I am Whole again

About once or twice a week during our im conversations my co-worker Kara says that she is walking down to Whole Foods for lunch and wishes that I could go with her. When I was working in San Francisco there was a Whole Foods only a block from our office and we would spend many a lunch at their salad bar or getting a yummy panini. A part of me was jealous because I wasn't getting to spend lunch with Kara but also a part of me was jealous because I wasn't getting to go to Whole Foods. Well, now I don't have to be as jealous anymore. Last Wednesday, Reno got their own Whole Foods. This way when Kara says that they are walking to Whole Foods, I can still be jealous about not getting to have lunch with them but I can (if I want) have Whole Foods for lunch. Unfortunately, it isn't within walking distance, but it really isn't that far away from me. So, now I am truly Whole again.

Can you feel it?

It's definitely summer, my favorite time of the year. This weekend really kicked off summer for me. I think because it is the start of my vacation, there was a BBQ for my friend Dawn's birthday, my friends Mike and Meghan were getting married and our friends Adam and Diana were in town from Seattle. What more could you ask for? Maybe some pictures, okay well don't worry I took tons of pictures in typical Sara fashion.

Meet Remy, Dawn and Steve's adorable new puppy.

So Friday night was the BBQ for Dawn's Birthday, who is obviously cool because her birthday is only 5 days from mine so we are like kindred spirits, well we are both Cancers and are finding out that we do have a lot in common. They also just got a new puppy, Remy, who is beyond adorable and loved having his picure taken. It mildly made me want a puppy but since Maggie is still not sleeping through the night consistently and she is over year old I quickly snapped out of that. I am sure I can go visit Remy whenever I want. There was a lot of people, more people than I know or that would show up for my birthday party but by the end of the night it was Adam, Diana, Brett, me, Kristie, Steve and Dawn so we played Boys versus Girls Cranium Kabooki on the Wii and no one should be surprised to find out that the girls won.

Brett and Kristie engaged in deep conversation about who knows what.

Adam and Diana enjoying the warm Reno evening.

Dawn blowing out the world's largest birthday candle.

Saturday morning we slept in as we were tired from the previous evenings happenings, we did our daily wii fit's exercises and got ready to go to Mike and Meghan's Big Fat Greek Wedding. Okay well nothing about it was really big or fat but it was definitely Greek. This was the first Greek wedding I have ever been to and it was a traditional Greek wedding and it was amazing. For those who have never been to a Greek wedding it is an experience of a lifetime. We had a blast.

Mike and Meghan during their first dance.

They served chocolate covered strawberries for dessert-yummy.

Brett and I at the reception...looking sharp I might say.

Dawn, me and Diana, looking mighty fine.

Steve, Dawn, Adam, Diana, me, Brett.....oh what a night

Now if we could just get those Welmerinks to move back to Reno a little faster we would all be living the dream, right Adam?

btw, Adam and Diana did a great recap of their visit to Reno as well as the BBQ and the wedding. I by no means think that one blog is better than the other and don't think anyone else would think that either :)

If you haven't noticed I have been playing around with Photoshop on some of my pictures....those would be the ones with my signature on them because well they definitely aren't coming out of the camera like that. Let me know what you think and if you have any tips you would like to share.

You're all a bunch of liars

Last night Jennifer, Travis, Brett and I went to dinner down in Carson City at Cookie and Murph's house. In usual fashion the food was great, the drinks were flowing, and the conversation was above par. We even had extra guests with Cookie and Murph's son and daughter-in-law and their two boys which resulted in all of us learning how to make ketchup bombs from their oldest boy. Let's just say it was ingenius and I hope I am never on the receiving end of one of these ketchup bombs. In traditional Murphy style we ended the night playing liars dice. If you've never had the joy of playing liars dice, you should. It's too much fun just remember you can lie about everything just don't cheat (right Travis). I didn't do too badly staying in the game right up until the end when it was just Murph and me, but the pressure was on and let's just say he knew it and I buckled. So, thats how I came this close to beating Murph at liars dice.

Murph in the middle of one of his great stories.

Brett contemplating his next move.

Cookie and Murph are retiring here within days and moving to Idaho, right next to Yellowstone, to live the dream of fishing every day for the rest of their lives. We can't wait to come up and visit them and learn how to fly fish and one of these times I am going to beat Murph at liars dice.

All I Want is Some Fresh Air

Since Monday morning the skies around Reno have been hazy and polluted with smoke from fires burning throughout Northern California. It makes it unbearable to go outside, open windows in the house or want to enjoy the summer weather. The picture above is from our patio looking out behind our house. It currently seems that there will be no end in sight and that we will have to put up with this smokey air throughout the weekend. I just want some fresh air around here for my vacation next week, is that so much to ask? Really it would be great for the fires to be out and for people's homes to not be at risk.

I guess its great that we just got the Wii Fit since we haven't been able to get out and go for our evening walks. Last night was Day #2 of our exercises and man did we really feel the hula hoop exercises. It's amazing what an exercise you can get from the Wii Fit, they even have a running exercise where you have to keep up with the person in front of you (a pace runner). So we'll see how it goes but I am definitely sore and impressed.

Look what I got

Last night I finally got my library card since moving back to Nevada. This is great for a multitude of reasons. It will cut down on my monthly book purchases at amazon.com and it will allow me to continue to pursue one of my lifetime goals of reading all the books on the top 100 list. Now, I am not the only one in my book club without a library card with the only option to purchase the book every month.

My favorite present of all

Like I said before I had a great birthday, although I wasn't looking forward to turning 27 or sharing my birthday (I can be quite the drama queen on occassion). It actually turned out to be one of my favorite birthdays ever. Brett did a great job on my present this year, an amazing job. He personally (without my help at all-I usually have to tell him what to get me) picked out this Roberto Coin "Tiny Treasures" necklace. It is exactly something I would pick out. I was so surprised and so touched. Brett is so wonderful to me and the best husband that I could ever ask for. I can never thank him for how wonderful he is to me but I look forward to spending the rest of my life with him and trying to thank him properly.

Wii Fit or more appropriately known around here as the Wii Fat

For my birthday my parents along with Brett pitched in and bought me a Wii Fit. I have been wanting one ever since I heard about them back in January. So, when Brett came home with the Wii Fit today I couldn't be more excited. It didn't take too long to set-up and within minutes we were testing our weight, BMI, our balance and our Wii age. We won't be sharing that information with you or we would have to kill you. Until Brett and I spend more time with it, our mii's are fat, so we will be affectionately calling it our Wii Fat. Not kidding, so you won't see any pictures of us hula hooping or partaking in our wii fit. You definitely won't see a video like this. It is great motivation for us because about a month ago both Brett and I decided that we wanted to get into shape, lose weight and become more active. We have definitely been eating better but finding time to fit exercise into our schedule has been difficult. At least this way we can have fun with it and get a good laugh while doing it. Seriously, its funny watching Brett hula hoop or watching me hit soccer balls with my head while making sure not to get hit by soccer cleats or panda heads (seriously wtf?).

So, watch out for updates and let me know if any of you out there have a Wii fit and what you think of it.

What a Weekend

This weekend left us exhausted, tired, rundown, wornout, spent, drained. It was a great weekend but between family, wedding, and the soul draining heat there was nothing left when we got home from the airport Sunday night. Yesterday was spent going through the motions and just trying to not fall asleep. So alas, I didn't post a blog yesterday.

But, here are some pictures from the weekend, I do need to give a big thanks to Brett who took a lot of pictures for me at the wedding since I wasn't able to while being in the wedding. He did a great job.


So the wedding preparations started with us getting our nails done:


Then our hair, I think this is the biggest Jennifer's hair has ever been.

Kenna, doing it right, drinking while getting your hair done.


Then we moved onto the rehearsal, where Julianna and Rebecca posed for pictures.


At the rehearsal dinner, Jennifer and her two dates; Jamie and Travis.

The happy couple, Kenna and Jerry.


Brett and me and the rehearsal dinner, we clean up nicely don't you think?

Now onto the ceremony, which took place on Saturday, June 21st at 7:00pm. Kenna, happy as always. I think that look is a mix between giggling and holding back tears.

The minister asking both Julianna and Rebecca if it was okay for their dad and Kenna to be getting married, Rebecca responded with a thumbs up.

Mr. and Mrs. Hall, a rare photo with Jerry smiling. Kenna is always smiling.

The sisters....although our last names are changing we will always be Smith girls.


The cake, was as delicious as it was beautiful. I don't know why Kenna didn't go with the ball and chain wedding topper(the prison theme wedding-remember) that I suggested.

Brett and I showing off our dance moves outside near the end of the reception- don't hate!

Okay serious photo..Saturday was not only Kenna's wedding but my birthday as well. It was great, everyone sang me Happy Birthday after my matron of honor speech and Kenna arranged it so that Brett and I could dance to our first song, Dido's "Thank You". I really had a great time and it was a memorable birthday.

This is what the weekend ended up doing to Brett Sunday afternoon.

It was great being in Las Vegas and seeing family and friends, but we were glad to leave the heat and be back home.

Congratulations Kenna and Jerry!!!!

It's official

I'M SICK

Okay I know what you are all thinking, not mentally, physically. I just got back from the doctor and I have strep throat. Yesterday morning I woke up with a sore throat, I attributed it to the arctic conditions that Brett and I like to sleep in but as the day drug on I just got worse. I flew in to Las Vegas late last night and realized that I must really be sick because mid-sleep I yelled at the teenager behind me for screwing around with the back of my chair (I wouldn't normally do that right?). When I woke up this morning and couldn't swallow I decided that I should maybe go to the doctor, so I went to my parent's doctor in Las Vegas. He took one look at my throat made a quick diagnosis, two shots in my butt and a prescription later I am on my way home. The real bummer is that because I am on antibiotics I am not allowed to drink all weekend, for 5 days to be exact. Well that wouldn't normally be an issue but.....

it is my sisters wedding and my birthday this weekend. So let the fun begin. At least my husband has a designated driver all weekend.

Viva Las Vegas

I am off to Las Vegas otherwise known as the Entertainment Capital of the World or as it is also refer to as Sin City.

Here are some things that Wikipedia.org would like you to know that Las Vegas, Nevada is famous for:

• Massive and lavish casino resorts


• Unrestricted availability of alcoholic beverages (although it states that this is true throughout Nevada)


• Adult Entertainment

Wikipedia also wants us to think that Las Vegas is sometimes referred to as Hawaii's Ninth Island? Neither did I? I guess it has something to do with there being an ABC Store in Las Vegas. Don't worry I don't think anyone did.

BUT Las Vegas will be where my baby sister (although no longer a baby) will be getting married this weekend on Saturday. I know you are all picturing a wedding chapel and Elvis and as much fun as that would be- she is not getting married in a 24 hour/7 days a week chapel. She is having a traditional wedding, yes people do that in Las Vegas. Although I will be sweating my ass off- since me and 100 degree weather do not agree- I am so excited to be seeing my sister getting married.

I am off to Las Vegas now and Brett will be joining me on Friday, I am not sure about the availability of internet access-strange huh or my amount of free time between wedding festivities and periods when I am not drunk or hungover to post about my weekend but don't worry there will be a great recap on Monday at the latest.

He's kind of a big deal

So today Brett made the largest presentation of his life, so far, in front of a about a 100 of his peers regarding his current professional endeavor or some would say passion. He has been preparing for this for the last couple of weeks and when he was approached about making the presentation it wasn't supposed to be such a big deal. It was just a lunch presentation in front of about 25-30 people but word spread and all of a sudden, there were 80 tickets sold and they had to move into a larger room. The topic was hot and the presenter hotter, okay well at least I would like to think so. I have never been more proud of Brett as I was today sitting in the audience watching all these people listening to him in awe and laughing at the appropriate times, asking questions and hanging on his every word. It was amazing and I was so glad that I was able to be there.

Happy Birthday Jerry!

This is a big week for you, today is your birthday and Saturday you are getting married to my youngest sister. Since there are no brothers in my family to properly threaten you to take care of her right, consider yourself threatened. Truthfully, I am so excited about you (and your girls) becoming part of our family and Kenna couldn't have asked for anyone better so I am not sure you need to be threatened.

I know that I could probably use a more recent picture but I just love this one from Kenna's 21st birthday weekend, that was the largest hamburger I have ever seen! Have a great birthday and I will see you this weekend.

Sammy and Maggie's Haircut

If you can all remember at the end of May I was talking about how Sammy and Maggie were in dire of need of baths and haircuts. It was bad, well lets just say they were really overdue and I was a bad dog mom, which is why I didn't get a nod on the blog for Mother's Day. I don't usually get their hair cut this short but because it was such a mess I was forced to get them both buzzed. There's a part of me that thinks that they were really enjoying how cool it is making them and then there is a part of me that thinks if they only knew how short it was. For a couple days afterwards Sammy was staring a Maggie like she looked pretty ridiculous if he only knew he had the same haircut. Hey at least it isn't winter and they aren't freezing. The plus side it does make them both look like puppies. If I wasn't already feeling guilty when I was leaving the groomers, she gave me a magnet and said, "This way you won't have to look for our number when you need to call in 4 weeks to get them groomed again". OUCH- okay I get it!

To really notice the difference take the time to look at the post from May 30th, seriously it like completely different dogs. I do feel bad taking this last picture cause they are looking up at me like I was going to give them a treat, although they look at us like that all the time-like we should always be giving them food.

Happy Fathers Day!!!!!

To my dad, only 27 years ago I was being born on fathers day, which was the best father's day present ever:

To Brett's dad and my father-in-law, we know you are having a fantastic time in Italy and you deserve it as you are a wonderful dad we are just super jealous :

To Jamie, the father of our nephew, Aidan, we couldn't have asked for a better nephew-THANKS!:

To Jerry, who will be my brother-in-law (on Saturday), welcome to the family:

To Nathan, the father of my gorgeous niece Bridget:

To Brett, who is the best Dog Dad Ever, who gets up in the middle of the night and early in the morning to let the dogs out and would do anything for them. Both Sammy and Maggie love him so much and he will be a great father when we decide to add to our family and have some human kids.

With great blogging comes great responsibility

We are still here, we haven't abandoned the blog, we promise!!! We were on such a streak there and then all of a sudden we hit a wall at the beginning of June. Thankfully Brett did his one post of every six months, but I have been so swamped at work that the thought of blogging or being creative made my brain hurt. I also spent all of last week in Boston for work, the show went well, I had a fantastic time but and there were perfect opportunities to take pictures but I left my camera at home, so no blogging although I didn't even have much time to blog. We're back and ready to pay attention to the blog. Even though things aren't necessarily slowing down, Brett is giving a huge presentation for work on Wednesday, my youngest sisters is getting married in 6 days, we have another wedding the weekend after that, its summer so there are bbqs and friends and we just have to get out of the house-you know what I mean. Oh yah did I mention that I am turning 27 next weekend, so I am having to adjust to that, and I am not doing so well. Anyways, don't worry there will be tons of posts within the next couple of weeks and again I apologize for the lull and lack of attention to our dear readers, all three of you guys.

A dimension of slacks, a dimension of shirts...

So I have almost crossed one of my life's ambitions off my list, and that is to watch every episode ever made of the Twilight Zone. And by "life's ambition", I mean "something I decided to do around Thanksgiving", and thanks to TiVo and the Sci Fi Channel, I've managed to hit 143 of the 156 episodes in the last 6+ months.

I usually watch the TiVo'd episodes about 7:30 in the morning while ironing my clothes for the day and waiting for my toast to be done, which I'm sure is the best mindset to really experience the eerie nature of the shows, and probably exactly how Rod Serling imagined they'd be viewed. But at the same time, there are far too many episodes about inept guardian angels to be consistently hair-raising.

So how will my life have improved after having watched every single episode? Glad you asked.

#1) From now on, when I'm riding Tower of Terror at California Disney with someone, I can point to all the display props and say "I know what THAT'S from" in a pompous tone of voice.

#2) There is no second thing. #1 is about it.