Recession, Recession, Recession...

After watching Obama's speech last night, I am more worried than ever. Yes, we will find a way, and Yes, we will emerge from this recession, but when. Everyday I check CNN.com to see if the recession has ended. Call me crazy, but I am hopefully waiting that one day a message will appear on the website and say "Recession is over....every one gets their job back!!" Because of this recession, it is putting finical woes on my friends, family members, and my fiance and I. We don't know how we will afford school, or if Ben will find a job after he graduates. This couldn't be a worser time to graduate. Even though the job market is still there, companies are being picky in their graduation choices. Money is the root of all evil. A wise man once said "If you always worry about money, you will never get anywhere in life." Money problems will always be there, not having enough, will always haunt a person. There is never enough. We as americans are greedy. Since when did 1 million dollars become not enough? Ben and I, we worry about financing our wedding, our college career, finding jobs, buying a house, getting a loan for our house, starting a family. These things worry us and will probably always worry us, but we are determined to work through it. Isn't that what a good marriage is all about?

Yeah for Wedding!!

So I officially booked the reception hall and the church for our wedding!! Ben and I are really excited for it!! We decided on a date.....June 19, 2010!! Both the church and the reception hall are open....so I grabbed it up!!  Now we just have to focus on all of the other things...party favors, music, cake, music, wedding dress...and the list goes on and on and on and on..... 

Holy Moly!

Wow....is it monday ALREADY??  Holy Cow...where did the weekend go?? I went home to St. louis over the weekend to look at Orlando Gardens and to my surprise, I really like it!! I think that is the banquet hall that Ben and I are going to go with. We checked ont he church today and well...we are back to our original date of June 19, 2010. It must be fate. We originally wanted June 19 but then we got to thinking and we decided on June 12.....well that was booked!! So we then decided on June 5th....BOOKED AGAIN!!! So the only date open in june is.......June 19th!! We are excited anyways!! THe date doesn't REALLY matter...what really matters is that we are Happy!!  This wedding planning stuff is already starting to stress me out. Ben told me that if I had $30,000 then I could hire someone else to do this for me. Does anyone have $30,000 that I can borrow?? I think that once I have the reception hall and the church booked....I will take a rest for a bit. Anyways.....everything is good over here in good ol' Indiana!! Teddy and Bella are getting along great!! She sits on top of Teddy while he is chewing on his bone. It's cute!! Bella and I start puppy classes in 2 weeks. I can't wait till I can get her to sit on her own. Bella's potty training is going ok. She keeps going to the bathroom in her crate so I had to move the partition of the crate closer so she won't go to the bathroom in her crate. But other than that....everything is just GREAT!! Well I gots to go and study for my stupid midterm that is tomorrow!! Hope everyone had a great night and stay warm!!

Where did this weekend go?

I've got a case of the monday's!! Why does it seem that monday thru friday go very slow, but once the weekend hits...bam....you blink and the weekend is gone! Sorry it's been since friday since I have written in my blog. Stuff's gotten crazy!!! Let's see....Valentine's day was a no go for ben and I. We (well mainly HE) decided that the engagement proposal made up for our anniversary and also for Valentine's Day. It's alright...Valentine's day is over rated!! (Can we say bitter... party of 1?) Anyways, I am already starting to plan the wedding. Ben and I decided on JUne 12, 2010 for our wedding date. I never knew how much there was to planning a wedding...now I know why women hire wedding planners to do it for them!! I am going home this coming weekend to look at banquet halls with my mom and maid of honor. Ben and I are also looking at churches but man...they are soooo expensive!!! We were looking at sacred heart in valley park but they cost $400 just to RENT the church!! And they get to keep all of the flowers that we bring into the church. Not fair!! That is too expensive when you are living on a college budget. Ben and I are going to try and throw this wedding for under $10,000. We also have a big guest list because both of our families are big and we have quite a few Purdue friends as well (Boiler Up!!). We figure we will start trimming the list once it gets closer to the wedding. Poor ben...he doesn't like any of this wedding planning stuff and I keep asking him for his opinion about things. He is being a good sport...besides our little tiffs here and there about stupid things like what flowers to have!! I'm a pretty easy going "bride" and I won't be "one of those" who has to have every detail in order. Ben broke me of that habit about 5 years ago. I used to be a person where everything had to be perfect and it was the end of the world if plans changed. Now I just go with the flow!!

Well good news about Bella!! She slept through the night!!! It may not mean much to you but for me...I'm going on about 5 hours of sleep every single day since we have gotten her. We put her in our room and she actually slept through the night. Two nights ago she woke up around 4:00 a.m. because she needed to be let out...but last night it was great!! I finally have gotten a good 8 hours of sleep!! If you can't tell..I'm REALLY excited!! I value my sleep highly and getting 8 hours is a miracle!! We got Bella a new crate because she was sleeping in teddy's old crate with a pillow put in the back of it. But I soon realized that she was going to the bathroom in the front of the crate and climbing over the pillow and sleeping in the back. So after she ruined her bedding, I took a journey to Petsmart and bought a wire crate WITH a divider! Well it turns out that all that crying she was doing in her old crate was because she couldn't see anybody out of the little hole in her crate. But when we put her in her wire crate, she could see EVERYBODY and she won't cry anymore. Sometimes she will fuss a little but thats because she wants attention.  It's so exciting to have another dog who loves their crate!! Teddy absolutely LOVES his crate!! I've never felt prouder as a puppy mom knowing that my dogs love their crates!! Well breakfast is calling my name and stomach and I can smell my yummy coffee that I have a brewin'....Wish me lick with the banquet hall search and luck so that I don't get too stressed out with all this wedding stuff!! Only 481 days till the wedding!! Have a great day everyone!!

TGIF!!!

Is anybody else afraid to go outside today?? If you haven't looked at a calendar yet, today IS friday the 13th!! How did we ever come to this suspicion that friday the 13th is such a bad day. You know what....because of that...today I am going to have the best day ever and prove to the "friday the 13th" gods that it is nothing but a myth. I hope everyone is having a great friday. Is it me or does it seem like this week has flown by!!! Tomorrow is valentine's day!! This year I am not as excited for it as I usually was. Since money has been tight this year, I can't seem to slap down $4.99 for a valentine's day card. That's ridiculous to pay that much money for a piece of a cut up tree. Think about it....you spend $4.99 on a card...you give it to your significant other, they read it, you hug and kiss...and then the card either ends up in your memory box or in the trash. What a waste of 5 bucks!! In my world...5 bucks can buy you so much (but thats just the college life I live)!! It can buy 31 packs of ramen noodles or 5 boxes of mac and cheese, or 4 loaves of bread. When it comes to the choice of whether to eat for the week or buying a piece of paper that is just going to go into the trash...I would rather eat!! Besides...I have already gotten the best Valentine's Day gift ever....my engagement to Ben!!! 

Ben and I decided that this weekend we are going to pick our wedding date!! YEAH!!! I'm so excited!! We are picking 3 dates and based on whichever is the cheapest is when we are going to get married. I can't believe that...Married!!! You know, it hasn't hit me yet that we are engaged. It probably won't hit me until I try on my wedding dress. Oh I'm so excited though!! Ok well I hope everyone has a great Friday and try not to cross any black cats or walk under any ladders today!! Wishing you all LUCK today!!! Cheers!!

Happy Wednesday!!

Happy Hump Day Everyone!! I can't believe it's wednesday already!! Where has this week gone to? Everything is great here at the Dannan-Ward household!! Bella is doing great with potty training. I am happy to announce that she slept through the night last night!! Woo Hoo!!! She slept from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m.. I FINALLY got a good 6 hours of sleep! Teddy is having problems dealing with the little one. Ever since we got Bella, Teddy had been acting out and he has started to go to the bathroom in the house. I had to revert back to crating him when I leave because of him going to the bathroom in the house. THis is normal for the older dogs to be jealous of the little one so they act out. Yesterday teddy and bella got into a fight over a piece of cheese. Well it was basically teddy growling and snapping and nipping at Bella because he wanted the cheese. I swear to you, it's like having two little children who fight over anything. He is getting used to playing with her. This morning he was playing very nice with her, letting her jump all over him. It was very cute!! Well the engagement is going great!! I still can't believe that Ben and I are engaged!! It all feels like a dream. Yesterday I had to get my ring resized and I had to give my ring up for about 6 hours. It was hard!! But all in all....I got my ring back and it now fits on my tiny fingers!! Ben and I have decided not to plan anything till he graduates in may but I still can't help but read up on weddings and how to plan them....man are we in for some stress!! I'm am thinking Vegas or the beach is lookin' good right about now. I don't want a really big wedding but Ben does. The only thing that we are worried about is money. We both are still in school, we don't have jobs, and our parents have their own bills to pay for. That is why VEGAS is looking REALLY good!!! Anyways, I'm sure we will figure it out!! We decided instead of registering  for wedding gifts...we are going to register for our honeymoon!! Wow...I can't believe that I said Honeymoon!!! This is too great!! Well I'm off to go further my education!!  I'll leave you with a wonderful quote by Randy Pausch : Don't Complain, just work harder!! 

Engaged!!

Yes, it's true...Ben and I are finally engaged!!! I am so excited!!! We must have told the story of how he did like a million times already so for all those who don't about how Ben popped that MAGIC question, here is the story....

Ben and I went up to chicago last weekend. He surprised me by taking me out to dinner. I didn't know where we were going at first and that was so exciting!! We ended up going on a dinner cruise along Chicago's skyline. We boarded the boat and sat down and were served a wonderful 4 course meal that was delicious!! Well...I didn't get to taste any of it because boats and me don't mix...but thats a story for a later date!! All throughout me not feeling well, Ben kept insisting that I try the dessert. I told him that I didn't want ANY dessert but he kept insisting so I finally gave in and sat down for dessert. Little did I know that my life was about to change!! During dessert Ben excused himself to go to the bathroom. I didn't think anything of it. Oh by the way, we went with another couple, Nick and Kimi, to dinner...that detail is important since they are accomplishes to the whole proposal thing. Right after Ben got up to excuse himself, Nick said that he was going to wander throughout the ship and take pictures...again I am not suspecting anything at this point...I was more concerned with not throwing up that I was with the boys excusing themselves from the table. After about 5 minutes our waitress delivered a rose to me. On the rose it had a note that said "Past." I was confused!! After about a couple of minutes, another rose was delivered to me. This time the piece of paper attached to the rose said "Present." I was starting to sense a trend but nothing was clicking. Then all of a sudden the waitress walks out with this dessert plate that said "Will you marry me Stephanie?" Behind the waitress was Ben and I didn't see him because I was starring at the plate. When I looked up, Ben was down on one knee, holding the ring in one hand and another rose that said "Future, Will you Marry me Stephanie Michelle?" in his other hand. I was shocked and surprised at the same time. I starting crying and asking him "Are you serious?" and "Seriously?" I shook my head "YES" and he stood up and I stood up and we kissed. I kept asking him "Are you serious?" and he told me "Do you not see this ring in my hand?" while laughing!! He put the ring on my finger and we hugged and kissed...it was perfect!! He then asked me to dance and do you know what song came on...... Etta James's "At Last".....THE song that I have always wanted Ben and my first dance to be...even before he proposed to me!! It was FATE!!! And now within a year probably (we haven't set the date yet) I will be...Mrs. Stephanie Dannan!!! AHHHHHHH!!! I can't believe it!! I am still on cloud 9 and I think I will be for awhile!! Sweet Dreams everyone... I know I will!!!

-The Future Mrs. Stephanie Dannan

Hey all!! Happy Tuesday to you!! Only 3 more days till Friday!! Today was a cold day. There is nothing I love more than to wake up to blowing snow, then having to walk to class in freezing temperatures while I slip and slide in my non-traction boots!! Boy I can't WAIT for spring!! Bella is enjoying the snow way to much!! She dives into the snow head first and them comes out of it with snow all over her body and face. Then she starts shivering. You think she would figure out that the white stuff means cold!! She is getting better in her crate. She still screams at night but since we have moved her out of our bedroom we can't hear her screaming. She usually falls asleep after about 10 minutes of screaming. I hate to hear her cry. It breaks my heart but I need my sleep!! Today Bella chewed up one of our power cords for the computer. I left her alone for 1 minute and she got into trouble!! Good thing Ben is an electrical engineer. Which reminds me of a story. During the summer I bought a new handheld electric trimmer to trim the bushes outside. I was trimming the bush and all of a sudden the trimmer stopped working. Well it turns out that I sliced right through the cord. I thought this was funny because my mother did the exact same thing. So I told our roommate Mark and he said that he would fix it. Since we didn't have any other extension cords, I ran to our local Walmart to pick up another one. When I got home I went back to the trimming and sure enough I did the exact same thing....sliced right through the extension cord. I told myself that it was a sign that I shouldn't be trimming. It WAS funny...you just had to be there!!

Case of the Monday's

Am I the only one who is having a case of the Monday's? It seems that I can not get motivated today!! Well today I learned an important lesson... boots that don't have very good traction should not be worn. I have fallen twice in one day. Once on the ice outside our house and once down the stairs. Poor Bella...I was holding her both times that I fell. She was probably just a shaken up as I was. Bella is doing great by the way!! We had our super bowl party last night and EVERYONE got to hold her. By 9:00 p.m. she was sooo tired!!! It was great!! She is almost sleeping through the entire night. She usually goes to bed around 11:00 p.m. and we waker her up around 5:00 a.m. then 7:00 a.m. . She only cries for about 10 minutes in her crate when we stick her in there at night time. Potty training is coming along. She is getting the idea of going to the bathroom out side down except for the fact that she has gone to the bathroom in her crate twice. I'm not sure what to do with the "going in the crate" thing. I heard that if the crate is too big then dogs will go to the bathroom on one side and sleep on the other. I cut her crate in half with a pillow but maybe her crate is still to big!! Hopefully she gets the potty training down because with teddy it took almost 2 years for the potty training to occur. Bella and Teddy are getting along great!! They play together every now and then. Well it's basically Bella chasing Teddy around the room while biting his ankles!! It's cute anyways!! Since Bella has found her voice, she seems to bark at EVERYTHING!!! It's cute to a certain point, then it just hurts your ears!! But we still love her even when she does bark!!! Well thats all for now...I'll upload some more videos of the dogs playing together!! Tootles!!!

Are you ready for some FOOTBALL???!!!!

Hi everyone,

Well it's that time of the year!!! Super bowl time!! Too bad none of the teams that Ben and I liked made it into the Super Bowl but we are still going to have fun at our party!! Our party will be a great experience with Bella because we try to socialize her with as many people as we can. Some owners never let other people hold their dogs and then their dogs are scared of different types of people. Not our baby!! We want as many different people to hold her.... Oh...speak of the devil!! Our little Princess is up from her nap!! More to come later!!!