Year in Review...Somewhat

There are many many people who are doing a '2011 in Review' type of post and they write about various things they've done and accomplished and OH MY GOD. Just the though of doing one literally makes my chest tighten. That sounds like the most un-fun and stressful thing I could possibly do to myself. I mean, the amount of work my brain would have to do! So instead I'm going to borrow from Dooce and post some links from my blog from the past year. 

I've gained new readers since the beginning of the year, so some of you may not have read them. And if you're like me? You'll be able to read the posts again and not remember if you read them in the first place because your memory is so terrible. If I didn't know I posted these, I wouldn't believe I wrote some of these things because I've already forgotten them!

JANUARY || I found my life goal!

I'm going to be a nurse!

FEBRUARY || I constantly wanted to kill Vince and I finally got around to writing about my niece's birth.

Next time, LISTEN TO TE WOMAN.

"We have torn up soda/beer cans, eaten shoe laces, the couch is torn apart, the carpet is soaked with pee, tin foil is scattered, paper is ripped to shreds, plants are eaten, packaging is everywhere, the expensive blinds are chewed and my expensive gluten free 'Oreos' were eaten by someone other than me. All because you thought [the dog] was 'so cute'."

Dear Alyla: A Letter To My Niece

"After finding out that your mom was pregnant, I was worried. I was worried if she would be able to take care of you, what kind of mother she would be, if she would stay sober... In that moment that I was crying, every worry vanished because now I know she is capable of being a great mother to you, Alyla."

MARCH || I pondered about my future kids.

Future Kids: Will I Like Them?

"There's a lot of kids in my life, wether it's at work, the grocery store, friends kids, etc. Some of them are ASSHOLES. Seriously, I feel like tripping them and laughing as they fall because they totally SUCK."

APRIL || This was just a silly feel-good month.

Warby Parker 'Photoshoot'

"I was pretty confident that NONE of [the glasses] would look good on me, and I was pretty much right. So instead of using this opportunity to buy a new pair of glasses, I used it as an excuse for a time-wasting photoshoot. Here are the results:"

Bras.

"Why do I hate bra shopping so much? Because I have a big torso and small boobs. I really don't mind the big torso or the small boobs, except the fact that there are maaaaaybe three size 36A bras in an entire store." 


MAY || We took a WONDERFUL trip to California and nursed our wounded dog back to health.
Californ-i-a Part 1               Californ-i-a Part 2
"We left Friday morning around 10, after a late start. This was our first big trip in the Subaru and we were pretty excited! Not so excited to wake up at 7am though, like we were planning."


Guess how much I love you? 40 bags of tater tots worth.
"Well, Roxanne, I loved you $120 worth today TO GET A NAIL TRIMMED. Granted, that nail was exposing a sensitive nerve ending, but still, one hundred and twenty dollars. Do you know how many tater tots I could eat with that kind of money?"

JUNE || We decided to move back to our old place and took a trip to Colorado...which reminds me that I haven't finished posting about that trip!

We're moving!

"The reason we moved into our current house was because I wanted more space. I wanted a room to do crafts in, Vince wanted space to put his bikes, and we also wanted to live close to the forest for Roxanne. Now that we have all of that, I'm not satisfied with it. I'm extremely happy that we took the opportunity to move, because now I have seen the grass on the other side."

Telluride Part 1          Telluride Part 2          Telluride Part 3

"[A lady] told us about this dirt road that would lead us to camping. What she lacked to tell us that it was at the tippy top of a small mountain and to get there you had to go on the most terrifying road ever. It was completely a one lane road and ON THE EDGE OF A CLIFF most of the way up. If someone were to come down, there is no way we could get past; one of use would have to back up the whole way!"

JULY || I ventured into fiction writing and Vince and I got engaged!

What I Didn't See

"Last week the nurse called to tell me my mother passed away. I never thought I would feel such a deep sense of loss. I definitely didn’t expect to feel like I missed out on something incredible, like I could have made the relationship with my mother better. I felt like I was the one who should have been taking care of her this whole time, like I should have been there for her despite her negativity and hatred towards me."

I'm gettin' me a husband!

"You read that correctly, I’m getting married! After wanting to be engaged for so long, I am now finally able to call Vince my fiancé! Agh! I’m so excited. I won’t be able to call him my fiancé for very long though, because we will be married in SEVEN WEEKS. Ya, no time at all! And no, I am NOT pregnant."

AUGUST || I learned that some stress could be good stress, and some stress not so good.

Drunk Drivers

"If Ben had killed another person instead of himself that night he chose to drink and drive, would I still feel the same way about him? Would I still miss him as much? Would I still think about him daily, wondering where Life would have placed him today? Would I still see him as a smart and respectable person. I'm not sure, and I try not to think too much about it and it tends to hurt because I have a hunch that I would, in fact, see things differently."

S.T.R.E.S.S.E.D For Real

"It's been a healthy stress though. It's not one that's keeping me up at night, or one that makes me eat tub after tub of ice cream. It's a good one that makes me realize that life is upon me. It feels like up until this point I was just...here. I wasn't doing anything spectacular with my life, nothing life changing. I was getting scared that I'd be like this forever."

SEPTEMBER || I truly fell in love with excising and I got married but was too busy to write about it.

Run you little heart out.

"Now that I am in my routine though, it's getting a little too easy which is CRAZY. That means I actually have to push myself even more and go even more distance which is just baffling to me because I am not a runner. Maybe I'm just in denial though because I'm actually stoked when I find time to run. Can you believe I'm stoked about my EYEBALLS sweating?"

OCTOBER || I was able to enjoy that aftermath of my wedding and realized that the life I chose for myself is going exactly where I want it to be headed.

Video montage from the wedding.

"Vince's dad Dave sent us a video of the pictures that he and his wife Amy took at the wedding. Iabsolutely love it and totally cried when I watched it, and then cried again when I re-watched it today and then cried again when I uploaded it onto YouTube. It's just so great!"

I Was Born to Do This

"When I sit down to study, I'm actually excited about it. Ya, it's hard to learn SO much information in so little time, but I am so in love with it. It's like a game to me to see how much I can learn about it and it makes me so antsy to start the actual nursing program."

NOVEMBER || I accepted myself for who I am, finally.

Believe it.

"I've never really had body issues like a lot of women have and I am SO grateful for that. I don't think I have the perfect body in any way, body things just never seemed to worry me. I did have 3 things that I was somewhat self conscious about until recently, though, that just seem silly to me now."

DECEMBER || I discovered an ooey-gooey cinnamon roll recipe and started some new family traditions.

Food Love: Gluten Free Cinnamon Rolls

"I found a recipe at The Baking Beauties, and it is BY FAR the best baked gluten free food I have ever had and tastes exactly like 'regular' cinnamon rolls. They are so amazing that the first day I ate them, I ate three, the second day I ate two, and the third day I ate three. Yes, I ate the whole 8x8 pan by myself in three days and I don't regret it one bit."

Traditions

"I've never really been into Christmas before this year. I've never cared about decorating or hanging lights or anything like that. Now that my grandparents are gone and most of the traditional things I do every year at Christmas aren't happening, I'm kind of freaking out! The other day, Vince made a comment about how he's happy I'm so festive this year and asked me what changed, and I just started bawling saying, 'My grandparents are heeeeerrrreeeee.'"

So there you have it, a little review of the past year! Now I'm off to finish making some mini cheesecakes, some of which have ginger snap cookie crust and some have chocolate cookie crust, to prepare for a New Year's party we're going to tonight. They're going to be deeeee-lish!

Californ-i-a Part 2

To read about Part 1 of California, click HERE!

When Vince and I decided to go to downtown LA to get me some gluten free treats, I hated the idea of it. But after seeing all the massive buildings I was AMAZED. I've never seen anything like it! It really makes me want to go visit New York. I'd be speechless, for sure. I didn't take many pictures of the really cool building because I was driving, though!

Vince's mom Sharon and aunt Sandra live in Redlands, so that's where we headed after LA.

We got to Redlands in the evening, so we went to The Old Spaghetti Factory for dinner. They have gluten free pasta and I've never been there before, so I was excited to try it! I got the Alfredo sauce, and I must admit that it wasn't very good. I make a really good alfredo pasta, so compared to mine, it was dry and bland! Sandra got the marinara pasta and I thought it smelled absolutely delicious, so next time I'll have to try that.

After dinner we headed to Sharon and Sandra's house and went to bed. In the morning we went and ate some breakfast at a cute little restaurant that they eat at all the time. We asked one of the waitresses what fun things there are to do in this town, since Sharon and Sandra just moved there last year, and she said the funniest thing: go to the strip club! I kid you not, she said that was all there was to do! It was so funny, and it made me wonder what kind of people she thought we were...

But instead of going to a strip club, we decided to go drive around the neighborhood!

{Whhyyyyy does he always look crazy in pictures?!}

Redlands is truly a beautiful little area in California. It's not that far from the beach and it also has a little homey-town feel to it. The big highways aren't very far from it, but it's distant enough that you don't feel like you are living in a huge city. There are also flowers everywhere.

We drove up to a little 'park' type thing and it was SO GREEN. After driving through the dessert for 8 hours, it was so wonderful to see all the green!

When we were at the top of one f the big hills of Redlands, we got out of the car to see this rediculous house that was in the middle of a big valley.

Do you see the giraffe shaped tree??!!! And no, the house is not in this picture, it's just their tennis courts and garden area...! There were so many super extravagant houses.

We also came across the coolest tree house I have ever seen. If I had this as a kid, I'm pretty sure I would have never stepped foot in my 'real' house. I wanted to ask the owners if I could rent it out from them!

So after driving, we went and raced go-carts, played mini-golf, and competed in the arcade.

Sandra beat us all!!

For lunch/dinner we ate at my favorite place ever, PF Chang's. I must have been more hungry than I thought because I ate ALL the gluten free lettuce wraps and mongolian beef! I was surprised, but it was so so so delicious.

Then we went and hungout at home and became super lazy. The next morning we woke up and ate breakfast with Sandra, because Sharon had already gone to work, and then we headed home! It was a pretty quick drive, about 6 hours, which was nice. We even got home early enough to go pick up the dogs {since we still had Izzy at the time} and went and hiked around.

We also learned that you should put sunscreen all over your body, and not just on your tattoos. I don't know how, but I only managed to remember to put sunscreen on my tattoos!

And it looks like my non-sunburned skin is tanner than Vince's, but I assure you, that's false. 

He's half black, and I'm full pasty white.

Things that completely kind of suck. {And some things that rock.}

In case you didn't get an idea what this post is about from the title, it will be about things the completely kind of suck. {And things that rock.}

Things that suck:

{1} The fact that I REALLY really want a chocolate shake right now, but that would consist of me washing the dirty blender.

{2} Barstow, California. Need I say more? Probably not, but I will anyways: OH MY GOD. So we stopped there on our way to LA to fill up on gas. The first gas station I saw was, as to be expected, right off the highway and WAY expensive. Considering that I filled up in Flagstaff for $3.50 a gallon {give or take a few cents} I was hesitant to pay $4.69 a gallon. I decided to drive a little further into town to find a cheaper gas station. As we were driving, we realized that there weren't any gas stations, anywhere! We drove for like 5 minutes and couldn't find one. What we did see was a ton of scary people, scary cars, and a dirty dirty town. When we finally got to a gas station I went to the bathroom and I was terrified. If I could have, I would have preferred to pee on the side of the building. I didn't even wash my hands because the sink was bound to be dirtier than me. So I bought some dreaded hand sanitizer, which I really hate.  Needless to say, we sped by the Barstow exit on our way home.

{3} I had Indian food for dinner and I just want to keep eating it, but I'm too full. {How much of a first world problem is it that I'm complaining because I get full and can't keep eating? Sometimes I really disgust myself. }

{4} I want to surf the internet, watch TV, play video games, and read a book AT THE SAME TIME. Obviously, that is impossible and I'm pretty sure I'm just trying to overstimulate my mind. Again: first world problem.

{5} My vacation was  not long enough and I would like to go back to California. Can someone please make that happen? {Ok, maybe all my problems are first world problems...}

Things that rock:

{1} Izobel is in a really good home. She will be happy, Vince and I will be happy, and thing will turn out great.

{2} I have an awesome car. I definitely don't let myself forget that I was just driving a shit shit shit car a few months ago and that not everyone is fortunate enough as me to have a nice job and a new car. 

{3} I was able to take a vacation in such a beautiful place.

{4} The fact that I don't live in Barstow. Or downtown LA, which I will tell you about later.

{5} I am with the man of my dreams. Well, I actually never really dreamed about a specific guy as a kid, BUT, he's someone that I absolutely love and am so happy to be with. We've gone through so much stuff, some absolutely horrible, and some absolutely wonderful, and I would live through every second of it again if I had to and not change a thing. Even the gnarly bruise I gave him in my sleep when we were in CA. Oops!

So there you have it folks. Things that suck and rock. Do you have a list? Tell me about it!

Bye bye Iz.

After putting up the Craigslist ad for Izzy, a lady responded saying that her family would love to meet her! The ladies husband came by today to meet her and he fell in love. He has four daughters and thought this dog would fit in perfectly. After talking to him for about 15 minutes he seemed like a really nice guy so I agreed to let him take Izzy home. I already had all her papers ready and some dog food and treats ready for her in a bag. I was totally prepared and figured that once she was gone, she was gone and everything would be ok! 

But it's not. At all.

After putting Izzy in the guys car I went to my mailbox. By the time I closed my mailbox I was bawling. I went straight inside and took a shower and just sat in there crying for a half hour. And I'm not talking about simple tears-down-the-face crying, I'm talking sobbing, shoulders shaking crying. I haven't cried like this since I found out my grandma was probably going to die 2 years ago. 

{Luckily she didn't and is healthy agian!} {And yes, I just compared giving away my dog to my grandma dying. For those of you that know me, you know I LOVE my grandma, which shows how much I love Izobel. Obviously my grandma's death would hurt more though...}

After getting out of the shower it looked like I had been punched because my eyes are already swelling. I finally stopped crying though, but then Vince called and asked how everything went, and I said he took her and I just started crying again. Now I can't stop, which is why I'm writing this, so I can 'organize' my thoughts.

I am so sad to have to give her away. I was just starting to feel that she was completely part of our family and her personality was finally showing. Her and Roxi got along great and they had so much fun playing, and now I feel tremendously guilty. I mean, they were sisters! They did practically everything together and now they won't really see each other again.

When I was talking to the guy, I told him he could take her today and he asked if I was sure. I said that we were all good and that Vince had already cried about it. We were ready to send her to a new home. I truly didn't think I was going to cry, but I guess I was just a little delusional about it. 

I did tell him that if they ever needed a dog sitter that we would be more than happy too, and he was happy about that, so hopefully we'll see her again.

I'm supposed to go to a friends for dinner tonight, but now I really really don't want to. Vince seems to think that it will be good to get my mind off it, but I know if I go I'll just sit there and not want to talk or anything, so we'll see. 

This post seems really scattered so I'm going to stop writing now, but thank you all for listening and for some of you being sad with me. I know this is a good situation to be in by finding a really good home for her, but I'm still sad. 

I'll  post again soon about happier thoughts, like my California trip!

Sad Times.

Last week Vince and I had a 'real' conversation about what we want to do in life, at this moment. We came to the conclusion that the current place we are living is a huge waste of money and we don't want to live here anymore. 

About a week after moving here in December, I knew we shouldn't have. I immediately got stressed about the price of this place and couldn't get comfortable. I don't really feel comfortable with our landlord situation and I know that's because our last landlord was fantastic, but still. It's just not comfortable.

A couple weeks ago Vince and I were on a walk and I was telling him about my feelings and how I didn't feel that this house was 'home' and was trying to explain why. He completely didn't understand me and was actually getting annoyed with me! Our last conversation was good though, and I was able to explain myself better, and he agrees: paying the extra $450 a month is SO not worth it. I mean, that's an entire community college class including a book, saved in ONE month! Since I'm not going to be able to get financial aid this year since I 'make too much', that amount of money will go a loooong way.

We both LOVE the location and the backyard but that's about it. It's also a great size, but once I start school again, I have a feeling I won't be doing much sewing, meaning I can get rid of a LOT of stuff that is in our second room. I understand that I will have to get rid of a bunch of stuff in order to fit in any smaller place, but I'm OK with that! 

When we were living in our smaller house, I was always saying that we need more space and how much I hated our house. Now that I am on the other side of the fence, I realize that I truly don't. I am at a point in my life that I am happy getting rid of stuff and living more simply. I'm absolutely happy that we moved to our current house if only so that I could be confident in my decisions. I now know what I want and what I don't want, because I've had both opportunities. 

I also have realized that I like living in a small overly cluttered house. It's a kind of craziness that is good for me. Most people won't agree with me, but that's what I thrive in: chaos.

What this also means is that we have to get rid of Izobel. I know we just got her in December, but it will be near impossible to find a place that will allow 2 dogs. When Vince and I were casually looking for a new place over a few months last year, we found a single place that would allow a dog, and we had to pay a HUGE deposit, as well as added money to rent. She is also bug and has a huge tail, so if we're in anything smaller that our current place she would knock everything over. 

There's no way in hell we will get rid of Roxanne, but we're hoping to find a good home for Izzy. I posted an add on Craiglist, and we'll do an 'interview' if someone is interested, because we don't want to just give her to anyone. We have a couple of months before our lease ends, so we're not in a huge rush to find her a home. To all you Flagstaff people, if you know anyone who wants a sweet free potty trained dog, let me know!

This is definitely a sad thing, but it's something we need to do and I know that no matter what, she will be in a good home. We'll be picky about where she goes, and in the end everyone will be happy!

Another week is gone...

I have no motivation to blog because I feel sickly right now, but at the same time I feel the need to for my own sanity. So here are some random thoughts.

*I see my future mother-in-law and aunt-in-law (?) in a week! Vince and I are going to California to visit them and we're both super excited. I also get to meet Vince's dad and stepmom for the first time. Can you say nervous?! I'm sure they are going to be nice, but those nerves are still there.

*I have eaten gluten free french toast 5 of the past 7 days. It's just so delicious!

*I'm jealous of Sara, who recently bought a 1973 Winnebago Brave, and who plans on fixing it up and traveling around with her new(ish) husband! I can't wait for the day when I'm done with school and can just go spend some time traveling. Follow her adventures and learn more about her good deeds HERE!

*I recently discovered Snickers ice cream bars at Sam's Club. Can you believe that in one ice cream bar there is HALF the sugar of one regular Snickers bar?! Does that mean I get to eat 2 ice cream bars instead? 

*I love Johnson & Johnson Baby Bedtime Lotion. Smells delicious and is so calming!

*I'm kind of stressing out about school. I don't qualify for financial aid because I make too much money, but I am broke. It's not like I'm going shopping everyday or living an extremely lavish lifestyle, so it's hard for me to find ways to save money. I don't have any TO save! I really need to start applying for scholarships, but AHHHHH. I get drained just thinking about it. 

*My coin jar is 3/4 of the way full and I can't wait until it's full so I can do something with it!

*Pepsi. ♥

*MY DOG WON'T STOP FARTING.

*I need to paint my nails, the polish is coming off.

*After I'm done writing this I'm going to play Harry Potter on the PS3. I just checked it out from the library and am excited to play it!

*Vince likes to watch the supernatural shows on SyFy and The Travel Channel, you know, the ones where they try and talk to ghosts? I HATE these shows and always get freaked out, even though I KNOW it's over dramatized for TV. He always puts them on and instantly falls asleep, and then gets annoyed when he wakes up later and notices I changed the channel. I always explain to him that he fell asleep and he ALWAYS says, "No way, I've been watching this whole time!" And then I die laughing because I had changed the channel at least 30 minutes previously.

Well, I hope that was the most interesting thing you have read all week. I'm counting on the fact that it probably was NOT. Anyways, have a good evening lovelies.

Oh, and say hello to my niece!

{I took this a while ago when I was babysitting Alyla and getting ready to meet a friend for tea. 
She LOVED being in the carrier. ♥}

Salutary Sunday/Tattoo

It seems like I say this every week, but this week FLEW by. When I'm at work, it seems like the days are DRAGGING on, but once I get through the weekend, it seems like it went to quickly. 

As you know, this week I opened my Etsy shop, and I'm proud of it!  I'm really excited to have it grow over the next few weeks and hope to add enough items so I have at least 30 items for sale. 

What I was most excited about this week, though, was my TATTOO!! I finally got the outline started from Tanin at Birch Ave Tattoo and now I can't wait to get it completely finished. 

Getting my arm tattooed is way easier than my chest or belly. I still can't say that my chest hurt, because I've felt worse pain than that, but it was definitely uncomfortable. My arm, however, was pretty easy and there were only 2 or 3 parts that were even remotely uncomfortable. It was awesome. It was only the outline, so we'll see how the next few sessions treat me.

When I went in to get the tattoo, the part I was most excited about was the girl, Effie. Now that it's on me, I think my favorite part is actually the little guy on my shoulder! 

{Sorry it's a little dry, it's still healing!}

I just love his face and the way it sticks out of the mask. I'm amazed at how well Tanin captured both of their faces, and how exact it is. As I said, I am SO excited to see how this turns out!

*****

So, moving on to the Salutary Sunday part, because while my tattoo was created, it wasn't created by me! 

Some things I made this week was good food. 

Yesterday I got to spend the whole day alone with Vince and it was so wonderful. I've been having a rough time with my sister this past week, and having Vince to support me has been so helpful. It makes me realize that he is absolutely my rock, and that I wouldn't change anything about my life with him. 

The first thing we did was ate some yummy gluten free waffles I made {recipe found HERE}. 

I bought some maple syrup over a year ago and it was sugar free; it was the worst thing I have ever tasted so I threw it out and I've forgotten to buy syrup since then! What I did to make my own syrup was just use some apple jam {that I had canned last year when apples were on sale}, added a little water to it and threw it in the microwave for about 20 seconds to warm it up. It was delicious. 

{Isn't the color gorgeous?!}

Vince also added some peanut butter to his waffles and made some bacon {and then tried to avoid me getting a picture of him}. 

After eating we were supposed to CUT THAT HAIR, but played disc golf instead. Vince's beard and hair is SO long and now that winter is hopefully gone, all of it is going. I'm stoked.

Anyways, as I said we went and played disc and it was perfect outside. I wore a long sleeve shirt because I couldn't put sunscreen on my tattoo yet and I got a little warm, but luckily there was a slight breeze. The dogs had a blast and just got to run around and get muddy and tired. As soon as we got back to the car Izobel passed out but Roxanne was ready to run 10 more miles! Izzy's definitely lazy like me. Hehe.

After disc we dropped the girls off so they could eat and sleep, went to an outdoor store and got things for the yard like a new hose, and went to the post office to drop off some stuff I sold. After that we came home and I cleaned out both of the cars. The new one was so dusty from all the dirt roads we go on and Sedona trips! We I also cleaned the house up so that I had nothing to do today and could just relax.

After eating dinner we watched the movie How Do You Know. It was HORRIBLE. Like one of the worst movie I've watched recently. The acting was disastrous and there was absolutely no plot. I clearly don't recommend it!

What have you guys done this week? Anything fun?!

Creek Day

Today we went to the creek, about an hour from our house. On the drive there, I was worried one of the dogs would throw up because we took the switch backs. I get nauseous, so I expected the dogs to. We were about 5 minutes from our destination and I said, "Yay, good girl Izobel, I'm so happy you didn't throw up in the new car!" And not even 30 seconds later, I look back at her throwing up neon yellow puke. AWESOME.

Once we got out of the car and cleaned up the throw up, it was wonderful! It was 75 degrees down there, perfect for hiking around in. The water was FREEZING because it's all snow runoff, but the dogs had fun swimming in it. 

Izzy stayed on 'shore' most of the time because it was her FIRST TIME swimming. She was still a little nervous to swim more than one foot from the edge, it was so cute.

Roxanne was having a blast chasing the ducks though. We were getting a little nervous because the ducks would fly down stream, and it turns into a tiny waterfall and the water flows VERY fast. I don't know if she would be able to swim well enough to keep herself above water. The last time she chased after the ducks I thought one of us was going to have to jump in after her, she was getting so tired and started to panic because she couldn't get to shore. She made it, luckily.

Though he may look like such a tool in this picture, he's really not. Those sunglasses are awesome to wear and keep out the sun, but he looks like such an ass in them!

Vince doesn't really like the color of Roxi's new collar, but I LOVE it!

Vince kept playing with his hair and making them be sideburns. I kept laughing at him and he didn't want me to take a picture of them, but I did anyway. They're his 'wings'! haha

And this is his hair without the hat. does anyone else agree he needs a trim! {Or shave!}

Dead leaves.

Oh, ya know that new clean car we just bought? It's not clean anymore.

Woot.

Today is a good day. To celebrate, I've made a list.

{1} I talked to my new artist Tanin at Birch Ave Tattoo about getting my new tattoo. What tattoo? Why, parts a Joe Sorren mural, that's what! Specifically this little lady and guy:

{2} I found out I can eat Captian Crunch. Can you guess what I'll be eating for breakfast, lunch and dinner for the next week?

{3} It's my Friday! I get a three day weekend bitches.

{4} Vince and I are going to eat a lot of food this weekend. Details to come.

{5} I created a Facebook page for this here blog and my soon to be shop. Like me? Please? PLEASE?

{6} It's sunny. Sunny sunny sunny and WARM. It's going to be a beautiful long weekend.

{7} DID I MENTION I'M GETTING A TATTOO???!!! Ya, I am. An entire half sleeve. I feel like I'm going to throw up I'm so excited.

{8} I have time tonight to write up a post about the day trip Veronica and I took to Jerome last Saturday. It was so fun, so I'm excited to write about it and show you the pictures!

{9} I got Roxanne's new collar in the mail today from this wonderful Etsy shop called AllDogsAllowed. I bought Roxanne's first collar from them and I LOVED it, we got so many compliments on it. Izzy is an idiot though and ate it. Yes, ATE IT. I'm going to order one for Izzy later this week as well, maybe this one. They are so durable and awesome, I completely recommend that shop. Fast shipping, too!

{10} I feel like there is something else I'm excited about, but I can't think of it. 

Finally.

{The killer cup my brother Connor got me for Christmas with a PB shake I'm about to devous!}

Agagagga. The commercial for the movie 'Rio' just came on the TV and it starts out with the sound of an alarm clock. I immediately cringed and closed my eyes and my head started to hurt. I HATE the sound of an alarm clock. 1} because I love sleeping and 2} because it's such an awful sound.

I also cringe/convulse and get an immediate mini-headache at others weird things, such as coughing. What the hell? I know, it's so weird. When Vince was sick over Christmas I actually cried because he kept coughing and it physically hurt my body to be so tense all the time. It's not like a little, 'Oh my god, your cough is so annoying," it's like a "Oh my GOD, my body hurts every time you cough. STOP. PLEASE." A couple of nights I even had to sleep on the couch because I would just lay there and cry.

Fortunately, tonight, I get the bed to myself because Vince is out of town! {But to all you creepy stalkers, be aware that I have 2 vicious dogs that will bite you. Just warnin' ya.} 

He left for a bike race and I'm excited to have a few days to myself. It isn't a 'vacation' because I have the dogs, which are pretty tiring to take care of, but at least I get the bed, TV and house to myself.

I also get a huge juicy steak to myself! Ever since I started working out I have been craving steak like crazy. Every few months I crave steak, and I usually listen to my body, so I bought a huge steak to eat tonight with potatoes and it was delicious. Vince was sad that he was going to miss out on it! 

Speaking of working out, this is what happens when I pull out my yoga mat:

And this is what happens when I sit down to write:

{The computer is on my lap.}

The dogs just love being all up in my grill.

Anyways, have a happy and safe Friday!

Oh and look at my new t-shirt from the Basement Market Place that FITS MY TORSO. I'm so excited that it's long enough to fit me!