Around here, lately.

It's the first day of my second week at my new job. I'd say I'm settled in well. It helps a lot that I've worked in two of the hotels within the company. It's still a little weird to me that all I do now is answer phone calls, but better than my last job. 

Chloe's been pulled out of daycare due to my slightly later hours, and is now in home care. The person watching her is someone who's babysat her before, and she seems to really like it there. 

I recently got my taxes back, and the tax Gods were smiling down on me. For the last time, since next year Eric and I will be common law so we won't get near as much back. 

But we've made some large payments towards our credit cards. Before the taxes, we booked and paid for our wedding venue. With our taxes, I booked and fully paid our officiant. I plan on writing a nice cheque for our photographer as well, as they are by far our biggest wedding-related bill. One thing I said I would never skimp on was the photography at my wedding, and as big as the bill is, this is one of the cheapest local photographers, but they also take some of the best pictures. Win win. 

I also may have bought a Keurig (on clearance, score!) with my taxes, and of course a few things for Miss Chloe. 

Next up will probably be the wedding rings. After that I'll slowly start gathering decor and everything else we need. I'm still trying to think up a ceremony spot. Using the hall that our reception will be at is my last resort. 

I just need to hurry up and narrow down what I want to do with colors. Colors are hard. 

Otherwise, not much else is going on around these parts.

Chloe, at 2 years and 5 months old

- Chloe still loves Dora the Explorer, but now also loves Bubble Guppies and Super Why.

- Chloe loves to read. Her favorite books right now are: I Am Small, The Napping House, The Elephant and the Bad Baby (which was a book that MY own mother had when she was a child).

- She loves to jump on the bed.

- She's a mommy's girl and always wants to be with me when we're home together.

- She weighs about 26lbs.

- She absolutely loves going to bed. No sarcasm. I hope this phase never ends.

- She can sing the ABCs perfectly. She can count past 10, to about 15 without a problem. She can count to about 8 in Spanish. She knows a few colors (orange, yellow, blue, green, red) and gets them right most of the time. She never gets orange wrong.

- She loves swimming and bath time.

- She loves Cheerios and raisins and bagels and cheese.

- She loves playing with her babies and Little People. She plays pretend with little figures and dolls, actually making them walk and speak.

Another job change

I got a new job. A week ago, I met with people at the head office for the hotel I used to (still kind of) work for. They offered me a full-time job at their call center. It's not like your typical call center - since this is just for a family business, and there are only currently 3 other people that work in the call center. It should be fun. I already know how to do a lot of aspects of the job, since I've worked in three positions between two of the hotels in the chain. 

My first day was today, only for about 3 hours. I hate the boring orientation days at jobs, but I think the job itself will be pretty fun and easy. Here's to hoping. Either way, yay for having a full-time job where I get to sit on my ass all day. 

My last day at the coffee shop is Friday. I'm going to miss it. I never thought I'd say that. 

I bought a wedding dress

So I bought a wedding dress yesterday. It was a great price, a great dress. It was second-hand. Obviously I can't show anyone pictures, except the bridesmaids that helped me come to the conclusion that I must buy it. Eric's sister is the only person who's seen the actual dress, since she was visiting yesterday when it was still sitting on our bed. In the garment bag, of course. But she's also a bridesmaid. 

Eric and I just had this weekend off together. We wanted to sell some crap at the flea market but the weather crapped on that idea, so instead I'm blogging and he's playing a video game. 

So yesterday we bought that dress with money we'd been stashing away for months. Then we shopping around Michael's and they had a 40% off sale on certain fake flowers, plus a 25% coupon for sale items to I used that to buy some pink flowers to play around with later. Bouquets maybe. Either way, amazing deal. 

This past Wednesday we went to look at a wedding hall in the community where we used to live. It looks like it'll do the job, but we were only able to get in and see it while a seniors dance was starting, so it was awkward and we couldn't really look around. So I think we might go with it, but I wouldn't mind getting a second look. I still don't know where the kitchen or bathrooms are, and those are very important. We're leaning more towards this location because we want to have a BBQ/finger foods/potluck style reception. We're poor people. 

I just can't wait to book a venue so our date is locked in and I can finally start planning the other details. 

On another random note, I bought myself this book as an anniversary present to myself (how romantic, I know). I started writing one detail about my day, every day, starting January 1st, 2012. It's been going strong for two years and now they have a book for it! It's probably one of my favorite things that I own. I'm going back and filling in all the old stuff from 2012/2013 right now to get it up to date. It's really fun to look back on, and makes me feel less guilty that I don't keep a real journal anymore. 

We've been up to lots more, but mostly it's just work and toddler stuff so I'll save it for another day. 

Things that have been happening here lately

We've been pretty busy lately, or at least it feels like it. 

Eric's been working later shifts, which means I can't pick him up at work so he takes the bus home. Some nights I'm already watching tv in bed when he gets home. It kind of sucks. 

I've been wedding planning a little more. We've changed venue location (again) and our whole idea of the meal. I've looked into officiants/commissioners, whatever the proper term is. This week I'm going to look at some dresses. I'm not really planning on buying anything but I'm hoping to get a better idea of what's in my price range and what I'd like to do with my bridesmaids. 

We had our work Christmas party on January 24th. It was a really great night with a bunch of really great people. Eric showed up after work. We ate, we drank, we talked, we danced and after the party we went to the bar. All in all, a really great night. I can't wait until the next staff party. 

The next day was Madi's birthday party with Eric's family. She's three now. Hard to believe she was a day shy of being a year old when I first met her. The party was nice. Being there a little hungover and a lot tired wasn't as nice. We visited with his mom after the party and I kept falling asleep on the chair. It was pretty sad. 

On Sunday we had a relaxing family day, then Eric went out with a friend for the evening and I got to eat junk and watch girly tv. Win. 

This past weekend my mother and nephew surprised us with a visit. It was pretty fun. We found a babysitter for the two of them and went shopping for a little while. We got some party supplies and surprised the nephew with a small party since we didn't see him on his birthday. 

Friday when they arrived we went shopping in Target for awhile. Found some amazing deals (cowboy boots and a purse for Chloe, sneakers for the summer for Madi), but Chloe didn't have such a good time. She was having a blast with my nephew until she tripped and landed lip-first on the floor. There was blood and tears but afterwards she held the ice on it like a champ. Luckily, her fat lip didn't stick around very long. 

Saturday night Mom made me go out to a bar with her. I really wasn't feeling it but went anyway since Sunday (today) was her birthday. 

And today everyone left and I came into work at 3pm. Weekend over, just like that. Although it was just a one-day weekend for me. 

Other things worth mentioning? We've been working on potty training Chloe and getting no where. She'll sit on the potty a million times a day but won't do anything. Then she'll pee on the floor or in her diaper. She just won't do the pushing right on the potty, but she pretends really well. A lot of fake grunting. 

Chloe and I went to the mall to look at wedding rings. I'm glad to see some are pretty cheap, cause we sure are cheap people. Eric and I might go look ourselves in a few days. 

Anything else? I can't think of anything. We're generally pretty boring.