Random Memories...(misty water colored)...

With the holidays here I have been thinking about some of the people in my life and all the funny memories, random facts or objects that remind me of them. Things that make me smile or laugh or that have literally shaped my life. For example...when I talk about shaping my life...my Aunt Wendy's favorite cereal when I was a kid was Honeycombs. At least that was my impression. I would watch her, with her super awesome feathered eighties hair and impeccable eye make-up stroll in my grandma's kitchen and take a tall drinking glass, fill it with Honeycombs and be on her way. On that same note, my Aunt Diana's favorite cereal was Golden Grahams. Those are two cereals...that I usually always have in my pantry and that Matt knows he can't touch. (See what I mean about life changing.)

I thought I would list some of the memories that popped in my head while I was thinking about this. If I happen to spill a tremendous personal secret, I am very sorry, it should make you feel better that this is my dumb blog and you are the only one who reads it. I promise. (Also...if they aren't how you remember them...then it's quite possible that you are right. However...I will likely deny that. FYI)

My Uncle Jonathan used to tickle me until I screamed and he was terrible at promising treats for a foot rub. I think he still owes me about 35 ice cream cones. I eventually wised up! I am almost POSITIVE that he still probably goes around trying to bribe people to rub his feet.

My cousin Brian traded his Michael Jordan poster for a BB gun. When he was showing me his cool trade he accidentally shot me in the fore head at point blank range in the forehead. He freaked and I promised not to tell his dad. I didn't...because I was cool like that. (I hope he doesn't get in trouble now.)

Another memory I have of my Aunt Wendy is going into her room and sprawling out on the floor and looking at her stacks of Vogue magazines. Ripping open the perfume samples and rubbing them all over my wrists. She gave me tracing paper and I used to trace the clothing in the magazines. Even now I will sketch clothing. She also had a pair of pearl earrings that I used to admire and she would tell me, "when you get your ears pierced you can borrow them". I still think of her when I wear pearl earrings.

My mother is a wonderful cook but makes the WORST boxed mac & cheese EVER. She never measured the butter or milk, so it was more like, mac & cheese soup when we were growing up. SOOO...whenever we went to my Aunt Barb's and she made the Mac & Cheese it was like HEAVEN. She would carefully measure out the ingredients. She would even heat the milk up before she added it. (which I now do when I make it) She also used to make the spiral mac & cheese as an added bonus. We would eat it up in her Tupperware bowls. (Which I think she still has) Oh how sad I was when I thought about her mac & cheese when I was eating mom's soupy version. Sorry mom...but you know it's true.

I know that my Grandma Russell's love of classical music has been passed on to almost everyone in our family. The way she used to listen to it though is what I love though. She had a music room in her old house in Provo, and she would lay on her couch, turn up the stereo loud, close her eyes and listen. I would walk in on her many times and see her laying with her eyes closed, her feet moving to the beat and her hands leading the music in the same rhythm. She has such a passion for it! One of my favorite things to still do today is go into her bedroom at night and lay on bed with her and let her tell me all about the music piece playing. Inevitably she will prepare me to listen for the "birds" that the flutes would be portraying or about "the march of soldiers" coming. She knows her music so well, that when a beautiful piece would come on the radio and my Dad didn't know the name of it, he would call my grandmother, let her listen and she would know without missing a beat the name of it.

Just the other day my sister Katie and I were laughing as we looked at the turkey carcass on Thanksgiving. We both talked about how my Grandfather would take leftovers, pick everything off of the bird including the parts people weren't intended to eat except on bad reality tv shows, and then throw it all in a pot. We came home from school one day to him at the stove with a pot of parts and some rice all mixed together. He scooped it up and put it in a bowl for us and I still laugh imagining our faces.

I will stop there for now, simply because I could really go on and on. I just love how such seemingly insignificant things can actually impact someone for the rest of their life. I really think that my step-kids are very grateful for my Aunt Barb and don't even know it when they eat her instruction following Mac & Cheese. I am going to finish eating my bowl of Honeycombs now.



Those are my Uncle Jonathan's feet, I am sure he still owes them ice cream for that.


We are take our holiday games very seriously!(ahem..Katie)


Dr. Pepper is another life changing impact from my family!! I do believe that is the first time my cousin Jack tried it! Even at my wedding people were looking for their fix!


I wasn't kidding about my Aunt Wendy and her perfect eye makeup and awesome hair. I'm sure this was taken right after she had some Honeycombs and Diana had some Golden Grahams. It was Christmas morning and that would have for sure been their breakfasts of choice.

My good deed for the day...

I thought that I would share a little bit of beautiful with you today. I am feeling very generous today. I have thought about posting about my favorite modern day artist for a long time but there was a little green bird chirping in my head telling me.."no!!! you can't share her...her art work has been painted just for you and no one else!!" I have issues with sharing beautiful things with people. I do that alot with music too. I am soo greedy. sorry.

Back to the generosity though. Some of you may already be lucky enough to have witnessed her work. Her name is Cassandra Barney. She is the daughter of James Christensen and the sister of Emily McPhie. Both incredible artists. Quite the family! I was lucky enough to get one of her pieces..(not an original..oh my dream!) for my birthday from Matt. I will post her work..(I am sure illegally), but in my head we are best friends and she told me she doesn't mind.

Enjoy! (while you can...I may regret this and pull it down ..I can hear the bird now..it's freaking out!!)

A perfect day!

Yesterday was my 1 month wedding anniversary. Sadly Matt has a terrible cold/flu-like sickness, (which is different from the stomach illness we all had after that bail-out didn't pass), so my anniversary consisted of going to lunch and shopping with Erica. (But I digress...) It occurred to me that I STILL had not posted a dang thing from the wedding, honeymoon or anything. The photographs are still not ready but I did get some teasers sent to me and I will post those links here. They won't really be new to most of you though. The wedding was amazing, my perfect day. It really was. Matt and I still can't believe it went so smoothly. The day started out with Sarah and I waking up and having breakfast in the hotel we stayed in the night before. We then headed over to my parents house and we all took off for hair and make-up. My sisters and mother looked sooo beautiful. Afterwards we went to the Heathman and got ready for pictures. Matt and I decided that we would take pictures before the ceremony. I was so glad we made that decision. Not only did it spare the guests having to wait around for us to finish pictures, but it was so nice to have that hour with Matt. Matt looked incredible. The day was perfect outside and Jessica, our photographer did an amazing job. The flowers turned out exactly how I had envisioned them and I only had to make a few adjustments to the bridesmaid's bouquets. Katie and Sarah looked so chic with their black dresses and red shoes. I had the classical guitarist play "our" song and he nailed it. I loved seeing Matt's face as he was surprised with that. I was not nervous AT ALL. I was really surprised how comfortable I was walking down the aisle. I think that it helped that the wedding was so small and all the faces I looked at were people who I loved and was so happy to see. Josie was the perfect flower girl. She really stole the show that night. She looked like a little angel in her dress and was nothing but charming when she decided she was NOT going to walk down the aisle. Aaron walked her down and I still have people talking about how sweet that was. I think that Josie had the most fun that night, she played with the band, danced the night away. The ceremony was short and sweet and I only got choked up once. The food was incredible! It exceeded my expectations. Later that night Matt shocked me by asking me to dance. We had not planned on dancing, even though we had a swinging band in the background all night. It was so romantic because it took people a minute to notice and it was just Matt and I at first. That inspired everyone to get up and dance and it was so fun to watch people getting down. I had the opportunity to dance with my father in-law and the man has got some moves! After we cut the cake Matt and I went to the roof of the Heathman with the photographer and took pictures. They turned out amazing and it was a perfect night. The sky was incredible and almost glowed. At the very end of the night we headed up to our suite and my aunts and cousins had left us a fantastic gift basket in the room. See what I mean...a perfect day!

Here is a LINK to our slideshow-and here's a LINK to our sneak peak (which includes pictures from the slideshow)


I also included some fun shots above that my friend Elizabeth took at the wedding!
(Thanks Elizabeth!)

Poppy Update

I have had a few people who wanted to see some more current pictures of Poppy...aka...Hoppy Poppy (we know that when we are not looking that dog does back-flips!!)...Pop-Star...Pop-Tart...Pops...Popster...and Poopy (not particulary fond of that one..Sebastian!)

Anywhoo.....here are some more current pictures of her, however, I swear she is already bigger. She is a very looooooong dog! We adore her and she is the best dog ever!!

Newport, Oregon

This guy was the full package!! (I couldn't resist!)

These two guys cracked me up!! We saw them walking their two little foo-foo dogs all around Newport! Real men like little dogs!




Depoe Bay

There are whales out there!!



Poppy was a very happy girl to have Matt back. She crawled right in his lap on the ride home!

Matt and I got the opportunity to sneak off to the Oregon Coast this weekend. I had forgotten about a charity auction I had participated in a few years ago, where I won a two night stay at a beach house in Newport, Oregon. After visiting my past co-workers at Wells Fargo I was reminded of that and took advantage!! I must say...that if you are up to your ears in wedding planning and have been for months there is nothing better than escaping for a couple days with your honey! The beach house was really charming. It was decorated so cute! It had a vintage French Country feel throughout the little "house". We went to the Old Historic Bay in Newport and walked around. Thank goodness the candy shops only took cash...because there is nothing more tempting than salt water taffy and seafoam!! We visited the Oregon Aquarium, (it was Matt's first time) and went to Depoe Bay and watched the whales! We ACTUALLY saw them!! I didn't think they were there all year round. I had my mind set that they migrate and only come at certain times. I was amazed though when I saw the spouts of water go up! It was pretty cool! Matt and I planned our dream beach vacation home that entire weekend!! The Oregon Coast really is so beautiful! We are lucky to live so close to the ocean! I am telling you...Portland...best place to live! Our little weekend was the first time we left Poppy for a night, so that was a little hard for me. Everywhere we went I noticed how perfectly Poppy would fit in. Next time..our pup is coming!! She was also very glad to see us when we picked her up on the way home. She has a special bark that is very clearly her shouting..oh my gosh...mom and dad...bark! It makes me feel very loved to get a "screaming bark" like that! You would think that we had been gone for a month!!

Bridal Shower Bliss

This past weekend was a fun one! Saturday I had a bridal shower put on for me by 5 of Sophie's friends and my future sister in-law Anne-Marie. It was held at the MAC club in downtown Portland. I must admit I was dying I was so nervous...(not a good sign for that wedding day attention.) I picked up my cousin Jess and then the sisters, mom and I all headed out. It was the first time I had been to the MAC club and it was more impressive than I imagined. Very nice! I was so glad as I was walking up the stairs to see all my best friends heading up the stairs. It was a huge relief. I grabbed Elizabeth's daughter Gabby's hand and we all headed in. It was very beautiful. Sophie's friend Marge had decorated the room with gorgeous hydragena's from her garden, and then the tables were black and white themed with polka dot ribbons. It was really nice. Everyone was so wonderful and all of Sophie's friends were great and made me laugh! They are all very charming! It was fun to finally introduce Mom, Katie, Sarah and Jessica to Matt's aunts and his family. I have the most beautiful sisters, cousin and mother that I loved showing them off. Not to mention they are very charming!! Everyone just loved them and couldn't get over the beautiful red hair, long eye-lashes. I also heard alot, "She's your mother!! I thought she was your sister!!" It was great to also introduce my fabulous girlfriends to them as well. We feasted on a yummy cobb salad, drank champange/sparkling apple cider and had yummy raspberry poppyseed cake, (which I was forced to get up and cut)! The gifts were overwhelmingly generous and thoughtful and I walked away with some really nice things. (Although...I must say that no ones knows me quite like my own family!!) Over all the thoughts that hit me were how ALL the women in the room were my family and how lucky I was. It was great! By the way...a special thanks to my gaggle of girls who have been my entourage/support group for EVERY single bridal situation, including BUT certainly not limited to...dress shopping, multiple bridal celebrations, placecard writing, invitation reviewing, and all the constant wedding talk/meltdown, holy crap, stick out the chin, how should I wear my hair, will you take a picture of the that, don't forget to come to, one more thing, by the way, what the hell is this e-mail, registry mayham, should I, what should I, can I, what do you think, China, Costa Rica, more presents, coffee anyone?, how am I supposed to fit in Breaking Dawn, situations. You girls are the best! I love you! (A special thanks to the talented Elizabeth who let me steal...(unknowingly to her) her beautiful photographs!)

Bridal Meltdown- and sickeningly mushy blog post...

Well...I had wondered if it was possible. I mean, I watch the movies, see the wedding planning shows...(oh boy..do you have any idea how many wedding shows are on TV!!?!), have witnessed friends flip a little (sorry ladies..) and well I guess I just assumed that if it hadn't happened in the last 6 months that I was free. No bridezilla here, or stress so immeasurable that I have a bridal flip-out. Well ladies and gentleman...I had my meltdown and thankfully for you...only one person witnessed it in its glory. My poor future-husband. (Who in reality is probably the only person who should witness that..). I hit one month yesterday and suddenly I freaked! Now just as a disclosure...I did not freak about walking down the aisle..(although I still don't have my shoes..holy crap..). I actually have never felt more twitterpated in my life over Mr. Sly and me being the future Mrs. Sly. (really...) But all the rest of it just hit me hard, I looked at my calendar and just starting laughing. (Like a freaky joker laugh...not a joivle (that's a word right...college has only made me feel more dumb) ...tra la la laugh). I then realized how much has not been done and to top all of that stress my lovely little car has decided that it's computer system is no longer good enough. Anywhooooooooo.....long story short...I freaked...I rollercoastered and I took it all out on Matt. Who...came through like a knight in shining armor. He listened, he responded, he was wrong with his responses (of course..in that state of mind it didn't matter what the poor man said) BUT he didn't give up and was nimble with switching approaches to soothe me, calm me down, and make me feel better. I went home, took a sleeping pill at 9:00 at night, I woke up to a kiss and is there anything I can do...(perfect follow-up) and then I crashed with no memory of anything...ahhh...drugs. The next day the man took it a step further and gave me a full report of everything he had managed to accomplish in less than 12 hours of my meltdown. He even managed to finally get in touch with our lost groomsman. I was amazed. So the morale of the story is...I had a meltdown...it can happen to you too...no matter how sane you seem or how perfect things seem to be going...and I am a very lucky woman to have such a wonderful partner and I can't wait to marry him. Oh and nah nah nah nah boo boo...he's mine.

Oh the audacity!!

So I had an interesting character leave me some rather foul comments on my blog, which is why I had to change the security functions on it.

No worries though! It is now restricted and obviously you have gotten permission to view it, so it clearly is no problem for you either!

Oh and poor Matt was a victim as well...which is why...if you are wondering...his blog is gone all together.

I don't really have any other details other than it was some crazy person trying to ruin our day.

I guess we feel so safe and think that, "who would care about what I have to say", but it got really personal and was very violating. Hopefully I got those comments down before any of you read them. I am sorry if you had to read that adult content if that was the case. We are PG on this blog...maybe PG-13.......but very rarely and only when it is for educational purposes!!

Judge Snouffer and FiestaWare

FiestaWare's Onion Soup Bowl (Discontinued in 1937)

This weekend, Matt and I had dinner with Judge Snouffer, his wife and Matt's parents. Judge Snouffer is going to marry Matt and I. I admit I was nervous to meet him. I expected him to be very formal, very serious and well "judge-like". I don't know why, but any authority figure like that tends to make me a little nervous. We went over to his house for drinks and appetizers, before going to dinner at the Chart House. As soon as I walked in his house, I got a big hug from his wife Kathi and a hearty handshake from Judge Snouffer who introduced himself as Bill. They were wonderful! They took us on a tour of their home, showing us all of the amazing art collected from their travels all over the world. Judge Snouffer then welcomed us into his world of collecting FiestaWare.

Matt and I registered for FiestaWare as our casual dinner settings. I love it because it comes in a ton of different colors and you can have a rainbow of plates and get away with it. It is also what I grew up with at home. Even as a kid, Mom and I would go to the store and pick our favorite colors to add to her dishes. It never occurred to me that it has this whole collector's appeal. I also would never imagine a man like Judge Snouffer collecting it. He brought Matt and I down into his personal office, where he has beautiful Aboriginal Art, tribal masks, Picasso prints, pictures of him in 1970 having reached the peak of various mountains, and .... a wall full of plates, bowls, mugs and vases. They were his prized possessions and he showed us his favorite piece, the rare onion soup bowl. He also led us into a storage room adjacent to his office and floor to ceiling were boxes and boxes of FiestaWare. He made it a point to show us his lilac FiestaWare dishes and explained that they only made that color for a couple of years. I caught a glimpse of Matt's face as we were looking at all the boxes and could see the words computing in his head..."Lilac? Plates? Huh.." After the grand tour, and some delicious appetizers, (Figs, balsamic vinegar and goat cheese are a killer combination!) we were presented with a book on collecting Fiesta Ware and went to a wonderful dinner.

At the end of the night I was so glad that Judge Snouffer was marrying us. The vows he has written for us are so beautiful and his life experiences, travels, and his own obviously wonderful long marriage seem to make him the perfect person to officiate the wedding. Plus...he does have the rare Onion Soup Bowl!

The adventures of a little dog

Poppy and Isaac
Hoban, her brother from another mother


Poppy on Paul's lap
Poppy has officially made it home! I picked her up on Friday and frankly was nervous as hell. It occurred to me that my life will change completely with the presence of this little dog. Well it has!

Poppy is a sweet little thing. The most loving little creature I have ever known in my life. Potty training has been an adventure. She is actually doing very well..or at least I know I am, because frankly I don't think she cares yet where she chooses to do her business. I however do, so every two hours or so I take her outside and laugh to myself thinking that my neighbors must be so sick of hearing, "Go Potty Poppy! Good Girl go Potty!". My alarm goes off every three hours each night and it is the same routine,except me barefoot in the dark, in PJs and hair to match my frazzled mind. I am happy to say that there have been very few accidents and well here's to less sleep!

Speaking of sleep, I have failed on the whole crate training thing, which I am very aware will bite me in the butt. I can't resist having her little body sleeping with me. I also don't do so well with the crying. I feel so bad. I know...I know...

The boys are great big brothers! Isaac is especially attentive and has such a sweet little soul when it comes to animals. I also grew up with a really soft spot for animals and he is really just so protective of Poppy. I can relate to that need to be around animals. Isaac was part of the reason why we got the mixed breed that we did. I can still remember Isaac 4 years ago telling me that more than anything he wanted a small dog like a hot dog/wiener dog.

Stacy and Paul came over Friday night, which was so fun! I think I officially have convinced Stacy that little dogs are fun too!! But how can you not love that face!

I was shocked to find that Poppy has already found her "voice". I am used to puppies that don't bark for a while, but Miss Poppy surprised us all when she barked. She also has successfully gone up and down the stairs, which also shocked me! She was very timid but the motivation of following her mom was enough for her. I just couldn't believe it!

Poppy had a busy weekend!!! I am determined to get this dog socialized!! She went to the vet and got checked out with 2 thumbs up! She then went over to my parents house where she met a disgusted Lucy..(not another damn little dog!~) and Lola who was horrified at the thought of a little puppy taking over her kingdom! Lola was very jealous and let Poppy know that she better not go anywhere near her Mom (my mom). She also snubbed Poppy's toys and then when she thought no one was looking proceeded to stomp them. I just laughed.

On Sunday Poppy went over to visit Paul, Stacy, Hoban, Gaius, Lucy and Bosley.
That's human, human, lab, lab, kitty, kitty. I left Poppy with her second family while I made a trip to the grocery store. She did great! We are so lucky to have them help take care of Poppy. Stacy and Paul have two of the most amazing dogs and it is all because of them. I think it is the ONLY reason why Matt even considered a dog. He loves the Coplin dogs. Stacy is one of those people that all animals and children LOVE. I was describing her to someone and laughed as it occurred to me that she could have a little army of kids and animals at her beckon call. I suddenly realized the potential of her power! But I digress...Poppy did great!

I have stolen Stacy's pictures for my blog and will post more of my own! I also couldn't resist posting the great pictures of Isaac and Poppy. Stacy's got a great eye!

Breakfast at Tiffany's Party!

Stacy and Elizabeth threw me a wonderful bridal celebration on Saturday. It was truly one of the most thoughtful things anyone has ever done for me! It was so well thought-out and beautiful! I was floored at all the amazing things they did for the party!

It was a small get together consisting of my dearest friends. In attendance of this soirée were Stacy, Elizabeth and her daughter Gabriella, Sandi, Anna, Trina, Doella and her daughter Ashley. The invites set the tone of the event. They were beautiful! They came in these beautiful red envelopes, lined in Tiffany-Blue. Inside was an invitation was Miss. Holly Golightly herself, inviting me to a Breakfast At Tiffany’s Party.

We all dressed up in black, with big black sunglasses, and pearls. We were quite a sight walking together downtown. We met up at Starbucks where we enjoyed coffee and then went down to Tiffany and Co. where Elizabeth brought her camera and we took tons of pictures. Afterwards we went to Macaroni Grill next door where the tables were set-up with little Tiffany Boxes for favors and red roses. It was so perfect! Stacy made this wonderful scrap-book for me full of great advice from everyone! The girls also bought a beautiful Paloma Picasso necklace from Tiffany’s for me and I was just overwhelmed at how thoughtful and generous everyone was. The games that Stacy put on, where so fun too! Matt was interviewed ahead of time and said things that I couldn’t EVER imagine him saying! It was so great!

All in all it blew me away! I couldn’t ask for better friends! It was truly divine!

The Great Urban Race

Yes....if you have looked at my sister's blog then you have read about The Great Urban Race.

My sister first gave me the heads up about it and Matt and I didn't hesitate to sign up! It looks like soooo much fun!!

I will however be staying out of Katie and Ethan's way...they are ruthless and have been known to do unethical things to win a game of Scattergories or any game for that matter. Not that I am attempting to slander them in any way...I am simply saying that Matt and I intend to go there and just enjoy the day. We have no intentions of trying to beat Katie and Ethan...none at all. We will have just gotten back from our honeymoon in Costa Rica. We just want to go and have fun, our only competition is ourselves.

Although...I tend to think that if we were...competing against ...say TEAM KATIE...that perhaps our experience with actually hanging out in downtown Portland on a regular basis...and having actually ridden the MAX before...and being very charming people might perhaps give us an advantage. (Instead of the strange wild-eyed, crazy people that they become when they smell a competition.)

Go team...Bees Knees!!!

Oh and rumor has it that the Grimmers will be joining us! Should be really really fun!

Meet Poppy!

In 1 week, next Friday, at 5:40 to be exact, I will be picking up and bringing home, the adorable and amazing (I know this already...trust me) Poppy! I met her last week!

I met the breeder last week and she brought the three girls from the litter. She handed me two of them, but had one in her shirt and was resisting me takeing her. It was kind of strange so I finally just asked her what was going on?! She then confessed that she was the smallest one and that her sister had her heart set on her and then I looked over at the SUV that must have housed the breeder's entire family...and saw the sister and well just laughed it off and told her I didn't even want to look at the little one and to put her back in the car. So then there were two...two adorable darling dogs who in person looked exactly alike. So I put them both down in my car and just watched.

Poppy was very demure. She also wouldn't take her eyes off of me the entire time. The other sweet puppy, her sister, was very distracted by everything, but still adorable. I had noticed Poppy watching me and was tickled by her attention so I started walking back and forth and sure enough her head followed. She was it!! So meet Poppy...she is the little one the left. The one looking at me while I am taking the picture. We are all very excited to finally bring her home and she has an embarrassing amount of new toys, goodies, beds, blankets, and more. She is one lucky pup!