Committed... to Myself!

I am beginning a new routine. I am thinking of it as a 'life routine' and am approaching it as a necessity. I know I will fall off balance occasionally and have lots of learning to do in the meantime, but this is something I know I have to do and is something I want to do.

Jon and I have started eating better and while we have approached it slowly, we are doing great and making small changes every day. I find myself making conscious decisions to eat better and while I am not all the way there by any means, I do find it getting easier to think about and to do in general.

I have also committed myself to a friend who loves nearby (Hi Luciana!). We are going to run/jog/walk (haha) every Tuesday and Thursday. Once I get home, I am going to do my 3 key exercises and will throw something new in there as well. Then, every other day, I am going to do those same 3 exercises along with one of my favorite videos, Tae Bo or Pilates.

WOO HOO!!! Here we go!

The Cookie Doesn't Lie: Addition to "Experiencing Nature"

I have to share a tip from my fortune cookie! =) This tip was so so so cool and goes so perfectly with my previous "Experiencing Nature" post.

"Your good nature will bring you happiness." ~Panda Express Fortune Cookie

While I understand that the meaning was originally intended to reflect upon the individual specifically, I think it's cute and could be seen both ways. The awesome nature around me brings me happiness every single day. =) Hooray!

Experiencing Nature

I love love LOVE this world. I cannot express my feelings enough! Take the time to enjoy the little things; there are so many that we could enjoy them every minute of everyday if we took the time to look.

The other day I was driving down the road and all of a sudden a pretty butterfly flew right into my car window and landed on my leg. It was neat. I opened the windows all the way so he could get out but I thought I was definitely at the right place at the right time- right where I was supposed to be.

The next day, I was driving towards my apartment and just as I was turning in, a robin flew right in front of my windshield. I thought he was going to hit the car but it was just a really cool close-up.

Totally cool experiences with nature this week. =) Love love LOVE it!

How Do We Turn Back?

The place we are today... is it where we should be? Is it where we could be?

I hate living in reality in the sense that I don't like what it has become. I cannot stand where we are as a country or as a world in general. Where are our heads and why is it so hard to see the awesomeness that surrounds us? This world is beautiful but everyday the awful things we do changes a gazillion aspects of our perfect little world.

I love to stop and look around; to stop and smell the roses as they say. One of my all time favorite thing includes the sun and its shadows (although I am already slightly partial to shadows). I love the way the shadows hit the ground letting the sunlight peek through here and there; it is gorgeous and I feel like these little things are God's way of giving us joy, pure and simple. God doesn't necessarily give us the things we pray for; He gives us opportunity to develop and get what we desire for ourselves. However, this beautiful world and all the joys that come with it are His way of giving us beauty and joy straight-up.

Take a moment to enjoy this world each and everyday. Look at the sunset while sitting at red lights, admire the beauty in simple shadows and sun rays, stop and smell the roses.

=)

Quote of the Day: delayed...

This was something said a month or so ago when the guys and I got together...

"Everything this side of the toothpick." ~Ran

"Is something special." ~Jeremy


I cannot divulge the reasoning; I have been sworn to secrecy. Try me.

Gearing up for Awesomeness

That's right... the summer months are here and that can only mean one thing... well, two or three things actually.

1) Schlitterbahn!!!

We missed it last year due to some unfortunate and absolutely ridiculous (on our part) circumstances. We waited until the last weekend, got all ready, drove all the way there, walked up to the entrance... and realized we didn't bring the actual tickets. Yep... we brought the top part and not the tickets; we had to give it up. The dream of Schlitterbahn water and rides was crushed then and there. There was no way to get the tickets and actually make it to the park and they were closed the next weekend (although we didn't know this at the time). Boo hoo. =(

2) Warm-up for ACL!!!

We also missed ACL last year (bummer , I know) because we were preparing for the wedding and it was the weekend before. =) It was raining and from what we heard, it was absolutely miserable. Whew. We got our money back (sold the tickets on Craig's List), had the time to prepare for the best day of my life, and stayed dry and non-muddy in the process. =) However, we really missed it and are SUPER THRILLED about this year's lineup.

OMG! The Strokes!!! Spoon!!! Vampire Weekend!!! I am so excited that I can't go on.

3) Rev-up for Ren Fest!

And last but certainly not least, we also missed Ren Fest last year because it was so soon after the wedding and we were broke as a joke. But not this year. This year we are getting ready for it early, we may actually dress up, and will definitely be with Flag. =) WOOOO HOOOOOOOOO!!!

Here we go 2nd half of 2010! Coming at cha strong! LOOK OUT!

LOVE!

I love my husband. He was the coolest in the schoolest and still is! (We met in Spanish class...)

You're a doll Jonathan and I love ya!

Small Progress but Big Set Back

Our Shadow is not doing real good. We've been giving him some supposedly awesome kitty vitamins because I have read that they really help build strength and can make the last years of a kitty's life more pleasant. Unfortunately, Shadow had a major set back with walking when his back legs started having problems. Recently though, it really seemed that the walking had gotten a bit better and that he may be gaining a bit of strength. =)

However, he is also having some problems going to the bathroom. This just started and we only know of 2 times that it has actually occurred. He moaned really weird one night and Jon and I had no idea what it was; we had never heard a cat moan like that and I got kind of freaked out. We found him lying outside the cat box and he had all kinds of grossness on his little paws and belly. =( It was the saddest thing I have ever seen and I broke down a bit.

This happened one other time but we got there in time to help him. I am worried that this may be the major set back I have been dreading... I hope this isn't downhill. =( We are still hoping for the best and praying that the vitamins can help give him some strength back. We're taking him to the vet again to see if there is anything that can be found or done about the bathroom issue.

Poor kitty. He is a trooper though. He is still as lovable as can be and even stood up to say hello to Jason yesterday! A good sign! =) Prayers...

Hardest Class of my Life

That's all I can say...

Applied Business Research and Statistics... grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

No time... Gotta get back to it.

Disappointment X3

I have disappointed 3 of the most important people in my life; my Aunt, Father, and Best Friend.

I couldn't make the trip I had been planning for over a month. I had to cancel a day before because I just knew it was not going to be possible with all the school work that I had. I tried to get ahead but had a gazillion other things going on and it being the first week of this new class, I was not aware of the ridiculous workload that would be involved. The workload has increased on top of everything and I just knew it wouldn't be a fun trip with me sitting at the computer the whole time.

So, I canceled so I could go down another weekend and actually make good use of my time, gas, and overall distance traveled. I hated to disappoint everyone because I had really been looking forward to it. I thought I would get a handle on this and the juggling would be easier... but as they increase the workload and intensity, I sink back to where I started. It's frustrating... grrr.

This is where we start repeating to ourselves: It will all be worth it, it will all be worth it.

:)

Sleepy Sentences

I am not sure if I have mentioned this little phenomenon on the 'tude but as they become more frequent, I feel the need to share the awesomeness that are these sentences.

'Sleepy Sentences' is a new series that I will contribute to as frequently as they occur. These are real sentences that come to me when I am working long hard Master's hours... as I am writing, if I am ridiculously tired, sometimes I find myself dozing while I am still typing. Occasionally, I awake to find that I have typed some random, ridiculous sentence. As I am falling asleep I start to dream and continue writing. I have done it several times and they are always really crazy.

Here is the latest and by far the weirdest. I really have no idea what I was dreaming but I think the inspiration came from Sex and the City... although it is more like Sex and the City gone wacko. (I just watched the series in its entirety in prep for the movies. Yay!)

"As for the latest fling, I have learned that the city of New York also doesn't have any clean napkins. What are we? Where are we going?"

Yep. No idea.

The funny (and utterly ridiculous) thing about this Sleepy Sentence is that I actually posted it. Yep. I posted THAT sentence as the last sentence on a Research and Statistics discussion question. I had to make a correction obviously, but I have vowed to post earlier from now on... before I fall asleep and forget to delete Sleepy Sentences. =)

I do hope they still occur though so I can share with the world the creepy depths of my twisted little mind. I just gotta watch out for the posting...

Don't Let Them Define You

I just wanted to share a few words of wisdom that have been passed down from generation to generation. This is something that women are told but is something that we seldom remember. While this is my own take on this advice I think the idea is apparent and must be committed to memory for LIFE.

"As strong women, we must be able to differentiate between a man's opinion of us and our opinion of ourselves."

If there are things that we as individuals want to change about ourselves, we should do so for ourselves and not because someone else told us we needed to. We all know the saying, "Love yourself first". This goes right along with this important advice in that it is critical to always remember who we are and to never let others sway our opinion of this- men or women.

A long time ago, I was in a relationship that I thought I was supposed to be in. I thought I had found the perfect person but what I didn't realize is that throughout the entire relationship, I was trying to tell myself that he wasn't right. He made me someone I wasn't and made me think I was crazy, literally. In reality, he was not the right person for me and I was screaming out to wake myself up. He didn't give me what I needed; he wasn't sensitive or engaging and only enjoyed attention but rarely affection. It was totally the opposite of what I wanted in a relationship but I didn't listen to myself.

Along the way, as our relationship deteriorated and my heart continued to scream that he wasn't the one, I started believing him and thought it was all me. I started believing that I was that person and that it was all my fault.

It wasn't.

As all relationships go, it was both of us. He was wrong for going along with it if I wasn't for him and I was wrong for not listening to myself. Very wrong. I knew along and because I didn't listen myself and allowed a man to "define" me, I lost a year of my life, friends who took his side, and probably a couple years off my entire life.

Don't do it. Don't make this mistake. Don't let them define you.

Baby Fever is Everywhere...

and I don't have it!

But everyone else seems to! I can say that maybe 5 of my friends are not pregnant or with child at this moment... it is kind of strange. Sure, I want kids; I have the absolute perfect father for them and am truly excited to have them one day. I can't wait... but I can and will. Ha.

It is crazy to see all my friends having kiddos because I thought I would be in the same place at this point in my life. I always said I wanted to have kids around age 28 but as the time rapidly approaches, I have started thinking otherwise. I keep thinking that I haven't even had time with my husband and I really want to be selfish and lazy (or as lazy as a full time job while working on a Master's degree will allow).

My husband and I have been together for almost 5 years with our 1st marriage anniversary coming in October. I can honestly say that these years have been the best of my life. I know that children will be a huge blessing and that I will be happier than I could ever imagine... but I think I want to get the most out of what I have right now and let the future be awesome in the future. =)

To all the mothers and mothers-to-be out there, God bless you and congratulations! I'll be there one day! Until then, I'm sure you've got this under control. =)

To Nicole at Teleflora.com

Thank you for the response. I do appreciate that you took the time to apologize and explain your business practices. I did want to expand on the situation however. While I understand we are all human and make mistakes, most don't make the same one 3 times in a row.

My original order was for Saturday and then there was a redelivery date for Monday. It was not delivered again on Monday and there was a redelivery date for Tuesday. It was not delivered AGAIN on Tuesday and there was a redelivery date for Wednesday.

It was finally delivered on Wednesday... 4 days and 3 redeliveries later. On top of this, I spent another hour and a half between the next two calls I had to make to find out why the order had not been delivered again. That's a total of 3 hours for 3 phone calls...

I do hope this was a fluke incident and understand that we do all make mistakes. However, this was in no way a little mistake; it was 3 big ones. I will say that all of your customer service reps were very nice and in the end Teleflora did make it worth the while. While my surprise and actually getting my Mom a gift on Mother's Day was ruined, Teleflora did come through and made it right. The delivery was beautiful and there was a very nice note of apology. I think that was very kind and my Mom really appreciated it.

I stand by my feelings and really hope that you can do better for your customers. Unfortunately, I am no longer one of them.

Thanks again for following up. I do appreciate that.

Thanks for Nothing, TeleFlora.com!

As I told the customer service guy, I will never use their service again. Number one, I put an order in for a Mother's Day delivery. I was told the order would have to be delivered on Saturday as they don't make deliveries on actual holidays. Well, as crappy as that was, I said okay. Well, I waited until Saturday evening to hear from Mom because I was just sure she would call to tell me how much she loved her surprise.

I waited...

and waited...

By 7 PM I had not heard from her so I gave her a call. She had received my card in the mail ("the biggest card I've ever got") but said nothing about an extra special delivery. So, I had to ask if she had received anything else and was both happy and disappointed to hear that she had not. I told her she should have and that I was sorry; I didn't think they would redeliver on Sunday (as they had told me they wouldn't) and the order was promised to be there by Saturday before 2 PM. I told Mom I was sorry and that I had to get off the phone so I could call and chew some one's ass out.

Well, an hour and a half later I finally get someone on the line from Teleflora and they tell me that they couldn't find someone to take my floral order for Saturday and that there had been a redeliver date set for Monday, one day after Mother's Day. First of all, they didn't bother to call ME and tell me that they had to reschedule. I told the gentlemen it was a bunch of crap and that I didn't put in an order for Monday, I put in an order for SATURDAY! I asked him what he was going to do since I had just waited on hold for an hour and a half and my order had not been fulfilled. He said he would give me 40% off but the order would have to be delivered on Monday. I told him I would never use Teleflora.com again (AND I MEANT IT) and he told me he was sorry. Sorry...

I told him he was correct; they should be very sorry because I would NEVER use them again. As a consumer, I have to spread the word about my experiences. It seems that they cram as many sales in while there may be no chance to get them all filled, and knowing all these people are going to have to explain to their significant others why they didn't get a gift on their special day.

A BUNCH OF CRAP. This was absolutely ridiculous, Teleflora.com. This experience has made me never want to use a service like this again.

Shoppers beware: My advice for future gifts like these? DO NOT USE TELFLORA.COM!!!!!!!!!

Attack from Above

A warning for all you people that like to enjoy time outside; whether that be walking, running, swimming, hanging out, walking to your car, anything at all.

Watch out for crazy attack birds.

A few days ago, I was outside standing in line, innocently, when I heard a crazy bird call and saw him soar over my head. I looked up at the tree he flew towards and then looked back down. I thought nothing of it. Unfortunately, the exact second I looked down, he flew at my head; he thrust his little bird body as hard as he could and I am pretty sure he pecked me in the process.

Jerk.

(Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/31717722@N03/3107267397)

He looked like this and I am pretty sure he was a Grackle. Crazy birds. Watch out, they'll get cha.

Prayers for Our World...

The world seems to be going a bit crazy at the moment. My prayers go out to the countries, states, and individuals affected by the recent events involving the massive (and continued) oil spill, flooding, earthquakes, tsunamis, etc. etc.

We have a beautiful world and a lot of wonderful people. Let's work together to get our world back on its feet. We are in this together. =)

A look back...

... at the night before the best day of my life... =)

We had a great time in the hot tub. Kids in the tub, parents in the house. =)

We're taking the plunge...

Dad came out every now and then and was a big hit! "Johnny!"

After 6 hours in the hot tub and a lot of beer, Jon's back ended up going out on him on the day of the wedding (and the wedding party was zombie on the dance floor wedding night). A very special thanks to Jeremy for snapping this pic! And thank goodness Rob was able to come to the rescue! He saved the best day of my life! =)

Our Shadow is Sick =(

We have been dealing with some sad issues and ask for any prayers and good thoughts you'd like to send our way. Shadow has been pretty sick and despite numerous tests, the reason is yet to be determined. We have pretty much ruled out everything except cancer. Not cool; I am devastated because I honestly thought he'd live forever. I am trying to come to terms with this but it is very hard for me. He is too old to really get extensive on any type of treatment and sedation isn't really all that safe for a cat of 15 either (he'll be 15 in September). We are hoping for the best and are giving him all the loving he can stand. He is still in good spirits but is very thin and jumping and walking is getting harder for him. =( He is my best friend and little boy all in one; he has been through every major stage in my life and has been there for me in ways he will never ever know. I am really at a loss for what to do at this point but am trying to stay strong.

Please send out some good vibes. =) I want him to enjoy all the life he has to live and will be taking so many pictures that he may go blind before I'm through. He'll be good and when it's his time, it's just his time.

I guess... =(

We love you Shadow. =)

Almost-a-Month Ridiculousness

Yes... yes. It HAS been a whole flippin' month since I have posted. This is a sad sad fact and one I am definitely not proud of. Don't feel blue though; I have neglected my crocheting as well. Oh, and everything else except eating, sleeping, and breathing. =)

Whew. School. Oh, school. We are one full year into this Master's and are anxiously awaiting the arrival of the second full year. Ha! We have a year and a half left and are chuggin' right along. Besides our severely depleted social life, we are doing just fine and enjoying married life as much as our breaths between class work will allow.

I have some photos to share and am working hard to get these web-ready... bluebonnets, clouds, wildflowers, and much much more! Coming soon... seriously. =)

Thank you for your kindness and continued patience with my scatterbrain and increasingly ridiculous schedule.