+ A Practical Wedding by Meg Keene has been incredibly helpful as I dive into wedding planning. I want a beautiful ceremony/reception surrounded by people we love. I want memories to treasure not insanity or unhappiness. This book, and the blog which inspired it, are helping me keep my mind.

+ Disney's Beauty and the Beast is as wonderful as I remember it. WG and I took my junior bridesmaids (4 & 6 years old) to see this in 3D a few weeks ago. The 3D didn't matter. The girls loved the story and I think the 6 year old has a new favorite princess.  I'm so happy I got to share one of my favorite fairy tales with them.

+ Smash is a tv series exploring the (fictional) making of a Broadway musical. The pilot is shiny, pretty and made for theatre geeks. Plus, there's Christian Borle! ♥ ♥ I'm looking forward to the story they want to tell. I just wish it had a different time slot. Mondays at 10 are already busy with Castle and Hawaii Five-0.

+ Les Miserables, the movie musical hits theaters this December. The 25th Anniversary Tour is Florida right now. WG is taking me to see it this Sunday.  It will be my seventh time seeing the show and WG's first.  I'm looking forward to seeing this show as I know there have been changes to sets and instrumentation.     

+ My iPhone is wonderful for me.  I don't have delusions about it.  I don't think Apple is the be all and end all when it comes to tech.  (I'm a PC girl!)  I just knew that when I upgraded I wanted a combination of my cell phone and my iPod Touch.  That's what I have now.  I can call, text, email, surf the net, listen to music, stream Netflix and read books on the Kindle or Nook apps with or without wifi.  I'm a happy girl.   

+ Little Miss Niece!  Tiny, adorable, perfect and any other adjective used to describe a beautiful baby girl.

+ Autumn!  Summer is almost over and I'm looking forward to my favorite time of year. There's my birthday, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and eventually, cooler weather!

+ Reading!  I'm rereading Murder At Longbourn and Murder On the Bride's Side while I wait for the release of Tracy Kiely's newest mystery, Murder Most Persuasive (August 30th!). Inspired by the novels of Jane Austen, these mysteries have a bit of Agatha Christie and a dash of early Hitchcock (think The 39 Steps and The Lady Vanishes) to them.

+ Food!  These grilled nachos look delicious.  I won't be standing in the grocery store tonight thinking, "What am I going to make for dinner tonight."  I just need to grab the ingredients and maybe some sangria.  

+ The Muppets!  Their new movie looks like just what I wanted and their newest music release, The Green Album can be heard in its entirety here (Yay NPR!)    

"Happiness is morning and evening,
Daytime and nighttime too.
For happiness is anyone and anything at all
That's loved by you." -The Peanuts Gang

I'm happier now than I've been in years.

My sister-in-law last night, "Your boyfriend is a keeper."

She's totally right.

Best. Valentine's Day. Ever.

It wasn't what I received, it was the realization that I'm just that happy when I'm with him.

Plus, he brought my mom flowers last night. ♥ ♥ ♥

Moving has made the commute to work longer. I used to get up at 6 am. Now I'm getting up at 5. It's amazing what a difference an hour can make.  Blah.

I planned to spend today, my day off, exploring the new neighborhood with the dogs.  That's not happening because an adoption counselor was needed for the shelter's annual holiday outreach program.  It's work, right?  

I was going to be in bed at 7 am this morning. Instead I'm sitting in the Starbucks down the street from the shelter's outreach location. At least there's coffee and free wifi.

I should spend this time working on a church project. The church website needs an update and I really need to give the congregation a missions report.  If nothing else, I need to update them on events in Sudan.

Instead I'm watching this fabulous Harry Potter vid. OneRepublic's "Marchin On" makes a great soundtrack for the HP characters and this vid is incredibly well done.

We're moving in a few weeks.  It's just to the next town and all the pets are going with us.  I could go into all the messy details, but I won't.  Things are working out.  That's what matters now.