Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to both of our dads - Larry and Mike! We hope you are enjoying your little giftie. Say it with us now - "Michael Savage is the bomb!"

We find ourselves on a bright sunny morning this Father's Day looking forward to seeing at least one of "the dads" in just a few days. We don't have a whole lot planned. We'll probably clean the garage out and perhaps make a run to Home Despot to buy a water pan for one of MeLissa's plants. Pixie is hiding under the quilting table, unaware that in a couple of short days she'll be left here to fend for herself. Well, not exactly, the lovely Bonnie has graciously agreed to keep Pixerella entertained and fed while we're away. MeLissa needs to write up the customary instructions which will include this time around, plant watering instructions lest we return to a balcony of dying beauties. We're hopeful she won't mind. :)

In other news, Mark passed his clinic entrance exam. We're terribly proud of him and glad that very soon he'll be able to take over MeLissa's care...there's one less medical expense to take care of (which is good because those COBRA premiums for our health insurance coverage are going to be murder we have a feeling).

Speaking of which, MeLissa made it safely through her last day of work at Safeway! Her coworkers and her boss celebrated her new cubicle-free life with lunch at Sweet Tomatoes (similar to Souper Salad for those of you familiar with that chain). Her coworkers enjoyed actually seeing her eat something since at pretty much every function she's been to at the company, she couldn't eat anything except maybe a piece of fruit. That afternoon, they also threw a farewell party complete with cake that MeLissa wasn't supposed to eat, but did much to the joy of her friends and coworkers. And, as usual, there are pictures, but blogger isn't cooperating so you'll have to wait to see them.

She is now a bonafide self-employed individual and it feels so good. She can't wait to make her mark on the wedding and event market - watch out subpar coordinators, consultants and planners, she's here to party like it's 1999. Ha ha! Seriously, though, she's very happy to finally do something that makes getting up in the morning a joy instead of something she just has to do.

This weekend we've kept busy primarily with cleaning and organizing things so that when we return "home" from Colorado we won't have to come home to a messy house (a major pet peeve of MeLissa's). Stay tuned for more details. :)

We have pictures - finally!

Of course they don't seem to wish to go into the post about Felisia and Kenneth's wedding so we've put them in their own. We're a flexible bunch here (and persistent!).

Here's MeLissa in her utterly fabulous dress and shoes...












Here's the guestbook table - decorate by MeLissa...



















Here's the gift table - decorated by (you guessed it!) MeLissa:










Here's what the tables looked like (MeLissa can only take partial credit for decorating here):












Here's a picture of the a cocktail table with used glasses from guests (MeLissa thought it was a pretty picture with all the colors and, of course, Martini glasses which she adores!). They served fruity cocktails made with Italian soda syrups and vodka.









Much as we'd love to tell you more, that seems to be all that Blogger is willing to post. It's a good sampling of some of the best decor pictures so we'll go with that. Hope you enjoyed them!

Haunted by a Dowl

A quote from Mark this morning: "Sometimes if you listen quietly, you can hear the sounds - the sounds of the dowl."

Yes, we dear friends and family, have a dowl at our house. Not familiar with the dowl are you? Pull up a chair and acquaint yourself....

The dowl is half dove and half owl. It came into existence many moons ago, but was only recently discovered by us. We originally thought we had an owl at our house. It said "hoo hoo" every morning and frequently in the evening also. We thought it was cool, but we never saw him. Then one day, while at work, MeLissa heard the familiar call, looked up and saw a dove in a tree...no owls in sight. She relayed this to Mark who wouldn't hear of it. He insisted we have an owl. Not really much fun to squabble about a bird (though in the days of Robin, we have done so) and so we just let it be...until one day, MeLissa heard the faint call of the "owl" outside the house, looked up and saw a dove...just like the one she saw at work. Mark still wouldn't hear of it and so we compromised as any happily married couple would and began referring to our little friend as the dowl. Perhaps if you visit us, you too will have the calming experience (or the frustration if our friend decides to coo or hoo at a much too early hour!).

In other news, today is MeLissa's last day at work and Mark's last day of finals! He's retaking his clinic entrance. They snipered him with a bunch of radiology questions he wasn't expecting and didn't study for. No worries, we're sure he'll ace it this time around! In preparation for his test, we did a bit of studying this morning and, in the process, made Pixie a little confused and a bit silly. MeLissa's watch happened to catch the sun and create a reflection on the ceiling that caught the eye of the dear Pixie cat. She was quite frustrated that she couldn't reach it. Throughout our short study session, as the light moved in response to MeLissa turning a page or whatever, Pixie chased and cavorted as best as she could. We think we need to find her laser light pen again...

This evening, rather than celebrating like we probably should (we will eventually, but there's bills to pay and less income to pay them with right at the moment!), we're going to visit the pet store. Pixie needs a new litter box (this is exciting isn't it - not everything can be as intriguing as the dowl, you know!) to prevent her from pottying outside of it. For some reason, she is having an issue understanding that she needs to get her little booty fully into the box, lately. We're very glad we have a plastic mat up next to her box to prevent her from ruining the carpet. At least she actually tries to use the box...

We hope you all have a great weekend if we don't make it back to post again. We're heading to Colorado this coming Tuesday so it will probably be a bit calm around here for a while... :)

Monday Amusements

For those (read Christopher and Douglas!) who were completely and totally addicted to Nintendo in their younger years, this will bring back wonderful (or painful perhaps) memories. Enjoy (and then come back and tell us what you've heard!)

A Wedding Story...

Note: There are pictures to go with this post, but blogger won't let me post them. So, as is often the case, I will add them when I can. :)
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Yesterday was a very exciting day for MeLissa! She helped coordinate a wedding reception for somewhere around 300 people! The reception celebrated the marriage of Felisia and her beau Kenneth - a truly beautiful couple!

This was a great experience for MeLissa in so many ways. Now that she's approaching her last week in the corporate world and will be coordinating weddings full-time, she is very excited for opportunities to gain experience. This was a wonderful opportunity to practice her skills, gain confidence and see what her new career will truly be like. She loved every minute of it even if she did come home with a very achy body (um, yeah, Mark's going to have to start cracking the whip on her a little bit more!).

Her first task actually was accomplished a couple of days prior. She needed to find the perfect ensemble that would allow her to work while blending in with the guests. She and her friend Loan found just the right one at Macy's. Its brown iridescent fabric was sure to be a hit (and the fact that it was on sale made it a great buy)! The only problem? Now she needed a pair of shoes as well. The girls found a cute pair of sandals by Ecco that matched vey well. She planned to wear the pearl accessories she wore to her own wedding to complete the ensemble.

On Saturday morning, MeLissa arrived at the Oakland City Center Rotunda venue to find that there was a bit of confusion surrounding how many tables were to be set up and where to put them. After much discussion between the head coordinator and the vendue coordinator, the tables were placed and everyone (the head coordiator, MeLissa and another assistant coordinator and various wedding party members and relatives) got to work on setting up the room. MeLissa began with folding napkins. Soon, she had trained half a dozen bridal party members on how to do the task and they were all doing great - it didn't take long before all the napkins were folded and ready for the tables. We did some additional decorating and then MeLissa was asked by the head coordinator to take care of the cocktail reception area.

MeLissa was happy to take on this challenge. She set up the guest book table and the gift table and added the finishing touches to the cocktail rounds (including using a little "magic" to ensure that the lampshades would stay in place even if a table was jostled. She even finished the set up of several manequins which displayed dresses worn by women important to the bride and groom. As you can see, she has a flair for table decor, though, she did make a few adjustments after the first picture was taken and she learned that the crystal lamp was destined for the bride and groom's table. :)

At about 3:30 that afternoon, MeLissa rushed home to finally eat something and get dressed for the main event. She attended to her toilette, donned her fabulous dress and had a quick bite to eat. Shortly thereafter, she was rushing out the door to the reception where she quickly jumped into her role as an authority figure and made sure that everything was flawless and ready for the bride and groom's arrival!

As the evening went on, she kept busy greeting guests and ensuring they had everything they needed to enjoy themselves. We must mention that one of the guests was noneother than one of her previous bosses (from PG&E). Mark was having a grand ol' time dancing and enjoying the show (we don't have a picture, but there was even an arial acrobat to entertain the guests!). We have some rather amusing photos and video of Mark shaking his groove thang, but we're not sharing! :)

MeLissa took this as an opportunity to shine during the evening and made a great impression on the venue's coordinator and the bride's mother who is also a wedding coordinator. Both of these fine ladies are looking forward to helping MeLissa launch her career and have offered their assistance whereever possible. One significant bit of help from Zina, the bride's mother, is that she's promised to give MeLissa a few pictures from the wedding to use in her portfolio. This is very thrilling indeed.

MeLissa also was able to make some other great connections through the wedding experience. She now knows a great band, a terrific DJ, and a marvelous massage therapist (for when Mark's unavailable, of course!). She's also soon to receive information about the catering company (owned by the bride's cousin and wonderful!), a potential client and a potential assistant. Most of these professionals thought MeLissa did an awesome job and are hoping to send clients her way.

Today, we slept in to let MeLissa recover from her late night (she was in bed by about 3) and then awoke and did some chiro-studying. We also made our way down to Fry's (an electronics store) where we purchased a new camera MeLissa can use to take pictures of decor elements that come out a bit better than the ones she has here (we're sure you noticed that many of these are a bit dark!). We actually took a tip from Mark's brother and bought the camera he has. It's a nice compact camera that's waterproof up to 10 ft. and shock proof when dropped from 5 feet or less. In the process, MeLissa was able to provide a few cards to the employee that helped her who was very excited about her service. She's actually going to have to order so more temporary cards because she's running low! :)

We hope you had a great weekend, too! Only 4 more workdays until MeLissa is her own boss!

Extra! Extra!

This breaking news just in!!

Mark and MeLissa will be coming to Colorado in a matter of weeks! Prepare yourselves for the thrill of a lifetime!

We're very excited to let you all know that we'll be gracing MeLissa's home state beginning June 20 and continuing through June 27. We're hoping we'll be able to visit as many of our friends and family members as we possibly can. One slight logistical problem is that we need a/some volunteer(s) to fetch us from the airport (Colo. Springs) on Tuesday June 20 in the morning and keep us occupied until MeLissa's brother Christopher (the Navy recruiter) comes and picks us to shuttle us to his house in Canon City where we'll be spending most of our nights. Friends in Pueblo - your time has come! :)

Anyone who is willing to visit us in Pueblo, we'd really appreciate it. We're hoping to do as little driving as possible to avoid putting tons of miles on Christopher's car. We'd love it if we could get a big bunch of you together for a potluck or an ice cream social on Saturday the 24th in Canon (or in Pueblo or Colorado Springs if someone would like to volunteer their backyard or suggest a good park or other location) - anybody game for an impromptu and fun gathering? If so, let us know (and Jenny, you and Craig are invited if you're interested just FYI) so we can work out logisitics. We're okay with multiple gatherings if that works out better, but let's space them out shall we? Oh, and lest you feel slighted dear Denver and further north friends, we could probably be talked into a Sunday afternoon "thing" if you'd like to help MeLissa work out details for a gathering of your own. :)

For those who can't make it to one of our little "group meetings," we're going to see what we can do about making visits in Colorado Springs and Denver (probably somewhere near Park Meadows) and possibly even Lamar (we're really hoping to talk the parents in to coming to see us to avoid that driving thing). Whatever our final plans, we're looking forward to seeing you all (or as many of you as we can) very soon! Stay tuned for updates...

Success!

The sink is fixed! Yippie!!!

Upon taking everything out and turning the water on again, it was discovered that one of the upper nuts had come loose. Easy fix - MeLissa tightened it, turned the water back on and voila! One working sink. We thought you might enjoy a before and after picture...

Of course, we didn't actually think of this until tonight so the before picture is of Mark's sink (pay attention to the stopper thingie while you're hiding your eyes from the ugly faucet):



And here is the new faucet at MeLissa's sink area (Mark's will, of course, get its makeover this weekend) including the ridiculously hideous tub stopper in place of the drain stopper that should be there but isn't. :( Notice how it shines and is devoid of the nasty plastic ball thing (MeLissa hates these things...not sure why, but she does!):

Isn't it the most beautiful faucet you've ever seen? You've never really thought of it that way have you? Well, to us it is a beautiful monument. A testament, if you will, to how we as a team are undefeatable with or without 2 sets of perfect eyes!

And now, MeLissa can finally brush her teeth at her own sink again (Mark has said he'll miss sharing with her) and maybe even she'll get into the habit of flossing more regularly. She visited the dentist today and was (as is typical, we're sad to say) admonished for not flossing enough. It's on her list of things to improve after leaving the corporate life.

Overall, though, the dentist visit was good. Her gums have improved since the last visit which is probably due to the improvement in her neurological health since then (the last check up was the day after the whole blood vessel in the brain spasm thing). Apparently, the motorized toothbrush she's using is also making a difference which is good because she still dislikes it...even if it doesn't make her face go numb like it did after the brain thing. ;)

She's getting a new toy, too, which brings along with it the chance to increase her teeth impressions count...unfortunately, she stopped counting them a few years ago, but we're thinking we're in the 10-12 range given all the impressions she had taken during her orthodontia adventures in middle school, high school and college (oh yes, her smile is worth a good amount of change). The impressions are so that they can make a new mouthguard for her to help with some issues she has with clenching and grinding her teeth as well as her TMJ. Fun, we know - you all want one don't you? The real question here, though, is whether she gets to choose a color and a flavor like she did for the teeth shifter thingies she had to wear for a while (they were sort of like the mouth guards people wear to box only bulkier!). We're guessing not...how sad. :)

And, actually, we probably should mention that she actually had something of this sort called a splint a few years ago. But, um, well, it only lasted about 6 months at which point MeLissa's jaws of steel broke it. Thankfully she was awake when it happened and didn't choke on the piece of acrylic/plastic stuff that broke off. It shouldn't be any wonder that she's got some achiness in her jaws and portions of her teeth with a bite like that, is it? Ah well, nobody's perfect.

And, now for the news you've truly all been waiting for - Mark thinks he passed his test, but we don't know for sure. Sorry, that's the best we can do for now! We'll know for sure by the end of the day on Friday so tune back in then!

Clinic Entrance Exam

This evening Mark will attempt to jump another hurdle in his quest to become Dr. Mark Rocco (we love how that sounds, don't you?). His first opportunity to enter the clinic as a chiropractic intern is at hand.

As an intern, Mark will be able to begin practicing his craft and perfecting his technique. If you'd like to benefit from his talents, drop us a note and we'll tell you how you can be one of his first patients. If you know Mark, you better hurry - he'll soon have a full schedule!

So, adding to the suspense surrounding the sink which is in the same condition and the next round of cookies which are still in dough form, we have our fingers crossed for Mark's success....which we're pretty sure will be forthcoming. :)

In other news, MeLissa has the opportunity to help coordinate a wedding with 300 guests this weekend. She's very excited to see how other consultants work.

Finally, MeLissa went to the dentist today. Very exciting, we know you'll agree. Next week she'll be fitted for a new mouth guard to (hopefully) help her TMJ and to (hopefully) help with some tenderness she's been experiencing. We're also hoping it won't do what the last "splint" she had did - break. She is such a powerful biter/grinder she actually broke the one her orthodontist gave her...silly goose that she is. :)

The Exciting Weekend Adventures of.....

MeLissa the Builder (who is posting in first person because it just makes the story so much more amusing!). Sing along with me now, will you?

MeLissa the Builder!
Can we fix it?!
MeLissa the Builder!
Yes we can! (maybe).

Erhem, okay...it's out of my system for a little bit. I guess that's all you can hope for given how Tyler, my nephew, has trained me. :) But, I wonder, should I be calling myself MeLissa the Toolwoman? I'll let you be the judge...

This was my big exciting weekend accomplishment (or it would have been). Now it is probably going to be my exciting Monday accomplishment...maybe (unless I have to go get teflon tape which I am sure we actually have, but which I can not find for the life of me). You're all confused now...I know it's true. You have no idea what I'm talking about. That's because I think we forgot to tell you about my exciting teeth brushing story from sometime last week. I can't even remember what day it was. I was a little pre-occupied with how things were going to go when I resigned....

Anyhow, one day last week, I went to brush my teeth as I do every morning before I go to work. I picked up my toothbrush, went to wet it under the faucet and voila, the handle came off in my hand. Um, yeah....not a good thing. It appears that our bathroom is determined to make a plumber out of me yet. I resisted with the toilet, but the faucet is similar to the kitchen faucet I changed (with the help of 'the French guy' whom I was dating at the time) a few years ago. So, I figured this was going to be fairly easy...after all, I'm in California now and do not have to worry about a massive build up of calcium to make the faucet a real "witch" to get off, right? Wrong. It was still murder...and it's a good thing that Mark can feel his way around or I'd probably still be laying under the sink doing my best impersonation of Yosemite Sam (reckin' shrekin' no good....you get the idea).

Lucky me, though, my wonderful prince charming husband rescued me and got the lines loose because he's brilliant and decided to go for the nuts that connect into the water supply rather than the ones that connected to the faucet and were cemented on with plumber's putty (which I only know the name of because it was mentioned in the faucet assembly instructions and I'm putting two and two together). Anyhoo....

We got it out of there and then the real fun began because he unscrewed the top of the drain popper thingie (a technical plumbing term, I assure you) and, of course, it went down into the sink drain. Darn it all. So, I forgot about it for a bit, got the sink in place with some additional help from my dear hubby and then decided (because I'm stubborn and because two trips to Home Despot - so named because it is a tyranical ruler guilty of torturing countless wives and girlfirends throughout the country and maybe the world - in one weekend is just torture even if you do find an absolutely wonderful Plumeria plant to add to your wonderful deck arrangement!) to at least try to get the connecting lines apart from the old faucet. I gave up pretty quickly and tabled the sink repair until Sunday. Oh, but we did get the stupid piece out of the drain and I tried to hook up the thing that puts the stopper up and down (this is going to be a long post - perhaps longer than normal I just realized).

So, Sunday, we went back to Home Despot, visited the friendly and yet sort of creepy guy in the plumbing department that lauds me with compliments on my beauty and talks about how great he is (with my husband standing right there - hello!?! Poor vision or no, buddy, you cross the line and he'll kick your keester...) which, of course, prompts my dear Mark to joke for the rest of the weekend about how many goats I am worth as a persian princess and how many pickled goat's feet our kitty Pixie is not worth. He's quite a loon, but I love him (my husband, not the creepy Home Depot guy). Oh, and yeah, to finish my thought, we bought the lines necessary to hook everything up.

After a trip to the grocery store, I set myself back to fixin' things. It seems easy enough. Screw these two little thingies together and turn on the water and voila. But, no...it isn't that easy. It never is with me. First, I screwed everything on and then I turned on the water....and got wet. Oops. Oh, yeah, you think I should tighten those with a pair of pliers, eh? Yeah, well, that probably would be good, but I was kind of hoping that I could hand tighten them so we could actually get them off again if necessary. Never mind...tighten, tighten, tighten. Turn on. More leaks. Darn it. Tighten U-Joint which I also forgot to tighten with the pipe wrench. Goodness, I'm an idiot sometimes. Turn on the water again. Still a bit of dripping in the back - dry it with towel and see if it stops. Yes. Amazing. I think we have it folks! And, then....

The sound of clanging metal. Never a good sound...and in this case signifying that the blasted stopper puller upper and pusher downer (I think it's called a pop-up sink valve) had "fallen" apart. So, to be wise, I turned off the water, took that apart, did more tightening with the pliers and put everything back together...

Now as an aside, I actually wanted to also replace the pop-up valve part of the sink. The faucet assembly came with a replacement and it excited me because the prior owner of our house whom I frequently refer to as the "bird murderer" because he left a glue board under the stove without telling us and my parakeet, Woodstock, managed to escape from his cage, find it and die trying to get off of it (God rest his little soul), but I digress. The bird murder also replaced the original pop-up stopper thingie (again, a technical term that I use a lot when it comes to home repairs) with one that should have went in a tub. But, I didn't replace it because to do so would have required plumber's putty and much more plumbing knowledge than I ever care to possess. And, yes, I hear you - why not just replace the stopper part. I thought of that, too...unfortunately, it is too big. Kind of amusing if you think about it - a stopper for a tub fits, but one for a sink is too big. Aye Carumba.

Okay, so anyhow, I put everything back under the sink and went about my merry way. I made dinner (a terrifically tasty cold pasta salad with chicken) and cookies which taste terrific but definitely should be refrigerated as long as Martha tells you to...and no substituting time in the freezer isn't good enough, but I wanted cookies and I wanted them last night...not sometime this week. I will make a second attempt with the remaining dough this evening. Then I helped Mark study, almost finished the laundry (I can't wait until I can do this in between my daily work stuff) and then it was time for bed and teeth brushing. Now if you were paying attention here, you're saying, but....but...

If you're like me and weren't paying attention, you won't think anything of the fact that I grabbed my brush and excitedly went to turn on the water...until I say that nothing came out of the faucet...absolutely nothing. Oh, drat, I forgot to turn the water back on. This is either going to be no big deal or a real mess I thought to myself so I reached under the sink where all my stuff had been nicely stored again and slowly turned on the water only to immediately turn it right back off because something was leaking. Darn it all. I think maybe there's a little water that built up in the pipe. So, tonight I have to take everything out from under the sink and turn the water back on, hope that I don't have to go through a whole hullabaloo to get the leaking to stop yet again and then put all the crap back (or go to someplace and buy teflon tape since ours is lost). Then, I will finally get to brush my teeth using my sink again....

But, this is not the end of the story, my dear friends and family...nope. I get to do this a second time this coming weekend because since I hated the faucets anyhow, it seemed like a good and rational thing to replace them both. After all, they need to match right?...despite the bizarre layout of our home. Our bathroom has one sink in it. Then on the other side of the wall in the entry to our Master Bedroom, there is another sink. Who came up with this design? They're weird...that's all I'm saying, but it does prove useful regularly. Regardless, the pair must match so I get to do this all over again. I sure hope I learned a few things the first time around and that it won't be as much of a fiasco...but at least it provides good blogging fodder. ;)

Other exciting news - I think I have my first client! :) Our dear friend Penny is going to let me help plan husband Brent's birthday party. How exciting! More details on that to come, I'm sure. But for now, I'm going back into third person land so that our little blog reads more like a story. :) We hope you enjoyed the break!

And how was your weekend?

And So, The Countdown Begins

Well, today was an exciting (and nerve-wracking!) day. MeLissa spoke to her boss this afternoon and gave her two weeks notice. June 15 will be her last day in the corporate world (well, sort of - she did agree to come back and help every-so-often when necessary). It's a very exciting and yet somewhat scary time!

As MeLissa makes her entrepreneurial debut, we hope you'll all support her by sending clients her way! She'll soon have a website (scheduled to launch in July 2006) and will be offering the following general categories of products and services:

• Full and partial planning services for weddings and social events
• Hourly planning consultations
• Proposal consultations
• Newlywed financial planning
• Invitations for weddings, social occasions and Bar and Bat Mitzvahs
• Birth announcements

She looks forward to serving you and your friends and family! Please visit www.winsomeevents.blogspot.com for additional information.