I have been so busy lately that blogging has fallen by the wayside. But I am a faithful blog hopper daily, so I'm doing my best to remain an active blogger myself.
First off, check out the braces progress! Sorry the first picture is blurry.
This is day one. Note the overlap in the front teeth.
Day 20. Already the teeth in front are a bit less overlapped.
Just shy of 3 months in, with one adjustment so far. Check it out! My bottom teeth are finally moving now too, and I've noticed a lot of progress over the last week or two.
Since I last posted, I had a birthday. I must admit, a late June birthday has always been the pits. When I was in school, it was just after school got out. Not only did I not get a fun classroom birthday, but everyone scatters on vacation right after school gets out, so my friends were rarely around. As an adult, I've had boyfriends who just don't get that my birthday is MY day to be spoiled. I always do fun things for their birthday, but it often isn't reciprocated. This year was no exception, although to no fault of the boyfriend. We have a severe lack of income for weekend get-a-ways, and my birthday fell on a Monday when he had a test from 8-11am and class from noon-7pm. Although I woke up feeling sorry for myself, a lot of people did a great job of making me feel special.
Krista, the roomie, got up early before the 8am test to make "Happy Birthday monkey bread." It was really yummy, and so sweet of her.
My mom and dad sent me these flowers, along with some yummy chocolates.
Then Sherri invited me over for an afternoon swim (it was 90 degrees on my birthday, a far cry from Portland birthdays!) and BBQ with she and the kids. They bought me cupcakes and were so excited to sing me happy birthday. Sherri made salmon, green beans, fresh strawberries, and potato salad. Awesome!
While I was at Sherri's, Kim and Anthony called to invite me to a birthday dinner. I obviously couldn't go, so they came over for cake that Bryan and Krista had bought for me. I love love love ice cream cake.
Lest it seem like the boyfriend did nothing, I should mention that he took me out to dinner Sunday night to Carabbas. It was delicious!
He also, the week before, got me a bike (and one for him) for my birthday. So far we have ridden to the beach a few times, and I'm hoping that once school calms down a bit for him we might take some longer rides.
My old co-worker also took me out to dinner on Park Ave on Wednesday for my birthday. It was great to see her and catch up on all of the old work gossip. We are definitely gossip buddies. I think we indulge each other in our guilty pleasures!
Thanks to Audrey and Brad's birthday generosity (Bryan's parents), this Saturday we went out to this new bar I had been wanting to try called The Chocolate Bar. They serve fancy martinis and fondue. There are 4 kinds of cheese fondue and 5 kinds of chocolate fondue. Kim and Anthony went with us, so we got 2 cheeses (spinach artichoke and southwestern). The awesome part was that the fondue and dipping items were unlimited. Here is the cheese one:
THEN, came the part that makes me drool just thinking about it. The CHOCOLATE! We got chocolate raspberry and chocolate peanut butter. But almost as exciting as two huge pots of chocolate was the tray of dipping items: fresh strawberries, pineapple, graham crackers, pretzels, bananas, little cheesecakes (strawberry and chocolate), oreos, and peanut butter cookies. Seriously, if you believe in heaven, this is it!
At $15 a person, this really wasn't a bad deal. But, with drinks, it would be something entirely outside of our budget, so THANK YOU Brad and Audrey. It really was the best time I had had in quite awhile. There was also a musician playing who looked like Chris Daughtry from American Idol. He sang pop cover songs, and he was pretty good. All in all, a really fun night.
The final possibly exciting news is that Bryan and I made an offer on a condo closer to school, and we finally came to an agreement with the guy today, after 3 rounds of offering. There are some pictures here:
Owning my house has become quite the financial burden. The condo is significantly cheaper and is within walking distance (more likely a bike ride) of school for Bryan. It will also be perfect if I go to grad school at the medical center. We will be able to pay more towards our student loans and have a bit more "play" money. While we aren't crazy spenders, we have recently come to see that having no money to even go to the movies really doesn't give us the break we need in life to feel rejuvenated from the stresses of work, school, and life in general. We'd also really like to travel (and see our families who are spread far and wide), and living in the condo would allow us to do that.
I should say though, that this is by no means a done deal. It is contingent on the sale of my house. I hope to get it listed this week with Anthony, so keep your fingers crossed for a quick sale and a great offer!
And finally, a few pictures of our "babies." Both Bryan and Krista are quite in love with Reesey, the fuzzy black one with the orange triangle on her head. I told Bryan if we move to the condo he can keep her, since we won't have the room to foster anymore. They are all doing fantastically well and are long done with bottle feeding.
Kitten love...it is not uncommon to see him loving on the kittens. Kissing them, holding them, talking to them, playing with them. So cute he is!
