Our Next Journey...

Hello Strangers!

2012-01-15T13:32:00.004-06:00

Hello strangers, I am not sure who all will actually read my blog if anyone since it's been about a year since I have last been on this thing. I am so sorry that I pretty much dropped off of the place of the planet for all of you. I loved nothing more than blogging. I still occasionally check in and read in on many of you lovelies.

The reason for my absence is simply that it's been a rough year. Florida was not all we wanted it to be. Granted my husband had a great job, with wonderful hours. I however, could not find anything. The part of Florida that we were in was basically Alabama and just wasn't what we had in mind. We don't have children so I didn't have them to keep me busy and I found myself often getting depressed or lacking any sort of motiviation in life. This was not how I wanted to be feeling.

Pretty much all of the military families we knew had children and around this time we decided we wanted to start a family of our own. Months went by and we still weren't pregnant leading us to wonder if there was something wrong. Meanwhile all around us our friends were getting pregnant with their 2nd and 3rd children. We began to feel lost and no hope, and I of course wasn't working. We began getting tests done and found out we had some issues to work with. We were confused and needed answers. Around this time my husband and I decided that it would be in our best interest to move back to California. I wanted to work again and missed my family terribly. We moved back and started seeking the help of a fertility specialist.

We found a doctor who we thought was great to help us. We continued our plan for baby. After many more months we finally had our first iui. We had no success, we then did 2 more again no success. Finally we began learning about ivf and preparing to take the plunge. Even though it is expensive we found out about a loan program that offered a guarantee. We signed up and started the process. It was not a fun one; I did shots every night for 2 weeks, was in a lot of pain had the retrieva and then the transfer. A few days later we found out it didn't work. God has always been a part of our lives but now more than ever when we needed him we felt and still feel like he had failed us. We found out later from our doctor that the 2 embryos that were transferred were only so so and probably really had no chance of surviving. I had 30 eggs retrieved but out of those 30 only 8 had any chance of becoming a baby that dropped to 4 and then we had 2 of the best left that were frozen. We were told that these were high quality and a good grade. So we decided to transfer our last remaining frozen embryos. Then a few days ago we got more devastating news.

We are still grieving and don't really know where to go from here. Everything that we had been told, told us this would work. I still can't believe we're even in this situation to be honest. We don't know what we did to really deserve this struggle. All of our prayers have left us feeling abandaned and empty. We're taking it one day at a time. So that my friends is what we have been up to and I haven't had the energy or motivation to really blog again. I did need to put my thoughts on paper though. It's all been so bottled up. Things can only get better it's just so hard to see that at the moment. In spite of all this we are trying the best we can, but for now we're just numb.

Moving Forward, But Still Looking Backward...

2010-09-22T11:27:00.008-05:00

Hi lovelies! Remember me? Wowzer time has a way of getting away from me. One minute I'm doing great blogging and trucking along the next well slacker.

I've been doing a lot of reflecting, organizing, destressing, and uncluttering both physically as in getting rid of junk I don't need and mentally. My brains been kind of on overdrive and I needed to reevaluate some things in my life. Nothing bad or anything just figuring some things out such as...

Where hubs and I are truly happy living. Although we love the friends we have made, this area of Florida is not our fave. It's sure allowed us to grow as a couple in this city though!

Career stuff as always, what's best for me, hubs is pretty set in his occupation I've always been more flexible. I really miss working for a University I'm hoping and praying to one day work at one again. I loved helping college students as a program coordinator.

Ugh we took a mini (I kid you not) 32 hour trip from FL to CA to celebrate my bro's birthday and since then a week ago my sleep has been all out of whack. It's gotten better but my mind is on overdrive most nights, please send good prayers my way.

When exactly to get this whole baby making thing underway. We're planning away and will hopefully have a lil fam sometime soon, but we're leaving it up to God and his plan.

...And some pics of where we've been, what I've been doing:

Spending time with some of these lovely ladies! They're all military wives who are stationed here in Florida, and well me whose hubby works for the military and is here because of the base. We meet up for coffee every Thurs! Some of these girls have really made FL feel like home.

Visiting hubs at his workplace

Watching Nala or "our boodle" grow as we like to call her.

Family Time

amd more Family Time

...and yup more Family

Hubs and I celebrating our 1 year wedding anniversary!

and just enjoying summer and each other (yes that's my hubs trying to make me have bunny ears).

I'm going to definitely try to get back into my old swing of things, but please don't hate me when life gets in the way. Here's to catching up with new and old friends!

Blogger Slacker and Top 2 Tuesday...

2010-08-31T09:29:00.007-05:00

I admit it I've been a bit of a slacker when it comes to blogging. I was doing oh so well for a good week there haha. I really don't have any excuses other than laziness or feeling like I've been lacking in blog content. I still really love participating in Taylor's Top 2 Tuesday and her topic as always is super fun. This week's Top 2:

Top 2 Fave U.S Cities

Well by now I'm sure you all know my love for all things Cali! Once a California girl always a California girl. This girl was born and raised in all that is So-Cal. That's Southern California for all you lovelies out there. Some of the things I love and miss dearly about Cali is the food, every type imaginable, the peeps, the shopping, the beaches, and just driving yup driving, granted you're not in rush hour traffic.

One city just flows into the next and people just drive around everywhere in one day. You live in the desert but want to go to the beach take a day trip. You want your dose of Melrose drive to L.A, which is why it's so hard for me to pick just one city in Cali. Howeve my love for the OC, that's Orange County for all you that don't know has always been close to my heart. My husband and I were married in Newport. Ever since I could walk I've been an OC lover. I even went to college at a school that is technically half in Newport Beach, and when the tv show The OC was airing and in it's prime that's where I was living going to college, the director was even a grad of my college. So even though it's cheating a bit I choose these cities:

Newport Beach, Laguna Beach, Huntington Beach-basically all the beach cities.

My other fave that I'm dying to get to again? Lahaina, Maui! The fact that this is a U.S city is just not right. How beautiful!

Want to play along with Taylor too? Go here.

Weekend Recap and Some Serious Disney Craving...

2010-08-23T12:35:00.011-05:00

Bunco was awesome lovelies! I'm so glad I went, I even signed up for the monthly Bunco night and am now an official "Bunco Babe" whatever that means. I didn't win any money, but I did get my $5 bucks back so I broke even. My mother-in-law she scored big as in $15 bucks big haha. She had the most Bunco's lucky her. Anywho, it was a lot of fun and so easy. Oh and I guess I was wrong about it involving cards, all it really uses are scorecards and some dice. I left the scoring to someone else and had fun rolling, in this luck of the draw game.

Other than that we took my mom-in-law to the airport and has a peaceful weekend catching up on tv shows, movies and just having fun spending time with each other. I squeezed in a run that I badly needed because the whole working thing has interrupted my workout flow.

So now that we actually live in the state of Florida, I have been thinking. Thinking a lot about going somewhere, somewhere in this state. I'll give you some hints...

Oh yes I'm longing to go to Disney World. Hubs and I have never been and ever since I've stepped foot into the state we've wanted to go. We've been to Disneyland 100's of times literally growing up down the street from it, and me working there in and out of college but Disney World that's another ball game entirely. We still live a good 9 hours from it, but hey we're in the state now. No we don't have a trip planned, and truth be told we're actually going to end up going to the Carribbean first. We're entitled to a free trip from when we bought my car, and we just have to pay for airfare. I know, I know that's not too shabby either. I'm darn excited about that too it's another place I've always wanted to go, but I still have Disney on the brain.

Ah one day.... and on another note you just have to see this picture I found. Is this little boy not the cutest? He looks just like the boy on that movie UP!

Bunco Time...

2010-08-20T08:14:00.005-05:00

Happy Friday everyone! We made it and I made it almost a full week of posting after my long hiatus. Hope you guys all have some wonderful plans for the weekend. I will be relaxing and spending some quality time with the hubs, but tonight it's Bunco!

I think I've failed to mention that my mom-in-law is visiting this week, which has been good and bad. It's been good because we've been able to see her, but it's been bad because I've had to work of course and haven't been able to spend that much time with her. We had the weekend when she came in, and of course dinners but that's been about it :o[.

However, tonight I'm stealing her for a night and we're going to go play Bunco at a friend's house. She's kicking off a monthly Bunco night and I thought heck why not? Don't laugh, I hear it's kind of an old lady game, but I like old lady games. I'm a pro at Bingo I tell you. My aunt throws the best Bingo parties and I'm the youngest one there every time, but I don't mind hanging out with the older womenfolk afterall that's where I'm headed one day, far from now, but one day.

It should be interesting because I've never played Bunco in my life and I really haven't got a clue how the whole thing works. All I know is it involves some dice and cards and that's about all I've got. That should be interesting on it's own because I don't know how many times I've had the hubs explain Poker to me and that's the simplest of all and I still sometimes look at him like he's crazy. God help me if there's any complex math involved then I can guarantee I'll struggle the whole way through. Anywho have any of you ever played Bunco? I'm sure I'm probably stressing too much about it and I'll do just fine, but I kinda like to know what I get myself into, and right now not so much. Any tips so that I can conquer the other Buncees? Has anyone played out there?

10 Surprising Natural Things that Guys Love About You...

2010-08-19T08:23:00.009-05:00

So you know how when you pop on the computer and depending on what your homepage is set to, random stories come up. You know attention getting headliners, well I was on MSN because that's my homepage and "10 Beauty Moves Guys Find Sexy" came up. I wasn't going to click on it a)because I'm at work and b) I've heard the usual stuff, but I decided to take a peek and found myself laughing and kinda agreeing with the writer of this article. This is what the pros had to say:

(1) Natural makeup free skin! You heard that right guys don't like makeup as much as you think they do. Your au-nautrel self is more beautiful to them than gobs of makeup covering up your real face. I for one am guilty of this, I adore makeup and just feel better in it. I'm not saying I pile it on, cause yeah I don't do that either, but I love it. It's like playtime for me, but I have to admit everytime I'm not wearing a face full of makeup the compliments from my hubs start rolling in. I'm like babe I've got nothing on, are you seeing this face? He's like babe how many times do I have to tell you, you don't need makeup. So I'm starting to get it...slowly that is.

(2) Your Belly! What?? That thing I'm forever trying to slim and trim, sit ups, running and they're for the most par okay with it? So guys aren't perfect and most guys don't think they are either so why should they expect you to be? Most like something to hold onto and thing you're fine the way you are. This doesn't mean I still don't want that perfect 6 pack, it just means you don't have to have it.

(3) That quirky thing you do! So everyone has that habit that they just do, most of us do it without even thinking about it. It's just that a habit. For me when I get super uneasy, nervous or uncomfy I start touching my hair a lot. It's just a reaction, hubs thinks it's cute I find it annoying. Either way it's something that makes me me.

(4) Not using a hairdryer/styling tools! Ugh I actually loathe hairdryers, and other hair tools, especially since living in this humidity sucking state I now call home that is Florida. So actually the less I can use of these things the better. Basically I wash and condition my hair at night, comb it out apply styling product and sleep on it because it's too hot to have hot air blasting on my head. In the morning then I style my slept on wet hair. It actually saves a lot of time. It's nice to know that guys don't mind every hair on your head being perfect, because mine never is.
(5) Your Eyelashes! I'm not talking about your 5 coats of mascara or your false eyelashes here. Your natural eyelashes, the ones you use to bat your eyes at to get your way, or the way you look up at him with those suckers. Yeah it works.

So those are my favorite on the list, there are some others that you should check out. To see the full list go here. How's that for an uplifting topic this morning. Basically guys like you for you, and you don't have to try to look perfect. Sometimes it's just reassuring to see things like this in print it means it's not just something he's saying just to say. There's tons of others out there who think exactly the same. What do you guys think? Do you agree with the list?

Hobbies so Darn Many out There...

2010-08-18T13:16:00.008-05:00

Hobbies as I said in this post title, there are so many out there. How on earth do you pick one and how on earth do you afford it? I don't know why, but this is something I've been thinking about lately. I really, truly don't have one and that kind of makes me mad or sad or maybe a combo of the 2. I guess this is fitting since I'm such an indecisive person anyway, that I really can't commit to just one. You want me to pick one thing on the menu, one outfit to wear, one way to do my hair, one place to work, one place to visit. You get the idea, I have trouble making decisions.

Hobbies go right on up there with this indecision of mine. I mean there are so many out there and like I said before with my lack of time these days it's gotta be something I truly enjoy doing. Not just that though, hobbies are downright expensive. I mean sure it's fun but to factor all the supplies in is costly. How do people afford this? I took my first trip to Hobby Lobby a few weeks ago when my parents were visiting and although I loved the place, I was downright perplexed with the sheer size of that store. I was so surprised given the well, boringness and plain exterior. Once I got inside though aisles and aisles of lace, ribbons, wood, tools, flowers, you name it where at my beck and call. I thought Michaels or Jo-Ann were enough, but this is like a Michaels on crack, but I suppose in a good way.

Since I've moved I've had a whole new world opened up to me on so many levels, but especially meeting some new ladies with hobbies. Jewelry making, scrapbooking, card making, book clubs, the list goes on and on sheesh whiz.

One of the lovely new ladies I've met though has me intrigued by her home Stampin Up business.

I think it unleashed my inner Martha Stewart that was hiding deep down. We made some handmade greeting cards and by golly I actually did it. Granted they were far from perfect, but they were adorable and now I'm dying to try it again. The stuff on this website is freaking cute and has me itching to celebrate a birthday, holiday or just say thank you to someone, anyone.

Does anybody out there have a hobby to share? How do you afford all the supplies? I think I may go into debt just looking at the cuteness that is this site.

Ok so that was a looong hiatus...

2010-08-17T14:58:00.008-05:00

All I can say is life is crazy isn't it? I mean, I've been thinking about why I stopped blogging in the 1st place and I realize it's just time (or shall I say lack thereof). Then I got upset at myself for not making the time. I mean blogging is something I truly enjoy. It's a live journal, a way for me to post my thoughts, things that I'm going through, and what I'm feeling. I'm far from eloquent about it all, but heck who cares this is my blog.

Anywho, after my long time away from blogging, I again feel like I should be back with some super fantabulous earth shattering news, but truth be told I've got nothing. Nothing, zero, zilch, zip (I think you get the idea). The hubs and I and our little kitty Nala are trucking along just fine. However, I think I've been in kind of a rut if you will. I think we all get that way from time to time.

For one work has been draining-oy for all that time that I hoped and prayed for a new job, I didn't realize how difficult it would be to go back to a full time big girl job after all that time off! You guys it took me a good 2 weeks to get back into the swing of things and even now it's rough. I have far from forgotten about all you lovelies and everytime I want to post I think I really don't have much to say so I put it off and off and (well you get it). I really should start writing things down, because I'm telling you there have been times where I'm like oh once I start up again I've definitely gotta let you girlies in on that, but of course now nothing. So that's what I propose to start a blog journal so that I can share more with you lovelies.

Anyway I've resorted to bullet points to kick off my return to blogging. Yup I'm having another go at it.

Ok so since moving to FL, I had never been to Walmart as much as I go now that we're here. I'm telling you I used to hate, I mean capital HATE Walmart! All of the ones I had been to in Cali had crying kids, messy shelves, and just felt dirty. I think I went like 3 or 4 times max there. I've come to now realize nice Walmarts do exist in the world. Nice neat shelves, orderly kids, who knew? Anyway can someone please explain to me how Hard Candy is now in the makeup section at Walmart? Yeah Walmart? What happened to them they used to be at Sephora. This kit below would probably have retailed in the $45-$55 range there, at Walmart 15 bucks on clearance!! What the heck happened there? It's good quality to guys, me and my big sis are swearing by the Curl Up & Dye mascara! I wish I'd found out about this sooner!

Oh my goodness talk about baby on the brain, in blog world and real life that's all I'm hearing about lately.

Ok seriously Bachelor Pad---Tenley in particular I have no words. What happened to sweet innocent Tenley?

So excited about all the new fall tv shows!

Loving my lovely ladies that I've met in FL, but still missing Cali oh so much!

Our church is amazing!

Haha so on Yahoo Radio there's a Reunion channel-it's old school music from high school too funny. I have found one hit wonders I'd completely forgotten about.

Um am I the only one not impressed by the Harem pants trend? I know I'm not uber trendy but I just don't get it, that along with open toed boots. Sure it's comfy but it looks so sloppy to me.

You guys all know how much I love nail polish have you heard of nail stamp art by Konad! I'm loving this, I need some new discs. Oy why do I find these things? A little addicted shall we say.

Tata for now lovelies. Ok that was a little embarrasing that that phrase popped into my head just now. Until next time, it will be sooner than later.

She Lives, Updates & News...

2010-07-29T15:17:00.004-05:00

I hope you lovelies are still with me here on this little bloggy blog. I have been so MIA it's really pretty bad. I took a week off to spend time with family and friends in So-Cal, and the time there kept me busy by all means. I flew in last Monday and was there until early Sunday morning so I had to move fast.

I tried to visit with as many peeps as I could but it was a really short time crunch, especially with everyone's schedules and with me only being in town one day of the weekend. It was a great trip, exhausting, but good. I caught up with a couple friends, went to the OC Fair, which I love, had some wonderful mother-daughter time and of course went to the beautiful memorial service in honor of Ryan's grandpa. I also was able to catch-up with my bro & sis in law and play with their beautiful baby boy Matteo.

Speaking of the OC Fair I just have to show you pics. Yeah the fair always cracks me up and grosses me out, but it's kind of a tradition for my friends and I. I went with my good friend Daniel and we were horrified to find deep fried butter on the menu this year! Yeah before it was deep fried oreos, deep fried twinkies, this year deep fried butter. Um no thanks!

Oh how I love home and miss it, there's really nothing like it. Before I knew it, it was time to head on back here to FL, but before I left I received a phone call while still in Cali from a company back here in FL. About a week before I left for Cali I went on and interview, after the interview I completely did not, I repeat did not think I got the job. I felt my interview was okay, but nothing to impressive. I actually beat myself up for the way I answered one of the questions. Well, apparently they were impressed because that company that I thought had no faith in me wanted to hire me! I was so excited and actually couldn't believe it to be honest with you. It's really a great job for the area that hubs and I are living in now.

As of this past Monday, I have a job hence my MIA-ness. It's not that I haven't wanted to blog, because believe me I have. It's just that I haven't had the time. It's my first week at my new job and I've been quite the busy bee setting up shop at my new digs. I can't exactly take up blogging now at the new place. Then by the time I get home, I'm tired of staring at my computer all day and want to spend my limited free time now with the husband, kitty, eat some dinner, workout, maybe get some tv in and basically go to bed. I have not been working mind you for quite some time like for about 3 mos. to be exact so it's been taking some time to get my balance back and get used to 8 hours at a computer all day again.

However, I am ever so grateful that our little prayers have been answered about a job for me. I'm happy with the position, it's working for a non-profit. I'm the exec assistant for the president of the company and I'm also doing marketing, advertising and public relations type things too. But oh boy, already I'm missing hanging out with my new friends that I've met through church, lounging by the pool, having leisure workouts on my time, reading, movies and just plain relaxing. Oh well though back to the real world, and when I get my first paycheck, that's when I'll really be smiling. I've kind of been putting myself on a budget since I wasn't working, but now I'll feel better buying a little something here and there for myself.

Oh and already, I get a mini-vacay. That's right just a little one. The hubs and I are celebrating our 1 year wedding anniversary this Sunday, Aug 1st! To celebrate we're going back to Destin, FL for 3 nights and 4 days of sun and fun. I'm taking Monday off for this and the hubs and I are going to be pampered and have a spa day, eat some yummy food and just reminisce about our wedding day a year ago! I almost can't even believe that it's been a year, wow how things have changed. Anywho, that is where I've been lovely ladies. Thank you all for your love and support in my adventures of finding a job. I hope to continue to post as much as I possibly can, when I can, but please forgive me that my posts likely won't be as frequent. Again time somehow just isn't on my side anymore these days. Lots of love, until next time!

Next Week, A Celebration of Life...

2010-07-14T09:44:00.005-05:00

So, next Monday I leave for CA. Unfortunately the hubs and I are going back home due to some less than exciting news. I mentioned a few posts back that Ryan's grandfather passed away and we are ultimately going to celebrate his life in a memorial service that will be held next week. He was a great man, as sweet as can be and I am so grateful that I was able to get to know him briefly before he passed. He was a fighter, a flirt and a great craftsman among many things. He lived a long, full life, but of course he will be greatly missed. I find comfort though knowing that he's up there in heaven now, looking down on all of us. He has plenty of great people to keep him company up there.

I just adore this picture of him, at our wedding. Look how stylish he is in his little hat.

...and of course a group shot with the newly married couple and grandpa.

XOXO,

Jam Packed Weekend...

2010-07-12T09:15:00.006-05:00

All I can say is thank God for sweet new friends. Since we found our new church out here in FL we have been quite the busy bees. Everyone has made my hubs and I welcome and included in the area and have kept our calenders full! Have you guys heard of the Blue Angels? They are awesome! I hadn't heard about them until we moved here, being a western-lady and all so I was intrigued as I began to learn more and more about them. This past Saturday was one of the biggest events the city puts on; a Blue Angels airshow.

The Blue Angels are awesome. I've seen airshows before, but none quite like this. The tricks they did were crazy, I can't even imagine being in their shoes. Apparently the cockpits get between 130-140 degrees inside! I was hot on land in 90 something degree heat. It was a long hot day, but I'm so glad we took the time to go see the show.

Then yesterday we had church in the morning, did some grocery shopping, back to church for a Vacation Bible School volunteer meeting, grabbed dinner then off we went to a friends house for a surprise birthday party. Wow I'm pooped. Hope you guys all had a wonderful weekend too!

Treats to Beat the Heat...

2010-07-08T15:20:00.011-05:00

Okay so I've been running low on Fab Friday Finds for awhile now. I used to have more time to search the web for fun, useless stuff, but most of my computer time is now spent job searching so I think Fab Friday Finds will go on hiatus for awhile. If something strikes my fancy that I just have to share then share it I will, but for today sorry I've got nothing.

So now that I live in FL this CA girl has had to adapt to this little thing here called HUMIDITY!! It's rough, it messes with your hair, you're just plain sweaty, and you want to keep your makeup to a minimum (not that I wear all that much anyway), but you get the idea. Up until this point I have rarely seen humidity other than our honeymoon and occasional vacations in the past. Southern CA is dry, dessert dry so this is still taking some adjusting.

Anyway I've come up with snacks to keep me hydrated and cool to beat this heat that I'd like to pass along most of it's common, but I thought I could help some of you out too.

1.) Frozen grapes-they're even more fun if you alternate colors and put them on sticks like this before you freeze them:

2.) Smoothies! I'll take them anyway, store-bought ala Smoothie King or Tropical Smoothie Cafe out here (sadly I no longer have jamba juice where we live) or we'll whip them up in our own blender with protein, yogurt, and sometimes ice cream.

3.) Otter Pop-like frozen treats-so what if they're supposed to be for kids? I have a new-old love for them. I hadn't bought them for the longest time, but hubs brought them home one day and after giving him a crazy look I ate one. Oh memories. I found a warheads variety for $1.00 for a pack of 16 at walmart!

4.) Banana Pops-you can make your own or buy them like me. It makes me feel somewhat good because at least I know there's fruit in there.

5.) A yummy ice cold fruit salad. So easy to make and yes healthy too!

6.) Root Beer Floats-summer just wouldn't be without one of these.

7.) Luigi's Italian Ice-kind of like an Icee for adults yum.

So these are some of my survive the summer treats. What are yours?

A Milestone...

2010-07-07T09:24:00.011-05:00

Do you ever wake up and think wow I'm old? Join the club. This year has me starting to feel really old at 28 yrs. old. Why you ask?:

Dum, dum, dum... June marked me being out of high school for 10 years! 1o people! Yup I graduated high school in 2000, the year of the dreaded Y2K remember that? I do in a lot of ways as if it was yesterday. Do you remember the days in high school when you never really saw past high school? It was so far in the distance, you never really REALLY thought about it. That was the time everyone had major goals for what I'll be doing in 10 years.

Well it's been 10 yrs. and I do have plenty to show for it. I've accomplished the things I knew I would; graduating college, getting married, traveling, learning more, and having decent jobs. However there is still plenty to do; have babies, get settled, buy a house, and many more big decisions. I think these 10 years have been average, nothing to get down on myself about but then again nothing monumental. Even though I'm not completely where I thought I'd be, I'm happy and that's all that counts, I'm in a good place, very blessed and have great people that love me.

...And just for fun I googled some of the fashion trends that were in style during my years in high school from 96-00. What did I come up with? Lots of things I should have left in my past. I did not participate in all of these mind you. Here are some of my faves. That dates me a bit huh wow at least I lived it.

1.) Airwalks

2.) Overalls!

3.) Platform sneakers yeah why?

4.) Glitter on your face and lots of it!

5.) Itchy angora sweaters, and argyle while we're at it.

6.) Butterfly hairclips, tons of them

What do you remember from your high school days?

Ok Guys Gather Around for Storytime...

2010-07-06T11:33:00.007-05:00

So I thought I'd tell you about New Orleans, or rather about a beignet place some like to call "Cafe du Monde". You might have heard about it, it's kind of famous the world over for their beignets. Being the nerd that I am, I love watching the Travel Channel and the Food Network, so if there is one thing I simply had to do on my visit to New Orleans, Cafe du Monde was it.

I told my parents about it and them not being as caught up on the beignets as much as I did apparently had no clue what I was talking about, but they were as excited as me once I explained. So we asked one of the little gallery owners how to get their from Royal St. that we were on, and she politely told us that we were very close and guided us. We got there and I saw their trademark green and white striped awning with their sign across the front. I couldn't wait to go in and see what all the fuss was about even though I knew better than to think they were some amazing dessert. After all how good can some hot dough and powdered sugar be?

When you walk in there's a huge outdoor patio area with tables and powdered sugar all over the floor and there's also a smaller indoor area for seating. But the first thing I saw when we entered was a line of employees sitting in some chairs against the wall counting their tips, we're talking a handful of dollars out for visitiors to see, waving them around. Uh not very welcoming, but whatever we thought. I should have known better. We didn't know if you order first then sit, wait to be seated how it works. So someone just told us to sit down, and we did. The menu is simple coffee, sodas and beignets. They come in a group of 3 and since it was just the parents and I we ordered one order, and some waters. The employees didn't speak English very well so it was difficult to communicate, but our waitress got our order.

Our order came fast, I will say that service is quick. So we were sitting their eating our beignets enjoying the atmosphere. We had a guy singing to us on the street on one side, and kids enjoying on another when the waitress comes back and demands we pay her right now and she doesn't leave. We were going to get to it you know when we were ready. So she takes the money from my dad which by the way for an order of 3 is $2.14, beyond cheap and waits. We're wondering what she's waiting for cause she doesn't say anything. Then with no warning she proceeds to throw down the bill holder on our table and yells at us that "You don't leave me no tip" she yells and then storms off. Uh yeah we were going to leave a tip on the way out you know when we're finished. We were just baffled and kind of sat their in amazement. This was trip #1 to Cafe du Monde.

Apparently my dad didn't get enough he wanted to go back for round 2 another day. Our second time there we decided to sit indoors. We figured we at least knew the system this time. We sat down and a little Asian man walked up to us and said nothing. I guess that meant we were supposed to order huh? I kid you not a word did he say, but I ordered for us and he left assuming he got it. He came back pretty soon with our order and we paid him, letting him keep our change. We decided to live large and get one more order. We were having a heck of a time getting his attention until my mom finally yelled excuse me at him causing him to stop. Again he said nothing and left. Uh was that a sure I'll get it for you, did he understand? This time it took a bit longer so we were really unsure if he got it, but sure enough headed our way finally came our order. We paid him again and he got a double tip might I add and we asked him for a bag to take our order to go. He never came but as we walked out he was sitting by the door counting money and drinking water for all to see.

So yeah, an experience. Fair warning to anyone who goes there all for these:

Not sure if we just got 2 lousy servers or if they figure they don't need to be exactly friendly since they know they'll get visitors. Either way it made for good stories and the beignets themselves are so-so. Nothing fantastic, but nothing bad either, just kind of there. Maybe I'll go again one day with hubs and see if our service is different.

I'm Here, I'm Alive, Hope you Haven't Given up on Me...

2010-07-05T09:42:00.005-05:00

Hi guys, so Blogger just told me the last time I wrote a post was June 18th! How terrible I have been, what's come over me? This is so out of character for me, somehow one day turned in to another and another and well you get the idea. I was so good about posting everyday for awhile there. I hope you're all still with me. I wish I had some spectacular ground breaking news on why I've been away. Say the dream job of my life, or we inherited a fortune or I opened up my own franchise haha. Um, yeah, but that's not the case. Life has just been life and each day has brought on it's own events, but nothing earth shattering. Of course I've thought about writing every now and then, but there were times when I had nothing, zip, zero. I've been keeping busy which is a big part of why I've been away.

Let's see first off the parentos were here for 10 days! They kept me and the hubs busy, and we so enjoyed their time here. It was their first time ever visiting FL, yet alone the city we moved to, just like us when we first moved here. We spent much of the time eating, shopping, exploring, cleaning, swimming, you name it. We enjoyed seeing their expressions as they learned that we live in a very southern part of FL. We tried to tell them, but they just didn't get it until they saw it for themselves.

Then we went on our little adventure to New Orleans or N'awlins as I've come to learn is what many call it. Wow guys there were lots of stories that I could go into detail about, but I just might save that for another day. The culture and people are so unique and I've never seen anything like it before, unless you count New Orleans Square at Disneyland ha, so not the same.

What else? Oh so hubs and I have really gotten involved in our new church. It's pretty awesome. Everyone there is so welcoming and if we hadn't found it we would be 2 unhappy, bored people. The church is awesome, each weeks message is great, and we look forward to each Sunday, but not only that I've joined a women's Bible study, Young Marrieds group I spoke about before, looking to get into Sunday School and will be volunteering for Vacation Bible School in a couple weeks. Through the Young Marrieds we have met the sweetest couples. Lots of them are from all over just like us. There are couples from CA, Colorado, North Carolina, and Arizona just to name a few. Like I said before it's a huge military city so people are always coming and going. The great thing is that there's a goup of us all got here within a month or 2 of each other. So we're all in the same boat, going through the same things, learning about a new city, adjusting, and just trying to make friends.

Unfortunately we also got some bad news also during my time away. Ryan's grandfather passed away. It happened fairly quickly he got anemia, then needed blood transfusions and then it turned into pneumonia. We're all still upset about it, but are happy that he did live a long, happy life. So this month we're going back home to CA for the memorial service. It's bittersweet, we're happy that we get to go home, but wish it was for better reasons.

Last night we had a barbeque together and then went for fireworks after. It was definitely a memorable 4th. So that's what I've been up to for the most part. Oh and of course still job searching. Maybe I'm being a little picky, but I've come to realize this time not working is a blessing. A blessing to not necessarily need to find just anything right away, but to be more particular. This also means more hangout with new friends time.

So I hope you're all doing well, I'm glad to be back to the blog world again and I can't wait to catch up on all of your lives just as quickly as I can. I took some pictures of New Orleans and when I stop being so lazy about it I'll be sure to upload. I'm off to go dive head first into your blogs!

Wow, It's Been Awhile, No Fab Friday Find Today...

2010-06-18T09:43:00.006-05:00

So I somehow seem to have taken an unintentional week-long blog break. I don't even know where the time has gone since I've last written anything. It's not that I haven't wanted to blog but I just didn't feel I had much to write.

Let's see I've still been job searching. I thought about the hostessing temp job for a long while that I was given and realized it was not in our best interest for me to keep that job. There were a variety of reasons why. 1) There's a toll I would need to pay to cross a bridge to get to that job everytime, 2)there was a week of training beginning right smack from the first day my parents are coming to visit to their last day they are here, so I would have no time to spend with them, 3)I would probably not see my hubs as much anymore, he would leave and I'd be home, then I'd leave and he'd be home. 4) I'd have to work weekends/some holidays, and the pay was 5)awful. Taking all this into account this job just wasn't for me.

I have signed up with a couple of staffing places since I haven't had much luck. Nothing yet, but every finger is crossed that something happens soon of course. I've also become a big fan of our local library which for those of you that can remember awhile back, I finally managed to find without getting lost. This library is prettty big and has tons of newly released novels so I've been catching up on some reading. I'm still involved in my new church, which has lead to meeting all sorts of fun people our age. In fact I was so happy to meet a new friend who just moved here from San Diego, 3 weeks ago, who happens to live next door! Yeah can you believe that? We both decided to go to a Women's Bible Study and we started talking and found out we live not only in the same apartment complex, but in the building next to me. Yeah talk about crazy. Like me, the military brought her out here with her husband. Military is a common factor of this city so it's awesome when hubs and I meet people that are in the same boat as us.

Other than that, not too much exciting has happened. My parents are flying in to visit from CA today woo! I'm so excited. This will be their first time out here and I miss them soo much. Hubs and I can't wait to show them all around our new digs. Hopefully the oil spill that's the talk of the nation won't get them down. Yes that oil spill is affecting this area in a big way! I haven't seen any oil myself yet, but I hear it's out there. It's so sad how many people have been affected by the oil. Businesses and families of every kind are struggling and BP is being sued by so many. It's really devastating and I think everyone is still in shock that this is still an issue. We're all just wishing and praying something is resolved and soon.

On another note, seeing as New Orleans is only about 4hrs away from us, and I'm not working at the moment, my parents, me and hopefully hubs depending on work are going to take a trip out there for a few days towards the end of their time here. I can't wait, I've never been and am looking forward to seeing some of this. It's the real deal, not Disney haha:

Don't those beignets look awesome? So I'll be around here and there lovelies. I'll be playing tour guide for my parentos, and I'll try to stop in when I can. I can't wait to play catch up with everyone, I've missed reading up on all of your lives.

Things Northwest Florida Should Have to Eat...

2010-06-10T13:26:00.010-05:00

Oy so hubs and I are constantly missing things back in CA: Our family and friends well that's a given, but we miss some food. Here's a list of things I think NW FL should have but don't. Everyday I think of something new I haven't found out here yet and I tell hubs that I'm going to start my own franchise out here. We both say that we would be doing pretty well out here if we franchised any one of these out here:

1. Frozen Yogurt-what the heck is up with this I ask you? It's humid and hot as all can be, but yet hubs and I haven't found a single frozen yogurt place out here except a lame-o TCBY which doesn't count cause it's not a fun pick your own/serve your own toppings and flavors kind of place. You order from like 2 flavors and they put the toppings on for you. What's the fun in that? We so miss this, and we already have several locations in mind for our franchise you know by the mall, by the college out here, the junior college.

2. Um good Mexican food -I'm sorry guys but what I've tried out here just hasn't cut it compared to the Mexican food I know and love back home. I was so excited to try this one place and when I took my 1st bite I spit it out. Yeah it was that bad. I couldn't even finish the rest so I tossed it. I know it was wasteful, but seriously inedible. Yuck. So hubs and I would like to franchise our fave Rubio's. We figure you can't go wrong with a chain because no matter where you are the food always tastes exactly the same. Oh baja fish tacos how you're missed.

3. Chicken Maison - Oh yum! I guarantee none of you are familiar with this place because it's not a franchise, there's only 3 locations in CA and I hadn't even heard of it until hubs. It's basically fast Mediterranean food, but it's oh so much more. Hubs brought it home from me one day from work at his old job in CA and I was completed hooked. This coming from the girl who rarely likes Mediterranean food so that says something. We tried making a #17 Maison Special last night and it was pretty darn close to the original. Since we can't get it anymore I think we'll have this in our regular menu rotation.

4. A CPK and a Cheesecake Factory - Yes I know it's called CPK, but FL can have a little CPK love right. That's right we'll bring one here too, and Cheesecake Factory. I'm assuming there's a Cheesecake Factory somewhere here in FL, but it's a big state and there isn't one in our vicinity. We'll start one here too.

Yup with all our franchises we'd be doing pretty well. Is there any franshise you would want to own?

Fun Little Photo Tag...

2010-06-09T10:14:00.000-05:00

You guys are awesome! Thanks for cheering me up about the job search and about my new so so position that I'm not entirely excited about. I guess for now I just have to suck it up and put my pride aside as I take something that I didn't really ever think I'd do.

So I got tagged for the photo game forever ago and I am finally finally getting around to actually following through with it. It took me awhile first with the move, then getting the internet, anyway here's my picture.

Here are the rules:

1. Go to your photo files and select the 8th photo folder.
2. Select the 8th photo in that folder.
3. Post that photo along with the story behind it.
4. Then challenge 8 blogging friends to do the same.

You see that little girl there, she's my niece Sofia. This picture cracks me up everytime because this is one of the only pictures we have of Sofia with a doll! You see she's a major tomboy, suprisingly, I mean her mom and me are the furthest thing from that. She capital HATES dolls! Yup she wants nothing to do with them. She's more of a kung fu girl. I kid you not I think she has a green belt or something. One year at Christmas we were determined to make her think dolls weren't dumb, or stupid, or any of that. There was a sale at Target and we got a real baby cabbage patch doll for like 4 bucks. We figured this poor baby doll won't get much use so why get some expensive doll. Anyway here's Sofia playing with the doll, you can tell that smile is forced, and that's the last thing she would want to be doing. Funny thing is none of us have seen that poor doll since.

I'm tagging:

Que Sera Sera

A Gal and Her Dog

Little Women, Little Home

A Silver Wife's Life

Life of A California Wife

Living Life As a Newlywed

Domesticated Bliss

Cream & Cotton

Love our New Church, A Job for Now...

2010-06-08T10:56:00.000-05:00

Hi Lovelies, so I've been busy as usual. I feel like I have a full time job finding a job. I know it's only been a little more than a month, but I'm ready to get out and do something, be a productive citizen you know? I told you guys that I was going to a job fair. Oh my goodness was that crazy! Apparently I'm not the only one in need of a job because there were 100's of people there. I kid you not. All these people were there to be hired at one hotel! It's a brand new hotel that's opening up by the beach and it seems everyone wants to work at this one hotel. It was a 3 day job fair so I figured I'd go on the 2nd day this way they wouldn't forget me after the 1st day, and I figured by the 3rd day I wouldn't appear that enthusiastic since it's the last day of the fair.

I walked in and was thisclose to walking back out because of the lines of people and crowded room. Oh my goodness it was crazy. I was directed to the end of a long line and after about a 2 hour wait, yes 2 hrs then I was given an application. I got there at 9:30am and didn't leave until 3pm!! I mean it's not like I desparately need money, but I'm desperately wanting to feel productive and do something. So I waited. As I waited I became frustrated because I saw that the only jobs left that were available weren't my top choices. I wanted to do front desk/concierge/ guest service stuff. As I was sitting/waiting, I found out apparently all of these positions were filled on the 1st day! Argh!! Talk about crummy luck. I could have been there on the 1st day and possibly had one of those jobs. Darn I was and still kind of am upset about missing that opportunity. However, maybe it's a sign that something better is in store for me.

When I finally was called for my turn I had a quick meet and greet with one of the directors who loved me and hired me on the spot for a hostess position. I'm excited to have been offered something, but upset that it's not the position I wanted. The economy sucks and with experience and education it still sucks. So until I find something that is better and that I'm more qualified for I'l have some fun at a brand new hotel working as a hostess. It will give me something to do in the meantime and bring us a little extra cash, plus it's right on the beach. Not my ideal job in the slightest, but hey you do what you gotta do I guess. I'm putting my big head aside and doing what I can for now.

On another note, I've failed to mention we found a new church. We love it. First of all never in my life have I lived or been in for that matter a place that has so many churches in one city it's unbelievable you guys. So I guess we got lucky. We went to one church and really enjoyed the Sunday service, and were really looking to get involved. We had so much fun listening every Sunday we figured we'd love some of the small groups they had to offer. Boy were we wrong. First of all the people at these groups looked at us like we were insane people moving from CA, second um all they did was turn on a dvd that was an hour and a half long and the most boring thing ever and call that a Bible study. Um not quite what we're looking for, more interaction and study please. We tried a couple other groups and they were all just the same, what is wrong with these people?

I was frustrated, hubs was frustrated. We've just been feeling like we want to belong somewhere, and feel accepted. Meeting new people our age would be nice too, it's nice to have a great hubs but having friends so far away now is tough sometimes. Finally, oh finally we hit the jackpot lol. We decided to try a new church and we love it even more. It's our style and both the Sunday services and small groups are great. We've become involved in a young married couples group and we have found some awesome people. They don't look at us like we've lost it, moving here from CA, and it's been great having the couples be so welcoming to us. In fact a good percentage of the couples that attend are associated with the military too so we have lots in common. We're all trying to figure out our place.

Umeployment Sucks, Workouts Good, and Random...

2010-06-03T12:12:00.000-05:00

So I can't think much today. I don't know what it is, I just feel like there's not too much exciting to report on my end. I'm still job hunting and it sucks, I'm beginning to think I'm trying to be too picky, even though I'm really not. At this point I'd be happy to have a job, heck I even put my resume into a staffing company and still no word. That's gotten me frustrated as all can be because it's not like I don't have any experience. I have tons of experience and am a college graduate, but apparently that means nothing. Sometimes I feel like people see on my resume that I'm from CA and they just push my resume aside and not read further. Ugh! I'm thisclose to actually registering for a graphic design program, but for some reason I still haven't taken that step quite yet. There's a job fair tomorrow, but I'm a little unsure on if anything will come out of it. I'm keeping my fingers crossed and prayers going. At this point in time this cartoon doesn't look like a bad idea!

To keep me fairly distracted from my unemployment woes I've been working out like a crazy person. Well not that extreme but I have been doing a lot better than I was back home. Have you guys heard of Fit TV? Since we've moved here, I've become a huge fan. We had this channel back home, but I kind of ignored it since I didn't have as much time for cool workouts, but now it's my fave. In the morning they have an All Star Workouts class that's about an hour long and it whips me into shape. I add that into some extra exercises that the hubs gives me and I'm one tired little lady. Today for example I did a Bhangra Dance, I've also done Body Sculpt, Kickboxing, you name it. It keeps me motivated and isn't dull because it's something different everyday. If nothing else it's getting me active. I set my dvr and rotate them so I always have something new.

...And lastly I got this quiz from a friend through email and I thought I'd let my mind wander and answer. Here you go :)

What famous person do other people tell you that you most resemble?
Um I really don't look like anyone famous. The only thing one of my friend's told me once is that I kinda look like Marissa Tomei, but she's not even that famous.

What is the strangest thing you’ve ever eaten?
I think back in elementary school some kid brought fried octupus to school and I tried that otherwise I'm pretty tame.

Do you believe honesty is the best policy?
I think if it's in the best interest of the person then it is, but if it'll hurt someone or do more harm then good it's best to keep shut.

What vegetable do you most resemble?
What? I'm not sure I follow, but I guess if I had to say a cucumber. I'm pretty average, and proportionate I'd say.

What dead person would you least want to be haunted by?
What the heck? I don't want to be haunted by anyone thank you very much but I guess some crazy psychotic killer. Yeah we've been watching too many Criminal Minds episodes.

What do you think Victoria’s secret is?
That's a darn good question, and you know I've always wondered that myself. Maybe you can tell me.

Which cartoon character do you resemble the most?
Again what's with the weird comparisons? Um, I'll go with Princess Jasmine she's always been a fave.

Would you rather go a week without bathing, but be able to change your clothes, or a week without a change of clothes, but be able to bathe?
Oh my hands down I would need to bathe. It would be miserable to stay in the same clothes, but at least I'd be clean.

Which of the four seasons do you most anticipate?
Spring/Summer. I love warm weather, I'm still a CA girl at heart.

You can choose your method of dying and the place in which you will die. Where would you like to die and how?
Ugh who came up with this morbid question? Can't I just die peacefully in my sleep at a very old age.

You can choose your last meal. What will the menu consist of?
Oh man that's hard I love food. Probably Italian with Fettucini Alfredo, Chicken Parmigana, and a chocolate souffle for dinner. Yeah I'm going all out.

If you had to be trapped in a TV show for a month, which show would you choose?
I'd love to be part of How I Met Your Mother they're entertaining.

If you joined the circus, what act would you most want to perform?
Ooh some sort of acrobatics thing, but 1st I'd need to learn.

Like the questions, feel free to grab it and play along yourself.

I'm Here, I'm Here, Our Trip to Destin...

2010-06-02T10:22:00.000-05:00

Wow what a bad blogger I've been. When I signed in I was told I haven't posted for 6 days! Shame on me. I wish I had some big exciting news to report, but sadly not really. I have been enjoying some wonderful hubby and beach time. I think it's safe to say we've become beach bums. I mean we had beaches back home in CA, but in FL that's where we happily spend 80% of our time. It's easy to get to, and just relaxing, and the water is so much prettier.

My hubs job is awesome his hours are unbelievable. I mean most days he goes in around 7 in the morning and is back home by 2:30 or 3:00pm at the latest. I mean how great is that? We like to joke that his new job makes him feel like he's retired. This past weekend for Memorial Day, with him working at a military base and all his days off were great. He had a 4 day weekend woo, which means I get more time with him. We had a busy one! First off Destin, FL, we are basically in the gulf which means lots and lots of crystal blue water, and white sand. Destin is about an hour and a half from us and I've been itching to go because of the shopping, restaurants, and beautiful beaches. I finally managed to get some pictures which I'm usually pretty bad about. I have camera issues, I've gone through 3 or 4 in about 2 yrs so I was lucky to get anything.

Welcome sign -Yeah I'd never heard of a Fishing Rodeo either.

I booked an awesome snorkeling trip for us! I love snorkeling!

The beautiful resort/boardwalk right by the bay

There were dolphins, but the darn things wouldn't let me take their picture.

Ever heard of Fudpuckers? Neither had we that is until we read about it, and decided that's what we must go there for lunch. We were more excited about the 60 plus live gators there than the actual food! Yeah you heard that right 60 plus live gators!

Outside of Fudpuckers

Inside hard to see here but people write on every surface inside; napkin holders, salt and pepper shakers, handles, you name it.

Gator Beach Sign

We had fun playing with the "pretend" gators

The main stars at Fudpuckers

...and some more

Destin was so much fun. We'll definitely return. Our 1 year wedding anniversary is only 2 months away so we're planning a trip back.

It Kinda Sucked, Well the Outfit & Land of Nod...

2010-05-26T12:00:00.000-05:00

So I meant to post this yesterday, but somehow the day ended and I still hadn't posted. Yeah and when I realized I hadn't I got kind of lazy.

I often continue to ask myself why it is that I continue to watch this stuff. It sucks me in, I keep giving it chances thinking something will change, but yet it doesn't. So I watched The Bachelorette as many of you did and got a peek at Ali's choices. There's the usual attention seekers, freaks, nice guys, and muscle men, but what I want to talk about is poor Ali's choice of dress last night. Why abc would you do this to her. I'm normally not one to talk about clothing choices unless they're really bad, but abc why I ask? Something has to be said. This was supposed to be Ali's big night, her unveiling to the men, but all I could concentrate on was her horrible dress.

Exhibit A

Exhibit B:

...and the worst Exhibit C

Do you see any color there? No, I didn't think so. She blends right in there with the rest of the dudes on the couch no excitement, blah hair, and what was that shiny brooch on her butt that made it look like she had a tail? Ali please get it right next time.

I don't know how I'm jumping from Ali's fashion faux paus to The Land of Nod but here I am. Maybe with all these babies in the air on other blogs that I so fondly read, it's got me thinking. Have you heard of it, I'm in love for future bambinos headed my way! Okay okay no kiddies on the way quite yet, but how cute is this stuff from The Land of Nod? It's owned by Crate & Barrel, which is how I found the site. You see I didn't intentionally go looking. I love C&B so I got super excited even before the page loaded. I knew it was all going to be down right cute, but look at it, tons and tons of kids & baby stuff. All The Land of Nod.

Adorable Bird Mobile

Cutie Bottle Drying Rack

No that's not a yoga mat, it's a baby changing pad

This cool-it teether made me smile

Can you tell I like smiley faces (check 0ut these bottles)?

Bachelorette Monday & Our Weekend...

2010-05-24T10:08:00.000-05:00

Happy Monday one and all. I hope you had a great weekend. Ours was good we explored our new city a bit and found some really good restaurants. We spent a good amount of time wandering in furniture stores because we have a guest bedroom now with no bed. My parents are coming to visit next month so we're trying to get that room set-up for them. The hubs and I started talking and we're now perplexed as to if we want to get a full sized bed or maybe just a futon. We're trying to think about the future, as in the possibility of a baby and if we were to get a full bed in there it would probably leave little space for a crib, rocker and an assortment of other things. There is no baby for the time being, but we're just thinking ahead.

At first I was opposed to a futon, because the first thing that popped into my head were those hard and uncomfortable ugly ones of the past. Well, futons apparently have come a long way since those days. We found some that are just as comfy as a bed itself, and there all these futon covers to customize it with. I came home and did a little price comparison to the ones I found in the stores and I found some cool looking ones like:

I like the look of both of these so we'll see what we decide. With Memorial Weekend coming up I'm sure there will be lots of great deals out there to be had, so hopefully we'll find something soon.

Are you guys aware that The Bachelorette starts tonight? As cheesy as this show is I love it and have watched most seasons of both The Bachelor and Bachelorette. Tonight Ali takes on a new batch of men. Ali seems like she'll be fun on this season, I've already seen her on the news here and there promoting so we'll see how it goes. The one thing though I must say that kind of bothers me is that they never pick anyone new for The Bachelor/Bachelorette. I mean if you're on the show for one season and the public likes you, you're in the running to return if the guy or girl doesn't pick you. For example, Deanna, Jillian, Melissa, Jake, and now Ali just to name a few. Then these people wind up working on tv; Deanna has her own wedding show on the internet (imagine that), Jillian and Melissa I've both seen as correspondents on entertainment tv, look at Jake - pilot turned Dancing with the Stars contestant, and we'll see what Ali does. I wonder how many of these Bachelor/Bachelorettes had this in the back of their mind the whole time. Anyway another season is on it's way.

I will say though that, I love seeing what the girls are wearing. There's always cute clothes and accesories that the girls parade around in on their dates. I already found this adorable necklace that I'm considering ordering. Ali will be wearing it in yellow at some point during the season and it's from Etsy! Oh how I love Etsy!

...apparently Jillian likes her stuff too.

You can find the jewelry here. Will you be watching tonight?

Has Anyone Tried a Scentsy?...

2010-05-20T09:01:00.000-05:00

What's a Scentsy you ask? Before I explain let me tell you that the company in no way paid me to write this and probably doesn't have a clue I exist. Maybe I'll be a rep for them though after trying them out. Who knows? Anyway, well I had no clue what Scentsy was either until I got a plug in the wall one in the mail yesterday, courtesy of my beautiful, wonderful big sis. It was a belated birthday present because as you can read about here and here, we were address-less for a couple of weeks, so she had nowhere to send my gift. I had seen ads for Scentsy around here and there in bloggy world, but never bothered to take much notice of them. Now I'm wondering why not, they're super fun and easy to use, and smell yummy.

Basically it's a cool new way to add fragrance to your house. There are these fragrance bars that come looking like these, you pop 1 or 2 of those out of the container:

and put them into a guy that looks like this or this, or any one of their other options.

The plug-in that I have has an on/off switch and it only took like 2 mins to melt. My favorite thing about it though is, that after it melts if you're tired of that scent you can pour it back into the little container and it hardens immediately. You can switch the scent to another, and reuse that other one later. It was a little hard to pour back into the container at first, but I got the hang of it. The result is also a cool effect, especially at night with the lights off.

So thanks big sis, I love you lots! Betcha didn't think I'd write all about your bday gift did you now?

Oh and since I'm showing family love, my mom would probably hate it if I wrote a whole post all about her like I originally wanted to, but today's her Birthday! Happy Bday mom, it's rare when you read my blog, but you're the best mom in the whole world, universe and solar system all put together (yeah that's something I've been telling her since I was oh I don't know 2 yrs. old).

Oh and if you want your own Scentsy go here.

Wishful Weds & a Unique Job Interview...

2010-05-19T11:41:00.000-05:00

Hi Guys! So I had an interview this morning, my first since we've been here and it was very interesting to say the least. I got the call yesterday to come in and I was pleasantly surprised, but also worried. I didn't apply to this particular position, I put my resume up on the local city website and somehow they reviewed it and must have liked what they saw because I got called to come in.

The company is for a media/ photography agency so I prepared for it all I could. However, when I got there I wasn't expecting to be greeted by a whole room full of people sitting at mac desks all around me. Talk about awkward. They told me to sit and wait. While I was waiting I was waiting I was terrified beyond all belief because they kept asking me about my graphic design experience. As much as I want to be a graphic designer and love the work I am far from one. I need more schooling in this particular area. I have advertising and media experience, but graphic design is a whole other ball game.

So they would ask about particular programs and then I'd be like I'll be honest I'd love to learn and I'm actually considering taking classes online for it, but for now no. Then they'd ask again and I'd be like no, it was so awkward. Then they asked me to sit at a computer and I had no clue what they were going to have me do seeing as I just basically told them I have no experience in what they're looking for. Thankfully they pulled up the local bus system and asked me to come up with some marketing ideas. They're trying to re-establish and update the bus system so that it appeals to more people in the city and they're revamping the whole system. New colored bus lines, new mascot, you get the idea. So they sat me down pulled the website up and told me to jot ideas I had down. So I did, and they were pretty good ideas I'd like to think, but again I'm not what they seem to be looking for. So why go through the effort of keeping me there a good 45 mins working on this then? Perhaps they're expanding which it actually sounds like they are. Perhaps they could use someone like me that they could build upon and perhaps if I did go back to school I could work my way in. Well, I guess we'll see but that my friends was the most unique job interview ever. I didn't even get asked about my resume, they were just like sit down and we'll see how you do. What the heck? I told them I could work part time if needed, and basically said I'm flexible shook their hands and left. So we'll see, onward with the looking. The good thing about hubs and I's situation is that I don't necessarily need money asap, but I enjoy working and miss it already, and even though it is "our money" I still like to feel like I'm contributing.

..and just because I like today's topic, I'm going to jump in on:

I Wish I Could Come Home to this Bedroom Every Night

I absolutely adore beachy inspired homes done right like these. Why not feel like you're on vacation everyday?

Top 2 Tuesday...

2010-05-18T09:03:00.000-05:00

Hi guys! Well life in FL is sure an adjustment. Already I'm missing home back in sunny So-Cal, my family, friends and just the people and places in general, but hubs and I are taking advantage of what FL has to offer. Before we moved here we did a search for churches online and found a few that we wanted to try out. Well we went to the very 1st one on our list and we haven't visited any others. The one we visited is very much our style, and a lot like our church back home in CA - laid back CA casual. No dressing up, come as you are in jeans, flip flops, whatever, and the pastor is so entertaining. This is exactly what we're used to... a pastor that can be entertaining and relate the Bible to today is perfect in our eyes. To top it off the service meets in a movie theater every Sunday, I kid you not. How cool is that?

Saturday was hubs birthday so we went down to the beach which is like 20 mins away max. It was a lot of fun and the perfect day. We had dinner at a Tepanyaki place on Friday and Saturday we cooked up a baked ziti together. It was so easy and yummy. Sunday we went to a newcomers coffee thing at the church and got to meet all sorts of peeps and have some yummy desserts too. It's so funny because wherever we go people are either in shock or awe about us being from CA. People move all the time, we're really not getting the surprise. Oh well I guess if I lived in the same city forever I'd be the same way.

Oh and on another note, I thought I'd join Taylor Again in Top 2 Tuesday:

This week's topic... Top 2 Things You Want to do Before You Die

This is tough, there's a lot that I want to do in my life, but these are just 2 of the things that come to mind right off the bat:

1. Travel More! We're talking Italy, Paris, Spain, Greece, Fiji, Jamaica, Carribean, Australia. Don't know if all this is realistic or not unless I happen to become a cajillionare, but I can dream right? At least I can knock a few of them out.

2. Have there be a cure for cancer of all types before my life is over, volunteer, continue to support cancer groups. So many I know have been devastated by all types of cancer including my grandma and grandpa.

Fab Friday Find...

2010-05-14T13:27:00.000-05:00

Happy Friday Lovelies! So thanks to all of you that have given me some career advice. It's frustrating because when I look back at when I was younger, I always used to think I'd be so much more on track career-wise. I know something will come along that will be perfect for me. I visited a school today to hear more about Pharmacy stuff and it was okay, but I just wasn't super excited about the program. I want to be excited so I might look into a couple other schools and see what they have to offer, but for now I'm holding off. I'm also researching some art schools too so I'll keep you posted.

So have you guys heard of Babelgum? Since I'm low on fundage I have to find other ways to entertain myself right now. I'm so sad I haven't been able to go shopping in a bit, but soon enough. Anyway I still watch The Hills on MTV, I've seen every season and I'm not ashamed to admit it. I know it's junk but sometimes I like junk haha. This season Spencer's really gone off the deep end. Anywho, Babelgum parodies different reality shows, often times kids re-enact the shows. This time they parodied The Hills. I don't know whether to laugh or cry. Where do they get these kids? See for yourself here.

I'm Indecisive That's for Sure...

2010-05-13T12:24:00.000-05:00

Hi all, for those of you that read my rants yesterday, you'll be happy to know that my bag turned up unharmed. I'm so happy hubs and I don't really need to spend any extra $$. The move has eaten up a good chunk of change ouch. I said a little prayer and stopped thinking about it and lo and behold it turned up buried in our closet of all places.

I've been doing a lot of thinking about going back to school for some additional training. I already have a Bachelors and 2 Associates degrees but I'm thinking of trying something new why not? I'm torn between 2 very different things both of them interest me. I've been toying with the idea of learning more about Graphic Design. I think this interests me big time. I majored in Film and Media Studies in college and have always been more creative. I mean how cool would it be to create something like this on a daily basis?

The thing is though I'm worried about being able to find work after I complete my training. I mean how does one go about finding work for this type of career? This area that we moved to is not big at all compared to where we were in CA so I don't know if Graphic Design will be as readily available of a career here. If I was back home near Orange County or LA sure that'd be no problem but I'm not. Graphic Design is appealing to me on so many levels, but yet a big part of me wonders about the realistic aspect of it all. I have my Bachelors so I'm thinking that plus this training could really make me marketable.

The other thing I've been toying with is becoming a Pharmacy Technician. This career doesn't excite me as much as Graphic Design, I'll be honest, but I have to think about job stability. Hubs and I want a family and I feel like a Pharm Tech will be simpler at finding work. Pharmacies and Hospitals are everywhere and pharmacists and pharm techs will always be needed no matter what city you're in. My big sis was a pharm tech for awhile and she says it's not a bad gig. It's fairly easy, pays well, but can be boring. So I don't know what to do.

I'v mentioned to you guys before that I'm indecisive and career is no different for me. It's so hard to narrow it down to just one thing. I loved my job at the college, just not all of my coworkers so maybe I need a change. Any thoughts?

I hate Moving...

2010-05-12T16:03:00.001-05:00

It's one of those long rough days. I'm finding that although I'm not working out of the house I'm working pretty darn hard around the house. When I last left you we weren't yet out of the corporate unit. Finally we're in our own place, but the movers that we hired plain sucked. They kept telling us our stuff would be here today we promise, today we promise, and it never came. So like I said before, we ended up having to stay in the corporate unit a little longer and pay extra. The moving company told us for sure they would have our stuff by this weekend on Saturday so we paid the apartment complex until Saturday and had to move out. You guessed it our movers didn't show or even call us! We kept calling them and finally they told us they were in stinkin Texas still! So we unhappily left our corporate unit because we weren't willing to fork out anymore money, which means we had to go to our actual apartment where we had no furniture. We slept on the floor for 2 nights, ouch with what clothes and blankets we did had. Luckily hubs had some stuff in his car that cushioned the floor a little.

Finally, I practically kissed all my boxes as they arrived yesterday. You guys don't know how happy I was to see our mattress. It's been rough sleeping on the floor, it's the little things in life that count. Hubs and I both literally put all the furniture out and flopped face down on the mattress once it was in it's spot. Hallelujah! Oh and as of about 20 mins ago, we finally have internet in our place. I'm so happy I can't even stand it. Our place, however still looks like a war zone. Boxes, trash, ugh you get the idea. Today though I conquered my walk in closet woo! I have 2 racks of shoes nicely lined up.

The thing that I am now freaking out about now though is that I can't find our electronic cords and such. Before we moved to this place I was taking good care of this ziploc bag that I so nicely put all our phone chargers, ipod, ipod chargers, camera, and cords. Hundreds of dollars down the drain! I'm so mad I don't know where they are, for all we know we might have thrown it all away. We think it might have somehow ended up in our trash bags. Bye bye goodies I'm kicking myself for it, but I'm still on the hunt. Send good vibes my way that it'll turn up in our mess, if not it's electronics shopping for me.

New Blog Look...

2010-05-10T10:27:00.000-05:00

Hi Lovelies! Happy Monday, did you notice the new look? Thoughts? I'm loving it, it's bright, girly and fun and reflects the changes going on in my little life. Jumping Jax Designs was so wonderful to work with, and was so fast in getting it all to come together. I'm still working on a couple things on the page, but I think it's coming along great. Did you notice I have a blog button. How cool is that I've always been envious of you ladies that have a button, now I have my very own too. If you like go ahead and grab it.

My weekend consisted of more organizing, cleaning, moving and lots more. Oh and trying to stay away from Florida's bugs! They're more prominent than California I'm quickly learning. Anyway, this post is going to be brief since I have some job hunting to do today wish me luck! Have a great start to the week ladies.

Fab Friday Find a Little Late...

2010-05-07T14:45:00.000-05:00

Hi lovelies! I'm a little late on the posting this week. I've been lazy today. As I've been having more time to myself I've indulged in some magazine reading and extra tv. I was so intrigued by this find that I just have to share. I haven't tried these personally but I really want to and will soon. I know you all remember the original Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory from back in the day right? Well that part in the movie where Violet eats the candy that tastes like a meal in one little candy has always been my fave part of the movie and amazed me.

I always thought what if something like that really existed? How cool would that be to have a meal in one little piece of bubble gum or candy? Well meet the closest thing to that since the movie... may I introduce to you Sinfully Delicious Gourment Dessert Sprays and Candy Bites! I was watching the Rachel Ray show the other day and was instantly intrigued by these. Basically the way it works is your supposed to have either 2 sprays of the dessert spray or one piece of the candy instead of your normal dessert. The sprays have no calories, no sugar, and are fat free. The candies have 2 calories, no sugar and are fat free. How cool is that? The lady on the Rachel Ray show did a 2 week trial with these suckers and she lost 13 pounds simply by replacing these with her normal desserts. I'm a little iffy on if they actually do all they claim and if they taste good, but I'm willing to give them a shot. I have a huge sweet tooth and love dessert and if I can loose a few pounds by simply replacing a dessert with these I'm all for it. I find most of the time I usually am just eating dessert because I want something sweet, not because I'm actually hungry. What do you guys think? Would you want to try too? You can buy them here Sinfully Delicous.

One Day we'll Have a Home...

2010-05-06T12:20:00.000-05:00

Okay that post title is a little dramatic, but that's how hubs and I feel at this point. We're bitter and we're homeless. Well not really since we are in the corporate unit place but we want our own place. Is that too much to ask? Sheesh, so our latest fiascos include us now having to pay to stay in our corporate unit an extra few days. We have to pay! What kind of nonsense is that? The whole reason we're there in the 1st place is because the apartment managers told us we couldn't have our real place until a specific date. Hence, we had to call the movers and give them another date. It's not our fault the movers now have told us they're delayed in Texas! Oy my head hurts, but enough of my ranting. We will supposedly have our things on Saturday, but I'm guessing Sunday.

You know what else? I'm still trying to get to know this city. Another thing I've never told you is that I am and have always been directionally challenged. That's right I fully admit it. I cannot find my way around. My mom always teases me that I can't find my way out of a paper bag. Even in the city that I lived in most of my life back in CA people would ask me for directions and I would give them directions by things not by street names. Is that normal? You know make a right at the Chevron gas make a left at the Chipotle. It makes sense to me lol. Well anyway as I was saying I struggle in directions. I really need a GPS, but I guarantee you that if I was to get one I would somehow manage to get lost with that thing too.

I haven't done much lately outside of the apartment without the hubs on my own yet. I'm still taking baby steps to get to know things. I've been looking for jobs here and there but I haven't looked seriously yet. Well yesterday, I got frustrated. I know I'm still new to the area but I want to be productive already and kind of leave the leasing managers alone since I'm constantly in their computer room.

So yesterday I decided to venture out and find the library. You know, so I could check-out some books, and maybe mix things up a little and use their computer. Well, I printed out directions on mapquest which I now hate btw, and went on my merry way. I somehow ended up in the ghetto, there was no darn Barcelona St. to be found. All I wanted was to find a stinkin library and I followed directions and everything and yet still wound up in the ghetto. I did find one library but it wasn't the one I was looking for the nice one. This one had scary people out front that looked less than friendly and clean. I know I shouldn't judge but hey I'm a new girl in a new city, alone! So what did I do? I did what any girl would do after an ordeal like that I drove to the mall which I know how to get to and I treated myself to a long overdue mani/ pedi combo :) Maybe I'll be brave and try to find my way around again real soon.

I tried OPI A grape fit and I love!

Happy Cinco de Mayo, Oy No Apartment Yet...

2010-05-05T09:55:00.001-05:00

Buenos Dias todos mis amigos! For those of you that don't know what I just said it's Good Morning all of my friends, I'm back again. It's Cinco de Mayo and I'm already craving mexican food big time. Ugh so when I last left you guys I mentioned that we had the possibility of moving into our own place today. Unfortunately we got word from our moving company that our stuff won't be here until this weekend yikes. That means we'll have to continue to live out of our suitcases until then, but to make matters worse we only have our corporate apartment until today. So first thing this morning I went down to the clubhouse to talk to the apartment manager about our situation. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we can stay until the weekend, unfortunately she told me she'd have to check on a few things before giving us an answer. So here I am currently in limbo waiting for her to call me and let me know yes or no. If it's a no off to a hotel we go for a couple of nights ugh. This move has been quite an adventure, but I guess things could have been much worse.

So to take my mind off of some of this madness that is my life right now I thought I'd participate with Kelsey over at the Seattle Smiths in Wishful Wednesday. Today's Topic:

I wish' .... I was fluent in another language in addition to English, and it would be

1. Spanish

2. Italian

In honor of Cinco de Mayo I thought it would be fitting that I choose Spanish after all I am hispanic, however I am by no means fluent! You see when I was about 3 or 4 years old living in CA I had a babysitter that I adored, I even called her my "otra momma", basically meaning my other mother. I loved her so much and didn't mind at all going to have her take care of me. Her 1st language was Spanish so naturally she spoke it to me and being the little 3 year old sponge that I was I drank it all in. I became fluent and I would even get confused sometimes and speak Spanish and English together or Spanglish. Sadly when I stopped needing a babysitter and didn't see "otra momma" anymore I lost most of my spanish :(, so my wish would be to have kept on practicing and speaking and to continue my fluency in the language. I also would love to speak Italian. I've always had a thing for anything Italian for as long as I can remember. I don't know if subconsciously this is part of the reason I married an Italian boy and now have an awesome Italian last name that I love. There's something so romantic and beautiful about the language and even the country that I love. One day I'd love to visit and attempt to speak Italian there. Once I have the Spanish down I think I could go on to learn Italian, after all I 've heard they're very similar. What language would you want to speak in addition to English? Are any of you fluent in anything now?

Still in FL part II...

2010-05-04T10:34:00.001-05:00

Lovelies, I apologize for my lack of blogging. This is so unlike me please forgive me. I promise to do better soon. There have been a variety of reasons for my lack of posts, the biggest I have limited internet access. There's a clubhouse that I go down to whenever I want to use the internet, sigh no access in our place yet. I miss you all and even though it hasn't been all that long I feel like it's been ages.

So here's what's going on with us as we are still getting situated in FL. Although I am not working yet I am still doing lots of odds and ends now that we are somewhat moved. There's the getting the cable setup, the internet setup, making sure our moving company is on track with our things, new licensce plates, new insurance, hubs car got shipped and it arrived yesterday, grocery shopping and so on and so forth.

The bad thing about where we are living now is that we still aren't in our actual apartment unit just yet. It's a long story but to make it short, the tenant of our apartment is in the military and something happened with his moving company and he was forced to stay a little while longer. Our apartment managers signed us with a date that we were told that we would be able to move in, and since things changed with the tenant they were forced to come up with other arrangements for us. Luckily, since we are near several military bases they have corporate apartment units which are fully furnished. They are almost like extended stay hotels because everything is there for you to use. Thank goodness there was one available, they put us up and that's where we have been for the past week or so. It's comfy, but it's not ours. We're antsy to get into our place and finally feel like we have a home again. We're supposed to be able to move into our place tomorrow if all goes well (fingers crossed).

What else? Oh my okay, so remember how I told you the fantastically wonderful story of how I sold my car? Well believe it or not I already have a brand new 2010 car! Awesome right? Yup we went down to the dealership to look, but we got offered an extremely good deal with a 4 day/ 3 night cruise to the Bahamas I might add! I'm so excited never in my life have I had a new car I've only had used cars blah! Well this is a whole new world for me new car smell, more power, oh yeah! May I introduce you to the newest member of the family my baby, my Mazda 3 in Gunmetal Blue, I love everything about it.

So in a nutshell, that's what I've been up to. In between all of this here and there I have been looking for a new job which I am already finding increasingly frustrating. So please say a little prayer for me when you can that I can find something in the near future here.

Oh and I have been wanting a new look for my blog for some time now. So in honor of all the new changes hubs and I have been going through I have officially taken the leap and hired a pro to work on this little blog of mine. I found a lovely lady at Jumpin Jax Designs and I can't wait to see what she comes up with and I can't wait to showcase it with all of you. Stay tuned for that! Have a wonderful Tuesday and I'll talk all of you soon!

I've Arrived in Fl, Recap Part I...

2010-04-28T11:18:00.000-05:00

Hi Lovelies! I sure have missed all of you. I'm so happy to be through the big move (well for the most part). The hubs and I arrived on Sunday and we have been adjusting to everything well so far. Yesterday was my birthday and we celebrated by going to the beach, which is just a mere 25 mins from our place. Talk about gorgeous and blue waters! Look at these pictures! I live here now, and this isn't a vacation. Something is wrong with that right? I'm so excited to be starting this chapter of our lives and I can't wait to see what it will hold for us here.

I was excited to get outside and visit the beach because this move has not been all that great. First of all traveling with a kitty is rough. We dropped her off at a boarding place in AZ when we arrived and they held onto her until Sunday. We felt so bad leaving her because we had never really left her before. We visited tons of family and then went onwards.

For some reason we decided to take a red eye flight out of Phoenix which was a bad decision. For some reason the plane was full. Every single seat was taken, the hubs and I didn't even get to sit next to each other. We had to sit one behind the other. I gave hubs Nala to take care of since this was the longest flight. We were flying from Phoenix and stopping for a layover in Atlanta. I do not sleep well on planes and didn't get much rest, but poor hubs got even less rest. Nala was squirming in her carrier the whole time. I think she had to pee and we didn't have a kitty box in there for her so she was meowing and squirming the whole time. At one point hubs took her out of her carrier and held her in his lap for awhile. Luckily the lady sitting next to hubs liked kitties and didn't mind and even helped my poor hubs. Needless to say it was a rough 3 1/2 hr. flight. Finally we landed, but we had a 2 hour delay until our flight to FL. Oh yay, more kitty time. Finally I think Nala peed in her carrier and she was happy as could be after that. Luckily we brought 2 kitty pads just for this.

Finally we arrived at the airport in FL. Never were we as excited as this to get to our destination. It's been bumpy, but I think the worst is over except for the fact that we are at a corporate apartment and not our apartment for a week more. Yeah that's another post. So for now I hope you enjoyed my mini-recap. I can't wait to catch up on all of you and see how the past few days have been for you.

It's my Last Day of Work & How My Car Got Sold...

2010-04-22T10:59:00.000-05:00

Thank you all so much for your well wishes and sleep advice yesterday. I am happy to say that I finally got a good nights sleep with the help of some over the counter meds. I actually stopped at a Rite Aid and got the store brand stuff and it worked amazingly. Anyway, today at 5pm I will no longer be employed at this college that I have worked at for a little over 2 years! Happy well yes, my position has started to become ho-hum, nervous you betcha, anxious oh yeah. Unemployment is not something that gets me excited, and this is not where I thought I'd be at 27 almost 28, but I'm ready to see what new adventures God has in store for us. Maybe now that I can stop stressing about this job I can relax a little until we get settled at our new place.

Oh so I need to tell you lovelies the story of how my car got sold. I have a '99 Mazda, yes a 11 year old Mazda, that has treated me quite well I might add. However, seeing as we are moving across country we decided it was not really smart or worthwhile to ship or drive my car to FL for our move. The cost and hassle of getting my car, an older car over there ultimately wasn't going to be worth it. So we decided that we would take hubs car with us, which is a '05 Mazda. We found a company that ships cars for people that are moving so we could fly.

Anyway we were planning on having my parents look after my car and hopefully, eventually, they would fine someone to buy it from them. We knew it might tak

e awhile if we were to try to sell and in the amount of time we're leaving we didn't think we could get anyone to buy so we didn't even bother to try. So we had pretty much written that off and wiped it from our minds that was that. Fast forward to last Saturday night. Hubs and I went

out to a great dinner, we have been driving my car around since we figured it wouldn't be used much in it's near future. So after we finished dinner we walking to the car and I saw a business card on my side of the driver's window. I thought to myself, just what I need more trash on my windshield. I hate when companies market ugh! Then I got closesr and I actually read what it said. "We want to buy your Mazda!" Run that buy me again? We? Who, we? Did I read that correctly? I read it again just to make sure and lo and behold "We want to buy your Mazda!" was written clear as day. I flipped the card over to see just who this "we" was. It turned out it was a Ford dealership and not just a person that had left the card. The place we went out to eat for dinner was right next to the Ford dealership. Little did we know Mazda and Ford are one in the same.

My hubs called right away and told the guy we actually were interested in selling the car due to our move to FL. The Ford dealership it turns out buys and sells used cars in good condition. The Ford guy set-up a time for hubs to bring the car on in to take a more detailed look at the condition of it. So hubs took it on in the very next day and got a quote. The guy said he would buy it for $2,500 which is great. It's an older car so we didn't expect the world, but this was actually more than we thought we might get for it. Since the car is technically under my dad's name we were told to bring my dad on in to seal the deal. My dad was more than happy after he heard the amount we would be given and that the car would be going to a reputable dealership. So today hubs and my dad went down to sell the car. Can you believe it? It's amazing how things work out. I can't believe it clearly someone (God) was looking out for us. Things like this just don't happen. This was really a miracle and it was meant to be. The extra money will be a blessing to help us with the moving costs and then once we get situated we'll get a better car for me.

I'll probably be taking a few days off from blogging :( since I'll be traveling. First off Phoenix, AZ to visit Ryan's family and then FL! I'll come back to you all just as soon as I can. Please keep hubs, Nala and I in your prayers.

My History of Sleepless Nights...

2010-04-21T10:32:00.000-05:00

Guys I'm sleep deprived and tired, hence my lack of posting yesterday. I've never shared this before, but I have been known to periodically not sleep well during life's big events. Graduating from high school I couldn't shut my mind off I kept thinking about college. This lasted a few days ugh. College graduation the same thing happened I tossed and turned every night worried about my future. The night before my wedding I kid you not I didn't sleep a minute. I laid there trying to get to sleep the entire night, but all I could think about was the next day, this caused me to be exhausted on my wedding day, not fun.

I think this goes back as far as I can remember, and this just goes to show you how much of a worrier I really am. When I was little I think I had a period of about 2 weeks were I would get up in the middle of the night and go tell my parents I couldn't sleep. Thankfully that went away. If you guys haven't had to experience not being able to sleep your far luckier than I am. It's the worst to wake up only you never really fell asleep and you're still as exhausted as when you first laid down.

Anyway seeing my history, needless to say this move is no different from any of these other events in my life. I'm frustrated as all can be trying to get to sleep every night. I'm going on my 3rd night of no sleep. Once I get in bed, all I can think about is what I still have to do, leaving work, a new job, our new place, our move the list goes on and on. I just wish there was a switch that I could use to turn my brain off.

At one point a few years ago I tried taking ambien because I needed sleep. I was so out of it at work from my lack of sleep and it was starting to affect me big time. That stuff is strong guys! I don't know if any of you have ever tried it before, but it does work. The only thing though is it's scary! I remember taking it right after I graduated college and had moved to LA for a little bit. I was seriously hallucinating. I swear things were jumping out at me and there were monsters moving around in the room. I kid you not! The ceiling fan also seemed like it was going to fall down on me. After these events though, I knocked out and had an awesome nights sleep; not as good as natural but just about. So I gave up on the ambien, due to it's freaky side affects. I've never been on drugs before and never ever would do such a thing, but if that's how I feel taking 1 ambien I don't even want to imagine how other people feel doing the crazy things they do.

Now if I could only relax and just realize these same things are going to be there in the morning so just sleep! Sorry for my rant I'm just mad at myself. I get annoyed with myself that I let these things get to me. So please say a prayer that my sleeping patterns get back to normal because I have better things to concentrate on:

We leave Friday (stopping in Arizona 1st to visit some of Ryan's side of the fam).

Next week is my birthday!

Redecorating is in my future

I have new adventures ahead.

My Weekend & Future Decorating...

2010-04-19T09:33:00.000-05:00

Hi Lovelies, I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. Mine was full of packing and cleaning and more packing and cleaning. We got a moving company thankfully to help us with the process. Basically we boxed everything up and they moved it into their truck for us and they're driving it across country. It was so frustrating though once we got the final cost. We're a little upset about the whole situation because we were quoted at one price and then once the movers got there they tacked on extras. We're trying to fight it now but we don't know how far we'll get.

Let's see what else, since we leave on Friday and our apartment is virtually empty now except for the random odds and ends we're staying at my parents house. They of course are so happy to have us stay anytime we want which is fine with me except we miss our bed haha.

It's crazy guys, Thursday is my last day of work and then we leave for our new adventure on Friday. Thank goodness we're flying because I don't think I could deal with a cross country drive right now. We're stopping in Arizona to visit some of Ryan's side of the family that lives there and then it's off to Florida. Can you believe it's all happening this quickly? I can't.

Anywho we're going to have so much more space at our new place I'm already thinking of decorating ideas. I have the hardest time decorating it's not that I don't know what I want because I do, it's just hard putting my vision all together. I get confused when I go shopping and see individual things and I have trouble seeing the big picture. We're going to have a 2 bedroom/ 2 bath apartment for now and then eventually move on into a house. It all happened so fast and we want to get acclimated to the area first before we make that big purchase. I'm so excited for our new place though it's super nice and lots of amenities are included; granite counters, overhead recessed lighting, 24 hour fitness and business center, in apartment washer and dryer. We can't wait. I've had ideas in mind, but now I just have to put my vision to work. These pics are similar to what I have in mind. What do you guys think? Do you love as much as I love? I'm going for a soft beachy, airy feel. Do any of you have advice on how to start decorating?

Who Me? Nah you Shouldn't Have...

2010-04-15T13:14:00.000-05:00

Thank you so much to Chelsea at Cream & Cotton who gifted me with an award! I still get excited about these. It makes me feel like you guys like me you really like me. I appreciate each and every one of you that takes the time to read me. I've said before I'm so glad I've met you all. You're awesome, fantastic, wonderful. I could go on and on.

Here's what I received, it's called the Gorgeous Blogger Award. How cute is it? It's one I haven't seen before.

The rules............
Accept and thank the person who gave it to you!
Thank you, thank you, thank you Chelsea, you're awesome!

List 10 things about yourself
1. I drink water 95% of the time. The rest of the time is iced tea, lemonade, milk with my cereal, and the occasional coffee. I gave up soda after college.
2. I love traveling.
3. When I'm the passenger I like to watch people in other cars and see what they're doing. Sometimes you see things you wish you hadn't.
4. I very rarely if ever pay full price for something. It all goes on sale at some point.
5. I envy those that can decorate, I don't have that knack.
6. When I was 3 or 4 yrs old I was fluent in Spanish because my babysitter spoke it to me, sadly after I stopped going to her I lost most of it.
7. I love warm weather and sunshine, I don't handle the cold well.
8. I've never owned a dog before.
9. I hate styrofoam!! Seriously if it's within 10 feet of me I'll run away. I can't stand the sound. It makes me cringe.
10. The one and only time I had stitches was when I nearly poked my eye out with a candy cane while watching Sesame Street (true story).

List 5 additional things you DON'T like!
1. I can't stand beans or peas, something about the texture and taste ugh.
2. I'm super shy and self-conscious but I've been working on it. Blogging has helped me.
3. I over analyze anything and everything. Why did this happen? What if I did this? So on and so on.
4. I'm super indecisive. I have trouble picking things. You want me to pick one place to live? One career? One place to eat? Eck
5. I worry too much.

10 People Who I'm passing this onto:
I'm passing this onto anyone that would like it. I need to get back to work and it's so tough picking you lovelies! Enjoy ladies!

What I'm going to Miss...

2010-04-14T10:40:00.000-05:00

So you all know that I am in the midst of packing for our big move. As each day gets closer to us moving I'm beginning to realize I will miss a lot! This is Southern CA, and after all I have lived here my entire life. Here's a list of some of what I'll miss:

1. Southern CA's Diversity - I love that all cultures are here. It's a mecca of anything and everything. Black, White, Hispanic, Asian, Russian, Armenian you name it... heck I met a couple from Poland the other day. I've always been around people from everywhere and I'll miss the diversity that the area we're moving to has compared to CA.

2. My Family and Friends of course (no need to elaborate here)!!

3. This kind of goes with #1, but the Food! You think these places will ship across country for me? Yes the fish tacos, chicken and burgers are that good.

4. My grocery stores - Ralphs, Trader Joes, Henry's, and Fresh & Easy - how I'll miss you.

5. My shopping oh man! No Nordstrom, Forever 21 or H&M in my vicinity. What on earth am I going to do? Yay for online shopping to my rescue!

6. Disneyland! I love this place and have been there hundreds of times. No matter how many times I go, and even though I used to work there I still love it! I don't care what anyone says it is the original, it's where Walt put his vision in mind and it will always hold a special place in this girl's heart! Yes I know there's this place called Disney World, that I haven't been to yet and I hear is fantastic, but Disneyland, this is where I 1st learned about all things Disney.

7. The year-round beautiful weather, palm trees, beaches and no humidity!

8. Palm trees against snowy mountains. I gotta admit it's awfully cool to look up in the winter and see pics like this:

So lovelies, those are some of the things I'll miss back home. You're darn right I'll be back to visit in no time. I will always consider Southern CA home no matter what and will always be a CA girl. Even though I'm leaving this all behind I'm excited about our new adventures to come. So for those of you East Coast/ Florida/ Southerners what can I look forward to? What are some things that you have that we don't that you think I will absolutely love?

Top 2 Tuesday, It's All About the Eyes?...

2010-04-13T10:42:00.000-05:00

Wow is it just me or are the weeks flying on by? Since putting in my 2 weeks notice on Friday, work has been my only place to rest it seems. So I'm taking a break from the work I should be doing and participating with Taylor again in:

Taylor has the best Top 2 ideas. This weeks Top 2 she came up with:

Top 2 Beauty secrets.

1. White eyeliner! I use it in the corner of my eyes for a little luminescence. Light bounces of the corners and it makes your eyes pop. Just don't forget to blend a little.

2. Threading Eyebrows! Don't know what it is? Girls you are missing out! I love getting my brows threaded. It's such a simple thing, but it makes me feel so much better and put together when I do it. It's also really cheap, all of the places I've been to cost between $8-$10! The first time you do it, it's a bit painful, but it's tolerable. I've never had mine waxed before but I don't even want to imagine the pain involved in that. I'll stick to threading thank you very much.

Have any of you used any of these tricks? What are some beauty secrets of yours? Head on over to The Undomestic Momma so you can participate too.

Lots of Packing Going On...

2010-04-12T13:47:00.000-05:00

Thank you all so much for your words of encouragement and support. I feel blessed to have all of you share in this time of transition for my hubs and I. You all offer so much advice and help I'm so grateful to have met you all. A lot of you have asked where in FL exactly are we moving? Well we're moving to northern FL, we're actually almost going to be in Alabama so it's a huge culture shock from anywhere we've ever been. We're excited though and ready for whatever comes our way with this.

This weekend was a whirlwind of activity. Calling airlines, booking flights, shipping car information and then some. It was one thing after the other. I also started in the oh so fun of packing ugh! I decided to tackle the lower half of my closet. I don't know how I have accumulated so much stuff. I mean my shoes alone. I have one full box of just flip flops. Is this normal? I believe at last count I had 5 boxes of just shoes. Hubs asked if this was really neccessary and I said yes sir it most definitely is. I wear them all. Then I moved onto the bathroom and I counted 24 nail polishes! 24 you guys! I think there's something wrong with me, because after all this I still want more colors. I threw out a good chunk and kept the rest because I had a few in there that I don't wear anymore/ they're old.

What else I filled up a full trash bag of just junk from my purse and old hangers that are broken. I'm sure that's tmi but that was just not right you guys. No normal person should be carrying around that much trash. I also had the help of the parentos this weekend and they so gratefully brought hubs and I over a patio set that's never been opened still in boxes to our new place. They also brought over a bookcase, Ryan's old bed that we will put in the guest bedroom that we will now have and assorted knick knacks left at their house. I bet they were happy to have me clear up some of the mess. So anyway this is what our apartment currently looks like (well minus the wearhouse). Isn't it lovely? I hope your weekends were great:

The Big News, Finally Revealed...

2010-04-09T13:16:00.001-05:00

Fab Friday Find will return another time because my dears I can finally share the news I have been talking about! Are you pumped? I'm sorry I've left you all hanging for so long. I appreciate all of your kind words of support and encouragement the other day. I really needed a boost and you lovelies made my day. Times have been trying to say the least.

The thing is you see, I put in my resignation today! Finally! I have been so stressed about finally doing it, worrying about people, worrying about getting it done. I have to stop worrying about others though and concentrate on myself, my husband, and our futures. So today I took the leap. I came in with my resignation letter in hand and was prepared. However, my boss called in sick of all days. So I sent her a brief email and told her I would explain everything on Monday. It will be quite an awakening to everyone around here. There are going to be plenty of staff members that will freak out I'm sure. They don't realize it now, but they will soon see all the work that I really do. Somebody is going to have all my work thrown on them, but you know what I can't worry about that because better things are coming my way.

It's been so hard to keep all of this in, but I couldn't officially say anything until I actually resigned of course. I hate keeping secrets no matter how big or small. So this is part of the big news. Me actually quitting my job, leaving this place that I have been in for 2 years. However, that's not the biggest news of all. The big news my dears is what is in store for hubs and I. My hubs and I have both been applying all over. California you may or may not know is a wonderful place to live. I love love love it and am so glad to be a native Californian. Having said that though, CA is rough sometimes. There's traffic, pollution, stressful environments, and jobs that are difficult to come by. I have lived in CA the entire 27 soon-to-be 28 years of my life. I never in a million years thought I would really live anywhere else. Northern CA possibly or somewhere within the state, but me move out of CA? Nah you gotta be kidding me. Well hold on to your horses ladies, it's going to get bumpy.

This little lady and her hubs are moving. Y

ou guessed it we're moving out of CA, way out! Hubs and I are moving across country in a little under 3 weeks!! 3 weeks people!! AWWW! Pardon my nervousness, excitement, fears and then some. We're moving to Florida!! Up until last weekend (our Easter trip) I had never even been to FL in my entire life. Now this girl's moving there. It's so surreal.

Why are moving you may ask? Well my husband got the job of a lifetime, he's going to be an athletic trainer/ strength coach for marines! Marines! It's crazy right? We're crazy right? Well the job pays super well and the salary he'll be receiving will allow us to live more than comfortably in FL. We have to think of our family and our future family. It's by no means been an easy decision. We don't know a single person out in FL, and we'll basically be on our own, but we can't let fear get in the way. We feel that God has given us this opportunity for a reason. It has come along because he wanted it to.

It will be a major adjustment. We visited for the 1st time last weekend which is why I was so pooped. The hardest thing for us and me in particular will be leaving my family who I love dearly. We're super close, especially my mom and I and it's going to be tough. I also don't yet have a job out in FL which makes me of course a bit stressed. Although hubs tells me not to worry and that he can handle it for a bit. I still want to be productive, I don't want to be all alone well other than with Nala while he's at work. I need to be out and do things. I suppose I should just relax a bit after all this is the first time I've ever really been able to do so. It's just a lot and it's happened very quickly. We're in for a ride of a lifetime, but I know we'll get through it. Have a lovely weekend, after work, I'll be off to start the packing.

Can I Take a Break From Life Please?...

2010-04-07T16:07:00.000-05:00

Okay guys this is kind of a different post for me. I know I'm usually the bubbly, sweet upbeat blogger but my minds been on overdrive lately and I just have to share. Lovelies, do you guys ever feel like you're being pulled in a million directions? You want to please everyone, but can't possibly without hurting someone or disappointing someone? I'm so worn out and tired. Life has gotten so crazy lately and I just want to say time-out! I can't even believe the turn of events that have happened lately. I've been holding out on telling a lot because I can't yet. I'll explain it all to you soon enough but a lot has been going on in this head of mine. I have worries, concerns, and just plain wonders of what our futures will hold.

I will say that God has presented my husband and I with a wonderful opportunity. It's something that we never thought we would be faced with but now that is in our near future reality is finally sinking in. We're both questioning things in life, but firmly believe we were given this for a reason. Although at the moment we are humbled, confused and also grateful we also are blessed. I've always firmly believed that things happen for a reason, and that God does not present us with anything we can't handle. I think this is just part of that, and that he is testing us. It's part of getting older, stronger and wiser.

I've told you all before that my hubs and I love Christian music. It just picks us up when we are down and it's really an inspiration. Lately I've had this song "Tunnel" on repeat. It's by Third Day and I love it. It's become a favorite of mine and it just reminds me that things will be okay. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Top 2 Tuesday, What a Fun One...

2010-04-06T10:30:00.001-05:00

Hi Lovelies! I'm participating once again this week in Top 2 Tuesday with the wonderful Taylor. Her topic this week is something I'm excited about because I'm obsessed with magazines! I love them I have so many subscriptions that I subscribe to and often times I am so behind I don't even open them until months later. Hidden amongst my usual Glamour, In Style, Marie Claire the list goes on and on are these 2 beauties I always get excited about:

My Top 2 Favorite magazines:

1. Real Simple... I love, love, love this magazine. It's so handy, there are tips, tricks, the AHA section which has new uses for common household items, and decorating. I could use all the decorating help I can get. Guys if you have not read this magazine before you are missing out and must subscribe STAT. I read this thing cover to cover and get so excited when it comes in my mail.

2. Shop Smart...another winner! Awhile back I used to subscribe to the shopping magazine Lucky, but I became frustrated because more than half the stuff I could not afford. I mean $450 shoes I wish, and most of it was ad after ad. Then I discovered Shop Smart! This one is awesome! It does not have a single ad in it's entire magazine which means more content and page after page of handy tips! There are websites to learn about handy tips, and lots of shopping tips. I love this one too!

Easter Recap and then Some...

2010-04-05T15:10:00.000-05:00

I hope all of your Easter's were amazing! Mine was so much fun, but so so busy. Hubs and I had a mini weekend getaway beginning on Thursday night. I had Friday off and we went to the airport to a secret location. It was very interesting. Sorry to leave you all hanging a bit for now but this all has something to do with my news that I still cannot disclose just yet. All I can say is that I am worn out!! I seriously contemplated calling in today because I have been on the go nonstop since Thursday night. Airports, flights, visiting, shopping you name it we've been doing it.

I will talk about my actual Easter thought! The hubs and I finally got to meet this little one on Sunday! May I introduce to the world my cutie patootie little nephew Matteo:

I wrote about him here and here. He's 2 months old already! I can't believe how fast they grow. Matteo, his parents and hubs side of the family and I all got together yesterday for some Easter family time. Matteo was dressed in his Easter best. We had the best most untraditional Easter meal; salmon, steak, scalloped potatoes, asparagus. It was all so yummy and very different from my usual ham at Easter!

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter weekend too and that you all took the time to acknowledge the real reason for it all. We usually watch the Passion of the Christ around Easter but didn't get to this year so we'll have to put in some time again soon. Hope the rest of your Monday's go well.

Happy April Fools!...

2010-04-01T10:33:00.000-05:00

Hi Lovelies! I'm so sorry my postings have been so sporadic this week. Haha sporadic do you guys remember that word from the movie "Clueless"? Okay random thought, moving on.

So I've been super busy, as you read I hurt my knee pretty good on Monday, and was out of the office on Monday and Tuesday to recooperate. I was back in the office yesterday and I had a crazy day at work. I had a pile of things waiting for me to do. It was one of those days where it's one thing after the next. I barely had time for lunch yesterday. When I got home my knee was like in shock I think, well not really but it was still pretty swollen. I've been icing my baseball size knee non-stop and I suppose it's gettting better, but it's a long process. I'm not on crutches or anything so that's good. I just have a knee support on.

What else oh man okay I don't know if you all know but I'm a sucker for this "so called reality tv". I admit I've been know to watch Keeping up with the Kardashians, Giuliana and Bill, Kendra, The Bachelor, the list goes on and on. So one day while watching Kendra I decided to see what this new show "Pretty Wild" was all about. I had seen previews about these 3 sisters who look like they are just party girls, and some sort of model types. So I thought lets see what this junk is all about on E. I had low expectations in the first place, but I am now fearing for my life that there are families and girls out there like this. It's bad guys!

First of all I can't believe these girls are only 19, 18 and 15! They look like they're minimum in their early to mid 20's. Although they look older they are sooo immature. Where do I start on the insaneness of this show? What in the world are we teaching our girls? I pray to God that high schoolers or middle schoolers do not ever watch this show. These are the worst examples of young women I have ever seen.

Should I start with the fact that these girls have a stripper pole and it's approved by mom and dad? Or maybe the fact that the mom of these girls gives out the prescription drug adderrall to her daughters whenever they ask like it's candy? Or how about the clothes these girls wear? I'm sorry but no daughter of mine will be remotely dressed or undressed should I say like them? There's also the creepy step-dad who seems to be unusually close with the girls especially the younger daughter. There's also the bizarre behavior of the mom who walked around their new house cleansing the area. They also cry at the drop of a hat, is that a phrase? In one part of the show they lost their dog while getting the youngest sister ready for school. They made her look like some sort of centerfold rather than a 15 year old. So while they were getting her ready the dog somehow got loose and they were running around the house freaking out. They finally found the dog and later they had a family meeting on why they are not good mommies right now. All the girls were crying, I had to change the channel at this point because I couldn't take much more. To sum it up:

DO NOT WATCH (It has my stamp of approval as the worst show ever):

So that's my synopsis. E! please cancel this show for the better of America!

Again, I do apologize for my lack of posting this week. I will be better next week. It's just been one of those weeks. I have a lot more to update you on hopefully soon here. I can't wait to share. I'll be off again tomorrow for a jam-packed Easter weekend. I may try to post a Fab Friday Find later on this evening if I have some free time. I'm going out of town for the weekend though, so if I can get my packing in order I'll be back. If not, have a wonderful weekend lovelies!

Home Again...

2010-03-30T11:49:00.001-05:00

Hi everyone! I had a wonderful weekend. I hope yours was great too. It was an extra long 4 day weekend for me. I did a lot! I went and saw the movie She's Out of My League. If you haven't seen this movie, I strongly suggest you go see it, it was so funny! It was better than I had expected and I was cracking up throughout most of the film. I felt so sorry for the dorky little lead male character.

Let's see what else I went and had a girls day and got to see one of my newly married friends place for the first time. Can I just tell you how amazing it was. Maral, I'm so jealous come decorate for me! Her style is awesome to begin with so I wasn't expecting anything less from this girly. It was a great weekend, until Monday morning...

So as my title of this post states I'm "home again". Why am I home again you ask? Well I haven't mentioned it before but I have bad knees, unfortunately. More like I have a bad right knee! My knee injuries began in 9th grade. Before I tell this story, I need to warn you that it wasn't a pretty one.

Back in high school and elementary school, I used to dance. I took up jazz and ballet. Well one day in 9th grade, on a rainy day, I was walking through the halls of my college campus when I slipped and fell. It wasn't just an embarrasing oh my gosh I'm clumsy fall, it was a oh my gosh I'm hurt and I need medical attention fall. I was between class periods walking from one class to another when I was walking down some stairs (which were wet from the rain outside I might add), and slipped down the stairs. When I slipped my knee hit the railing and out popped my knee. Now I had never had any major injury up until then in my entire life so I was freaking out. I remember screaming and holding my knee in pain, sprawled out in our school building my backpack and books thrown. I was in some severe pain. I feel like I sat there forever waiting for someone to help me, all the while it was probably only a minute or 2 max, but in high school time it was an eternity. I was not only in pain and scared, but I was also embarrased as all can be. I had fallen in the prime busiest spot of all places. This spot was an area in high school that every student passes at some point during the school day. Needless to say this did nothing to help my wannabe cool factor! Yes of course I would be worried about being cool at a time like this. It was high school!

So this was the start of my battle of knee injuries. I went to numerous doctors, and specialists. Had physical therapy, exercises you name it, and I got it back in shape or so I thought. I had a knee injury again and again and again. The second time it happened was right before a dance recital we're talking days before. So needless to say I didn't get to participate. During this injury the doctor finally talked me into having orthoscopic knee surgery. I had the surgery and did well for many years until one day my knee dislocated again.

Before I had the surgery the doctor explained to me that my knees injuries weren't actually being caused by injuries necessarily, but then the bones in my knees are slightly off from how they are supposed to be formed. Long story short, it was something I was born with, but didn't find out until these instances occured. So what does this mean for me? I have to be on-guard more than the average person. I don't put myself in situations where there is a chance that my knee could be dislocated easily. So I steer clear of active sports to prevent injury. The doctors have told me that the surgery I had helped, but they won't ever be able to fully perfect my knees. Luckily one of my knees is stronger than the other, and as of now only my right knee has given me problems. It's an unfortunate part of my life that I've had to deal with. I couldn't even tell you how many times I have dislocated my knee, all I know is that it's gotta be over 10, even with the surgery.

So back to yesterday morning. I was walking to my office as usual when all of a sudden I fell. I could almost sense it was going to happen again, and I think that's what might have caused it this time. It was a bad fall and out popped my knee again. I laid on the sidewalk for awhile feeling sorry for myself but finally got up. When I got to my office I told my boss what happened and I actually made it through half the day. I decided to leave at lunch when I pulled my pants up and saw that my knee looked about the size of a softball. So here I am at home on the couch icing my knee and elevating it. I'm frustrated because I'm tired of these unexpected falls and I'm tired of repeating this process. I just want it to stop happening, but I don't know if it will. I'm praying that God heals me up quickly with this injury and that I'm well enough for this weekend. I have some big plans that I can't wait to share.

We Have Ourselves a Winner...

2010-03-27T10:29:00.000-05:00

Congratulations to everyone that entered the Favor Affair Giveaway, and especially a big Congratulations to our winner:

Megan from 2 of a Kind Working on a Full House!!

She's a new follower and she won using random.org. She was randomly chosen for the $25.00 Giveaway credit! So congrats again! I will be contacting you shortly for your info. I can't wait to do another giveaway soon!

Fab Friday Find, Enjoying my Time Off...

2010-03-26T12:22:00.000-05:00

Happy Friday one and all, I've been enjoying my extra 2 days off work this week. It's so nice to catch up on things around the house and get things done. I'm sure you're all excited that we've made it here to the weekend well in a few hours.

So this morning I was visiting some of my fave sites and somehow I ran into this blog called the 99 Cent Chef. This guy is creative as all can be. He shops at 99 cent only stores as well as regular grocery stores and makes meals using only 99 cent and under foods. Crazy huh? Some of his meals um not so much, but some wow, he gets creative! I mean this looks pretty good right?

I mean who would have thought to use only 99 cent only products? It's very interesting. I'll be the first to admit that I occasionally run into a 99 cent store for the occasional cleaning products, or giveaway goody for our campus but food? The bravest I've been in buying food at a 99 cent store has been some candy, oh and one time I bought some rolls. I'm a little thrown off by some of the no-name brands I see on the shelf and I often wonder if the stuff has expired. Well with pics like this, maybe just maybe I'll try to be a little braver:

Oh and on another note, don't forget you still have time to enter my Giveaway for a chance to win a $25.00 Giveaway credit from Favor Affair. For full details about the giveaway go back to this blog post and enter on that posting. The giveaway closes at 7pm PST tonight! I can't wait to anounce the winner!

Mascara, Mascara and More Mascara...

2010-03-24T10:42:00.000-05:00

I don't want to flaunt it, but I just have to say that it's my Friday! I love that I've had a 3 day work week. I told you all on Monday that it's spring break on the campus I work at, and campus will be closed for everyone on Thursday and Friday which means no work for me for 2 days this week and a 4 day weekend! Okay enough gloating sorry guys! I still love ya all.

I was thinking of doing Wishful Wednesday with the Seattle Smiths again this week, but I had so many questions about mascara yesterday I thought I'd do a little post on my faves and my not so faves. Maybe you can try some of my suggestions and hopefully you can suggest a few for me too. For the most part I use drugstore mascaras because I go through so many and I'm not willing to pay 15 bucks and up each time I want to indulge my mascara addiction. I also always buy the blackest mascara that is sold, I like dramatic bold lashes, but I hate crunchy fake looking ones.

1. This is what I'm currently using-Rimmel London Glam Eyes Lash Flirt. Honestly at first I hated it because of the brush alone. It's a flexible brush which I don't like, however, once I got the hang of it it worked well. This is for more dramatic eyes. I don't think I'd necessrily buy it again.

2. L'oreal Paris Voluminous Original Mascara-Carbon Black. This one is as black as you can get and makes my eyes pop. It lasts and lasts and doesn't dry out my eyes, which is good because I also wear contacts. It's great for work, everyday use. I've bought this one repeatedly which is a good sign.
3. Max Factor 2000 Calorie Straight Brush Mascara. I've been using this on and off since high school. It's a go to for me when you want no frills and just a classic full mascara, not stiff, not clumpy.

4. Maybelline Illegal Lengths-This is another repeat winner for me. It gives me long soft full lashes. I love it for everyday too.

So those are a few of my cheapie drugstore mascara loves. What do you like? Anything else I need to add to my already growing list? What department store/Sephora/Ulta mascara is actually worth the extra money? I've heard good things about Diorshow.

Oh and this is my one splurge that I love. I bought it from HSN, yes Home Shopping Network and it's lasted forever! I think I've had it for 2 or 3 years. It's called Ready to Wear Lash Extension and it's awesome. When I really want wow eyes I use this. Basically they are dry fibers that you brush on your mascara while the mascara is wet. Then you put another coat of mascara on top. The fibers attach to your lashes making them long.

Top 2 Tuesday, Round 2...

2010-03-23T10:47:00.000-05:00

I had such a good time participating with the Undomestic Momma on Top 2 Tuesday last week I've decided to hopefully make this a regular posting each Tuesday. This week Taylor got some help with the topic and it's a fun one as usual.

Top 2 things you cant live without

I've decided to not go with the obvious on this one i.e my parents, family, husband, church, God, friends. So here are a couple of things I simply must have.

1.) Mascara!!

My fave feature on my face are my eyes (sorry if that sounds bad), I love eyelashes. I think they can be sweet, sassy, sexy, dainty, and I love playing them up with Mascara!! I love trying all different kinds. Whenever there's a new one out there I gotta try it. I mean theres volumizing, extending, lengthening, curling the list goes on and on.

2.) My Wedding Rings

I love my wedding rings! Even though I've had them for such a short time they've already become part of me. I think they are one of the most precious things I own. Not just because their beautiful and they are diamonds, but because of the meaning behind them. I love looking down at my hand and being reminded of the promise my husband and I made to each other. I only take them off when I cook, wash my hands or shower, I even sleep with them. Even when I take them off for these things I feel funny and they go right back on.

I hope you'll all participate with Taylor today too. I can't wait to see what some of you said on this!

3 Day Week, & Some Awards Woo...

2010-03-22T10:51:00.000-05:00

Happy Monday lovelies! I'm back here at work, but I'm a little more chipper than usual for a Monday morning. Why you ask? I have a 3 day work week oh yeah! It's spring break this week at the college that I work at and most of the students have flown the coop for vacations or gone back home. Campus is super quiet and there's not much work to be done this week. We're actually quite lucky because we have a 3 day work week! Our campus celebrates pretty much all small holidays including Caesar Chavez day which is Friday. I have Friday off, and Thursday is a mandatory furlough day on campus. So basically that means a 3 day work week. So I just have a few days of boredom to get through at work and then I get some me time.

So while I'm at work I have some blog time. I have been meaning to post a thank you to Katie from The Life of an Army Wife who presented me with this award a while back. I was so excited to receive this, I've had my eye on it for awhile because of that yummy looking pic of those cupcakes:

The rules of this award are as follows..
1)Thank the person that awarded this to you in a new post-Already did. Thanks again Katie!!
2)Name the 10 things that make you happy
3)Pass this award on to ten other blogger's and inform the winner's

Happy Things:

1.) My husband

2.) My parents/ family
3.) Animals - especially kittens or puppies

4.) Cupcakes!
5.) Sunshine!

6.) Coffee!
7.) The Beach!

8.) Jesus Christ!
9.) Nail Polish!

10.) Flowers!

all images but first We Heart It

10 Bloggers:

Little Woman Little Home

Laugh, Love, Eat Ice Cream

Life as a Wife

Planning our Wedding

Happy Day World
Simplicity in Baltimore

The Hardwicks also presented me with an award too! What a great Monday surprise.

Thanks again so much sweet lady! I will be sure to post the requirements in time, but I think this post is probably long enough as is. Have a wonderful Monday all!

Fab Friday Find...

2010-03-19T11:40:00.000-05:00

It's Friday, and normally I'd be like yeah woo-hoo it's Friday let's get our party on. Well not really let's get our party on because I'm far from a party animal, but I would be excited. This week though not so much, why because I have to work a good chunk of the day tomorrow blah! I know right? On the flip side though I will get some good overtime for working. The campus that I work at is having a huge day for incoming freshman tomorrow. 100's of students will be coming in and taking a better look at the departments and campus deciding if they want to come here or not. So me being a part of a specific department on campus was asked if I wanted to work, overtime sounded good to me so I signed up. Oh well I'll be outside and the weather is supposed to be beautiful. So that's what I'll be doing Saturday but Sunday hubs and I get to hang out with a friend that I haven't seen in ages and her husband.

I was trying to decide what I wanted to tell you guys about for Fab Friday Find this week and I realized I hadn't told you about Regretsy. Oh this site cracks me up. Well I've told you all about my love for Etsy right? Well this site is basically Etsy gone bad, very bad. It's basically a blog of unusual finds and things that people are looking for found on Etsy. What do I mean well take a look at this:

For those of you that can't read this it says "I need a black robe with a white priest collar for a cat, it would be like a doll dress, only with a larger neck, can be over the head robe, no buttons or zippers." Price $15.00.

What!!! I plain have nothing to say about this, just why that's all why?

Oh and as I was just typing the above this posting came in:

What the heck postcards made out of a granola bar box? $2.00 I think not.
So for you Friday amusement, I suggest you head on over to Regretsy.

A Spring Giveaway Lovelies...

2010-03-18T11:22:00.000-05:00

Good Morning Lovelies. I hope your week is going well. I'm just glad the weekend is almost here. It's been beautiful here in sunny So-Cal and I haven't been wanting to be cooped up in my office when the sun is shining outsisde. We're talking low 80's! All I can do is look out at the beautiful weather.

Are any of you as excited about springtime as I am? It's my favorite time of year. Flowers are blooming and everything just seems to come alive. Not to mention the cute clothes and other fun things out there. Oh and did I mention my birthday's in April. I guess I started out as a spring baby from the time I was born.

So I'm also super duper excited because I have been contacted by a wonderful company Favor Affair for partnering in a giveaway! This one's fabulous. I know a lot of you are married already, but there's some of you that are getting ready to tie the knot too. I know that we can all use a little extra cash when it comes to weddings, especially in the favor department. Oh and for those of you that are already wonderfully married don't worry there's plenty on the site for you too.

So I know by this point you're dying to know what the giveaway is right?

May I present to you a chance to win a $25.00 Giveaway Credit from Favor Affair.

What kinds of things does Favor Affair offer? Well since spring is in full bloom check out these adorable items. Check out their site for much more:

Customized Lemonade Favors

Cherry Blossom Scented Soap

Luminous Mini Lanterns

...and like I said Favor Affair has goodies for those of us who are married already too. That's me!

Green Thumb Gardening Tote with Tools

Cosmopolitan Home Canvas Initial Tote

So what are you all waiting for enter the giveaway. Oh I suppose it would be nice if I told you how to enter huh? So here are the requirements. Please leave your email address so I may contact you:

Become a follower of little old me/ or if you already are let me know you are (1 point)

Go to Favor Affair and tell me what one of your fave goodies is (2 points)

Blog about it and post a link on your blog (3 points)

I will use random.org to generate a winner...The winner will be selected on Friday, March 26th at 7pm PST. Oh and if anyone knows how to post the random generator thing please let me know by email, I can't figure it out.

Wishful Wednesday & Happy St. Patty's...

2010-03-17T15:13:00.000-05:00

First off Happy St. Patty's out there to all of you. I'm not Irish by any means ha not that you thought I was! I've never been a big St. Patty's person to begin with. I mean I have no interest in beer to begin with, much less green beer. I don't like green bagels and well is it bad that I don't even know the real purpose of St. Patty's? I should do some reseach on the subject. Anywho, I hope you all enjoy yours. I'm so mad I forgot to wear my green today argh!

In other news, I had so much fun with yesterday's Top 2 I've decided to participate in Wishful Weds with Kelsey at the Seattle Smiths. Kelsey's subject the lottery oh yeah! So...

'I wish' .... I could win the lottery REAL soon, and I would hope to pay off my student loans, buy a house, travel, donate & treat my family!

***The real question is would you

1) quit your job/career

2.) continue working

You bet I would quit my current job! I think it's safe to say this because me winning the lotto is not about to happen in my lifetime. I would still want to work part-time though. I'd want a fun new career where I could be my own boss. Maybe own a fun little cutesy boutique or a bakery. I'd take lots of fun classes too photography, painting, sculpture, graphic design. I'd be a cool boss too and would allow lots of time off and great benefits!

My Very 1st Top 2 Tues...

2010-03-16T10:28:00.001-05:00

Happy Tuesday, yesterday was so busy. I don't know if it's the time change that's worn me out or just work in general. Maybe it's a combination of the 2. Anyway, I've been wanting to participate in Top 2 Tuesday hosted by The Undomestic Momma for awhile now. Everytime I remember though Tuesday has passed. So this week I made a point to join in on the fun. The Undomestic Momma is one of my fave blogs. This weeks topic...

My Top 2 Favorite Celebrity Styles

1. Lauren Conrad

Maybe it's because I too am a California girl. Maybe it's because I love her laid back style. Maybe it's because she always looks cute without trying to hard. I always love her clothes and hair, and her accesories always tie it all in together. She's come so far from her Laguna Beach days.

2. Eva Longoria (Parker)

Gotta represent the tan chickies out there. I always love her hair and makeup. She always looks adorable.

What do you think? Whose style do you love?

Fab Friday Find...

2010-03-12T11:43:00.000-06:00

Oh my goodness lovelies it has been a crazy week. I have some major news in the lives of hubs, Nala and I. It's very good news, but unfortunately I cannot yet share it at this time. I will tell you that we aren't pregnant yet! Everyone we've shared the news with keeps guessing this. There will be a time when I share with bloggy world our excitement but for now I have to keep things hush hush. There's always that fear of not knowing who is reading. I hope you'll all understand.

For now though, I do have to share with you a blog that I recently found that I have become quite obsessed with. I like any girl out there loves to shop, and I also love fashion. I love watching tv shows like The Bachelor and seeing how the girls style their outfits. It gives me ideas on how to put things together. This blog is awesome it's called Possesionista it gives you the dirt on where certain accessories and clothing can be found. Most recently it gave away some good secrets about many of The Bachelor ladies. I strongly suggest you all check it out. I think you'll be hooked like me. I mean where else would you be able to find a necklace that's cheaper and similar to the one Molly wore on her wedding day to Jason?Oh and if you like that blog, you must go visit Celeb Style. This is another awesome website where you can find what stars are wearing. You can search by celebrity, movie or tv show. Even if I sadly can't afford what they're wearing again I can go buy a look alike on the cheap. So these are a few of my fashion secrets, I hope you have fun visiting both. Happy Friday, enjoy this weekend!

In-N-Out Oh Yeah!

2010-03-11T13:13:00.000-06:00

Hi Lovelies, I'm back today. I had a day off work yesterday. Unfortunately our campus has had to take one day per month as a mandatory furlough day. When I first got the news back during the holidays last year I was quite upset. Nobody wants to take an upaid day off. It was no fun to get paid less, but I suppose if you have to get paid a little less you might as well at least get to take that extra day off. So yesterday I used my mandatory furlough day.

What did I do with my furlough day? I went to San Diego for a bit. It was cold but it was nice to get out to the area. I haven't been in awhile so it was long overdue. What did I eat? My fave CA meal. You guessed it In-N-Out. Oh In-N-Out how I love you. A #2 without onions how you always make me happy. For those of you that haven't been to CA please come and while you're here order up one of these, well minus the double double unless you want 2 patties:

Back in college when my meatabolism was high. I could eat one of these meals at least once a week and trust me I did. There was an In-N-Out right across the street from my campus. These days, however, I have to watch what I eat. I mean I'm by no means large, I'm probably average, but now I feel like if I just stare at this stuff I can gain 5 pounds. That's 5 pounds I don't need ya know? Yesterday though, it was an In-N-Out day I had to cave in. I ordered my #2 and enjoyed every bit of it. So how's your metabolism? Has it slowed down since you've gotten older? Can you still eat like you used to? Would you believe I was an itty bitty size 1-3 in high school. Sheesh, those were the days.

Did you Watch the Jason & Molly Wedding...

2010-03-09T12:31:00.000-06:00

I did! Can I just say how sweet it was. I'll be honest I was not the biggest fan of Jason after he went on tv and let Melissa go, but you do what you have to do. It seems like they are both happy and I wish them the best of luck. The wedding was beautiful. Can I just say how much I absolutely loved Molly's dress? It was amazing. If only we had a designer that wanted to give us a $45,000 dollar Monique dress. Sigh! Oh well mine was beautiful, but this tops it. Loved it! What did you all think? Did you see the wedding? Did you love her dress as much as me?

Q&A Part III...

2010-03-08T11:07:00.000-06:00

Another Monday. What more is there to say? I hope you all had a great weekend. I had a pretty good one. Unfortunately I have this cold that won't quit. I'm still not back to normal yet and it's driving me crazy at this point. Luckily nothing hurts anymore I'm just congested as all can be and I have a cough. Oh well in time I guess. So today I thought I'd wrap up the last of your Q&A's. I hope you've enjoyed learning more about me so far. So here's part III.

What are your favorite books?
I love reading whenever I can. Slowly but surely I've gotten more into it. When I was younger I used to read all the time and then didn't have time in college because I was studying all the time. Now I'm back to it. I don't know if I'd say I have particular fave books however there are some authors that I enjoy reading. I like James Patterson and Norah Roberts. I also like the occasional chick lit book.

What is your fave comfort food?
This is a good question. I love foods of all kinds, but if I really had to go with comfort I'd say garlic mashed potatoes and a good steak. Yup I'm totally a meat and potatoes girl and I'm not afraid to admit it. I also occasionally love a good mac & cheese for comfort food. It's not something I can eat all the time because it's so rich and filling but mac & cheese cooked the right way is so good. If you're ever at the Yard House they have one of my faves. There's also my love of loaded potato soup and new england clam chowder. I don't eat this stuff all the time, but you asked for comfort. These things always make me smile until I read the nutritional info that is.

I also want to know if you plan on having children?
My husband and I definitely want to have children as I mentioned. We would like both a boy and a girl that are healthy. We'll probably have 2 kids, and if the 2nd is the same gender we'll probably have one more to try for a different gender. If it's another of the same we'll be content and know that's what we're supposed to have, but we'd prefer to just have 2.

And how long did you and hubby date before a proposal? How did he propose? (if you haven't covered told us already)
My hubs didn't wait long to propose. We had only been dating for 9 months. Oh and no I haven't told the proposal story yet. This could get long so here's the simple version. We had talked about marriage in the past so I knew it would happen sometime. I figured it would be on Christmas if I had to guess. Hubs had other plans, he finished his masters degree in early December 08 and on the day he officially was finished we had planned to go out to dinner to celebrate him getting his master's. At the time we weren't living in Orange County where we live now, and he had said he wanted to have dinner out by the beach. I told him we didn't have to go that far, but he insisted and he said his best friend and his wife might be joining us. I said okay even though I had a major headache that night and wasn't feeling well. On the car ride to the restaurant I was progressively feeling worse and I even felt a little nauseous. I think I might have had a migraine it was pretty bad. I even told my husband (then bf) we didn't have to go and I was feeling a little sick. but I also felt bad for wanting to cancel his plans. So I trooped on. He told me that his best friend and wife couldn't come after all and it was just going to be us. We arrived at the restaurant which was seafood. I still wasn't doing well. As soon as my plate came I told him I couldn't stand the smell and we had to leave. The poor thing was probably nervous as all can be. I was about to ruin the proposal and I didn't even know it. He told me he'd wrap up our food and he'd meet me out front. I went to the bathroom and felt like I was going to throw up but nothing happened. Then I barely made it outside and to the car, and right when I got to the car I threw up there in the parking lot. It wasn't pretty, but after then I was finally feeling better. It was so weird it was like I had to do that just to feel better again. I felt 100 times better after that happened. I apologized over and over again and he assured me it was fine. We sat in the car talked for a bit and I washed up. Then we went for a walk on the beach which was right in front of the restaurant. We climbed up on a lifeguard tower and as I was about to sit down I looked over and he had the ring out. Needless to say I said yes. It was the best worst night of my life. Afterwards we went across the street to a Dairy Queen and ordered 2 blizzards for dinner :). It was perfect haha, and we sure had a story for everyone.

Where do you see yourself in five years?
Hopefully by then we'll have a home and at least one child and just be happy, healthy, and well established in our careers.

How many siblings do you have?
I'm the baby. I have one older sis and an older bro.

What kind of car do you like/drive?
I drive a '99 Mazda and want a new car badly. I want a hybrid, or just something safe. Big cars kind of scare me so I would keep a car or a compact SUV. I'm not a flashy car person.

I want to know how you and your husband met!
I met my husband on match.com, of all places. It works! We started talking a lot and found out at the time we were both working at the same college.

I want to hear more about your online dating! Were you on match for a while before your met your husband? Did you go on a lot of dates? Any weirdos? ;)
It actually wasn't bad. I think I got lucky because I have heard a lot of crazy stories. I basically talked to a lot of guys over aim getting to know them better. I did get a lot of gross propositions from some old guys. That was just creepy. For these guys I think I just blocked or ignored them. It's hard to believe, but I only went on one other date before meeting up with my husband, and that date was pretty miserable. The guy had just completed his bar to become an attorney and all he did was talk about that the entire time. It was the longest worst date of my life. When my husband and I went out we just clicked and were pretty much inseparable from then on out. I was only on for about 3 months.

So that's my Q&A. I hope you've enjoyed some me time.

Fab Friday Find...

2010-03-05T12:04:00.000-06:00

Yay Friday! Oh Friday's how I love you. Why can't there be more of you? I'm drained guys plain and simple. It is no fun being a sicky. I'm going to use this weekend to get lots of sleep in. You know what though? Although I'm sick, it still hasn't stopped me from doing some online makeup shopping. If I have to be sick why not at least try to look pretty. I need something to perk me up.

I don't know about you guys, but I'm a sucker for pretty packaging. I get super excited about new makeup and want to try it all. I fall for those glossy ads in magazines that claim I too can have longer, thicker lashes or shiny bouncy hair or that glowy face. When I go to the drugstore or a Sephora or Ulta I usually end up throwing stuff in I didn't even intend on buying. I'm smart enough to put half of it back by the time I get to the check-out line, but when I get home I usually only like a couple of the products.

So I just recently discovered this website called Makeup Alley. If only I had known about this website sooner I would have spent less time wondering which of the products actually does what it's supposed to, which products are worth the money and which to spend the money on. The nice thing about Makeup Alley, is that you can research both drugstore and higher end products. This website has countless brands and specific products so you're sure to find the product you're looking at getting. If you're unfamiliar with Makeup Alley, basically the way it works is you type in the brand or product you're researching and it magically pops up. From there you can read countless product reviews and see it's ratings thus far. If a product has bad reviews and ratings you know it's not all it's hyped up to be. There are categories from everything including makeup brushes, fragrances, you name it. You can also browse top rated, newest products and more. So next time you're thinking of buying that new eyeliner or shadow give Makeup Alley a whirl. Too bad I didn't know that before I bought my most recent smashbox purchase. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Apron Love...

2010-03-04T13:23:00.000-06:00

Hi Lovelies! We've almost made it to Friday, we just need to hold on a little bit longer. Sorry I was a bad blogger yesterday, this cold is getting to me. I've been at work, but I've been really unmotivated to post anything fun. I'm drained, and tired of being sick. Slowly, but surely though I'm getting better.

I was thinking about what I wanted to talk about today. I started thinking that up until I got my cold I had been starting to cook and bake a lot more. I've been trying to experiment with as many fun and easy recipes as I can. I'm the type of girly girl that loves looking cute at all times. Look cute working out, look cute lounging, look cute cooking and baking. Check. I have had a thing for cute aprons for a really long time. There's something so nostalgic and sweet about putting one on. Not to mention they are actually functional. I get quite involved in my cooking and usually make a mess in the kitchen and on myself. So why not wear an apron to protect your clothes, and when it gets dirty just throw it in the wash.

Here are some of my faves:

Piccadilly Gidget Half Apron

Dorothy Apron (I could do without the garter):

Sugar Pie Chic:

Boojiboo The Sophia Vintage Apron:

Something about these cute little aprons. Just cheers me right up. My love of aprons started with my very first apron it has my 1st initial embroidered on it. Do you know anywhere else to find some cute aprons? Do any of you love them just as much as me?

More Q&A's From Me Part II...

2010-03-02T11:31:00.000-06:00

I'm still feeling like that little cactus below, but I am back at work at least. I thought I'd answer some more questions that you all so graciously wrote me.

What has been your favorite thing about blogging?
Gosh where do I start, blogging has been so much fun. I love that I have met so many of you ladies and that everyone has been so welcoming to me. I love when I'm having a bad day or need advice on something I can always count on you guys. It's another outlet for me. I consider you all my cyber friends.

what would a perfect day with the hubby be like?
I am so not hard to please. For me a perfect day with just us 2 would include a beautiful sunny So-Cal day, a walk & dive on the beach, a picnic when the sun sets, maybe a movie, and lots of pictures.

Where is your favorite place?
Hmm...my fave place would have to be Disneyland. I have been there a million times and worked there, but I love being goofy and acting like a big kid. Also I love being out in the sun and just staring at the ocean. I love Laguna Beach, I could spend the whole day there just watching the waves.

What is your workout/ eating routine? You look to be in great shape!!
Aww thanks for the compliment. Well I have a little help from my husband who just happens to be an athletic trainer. I am still not in the shape I'd like to be, because I am not confident in a bikini. Well I alternate with strength and cardio. 3-4 days a week I alternate between tao bao, fitness coach, or some cross-fits courtesy of my husband, and every Saturday morning we get up and do a run, walk, jog. We have a bike trail right behind our apartments and use that. I hate every second of it and complain the whole time, but afterwards I feel great and so proud of myself.

What's your favorite thing to do with your hubby, besides the obvious ;)?
Haha well, we're pretty much home boddies and I love it. We're both super mellow people and it doesn't take us much to make us happy. We're content just staying home having a quiet dinner. When we do go out we like spending time with friends and family and just talking. We also love food so we love trying new restaurants.

Dream vacation spot...if money was no object where would you go & what would you see?

There are so many places I would love to visit. There's always been something very fascinating to me about other cultures. Some of the places I would love to visit are Greece, Carribean Islands, Fiji, Bahamas but I would love to have a European tour. I have always loved the old architecture of these cities. That would be awesome to go on a European cruise and visit France, Italy, Spain. A couple days in each place so that I could see it all. I'd see the spanish steps, the Eiffel Tower, Bull-fighting, the Coliseum, ride in a gondola. Basically the touristy stuff and don't forget the shopping and eating.

I think this is enough for now. I'll be back soon with the final part III. I hope you all have a wonderful Tuesday.

It's a Sicky Monday...

2010-03-01T12:01:00.000-06:00

Well I don't have a cactus, but if I did that's how I'd be feeling Lovelies! I called in sick to work today which I never do, but I needed it. For most of the weekend I looked like the little guy above. It's just a cold and some congestion and an earache, but I just want to get better already. I should be happy that it is a rare occasion that I get sick. I couldn't even tell you the last time I did get sick. However, when I finally do get sick it's never pretty. Hopefully I'll be back to my usual self here real soon.

For now though Lovelies this is all I can think to write. although I am excited the Bachelor finale's on tonight. Although, unfortunately I have a strong feeling Jake's picking the horrid Vienna. Hope your Monday's going better than mine all!

Fab Friday, Q&A Pat I...

2010-02-26T11:48:00.000-06:00

Happy Friday yay! I'm off work today thank goodness. We have furlough days that we have to use once a month and today is mine. It worked out because I've been sick for the last couple of days so I could use my rest. Thanks for sending in so many questions for the Q&A. I was pleasantly surprised to receive so many. In fact after writing some of my answers I realize I'm going to have to break it down into parts, so not to bore you all. You all sure had some great ones for me. I hope you enjoy Part I of this Q&A.

My question is: Where is your ideal place to live?

Hubs and I are warm weather people. You've heard me talk about that I'm a big baby when it comes to anywhere cold so I don't think we could handle a cold-weathered city. We like the sun and the beach. Our ideal place would be Hawaii. We love the island life and laid back culture of it all. We're not big city people. We like to visit but then get away when we want.

When are you and hubby gonna have a baby?

We definitely want kids, but when the time is right. We want to be stable in our careers and settled first before kids come around. We don't have a specific time in mind but I will say it will be sooner rather than later. We still want to be young parents.

1. Well I know how you and the hubs met, but I'd love to hear the story behind it!
This could get long, but I'll try to make it short and maybe I'll write about it in more detail later. I had been dating plenty of losers in my life sadly, and had recently broken up with a guy I thought I was going to marry. I was frustrated and tired of dating the same old type of guys. I was kind of at a point in my life where I was getting older and was over the whole club scene. I was done with college and really wanted to find a great guy so I started researching online dating sites. I signed up for match.com and perused the selection of guys that lived in my area. Shortly after I started talking and instant messaging these guys. I talked with several of them, but only met up with 2. One day hubs contacted me through email. I read his profile and liked what I read and saw. What really got us talking was that we were both working at the same college at the time. Him in Athletics and me in a different area. Although we were both working on the same campus, we had never met. We finally agreed to meet up and we had such a good time. I think it only took about 3 or 4 dates until we became boyfriend and girlfriend. We moved in together at 3 months, he proposed at 9 months and we were married a year and a half later. I'm so happy. Life has a way of working out. People always tell us we should contact match to be on a commercial!

2. If you could have any job in the world, what would it be? Ooh this is a tough one! Hmm... I have always loved artistic things and visual things. If I could I would design my own clothing line, and have my own cute little store. I would also love to be a graphic designer or interior decorator or even if I was talented enough a photographer. I also love makeup so having my own makeup line with adorable packaging would be amazing too. So yeah any of the above. I would also love to run a cute little bakery. As you can see I'm all over the place with this one.

3. If you could swap lives with any celebrity, who would it be? This is another tough one! I love Gwen Stefani's little family I think they are adorable. I think it would be fun to be her for a day, and just be out there. They all seem like they are really happy together and don't have much drama in their lives. Ooh I know this sounds bad, but if only I could be a VS model for just one day sigh.

Do you have a job? Yes I do. I work at a college, which one I won't say. I am the program coordinator for the Overnight Host Program. I work with high school students, outreach groups, high schools and other groups on setting up visits for overnight trips to campus. I also oversee groups that are staying in our facilities in the summer, by checking them in/out doing billing, placing them in rooms and much more. Before this position I worked on the same campus booking conferences and events that happend in the Residential Halls on campus. Basically I do a lot.

What do you like to do for fun?There's lots of things I like to do for fun. I'm not a party every night type of girl. I'd much rather have a night in relaxing at home that partying somewhere. I love spending time with my family (both hubs and mine), shopping with the girls, reading, going to the movies, traveling, going to comedy clubs, going to church, and I still love Disneyland.

What great talent have you always wished that you could have?! I guess the one talent that I wish I could have would be to be trilingual. I've always wanted to be fluent in a variety of languages. I also wish I knew how to play an istrument.

So that's part I guys, I hope you enjoyed it. I'll be back for Part II soon. Thanks again for all of your q's. Have a wonderful weekend!

Woo, The Best Part of Waking Up Award...

2010-02-24T18:02:00.000-06:00

Thank you all for wishing Nala well. I'm so happy that she is safe and sound. On another note thanks Amber for making my day! I've been pretty busy at work so I have not been able to post until now. I received a brand new award. Girly you're awesome, you know I love reading you too.

This is a brand new award and I'm honored to be among the first to receive it. "The best part of waking up..." award is awarded to the 5 bloggers that you're most excited to see have posted when you log into your dashboard/google reader/ whatever. Yes, only 5! If you're always checking someone's blog to see if they've posted, they deserve this award!"

Yikes only 5 people! I don't how I'll narrow this down. There are so many blogs I read on a daily basis that I truly enjoy. I love reading each and everyone of your blogs so no worries if I didn't get you. 5 is tough! So here goes (again in no particular order):

Abby at Satisfy My Soul
Valerie at Next to Heaven
Elizabeth at Musing Experiences
Mara at M Loves M
Katherine Anne at Medical School Mrs.

...and because I can back to Amber, thanks again! You're all awesome lovelies

Bad Nala Bad, I Almost Lost You...

2010-02-23T13:20:00.000-06:00

Thanks for all the questions so far Lovelies! Keep them coming if any of you have some more questions for me.

So for those of you that don't know my hubs and I adopted a kitty about a month after we got married. She's about 5 months old and we (I) named her Nala. She's a crazy kitty. Her fave hobbies include playing with the images on the tv, getting into things she shouldn't be, and sitting on the computer. Yeah she's a handful, but we love her to pieces. She has some quirks for instance she has one white paw that we call her sock, and she has this little bit of extra fur that's below her chin that makes it look like she has a goatee. Yup she's a cutie indeed. She's also an indoor kitty. We live in an apartment on the 2nd floor and she's never been outside before. Every now and then we'll let her out onto the balcony but other than that no outdoors for her.

So getting back to my story. Nala and I are pals. I usually get home before hubs so I have the pleasure of getting the first greeting from her. I always pick her up and tell her hi and tell her a little about my day. Hey I'm not crazy. Recently I wrote here that I started taking the vanpool to work since I commute. The vanpool isn't bad except the lead driver, well let's just say he makes for a bumpy ride literally. It doesn't help that I tend to get carsick. I never get to the point where I get sick enough to throw-up, but I do get that nauseous please get me out of this car feeling. It comes and goes some days are better than others. Yesterday was one of those carsick days ugh. So needless to say by the time I got to our apartment I just wanted to crash and rest a bit.

I got through the door, put my stuff down said hi to Nala and closed the door. She followed me to our bedroom like she always does so I could change into some comfy clothes. Nala left the bedroom and I laid down for a little bit to get that sicky feeling gone. I finally got up to get some water, cause I figured I needed to hydrate some more. I was beginning to wonder why Nala wasn't coming back. When the first person gets home, she always hangs out with us for awhile. So on my way to the kitchen, I see the door is cracked a tiny bit.

Aww!! Emergency 911 my kitty is gone shoot, I'm going to have to set out a searching party for our little baby. I'm going to have to go up and down this complex, hop the fence and hope that a bunny hasn't attacked our little feline on 4 legs! I rush to the door, even before I open it I'm yelling frantically Nala, kitties, babies, Nala (she has a lot of names). I finally open the door completely and there she is standing looking at me. She has this look on her face like what's all the fuss about Mom? I scoop her up and vow to never ever let that happen again. I tell her Nala don't you ever scare Mom like that again. For the rest of the night I gave her lots of love and treats. I debated telling my hubs this story but finally came clean, and the thing is I must have been totally zonked. I still for the life of me cannot remember not fully locking and shutting the door. So that my friends is how I almost lost the closest thing that we have to a baby (at this time.)

Questions & Answers Anyone...

2010-02-22T15:26:00.000-06:00

Ugh Mondays suck plain and simple. Maybe one of these days I'm going to be like yeah it's Monday woo-hoo let's get this week started. For now, however, I'm more like ugh Monday why did you have to come?

My weekend was good. I had a run/walk/jog on Saturday and I'm still sore from that today ouch! I had a marathon of some good tv. Well it was good to me. Hubs and I watched 24 which I am just discovering by the way! How did I just get started on this? I have been missing out big time. We're planning on getting netflix soon and I'm going to have to go back to watch previous seasons to catch up. I also had a marathon of Keeping up With the Kardashians (hey don't judge me), and Giullian and Bill or G&B as my hubs calls it. Someone could have warned me that viewer discretion is advised during Kourtney's birth experience because that was a little TMI. I won't spoil it for those of you that haven't watched but it's graphic. G&B had us following them to Hong Kong to shop and continue their struggles with getting pregnant. We laughed and enjoyed what a good hubs I have to watch these shows with me.

Then I made some yummy and amazingly easy lasagna. I'm telling you if any of you think you can't cook, you can make this. It's so good and super easy. You can find the lasagna recipe here. I add black olives to my half and I make hubs half with ground Italian sausage. Try it you'll love it.

I've been seeing that lots of you lovelies have been having Q&A sessions so I figured I'd do the same. Hopefully you all can get to know me a bit better. Ask me whatever you've been wondering? How hubs and I met? My fave color? What I like on my pizza? Whatever you like. When I get enough questions I'll have a little answer session that will hopefully help you get to know me a bit better. I can't wait to see some of your questions.

Fab Friday Find...

2010-02-19T11:47:00.000-06:00

Why is it that even when I have short weeks it still seems like a loong week? I had Monday off thanks to the President's holiday, so I should be grateful but it was still long. Anywho I'm glad the work week is almost done here and I get to enjoy 2 days of no work and hubs time. It's supposed to rain this weekend so we get to stay home and be cuddly with the rain outside if we so decide.

So I was thinking about what I wanted to write about for this week's Fab Friday Find and I came across this site a few weeks ago and I just had to share. It's called run pee, you read that right run pee. Um, seriously who thinks of this stuff? Have you ever been at the movie theater and you have to use the bathroom? Okay I rarely have because I go before the film, but hey there could be an emergency or time when you just drank too much and you just gotta go. The folks at run pee help those in need out. It's hilarious, it actually marks and tells you when the best time to well, pee is. It tracks movies up to 19 months ago, so it's for fairly new films. It even tells you what you miss during the times that you're gone so you don't miss anything. There's even a handy iphone app haha. So if any of you are out and have to go check this out to fill you in. Someone out there has way too much time on their hands, but hey you never know. Have a great Friday Lovelies!

We Have Ourselves a Winner...

2010-02-17T21:13:00.000-06:00

It's one of my brand new followers and it looks like it's well deserved, since she has some kiddies to look after. So congratulations to "The Missionary Mama" for winning my 1st Blog Giveaway. I'm so excited for you! I will be contacting you by email shortly to send out this baby:

I have been trying to get the Number Generator to post on here for literally a half hour so I hope you'll all take my word on this one. Congrats again to the winner! You'll have to let me know how you like it, and to everyone else thank you so much for entering.

Check this Cake Out...

2010-02-17T15:39:00.000-06:00

Eek this just takes cake to a whole other level altogether. I found it at Whisk Kid, and I think I'm going to pass out from happiness at the sheer image of it. This cake truly takes the cake.

Reselling Clothes, Thrift Shopping?...

2010-02-16T11:37:00.000-06:00

Hi Lovelies, darn I had to come back to work today unfortunately blah. So it's kind of my Monday, but the bright side of that is I have a short week. I don't know how many of you are shoppers, but I for one love it. In fact our current closet is bursting at the seams because I don't have enough room. Poor hubs has like yardstick's worth of space while I have the rest of the closet. Luckily he doesn't mind.

So although I am a shopper, I never ever pay full price. I think it's absurd, and I don't have money falling from the sky. So sales it is for this girl. Some of my fave places to shop are Forever 21, TJ Maxx, Ross, and Marshall's. Lately though as my closet over-filleth I have been contemplating selling some of my goods at Buffalo Exchange. I've only been to a Buffalo Exchange once in my life, but I find the concept intriguing. Basically it's a way to resell clothing, accesories and shoes. My closet has it's fair share of things that are in perfectly good condition but I just don't wear anymore. For instance I recently just bought the cutest pair of maryjane shoes ever, but they kill my feet. I wore them once and threw them back in my closet. However, just because they kill me doesn't mean they won't benefit someone else. So I've been thinking of selling this and some other things to Buffalo Exchange to make some cash so I can buy some things that suit me better. Buffalo Exchange sells new and used clothes, some designer stuff even. Usually with clothes I don't wear anymore I put them in a trash bag and shove them in the corner for goodwill but many times it takes me awhile to get there. I am going to make an effor though to donate and try to resell.

My sis was telling me about this place called Plato's Closet, which sounds like a good place to visit but unfortuantely there aren't any near me. So I'm going to try going to Buffalo Exchange save the environment, give someone some of my goodies and see what I can find. If I find anything like the cute things above, I'll be one happy camper. So do any of you shop at thrift stores or resale shops? Is there anything I should consider before selling/buying?

Our Honeymoon, Yeah I Kind of Miss it...

2010-02-15T11:34:00.000-06:00

Hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day weekend. Mine was perfect. Hubs had these sent over to our place. Imagine my surpries when he opened the door when the doorbell rang and I looked up and saw these. Yeah he's kind of amazing.

Did I mention the weather was gorgeous this weekend? Yeah it really was. We're talking 80's here, ah CA weather, how I love it. This warm weather made me want to return to the days of our 'moon. I'm talking our honeymoon. We were lucky enough to spend some fabulous time in Puerto Vallarta, MX after our wedding. It was so much fun we didn't want to come back! The weather was beautiful, and it was nice to just relax as newlyweds. Our biggest decision was do we want to swim in the pool today or the ocean. We stayed at an all inclusive resort that catered to our every whim. We were pampered in every way. We truly lived the life. For any of you out there that have not taken a honeymoon yet or are looking into another vacation, I highly recommend all-inclusive. We walked in and out of restaurants, left our drinks all over the place and didn't have to get our wallet out once, except for the occasional tip. Here are some pics from our gorgeous 'moon. With us just passing out 6 month wedding anniersary I'm already dreaming about celebrating our 1 yr somewhere fabulous! Hope you enjoy.

These were right below our suite:

The view from our balcony:

We had so much fun ziplining, here I am coming in:

This hot tub, was on our balcony!

Neither the hubs or I drink anymore, so we took turns taking pics with our "virgin" drinks:

Romantic dinner (I miss my tan):

Out exploring town:

Posing for my new hubs:

Yeah, I love this man:

Fab Friday Find, Spunk & Sass Giveaway Edition...

2010-02-12T10:37:00.000-06:00

Happy Friday lovelies! We made it, I have finally completed my 2nd week in my new department on campus. I'm finally adjusting somewhat, but still feeling a little out of place at times. This Friday, I present to you all my very 1st Giveaway in honor of reaching 100 of you Wondrful Followers. Are you guys excited? I am. I've been talking with good ol' Val through email at Next to Heaven. I knew she had an Etsy shop with some fabulous jewelery. As I was researching the stuff I saw that at her Spunk & Sass Shop offers giveaway parterships so I said Valerie how would you like to work with me? I was ever so grateful she said yes! Val let me pick a goody to giveaway, it was such a difficult decision, it's all very cute! For those of you that don't know necklaces are my fave accessory so this was a perfect fit.

A little background on Spunk & Sass designs
>This shop was created and is run by two best friends who share a love for crafting.
>They are proud to offer a little bit of everything so they can be your one stop shop.

So what do I have up for grabs from this little shop?

This necklace is made with curb chain and a combination pendant of 1 gold colored "rock", LOVE charm, and maroon beads.

Necklace is 18" in length.

Show that you believe...LOVE ROCKS!

So how do you win one of these beauties?
You MUST be a follower of both (required):

Newlywedded; Life Love and Me & Val at Next to Heaven

- leave me a comment saying you are a follower of our blogs {1 entry}

- Go to the Spunk & Sass' etsy site and leave me a comment of what your fave item is {1 entry}

- blog about my giveaway, come back and leave the link {2 entries}

- purchase something from Spunk & Sass (10% off to anyone that makes a purchase at Spunk & Sass. Just put "Newlywedded follower" in the message to seller at checkout. ) {6 entries}

So come one, come all enter the giveaway for a brand new gorgeous necklace from Spunk & Sass. There's up to 10 entries per person to win!

This giveaway will end at 7pm (pacific time), on Wednesday Feb, 17th.

Thanks again Valerie, for allowing me to host this giveaway. I can't wait for the winner to be chosen! Have a great Friday and don't forget to enter this giveaway.

What I won? Can Someone Run That by Me Again...

2010-02-11T10:42:00.000-06:00

Yup you heard that right. I actually won a giveaway. I'm so excited, I've never won a giveaway before! I checked this my here bloggy blog, got a message from Ashley and lo and behold Kiwis & Cockatails' hubby drew my name. Imagine that! Thanks Andrew! Shoot I'd be happy to get anything, but look at this fab loot I get.

Thank you so much girly, you made my day! I can't wait to try these guys out.

In other news I got my "Simply Love Swap" goodies from Katie. Thanks so much Katie. It was all very cute. I loved the little valentine card. That was my fave part when I was a kid, passing out and putting Valentine's Day cards together. She gave me lots of candy which I've already devoured most of by the way. Some very cute nail polish that if anyone knows me well knows I love polish, a couple of lip glosses who can't get enough of those, some cute earrings that go with everything and lastly a sweet little greeting card. Sorry I don't have pics guys. I haven't had a chance to take any lately. Work's been wearing me out, but I can assure you that I loved it all.

If you'd like to see what I got Katie, there's a pic below or visit her here, (picture courtesy of her blog, I hope you don't mind Katie). Thanks for all your well wishes yesterday girlies on reaching the big 1-0-0!

We Interrupt your Wednesday to Bring You the Following Announcement...

2010-02-10T18:02:00.000-06:00

I have reached 100 Followers! I know it's rare that I post twice in a day, but this calls for a celebration! You guys you don't know how amazed I am. I know everyone says this when it happens to them, but I truly mean this. For the longest time I wanted to make a blog of my own, but just didn't think I would have the guts to do it. I thought I would be writing my life for me to read and that maybe a few people would follow. I am so honored to have so many of you read and comment on little old me on a daily basis and I truly welcome every one of you. I value, your thoughts, insights and you always brighten my day.

In honor of reaching 100 of you lovelies I'm working on doing a little giveaway, nothing big or crazy just a small little token of my appreciation. I'll be sure to let you know as soon as I get it going. Thanks lovelies!

I've Been Having Way Too Many of These Days Lately...

2010-02-10T10:47:00.000-06:00

By these days I mean, these crazy start off on the wrong foot kind of days. Is someone trying to play a mean trick on me? Today let's see it's barely after 9am on the West Coast and I already had to race on the 91 freeway (basically the torturous highway of so-cal) to meet my vanpool. I started taking the vanpool to work to save some wear and tear on my car and on me. The problem is I'm always rushing in the morning no matter how hard I try. So it's been a struggle for me to make it to meeting my Vanpool at 7:10 am at the local costco. However, I am oh so grateful that I no longer have to always drive myself. Now unless I want to drive myself it's ipod or reading now yay! So today I rushed as fast as I could and I was there on time, but 2 other vanpoolers were late. The nerve of them.

So then we hit some traffic and I was the last drop off on the vanpool of the on campus stops and still got to work late ugh. I hate getting to work late especially since I'm still new to this department. So on the way in trying to arrive at my desk at 8am which I knew was not going to happen anyway, I trekked through some grass which I found out the hard day was covered in mud.

To make matters worse I got to my desk and the smoothie I was drinking decided to explode on my pants. I've learned that clumsy people like myself really should keep an extra pair of clothes at the office. That's just wrong only babies should have to do this. Why at my age can't I manage the simple tasks in life?

Anyway I'm at my desk safe and sound. Here's to hoping that nothing else gets in my way today. Although the copy machine is giving me dirty looks right now which I am taking as a sign that it wants to mess with me too. Happy Hump Day Lovelies!

Computer Mouse Repair...

2010-02-09T15:55:00.000-06:00

I have noticed that I'm almost at 100 followers. I can't even believe it. There was a time when I thought I wouldn't have a single reader. Now I count many of you as friends. I'm thinking about doing some sort of a giveaway soon here to celebrate my 100 followers, and to thank you all for being so amazing. I just haven't decided what yet.

For once I couldn't think of what else I wanted to post today. So I thought I'd pass this along because it cracked me up. A friend of mine forwarded this to me at work today and I thought it was pretty cute. Have a good rest of your Tuesday everyone! Read below.

Computer Repair

Caller : Hi, our printer is not working.
Customer Service: What is wrong with it?
Caller : Mouse is jammed.
Customer Service: Mouse? Printers don't have a mouse!!! Caller: Mmmmm??.. Oh really?... I will send a picture.

Scroll down.

I'm a New Auntie!

2010-02-08T13:13:00.000-06:00

Hi Lovelies! Did anyone else's weekend go by way too fast? Mine sure did I feel like it was just Friday now I'm back at my desk. At least I get to leave early, but not for a fun reason. I have a dentist appointment I have to go to yay me.

I do have some news though I officially became a new Auntie. My little nephew Matteo was born on Saturday night. We had been waiting for him for awhile. My sis-in-law had him early because little Matteo was running out of space in his mom's belly. You can read about his adorable baby shower here. So far I've only seen pictures of him because they live up in San Francisco, but he's a cutie. I can't wait to officially meet him. He's my first nephew, now I have one of each a niece and a nephew. Hopefully I'll post some pics soon.

The one thing that was driving me crazy the whole time during the pregnancy was that my sis and bro in law wouldn't tell anyone the baby's name. All we knew was that they were having a boy. I don't know why they wanted to keep it a secret, I didn't get it. So finally we got the text of his name! So Happy Birthday again Matteo, I know it's 2 days later but we're all still celebrating your arrival!

More Blog Awards, Fab Friday Find will Resume Next Week...

2010-02-05T10:37:00.000-06:00

Lovelies, you all never cease to amaze me. You are all amazing and I truly value the friendships I have made through this little thing called the internet. I can't thank you enough, you all offer me so much great advice and I really consider you friends.

I received 2 new blog awards that I am so grateful for. I really am grateful anytime someone thinks of little old me. So the first award that I received was from Elizabeth at Musing Experiences yesterday. Elizabeth is such a great blog friend that I've had the pleasure of getting to know. Go check her out. I hadn't seen this award before I got it yesterday and it made me smile big time. It's a really funny one, it's called the Master of Karate and Friendship Award.

The Rules are your supposed to:
1. List 6 things you are a master in.
Okay honestly I don't see myself as a "master" in anything so let's see here. I am a master in:
1. Shopping
2. French Braiding
3. Being very random
4. Being Clumsy
5. Tripping
6. Being Friendly

I am awarding the "Master of Karate and Friendship Award to again in no particular order. Again you're all fabulous, but I tried to get ladies I haven't tagged before:

1. Miss Dot at Saving the World One Cupcake at a Time
2. Lindsey at Learning to be a Wife
3. Kelsey Claire at Lavender, Leopard & Lace
4. Hillary at A Gal and Her Dog
5. Mrs. P at Mrs. Southern Bride
6. Mr. and Mrs. A

The 2nd award I received was the Lemonade Award from Hillary at A Gal and Her Dog. I recently found her and have loved her blog since.

To accept this award you must tell the blog world 5 random things about yourself and pass on the award to two deserving bloggers.

Okay let's see,

1. When I first graduated college I got a job in L.A (Los Angeles) and had a 4 hour commute to work. It took me 2 hours to get to work and 2 hours to get home. I was crazy, but wanted to try it. I took the metrolink to the subway to the bus, and did the same thing on the way home for 6 months!

2. I first met my husbands entire family at his brothers wedding! Talk about some pressure, I was super nervous. They loved me though thank goodness.

3. I once had my car completely stop on the freeway, in the fast lane, in traffic. Luckily an ambulance showed up stopped traffic for me, and moved me to the side of the freeway. Very scary.

4. A few of my favorite things to eat are cheeseburgers, fries, and smoothies. This gets me into trouble luckily I have my hubs to keep me in shape.

5. I absolutely love my married last name. It sounds like it's an italian designer's name. It's 12 letters long.

I am passing the Lemonade Award along to. You're both adorable!

1. Little Woman, Little Home
2. Starting Out

Valentines Day the Movie, Not the Day...

2010-02-04T16:46:00.000-06:00

I haven't been to the movies in awhile, and I really don't know why that is. I guess I'm just trying to save money or just wait until a movie comes out on tv. We have free movie channels for a few months so we've been catching up on lots. Can you believe we just barely watched "Twilight" this past weekend? I know we need to get with the times. I've been putting it off because I'm usually not a vampire girl, but we finally broke down to see what all the fuss is about. I liked it more than I thought I would and now I have a feeling the husband and I are probably going to have to go see "New Moon".

There is one movie that I cannot wait to see though. Have you guys been seeing the trailers for Valentine's Day? The very first time I heard of it, the first thing I thought was that's pretty stupid to title a movie Valentine's Day and release it 2 days before Valentines Day. That's not very smart, I mean who wants to watch an old movie? Then upon further inspection I became more and more intrigued. I mean who wouldn't want to see this movie with all the actors and actresses in one film; Jessica Alba, Bradley Cooper, Patrick Dempsey, Anne Hathaway, Julia Roberts, heck Taylor Swift's even in it. Who wouldn't be even a little intrigued by this?

What a random bunch of people to be in one film. This got me thinking that this has gotta be somewhat decent for so many people to sign up for this film project. It's about couples making up and breaking up because of the pressures of V-day. I'm sure all of us have felt the pressures of Valentine's Day at one point or another. This movie sounds like it will make light of the situation and give you a good laugh.

The movie also has a really fun soundtrack too for those of you that don't know, which I hadn't heard until this morning. You can listen to the entire soundtrack here. Some of the songs were written just for the movie, and others are remakes of classic versions. So are any of you looking forward to this movie as much as me?

Busy Bee Wednesday...

2010-02-03T11:00:00.001-06:00

Wow I've been a busy bee at work ,sorry I didn't get around to posting yesterday. I've been learning things non-stop in my work area. By the time I got home last night I was pooped. I barely had enough energy to drive home. Once I got home though I needed some taebo to kick up my energy level.

I told you all awhile back that hubs is an athletic trainer and strength coach so lucky me he whips me into shape. It's rough sometimes having such a sporty hubs, but I'm happy to have his expertise around. He helped me out big time in the months leading up to the wedding. I had never worked out so much in my entire life! I worked out everyday except weekends for at least an hour to an hour and a half. I alternated between the treadmill, eliptical, cross-fit workouts, biking you name it. I actually got into pretty good shape and I was losing some weight. In fact I lost so much weight that my wedding dress actually ended up being too big for me on my wedding day! I hadn't tried it on for a week and I lost some weight in that week apparently because it was big. It bothered me big time, but most people I talked to said they didn't even notice. I noticed though you know how when you know somethings off and it just bugs you big time? Yeah that was me. Oh well, what are you gonna do?

So since the wedding my workouts have gone from full force training to about 2 or 3 times a week tops. I also don't have the fitness room in our apartments that I used to have so I have to be creative. We have a wii fit (the original not the wii fit plus) that's okay, but I don't feel like I'm getting that great of a workout. It's fun for awhile but then I get bored with it, plus I hate the fact that on the original system you have to push buttons after every exercise it doesn't just go through a full workout. So hubs and I were on a mission to find something better. So we found the Wii My Fitness Coach, and I love it. You can choose your type of music, and choose if you want to work upper body, lower body, cardio & more. Plus I love the fact that you can do a full 15, 30, 45 or 60 min workout straight through. I alternate that with my taebo videos and cross-fits and I am set. I do miss my gym workouts though. It's actually something I don't mind doing which is good. So I just wanted to recommend these to you all if your looking for something to mix up your workout routines. Is there anything you recommend other than the gym? Are there any good dvd's or books that you've used lately? I tend to get bored so I like changing up my workout routine.

Mondays are blah, Anniversary is Good...

2010-02-01T15:20:00.000-06:00

Happy Monday lovelies! Oh what a day it's been already! Lots of moving, readjusting, accuainting myself with things, trying to get settled in my new space. It's interesting so far, but I'm sure I'll learn more in the days ahead.

One thing I am so happy about though is that today marks the day of hubs and my 6 month wedding anniversary. I can't believe it.

6 months ago today... I put on my white dress.

6 months ago today... I got my hair and makeup done.

6 months ago today... I cried like a baby.

6 months ago today... I spoke the most important words I had ever uttered.

6 months ago today... I had room service deliver us girls some lunch.

6 months ago today... I was a nervous wreck.

6 months ago today... I had all eyes on me.

6 months ago today...Not much mattered in our eyes but each other.

6 months ago today...I married the love of my life.

Happy 6 month wedding anniversary babes!

Fab Friday Find...

2010-01-29T11:43:00.000-06:00

Good Morning Lovelies. Happy Friday! It's my last day in my current department, Monday I officially move on over to another. I'm sad to leave I've been here for about 2 years, but I'm sure it'll be a good change. I feel like a little kid starting school on Monday, you know the butterflies in your stomach and all? Thank you all for your words of support, no office boo, but same duties as I originally was told.

To go ahead and entertain me a bit I was poking around on the internet as I tend to do. I found the most awesome site. I truly think it was created for a girl like me. I love random websites, useless knowledge and unique websites. So this was like a goldmine for me. The website is called http://www.stumbleupon.com/. Guys, I could seriously be on this website a good half the day researching tons of things. It markets itself as a way to "Discover the Best of the Web in less time". So you start off by clicking off the things that interest you, there are a variety of things to choose from. Some of them include Arts, Fashion, Health, Humor and More. After you click what you would like to research, you click "Start Stumbling". Like magic this little website does all the work for you on your topic of interest. It brings up random website after website, all you have to do is keep clicking "Stumble". I mean where else would I find these escalator ads?

I think I'm a little addicted to stumbleupon. So if you have a free minute to kill go see what you can find. You might become a little addicted as well. Have a wonderful weekend lovelies! Enjoy yourselves.

Oh the Tangled Webs we Weave...

2010-01-28T15:19:00.000-06:00

Why is life so tough? One minute you're happy as can be the next you're wondering is this the right choice, did this really happen. Funny the things that happen in life. I wish I had my own guardian angel that I could actually have a conversation with to guide me and get me through life. I won't get into too many details because at this point even I don't know all of them, but I'm a little bummed.

Well lovelies, I may have spoken too soon on the whole promotion thing ugh! I am still in charge of several programs, and am actually taking a step up from my current position. However, you remember here when I thought I'd be getting that office. Well, scratch that, no office, no door. Ugh they did some more rearranging again apparently and no office for me for now. It's a pretty big space at least, but an office will have to wait for me.

Why are things just too good to be true sometimes? You know what though I have every intention of getting an office of my own one day. It may take me some time, but darn it it's going to happen I tell you.I think this news deserved a treat so my coworker bless her heart bought me a yummy brownie. I'm praying that it's still going to be as great as I had hoped. I still have more responsibilites, great benefits, and a job to my name. I'll keep you updated. Please keep this work transition in your thoughts and prayers.

Meet my "other" Husbands...

2010-01-27T10:30:00.000-06:00

So lovelies I feel bad that I haven't introduced you to my other husbands. I was watching my dvr recording of The Bachelor last night, and I was commenting to hubs how Jake is a cutie. Don't worry he tells me his faves too "Tenley". This reminded me of my other husbands. Don't get me wrong I absolutely love hubs and he is the best husband in the world (well in my opinion), but he is completely okay with sharing me with these men. In fact when any of these guys are on tv hubs will say babes your husband's on tv and I'll usually reply which one? Haha, how's that for not getting jealous.

1. Matthew Mcconaughey-um need I say more? A cowboy, surfer, he's adorable.

2. Erica Bana-I think I first noticed him in Troy.

3. Good old JT-he goes back to my *NSYNC days, It's Gonna Be Me

4. Jake Gyllenhall - he's the newest addition that I've had my eye on.

5. I used to have a thing for Eddie Cibrian until he had an affair with Leann Rimes. So he immediately got disqualified from the list. Now he's just a big yuck to me. I cannot and will not deal with cheaters. Shame on you.

So do any of you agree with my list? Who are your husbands? Do I have to share any of mine with you?

Slow Cooker Crock Pot Suggestions...

2010-01-26T13:43:00.000-06:00

Hi guys, you all are amazing. I appreciate all your warm wishes regarding my new promotion. You eased my mind a little bit, and made me feel extra special. I'm still nervous, but I am excited and grateful for the opportunity. I will have to follow up later and tell you how everything's going.

So I know this is completely switching gears, but I've been thinking about cooking more, and using our slow cooker in particular. Hubs and I received 2 crock pots as wedding gifts, and neither of them has been used. One of them is a rice cooker/ crock pot, that didn't come with a receipt and we figured this could be useful, and the other is a basic crock pot. Neither of us has yet to actually ever use one of these suckers. So, away they sit in our cabinets.

Sometimes I'll open the cabinet door to where they sit and briefly pause as I ponder getting one down, but instead I close the door. I don't know what it is, but there's something intimidating about using it. I know so many people that swear by the things. I've heard they're actually quite easy for even a mediocre cook like myself, and that they even basically do the cooking for you. Still though, something about trying it has me a little uneasy. So I thought I'd ask some of you my bloggy friends if you like using your slow cookers? And if so, can you please help me out with some easy peasy recipes you can share with a beginner like me? I'm not picky so any suggestions would be appreciated. Do you have something you just love cooking in your crock pot?

Work is a changing...

2010-01-25T11:40:00.000-06:00

Guys, do you remember last week when I told you all about my rough morning? It was a rough morning indeed but you know what, it got better. I've been kind of stressing about work lately because the campus I work at has been doing some organizational changes ugh! Usually when you hear something like that you think oh no I'm out of a job.

I've noticed my boss had been going to an extraordinary amount of meetings with her boss. When something like that happens you get a sneaky suspicion that things are a coming. Finally my boss told me that things are definitely about to change. One of the big things she told me was I would be staying in this department but moving offices, however, her and a coworker would be moving onto another department. At first I was frustrated, and felt betrayed. I thought they didn't want to fight for me, or that maybe they didn't think I was working well enough to move on with them. I was so frustrated and I wondered if I really wanted to continue here if I was just going to be shoved to the side. On the other hand I did feel grateful that my boss and others felt me valuable enough to keep and not just cancel my position.

So on my "rough morning" I went and met with my soon-to-be new boss. I was as nervous as all can be. Then she gave me the news that shocked me beyond all belief. Here I was thinking I was going to be demoted, but it's seeming like it's a promotion. She told me I would be getting my own office (which I've never had before), and a whole new job description was written for me. I haven't seen my exact job description or title just yet, but as of Feb 1st I am fully in charge of 2 programs, and will have my own student staff and I even have an office with a door. It's a lot of transition and I'm a bit worried, but a lot of the stress has been lifted. Now I'm just worried about everyone liking me over there. This group of people have been working together for awhile and know of me, but don't know me. I don't want them to think I'm butting in or taking over, and I want it to be a friendly situation after all we are going to be coworkers. I'm a nice person, please like me.

Anyone have any advice? Maybe I should bring in some cookies or something? I don't want to overdo it though you know? Hopefully this new change will be a good one and I'll continue to be as happy as the girl above.

Fab Friday Find...Welcome Amber

2010-01-22T10:33:00.000-06:00

Hi Lovelies! As I've been telling you this week Amber from The Survival Guide For the Young, Fabulous & Newlywed has asked me to a guest post this week. I was honored and asked her to return the favor by posting for me today too. So please welcome Amber as she is my first guest blogger!

Hello to Alissa’s readers! Thank-you so much for asking me to guest post today Alissa! It’s so exciting to share with new blogger friends!

As I was trying to determine exactly what I should write about this Friday, Alissa reminded me that she usually hosts “Fab Friday Finds.” I will be continuing Alissa’s tradition today and sharing with you all an amazing, free on-line tool that I have discovered that has made a common chore much more simple!

If you are anything like me, whether you are married, dating or single, grocery shopping can be a chore. It never fails: after at least an hour of shopping (I only go every other week – so I get everything at once!) I get home and unload my groceries only to find that I have forgotten at least two or three necessary items – so I’m back off the grocery store again. GRR! How frustrating!

I try to keep a grocery list throughout the week as needed items pop into my head. I also create a two week meal plan so that I can be sure to purchase the required ingredients for each meal. By the end of the week I have a list full of scribbles and crossed out items. It is SO unorganized that I have to spend 20 minutes writing a new list that will be manageable in the grocery store. And still….somehow I forgot to put the items in the right order on the list so I manage to leave without purchasing everything I need.

In an attempt to keep my new year’s resolution to “be a better wife”, I went on a search for a grocery shopping tool that would help me tackle the unpleasant responsibility of grocery shopping – and I found it! I found a free, on-line site that allows you to create a username and password and store grocery lists to their site.

http://www.ziplist.com/ allows you to create grocery lists for multiple grocery stores. Get your organic products from Trader Joe’s but everything else from Wal-Mart? NO PROBLEM – create two lists! ZipList also allows you to arrange each category in the order the items are found in the grocery store. Just arrange the items in the order that you shop so you can move top to bottom through your list getting your groceries as you move through the store (this makes it SO much easier to get everything on your list!)

I start a new list at the beginning of each two week period and simply add items to the list as I think about it. You can print your list, have it emailed to your or have it texted to your mobile phone. This is extremely easy for people with a blackberry or smart phone – it’s all in the palm of your hand! I’m a little old school so I prefer to print my list and check items off as I go – I feel like I have accomplished something that way!

I know we are all so busy and do our try each day to “be the best we can” – so I hope this free little tool will help you. If you like being organized and like completing tasks in the most efficient way possible – this could really work for you!

Also, if you are looking for a product to help with housework, feel free to check out my “Housework Tuesday Giveaway” – I’m giving a Motivated Moms Chore List to a lucky reader – now this thing will REALLY change your life! LOVE IT!

What about you guys? Any time-saving, easy tools to share with the bunch? Any products that have just changed the way you go about your day to day??Happy Friday to you all! I hope you have a great weekend!!!

It's me again, Alissa! Thanks Amber for doing such a great job. I for one am going to checkout ziplist.com. How cool does this website sound? I love it, anything to make life easier. So lovelies that wraps up today's Fab Friday Find I hope you all have a wonderful Friday!!