Friday, December 31, 2010

2011 is almost here!

Happy New years eve everyone! Let's ring in the new year with a bang! I am not looking forward to the gym being packed, but cannot wait to start a new, exciting year filled with adventures. This year, don't make resolutions you aren't going to keep. Set some fun goals for your year. Some of mine: travel somewhere new, celebrate 1 year of marriage, keep working out so I can eat yummy food(lol), try new restaurants, get pregnant (smile), settle into my new job, continue to build our nest egg (money represents stability to us) and live life to the fullest!!!

Whoop Whoop, can't wait to ring in the new year kissing my honey. 2011- I can't wait to see what you have in store, hopefully it is good!

CHEERS EVERYONE!

Thursday, December 30, 2010

Envy...ever felt it?

Envy (also called invidiousness) is best defined as an emotion that "occurs when a person lacks another's (perceived) superior quality, achievement, or possession and either desires it or wishes that the other lacked it."[1]

Envy can also derive from a sense of low self-esteem that results from an upward social comparison threatening a person's self image: another person has something that the envier considers to be important to have. If the other person is perceived to be similar to the envier, the aroused envy will be particularly intense, because it signals to the envier that it just as well could have been he or she who had the desired object.[2][3]

Bertrand Russell said envy was one of the most potent causes of unhappiness.[4] It is a universal and most unfortunate aspect of human nature because not only is the envious person rendered unhappy by his envy, but also wishes to inflict misfortune on others. Although envy is generally seen as something negative, Russell also believed that envy was a driving force behind the movement towards democracy and must be endured to achieve a more just social system.[5]

So today I was thinking about a time in highschool where this girl who liked my boyfriend became very envious of me. I didn't know why, I was a normal girl in a normal highschool relationship. She started asking me where I got things like my purse or my outfits and started trying to work where I worked and just became almost like obsessed. It was weird, but I understand when people are very unhappy with their lives and they want what someone else has, their envy for that can become oddly obsessive. We all envy others, of course, but there is definitely degrees of envy. Maybe you are single and you envy your friend's marriage. That is the type of envy that isn't bad, it just shows your goals- one day you want to be happily married. Or maybe you have an uber successful friend and you envy her career and hope one day to be that successful. Those are things that are natural. When it becomes weird is when you follow someone around or track them down, you try to become just like them. You change your whole life to model theirs thinking it will make you happier. This type of envy creates lies and unhappiness and just isn't healthy.

I am super happy. I am very happily married to a kind, successful man, super successful in my career, have an amazing group of family and friends, a beautiful home and a lot to be thankful for. Do I have it all? Of course not, no one does and life is definitely not always easy.  Do I wish I was a sz 2 supermodel- sure of course, that would be awesome. Do I wish we were rich? sure, again would be awesome. Do I wish it was super easy for us to have a baby? Sure do! Would I trade my life? Of course not, I love my family, I don't want anyone else's life but my own. The point is, be happy with what you have and who you are. Make your goals your own. I believe you have to have a plan. Map out your life goals, know what you need to do to get there and be yourself, don't try to be someone else.

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

My Christmas




[caption id="attachment_529" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Otis opening his stocking"]




 












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[caption id="attachment_527" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Allan opening his hoodies from Dad and Jennifer"]





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A New Year is about to begin- Another chance to get it right!

We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year’s Day.

- Edith Lovejoy Pierce

This New Year, make a commitment to a project, a life goal, reforming a bad habit, or a lifestyle change that will generally interpreted as advantageous.

Tradition dictates that every 365 days, you should try to kick bad habits and start your life anew. So sit down with a cup of coffee, a paper and a pen, and reflect: What kinds of New Years Resolutions will you make for yourself this January 1st?

Saturday, December 25, 2010

Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells...

Jingle all the way, oh what fun it is to ride in a one horse open sleigh, hey!

Oh what a wonderful day! EVeryone be safe and SMILE!!!

[caption id="attachment_515" align="aligncenter" width="200" caption="Looking back at a wonderful 2010, God is good!"][/caption]

Friday, December 24, 2010

Ho Ho Ho! Merry Christmas eve to all!

Wishing you all a safe and happy holiday filled with love and happiness!!!

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Opening up

As a child, I always loved to write, I even used to want to go into journalism and do it as a career. I realized my passion for numbers and business and writing became something I missed. I have always been better at writing feelings than talking about them and that is the main reason that about 6 months ago I started this blog. I was just married and my life was changing and I wanted to document it. Then, I had some weird followers and began to worry about what I was blogging about. I came to a point where I said screw them, if they are that crazy, whatever, I will just ignore them. So now, I am just really starting to try to get back into my blogging and document my life, my feelings and my random thoughts. You can love it, hate it, or somewhere in between...because as words I like to live by, "to each is own."

I got this idea from another blogger and I love it. Pick 1 word to describe your year in 2010 and the 1 word you would like to describe your life in 2011.

My life in 2010 was Scarey, but also Amazing! I began the year marrying my husband, this was amazing, but also very frightening. My parents were married for 23 years and then divorced, it was one of the hardest things I delt with in my life, and I did not want this to happen to me. Taking the leap of faith and promising forever to someone when you know in reality that promise is broken about half the time is scarey as hell, but worth it. We love eachother and in my heart I know we will be forever. Then, I changed jobs, change is always scarey. I was leaving my job of over 3 years, somewhere I was very comfortable and moving up very fast, somewhere I had built a solid reputation and proven myself to go somewhere brand new & completely different. I was going to a much, much larger company with better benefits, a fantastic commute and a place that was a huge resume booster, but my title was going from Regional Finance Manager to Senior Financial Analyst, I was taking a small pay cut and my bonus was going from about 15% a year to 2% a year....what the hell was I thinking right? Well, wrong, I feel like at my age, in my career the resume booster and the change is what I needed, I needed to mix it up and widen my experience, because ultimately I want to be on top so as scarey as making this decision was, I did it. Right after changing jobs Allan and I found out that having a baby isn't so easy, but we are ready for the challenge. We will begin 2011 with open minds and open hearts and our hopes of starting a family this year, if it doesn't happen, it's ok, when God is ready it will and until then we have a very strong marriage we will build upon. Chances are very high and on our side that we will have a baby, but to go through this has always been my biggest fear, so overall my 2010 has definitely been scarey!

In 2011, I am hoping my year will be successful! 2011 is a year that I feel like will be a trying year and more than anything I want to come out victorious. Now, what does that mean? To me it means Allan and I sticking together through our fight to have a baby and getting great news from the doctor. For God to get us through the pain and stress of treatments and to let our marriage prevail and grow stronger. For Allan to find happiness in his career and for me to find it in mine too. To happily celebrate 1 year of marriage and to move towards a 2nd year and build our stability. We have a lot of goals and are still figuring out marriage, I am one who doesn't believe your first year of marriage should be your best, I think each year after in a successful marriage should get better and better. So as someone who always craves stability, I am hoping 2011 will continue to be a year of change, but that at the end of all the changes we can say it was a successful 2011 and maybe I can go into 2012 with my hope to build stability!

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

2 years since I said goodbye to my Colon

This month marks the 2 year point when I said goodbye to my colon. It is unusual and no I don't have a bag, but it is something that every December I will always remember. I have had my fair share of health problems, mainly all focused around my stomach. It was awful, first my appendix, then my gullbladder, then pancreatitis, then after years of severe constipation (gross, I know), finally I was left with the option to contiue to hope the FDA will come out with new drugs and 1 will finally help or get my colon out, because after MANY tests it was determined my colon did not work. I could literally gain 12 pounds within a week from being backed up, it was not fun. Plus, I am anemic so you can imagine how tired I felt.

It was an extremely tough decision, it is a new surgery and there is only about 10 years of history on it, plus they compare it to open heart surgery where you just really don't know how your body will react, but I finally decided to go through with it. At this point Allan and I were dating pretty seriously for a few months and I was like oh my god, how is he going to react, am I going to need a bag? Am I going to be getting sick and running to the restroom, what is going to happen to us?? It was a lot to think about, but he was the most supportive boyfriend ever. He encouraged me and gave me strength to go through with the surgery and when I did, he did not leave my side. He was at the hospital waiting for me during surgery and then he was there every day after. He was there when I threw up and pooped all over myself (YES, it is gross, but real), he was there when I was all drugged up, he was there afterwards when I had draining blood clots. He has not left my side since. I had a wonderful outcome and I am finally feeling normal again, but still he is here and I am so thankful for God's timing, because not only did this surgery leave me stronger, but left our relationship stronger as well. My stomach makes crazy noises sometimes and I have to watch my alcohol intake, my immune system is much weaker and I catch the stomach flu a lot, but other than that 2 years in I can say I am happy I decided to do this. I had 1 of the best surgeons in the world and for his skills and the science that allowed him to do this procedure I am also thankful.

Favorite things about the holidays!

O my geez, Christmas is less than a week away now and while I am super excited, I am also sad it is almost over. This is our first Christmas as a married couple. It is our 3rd together, so we have already started building some traditions, but it is super exciting that we are Mr. & Mrs. now and next year there may be 5 (or more) of us in our little family for Christmas!...maybe, lol (that is including Otis & Oreo). So, I love so many things about the holidays that I wanted to share:

1) The holiday spirit - yes it is in the air, not everyone has it, but I do. It is such a wonderful time to focus on your family and the less fortunate, to give, to be happy and cheerful!

2) The lights- I LOVE driving around and seeing all of the Christmas lights. I must say my husband did an AMAZING job on our house, it looks like a little gingerbread house and I love pulling up to it every night.

3) The tree- it is such a perfect addition to any household. We do real ones, but the fake ones are just as great. Every year we buy a meaningful ornament and we try to get them sometimes when we travel too, so it is always nice to pull them out and think about all the wonderful times. My first ornament from my husband was a ball with a girl in a wheel chair handpainted on it. Our first Christmas together wasn't in the hospital, but a lot of December was and the rest was spent recovering from surgery and during this time is when I knew he was the one! This ornament is the most special.

4)Family time- Thanksgiving dinner with the family, christmas tree shopping, christmas shopping, taking the dogs to Santa, family photos, Christmas movies, Christmas parties, Christmas Eve Church, Christmas morning, New Years...ah, there are just so many wonderful moments to share with your loved ones.

5)Presents- yes, admit it, we all love them! My greatest is all the love from my family, most of all my husband.

6) The time off work- The days off & slows days are a nice break!

I don't like: scruges, all the people coughing and sneezing, the cleaning up of the lights and trees, the break in my tv schedule and the shopping traffic, but the rest is all worth it. Now, if only we could all have the holiday spirit all year round. This year, whatever is going on, remember things could always be worse, focus on the positive and be cheerful. Love those who matter and make sure you tell them. This time of year is so much more than just presents and christmas carols, it is a truely magical time!

Monday, December 20, 2010

Rise Up!

So, I am not a huge mega football fan, but I enjoy it and I understand what's going on. Every Sunday the hubby and I go watch the games during lunch, and I am pretty good at making my bets each week. I personally am a Falcons fan, again, not a huge mega fan, don't know all the players names or anything, but it has always been the team that I support. My husband is a Falcons and Miami dolphin fan. We enjoying picking our weekly games and it is kind of a little competition between us.

So by this time, you pretty much know which teams are good and not so good and our home team, the Atlanta Falcons is AWESOME this year. 12-2!! Now, I have been saying it since game 3, but I really do think it is our year to go to and win the Superbowl! I still haven't made my guess for who we will be playing against, but I am betting we will be there.

I think if your husband is into sports, this is a great little fun way to share his interest. We start with $100 in Sportsbook and each week we get $5 or $10 to bet and then you see who does better. So far, I am definitely kicking the husband's butt, but that is usually the case. He likes to pick the over/unders or the spreads, I usually go for a 3 or 4 team parlay.

Anyways, who do you think will win the SuperBowl this year??

Friday, December 17, 2010

TV is crappy this week

So I don't know about anyone else, but I love watching TV, lol. There has been many great new series this year plus all the usual ones I love. I have been really enjoying Hawaii 5-0, The Event, and Life unexpected . Then, of course there is the usual fall fav's like 90210, Gossip Girl, One Tree Hill, and all my reality TV garbage (haha). These past couple of weeks have been mostly reruns and I hate it. I always hate those off times in between seasons and during holidays :( I miss my shows! We are thinking of signing back up for Netflix, because we missed  season of smallville and I want to see the show Dexter as well. I am so glad the husband shares my TV watching passion, although some of our taste in shows is different, there are many we enjoy together, like Keeping up with the Kardashians, haha. Anyways, just wanted to share how frustrating it is to have no good shows on.

Tonight- headed to dinner and movie place where you do it all at once, then desert at the delicious Cafe Intermezzo...YUM!!!

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Card

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Hard to focus

Man, I am sitting here at work and just cannot focus. I have been feeling this way for a while now. With the holidays and everything else going on I just have so much on my mind. I am loving this holiday time and I just want to be cozied up in bed with my husband, eating yummy holiday treats and watching movies and TV, lol. I am looking forward to all of our festivities and cannot wait to start 2011!

Monday, December 13, 2010

Christmas Shopping

So, I am pretty much done with all of my christmas shopping with the exception of 1 or 2 small items that I will pick up here and there to add to gifts and I even got everything wrapped and under the tree this weekend. I just love the holidays and I can't believe Christmas is less than 2 weeks away! It is sad that it goes by so fast. This year Allan and I had budgets for eachother, because lately we have had some very large expenses including medical bills from ourselves and Otis's $6k leg surgeries. I am excited about the items I was able to purchase for him with a smaller than usual budget and hoping he likes them. So here are a couple of my christmas shopping tips:

1. Listen- throughout the year or even just the few months leading up to Christmas, listen to your loved ones, you never know when they will mention something they have been needing or wanting

2. Make lists- making a list of the people you have to buy for, what you are getting them and checking them off when complete is so helpful

3. Have fun with it- you don't always have to get people something extremely meaningful or useful, go for the fun gift from Brookstone or the cute sweater - just make sure to include a gift receipt, nothing worse than being sstuck with a sweater that doesn't fit

4. Look at magazines for fun ideas- I subscribe to a few different ones and I always love looking at their holiday gift giving ideas.

5. Send personalized cards- Sure most people trash them, but it is so much fun going to take a family holiday pic and sending it to all your friends (we are hoping there will be an addition to our 2011 holiday card :)

6. Look at the items in the check out lane- While waiting in line, check the small gifts toward the registers, sometimes there are little fun items you can add to your gifts

7. Stick to your budget- Yes, Christmas is all about giving, but don't go overboard, stay within your budget and stick to the task, it may be hard to pass up all those cute items you see that would look great on you, but unless you went out with intentions to shop for yourself, try not to

8. Take advantage of free shipping- why pay an additional $10 to have your stuff shipped, monitor the store for a week or so and try to take advantage of a free shipping deal

9.  use coupons- I have used GAP cash, NY&CO cash, Kohls Cash and so many other great coupons this holiday season.

10. GIVE- buy at least 1 toy for a good cause or volunteer your time. This season is all about giving and while it is fun to shop for your loved ones, remember there are others in need and if you can help, do so!

Happy Holiday Shopping Everyone!!!

Friday, December 3, 2010

Lately

So Otis is now at the doctors having surgery on his other leg. Poor baby boy, I love him so much and cannot wait to see him in the morning. Please say a little prayer for him. I have totally been slacking on writing since I have been back. I have tons of personal things to write about again, just waiting on the right time.

I am excited about this weekend. My dad's birthday was Thursday and we are having dinner tomorrow. We were going to get him a gift card to go sky diving, but we chickened out...him and Allan have talked about going together, but we weren't sure if it is something he would be scared about from now till May or excited about, so we decided to get him some sports gear that we know he will like and ask him about the whole sky diving thing. Allan loves that kind of stuff, me- you couldn't pay a million bucks to jump out of a plane. No way Jose!

Sunday we are going to the christmas concert at church and I just LOOOVE it! Cannot wait. Then, we have our neighbor's 1 year old's birthday party :)

I cannot believe there is only 23 days until Christmas. I love Christmas so much, I love this whole time of the year. All the lights, the holiday spirit, it just truely makes you feel so thankful for all of the wonderful blessings in your life.

It's the most wonderful time of the year!!!