Hey Y'all

I'm back from Texas. Completely exhausted, but I think I'm getting caught back up on my sleep now. I pretty much survived on 4-5 hours of sleep each night we were there. This is not good for a girl who sleeps 8-10 hours nightly... It was worth it though.

On Tuesday of last week I spent the evening packing. Blah!

On Wednesday I got 4 phone calls from a certain airline (AA) saying my flight was delayed, put on another plane, blah, blah, blah at 2:30 AM!! I screamed at the 4th lady who called and by then I was wide awake. I met my co-worker at 6 a.m. and headed to the airport. We almost missed our plane gabbing away. I looked down at my watch and realized we had 15 minutes to get through security and to our gate. Thank god it was smooth and our gate was just around the corner. After we got to Dallas we caught a shuttle to the convention center and signed up for the manufacturing tour at 3:30. Then we headed back to the hotel, checked in and grabbed lunch. The tour was AWESOME!! Gave me a whole new respect for what really goes into the jewelry and how many hands it goes through before it's the finished product, etc. I was floored! Made the 1 hour bus trip and car sickness more tolerable on the way back. That night we had dinner at Chili's and then headed to bed.

On Thursday I got up at 5 a.m. and we all got ready in shifts. Our group was really good and we were out of the hotel by 7 heading to breakfast. There was a little place in the hotel that we got breakfast at. That morning I ordered this oatmeal that sounded awesome. Weird thing though is that it came out cold. It was supposed to be cold. I ate most of it as it was surprisingly very good. After breakfast we headed to training which lasted all morning. It was very good. The meals sucked, but everyone kept saying you don't go to rally for the food. They were definitely right! The rally itself started after lunch. They do all kinds of recognition, guest speakers, entertainment. Also people from the mission trips they've funded, etc. I heard there were over 7,000 people there. It was jam packed. The excitement in the air was awesome, too.

Friday was more of the same thing. One awesome guest was the marketing or something lady form Stein*mart who spoke about fashion tips & trends. Oh my gosh was she awesome!? I took several pages of notes and plan to use a lot of it at my shows in the future. After it ended Friday we had a group meeting, which was nice. We did some recognition and played a couple games. Not everyone knew each other either so it was nice to visit with them personally.

Saturday was again more of the same. It was patriotic day so everyone was decked out in red, white and blue. They had an awesome show with singing, dancing and fireworks. We left a little early to catch our flight. Had dinner at the airport at Chili's where our waiter hit on me... Calling me sweetie and baby. I was flattered and left him a nice tip. :D Oh and Tony*Dungy was on our flight home. (Colts Coach). I got a picture of him, but not "with" him. We got home about midnight.


Finally... The new jewelry line.... OMG!! Let's say I spent more than I budgeted... I can't wait to get it on and start wearing it!!

P.S.
Pics up soon, I promise!

Crazy Week and it continues...

Since my last post things have been quite crazy around here.... Let's see...

Thursday morning I got a call from my sister that my niece, Heaven, was still sick and her temp had been spiking. She had called her ped and they told her to take her to the hospital, so they were on their way. Sis called from the hospital and they were running a bunch of tests on her to find out what was going on. They ended up getting some whack doctor hell bent on meningitis... You know how they test for it?? Freaking SPINAL TAP! So my 9 week old niece got a freaking SPINAL TAP. She didn't have any symptoms, but this doc says they get ~1 case a month and test 2-3 babies weekly. Since they did that they wanted to keep her overnight, but that hospital was full so they took her by ambulance to a hospital nearby. The second hospital was much better. The doc said he doubted she had meningitis and that it was likely just a viral infection.

I ended up taking off Friday and dropping Eric off at the office and heading to see Heaven. She was doing better thank goodness. The doc came early afternoon and said all her lab results had come back find and he saw no reason to keep her any longer. They would continue to watch them and she already had her shot appointment on Tuesday so they could just do a follow-up then as well. Heaven was adorable by this point. Obviously feeling much better flirting with the young doctor and getting uncle Eric tighter around her little finger. She knows exactly what she's doing at such a young age. ha ha ha

Friday night my dad & Peg came up and we went and picked blueberries. It was nice visiting with them b/c we don't see them very much and it was a lovely evening to be outside.

Saturday I got up early and headed south for one of my best friend's mom's jewelry show. It was warm outside, but the show turned out great!! They had some great food and drinks and a lovely deck as well. Thank goodness it was covered or we'd all be fried!

Sunday Eric & I got up and went to the gym and the grocery store. Then I headed to Target. Let me say that it turned out to be a great day at Target. I found 2 pairs of pants and 1 skirt that fit great and I was forced to buy. It's not very often I find pants that fit me that good. When I got home we had a relaxing evening.

Tomorrow I'm leaving for Texas and will be gone until late Saturday night. I'm going down for a jewelry rally so I hope to come home really pumped up and ready to get down to business. I just love going to these things. I love this new thing I'm doing, but sometimes you get stuck in a rut. You know, I've never done sales so it's all still fairly new to me. All in all I think I'm doing pretty darn good.

Oh and I have several pics to post, but won't get around to them until probably Sunday now. I hope you can wait that long. Sorry! I have some of both nieces, plus some other things and hopefully some pics from Texas.

So I'm outta here for now. Be back Sunday.

Happy 4th of July!

Not too much going on with us today. This morning went to the gym and then the grocery store. We are getting ready to head out now to check out a wine & cheese place downtown. Then hit up the movies, Transformers. After that it's blueberry picking (since it was closed yesterday) and then relaxing for the evening. I was thinking about making some things with blueberries, but we'll see what time it is when we get home.

Anyway, just wanted to say Happy 4th!

Did you miss me??

Well... I haven't been lost, just no desire to post anything here. Let's see if I can give you a short recap of my life for the last few months.

I welcomed a new niece on May 2. I got to be present for her birth and found out this weekend that we are her godparents. She already has uncle Eric so wrapped around her little finger... Maybe me, too...

My sister K is having another baby. I believe she is due in December. While it stung when I heard the news it is serious b/c this will be her last child. When she has the baby, all those females parts are going, too.

We're still having our Girls Weekend Out and lovin' them! Here's a picture from our recent visit to Chicago. We are getting together in a couple more weeks at my house.

My new business is going pretty well. This summer has been unfortunately slow, but I think it will pick back up this fall. I'm actually going to Texas next week for a conference and can't wait!! Still working my regular full-time job in the mean time.

Eric & I are still trying, but with no luck. We decided recently to really buckle down this fall and save all we need to for the FET. The plan is to do the transfer early next year. I think we both are more than ready to have babies. It will be our time soon I hope!

Last week we started back to the gym and my short term goal is to lose 10 pounds by August 9, which is when we are supposed to go to California for an incentive trip (assuming Eric wins). So far I've lost 1 pound. I'd like to lose the other 10 pounds by the end of the year, which is absolutely doable! It felt so good to get back to the gym and I really want to get in tip-top shape for getting pregnant, which is my long term goal.

That's all I can think of right now. We got a laptop now so I'm hoping to keep up with this blog again in the evenings in front of the TV. :D

TGIF

I meant to start a meme last Friday, but didn't get around to it. Today's is from the Friday Fiver

1. When is your birthday? March 9

2. How old will you be? 28...gulp

3. Do you prefer to throw a party or attend a party? Depends on the situation I guess. I like to throw small little parties and do all the planning and hosting, but sometimes I'd rather just attend one and not have all the work. hee hee

4. Presents: take'em or leave'em? Take 'em. I like getting and giving presents.

5. Best birthday so far? Probably my first birthday I celebrated with Eric. He planned a surprise birthday party for me with a bunch of my friends. There was dinner, drinking & a limo ride. Absolute B-L-A-S-T!

2007 Goals

I was going to recap 2006, but it just depresses me more, so I'll just give you what I hope to accomplish for 2007.

Health
1. Cook healthy dinners at home - 4 to 5 times weekly
2. Cook 1 new meal monthly
3. Reduce red meat to once/week, increase fish
4. 30 Minutes of Exercise 4 times a week
5. Make better choices when eating out.
6. Make meal plans

Finances
1. Reduce Debt by ALOT! We did pay a lot off in '06, but put it back on (especially with my new business) Goal is to close Discover by the end of the year.
2. Pay off new business expense
3. Save $3,000 for IUI/Injectible Cycle (after 2.)

Intellectual Development
1. Read more
2. Learn how to knit/crochet

Spirtuality
1. Iron Yoga 3 times per week.
2. Read Daily Devotions book daily.

Personal Development
1. Increase positive well being


I really scaled down my goals from last year to ones I think are more attainable. Everything in my list is attainable. as long as I don't get into a depressed funk again.

Happy New Year!!!

God, please make 2007 a much more tolerable year for me.

Ahem...

Where was I? Oh yes, I'm back. I'll start off with a recap of the last 6 or so months that ultimately led to my lack of blogging...

*June was ok except I was depressed and didn't do any gardening or really anything outside, which is what I normally love.

*July was ok as well except we had the first year anniversary of my brother's death. Heather got married, which was nice. I started getting together with my family for card night, which was a lot of fun.

*August brought on a ton of work for me. I was swamped. Met Jimmy Buffett at his concert. Took over another duty at work.

Here's where it spirals downward...

*September I helped my cousin D with a baby shower for my cousin J. It was extremely hard, but went relatively well. Had a colonoscopy, which turned out fine. Found out my sister A is pregnant and due May 18 (read - Jesus Christ every one of my siblings has been pregnant but me!) Work still swamped. Went to Ohio for girls' weekend. Sometime around there I found out my friend S was pregnant with number 2. (numb to baby news at this point).

*October I got sick right off the bat. Work again swamped. Spent the day at the bridge festival, which was ok, but damn cold. Visited Heather and helped Danialle with a photoshoot. The head of our department stepped down, which actually relieved some stress at work. Little Coen was born on Oct 30 sweet as could be.

*November I got a totally new hairstyle, but was depressed about the body that went with it. Got a second job selling jewelry. (If anyone wants any info, let me know b/c it's an awesome opportunity!) Had my training show, which netted me a few shows after the first of the year. Thanksgiving was a lot of traveling and seeing family.

*December I spent lots of money getting ready for my jewelry parties. Had the only two scheduled for December cancel. Christmas parties and get togethers galore! Work crazy! Found out my youngest sister is bad into drugs. Spent rest of the year getting her stuff straightened out and finally taking her to Godville on Saturday, December 30. (Drug rehab about 5 hours away) Did have the ladies and their hubbies and Grace over for a relaxing new year's eve party. Made some awesome champagne punch, too.

Ok. so that doesn't seem as bad as I've felt, but I was just depressed and couldn't wait to see 2006 go. Hopefully 2007 will be much better. I want to get out of this funk. I'll start a new post for my goals for the year.

Stayed Tuned for After the Holidays...

I know I've been MIA for quite some time. The last few months have been a rollercoaster and I think I just needed some time "away". I hope to be back to regularly scheduled blogging after the holidays... Happy Holidays!!

P.S.
I still keep up with most of the same blogs weekly and I do think about you all!

Happy Birthday Jamie!

I know I'm a day late on posting, but you probably won't read this and I DID talk to you yesterday on your birthday! ha ha ha I really missed seeing you this weekend, but you can bet that I'll be up soon after your little one arrives to spend some time with you! Miss you and love you bunches!

Remember this... Bird aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!

365 Days

of me!

I recently took a tip off of Kitten and joined the 365 day pool. Basically the challenge is to take a picture of yourself for 365 days. It's a way to sort of look back at yourself over the year and also to play around with your camera and different things you can do with pictures. I was hesitant at first because I wasn't sure if I could keep up with doing it every day, but it intrigued me at the same time so I decided what the heck. I may miss a day or two here and there, but I think I can do it. Take a look at the pictures for the first 5 days...

Feel free to join me in this fun new photo op, too. Leave me a comment if you decide to join so I can keep an eye on your pics.

5 Years Ago...

I met the man of my dreams. I don't know where my life would be without him nor do I care. He is my everything and I love him so much. I haven't been the easiest wife at times and we've had some major obstacles to overcome. Heck I'm sure there will be more to come in the future. But I love him and I always will.

GWO 14 - Ohio

This weekend we had a Girls' Weekend Out and it was a lot of fun. Thursday I picked up Danialle and we headed to Ohio. We talked all the way over and it really made me feel good. After we got there we got into our pjs and watched Survivor & Flavor*of*Love with Jennifer & Eric. It was hilarious. Then went to bed. Friday we got up and went golfing. (My grandpa always told me I should be a golfer. He used to take me to the driving range when I was younger and I loved it, but didn't really have the desire to do it in high school because I wanted to play softball. Well I realize now that I picked the wrong sport!) We only played 9 holes, but it was a blast. The girls were really impressed with my skills even though I'd never set foot on an actual course! It really made me feel good, too. I ended up not doing so hot on the last couple of holes, but still came out not to shabby overall. Danialle had never played either and only had 3 more shots than me. I think she and I might go on occassion and I think we might do it regularly for girls' weekends.

After golfing we grabbed lunch at Chipotle and decided to hit up Target. We shopped and tried stuff on and just had a blast. I ended up only buying one cute necklace since we were doing a bunch of shopping on Saturday. We also stopped at a couple of shoe stores to check out some of their shoes. Both were pretty blah and we really didn't find much. We went back to Jennifer's and played with Grace for a while before dinner. Heather arrived just as Grace was getting a bath and getting ready to go to bed. After Grace was fast asleep we made a drive over to Wal-Mart to pick up a few things and then stopped to pick up some wings for dinner. We caught up on life and watched more Flavor*of*Love then headed to bed.

Saturday we got up early and started our day at Kohl's. In fact we spent 3 hours there. Between trying on loads of clothes and shoes, we stopped by the cosmetic area and Danialle & Jennifer put on their makeup while getting several samples and tips from the chic there. I think I ended up with a shirt, pair of cute ballet shoes, and a blanket for Godiva. We went to Filene's and DSW next and it didn't fair too well. I think only Jennifer bought something (sexy new boots in black AND brown). Our last stop was the mall. We tried on quite a bit of stuff there as well and made out like bandits, especially in the jewelry area. I found some sexy dark, low rise jeans, too.

After the mall we headed back for a disco nap. Then we got ready for our night out. We got all snazzied up and headed over to dinner with Jennifer's husband Eric chauffering us around. After dinner we decided to head downtown and scope up the best place to shake our booty's at. We stopped at one bar and they were having a hip-hop band, but we weren't sure if they would be playing stuff we knew, but it was an option. We walked along and Heather ended up getting us into this fun bar w/out having to pay a cover long enough to do a shot. While we were inside doing our shot, Eric was outside and found out the next bar down might be the place to be. We were a little skeptical at first, but decided to go ahead and try it out. At first it was a little dull, but it finally got going and it was a blast. We danced and danced and danced. I think we finally left around 2 and got to bed around 3. I didn't sleep well and we all ended up getting up around 7:30 and hit the road shortly after 8. It was a super long ride home being so exhausted, but the weekend was great.



Click here for my pictures!

Happy Birthday Danialle!!!

We have known each other our entire lives and for that I am thankful. You are one of my best friends and I couldn't imagine my life with you not in it. You have helped me through so many hurdles in my life and I am sure there will be more. You are a great listener and know when to give advice or to just listen. You are so kind and thoughful and I couldn't ask for a better friend. Yes we have some blood that runs through us that we share, but we have taken that blood further with our friendship. I know we will be friends for the rest of our lives and that puts a smile on my face. Anyway...

Happy Birthday to You!
Happy Brithday to You!
Happy Birthday Dear Danialle!
Happy Birthday to You!!

Presented to you by...

Cheeseburger in Paradise

I lost my virginity last night and attended my first ever Jimmy Buffett Concert. It was awesome!!! I told Eric he created a monster and we have to go back again next year. :D





Oh, did I mention we got to MEET HIM???

Wedding Weekend

Friday after work we grabbed dinner at BW*3s and visited the bike store.

We had a fabulous weekend. Saturday we went south to see the lovely Heather get married. It was viciously hot outside, which is where Heather got married in a cute little park dwon the road from her house. Thankfully they had a short & sweet ceremony. Can't you just see how giddy she is on her wedding day?? So cute!!



After congratulating the couple we dashed off to the air conditioning at the reception. It was quite packed there, but we had a great time. We stocked up our purses with some liquor and made drinks at our own table.



After some dancing and many laughs Eric & I made our 2 hour trek home.



I barely got my clothes and make-up off before collapsing on the bed.

Sunday was a wee bit difficult to get out of bed. Eric let the dogs go and they made sure I got up in a timely fashion though. We/I lounged around for the morning, ran the vaccuum cleaner and then we left to go see Pira*tes of the Carr*ibbean 2. It was pretty good. We spent the evening inside, on the couch just plain being lazy. It was nice.

I almost forgot!!! You can check out more pictures from the wedding here!!!

Blueberries!!!

For a long time I've told myself that I didn't like blueberries... Last Saturday we went with Danialle, Chadd, Jennifer & Grace to pick our own blueberries. Since I didn't think I liked them I decided I'd pick some for my stepmom. Well, while we were picking I popped a few in my mouth and they were pretty darn good and realized I was going to have to keep all that we picked. Picking them was pretty fun, too. This farm was very clean and non-buggy and only 5 minutes from our house! Grace was as cute as can be out there, too. She at first took fistfuls from the buckets that we were filling. Then she realized she could pick her own and eat them, so she did that. I tried to convince her to only pick the dark ones, but she didn't quite get it. Although she didn't mind when she got the tart ones either, so I guess it was ok.



After we left I made the call to Peg to tell her she was going to have to come up and pick her own.

Oh the bonus is that they are SUPER easy to freeze, too. You just rinse them off and let them dry completely. Once dry you throw them in a freezer bag and toss them in the freezer. Voila! This weekend I'm making homemade blueberry pancakes and maybe some blueberry muffins, too. YUMMY!

There's more than CORN in Indiana...

I've had this urge for a while to start freezing corn and finally decided to take a stab at it. I called my nanny up and got her recipe. I wasn't sure how much to start with, so we headed to the farmer's market and got 3 dozen ears. It took a while to DE-cob all of the corn, but once that was done it was a breeze. I call it the "3-2-1 Freeze!" recipe*. I called my nanny during the process and ended up adding too much sugar and salt to one batch, but it was easily fixable by just adding plain corn to it on the next round. I ended up with 8 pints of corn total, which was not too shabby. Here's the mess I created...



*In case anyone is interested, here is the recipe I used

3-2-1 Freeze...Corn

Cut corn off the cob with a sharp knife
Use the dull side of the knife and run it up and down cob to get juices

In a bowl
Mix 4 cups corn
1/3-1/2 cup water (depends on how good you are at de-cobbing)

Microwave for 3 minutes
Stir
Microwave for 2 minutes

Stir in
1/2 Stick Butter
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar

Microwave 1 minute

Put bowl in a sink full of ice to chill, stirring occassionally.

Once chill put in container or freezer bag then freezer.

Card Night!!!

Recently a few ladies in my family & Eric (because he loves cards) started this weekly card night. The last few nights we've had it at my grams house and last night everyone came to my house. It was such a blast!! We played some mean Shanghai, which is similar to rummy, but a little different, and a few rounds of Mexican Train Dominoes. We feasted on some keish, chips & salsa, oreos, and sipped on my lovely tea.

Last week we learned some new words such as

Sneuter - sneu·ter (snū'tər, nyū'-) pronunciation
adj.

**A castrated animal neither masculine nor feminine in gender.**

You would sneuter a...

Hermaphrodog - Her·maph·ro·dog (hər-măf'rə-dī'dog) pronunciation
n.

**A dog who has both sets of sex organs.**

It was quite funny at the time let me just tell you. Last night the F*** word was thrown around a few too many times and grams thought she was going to have knock Sherrie out of her chair or drag her on the back of her car back home. Please believe me when I say my jaw hurts from laughing so hard last night.

Dog Biscuits - Take 1

I recently bought some "homemade" dog biscuits at the farmer's market. As soon as I got them home I checked the ingredients and new instantly that I could make them myself with very little effort. So off to google "dog treat recipes" I went. I found several. My first recipe I tried consisted of wheat flour, baking powder, milk & peanut butter. It was a cinch. I made probably around 50 biscuits, but they were much larger than I wanted for daily treats. So now I'm off to find some smaller cookie cutters. It was fun though and as soon as I find some different cutters I plan to make more and maybe even freeze some.

New Kitchen

So it took me forever to post that final part of our trip to Jamaica, I know. I've been quite busy the last few weeks and it was hard to make myself finish what I started. However, I vowed to myself that I couldn't post anything else until I finished it, so thus the lack of posts. Now I get to play catch up, so hopefully there will be lots of posts for a while. Enjoy!

A few weeks ago Danialle came up on a Saturday morning to help us paint our kitchen & dining room. We made a trip to the farmer's market first thing followed by a trip to Wal-Mart then got back home to begin our project. Eric & I had taped everything off the night before, so we waited for Eric to get everything ready to get started. Danialle broke out a peach from the farmers market before we got started. Well, Godiva through it was a treat (all that was left was the peach pit) and devoured it right out of her hand. She didn't even chew it because Danialle tried to get it back. We were a little concerned, but decided we'd just check and make sure it passed.

We got started on painting. It was a chore painting around all the cabinets and stuff. We painted the entire kitchen a pale yellow (pineapple fizz) and in the dining room we painted the yellow on top and a dark blue (planetarium) on bottom. Then we bought chair rail and cut and stained it and put it up between the colors. Here's how it turned out.

Dining Room...
Before


After


Kitchen...
Before


After


We are really pleased with how it turned out. It feels so warm and inviting now. The white drove me crazy. We finished around 7:00 that night, so it took all day.

To elaborate a bit more on Godiva by the time I got ready for bed she still had not passed it. Eric decided to google "dog eats peach pit" or something to that affect and we found out that peach pits are poisonous to dogs. Lovely. We called the emergency vet and they said she should be ok since she didn't actually chew into it, but they weren't positive, so we should call this poison hotline to make sure. So Eric called and they basically said the same thing. Apparently the inside of the pit is what is poisonous and normally they show signs of being poisoned after 6-8 hours. It had been over 12 by this point. They said to make sure we check her BMs and she should pass it within 48 hours. If not then we'd have to take her in because there would be cause for concern for a blockage. She was still doing #2 that day and even on Sunday, but no pit. Finally monday morning almost exactly 48 hour later she passed it. We nearly threw her a celebration party. Eric took a picture to send to Danialle for confirmation, but I won't share it with you all. Hopefully Danialle didn't even look at it. ha ha ha