Not many words needed...

This has been a really busy week, but not many words are needed to describe how I feel about this....

Sunblock Much?

Tyler and I have officially picked our wedding venue, the Dreams Resort in Nuevo Vallarta. Better yet we were able to spend the past weekend in Mexcio checking out the property! After meeting with our wedding coordinator on Saturday morning, we were free to spend the day soaking up the rays!


I was so excited to be in the 80 degree weather that I didn't spend enough time properly applying my sunblock. I have a Silver Dollar sized red circle on my left hand, two more red blotchy spot on my both of my knees, and fingerprints on my left arm! Exactly how that happened, I have no idea. However I told Tyler I would need to work on my sunblock application skills before the wedding. Tyler agreed and then informed me that he would be in charge of applying the sunblock on our children!

Editor's Note: I attempted taking a picture of the sunburn on my hand, but it looked gross so I decided to keep that photo to myself :)

Brand Snob?

Being a savvy shopper and always looking for a good deal, I usually don't mind off-brand products. In fact Target's Archer Farms line is great! I love their 3-Bean Salsa and its usually .50 cents cheaper then Tostidos.

Being that the big day is now less then 9 months away (yikes!), Tyler and I have both been a bit more budget conscience, especially during our last Safeway trip. Since we hadn't been grocery shopping in a couple of weeks, I knew it was going to be a big grocery bill. So I had my coupons and weekly ad and was ready to get in and out of the grocery store.

Tyler and I were going up and down each aisle, only putting "on-sale" items in the cart. Tyler even sacrificed his love of Triscuits for the White Cheddar Cheeze-Its which were $2.00 less! We made it to the cereal aisle and I immediately grabbed my beloved Cheerios, on-sale for $1.99! Tyler started browsing realizing his cereal of choice (Raisin Bran) was not on sale he decided to go for the Safeway brand which were "Buy One, Get One Free". Tyler decided on the first cereal, Blueberry Crunch but was having a hard time with the "free" box, so he suggests that I go for the Toasted Oats in-leui of Cheerios. Remembering the Triscuits, I decided that I too should make a "sacrifice" and go with the Toasted Oats. I mean whose to say that the Toasted Oats aren't going to be just as good as Cheerios, maybe even better??

The next morning, I pour my first bowl of Toasted Oats, hoping that they will provide me with the same great Cherrio taste! I take my first bite and....yuck! What were these awful Toasted Oats? These are no where near the same level of Cheerios.

Lesson learned? Some off-brands are not worth it! For Kellie its Coffee Mate creamer, for me its most definitely Cheerios. Next time Cheerios are on sale, I will be stocking up!

Time Management

I used to wonder why brides hired a wedding planner? Sure its a little work, but if you like to plan (like I do) and are able to organize, planning a wedding shouldn't be too much work.....WRONG!

Wow, I had no idea what I was getting myself in for when Tyler and I decided to plan a destination wedding. I thought, "oh this will be so much simpler and less stressful". While I think in the long run it will be less stressful, I'm not sure how simple it is to plan an "international" destination wedding. Especially considering the fact that there is a 2 hour time difference when speaking with the hotel and a 3 hour time difference when speaking with the travel agent.

There are a lot of logistics to work around. Between working full time and planning our wedding, I have become a slacker when it comes to returning phone calls, replying to emails, and blogging! Every time I think I am tackling my to-do list 4 more items pop up!

Lessons learned?

1. If possible hire a wedding planner: This way you won't loose any friendships over a delayed email. (Although that could help to reduce your guest list, so that's up to you)

2. Start planning your wedding before getting engaged: Contrary to popular belief I didn't really have anything planned for our wedding. Thinking about my compulsive "Type A" personality, I guess I too would have thought I had everything planned, but I didn't. Sure purple has always been in color scheme, but I think that is the only thing I really had planned! If you think you are going to be getting married in 6-9 months, pick up a bridal magazine every now and then. No longer will I judge the girl on "Say Yes to the Dress" who is buying her dress at the sample sale, why not save 75%?

3. Use your friends and family: It amazing how many people are willing to help you out, take advantage of this. Thanks to both my "moms", friends and sisters I have been able to bounce off a lot of ideas on them and make some quick decisions.

Ch-Ch-Changes

So, this blog is suppose to be about Tyler and I, yet this entry is about Kellie and Chris. Although that being said a lot of my "Tyler and Caresse" stories/adventures/memories include Kellie and Chris, so I think its fitting.

About 5 years ago, I met my dear friend Kellie. It was friendship at first sight! Really, I think it was destiny for Kellie and I to meet. We ran around Orange Co. without a care in the world!

Then Tyler came along (well actually he was around before Kellie, but he moved to the OC after Kellie......well, you get the point) But as you can see we quickly became the "Three Musketeers".

In the crazy world of Ford Relocation, Kellie and I both managed to be transferred to Nor Cal within 4 months of each other (see it's destiny). Moving to Nor Cal was the best thing that could have happened. Kellie went from being a great friend of mine to becoming one of my bestest friends in the whole wide world! 

Oh and then Chris showed up (technically he was in the picture before I was, but he plays baseball and travels a lot)! But as you can see it didn't take long for Chris and I to become friends. In fact, I kinda like the guy ;)

So "Three Musketeers" became the "Four Amigos". 

Tyler and I like these two so much, we decided to move in next door! No, really we can see their house from our deck. So, what does all of this have to do with the title "Ch-Ch-Changes"? 

Well, as you can tell by the pics and timeline, my friendship with Kellie has and is continuing to change.  Tomorrow our dear friends are officially moving away from Dublin, starting a new chapter in their lives. A chapter filled with Spring Training, followed by heading to Seattle and then hopefully finding their new home in Reno. And while selfishly I want them to stay here and never leave, I started thinking about all of the changes that have taken place in the past 5 years. Clearly, Kellie and I can handle change, in fact life's changes have strengthened our friendship. So, while we won't be able to have dinner together on a random Wednesday night, I am looking forward to our future visits to Reno for long weekends! Kel, please make sure that you have the guest room finished ASAP!

So Good Luck to the Gimenezs and remember don't forget about us Dubliners!

What's next?

This is where this whole "blog thing" gets tricky, you actually have to think of something creative to blog about. Maybe it doesn't have to be creative, but it needs to be somewhat entertaining. So here is what I came up with...."Tylerisms".

Tyler is quite entertaining and not everyone has the pleasure of seeing this side of him, and because of that I thought I would share one of my favorite Tylerisms from the past couple of weeks.

My New Year's Resolution was to help Tyler out in the mornings by making him breakfast and lunch every day. It sounds a bit like the 1950s, but the guy works really hard and I wanted to be able to help him out a bit. Tyler liked this idea, but honestly I don't think he expected it to last too long! Here is how the first few days went:

Tyler on Day One: "Thanks for making me breakfast and lunch, that was nice"
Tyler on Day Two: "Oh you're making me lunch again?"
Tyler on Day Three: "Wow, I'm getting used to this"
Tyler on Day Four: "You know Caresse, I think I'll have an English Muffin with Nutella for breakfast this morning!"

He was so matter of fact about the whole "request", it made me laugh. I was surprised that some smart-aleck comment didn't come out of my mouth, but I just went ahead and made the breakfast he requested. I mean he doesn't ask for much!

Now let's fast forward to Week 2 of my NY resolution. I hopped in Tyler's car on Friday night and sitting on the seat is his lunch! I was shocked to see that my "hard work" had gone uneaten. Tyler immediately tells me, that it was the first time he hadn't eaten his lunch, but then I remember him telling me the day before that he had gone out to lunch with his boss....hmmm??? Who knows how many lunches he has actually eaten, but I'm still going to continue to make them :)

Round Two

So about a year ago I had a great idea of starting a blog. I know how much I enjoy reading about the lives of my dear friends; Lynn, Kellie, and Bryn and I thought, "Hmmm maybe they would like to read about my life?". Well, after one blog entry I was done. Although looking back on it, I think I spent too much time writing my first post and exhausted my writing "skills" for the year. That was until I read (on Lynn's blog) about 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly! The catch? I had to blog about their products. Being a sucker for a good deal, I went ahead and posted my second blog of the year! True, it was in November (8 months after my first post), but it took my blog from being an "annual blog" to a "bi-annual blog". What a milestone for www.tylerandcaresse.blogspot.com :)

All that being said, I have decided to give it another shot. Seeing that this year will be filled with many exciting milestones; Jess having a baby, Kellie moving to Seattle, Bryn's first year of wedded bliss, Lynn chasing a fully mobile toddler around, and oh the fact that Tyler and I are getting married, there should be MUCH to blog about!

Keep those fingers crossed and check back to see if I can update this bad boy once a week :)