Lex and Learn

Mike and I have been dating for more than seven years. However, in that time neither of us has been ready to give up Christmas day with our families. Because I am from Los Angeles and he is from Colorado (Niwot to be exact), we have gotten used to celebrating early and saying our goodbye’s before Christmas Eve.

But now that we are engaged and just six short months from being together FOREVER (he he) we decided it was time to start the trade-off holiday practice. We spent Thanksgiving with his family in Colorado and Mike got to experience his first California Christmas with my mom and dad’s side. Among his firsts were some very competitive dice games that have come to replace a gigantic gift exchange, more ricotta cheese than any healthy human being should consume and a day of golf with the boys of the Anzalone side. He survived, though he may never eat Italian food again.

Adding to the excitement of our first shared Christmas was having Kona in L.A. to celebrate his first Christmas too! My mom and dad got him a stocking full of toys and bones as well as a great pack for hiking next summer. He is one spoiled little dude.

Some pics from our adventures ~ hope your holidays were just as blessed as ours!

Kona’s stocking

That is a full stocking, Anzalone style

Our first joint Xmas picture!

Friday and Saturday will mark the second year my family will celebrate Christmas without my grandma. Surprisingly, I think I actually handled last year better than this year so far. Maybe it was the shock of the first Christmas Eve without sipping egg nog and brandy at 11pm with her, or maybe it was trying to be strong for those that needed me. But this year my heart aches a little harder and the tears come that much quicker.

There are a few aspects of this Christmas that are particularly hard for me. The biggest is that this is Mike’s first Christmas in California with my family. Because it is his first he’ll never see how she opened each package carefully from the sides to try and save the paper – or how she stacked her bows neatly on the tables to reuse them for the next year. She was truly the product of the Depression Era at times. He won’t see how she devoured fruit cake or cherished the Coca Cola in a bottle that my mom put in her stocking every year. He won’t see how she gushed over a birthstone necklace just the same as a new set of dish towels. That was my grandma.

I know she’ll be with us no matter what, and that’s what I am trying to hold on to this year. I know the Christmas decorations and ornaments she loved. When I get home tomorrow I want to hold them all. I know how she needed her coffee before any presents could be opened. I remember vividly how she would emphatically say, “look at all these presents,” over and over again throughout the morning, in utter disbelief of the generosity bestowed on her by those who loved her most.

My grandma’s heaven is probably one big party this week. It’s filled with Christmas carols, hot chocolate, spiked egg nog and old holiday black and white movies. And from there she is sending us so much love – and I am going to work really, really hard to feel it and send it back.

Merry Christmas Grandma…

Last week I was lucky enough to partake in my first personality assessment-style test and workshop. My company, GroundFloor Media, arranged for us to take Emergenetics tests and then attend an all day workshop to learn about the test and our results. So, who am I?

Example results

No real surprises, though it is odd to see your strengths (we weren’t allowed to say weaknesses) charted out in a pie chart. I apparently belong to only 2% of the population as a dominant green. What does that mean? I prefer the following:

• Practical thinking
• Likes guidelines
• Cautious of new ideas
• Predictable
• Learns by doing

I’ve been a rule follower my entire life, so Emergenetics merely confirmed that obsession. My green however was followed by yellow ~ my imaginative and visionary side. In PR these traits have suited me well so far…I love brainstorming and dreaming up big ideas for clients, and then bringing it back to a detailed task and timeline checklist we can use to track a project.

The big eye opener of the day however was how low (I know, we aren’t supposed to say low because no score is bad) I scored in assertiveness and flexibility. I am definitely a peacekeeper and can sometimes ignore my own feelings in order to avoid confrontation. Therefore, because I often “go along” with things I thought I was flexible. However, I learned that I am actually EXTREMELY inflexible because I get flustered and annoyed/upset with a situation changes the “guidelines” and “structure” mentioned above–my greenness.

I’ve already recognized a few not-so-nice green/inflexible moments at work and at home since getting my test back, so I’m hopeful that I can work on going with the flow more easily.

But the BEST part of the day came when I opened my packet and read the quote that corresponds with my pie chart. “Of course I don’t look busy. I did it right the first time.” 

I think I need a mug with that motto…

Thanks to the plethora of engagement-themed stickers and paper I found at Michaels this week, I’ve decided that even un-crafty people like me can make a somewhat attractive scrapbook. I’d never try this with our actual wedding photos (so if someone wants to make one for us that would be great) but photos and memorabilia from our engagement seem like a fun and semi-safe option for giving this scrapbooking thing a college try.

Hopefully I’ll improve page by page, which is why I chose a smaller 8X8 book – less room on each page to mess up. PLEASE send tips and ideas my way if so inspired – anything from products to check out to the major “dont’s” of scrapbooking.

“The moment” of the proposal

“She said yes” page

Engagement cards

Vendors & “Were engaged” stickers

The idea of doing crafts always sounds so fun. Shopping at Michaels makes me want to be a full-time hobby lady with a giant craft room full of supplies for scrapbooking, knitting, making elaborate cakes and more. That fantasy (and Mike’s intense homework load) inspired me to choose a Sunday craft to keep me busy this afternoon after successfully executing a vegetarian sweet potato chili slow cooker recipe this morning. *The recipe is in the newest Real Simple but not online yet.

I decided on Glitter Trees because they looked so fab on the blog Eighteen25 (which I stumbled on today thanks to Brenda at Momspiration). Foam. Glue. Glitter. How hard could it be?

First, I didn’t know Hobby Lobby is closed on Sundays so I drove to 80th and Wadsworth to find that out first-hand. Strike 1 for crafting. I then drove to Michaels in Westminister and it was packed! So packed that I poorly navigated one of the tiny aisles and knocked over an entire end cap display. Strike 2 for crafting. I then opted to make the trees on our front porch to avoid getting glitter everywhere. That was actually a smart choice. What wasn’t smart was forgetting to take off my engagement ring while spraying adhesive everywhere. Neither was choosing clear/white glitter to try and cover green styrofoam.  I also should have gotten the feel for it by starting with the smallest tree, rather than the largest. Strikes 3, 4 and 5 for crafting. 

The Pro Trees

Eighteen25′s Glitter Trees

 
 Lex’s Trees…

I’m still glad I did something different with my afternoon, and unless all the glitter falls off (not unlikely) these things are going up in our living room until New Years Day! You may also be wondering if my crafting days are over…unfortunately, they are not. While shopping at Michaels today I decided to make an engagement scrapbook. Look for posts recapping that “fun” soon. 

‘Tis the season she says sarcastically…

Things I liked about being 16 – being able to drive myself and eating In & Out multiple times a week with no impact on my thighs whatsoever. Stuff that wasn’t so great about 16 – curfews, homework and being the DD because we couldn’t take cabs and let on to our parents that we had been at a party.

Also on the “didn’t like at 16″ list is skin problems. I actually got pretty lucky in high school though because I started battling acne in the sixth grade and was on Accutane by freshman year of high school. By college I started getting flare ups again and went on and off Accutane several times. I know the list of side effects – including serve birth defects – is long and frightening, but it was my own personal miracle drug.

Fast forward a few years and I am back in the dermatologist chair nearly every six weeks. What I like to call my third round battle with acne started more than two years ago. Mike and I were in Costa Rica so I blamed it on the heat and sunscreen. We came back to his dad and my grandmother being extremely ill, followed by my grandma passing away a few months later. So, I blamed my skin on stress. Then work got crazy (and stayed crazy) and we planned for and eventually moved to Colorado. Ongoing stress made sense as the culprit. Last year I blamed the change of weather between San Diego and Denver followed by the anxiety of job hunting.

However, I am now VERY happily employed, head-over-heels in love and engaged, not that overwhelmed about wedding planning thanks to my amazing mom…yet some weeks my skin has never looked worse. It’s endlessly frustrating and while some may call me vain, I am convinced that unless you’ve gone through this battle yourself, it’s hard to understand the silent angst it can cause.

Let me walk you through my current (and very pricey) war on acne:

• Cetaphil wash
• Veltin (a new type of Retin-A)
• Solodyn (oral antibiotic)
• SkinCeuticals AOX+ serum (Vitamin C)
• Prascion wash (at night)
• SkinCeuticals Retexturing Activator (at night)
• Monthly facials

Out of the entire list, the only thing I can maybe pinpoint as helping is the microdermabrasion facials, though I look a bit scary for a day or two following. The Solodyn makes me sick unless I take it was a ton of food and the Retin-A is so drying that I literally feel like my skin may crack at any moment. I pull my hair back at night. I try to wear little to no makeup when I don’t have to. I am very aware not to touch my face with dirty hands…however, nothing is consistently working to keep my face clear.

I was inspired to write this post based on another blog I just recently starting following more closely. She is brave and honest in her experiences, and I certainly won’t deny that she’s battling a much tougher case of adult acne than me. But I firmly believe that a pimple is a pimple – it’s not the size of it, it’s how it makes that person feel and what it does to their self-esteem.

There is no right and no wrong in this case.

Monday’s typically aren’t my favorite day of the week, but this Monday was a true exception. I took the day off to hang with Kelly (soon to be sister) and my nieces Caroline and Sophia. I see them quite a bit but usually there are numerous family members around all competing for their attention. So, having it just be Kelly and me was a big treat!

We had originally talked about going down to Santa’s Workshop in Colorado Springs but between the drive time, the 40 degree temps and the girls finally being over triple digit fevers, Kelly wisely chose not to push our luck. Instead I met them bright and early and we headed to Flatirons Mall for some shopping, play area time and “crack nuggets,” i.e. McDonald’s chicken nuggets. Kelly feeds them VERY healthy food 99.9% of the time but I had been dying to see the phenomenon she described ~ hand the girls “crack nuggets” and they shove them in like you’ve never seen. It was pretty hilarious.

The big highlights of the day were meeting Santa and lots of Christmas cookie baking while the girls napped. We then braved having four 20 month year olds (two sets of twin girls…Kelly’s friend Ann came over with her daughters) decorate the cookies…frosting, sprinkles, smashed up candy canes – the works! Let’s just say that I left covered in flour and later found some sticky frosting in my mane.

Waiting in line for Santa

Sophia, Lex, Kelly & Caroline

Caroline’s decorating mayhem

Kelly has some great pictures here. I loved every moment of the day and am so blessed to have Kelly and the girls in my life. Can’t wait until we can go visit the Easter bunny!

I was totally against taking engagement photos when we first set out to find a wedding photographer. I was convinced we could skip these to negotiate a better rate, and was also pretty sure no one aside from our parents would want a bunch of pictures of Mike and I staring lovingly into each other’s eyes (I’m still convinced of this last statement to be honest).

But, every single photographer we met with argued otherwise, and I began to understand their point – the main arguments being that it gets us used to being in front of the camera, and helps the photographer learn our best angles/bad sides so that they aren’t learning those crucial things on the big day. We chose Zorn Photography and ever since signing the contract I’ve been both dreading and eagerly awaiting our engagement session. Luckily Jody and Zach are big fans of “taking the edge off” before a shoot so we met at The Corner Office bar for a quick drink before setting out for our lovey dovey debut. We were also “warned” about being ready to skip and run thanks to my colleague Carissa, who recommended the Zorn’s to us earlier this year.

Without further stalling…here are our top faves. We’re thrilled with how they turned out and are so excited to have the Zorn’s shoot our wedding this May. Enjoy!

It’s been a B.I.G. year for us. To recap, we moved to Colorado, got engaged, got a dog, started a new job (me), started a master’s program (Mike), bought a new car (me), and began planning a wedding. Damn!

All of those decisions, while wonderful, have left our pockets emptier than normal as we head into the season of holiday parties and shopping. I set myself a budget every year when it comes to buying gifts, but I’ll be the first to admit that spending an extra $20 here and another $30 there is inevitable. I swear that marketers see me coming when they set up the end-caps by the cash register. Let’s just say that frugal is not my middle name in December.

But this year that just isn’t an option. Mike and I sat down and wrote out a list and budget for each person on our list. We also chose not to exchange with some people, including our siblings, so that we can focus on the little ones.

I get that Christmas isn’t about presents and that no one in our family “needs” anything under the tree. That fact is even more apparent this year to me thanks to the level of social consciousness that GroundFloor Media has instilled in me this year through our Get Giving program. This December we’re collecting gifts for Warren Village, a wonderful organization (let me know if you want to donate), and I had a blast buying toys today for those less fortunate!

I guess what I am getting at is even though I am reminded every day that Mike and I are incredibly blessed and extremely fortunate, the immature and shopaholic part of me has a hard time learning how to do the holidays on a budget. I absolutely love buying gifts for my friends and family…and the joy on their face when I really “nail” a gift.

Maybe I need to make a trip to Michaels and channel my inner Martha? Doubtful. Highly doubtful.

Today’s chilly weather made it a perfect Saturday to get started on two wedding to-do’s that have seemed overwhelming every time we are about to get going on them. Thanks to my awesome maid of honor Kimbra, we had an 11:15 a.m. appointment at Scribbles to look at invites. I couldn’t believe the number of torso-sized binders that were set in front of us…and that was just to look at the designs! The consultant told me that during a second appointment we could decide on fonts, paper, etc. I immediately regretted it, but at one point when we were looking at an over-priced envelope I blurted out, “don’t these just all end up in the trash!” I need to remember to keep my mouth shut at some of these wedding vendors! (Don’t even get me started on the monogrammed paper “towels” for the bathroom. People buy those???)

Despite that slip we found some beautiful options. The experience was so fun and inspired a lot of creative DIY ideas as well.

After Scribbles and a scrumptious brunch at Mona’s, I decided to get our registries started. We still need to go to the stores in-person but I absolutely L.O.V.E. how much you can do online in sweats. Sometimes I feel silly picking out such beautiful items when our kitchen is the size of a postage stamp, but I adore all forms of shopping and am already picturing myself channeling my inner Barefoot Contessa.

According to the homepage of our Crate & Barrel registry, there are 176 days left until the wedding. Wow! I am so excited to marry such a great man and cannot wait to celebrate with our friends and family. Details have to be tended to, but we’re both working really hard to stay focused on our upcoming marriage and not just the “wedding.”