Just Updates

My birthday and Valentine's Day have come and gone, and so, too, has February. I can't believe we're on the verge of Leap Day already!

Valentine's Day also brought about John's and my 7-year anniversary as a couple. Now that we have our wedding anniversary to celebrate, Vday/anny has taken a back seat, but it's still nice to celebrate in a small way and acknowledge how much has changed since we first got together all those years ago.

I had a hearing that night (boo) and John had class (double boo), so I went out to dinner with a friend, who's significant other was also not around. It was nice to be in good company, even if it wasn't with the people we truly wanted to be with. John and I celebrated early the previous Friday by going to a winery tour and wine tasting at Valanzano's Winery in Shamong. It was nice, and the wines were yummy. We each got small bottle to take home, and we bought a bottle of their sangria to have with our 20-pound turkey and 9 house guests that weekend.

I also celebrated by baking some fun cookies, seen below, while Hubby was in class that Monday night. I had had the squirrel cookie cutter for a few years, and John got me the acorn one as art of my bday gift in January. I packed some away for my best gals at work, and made John a special little package of them for a sweet treat to take to class on Vday.


And now I'm here, cuddled on the couch with little kitten. He had a vet check up today, just his annual exam and vaccinations, but it was discovered that he has a very very mild UTI as well as some tiny crystals in his urine. They're not sure if the crystals are due to the infection, or if it's the very first onset of a prolonged crystal problem that unfortunately is common in cats. He's got 2 weeks of antibiotics to take, and then a re-check and we'll see. If they're gone, then it was likely due to the infection and we'll just have to keep a special eye out for them in the future. If they're still there, then treatment simply means changing up his food to help prevent them. Sigh. Otherwise, though, he's the very picture of health. He's happy as a clam to be home, and just seems his usual self. Waiting til John gets home to give him the meds, though, as I had failed attempts at doing it myself earlier.

As March and spring approach, I'm thinking about my garden, about Commencement at Princeton, and about summer, which will bring John's and my triumphant return to Las Vegas when we visit my aunt and uncle for a week in July. Gonna. Be. Awesome.

Also looking ahead we have a few family birthdays, I have some teas to look forward to with various girlfriends, and John and I have a brunch at Laurita winery at the end of March. I do loves me some brunch!

With that, fair friends, I leave you until next time. Hopefully it won't be as long a lag! Sorry about that.

Oh, yeh...PS: countdown to Hunger Games is now less than a month! I already got our tickets, and we're having a tee-shirt making party next week with some fellow friends/fans in preparation for opening weekend. Oh, yeh!

What I DIDN'T Say Yes To

So now that the wedding is just shy of 3 months behind us (already?), I thought it'd be fun to take a look at the dresses that turned out not to be the one. While it was a fun afternoon of playing dress up, I was glad to have settled on the one that was surely calling my name. I had such a great experience with David's Bridal in Deptford, I even sent a thank you to my consultant because she was so caring and considerate, not only of me, but of Mom and Tara as well. She was sure to make it a special experience for them, too.

First, we'll start with the dress I fell in love with in a magazine, and was the whole point of my starting the search at David's. It had a halter neckline, gathering and detail at the waist, and a nice A-line skirt. How could I go wrong? When we got there, I shoved the picture in the consultant's face, and off she went. The store had only one left, and it was only a size larger than I needed. I quickly put it on, and stormed out to gaze upon myself in the wall of mirrors. It was the first wedding dress to touch my skin, and it was the one I had been fantasizing about for months prior. I was in love! On a scale of 1 to 10, I declared it an 11! Then, however, as I began looking closer, I saw that maybe it wasn't the best choice. Among other things, I had it on for about 5 minutes and the halter strap was already beginning to chafe my neck. In any event, this wasn't the one. Slightly heartbreaking, but I had other dresses to try.

Next came another dress that I had seen in a magazine and torn out. I guess you could call it my second choice contender. It was simple but very pretty, and perhaps its best feature was that it was all lace, which I had recently (and rather unexpectedly) fallen in love with. This one crept up on me, and pretty much as soon as I walked out, we all knew it was the one. Yes, this was the dress that marked November 5 as the beginning of my married life. I even later bought the very veil that I tried on with it.

High on lace and straplessness, there were three more options. This one was a marriage of the first two dresses: lace, but with a halter neckline. It seemed that each dress I put on got heavier and the train got longer! This one had a lot of beadwork and a rather long train. It was probably my second favorite of the bunch after all was said and done, but I was just a little concerned about the super long train, the halter getting scratchy, and the weight of it getting uncomfortable sooner rather than later. But very elegant, nonetheless, eh?

This was a dress I requested, as something different, but again, totally not the look for me. No cupcake dresses here. I spent the least amount of time in this one.

Last up was a pick purely for fun, chosen by the consultant. It was a kind of palate cleanser, as it was so different than the rest. Yes, the princess dress! It surely was fun, and I entertained the other patrons by parading around and curtseying and waving like I was the bloody queen of England. Definitely not the look I was going for.

After the princess dress, I shimmied back into the #1 choice just to be sure, and not too long after I was walking out of the store with the dress triumphantly hoisted over my head in its garment bag, bound for Mom and Dad's house for safe- (and secret-) keeping.

And here you are, a few snaps of the dress from The Big Day, courtesy of our photographer, Pamela Paraison. I think you'll agree it was the right decision. : )

Birthday Week!

Yes, I claim the entire week!

It's the time of year when I get showered with freebies! Free drinks at Starbucks, a free Panera goodie, free appetizers. Huzzah!

We kicked off the countdown to 26 with lunch at Bonefish Grill in Langhorne, PA this afternoon. It was delicious and filling, and the leftovers are in the fridge in anticipation of dinner tomorrow. After lunch we wandered around the Oxford Valley Mall for a bit to ward off the food coma. It was a typical mall, but it did have two fun and "different" stores in the form of Teavana and Williams Sonoma. I got myself a little owl tea cup to keep at my desk at work with the little ceramic pot Mom got me for Christmas. Now I can truly sip in style. Ohm.

Love the clever doodles they give you on your leftover container.

Owl mug from Teavana!

The week will be typical...work, home, work, but then for the weekend we're heading to lunch at Rat's and then down to Voorhees for the All South Jersey Chorus concert, conducted by the amazing Mike Doheny (my high school director). After the concert we'll crash at Casa Maureen's Parents and on the morning of my birthday (that's the 29 for those of you playing at home), Mom, Dad, Hubby, and I will go and check out a new tea house, The Tea Place, that opened in a nearby town. Should be fun. I'm looking forward to some tea sammies and scones. YUM!

In other homefront news, we're doing a mini-redo in the office. Since I haven't used my desk in over a year and a half, I decided I want it outta there! It had really just become a collector of junk and dust, and stressed me out every time I went around that corner. So the desk is now out and in the living room (before temporary storage in the basement and off to its final destination of my parents' house for their computer station), and we've put an old bookcase in there to house John's myriad school books and some of my office-need stuff. AKA drop zone for laptop, pens, paper, etc. It's nothing overly thrilling, but it makes me happy to know there's a bit more order in there. Heck, I felt better once all the backlog of wedding stuff was out of there. It had become craft/gift/invitation/card mayhem!

Lastly, we had some snow overnight Friday into Saturday. Nothing grand, and it all turned to sleet eventually, but this lazy Sunday morning started with baking cinnamon muffins and sipping almond-amaretto tea. Sad to see the weekend go, but what a nice way to send it off.



Well, now it's time to relax in preparation for the Giants game, and probably some more (re)reading of Mockingjay. I can't believe I just blew through the whole Hunger Games triolgy again--a task I will likely repeat again before the release of the first movie on 3/23. Whoot!

Cheerio, mates.

A Little Bit of Resolve

Complain less (at least out loud)

As always, have patience
Be more conscious of when my idea of "funny" may actually be hurtful
Get over the small stuff quicker
Invest in good running shoes and get out there more often
Find more healthy-dinner staples
Stop being intimidated by my Le Creuset and use it already!

Waiting for Winter

With mere hours left of 2011, we're still waiting on winter to truly arrive. This time last year we were still recovering from the Boxing Day Blizzard, unaware that it was only the beginning.

Hubby and I have completed our holiday circuit with both the Egan and Riggi sides of the family. We're relaxing now in anticipation of the New Year's Eve gala at the Adventure Aquarium. We're very excited to go, as we've been wanting to for many years now. No time like the present, eh? What a great time of year to be a newlywed.

Today is also Hammy's 4th birthday! Since we brought him home on October 31 and he was 10 months old at that time, we just added two months and chose 12/31 as his birthday. We truly can't imagine our life and home without him in it--he really makes the apartment feel alive, and he's always making us laugh. Well, when he's not annoying us by singing opera for his dinner or headbutting me at 4am for breakfast... So happy birthday to our little kitten, or I guess as we should start calling him, our big boy!

Here are a few pictures. Stay tuned for some shots from the party tonight, which will conclude with primo views of the Philly fireworks at midnight.

Checking out a little stocking we hung on his cat tree.

Super Hammy and his tissue paper cape.

Family portrait included in our Christmas cards.

Ch-ch-changes

I am now officially and legally Maureen Riggi. I have completed the rounds to Social Security and the DMV and switched over my name. I also sent out name change notifications to my utilities, etc. who need to update my information. I updated my alumni listing at Stockton. I have my new ID at Princeton. I have added my spouse to my benefits at work. I feel very married now, and it feels wonderful.

I'm still waiting on a few official things, so in some respects I'm still in limbo, but for the most part I'm all done. I have long since gotten over the name change anxiety discussed here, and am really just eager for the transition to be over. I am still thinking of people I need to contact--someday, this list has to run out, right?

So after the holidays, what's on the horizon for Mr. and Mrs. Riggi? Birthdays--my dad's, mine, my brother's. I'll be 26 and he'll be 21. How did that happen? Sheesh... Then after that is Valentine's Day and John's and my 7-year anniversary (hot dang!). Then things calm down a bit. There are, of course, birthdays and little holidays sprinkled in, but then we can start gearing up for our summer vacation to Las Vegas to visit my godmother. By then, she'll be a grandma, as my cousin and her husband are expecting their first baby. What an epic year.

Once January hits, it's also the countdown to Commencement and all the Pton students going home. Meaning life at work slows down and the blood pressure can get back to normal. I love my job, but by this time I'm definitely craving the slower months.

But that's all out there. Right now I am truly enjoying the holidays, after feeling like last Christmas totally got away from me. I feel like I missed the whole buildup and the little things that make merry and bright. This year I'm consciously drinking it all in. We may not make it to NYC to see the tree, but there's plenty of holiday spirit close to home. In our small-town America life, it's easy to feel the cheer by simply taking a walk through town.

So here's to hoping my readers' seasons and jolly, and wishing you all a healthy start to the new year!

First Married Christmas

So it's almost been a whole month since our wedding, and John and I finally have our official marriage license. Now I can start the process of legally changing my name. I've started using Riggi at work in an unofficial capacity (ie I'm not listed under the new name yet, but I've started the transition in my email signature and on the plaque outside my door). Next steps now are to change it up with Social Security and the DMV and then I can make the zillions of phone calls it'll take to switch over the remaining things. Time to really start practicing that new signature! Don't want it look like a 5-year old signed my DL! haha

Thanksgiving was wonderful and spent with John's family. It was different since I had never spent it with anyone but my parents, but we visited with them on Sunday for a post-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving. And then the hubby and I did two things we have never done before: ventured out for some Black Friday shopping and decorated before the calendar hit December. Gasp! We're just so excited to celebrate our first married Christmas, so we want to make the season last as long as we can.

Here are some Christmassy pictures from Disney, as well as some from our 2011 decorations at home.

Train station at Magic Kingdom.

Looking down Main Street, USA.
Ginormous (real) gingerbread house under construction at the Grand Floridian.
Not Christmassy, but just cute. Upon entering Epcot.
Our special souvenier to commemorate our Disney honeymoon.

The "mommy and daddy" tree.


Hammy's tree.