Going to the chapel...

Okay, I think it's safe to say that I am a huge fan of weddings, but then again I have no idea who on Earth wouldn't be! They give you a chance to get dressed up (a.k.a. buy a new dress and maybe some heels), there are usually fashionable drinks to sip on (during a recent wedding I think I consumed about three of these orange-slice-garnished tequila something-or-others), and best of all, you get to relive your own wedding in your head! For those of you who are not married, you can think about how you would like the BIG DAY to be, and how you're just so excited at the prospect of planning a wedding (well, it's actually a big fat headache most of the time, but it's fun to take pictures while doing so with a smile on your face feigning delight)! 

So, in light of the royal wedding (which I had intended to watch live at 4:00 am, but instead pressed "dismiss" on my alarm until it shut the hell up, then carried on my beauty sleep until about 6:00), I decided to post a few of my own pictures from our special day. You better enjoy these, because it took me about 10 years to upload them. No, that's a joke (kind of), so here they are!

My glorious train which just so happened to be my favorite part of the whole dress :)

Our first dance <3

Not even in the limo yet and he's already cut loose...

Our picture-perfect little chapel.

The rings!

Chadly and our pastor :)

What a great day that was with all of our friends and family! Now we get to kick back and wait impatiently for the rest of our friends to get married!

Hurry up, y'all!

Ears!

So apparently my camera is no longer experiencing a "lens error," coming back to life just in time for me to snag a few pictures of Carter while he was still super excited about his Mickey Mouse ears! The pictures aren't the best because I was running around trying to find my memory stick before he took them off, but at least I got a few! Enjoy!

Here's me looking horrendous with my little Mickey Mouse! (Try to ignore the fact that there is the exact same picture framed in both an 8x10 and an 11x14. I'm trying to decide which I like I better!)

Up, up, and away!

Well, hello!

"Mama!"

"Uh-oh....."

...and we're happy again!

<3

My poor broken camera

Well, my camera is experiencing a "lens error." It's such a bummer! I didn't realize how many pictures I take on a daily basis until I couldn't take them anymore! What's worse is that it makes reluctant to blog since my photos apparently are the basis of most of my posts, and in turn my blog is one of the reasons I take so many pictures. Anyway, here is what's been going on around these parts recently:

*Easter was fabulous. Carter looked dashing in his new argyle blue and grey sweater vest, and it was so precious to watch him run around after all the eggs at my parent's house. First we attended church at 9:00 (at which the little man was an angel of perfection, waiting until the very end to start pointing and giggling at others around us), and then we started the brunch festivities for the day with the families. It was quite lovely :)

*Chad has had the last three days OFF WORK! He decided it was time to cash in some of his blessed PTO (paid time off -- bow chicka bow wow!), in exchange for some family time with good old us. In light of his break from work, we took a trip to Disneyland yesterday, and I can say with complete confidence that it was our best trip to date. 

*This has to do with D-Land as well, but it's so important it deserved it's own asterisk :) CARTER GOT HIS FIRST PAIR OF MICKEY MOUSE EARS (and we had them embroider his name on the back)! It literally was the cutest thing I've ever seen! At first we thought he would hate them, but he kept them on his precious head the entire day! Oh my gosh, I'm laughing just thinking about it! Today when I went to work Chad told me that Carter refused to eat his breakfast unless his ears were secured upon his blonde little head! Yes, I'm melting with love :)

*Last, but not lease, we are getting some family photos taken today by 1 Click 2 Click Photography! We are basically copying one of my other mommy friends and are going on down to San Clemente to capture some love! I shall post the pictures as soon as I get them back!

Now I'm off to coordinate our outfits! Ta-ta!

Loving my 2 week present

So, the time has come for yet another two week present. I'm pretty proud of myself, because during the last "two week period" I only spent $5 on Lord knows what, so I had a grand total of $35 to spend this time (give it up for my self-control!). Anyway, I went thrifty, and only spent $27.50 on a fabulously airy floral shirt from Target. "Airy" and "baggy" are my two favorite adjectives while shopping for shirts because, when it comes down to it, I will just wear them more often. Gone are the days of the tight T's (and good riddance, if you ask me)! I'll post a picture as soon as I'm donning my fabulous present to myself!

So far it seems that my two week present has been a great success! 

On our way to dinner!

After we headed back from the beach yesterday, it was significantly warmer in Irvine, so we decided to take advantage of the lovely evening sun and walk on down to Ruby's. Right by our place there's this massive lake which we try to walk around everyday, and right off the lake is the fabulous diner. It was a great way to end a great day with my two favorite people :) Carter was hilarious, of course, as he navigated his way over the humongous bridge...

At first he was a little bit cautious...

...but then something caught his eye :)

"Come on, little man!"

Then a nice passerby offered to take our photo :)

My two favorites :)

...Giving mommy a heart attack while playing by the water. There were a few times where his sandal caught on the rock and tripped him! It was horrifying!

There's my little man :)

A quick stop at the beach

In response to the warm weather, we decided to take a trip down to the beach. Since we didn't want to have to worry about insane parking or long hikes down to the sand, we decided to give Huntington Beach a shot (they have two parking structures for all us beach goers). Anyway, I've never been a fan of that beach for some reason, but I decided that the parking situation was worth it. As we turned onto the 55 South, we saw the marine layer which still covered the ocean, which bummed us out, but we were sure it would burn off. 

Well, it didn't. It was freezing! We parked the car anyways and headed for the pier, which proved to be a bad choice because the wind was giving us the chills left and right. After a few precious photos, we decided to head back to the ol' car. At least we tried! Enjoy our mini photoshoot!

Looking happy as always :)

Oh, just thinking deep thoughts as the wind blows through my hair . . . 

He loves his Daddy :)

Carter hangin' with the bear outside of the chocolate factory :)

So, even though we were there for a grand total of about forty-five minutes, it was a good little road trip with the family :)

I can see the light!

Today was the day I dragged my almost-college-graduated butt back to campus to complete what is known as the EWP (a.k.a. the English Writing Proficiency test; a.k.a. the big-fat-waste-of-time test). Anyway, this test is given to every. single. person. in the University. Yes, you read that correctly. Are those the words of unsound reasoning and complete absurdity? Absolutely! So an Engineering major is required to take the same test as an English major. A Math major sits in the same auditorium as a History major and answers the same prompt! 

Basically this test is exceedingly easy for half of the student body, and incredibly difficult for the other half. What the reasoning behind giving out a blanket test to everyone is beyond me. Unfortunately I occupy the half of the student body which found the test insanely easy, which is a good thing, I know, but it just made me frustrated that I was forced to drive up to Fullerton to prove that I can write "clearly and efficiently." How stupid! I wrote hundreds of papers for my American Studies double major, and got A's! There should be some sort of exemption standard for this stupid exit exam!

But, besides that, I am SO HAPPY I'm done with it! Leaving the auditorium I wanted to burst into song, start skipping, do anything that would convey my excitement for almost completing my bachelors! 

Hallelujah!

Oh, Bethanny!

Okay, so my sister and I are huge fans of Bethanny Frankel. I mean she is hilarious at all times, and her man Jason is awesome. Anyway, Gina and I were watching an old episode of The Real Housewives of New York, and it just so happened to be the episode where Bethanny revealed what was in her Skinny Girl Margarita. So, last night, while enjoying our fabulous Date Night, G and I decided it was time to give it a shot. Luckily the cocktail waitress knew what we were talking about when we asked her for the signature drink, which made us super excited for Bethanny . . . because we know her, right . . . ?

Well, let me tell you, those bar tenders basically gave us one humongous shot of tequila with maybe a few of the other ingredients mixed in. Maybe. At first we were shocked at the stiffness of our beloved Skinny Girl drink, so my smart little sister decided it was time for a few extra limes in order for us not to pass out right then and there. With these, I sucked my drink down like it was the last cocktail on the planet. It was great! Of course, I did not expect anything less from our girl Bethanny, which made me want to go out and buy a big fat bottle of her concoction. I would have ordered another, but I was scared that I would be hung over today, because we all know that tequila is another animal entirely. I am shuddering at the thought of the effects tequila has on many a-person, but not without a little snicker on the side :)

Anyway, it was a great drink and quite exciting :)

Yay, Bethanny!

A good old fashion date night

Last night was one of those rare occurrences which left me wondering how on God's green Earth I just so happened to be so lucky. Surely I am the only person in the world who's mother-in-law pushes for us to drop our little bundle of joy off at her place to spend the night for some quality time, which in turn freed us up to experience a long lost tradition in young child rearin' years: a date night! I'm sorry to say, but it's almost as rare as witnessing Big Foot or the Loch Ness Monster. Well, maybe not that rare, but it's nearly as exciting! Here was how the night went :)

As soon as we handed over our perfect little man to Grandma Cisneros, Chad and I were left wondering what we were going to do in order to fill the many hours ahead of us free of responsibility. Should we go to Disneyland? Should we just do dinner and a movie? Should we fly to Germany and give luging a shot? The possibilities were endless! We finally settled on calling my sister and asking her to meet us for a little bit of bowling fun (at first I was against the whole bowling idea, because how on Earth was I going to wear heals with my outfit and look good in bowling shoes? I was nearly discouraged). However discontented I felt, I decided to suck it up and humor Chadly because he has been dying to bowl lately (he is one of those "I need to do something competitive at all times" type of guys. My ideal date night of dinner and a movie was wearing thin on him).

So, before meeting my sister and brother-in-law, we (and by "we" I mean just the two of us. Ying and Yang. It was a realm almost forgotten about by good old me) headed out for a few drinks and appetizers at J.T. Schmidt in Tustin. It was so much fun! I wish I had taken a picture of the sassy martini I was drinking, but sadly I did not take out the camera once the entire night. I guess I was having too much fun :)

After the little shindig by ourselves, we met with our date night counterparts, and off we went to the bowling alley! This bowling alley was literally, in the words of my sister, a nightclub with balls. The music was insanely loud, there was Vegas-style lounge and bar, and the cocktail waitresses were dressed in these skimpy little outfits! It was crazy! Anyway, my brother-in-law killed all of us, throwing strike after strike. I somehow beat Chad, and Gina was right in front of me. It was a good night of bowling and I'm glad I decided not to turn up my nose to the junior high style date night!

A cheerful Friday

I think it's safe to say that today is just one of those happy-go-lucky days where everyone is in a great mood and the sun is a-shinin'! Here's some evidence of this claim so far:

* Carter slept in until 

9:00!

*Chadly had some pep in his step while walking out the door this morning because he is wonderful (and because it is Friday).

*It's DATE NIGHT!

*Carter was in such a happy mood he proceeded to pull all of the many books out of his humongous toy basket so that I could read them to him. (Yale? Harvard? Just give us 17 more years, then we shall grace you with the Cisneros presence!)

* I finally got the laundry going. (Not as exciting as aforementioned reasons for a happy day, but, trust me, if you had seen the insanity of the laundry basket, you would be rejoicing as well.)

* Tomorrow morning I am taking the stupid English Writing Proficiency test at CSUF to officially finish up my time in ol' classroom. (Happy dance to the max).

Anyway, it's going to be a great day, and I will be writing about our fabulous date night soon! Woo!

Here's a picture of myself in a very happy moment :)

A little love for our living room

After much ado, our beautiful new couch has arrived! Yes, it was over a week late (the trusty gentleman at the warehouse seemed to have assumed the couch was there for pure entertainment, as they forgot to call us to say it was out of production, therefore was patiently waiting to be welcome into our lovely home), and the "nice" delivery guys dropped it off over three hours past the allotted time slot (ugh), after I got into what seemed like the world's most inappropriate argument with the store's "book keeper." Looking beyond that, however, she's finally here (and yes, I am personifying the new cushions waiting for me to sit upon her)! But enough talking, here is a quick look at our old couches . . . 

Check out those couch covers! Yes, I am very thankful for them, because without those things we would have been subjected to viewing the hideous brownish/yellowish, puke colored fabric underneath . . .

. . . but, man, am I happy to be done with the days of "tucking in the couch."

So, we have moved onward and upward to our newest "large" purchase: a sectional!

Thar she blows! Isn't she glorious?

Anyway, I would show a better picture of the room as a whole, but we still have some major cosmetic work to do, including hanging an ode to family and friends on one of the walls, buy a few more lamps to light up the room, and hang this awesome wine rack thing (great description, eh?) on the wall to my left in the picture. Anyway, we are quite happy with our purchase :)

Oh yes, and see that ridiculously amazing coffee table right smack dab in the middle of the room? It opens up to all this storage underneath. After finding out that one of our friends wanted to sell it for WAY cheaper than what it's worth, we swooped in and told him we would take it! Oh, the innocence of not knowing the true value of storage space (a.k.a., the innocence of pre-childcare years!).

And one last picture . . . Here is Carter enjoying a piece of her mid-assembly :)

He just climbed up there and took a seat :)

Growin' up...

Well, there's no two ways around it: Carter is getting too old, too fast, for his mama. Every single day there's a new triumph, some milestone reached, and here I am with one foot standing on the side saying, "Go, Carter, go!" and the other foot on the, "Please stay little and cuddly for me!" side. Here are a few pictures of my baby toddler growing up. 

No longer is sleeping his life's sole ambition... *tear*

Now he can sit up whenever, where ever, he wants, at any time, day or night, instead of me having to prop him up on a few pillows... *sniff, sniff*

His baby carrier is a thing of the past, now viewed as a bulky, heavy device made only to strain my lower back... 

*but doesn't he look precious in it? tissue, please!*

This summer he will be running wild at the lagoon, and probably won't need me to hold him every time his toe touches the cold water...

*that's a good thing, right...?*

This coming football season will be filled with him actually learning the meaning to TOUCHDOWN! when Daddy jumps off the couch with excitement...

*no more sitting with Mommy while Daddy makes a fool out of himself...multiple tears...*

Oh man, my little man is growing up a little bit too fast for Mommy!

*no tears this time, but slow down, would'ya?*

Quite the pleasurable day

Yesterday was one of those out-of-control busy days. We were here, we were there, we were up, we were down, we were everywhere! Luckily I had anticipated for such a day, therefore the timing of all events was perfectly executed, creating a stress free, fun filled day! Here is how it went:

* As soon as Chad left for work, the little man and I scurried around trying to get ready for a few errands. We then took off for the bank (where I withdrew my $20), then Babies-R-Us for an astronomically large box of diapers, next we stopped off at the grocery store for a few midweek updates, and finally, last and certainly most importantly, I got myself a McCafe :)
* As soon as we got home, I put Carter down for a nap and ate my daily midmorning meal of scrambled eggs, a cinnamon raisin bagel and coffee. I then sprinted around the apartment, trying to clean up everything in my path, while answering ten million emails. I should have been getting some homework done (which is what I should be doing right now), but blogspot was calling my name! Anyway, it was quite a productive nap session.
*  And then came the fun part! A few girls who went to my high school, and also have little munchkins, came over for a playdate! It was so much fun! We had Drake (22 months old), Gavin (14 months old) and my little man (who is now 15 months old) running around like madmen! It was so adorable! At first they were all really shy, but then everyone relaxed and started having fun! I loved talking with other mommies! It was just an all around great time :) We tried to fit in a photoshoot at the very end, but that was easier said than done:

First, Carter went missing . . .

. . . so it was just Drake and Gavin being good little guys . . . 

. . . then Carter decided that he wanted to join in . . .

 . . . so we finally got a few good shots :)

*  Next on the agenda, the girls left and Grandma came over to watch Carter while I dashed out for Fullerton for some graduation-centered fun with one of my best friends, Whitney Thomas. Oh, did I mention that Whitney is MISS. PLACENTIA? Yes, my friend is queen of all the land! Anyway, we met at our old stomping ground (the sorority house), and took her NEW car over to campus. We were there to get all things graduation related, something which I did not think would excite me as much as it did. When the man handed me my cap and gown, I got major butterflies, which sent me on a shopping binge! I bought a CSUF alumni sweatshirt, joined the alumni association (?), got myself a license plate cover, and finally restrained myself before buying a super fancy diploma frame. It was so much fun! I'm actually extremely excited to walk for graduation now!

Yep, that will be me!

*  Whitney and I then proceeded to a much needed sushi dinner, where we caught up and laughed for about two hours straight. It was so much fun! I love how we constantly plan out Whitney's life as if she's my little Barbie!

There's the lovely Whitney at my wedding :)

Anyway, it was a great day full of great people!

My 2 week present!

So, I've started what I hope to be a long-lived tradition: my 2 week present! It's exactly how it sounds. Every other week, I heave-ho over to the bank to deposit my fabulous check from Purebarre, at which point I withdrawal $20 out and put it in my trusty clutch. Only $20! I take this modest amount and buy whatever I want with it. Did you hear that? 

What. Ever. I. Want. 

Something that does not benefit the family as a whole, something that is completely illogical, something that is fluffy and fun and fabulous! Two weeks ago I bought myself a nice statement ring for $7 from Target along with a necklace on clearance for $3.50. It was the most thrifty Target shopping experience I have ever had. 

The reason for this? I refuse to let myself slink back into the slump I was in a few months ago when I was forced to go on the world's largest shopping spree due to a major deficiency in my closet. It's completely unnecessary to spend huge sums of money at one time, when you could just slowly build your wardrobe/accessory collection over time. If I want a nice shirt that costs $40, I'll save my original 20 buckollas and add it to next paycheck's "present fund." Oh, yeah, did I mention that this is also somewhat of an experiment in self control?

Next purchase?

Well . . . maybe not these babies, but you get the idea :)

Some divine inspiration

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! 

Halle - lujah!

After an idiotic stint away from my favorite creamer, I am back! Taking a break from my beloved Coffe-Mate pal was a big mistake, one I do not plan on committing again! I thought that it was time to switch it up, but nothing does it for me like my perfect, sweet, beautiful Italian Sweet Cream! Woo!

Jackpot!

Carter is now at the age where exploration is a major part of his daily routine. He digs, sifts, burrows, dumps, and throws anything and everything within his little grasp. The pantry has become his most exciting excavation site, and we get a kick out of it every single day (so long as I don't get lazy and allow him to pull EVERYTHING out, he keeps it at an easy-to-clean-up minimum). Here is how it usually goes:

First helps himself by opening the door . . . 

Then he goes on to displace a few items . . . (looking precious, all the while) . . .

And then  he finds IT! The jackpot! The money find! The GOLD FISH!

"Mama! Mama! Mama!"

. . . At which point I usually say, "no, no, Carter, it's too early for Gold Fishies." But today, because he was such a good boy, I gave in and gave him exactly 5 Gold Fishies :)

Oh, the world according to a toddler!

 

The Shining!

This is the first video I have ever posted, so hopefully you are not disappointed with my selection! I was sifting through a few of our short videos we took over there across the pond, and I couldn't stop laughing at this one. Chadly and I were meandering through one of the intricate mazes at the Palais de Versaille (one of my favorite places in the entire world), and of course my hilarious hunk of a man threw his own spin on our beautiful surroundings.

Isn't he a riot?