i really hate poo

i really hate poo. the last couple of nights that i've worked my patients are very poopy. and then right after we clean them up (we clean up our own patients in the ICU), they poo again. its nasty. its even nastier when it's not your own. bleh. i hate poo.

prayers

lots of prayers for lots of people ...
sending our love and prayers to all of you, especially during this hard time ...
keep strong my loves as they have returned to their Creator.
love you ...
we're here if you need us, just let us know what you need ...

the worst nightmare

so i had the worst nightmare right now. as you know, i work nights so i sleep during the day. and i sleep so much so that i can dream. and i had the worst nightmare. if i didn't explain already, the venue for our wedding is two floors. if you chose the bottom floor, you have all of the patio, which includes the bridge and the picture taking. if you chose the top, you have the higher ceilings but you would have no access to the patio. so anyway, i have this nightmare just now. it's the day of our wedding and this other wedding party strolls onto our patio and through our whole dining area! and i'm freaking steaming! and THEN they're wearing the YELLOW color that i love and they're just staring at me! and then i see the bride and lo and behold, it's freakin JENN - joey's ex gf! OMG, i was even MORE pissed! and she waltzes through and doesn't look at us and goes straight to the patio, to the bridge to take her pictures! i was so seething! anyway, talk about a nightmare. bleh.

the dresses

productive weekend this weekend - bought ten dresses total - 8 bridesmaids, my mom's and mine. story to come later. really tired and must go to sleep (worked last night and haven't slept yet)

until next time ...

difficult

so we went bridesmaid dress / wedding dress shopping for the first time and i've figured something out ... my bridesmaids are difficult. just kidding. just joan. just kidding. there was a big joke that joan was the difficult one and that was the recurring theme of the day. so now, any time anyone is being difficult, that's all we have to say. anyway, six out of the eight bridesmaids were there and i think we've made some progress on dresses. hopefully we can figure it out within the next month. but i think purple is still prevailing.
they put themselves kind of in the order they're supposed to be in - tallest to shortest with the matron of honor at the end. it's cassie, michelle, joan, me, roxanne, my and my sister. day and cel are missing but we'll get them in the next time.

a Lopez nuptial

Congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. Jorge Lopez! In no way are they related to Joey, this is Gracie and Jorge's wedding. It started at Our Lady Queen of Angels Cathedral in LA. Jorge kissed his bride in the aisleway
and then off to the Glendale Hilton for the reception!
I love Gracie's expression here!
cute huh?
so we go to hang out with the O's
that's us
Phoebe was at our table - they gave her both cider and champagne
and the Kims
Joey showered me with rose petals ...
this is Cheryl's chocolate cake... yummy ...
so here's table 14 with the newly married Lopez's! yay sister-in-law!!

Congratulations you two! the wedding was awesome! Since Gracie's uncles and grandfather were the founders of their troope - there were plenty of cultural dances during dinner - and even Gracie performed! in her wedding dress! they were awesome! go culture!

if you're thinking of marrying ...

So after we saw Gomez, he gave us this list of questions for anyone contemplating marriage. I thought they were really cool, so I decided to share.

1. Is the person your best friend or at least becoming so?
2. Aside from sex, do you enjoy each other?
3. Is there chemistry between the two of you?
4. Does the person have a number of good friends and at least one very close friend of the same sex?
5. How does the person treat others?
6. What problems do the two of you have now? And what inner voice of doubt, if any, are you suppressing?
7. How often do you fight?
8. Do you share values? the best part of this answer is: "Love conquers all pre-maritally. Not post." Love that answer.
9. Do you miss the person when you are not together?
10. Is the person unhappy?
11. How much of your love is dependent on the sex you are having?
12. What do people you respect think of the person that you're considering marrying?

I thought they were in interesting group of questions. The answers are long so if anyone is really interested in the answers, let me know and I'll post. but for now, they're just questions to think about.

FOCCUS

so joey and i met with gomez on friday for the first time. we took the FOCCUS (Facilitating Open Couple Communication, Understanding and Study) test - which is basically kind of like the compatability test for engaged couples to see how they think on different issues. for the most part we did ok.

what we scored highest on was:

personal issues
family / extended relationships
friends
communication (surprisingly)

what we scored lowest on was :
values / beliefs
financial issues

Gomez said that it wasn't bad - he's seen a lot worse - and it gives us something to work on before the wedding. He said that the issues that cause the most problems are financial, communication and infidelity. so being low one of three isn't bad. I'm scared and excited all at the same time. kinda weird. one of our uncertains was our method of family planning and gomez recommended this one clinic we go to learn all the methods of natural family planning. tell me how weird that is coming from your godfather. anyway, we also went over the engagement encounter stuff - i think we're going in March. Joey wasn't too excited about the "Saturday evening group discussion." he makes an "uh" sound every time we read it. but he'll get over it. i'm so excited!

my newest child model

look at this cutie patootie! she totally posed for these pictures!!! this is kiana - arnold and tootsie's kiddo. isn't she a ham? yes, definitely a ham - but a cute one at that.

oh look how we've grown

welcome to our 4 newest dazers: Dean, Derrick, Mark and Jonas! Congrats to Men's Batch 35 for a job well done!

and look how we've grown! Evan is 4, Sepi almost 5 and Lucas 3!
Lara's 5 months, Lucas again and Sandro is 20 months!
here are all the girls ....
and the expansion of boys!!

i love it! i love you guys! basta!

live auction

so i participated in my first live auction today - i actually got to hold my sign up and bid. i actually did it a few times but I won one of them! the first time that I bid was for Laker tickets (value of $270) that went for $700! and then I bid on some spa stuff but that got expensive too! then the people started to dwindle away and they had 2 passes to Disneyland with parking, a Disney art book and tricycle. the bidding started at $25, I bid $50, then it went to $100. My last bid was $125 - i wasn't going to get any higher than that. and i waited. and it was going, going and gone! and I got it! and I think that's the price of 2 tickets to Disneyland and parking anyway nowadays and I got a bonus free tricycle seen here. Joey's grandma is part of the Intercommunity Child Guidance Guild - they help to raise money for the center which focuses on behavioral therapy and counseling for children. it's a good cause and it's tax deductible! yay! anyway, here's me and my tricycle.

my favorite part

this is my favorite part about our wedding reception. it's water under the bridge. haha. made deposits on the reception and the photographer yesterday so they are confirmed. waiting for the florist to call us back and now looking for a dj. yay!

Happy birthday Grandma Spot

it was Grandma's 70th birthday and we celebrated with Mexican food and margaritas - her favorite combination! I just posted the pictures with her kids. Here's my new mom-in-law, Grandma and Joey. and here's the pitcher of margaritas for everyone to share. yummy!

Happy Birthday Grandma! We love you!

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween from Velma and Shaggy!

abnormal labs

asking for prayers tonight ... my dad got a call from his doctor saying he has some abnormal labs and they want to re-test. hope the re-test is ok. thanks.

its happening so fast

ok - so we've been engaged for 11 days and

1) we've made the deposit on the Church
2) we've decided on the venue and will be making the deposit next week
3) we've almost decided on the photograper

wow. that's crazy. but i love it. can't wait!

just remember your answer

so we were off to dc on october 12 - there were so many pictures to take and so many things to talk about -
- we went to see Monitcello (Thomas Jefferson's house),
-Joey's aunt and uncle had a little bonfire in the backyard where all of us got a little toasted
- we went to a University of Virgina football game vs. Maryland where we tailgated beforehand - we went to DC and saw the changing of the guard at Arlington National Cemetary, Lincoln Memorial, Vietnam Memorial, World War II Memorial, Washingtom Monument, the Smithsonian
- we took Joey's aunt, uncle and cousins to Bucca de Beppo that Sunday (they had never been to one) and as we were walking there, we saw a Ruth's Chris Steakhouse on the way. His family was leaving on Monday afternoon so we decided to make reservations for dinner on Monday night since it would just be the two of us.
so on Sunday night I got really sad. Joey and I had always joked about getting engaged in front of Lincoln's right foot at Lincoln Memorial. Well we went to Lincoln Memorial on Sunday at about 3 in the afternoon. Although we had just joked about it, I still was wondering if it was going to happen. so as we got to Lincoln Memorial I was kind of nervous, wondering if it would really happen. There were about 100 people there taking pictures and looking at the stuff and we took our pictures and then we went about our way. I didn't get sad until we got back to the hotel room later that night. I told Joey I was sad and that I just wanted to start the rest of my life with him. He told me "don't worry. it'll happen. just remember your answer when I ask." I told him "of course, I'm going to say yes" and he said "just remember your answer." meanwhile, the ring is like 30 ft away from us in his backpack. i don't know how he kept it in!

So on Monday, we went to Ford's Theatre (where Lincoln got shot), the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (where they make money) more sightseeing and ended with St. Patrick's Cathedral (there JFK's funeral Mass was held). His family left, we did some shopping and then we got ready for dinner. We started off with crabcakes and cesar salad - soooo good. I got a filet cooked medium
and he got the petite filet with shrimp - the plate sizzles with butter!
and then Joey said that he wanted to go see the monuments all lit up. His cousin, had recommended that it was nice to see all the monuments all lit up. So we went to the Metro since it would be easier.
When we got to the Metro station, we didn't know which line to take. At this point I say "it's ok if we don't go" because I'm scared of the dark. It doesn't help that one of my co-workers used to live in DC and she said to be really careful at night because it's pretty dangerous and there's a lot of bums around, so since we weren't sure where we were going, I said "it's ok if we don't go" but Joey really wanted to see the monuments at night so we went.
When we got off the Blue Line, we got out and it was completely dark and there was no one else on the streets. So again, I'm freaking out. As we walk, I'm looking around, making sure that no one is following us. We cross the street and Washington Monument is there. I said "We can just take pictures here so that we can get back on the Metro" but Joey says "No, I want to see it from there." So we start walking up and we see two guys walking down, so I think ok, maybe it's safe. There's a security guard station there and Joey says "if anything happens, run over there and get help" Great, we had a game plan if anything happened. So, again, I start freaking out. So we get to the monument and start taking pictures.
Joey takes the camera and starts taking pictures of the Capitol, the White House and Lincoln Memorial. The other ones were blurry so this is the only one I posted.
Meanwhile, I'm trying to calm myself so I sit on the floor making sure I'm panning the scene for any would-be attackers. We're there for a couple minutes and I get up and say I'm ready to go.
Joey comes up from behind me and hugs me and then he comes around to stand in front of me.
Joey: "so do you remember your answer?"
me "What?"
then Joey gets on his knee
Joey: "do you remember your answer to the question?"
me: "huh?"
then he takes out the ring and he looks at me.
I remember saying "No way!" and then I don't remember anything that he said after that. he could have said the most profound thing in the world and I would never remember. his lips were moving but I have no clue as to what he said. I just remember "will you marry me?" and him looking up at me
I'm still in shock, speechless and then I said "yes, of course!"
and we were engaged! and i started apologizing because i had been a brat the day before and was all sad when he had this planned all along! he said he thought about doing it the night before but thought better of it and stuck to his plans.

I asked him when he had asked my parents and he said that Tuesday.

Joey: "your mom started laughing when I had flowers for her.

me: you bought my mom flowers?

Joey: yeah, I had flowers for your mom and french fries for your dad.

Then I proceeded to tell Joey this story. When I came home from work on Wednesday morning, there were a dozen red roses in the front room. My dad hadn't left home for work yet so I asked my dad.

me: whose flowers?

pa: I got them for your mom

me: why?

pa: I can't get your mom flowers? I got them at Costco

me: at costco? they sell them in two dozen, how come there's only one?

pa: it was a grower's bunch.

i was like, ok, whatever.

then Joey told me that and I was like: "My dad totally lied for you!" and he started laughing.

anyway, that's the engagement story. we're looking into reception sites now and I think we have the Church confirmed. we definitely have a priest =) yay, in a year I will be Mrs. Joseph Lopez!

and away we go

off to washington in 12 hours! see you in a week!

it musta been a full moon

seriously. last night at work was nuts. we had patients screaming, nurses screaming, doctors screaming. patients asking the nurses if everything was ok and why everyone was running around. but by 0700 everything was calm in the world and people wondered if we had a good night. nuts i say! nuts! hopefully tonight is better

joey's many bday celebrations

so it started out on saturday when joey's parents wanted to throw him a poker party birthday. they set up the back room as the little casino with 3 tables and then we waited for the peeps to arrive. part of joey's present from his parents was this bottle of patron - yum!
and so the lopez familia took a family shot
and then the lopez siblings - michelle, joey and cassie
this is the double brownie concoctions that joey asked me to make. it's double ghiradelli brownies with chocolate frosting in the middle and around - basically a huge-antic brownie cake
this is michelle and grandma spot - she had about 3 martinis at this point - nice and toasty!
here's the diamond table
and the heart table
continued
here's grish and his love for joey
here's what's left of the spade table - this one took the longest time to determine the top nine. but i took both joey's dad and cousin out to make the final table a table of eight
here's joey and uncle ben - this is what joey's going to look like in 20 years.
blowing out the birthday cake
last call before midnight with auntie pam and johnny
guess who took first and second?
and the party continues - daniel, vince, amin and joey
day 2 of celebrations - dinner at north woods in la mirada - yummy steak and crab legs, cabbage salad, and yummy cheese bread
here's all of us who went
and day 3 - joey's real birthday - i went to visit him at work and brought him lunch along with a $5.99 chocolate by courtesy of marie callendars (good through the whole month of october). his best friend at work (lorena, the one behind him) was working so i asked if we could get the birthday song. i think they forgot most of the words but the point got across.
and we ended with margarita mondays at acapulco! $2.50 margaritas all night long!
and these were the balloons that me and lorena got him - he kind of blends in, huh? happy birthday bubba!