Meet Sven!

Yep. That's a thing that happened last weekend.
Sven is (another!) DRNA rescue that was calling my name. He, like Lucy, came from Dachshund Rescue of North America and was staying in a foster home in Buffalo Grove, Illinois. (Lucy was in Ohio)
He is about 2, scruffy, and I think only part doxie. Which is fine with us. He is still long, and pretty low, but he is taller than his brother and sister and has weird ears that don't flap quite like theirs do when he shakes his head (and slap momma in the face!)
Sven rode home with me on an airplane and we have had him home for about a week now and so far so good. Oscar was a bit snippy the first few days, but he seems to have calmed down a bit and we have caught them all three playing together!
More on Sven and the rest of the "kids," later. I have yet to finish putting up our Christmas tree with 4 days to go...so I had better get on it!

10 on Tuesday...

For 10 on Tuesday this week I wanted to post 10 Christmas activities we will try and accomplish this year. a sort of "Christmas time bucket list," if you will.
I try and make one every season so that we don't forget anything! Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. This year is busy, so we will see...

1. Decorations. This is the first Christmas in the new house, so my decoration plan from last year may or may not work As well. There is a lot more house this time, and a lot of rooms are still a hot mess...boxes and junk in them. But what I feel like are "must haves," are the two trees...
We have one large, seven footer, that houses all of our family ornaments, ornaments from trips, ornaments from my childhood. Etc. The other is the dog tree. It is only about four feet and holds all the doxie ornament. Yes. There are enough for an entire tree.
Christmas "Village." I'm not a huge fan of the little ceramic, light up houses. I want to do something a little more like our good friends, Stephan and Mary...who have an entire lego Christmas village! We started with the K'nex Ferris wheel and it looks awesome!!
Stockings, some outdoor lighting, Christmas card display, and possibly a 3rd tree. Haven't decided on the theme of that one yet. Maybe a color scheme...turquoise and black?? Or maybe a themed tree. Like skulls, or action figures/Legos.

2. Christmas town at Busch Gardens. Went last year, it rocked!

3. ICE at the Gaylord hotel at National Harbor. That was Christopher and I's first date...like not hang out at the Komar's house, but real, go somewhere, date... believe it or not! He came with all 3 kids and their parents. I knew he was a keeper after that!!

4. Send out Christmas cards BEFORE Christmas! Last year I put them in the mail on Christmas Eve. Slacker.

5. Baking. Baking. More baking! I'd like to have either a baking party with friends and co workers, or maybe a cookie exchange! Either one would be fun!

6. "Family" photo with Santa with all the dogs! And/or take Jackson to see Santa at fair oaks mall, because supposedly, Santa's whole area this year is done up like Elsa's ice palace from frozen!

7. Handmade ornaments/gifts for family and select friends. Started these a few weeks ago. I also want to handmade a tree skirt for my big tree.

8. Ugly Christmas sweater party! Christopher and I first MET at one of these. We hosted it last year, but I think the Komar's are going to be doing it this year and I'll help Gioia with games/prizes/food, etc

9. Briner family Christmas Eve traditional Chinese food. Love. Love. Love.

10. Get a new dog. Say what?? Whomp whomp. More on this soon.

Happy December, everyone!!

'Ello!

Hell 'ello there!
Number one...I got my laptop fixed. So I can pot legit pics now and actually finish the 25 blog posts that I have sitting, done...with no photos.
Number two...it's almost Turkey day. Which is basically almost Christmas. Time to make the holiday bucket list!
Number three...life is nuts. I love my new job, but I'm tired, y'all. Also we are getting a new dog and hosting a few parties I'm the next few months. Hang in there and bare with me!!

Soon to be Mrs....

So today was a day that I have been looking forward to for a long time!
My "baby," sisters bridal shower!
She's only been engaged since April. But I've known for-ev-er that she and Joshua were going to get married some day.
And that I'd obviously be her maid of honor (obviously!) and since party planning is my jam, I knew I'd most likely be the one throwing/hosting this shindig.
I'll be super honest, I'm exhausted right now. So this post won't be very long. I'll post at a later time about more of the details and definitely more photos.

A had some easy finger foods, desserts, and wine. Lots of wine.
I didn't go all out on the food because it was 2pm, so it's not lunch and its too early for an evening meal...so just snacks. And wine. Lots of wine. Lol.
My mom and my best friends helped with food. And Joshua's grandma made the cake.

I did some basic decorating. A cute sign out front, a few garlands and paper lanterns, and pretty table cloths, plates, silverware, etc.

I made the favors and prizes for the games. More on those later.

I had a henna artist come and do traditional mendhi designs on anyone who wanted them. My sister Erin, best friend Gioia, and dear friend Mary all got awesome hand pieces done! Some others got cute things on their wrists and arms. Me?
I had to do my shoulder because my work has a very strict no tattoo policy and I'm sure they wouldn't like this. Also I wash my hands 500,897 times a day...so it just made sense to do it up there so that it would stay longer!

We played just one game, because Hannah didn't want anything at all cheesy or awkward. She also hates to be the center of attention...which is kinda hard when you are the bride, but I tried.


Then we opened gifts and drank more wine. It was very low key and fun and I think everyone had a good time.

But like I said, I'm effing exhausted and I'm going to end this here. I will post most pics and details of what all I made, etc later.

Ill close this with a classic Briner girl photo. We really don't take good pictures, so we just eff it up on purpose. That's how we roll.

Goodnight!

Guilty as charged...

Text from a former coworker who lives near my house: Are you outside at 7am, spray painting something in your underwear?
Um. Me? No! Never.
Ok...guilty.

 Happy Friday!

10 on Tuesday...this week is weird...already...

I'm tired. I feel like it must be at least Thursday...but no. Nope. Definitely not.
Still Tuesday.
This week, well the last few days, have been really weird. Just strange things happening. Kinda bad stuff. Nothing life shattering. Just weird.
So my
10 on Tuesday is a list of weird things that have been going on.
Enjoy. And here's hoping that by writing this, I'm not jinxing myself to something weirder.

1. I've been in the medical field a long time. Since I was 16 and in EMT class. So 14 years. I'm no rookie ladies and gentleman. I've seen a lot of things that would make most people's stomach turn. All in a days works I suppose.
Well this week I saw something I've only heard about on those crazy "I survived..." Type TV shows. Flesh eating bacteria. The struggle is real, folks. This guy got a small cut in between his big toe and the next one and nearly lost his whole leg, and died! They cut the flesh away all the way to the bones and tendons in his whole foot. Then took a big chunk if thigh meat and replaced it. Ew. I can't even. It takes a lot to make me say ew, and I'll say it again...ew.

2. Three girls I know, from all different walks of life, lost their babies this week. Miscarriages. It's a hella sensitive subject so I won't go into detail. But THREE...in one week.

3. The moon has been so bright at night it wakes me up shining in the window. Maybe it's because the curtain fell down in our bedroom. But damn. I don't ever remember the moon being SO freakin bright! Maybe that's why everything around me is batshit.

4. My head...it doesn't hurt. That's just effing weird. Not that I don't welcome this change. Because I've got another issue going on now, but yeah. No headaches for about a week now.

5. My mom smashed her truck all up. She's ok. But her Highlander, not so much. Totally random and out of the blue this big SUV full of kids smashed into her. I can't ever remember my momma even being in a fender bender.

6. Oscar has never been a huge fan of thunder storms. He is ok if you are with him though. He just sits in my lap and everything's fine. No more. This week he has lost his shit every time we got a single clap of thunder. Crying, shaking, pacing. The whole nine yards. My poor boy. We got him a thunder shirt and I'm going to trying tonight, it didn't do shit for Lucy when she was having bad anxiety but they've been helpful for some of Hannah's dogs. At home and at the shelter.

7. I won a raffle at work and got a $25 gift card to Shell for gas. Now I'm in no way complaining about this. It's just weird. I never win anything. We are doing a food drive. For every 5 items you bring in, they put a ticket with your name in it in a drawing. I've been bringing food since I started there, and they draw weekly and nothin. Ill take it though. Woop woop.

8. I finished making, stuffed. Addressed and sent my baby sisters wedding invitations. She's just a baby! Er, she might have turned 25 over night. November 1 is coming SOO quickly ya'll!

9. The last two nights I've woken up out of a deep sleep and swore I heard one of Oscars pigs squeaking. Both dogs were fast asleep and Christopher was next to me. I don't know if I'm dreaming about squeaky pigs, or some spirit is in my house randomly squeaking them. If that's the case, I wish it would do something more useful, like clean the bathrooms.

10. All of this being said. I love my life. I have an amazing family and boyfriend. The perfect dogs. A beautiful home. A car that gets me from point A to point B reliably. Food in my belly. Clothes on my back. Life is good. Just weird.

so...it's been a while.

As I've said before, blogging on my ipad is near impossible. Especially for anything longer than a few lines and/or with pictures.
And that's my excuse.
I got a new job, actually...I got TWO new jobs in the last month. On August 4 I started at the GI office doing procedure scheduling.
It was ok. I didn't love it though. I did little to no clinical things, and the money wasn't really what I had expected.
I worked there two weeks when I got a call from another place, which I had applied and interviewed for back in June. I really thought I was a shoe-in for that job and was bummed when the nurse manager called and told me that they had chosen someone else because she had ortho experience.
Well. I went back in, spoke with the nurse manager and the physician who needed a new MA and boom! She hired me for her pain management docs, instead of the orthopedic docs.
I had previous worked for a pain doc/center...so I was familiar with things and it sounded perfect for me.
I started there on this past Monday. And I love it.
It's very close to home, the doctors and the rest of the staff are fantastic, and the money ain't too shabby either ;)
So, I've been busy learning everything there is to know about my new job, as well as resigning and wrapping up my old job, making Hannah and Joshua's invitations, and trying to maintain some kind if order in this house.
The struggle is real, guys. Laundry is a bitch, and our dishwasher is broken...so please don't stop by unannounced! Haha. You'll be in for a surprise! It's like something straight it of a "Hoarders," episode!
The dogs have been good. I can tell they miss me, but it's so much more enjoyable to spend time with them in the evenings when I have been away from them all day. It makes my patience seem a little stronger, and they get on my nerves a lot less.
Here are just a couple pics from the last few weeks. Nothing too exciting.