Happy Saturday!!!!

First and foremost, it's my younger brother's 26th birthday today!!!

Also, Erik and I are long overdue, but finally going boating today with one of my bridesmaids and her boyfriend! Yay! Super excited, and posting pictures for sure later on!!! Almost two years ago I remember Erik asking me: should we stay in our lake town of Excelsior, MN and live in apartments forever and just buy a boat instead of a house?? ......It was a tough call. :)

I hope everyone has a beautiful and fun day!!! I am so thankful that people are actually reading about our life, and seem interested in returning, as we have over 700 views today! WOW! And I only started this blog about a week and a half ago!

there's no milk...

Food Wars (previous entry) is a battle that rages on!! Even until 9:40pm at night!! :)
Our fridge is empty as we wait for me to get paid tomorrow for the much needed grocery shopping that is weeks overdue. Erik is outside, blaring music in our garage and swearing at the 1970 Challenger he is working on for our good friends.
He tells me to just make him a bag of "Pasta Sides" for dinner. So I go fill a pot of water, pull out some supplies.........there's no milk. I go down to tell him. "I told you that we literally have NO FOOD in the house," I say, "what am I suppost to make?" Erik has no response.
Funny how it seems easy to just run up to the gas station and grab some milk, but it's too late. We're both tired and the day is nearing the end, and we're just not in the mood.

Haha, it's kind of amusing, but it will be resolved tomorrow.

Our options for dinner...

just some boring good news.

Remi's labwork came back today. The dog is completely normal! She has also been behaving herself...
Erik's mom called and then stopped over last night to take her for a walk, NICE!!! I think we might have a free walker! :)

Also...
Erik and I had a lengthy discussion last night, over a KFC and Arby's dinner, on changes we should make to diet and exercise. Haha. He told me that he wants me to prepare more meals, and he will eat whatever I make. Well we'll see how that goes. Usually when I cook, he adds 10x more cheese or sour cream, grabs a bag of Doritos for another "side", or he'll make something totally different on his own for another side. (Sigh)

it's me or the dog...

This morning I woke up to find the dog sleeping on the bathroom rug (strange), and two very large urine spots in the "dog's room". This is the one thing I DO NOT TOLERATE, especially in our new home. I tried to clean it up the best I could before work, but we had no pet carpet cleaner left. I put the dog in her kennel, and closed the door to her room to keep the cats out.
I called Erik on my way to work, furious, because those urine spots were dry so HE MUST have seen them and just left for work anyway. Erik denied that he saw anything, and the conversation was going no where, so that was that, and the tone was set for the day if you know what I mean.

After work, I went straight to PetsSmart and spend half of our much needed grocery money on pet carpet cleaner/odor eliminator, a new dog bed, and a bag of dog food (since she was totally out, but don't get me started on that either.) When I got home, Erik was cleaning the dog's room with the shop vac. I questioned him again about ignoring the spots this morning, but he still denied it, and denied it. The argument really escalated from everything that has been building up with the dog, and I angered myself to tears. So I put myself in "a time out" in our room and Erik left me alone until we talked about the dog's fate a couple hours later.


Remi's List Of Naughty Things (and to be added to...):
1. She now urinates in the house. The past 2-3 weeks we've had to throw out the rug by the back door, and her dog bed(s), and now clean the carpet.
2. When we used to try to use a gentle leader on her for walks, she would rub her face on the ground until her muzzle would bleed, then eventually she chewed up her gentle leader, so that was that.
3. She chewed up the sandals I got in Mexico, so I couldn't exactly go re-buy them.
4. She chewed a pair of Erik's really nice Born Sandals, and he wasn't too happy about that.
5. The worst thing she chewed was the footboard on our new bedset, and that was $70 to replace.
6. She chewed a computer wire/plug in of Erik's that was expensive.
7. She will SHREAD all dog toys (even your dog's toys!), the only kind we can buy her cost about $20.
8. The bones we buy to entertain her when we're gone during the day, she'll chew up and then reguritate later. That's always fun to clean up.
9. But if she's not entertained during the day, she over-grooms herself so her rear end and back legs are now balding.
10. Another serious thing that happened was last Thanksgiving day. We came home to find she had consumed an entire 30ct bottle of Erik's blood pressure medication. I induced her vomiting at home, and luckily she was ok.
11. We own three baby gates - because she used to be left out all day downstairs, until she started chewing up our kitchen area rugs, that cost us about $150, we had to replace the rugs 3 or 4 times.
12. Baby gates are also used in front of the office room door, because she eats the cat's food, drinks all their water, and gets into their litter box (enough said.) I've tried a certain medication for that to.
13. Another thing that started after this past winter: she has broke through multiple collars out on her tie-out outside. Then she runs away, and it always takes about 45 minutes to find her again. We have even been late to work because of this.
14. It's not her fault, but she has a disorder called Seasonal Flank Alopecia where she will lose hair and then regrow hair on her sides for the rest of her life, there's no cure, it's just cosmetic.
15. She's also part Pit Bull, so her reputation will always be against her.

Thanksgiving Day

A shredded ball

No more Gentle Leader

My sandals I got in Mexico!!

We argue about Remi a lot, and it's getting to the end of the rope. I do have a major concern with what people will think though, especially when I'm in the Veterinary field. "Way to adopt a younger dog, only to get rid of her a year later." For now tonight, the steam has blown off, and we've decided to give her a 16th chance, and I'm going to take her in for a Urinalysis and Bloodwork to see if there is something else going on.

food wars...

"We need to get back on the band wagon with eating healthier meals at home." I always say this to Erik. But especially in the past few weeks since we've gotten back from our North Shore trip, we haven't done any major grocery shopping.

I eat pretty healthy throughout the work day, and I pack a variety of things to bring with me from home, so I eat very little at night. 

Then it gets tricky because I get home from work about 2 hours before he gets home, so I either feed myself a little something, or if I wait for him, we end up eating dinner pretty late.

Erik doesn't eat much at all (if anything) during his work day, because he states that "time is money", so then he'll end up gorging himself at night. 

There's a lot of arguments over WHAT to eat and WHEN to eat it. It is quite ridiculous. Now that I'm thinking about it....it's nearly every day. That's kinda sad, we really should try harder. 

Even on the weekends: I like to eat breakfast, but he's never hungry until almost 2-3:00 in the afternoon.

Erik doesn't drink anything but his one beer of choice, pop, Redbull, or gatorade. He doesn't like fruits, many vegetables, or anything even remotely healthy, like sushi or yogurt. He's just a straight up steak and potatoes guy. He also lives for pizza, chinese food, and pastas.

It's a recipe for obesity LOL, and I just can't allow myself to eat like that.

It does get kind of frustrating. But at the same time I'm not going to tell him what to eat and when to eat it. I do know people that dictate that type of thing with their husbands, but I'm just not like that. I'm not going to treat him like a child and order him around. He gets what he wants at a restaurant or at the grocery store, but I don't allow bags of Reese's to just come home all the time, if you know what I mean.

We have compromised on a few things though, like turkey cheddar brats, rather then regular brats. I have also switched us to whole wheat pasta brands. We try to do the vegetable steam bags as sides, and he will eat a salad if I make it-but he won't eat a lot of cold vegetable mix-ins.

I would welcome any comments to this post, but for now our only solution is to buy separate things at the grocery store, and eat meals...for the most part, pretty separately. When we grill, that's the only time he can make what he wants, and make me what I want, at the same time. :)

One winter day I made Spinach & Steak Pinwheels with Rosemary Red Potatoes 

a quote from another blog

"Being happy doesn't mean everything is perfect. 
It means you have decided to look beyond the imperfections."

Shannon

At The Library for my birthday

Erik is friends with Kevin. They met at and both still work for Leighton's Garage. So I guess it's been 5-6 years now that I have known Shannon. I was in her wedding. It's kind of a funny story: when Kevin and Shannon announced their engagement, I jokingly told her that she BETTER put me in her wedding. Later, Erik told me I was going to be a bridesmaid before she even asked me. I don't think I believed it at first, but was overjoyed when she confirmed it. I think that was the first wedding I've been in.

In Duluth taking a boat tour

Shannon is always ready to party, which is funny, because upon first meeting her, she seems kinda shy. 

I also don't think she would fight with you if you tried, she's probably about the easiest person to get along with that I have ever met. Shannon's younger brother and sister are amazing, and her parents are very kind. I have to say though, that she has one Aunt (not posting names) that is seriously a 21 year old in an older ladies' body. She is a blast!!! You know who you are! :)

Shannon's Wedding Day!

At Shannon's bachelorette party

In Duluth at Pizza Luce

At the Leighton's Garage Christmas Party

Shannon is the type of friend that I don't see much of, but always want to! We always fall right back in to talking, like I was just with her yesterday. She is my partner in crime at Leighton's Garage Christmas Parties every year. I always look forward to it! Shannon, I'm sure you are following this blog, and I hope you know how much I value our friendship and I can only wish I look JUST LIKE this on my wedding day.........

Party Like a Rockstar

an actual wedding info update

There have been a lot of questions lately, so I wanted to address some...
At the end of this year, the plan is to send out our Christmas/New Year cards with formal invites - to the wedding party, close friends, and immediate family. The invites will be to our elopement/wedding ceremony, and will contain as much information as we can provide.
In our minds, this gives these certain people 1 year to save if they want to be there with us. I think this is more then smart and fair so that people are able to plan accordingly.
*Understandably, we are ALL on a budget these days*
We will be gone the week of 12/12/12 for 7-10 days. We would hope that people will entertain the idea of "going on vacation" and come share our Big Day with us, staying maybe 2 nights, 3 days - something like that. YES, it will be within the U.S., and YES it will only be at an all inclusive resort. NO, we do not know yet where this will be, we have been looking at many locations.
Then sometime right after the New Year we will have a normal reception celebration with a "wedding in the woods theme" somewhere in the Twin Cities.

Katelyn

This past year or more has been really difficult for me with feeling so detached from my 2 brothers during current (never ending) family issues. Especially when there is a wedding in our future, and I want both my brothers in it. 

I have cried so hard at times in recent months over my brothers. I've thought to myself in those moments that it was almost like a high school breakup, in that- the pain, the loss, and the heartache literally hurt so much, I felt like I could die. It's ridiculous how much I love my brothers, and how much I hold on for dear life when I am with them (though I never act like it or they would be creeped out LOL.) That sibling love was more apparent when they both seemed to choose a side in our family fighting. I was devastated, angry, and felt betrayed. Christmas of 2010 put me in such a depression, that I sought out group therapy on my own and went for quite a few months.

Currently, I am talking with the older of the two brothers, and thankfully, he has spent a lot of time with me (and Erik) and we've done a lot of pretty fun things recently. It means so much to me that we can spend some quality summer time together, he has no idea how much I value it. "Better one, then none" is what I tell everyone. 

Katelyn & I at the Engagement Party

But family drama really makes me wish that I had a sister, someone to break things up and throw a curve ball in. Sometimes I truly believe that if I had a sister, our sibling bond wouldn't be broken or mettled with no matter what was going on with the rest of the family. I feel like a sister would hear me out, know I was telling the truth about how things really went down, and would stand up in my defense. Not that she would choose sides, that's not what I want, but she would be my voice when I needed someone to step up and say, "no it didn't happen that way" or tell my parents "this isn't right and you know it."

Myself, Katelyn, and Erik in Duluth.

Katelyn, Me, and Erik

Thank god for sister in laws. She is amazing (she's for sure the SPOILED child) but amazing. She is so fun to be with, we are two peas in a pod. She's educated, has an awesome sense of style, and a really sarcastic humor. She's a little spit fire. That's a recipe for disaster for me ;)

I love spending time with her, it is so therapeutic for me to have a bond like this with her as my future sister in law. She knows me for me, she knows what kind of person I am. She always wants to be included, and she's excited to help plan our wedding. We love you!!

Best & First Wedding Gift Received

This is probably now one of our most prized possessions.
R.I.P Our dear friend Lexy

♫ the ring didn't mean a thing... ♫

This is just a goofy, stupid song from one of my guilty pleasures... Real Housewives of Atlanta.

Last year when we were ready to move from Excelsior, Erik asked me "do you want a house, or do you want a ring?" I said a house of course. 

August 13th of this year marks 7 years that we have been together, and you know what, by then you ARE married. It's funny how bad I wanted our engagement day to come after waiting for so long. Especially when the bitterness was creeping in, watching other friends get married and starting their families. But I was quick to realize that wearing this glittery thing on my left hand, really doesn't change anything. 

Guess what world: marriage is overrated. The hype of it left me about as soon as it came. One week I was diving into magazines and websites, and ideas, and plans....and then it just stopped. I cancelled appointments for venues, I cancelled our trip to the Wedding Expo.

It's not that I wasn't happy about it. I'm just a realist. 

1. I'm not rich, my family isn't rich, his family isn't rich, and this all costs money. And a lot of it at that. Erik and I just worked the last few years clearing our debt and saving our money to buy our first home, I AM NOT going to dive back in to living beyond our means, or charging anything. I am very proud to say that we don't charge anything, anymore, at all.

2. Another main reason my initial excitement died off so quickly, was the realization that Erik and I both have issues within both sides of our families...and a wedding is such that you need your family, you need help with everything that comes along with it. This is sure gonna be a trip.

I still have many single friends, and I want them and everyone else to know that getting that ring on your hand doesn't stop your arguing and fighting, it doesn't make your relationship any different then what it is now (he's not going to jump up and just start loading the dishwasher), and it doesn't resolve family drama, if anything, family drama only gets worse. A ring is not the end all, cure all.

The day we got engaged we kept it to ourselves and enjoyed our Valentine's Day plans, the next day is when we called our best friends, and some family...

FAMILY.

This is a tough word for me, it's a difficult pill to swallow, and it will soon be a topic of many future blog posts. Hell, it could very well be it's own blog, just wait!!

I didn't call my 2 younger brothers or my mom or my dad to tell them I was engaged. At that point, things with all of them were so far gone, I only wanted my phone calls to be reciprocated with happiness and excitement on the other end of the line. I didn't want my moment to be ruined. 

But I still look back on that day with a broken heart that I couldn't share that happy moment with my family. I can never get that day back. I secretly wanted the winds of gossip to carry to them, and have them call me, have all our issues be resolved, have them want to be apart of it all, wave the magic wand...

But in real life there is no magic wand.

In real life your dad calls you early one Saturday morning and leaves an angry, resentful message about how he's heard about the engagement and he's going to erase my number on his phone. This is the straw that breaks the camel's back... Thanks for not calling any of us. He states how I will never understand marriage, or his marriage for that matter. How I will "JUST NEVER GET IT". Will I just leave Erik when times get hard, because you don't just ditch a person. Oh- and thanks Erik for not asking his permission, etc. 

I kept that message on my phone, and I let a bunch of people listen to it, but eventually I deleted it, so I could never hear it again. I hadn't spoken to my dad in over a year, and that is the first contact I got. 

In closing this post, a ring doesn't bring families back together...

quiet morning up...

This is a ridiculous time to be awake (for me). But I am pretty excited about blogging, even though this has been around for a while and I JUST got on the bus.
...Another reason why I am most definitely not ready for kids. QUIET PEACEFUL MORNINGS to myself, on my own schedule.
Sleep is vital, for both of us. We both work hard and we stay pretty busy, so we are tired, all the time.
*I highly respect the friends that I have that do have children or are expecting*, but I go back and forth on whether or not it's really for me, or for us, for that matter.
I love my personal space, and I love my free time. We love to do whatever we want, when we want. I am also a person with little patience, as I get annoyed very easily...so no patience + a kid = Well you can only guess!! But we'll see. Erik doesn't particularly like kids, especially loud ones :) But he knows the Schmidt last name will die with him if he doesn't procreate, so there you go.

I may be nieve here, but it also annoys (haha) me that it seems that the second you have a kid, it consumes your life. No really, CONSUMES. I guess I have watched this manifest in different ways, but some people never take the time for themselves anymore, and you deserve to!! Some people NEVER get babysitters...why? Most friends and family are dying to take your kid for you, so go enjoy a date night for god's sake!! And yes, you CAN still go out with friends!!
It really bothers me when people say, "when I had my kid, my friends disappeared." Ahhhh, this goes BOTH WAYS. Enough said.

I do know a few people that keep it all pretty balanced: they are excellent parents, but they don't forget that their individuals to, as well as a couple. Nurture your kids, but nurture your relationship to.

Anyway, time for a shower before work. This certain post sounds a little....well you know what, I don't care what it sounds like. This is my soap box, and these are my feelings, so I'm not going to apologize or soften any of this around the edges. That's what a blog is for, being you.

The start of the beginning.

Hello family and friends!!
I am starting this blog to keep everyone updated on our thoughts and ideas to the count down of 12/12/12.
This is all we have really decided, the date :)
We got engaged on Valentine's Day <3
We are 90% sure that we are eloping for our ceremony and then coming back to throw a huge reception bash after the New Year. This blog will be real, emotional, and raw....it's our life!! So stay tuned!