his family.

This is my favorite thing we own. His grandmother crocheted their last name gorgeously, don't you agree?

I would love to give this to our daughter someday... ;)

This is an end table with a mesh of our lives...
We found that framed photo (top left) of his father while digging up the Christmas tree. He looks like his Dad. :) I wish I could have known him...
I would guess that's where he gets his wit, his looks, and his charm.

one of my favorite stories of C's family is one he told me about his Mom. He said that her Dad would take the light from a firefly and place it on her finger like a diamond. How darling!!!

Words told to me that fit inside my heart.

"God's delays

are not

God's denials."

My first crush was a cartoon.

Before Kevin Costner (i guess i always had a thing for older men!), there was the X-Men. ha.

Seriously, we'd watch the cartoon every weekend!

Marianne loved Wolverine and I loved Gambit.

LOOOOVED him. I pretended i was Rouge and we were together and did "grown up things." ;)

I was sad they didn't put Gambit in the X-men movies. I mean what where they thinking?!?!!?

BUT! This weekend we saw the previews for the Wolverine movie and AHHH!!! my little girl heart stopped when i saw Gambit is going to make his debut! I agree... Josh Holloway would have been a lot better! LOST, i can't wait for you to start up again.

ps. oh come on, you KNOW you had a crush on a cartoon once in your life... Prince Eric from Little Mermaid anyone?

Lola's first walk.

aww lover just sent me this pic. [Sooo wish i wasn't stuck at work!]

This is the first time they're hitting the trail at Sikes Lake.

He said she's catching on to the whole "leash concept."

CUTE.

If I was crafty i would sooo do this! love it.

how fabulous would this be? the Oolong Infused Ginger Plum Wine mix sounds lovely!

A peek inside our space...

Saturday me and the boy decided to clean.

I will be the first to admit, I will never make the perfect house-wife cos I am much too spoiled and such a scatter brain... but i actually had fun cleaning because it needed to get done, but also... i was doing it with C. We are a team.

Surprisingly, i love to clean the bathroom and i don't mind doing dishes. Btw, I believe whole-heartily in the Mr. Clean Magic Erasers & the toilet wand.

Since I was breaking in my new camera, I wanted to show you lovies that I FINALLY hung up my latest Etsy buys.

*ps... that's where i got the name of this blog. Dolce Vita= My Sweet Life.

And then some :

the lamp i got for free from work. The two faces, from a garage sale... it says "devotion" on it and the seller received it as a gift from her her then husband when they were in Greece. [hmm.. is that bad luck?]

This beauty i got at an estate sale for $25. I love it!!! it's over our bed. It looked vintage and yet kind of westerny/goth. Had to have it.

Tomorrow I will show you my fave little spot in our casa. xo

Precious.

My nieces Marina & Sophia.

little Sophia LOVES C.
She always reached out for him if I was holding her.
It was darling.
She looks just like me and my twinkie, but with bigger eyes lol

These babies live in Italy.
I wish i could hug them, and smell their baby smell, and tell them i will be the BEST auntie to them ever!

Horgela.

It's my family.
Our friends once called me & C that.

It's a combo of his last name and my first.

C took me out dancing this weekend. I was a dancing fool!!! ha
before we went out, i broke out the new camera...

can i just say i love it? it's instant happiness for me to capture our little moments.

This one is my fave!!! ha look at her tongue. She loves kissing her daddy :)

THANK YOU LOVER FOR THE BEST PRESSIE!!!!

Valkyrie.

AMAZING!!!!

Tom Cat, you stole my heart again.

This movie is beautiful and will tear your heart and will make you FEEL what they believed in.

A love story, yes it's in there... but the one with his group of men... just wow. INCREDIBLE CAST.

lover pointed out something this naiive girl didn't realize... that not EVERYONE under Hitler's command felt the way he did. I mean this movie is based on the last of 15 attempts to kill him.

just amazing.

*one thing i wish they did though, is an accent! a German accent!!!

but still,

Go see Valkyrie.

Be Intoxicated.

My Abbie sent this quote in her Christmas card to us. Hers was my favorite Christmas card by far...

* i have this thing with time travel, so I've mentioned.... ;)


"You must always be intoxicated. That sums it all up: it's the only question. In order not to feel the horrible burden of Time which breaks your back and bends you down to earth, you must be unremittingly intoxicated. But on what?

Wine, poetry, virtue, as you please. But never be sober. And if it should chance that sometimes, on the steps of a palace, on the green grass of a ditch, in the bleak solitude of your room, you wake up and your intoxication has already diminished or disappeared, ask the wind,the wave, the star, the bird, the clock, ask everything that sings, everything that speaks, ask them what time it is and the wind, the wave, the star, the bird, the clock will reply: It's time to be intoxicated! If you do not wish to be one of the tortured slaves of Time, never be sober; never ever be sober! Use wine, poetry or virtue, as you please."

-Charles-Pierre Baudelaire

The Prose Poems and La Fanfarlo

I sometimes feel like a tortured slave of Time...
Lauren once said I loved tragedies when it comes to love.
I'd like to think, i get drunk on wine/poetry/and amore.

So this is my weekend wish for you:

BE INTOXICATED.

Looking forward to taking C to his last christmas pressie: Couple Massages tomorrow!!! We went for the first time on our anniversary (his gift to me). DI * VINE.

*pic here.

THE tie.

Lover's main pressie from me was THE tie. Yes, the one my girl crush Jen Aniston wore in her now famous GQ magazine cover. I thought of the idea after we saw her give one to David Letterman. I made a mental note.

C is the main news anchor at a station here. Our first Christmas together, I gave him a tie and was SO excited when he wore it on air the first time. It sounds very little girl-ish, but it was a very big deal to me... i guess that's how Monica Lewinsky felt when Bill wore her tie. ;)

The bad thing is, i knew it wasn't going to come in time before Christmas. I bought the magazine and printed out the tie from the website and wrote, "Coming Soon to a mailbox near you..."

He was super suprised!!! I was so glad.

i did tell him on the letter that i "wanted the mag back, pls!" lol

ps... we went and saw Marley & Me and LOVED it. We cried like babies.

Ornaments... It's my thing.

So imagine how sad i was when i realized i forgot to get a "baby's first christmas" for Lola. lol
Then imagine how HAPPY i was when we opened this ornament from C's Mom. :) It even has "2008" dangling from it [didn't come out in snap shot].

I love it. Just precious.

Like his Mom.

The Christmas After.

I bet i'm the only girl with an office government job who has to work the day after Christmas. Oh well, I get to at least spend it with some of you lovies!!! :) and i can go to work with messy hair.

i hope you all had a WONDERFUL Christmas!!!! I had a BLESSED one.

in my family, we have never opened christmas gifts on christmas eve. Not One. And we are the only family I know that opens gifts AFTER eating dinner. Yes, DINNER. We're talking 6 p.m. It sucked growing up, but now as i'm older, i've grown to love it because christmas does last longer this way. Also, there's 6 of us kids in my family so it's always worked out, because we can each go to our significant other's houses to spend it with their families first.

Yesterday at dinner, Marianne & Maddie were talking about the food they had that morning. C's mom lives in California so he sweetly turned to me and said, "I'm sorry you only get to eat once on the holidays." There was something so simple and sweet when he said it, it touched my heart.

I love Christmas. love it!

and i got spoiled once again this year. C gave me the ONE thing i asked for...

a verrry cute pink camera!!! I almost didn't post this pic cos it was taken after a long christmas day right before bed. LOL reason i look so bla.

also got HOT carrie heels, Vera Wang Princess parfume + vera wang purse *funny thing is, i bought mom the EXACT same style & purse. In fact, when she opened it, she thought she was opening the gift she gave me! hahaha TOOOO FUNNY + "lovely" by SJP and a lot of other sweet things. I have the best family! C's Mom was good to me as well! it means more cos we haven't met yet, so her gifts were even more thoughtful. The best thing she gave me was a Van Gogh journal. My sweet boy didn't even tell her he is one of my fave artists. It's a sign. :)

Christmas 2008, you were good to me!
love you KISSmas,
Micaela xo

ps. I did ask C if we could make a birthday cake for Jesus. ;)

Merry KISSmas lovies!!!!

All the magic of Christmas from my family to yours!
I hope you are surrounded by the warmth only love gives, laughter, and fabulous relaxation.
If you hear "O Holy Night" or "Happy Xmas (War is Over)" by Lennon... think of me. They are my abs. faves!!!

God bless!
Happiness,
Micaela & C + Lola
xo


*pics here, here, and here.

I'm the Yahtzee Queen!

who would have thought?

I have NEVER played and went to John's Christmas Shindig.

It was nice to go to a party where drinking wasn't the thing to do.

Bless his heart, he had it catered by a bar-b-que place and made sure to have plenty-o veggies for vegetarian me.

But ya, it was a lovely time of board games, including YAHTZEE! Call me lady luck... first time playing, first 3 rolls? YAAAAHTZEEEEE!!!!!! on the 1's.

Just fabulous.

Maybe it was the antlers. ;)

Text I woke up to, from lover: "Merry Christmas eve beautiful! Love you!"

AND i got hot chocolate brought to me.

Pretty sure this is the BEST way to wake up.
no actually... the BEST would have been to wake up with him still in bed with me ;) but our lola woke up early. We joked that even though she's a puppy, she's excited cos she's "tracking" Santa. lol

good thing C let "mommy" sleep in because I stayed up late wrapping gifts. I'm so ashamed to admit how late i waited to get my shopping done...
But.... It's done!

one more thing to get; an add-on to my Papa's gift. $25 to McDonalds. lol yes really. My Momma LOVES their Big Mac. Loves it. The last time they got into a tiff... not even flowers could do it. My smart Papa went and surprised her with a McDonald's breakfast before she woke up one morning and let me tell you-- that was the secret. Lover thought that would be a great inside joke :).

Here's my gifts for C. I am not the fanciest wrapper and i ran out of ribbon :P

I let him open his stocking today while we were outside sitting on the back porch. I bought him 2 fancy OSU ornaments for our tree. That's two of our Christmas traditions: The stocking- because my family was never big on stockings. The stockings are for small thoughtful gifts and the essentials. And two, I will always give him an ornament for our tree.

Do you have any sweet traditions? I'd love to hear!!!

Office Space.

Today was our in-office party.

Barry really spoiled us girls (there's only 4 of us in Public Info... He's the only pee-pee ha).

He closed his office door (our minnie studio) and got busy making it feel like a pretty christmas dinner. I told him it was straight out of my domino mags. :)

I got wonderful gifts! including a coffee press gift set. Barry jokes that I would have an IV of coffee with me all day. ha. It's true... i drink the stuff all times of the day. I'm addicted.

It was wonderful and sweet... as only Christmas can make any regular "tuesday" at work feel like.

For His Mom.

Ornaments of the baby boy she remembers taking care of lovingly.

Now the man I love who takes care of me, of my heart.

I hope she loves them as much as I do!

Look at my cute C! sigh.

I used to be that girl at the parties...

the WONDERFUL S of Mother and Bride described me & alcohol to a T... in her words:

I have a love/hate relationship with alcohol.
(I love alcohol
alcohol hates me.
And in the morning
we both feel dirty).

I love this girl, and i ESP. loved her post "On Drinking."

Because haven't we all been there?!?!!?

I told her that me and tequilla broke up the night before my college graduation... can i just say my father nearly disowned me.

Whilst drinking, I get touchy feely (c hates this!). Case and point: Here I am at an 80's dress up party [actually in my defense, my co-worker seemed drunker than me! ha & honestly, he made a comment about stuffing his jeans... we had to investigate, the reporters we were!]

here I am with his then bf at another shindig at mine and C's:

and here's halloween 2007... when drunk, i will take the humiliating pic i wouldn't otherwise have been in:

This could all have been fun drunk micaela. Chris hates when I drink too much that i become that crying oversensitive drunk. lol I'm a huge believer that drink makes the truth come out...

i have often confessed sins like a confessional after one too many cosmopolitans. I can't say that is the best time to make those decisions... BUT... me and C have gotten closer because of my 3 a.m. out-sitting-on-the-porch smoking one too many cigarette nights.

Truth be told, the first time I told him I loved him (though I had known it for awhile) was on my drunk 22nd birthday. I made him say it to me as he carried me- literally CARRIED me- to my friend's car. The next morning i lay awake MORTIFIED i had said anything. Bless his heart he told me he meant it when he said it back...

Even though it wasn't the most romantic moments, looking back, we moved a step in our relationship.

After a week of embarrassment i was able to laugh it off as it was my birthday! i had the right to get sh*t-faced! ha.

oh alcohol... it is DEFINITELY you, not me. ;)

thank you lover for putting up with me! for holding my hair when i puked... for getting me whataburger at 2 a.m. all those nights... for putting me safe to bed... for loving me, even when i've had one too many! xo

Twilight for tweens was like Titanic for me. Totally.

So I finally went and saw IT.

Yup... last night i took my old News Director's daughter Katy who is in looove with the series. Pretty sure Edward's my new bf. ;) Also pretty sure that got old fast with Lover when i came home and kept announcing it. ha. Have to admit... he's a bit TOO pretty :) but alas, I wanted him to be making out with me.

Edward: "And so the lion fell in love with the lamb."

Bella: "What a stupid lamb."

Edward: "What a sick, masochistic lion."

the movie, overall a bit cheesy? BUT LOVE IT!!!! and that was my favorite quote.

i haveta say... i felt a bit old because after the movie i saw all the pre-teen girls in their uggs STILL excited after their 3rd viewing of it and thought... omg, this is EXACTLY how i was when i saw Titanic for the 5th time. (ya that's right! and i STILL cried every single time & got all hot and bothered in the car sex scene wanting kate winslet's sweaty hand to be mine!!!) Robert Pattinson is to them, what Leonardo DiCaprio was for me.

anyway, there was my epiphany. I'm going to try the books now. ;)

ugly Christmas sweaters!

Happy Monday lovies!!!

lover and i went to watch a awesome hockey game with his co-anchor and her husband (lovely couple!) It was "wear an ugly christmas sweater" night. I was sad we didn't find anything frou-frou at Goodwill, so i quickly thought back to my SEARS retail days of high school and KNEW that was our best bet.

*we sent this pic to his Mom from his phone... you'd think Blackberry could do better. ;) so apologise for quality but you get the idea. Still hoping for that camera for Christmas... hehe

These aren't frou-frou by any extremes... BUT-- We wouldn't generally buy these so that means something right? Plus... C is wearing a women's XL so.. haha cardinals with gemstones = ugly enough.

Every time our team scored, we'd "rub the cardinals." :)

lovely game that had a big group fight & went into OT & we won. More than i can say for our beloved Dallas Cowboys :(

we went and drank it up to console ourselves over that one....

Have a Dream-Filled Weekend!

HAPPY FRIDAY LOVIES!!!
i'm looking forward to sleep + relaxation.


So I leave you with these lyrics by The Cranberries, from my favorite song, "Dreams"....
Enjoy lovies!!! See you Monday :)

"And now I tell you openly, you have my heart so don't hurt me. You're what I couldn't find. A totally amazing mind, so understanding and so kind; You're everything to me."

*lovely cozy pic here.

Says it ALL.

*fell in love when i saw it here.

Vogue lovely!

VOGUE did good with this photo shoot channeling the "love of a lifetime," Romeo & Juliet.
Just gorgeous pictures!!!!


And if you're a romantic like me, you will remember how you felt when you first hear Romeo say these lines: Did my heart love 'til now? Forswear its sight. For I never saw true beauty 'til this night.

my "in-law." ;)

we were soooo excited when on lunch today we got a FedEx box from Vegas!!! which can only mean one thing: Christmas pressies from lover's SWEET mom!!! & his sister Julie. :)
They wrapped SOOO cute!!! isn't that one of the best thing about pressies? the thrill & excitement of unwrapping the lovely paper! Lover wasn't the only one who got spoiled! check out my goodies from his sweet Mom:

It's a cute Reebok bag for gym stuff. C pointed out there's stuff inside it, but I'm not allowed to open it. >:( lol not even on Christmas Eve.

Look! Lola even got something too :) It says, "To: Lola, From: Grandma." SOOO CUTE!!!!!

I've never met Chris' Mom in person, that's why all this means so much more to me. We almost met when I was in Arizona visiting my brother, and she lived in California. We've talked on the phone a couple of times, and I'm pretty sure we'll just hit it off. ;) I thank God for family! His has especially been spoiling us. His other sister and her family sent a Harry & David Gourmet Fruit/Jam/Chocolates box that we are planning to have a picnic in bed date with. :)

Jealous of David Letterman.

last night lover (happily) watched my girl Jen Aniston on the Letterman show. Can i just say i was being the total boy in our relationship? lol I mean did you see her legs?!!?!?
And her hair! just perfect.


I just think she is the cutest thing! I totally loooved her outfit too. That belt was fabulous!
The funny bit is when she gave Dave an early christmas gift. C knew what it would be RIGHT away. She gave him the tie she was wearing on her now famous GQ cover. C said my Christmas mission was to find one just like it so he can joke on air that it's the Jennifer tie. ;)

photo credit

With All My Heart.

I got my GORGEOUS cards from BellaBella's Etsy store yesterday. I can not even tell you how perfect they are! And this one, was perfect for a "just because" gift to my lover.
We agree... it's about the small things.

Lover, I'm sorry I always steal your nice black dress socks. Forgive me?

*I highly reccomend visiting Tristan's Etsy shop. You won't be disappointed!

Person of the Year

Congrats to my "husband" for being named Time Magazine's "Person of the Year." C was so excited to break the news to me. ;)

I stumbled upon this cool tid bit from Deb's blog called Oh?.
My Obama circa 1980.

When Obama was but a freshman at Occidental College in L.A, he was approached by an aspiring photographer, Lisa Jack; she thought he was cute, and wanted to take a few black and white photos of him for her portfolio. They only saw each other a few more times as students, but in 2005 she saw him on Capitol Hill during a tour, and apparently when she said hello, he knew exactly who she was. She found these photos again, but kept them hidden until after the election.


who would have thought?
How fascinating. :) Btw, my twinkie didn't know Obama was a smoker. I told her that he was trying to quit.

I think I was a Kennedy in another life...

I wanted to share a pretty excerpt from the book I just finished, the lovely memoir I can't stop thinking about, "What Remains."

If you go down to the woods today,

You're sure of a big surprise.

If you go down to the woods today,

You'd better go in disguise.

For every bear that ever there was

Will gather there for certain because

Today's the day the teddy bears have their picnic.

They sing softly, this children's song, with their hands clasped like little boys. They sing it over and over, John holding tightly on to Anthony's hand. They are in a place that no one else has ever been or could ever go, signing a song that John's mother used to sing to the two of them. The boys who laughed and played and sang silly songs are all grown up now--- John in a tuxedo, Anthony in a hospital gown.

How can I get mad at this cuteness???

Little Lola Horgen decided my very pretty 1st coffee book would make a nice chew toy. I was DEVASTATED she chewed on my Gustav Klimt Art book.

But like I told Lola's daddy, "I guess this is what you have to prepare for when you have a baby." *wink

and honestly... how can I get mad at otherwise such a sweet baby? this is her last night. We laid on the couch to watch Daddy (my C) anchor the news. I told Chris that she decided his voice was soothing...