riverside Market) - I'm sure we've done 10, I just can't think of the other new ones we've tried 

94. Scuba dive (Yuuuup - I did it. This girl and her guy are now scuba certified. I'd never gone further than 6 ft on snorkel and the fact that I went 11 on a tank was a feat! We had an open water dive [off of a boat in 4ft seas] and I hit 62ft!! Certified bad-ass, thank you very much!)

Has any one out there done anything exciting lately?

I promise not to leave my little blog hanging for so long again!

390 to go!

Only 390 days until we say “I do!”

390 days. Seems far, but I know it’ll fly by. I fully intend to kick up my feet the last few months before the wedding and just wait for the day I get to play the ultimate game of dress up and do such an adult thing as get married!

Luckily, my typically procrastinating self has checked many things off the never-ending Wedding To-Do list already (thanks to my mom!)

I’ve:

· Found the gown! – The idea of wedding dress shopping to me was so daunting. Trying on a bunch of dresses with ludicrous price tags just did not sound like fun. I’m a one-and-done type of gal. I know what I want, so I don’t want to explore 50 different other options. I literally looked at maybe 3 dresses and almost bought one (which was not at all my ‘style’, but looked really nice to me) but since I had this other dress in the back of my mind, I held off. And thank goodness, because when I drove my ass down to the boonies of SoFla to a little shop and put that baby on it was TOTALLY game over. I’m not much of a crier, so I was worried I wouldn’t have the famous “Say Yes to the Dress” meltdown, but when I was in my dress, my insides just started shaking and that’s how I knew. That, and the fact that my mom, who NEVER cries, was teary-eyed. I can’t wait for it to come in so I can put it back on!

· Booked a photographer! – Photography is SO important to me. I take a million pictures of EVERYTHING, so on the most important day of my life, I could not accept anything less than the bomb dot com photos. I am in love with Vinny’s work at The League of Extraordinary Artists, so I’m excited that he’ll be capturing moments from our special day. I just hope Jordan is up for a zillion pictures! ;o)

· Booked musicians/DJ – We will be having Greek folk musicians playing during our reception, with a DJ, who is our friend, giving the bands a break every few hours to play dance music.

· Nearly finalized the guest list – We had a list set up right after we got engaged (I can’t believe it was almost a year ago already!) which had over 300 people on it. That might make some of your heads spin, but it’s almost normal for Greeks. Nia Vardalos didn’t call it My Big Fat Greek Wedding for nothing! We sat down one day this past week and shaved it down. I hate saying that and I really hope people’s feelings don’t get hurt, but at the end of the day, we really can’t invite everyone we know. And even so, nearly 300 people is a LOT!

· Been working on a caterer – Food is very important to us, and we want to have a good quality food to serve our guests.

· Decided on a theme…and I think on the translation of that theme for the reception ­– We want to do a Greek village-style reception. Very simple, family style. No frou-frou, flashy stuff…I know it’s very easy to get carried away on the “details” but I feel a lot of it is wasteful, and really doesn’t matter to us. I can’t stress this enough – Jordan and I are simple, simple, simple and it is more important for us to have a beautiful marriage than an opulent wedding that leaves us (or parents) in debt for months/years after the wedding day.

· Booked our date at the church/venue – Nothing more to say but…5/25/14!

· Been in contact with draping companies to drape the main room in the venue – we’ve decided to do our reception in the hall of the church we’ll be getting married at. It’s the only place we know of that can accommodate over 250 people and will let us stay past midnight, no charge. They are renovating the kitchen and small hall (attached to the big hall) and were intending to renovate the big hall as well, but I guess in a year’s time that’s not going to happen. BIG, HUGE BUMMER, but no use crying over crap I can’t control, so we have to drape. Cha-ching, cha-ching.

Still have to:

· Make up my darn mind on centerpieces…I have a pretty good idea, but I’m just trying to think of how to incorporate color – and book a florist

· Finalize our wedding colors…I keep going back and forth, back and forth…there are just TOO many nice color combinations and I don’t know where the colors can be incorporated. This is probably the most frustrating thing for me. I can’t decide and I feel like I can’t move forward…except I am moving forward. Hahaha.

· Decide on the cake design and flavors

· Book videographer

· Block hotel rooms

· Send save-the-dates (coming sooooon!)

· Figure out if I’m going to order invitations or DIY them – probably DIY, because I love arts and crafts.

· Get Jordan’s tux – he’s found a few he likes, we just have to go commit to one!

· Finalize the details for our blessing/reception part 2 in Greece the summer of 2014

· Formally ask my flower girls and ‘ring bearers’ to be my little kiddies

· Finalize a late-night ‘surprise’ at the reception

I feel like I’ve been able to get a lot done, and there are only a few loose ends to tie up. At 390 days to go, we’re making progress!

Sneaking a smooch at the photobooth wall my amazing future father-in-law built for me.

Meet Luna

I really need to get better about blogging regularly. I struggle, as probably most new bloggers do, with what to write about. I'll figure it out and get the hang of posting more frequently - just bear with me!

I've been M-I-A because...we had a big, fat, exciting change happen in our lives a couple weeks ago.

Meet Luna Lovegood (yes, that Luna), our rescued pup. We had been thinking of adopting a puppy for a while now, since I’d moved in and we had figured out our work schedules. During our search, we came across Good Karma, a network of foster homes, where they rescue dogs and cats from kill-shelters and foster them until they can adopt them out. We saw a picture of a mama and her three babies and we were obsessed. Here are the three girls (Luna’s two sisters and mama are still up for adoption, so if you live in South Florida, please consider! They’re the bomb dot com.)

Left: Mama - Right: Luna (center) with her sisters, Licorice & Brigitte Bardot

Luna stole our hearts with her unique ears and perfectly pathetic face. Within a week we had applied, had a home visit, and adopted her! And it’s been perfect. She goes comatose every few hours and sleeps through the night and is the apple of her daddy’s eye. We’re totally mush and have agreed that when we have babies one day, we’re going to have to quit our jobs because we’ll completely lose our shit and just sit there staring at the baby all day.

Luna joins my other dog, Argos (who my parents demanded I leave with them when I moved out) and Jordan’s family dogs, Guinness and Kahlua, which are also rescues.

Luna & my other pup, Argos, in the same spot in my car ;o)

Me & Guinness - Napping Jordan & Kahlua

Oh – and here are a few more things I’ve crossed off my “101 Things in 1001 Days” list: 

25. Try 3 new recipes a month - (3/3 - Beef Teriyaki in Crockpot, Herb-Marinated Grilled Shrimps, and Cauliflower Rice) - all new recipes for us, and the last 2 are SO good, they will be added as regulars to our weekly meal plan. If you want the recipes, leave me a comment and let me know. I'm more than happy to share!

39. Find a skincare regimen -This one is kind of completed - I'll post about my skincare regimen soon

77. Rescue a puppy & name him Sirius Black ;o) - Not quite a Sirius, but Luna is keeping in theme with our HP love!

93. Try 10 new restaurants - (4/10 - Shalizaar and Fog Harbor in SF, Bad Daddy's Burger Bar in Charlotte, Mylos Greek Restaurant) - Ok...this one is going to be too easy, we love eating!

Have you crossed anything off your bucket list recently? Do share!

MIA + Bloglovin'

I know I've been totally MIA for a couple weeks, but there have been some exciting happenings! Look for a post coming this week, where I'll update on a new family member, a few of my favorite products, and exciting wedding planning updates.

For now, I've made the switch, taking my teeny little newborn blog over to Bloglovin'. Click that little link at the top if you'd like to stay updated when I post (which my lazy ass needs to do more frequently, because who seriously starts a blog and then abandons it after 7 posts?!)

March Madness

I can't believe that March is almost over. I mean, I can...but it's still crazy when you realize how fast time flies.

It's almost May...which means we'll be at the year countdown to our wedding. Eep!

We were in Charlotte this past weekend for another Greek dance thing. We're junkies, I confess. One of the nights, a couple of our friends decided to dress up for the Greek 'Carnival' and Jordan, not to be left out, decided we should dress up, too.

He decided we dress up as The Californians, from the Saturday Night Live skit.

If you haven't seen any of the skits, please find them online. I know Hulu has them and you can find them sometimes on YouTube. It will make your day. Jordan has the best sense of humor, is witty and sarcastic, and he doesn't take himself seriously. He's so much fun to be around. And when you get him and his brother, Kelly, together - FORGET IT! I'm almost always on the verge of my head exploding from laughing so much. (For example, as I'm writing this, Jordan looked over at my shoulder and turned to Kelly and said "I didn't realize we were so close to having her head explode...we should try harder next time!") Hahaha!

Funny, funny boys ;)

1...2...3...KICK!

“Dance is the hidden language of the soul.” – Martha Graham

I love dance. Everything dance. All kinds of dance. I like ballet,ballroom, line, urban. I like the "dancing-in-front-of-your-mirror" kind of dancing. I like "yay-I-found-cupcakes" dancing. I think dance is such a beautiful expression of music. And everyone expresses it differently.

But my favorite kind of dancing is Greek folk dance. The country my family is from is so rich in dances, it’s amazing. I started learning folk dances when I was young and continue learning to this day. I was in a competing dance group with some of my oldest and best friends. We made some of the best memories practicing for hours together, raising the funds to travel to competitions, and competing together. Our group dissolved a couple years ago, as many of us were getting jobs or leaving for school, but we still all love dancing and continue to learn on our own.

I’ve been very lucky in finding a man who loves folk dancing as well…he knows more than I ever could AND he’s so good at it. Hot! 

Here’s a performance Jordan and his friends put together for a competition in Chicago in 2009:

Love these boys!

This next video was taken in California last month. It’s in the lobby of the hotel that the competition was hosted at. This is the 3am interpretation of this dance. The guy at the end of the video is playing the Greek version of a bagpipe...it's a dead goat...turned inside out...Greeks are LOONEY TOONS. Jordan is the tall stud playing the drum, and I’m the one bouncing around in the black dress with the short hair (and my bra strap showing…HA!) Please ignore the fact that I start dropping-it-like-it’s-hot…that is not part of Greek folk dancing! ;)

I am just always amazed when I go to workshops or competitions around the U.S. and seeall these other Greek-Americans from both big cities and small towns who all love Greek folk dancing just as much as I do. It really brings us all together in a way that nothing else can. We share this dorky thing in common - a love for keeping this part of our culture alive – and it’s so much fun! 

I'm still here!

I wasn't kidding when I said these first few months are always busy, busy, BUSY!

We had Superbowl, Greek festivals, our week-long trip to California (more on that in a bit), birthdays, weddings…and then, in between,work…obviously.

But let me tell you, as exhausting as these past few weeks have been, it has been so much fun!

Today is Jordan’s birthday! Last night we celebrated a friend’s wedding and then tomorrow I have an event starting at 4am (*sob*) and Jordan has to work, so we’re keeping it low-key tonight and doing our favorite thing – dinner and movie!

California recap: We flew into San Fransisco and stayed with our friend again (thanks, Dean – we love you!) The weather was gorgeous, so we spent one of our days walking around Union Square, Ghirardelli Square, riding a cable car down to Fisherman’s Wharf, watching sea lions, eating Dungeness crab(y-u-m), admiring tons of street musicians, and of COURSE – hunting down red velvet cupcakes! Later that night, we had dinner with friends on a quadruple date at a Persian restaurant - yum!

The next day we drove across Golden Gate bridge to see the Redwoods in Muir Woods and then headed to Napa, where we shared a bottle of delicious wine and a delicious picnic lunch on the grounds of V.Sattui Winery. Two beautiful spots in one day - I'm blessed!

After a few days in San Fransisco, we drove down with Dean to Anaheim, where the big Greek folk dance competition was being held. Two of our friends from back home flew over to meet us, in addition to all of our friends from all over the U.S. (literally) - so we had SUCH a blast being with our friends, dancing, and hanging out. It's always such a bummer when the weekend is finally over.

Tasia & Mark (our FL friends), Jordan, Peter, me, John and Dimitri in front

However, I did get to scratch a couple of things off my “101 things in 1001 days” list!

9. Have wine in Napa – V.Sattui Winery

74. Move out

93. Try 10 new restaurants (2/10) – Shalizaar Restaurant and Fog Harbor Fish House at Pier 39 in San Fransisco

101. Attend another outdoor concert in Mizner –FeBREWary with All American Rejects (hello 2005!)

I think checking off 3.2 things a month after I made this list is not so bad!

I’m looking forward to seeing what I cross off at the end of this month.

I promise to try and update more regularly!

And if you’re reading this, I thank you! =)