Oh, the Places You'll Go!

I've been a horrible blogger. I mostly blame it on the fact that I forget to bring my camera everywhere, but mostly it is because my life has become crazy. Not the fun and exciting crazy, just plain old crazy.

NPZ and I had become the type that knew what was for dinner based on the day of the week. Even Miss Molly had fallen into our scheduled life. But that recently changed.

I was at my wits end with the job I had, I couldn't handle my work environment any longer (you all must know this from my previous rants.) I was unhappy at work and it was spilling over into my personal life. I resolved that I would find something new after the wedding was over, and I did.

My new position was in design, which of course seemed like the perfect fit. It was a huge change for me, I went from managing business accounts to working with homeowners- which is not any less pressure to perform, but less responsibility. The only real bad part was that the schedule was unpredictable. In the short amount of time I was there, NPZ and I had a hard time adjusting to our new life. We got to see each other very little. When we did, it was mostly spending time doing the things that we HAD to do together. Which feels like all work and no play. NPZ told me that he felt like we were coworkers- That stung pretty badly- I knew it was true, and it meant that we had to work harder to make time for one another. Miss Molly was even feeling the change, eventually she just continued on with her 8-5 schedule of sleeping in her kennel from 8-12- break from 12-1- and sleep until 5 again. The Z house was kind of a mess, mentally and literally.

But like I said, this job was short lived. I loved that my coworkers were all so interesting and genuine- which is probably the reason it was so hard to leave when I did. About a month in, I got a phone call from a company looking to meet with me. It was a company that was similar to my previous employer, so I decided that it couldn't hurt to check them out. I am glad I did. It wasn't easy to accept the offer, even though on paper there was no comparison, I didn't want to look like a job hopper. This 3 month stint would be on my resume for quite a while, not to mention the numerous people who stuck their neck out to hire me.

LPJ had gotten me a book for my high school graduation. I keep in under my nightstand because for whatever reason, I have needed to use it for reference on numerous occasions. So, I read it again.



And it made it easier to decide what to do.

I am excited to settle into my new job, I start at the beginning of the new year- I think it will be a great way to kick it off right!

-Liz

“boiler-room style sales culture”

I can't say that I am surprised that my former school is being sued. My School allowed just about anyone into it. I remember being paired in a group project with three others. One student was special needs, which is fine, however, the school had no special needs program. $$$ was the only thing they saw when they accepted this poor girl into the school. How is anyone to succeed if there is no filter?

I have made a lot of mistakes in my life, but spending as much as I did on my education would have to be my biggest. Hindsight is always 20/20, my degree is in Interior Design, which you'd think would be a lucrative career- While there is the exception of those starting their own businesses and making the big bucks, you are pretty much either stuck in a sales job or if your lucky working under an architect.

This school, when I was there, charged upwards of 35K per year for tuition alone. Finishing your degree in 3 years will cost you a small house. I'm embarrassed to say, I financed the whole thing. So here I am, 26 years old with a modest life, I drive an old car, live in a 'cute' house (I've learned that since becoming a homeowner, cute means small), and have what would appear to be a stable middle class income job. The only thing in my life that is extravagant is my student loan bill.

I've been able to manage but I often wonder about the students that paid for the same education as I did, but really weren't qualified. Did they drop out, not get their degree and will they spend the rest of their life with a HS Diploma working minimum wage trying to pay off their loans? Will they default and not ever be able to experience, what I think are some of the greatest things in life like being a homeowner, buying their first new car, having a job they genuinely enjoy? I can't even imagine.

I will always have my degree and yes, that is something awesome. I am a first generation college graduate and I am definately proud of that. If I could go back though, I definately would have chosen a more affordable college and a more broad course of study.

Adjusting back into the simple life...

One month after I said I do, I am still adjusting back to life as usual. There are so many things that we want to get done in the next month or two. For starters, we are working on staining our new fence (which has proven to be an excellent deterrent for our weirdo neighbor, except when we are staining it). I expect this project will take up all of my evenings this week.
Next weekend we are headed up to the North Shore for my best friend's sister's wedding. I am so excited I can hardly stand it. I know AJD will make for a stunning bride, her beauty will hardly compare to the scenery, but that doesn't stop me from being excited about that too! I figure it will be a nice little getaway for NPZ and I. Hopefully it will tide us over until our real honeymoon in Feb. (haha, get it tide!)

After the wedding weekend getaway I will waiting patiently (okay, impatiently!) for these to arrive.

I have agreed to agreed to help out with my mother in laws wedding by doing the wedding invitations. There was a lot of information needed for invites, so I decided to go with the pocket style, hopefully this won't be too tricky! Her husband is from Chicago, and her family is mostly in MN, so while it's not your traditional destination wedding, for some of their guests, it definitely is. I have to get them out right away so hopefully they come soon! I'm hoping I can recruit some ladies to help me out! I think it will be easy because luckily I was not a bridezilla and did my own invites, so none of my friends are sick of me yet!

Lots and lots to do, and lots and lots to enjoy!

-Liz

The Good Husband

Last night I started drinking at 5:06 pm. It had been a rough week at work to say the least. (Caution: The following is a rant) I was swamped with problems all week and to top it off my boss was really thinking his dick made him smarter than me. I'm seriously considering a sex change just to prove that my brain function is normal...but then again, I wouldn't want to do anything that would satisfy this jerk. Sis LJP pointed out to me that he may just have a severe case of little man syndrome, which is the likely cause of the male superiority complex in my office considering that the two worst are the two smallest dudes in the office. Regardless, I don't really think that it is an excuse to be so arrogant or condescending towards women.
Obviously you can see my week pissed me off and my rant up there was off subject besides that it was the reason I was drinking the moment I got home on Friday. Luckily, I came home to my awesome husband.
I ended up in bed early and slept in until 9, which was needed. When I walked downstairs NPZ had cleaned the ENTIRE house. What?!?  This was his first Saturday off since the wedding, and typically I clean the house on Satuday while he's at work. I don't mind this arrangement, but it was actually just what I needed today.
How did I get such a great guy?

-Liz

Monday

Generosity.

We have been feeling so lucky. Not only because we get to have each other forever, but because of our family and friends. We have received an outpouring of support that we never knew we had. This is my 'Thank you' post to everyone who has been there for us. It is also a post to show just what we've been doing with your generosity!

NPZ was SO excited to use his NEW Weed Whip. This is our very first new (and not just new to us) lawn equipment!

We grilled out on our 5 year (dating) anniversary, we just couldn't skip such a big milestone, even though we had been married for a few days. NPZ's lovely coworkers got us a grilling kit apron which we love and a thermometer steak fork which we tested out.



NPZ's coworkers also got him this nifty beer bird contraption. It made for a perfect Sunday night dinner - we were able to grill even though we saw some showers because it took about an hour and a half to cook it...lets just say it was TOTALLY worth the wait! YUM! This birdy here came out of the freezer that my folks bought us as a wedding gift! NPZ was so excited about the freezer, I could hear him singing in his female voice about how awesome it was while I was organizing closets!

Speaking of cleaning....Before the wedding this is what my house looked like!

It was awful! I tried and tried to keep all this as organized as I could, but the best I could do was to make sure there was a walking path! I'm definitely glad we bought a house before planning the wedding because if this was all in our 1 bedroom apartment I think I would have lost my mind.

We loaded it all up two days before the wedding and I got my spare room back!

Big Blue did the trick and we were able to fit all of the stuff plus the flower in one trip! We were pretty tired and thirsty after though ;)

I spent last weekend doing this to 3 of my closets- and my heart palpitations have subsided. I went to target and picked up some shelving which ended up only costing about $35.00 a closet and I got so much more storage space out of my mini closets. (Notice all my new towels? Awesome shower gifts from some pretty generous ladies!)

Thanks Again!

Truck

Everyone keeps asking about the truck in our wedding photos.

Well...there really isn't any sentimental meaning behind it. We just thought it would look cool in photos. Since we didn't get married in a fancy location, I thought it would set the tone for our wedding pictures. Our wedding was down home, crafty and laid back.

I was really happy with the way the 'truck' pictures turned out. We went to an old overgrown park to take the pictures. Our photographer (www.georgehausler.com) was awesome finding the lighting through the trees. 

So that is that.

-Liz

Now that he's seen the dress...

When I decided on a 'Green' wedding, the first recycled item I looked for was the dress. Here's how I did it. First, I went to all the boutiques and found the model numbers of the dresses I really liked (Like is a key word here, it was important not to have a favorite) Then I waited. You need to wait for the dress to go 'out of season' so that online sellers have a chance to buy and wear it to their wedding and sell it after. These were the dresses that I liked:

And of course this guy:

I purchased my dress in January from a woman in NC who had not altered hers. I paid $150 for the dress and another $100 getting it altered and cleaned.

I loved that my dress was inexpensive, and that it got double the life of a typical wedding gown.

You can always be green by selling or borrowing out your wedding gown, but since I knew that my wedding was outdoors- I figured it would not be in good condition afterwards. I was right.

People seemed very surprised to find out that it was a second hand dress. I loved it!

-Liz

Oh Jane...

How'd you do that?

Here is the breakdown of our 5K turned 6.5K wedding budget!

$1500.00 – Rentals: Tent 30’x60’ & 20’x40’ (Ceremony) Tables, Chairs and linens 2 Mini Biffs

$500.00 – Bulk and overstock flowers

$100.00 –Goodwill decorations, vases and picture frames

$415.00 – Keg Beer

$200.00 – Liquor

$150.00 – Pre Owned Wedding Dress, Shoes and jewelry (Sign up in store for coupons at DSW and wait to purchase until they start arriving!)

$1700.00 – Caterer served bbq style menu of pork, beef, dinner roll, Italian pasta salad, roasted potatoes and mixed fruit salad – he also supplied the dinnerware.

$830.00 – DJ Services

$375.00 – Photography- I hit up Craigslist.org and made a gamble on a up and coming photographer, it totally paid off.

$120.00- Wedding invitations, I have an art degree, so I designed them and had them printed at 123print.com on a holiday weekend special

$100.00 - Marriage License - Well spent. 

$25.00 - Kid Table Goodies - Target's Dollar section is perfect for this!

$75.00 - Dry Cleaning of suit and dress

$350.00 - Wedding Cake

$225.00 – Wedding Officiant

 $6665 – GRAND TOTAL

We really didn’t save money by having our wedding at my father in law’s house, we could have saved more had we rented out a VFW, but the intimate atmosphere of their home made our wedding priceless. The handmade details were showcased at our location and we wouldn’t have done it any other way.

-Mrs.Z.

I now pronounce you Mr & Mrs NPZ!



http://www.georgehausler.com/

We did it! It was 2 kinds of hot last Saturday and all our friends and family turn out to help put together our DIY wedding! Thanks to everyone who made our day amazing! We love you!

One Crazy Slumber Party....

I will tell you more about it soon, but Sis LJP is holding the photos hostage for now I guess.

Happy 4th of July!

Have a fun and safe holiday weekend! No work until Tuesday!   

-Liz

Yep, I'm pretty much famous now...

Every week for the passed 3 or 4 years I have made sure to check http://www.thedrummer.com/ for the 'Celebrations', which is more or less just society news. I like to see who ends up marrying who, even though now you can see that on facebook, I still feel compelled to check, it feels so formal. So obviously we submitted an announcement. Here is is:

And, yes, I pretty much feel famous now!

-Liz

Therapy

Sis LJP had perfect timing yesterday. My sis and her hubby is generously gifting us our honeymoon accommodations...crazy cool! Yesterday sucked for a million reasons, but mostly I was just stressed. That all changed when visions of this popped into my head:

Playa Grande Resort - Cabo San Lucas

NPZ and I have never been on a vacation alone together, so we immediately perked up at the thought that this was now our reality! I have the best sister ever. I better start thinking on birthday gifts now! I have already put in my request off in at work for my vacation time, but this time I just said 'It's already booked'. So there's not much they can really say. I'm feeling like I don't care if they said no at this point - I'd just go anyhow. (but I don't think they will do that since I am taking very little time off for the wedding)
SO SO SO Excited! What a great wedding gift!
-Liz

Blog Hiatus

Obviously, I am on a blog hiatus. I have lots to blog about. My brain is so full that it is hard for me to form complete sentences.

I have way too much to left to do, I am swamped at work, I have no appetite for anything besides chocolate (and I am embarrassed to say I have almost finished the entire box of Godiva's and Best Aunt D and AKN got me - I cant feel too bad about that though because it is the only solid food that has entered my mouth in like 3 days.)and too stressed to sleep at night.

I will blog once my brain can.

-Liz

Horrible Bosses

If you know me, you know that I have a horrible boss. Which is why I am SO excited for this movie to come out! I may treat my co-worker to this movie some night after work so we can develop some inside code jokes for the office.

I won't look directly at him because I think he is really the devil and I'm scared that my eyeballs will ignite in flames, but I have to say, it makes it so much easier having SPG in the office to help me cope with my bully of a boss.



Just another reason to be excited for the weekend and my 'early dismissal' today!

-Liz

M-O-A? What's that?

NPZ's Ma and Step-Dad took me out shopping last Saturday to find something to wear for their formal wedding in October. It was SO much fun! I previously had posted about our upcoming trip, so I thought I'd share the results.

Here's the dress:

NPZ's Step Dad is an excellent shopper and found these shoes to match:

He also surprised me with this super fancy handbag! I love it! And they said that I could wear it before the wedding since it has a 5 year warranty, so of course I have been!

I would call that a successful shopping trip. I even got the AZ crew down with some Minnesota lingo M-O-A = Mall of America, silly!

-Liz

The Bachelorette

I'm so excited for this weekend! It's a girls getaway up north.

NPZ's best Aunt D and cousin AKN have been scheming up something, I am very curious as to what is going to happen, but willing to leave it for a surprise. At this point, after planning planning planning every detail of 1 day, I could use a surprise unplanned weekend!

I'm excited to relax and not worry about anything.

I'm excited to get away from 'wedding central station' aka my house which now contains everything wedding.

I made this shirt last weekend for the slumber party and I got some pretty wild shorts to match!

Miss Molly was planning to tag along for girls weekend, so I thought she could use a manicure! Hot Pink! Her favorite. I'd love to give her a pedi as well, but she doesn't like me to mess with her toes in the back. We ended up getting a sitter, so she will be going to her Uncle R's tomorrow with some fantastic looking nails.

I'm nervous that my doggy won't behave for her Uncle R, but I hope she does. She's still learning things and I'm nervous that she might be trouble in a different environment. I'm also nervous she will dig up Uncle R's yard. The good thing is, she knows the word 'No!'.

I know it will be a fun weekend, so I totally have ants in my pants just waiting for it to be here!

-Liz

L-O-V-E

It's 3 weeks away from the wedding and I am finding everything SO exciting at this point. I'm loving that I have all my little things finished up so that I don't have to do anything.

I am loving that it's so close I can get FREE long range forecasts (I know they aren't accurate by any means, but it makes me feel good). I'm loving this one in particular because not only does it say it isn't going to rain, it's in my wedding colors! haha!

I'm also loving all the emotions that I am feeling right now. I previously posted about my anxiety of the shower last weekend. What I have learned is that regardless of any awkward and anxious moments, the feeling that people genuinely support and love me is the most overwhelming and amazing feeling that it overrides any qualms about the gift giving process. I'm feeling lucky to have NPZ's and my own amazing family and friends who support and love us. This wedding process has really shown us how much we are cared for.

This weekend will be our last totally free weekend before the wedding, so Im loving the options that we have. Tonight we are planning on going to the Twins game but the weather calls for this:

So if that happens we will head out to B-Town for some B-Town Days celebration! I LOVE Buffalo Days because everyone is there from High School and its so much drinking and fun having!

On Saturday, I am planning on going with NPZ's mom to the mall to pick out my bridesmaid dress for her wedding in October. I am really excited for her wedding because it will be held in the Windy City and since I have never been there. For the wedding, she is having all the girls wear a black dress so it shopping shouldn't be too difficult. I'm loving these ones:

Then Sunday is Father's Day. NPZ would like to celebrate his father on Saturday because the drive is quite long, especially on a Sunday (NPZ likes to tell people he doesn't leave the house on Sunday's) NPZ wanted to do something special for his dad this year because of everything that his dad has done for us this year. Not just with the wedding, but with the house too. NPZ is really lucky to have such a great dad and it makes me feel really good that he appreciates that.

Father's Day has always been very bittersweet for me, but I think that it is still a great holiday because even though my dad was only with me for 12 years, the impact he's had on my life has been tremendous. I think it is a testimate to how important the role of being a good dad can be, and I am blessed to have had mine in my life, even if it was for only a short period of time.

Happy Father's Day to all the Dads out there!

On Monday, my work week will resume as usual. Until the next weekend!

-Liz