New Camera!!

Our new camera arrived the other day (we ordered it through Sears with a couple of wedding gift cards). Jake did a lot of research to find the best one in our price range and this is what he came up with:

I need to learn how to use it, but here's what I've taken so far:

This one is for my mom :)

Jake just started to take piano lessons. He's being a good student and practicing at home!

This is my new craft room. It was an office, but we never went in except for to get things out of the closets. I went to Wal-mart the other day to get some storage containers to organize all my craft supplies and I found these cute curtains. I also covered the desk with a cheap table cloth so that it won't get ruined with paint and glue. I'm very excited to start my Christmas crafts now!

Weekend Update

I've been complaining a lot lately about how there is NOTHING to do here, but this weekend was very eventful and wonderful so I guess there are things to do (you just have to travel a little bit to do them).

We started off with a hike on Saturday at the state park. This was fun until the end of the hike when Jake decided he wanted to go off the trail for a bit. I voiced my opinion repeatedly about how I thought it was a bad idea. He should have listened. Right as we were nearing the clearing we went through some type of poisonous plant that made our legs instantly itch and burn like they were on fire. Luckily we had some type of poisonous plant wipe thing in our first aid kit, but we still have no idea what it actually was. The pain lasted the rest of the day, but it seems to have healed.

http://www.clearlakestatepark.org/

After the hike we went home and got ready to leave for Santa Rosa for the night. I found out a few days ago that Tainted Love (my favorite 80's cover band) was playing in town.

http://taintedlove.com

The show didn't start until 10pm though so we spent the day at Bed Bath and Beyond using our wedding gift cards, shopping at Michael's for craft supplies to make Christmas presents, and dinner with Jake's grandma and sister. It was a super fun day and it was nice to be in a well populated area for the afternoon/evening.

We slept in this morning and then headed home around 11. On our way back we decided to try this restaurant in St. Helena called Taylor's Automatic Refresher. I saw this place on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives (one of my favorite shows on the Food Network) and have been wanting to go for a while. I have this personal goal to go to as many places that I can on that show and the show Man vs. Food. So far I've only been to 3 from Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives, but I'm still young and have plenty of time. The food was really good and the drive through St. Helena was beautiful.

After we got home we went to play tennis for about an hour. The weather was perfect and even though we didn't play very well we still had a lot of fun. It was a wonderful weekend and I'm sad it has to end. Next weekend I have to work and Jake has to take a test in Sacramento so I won't have any more fun weekend updates until the next weekend. We'll be spending the next Saturday and Sunday in San Francisco for the half marathon!

P.S. Our new camera should be arriving soon so look forward to some actual pictures!!!

New Favorite Show

It's called Man Shops Globe and it's on the Sundance channel Wed. @ 10pm. It's about a buyer for Anthropologie (one of my favorite stores) who goes all over the world in search of cool things for the store (to decorate with and to sell). Little known fact: ALL of the decorations in the stores are for sale. Based on the 2 episodes that I've seen I'm guessing that they are very expensive and out of reach for most customers. This past episode featured a huge chandelier made out of recycled materials that was AMAZING. The store had a special exhibit to showcase the items the buyer found in South Africa and president Obama bought it for his daughter's room! Anyway, it's a great show and I wish it was my job to travel the world for Anthropologie.

Sorry for the delay...again!

Ok, let's move on to the getting ready part. Since my friends and family were setting everything up, I had plenty of time to do nothing all day. I started my day with a short run, cleaned up around the house, and then hung out with Nick (bridesmaid's boyfriend) until around lunch time. It was actually a very normal day and I don't remember feeling nervous or anxious at all. The girls started to arrive around 2 or 3 and we started to get ready. Aunt Terri and cousin Adair came over to make us look pretty. I am so grateful they were there because I don't know how to do anything with my hair besides pull it back or straighten it. Here are a few pictures from the wonderfully talented Sara Gillespie. Request to be her friend on facebook and see all of her awesome photo albums.






The following picture is not by Sara, but had to be added because I think it's going to be a crowd favorite. Let me preface the picture by saying that all of my bridesmaids are naturally gorgeous so it didn't take everyone long to get ready. We actually had a long time before our rides to the wedding arrived and I noticed a mess on the floor and thought I better sweep it up. Not many brides have a picture like this on their wedding day:

Let's not forget about the boys!! Here are some pictures of them:


You might be wondering what the deal is with the Butterfingers. Let me explain....several years ago (when Jake was younger and not quiet as mature) he explained to me that getting married was like having a Butterfinger every day for the rest of your life. It would be fine at first, but then you'd get tired of it. Well, I thought it would be funny to send a Costco size box of Butterfingers to him while he was getting ready. I LOVE that they took pictures with them!

That's all for now. I might wait until I get more pictures from Sara before I post more recaps. We'll see....

Recap Time!!

Let's start with the rehearsal....

I think all of us were a little wiped out from the night before (bachelor/bachelorette parties in San Fran) but we somehow all managed to make it to the rehearsal by 5 on Friday evening. It was actually the LAST thing I wanted to do that night, but once we got rolling I perked right up and had a great time. I'll let the pictures do the talking....

We had hamburgers and hot dogs for dinner, but the best part was that we had old fashioned soda drinks. My favorite, and specially requested was this:

(I forced my friends to make flower arrangements after dinner. Melanie was the only complainer....see next picture)

All of the arrangements were so BEAUTIFUL and I appreciated everyone's hard work. Towards the end of the night I was informed that Jake would be staying at his parent's house that night and that we wouldn't be seeing each other until the wedding. We hadn't originally planned on following that tradition and I wasn't sure how I was going to set everything up the next morning if I couldn't actually be at the house. Luckily I have the most amazing friends and family to ever exist and they took care of EVERYTHING! I mean really...the most amazing! I'm fairly positive that the instructions I gave were not very specific because the phrase "I have this [insert random decoration] that you can just put anywhere" came out of my mouth more than once, but the end result turned out exactly as I had imagined it in my head.

Stay tuned for the next installment "The Day of"

Oh, but I forgot the best part of the rehearsal dinner. My grandparents gave us our wedding gifts. Part of the wedding gift was that my grandma had our Save the Date signed by MIKE MODANO (my other husband)! I actually cried tears of joy when I opened it. Jake wasn't as excited ;)

"Up or Down"

I know I promised to elaborate about the wedding, but I want to wait until I have more time to really sit down and think about everything. So, to hold you over, here are the lyrics to the song Jake wrote and performed during the reception. It was absolutely the best part of the entire wedding!

I left this town to get out of state
I was sick and tired of this place
I was in search of the college life
That’s where I first saw your face

At a party that my friends would throw
I saw you standing there alone and cold
I looked around and thought to myself
As I asked you if you wanted my coat

Chorus:
I’m not quite sure what I’m supposed to do now
I don’t know which way is up n’ which way is down
I knew I’d spend my life, everyday
Just trying to catch my breath before you’d take it away
One thing that I knew would always be true
You’d love me to the end and I’d love you

I remember as the days went on
Semesters were short and the summers were long
Together at night or on the phone
We knew that we’d never be alone

We’d laugh together, sometimes we’d cry
Often times, we wouldn’t know why
Knew our lives would work out like they should
I’d think to myself I’m a lucky guy and

Chorus:
I’m not quite sure what I’m supposed to do now
I don’t know which way is up n’ which way is down
I knew I’d spend my life, everyday
Just trying to catch my breath before you’d take it away
One thing that I knew would always be true
You’d love me to the end and I’d love you

I thin back now to those days
I wouldn’t trade them now for anything
I see you here dressed in white
My life in this town is finally right

We’re back in this town that I wanted to leave
It took a thousand miles to get you here
You’re right before me and I just can’t believe
My life with you now seems so clear

Chorus:
I’m know just what I’m supposed to do now
I know which way is up n’ which way is down
I’ll spend my life, ever day
Just trying to catch my breath before you take it away
One thing I still know will always be true
You’ll love me to the end and I’ll love you

Best Day Ever

That's all I have to say right now. I'll elaborate at a later time. Thank you to everyone that made all of my dreams come true. I'm truly the luckiest girl in the world.

Love,
Mrs. Hoberg ;)

Quick Wedding Update!

Only 9 days away from 09-19-09!! I don't have much time to talk so here's a quick update of what's going on:

*We are no longer using an ipod for our music because we've hired a real dj
*Found a great deal on wine that I'm super excited about
*Ordered a whole bunch of pears to decorate with
*Ordered bouquets (we were originally going to make them, but have decided that would be too much work)
*My mom will be here Sunday!
*We also have something super fun going on Sunday after her arrival, but it's top secret so I can't talk about it
*One week away from the bachelorette party
*Getting my hair trimmed and colored tomorrow
*Still have a few craft projects to finish

That's all I can think of right now.

P.S. I found a job. Don't get too excited though because it's only 2 days a week. I'll write more about it later. I'm working at Lakeport Furniture and Design and my boss is super sweet and the furniture is really nice. Come buy something from me because I receive commission. Thanks :)

Small town living update....

Here's a list of fun things we've been up to lately:

*Rachyl's wedding in Napa was so much fun! It was so beautiful and the vows they said to one another were about the sweetest things I've ever heard.
*Concert in the park in Lakeport-occurs on Friday evenings during the summer. The one I went to was the last one for the summer though.
*Street Dance in Kelseyville-they have these every Thursday during the summer. Basically a band plays on main street and a few people dance, but others sit on the sidewalk and watch. It's mostly a social event where people just hang out and visit with one another. This past one was also the last one of the summer.
*Tobey Keith concert-The Lost Boys opened for him (the band I've mentioned in previous posts) and our friends gave us some tickets. The Lost Boys were awesome and Toby Keith was pretty good too. I'm not a huge fan, but he actually puts on a pretty good show. We planned on leaving early, but I was trying to hold out for "Should Have Been a Cowboy". We got tired though and left before he played it. Luckily, we heard it as we were walking to the car and stopped to dance. The song reminds me of OSU b/c they play it after every home game.
*Farmer's Market-every Saturday morning during the summer/fall people set up their booths outside of a nearby winery. We went to search for flowers, but they didn't have any :( So we settled for some produce.

That's pretty much it. The job search has slowed down a bit because I've hand delivered my resume to just about every place in the county and I'm running out of options. I'm hoping that something comes up though once school starts (Sept. 8th). One winery told me they have a few teachers that have been working part time so hopefully I can take one of their spots if a full time position isn't available. I'll keep you posted!

One Month Away!

The time has flown! I feel like I should be busy doing wedding stuff, but I really can't think of anything to do. Actually, I have one craft project to do, but it's top secret so I can't talk about it. Yesterday I spent the day painting canvas bags. The bags will be used for out of town bags for our traveling guests and they will also hold the bridal party gifts. It was a fun project and I'd post pictures if I could, but since I can't I guess you'll have to wait until the wedding to see them! I'm so anxious for my friends and family to get here. I can't wait to see everyone. I haven't seen most of my Texas friends and family since the end of February so a visit is long over due.

Speaking of the wedding, have I mentioned lately that my future husband is the most wonderful person in the world? He's always doing nice things for me, but today I came home to the biggest surprise that I've had in a long time. I walked in our living room today to find this:

No, not a random lady hanging around, a sofa and loveseat!! If you know me at all then you know that this is pretty much the greatest day of my life. I've been begging for a real couch for the past 2 and a half years. When Jake and I were talking about getting engaged he asked if I'd rather have a ring or a couch and I honestly had to think about it for a few minutes. In case you weren't fortunate enough to see our lovely furniture in Las Vegas, then let me paint you a mental image....imagine a lovely futon that had a mattress that was as hard as a rock and that would refuse to stay in a couch like position, thus always having a mattress that was sagging all the way to the ground and not attractive in any way. Oh, and let's not even talk about the workout required to remove the mattress cover for cleaning. I'm sweating just from thinking about it. That's not all though. We also had a lovely faded denim loveseat. I was not a big fan of the denim though so I put a slip cover on it. It was the slip cover from hell. It would move out of position any time someone sat down and I was VERY OCD about having it tucked in and looking somewhat presentable. Oh wait, I almost forgot to mention that the cover was practically torn to shreds from our little Sydney. Yes, the whole living room set was quite the ensemble. We sold both items on Craigslist before we left so our living room here in CA has been completely empty until today! Well I must be going now because I want to go home and enjoy my new living room.