Blueberry and Ducks........sums up my day with a 3 year old!!!

It was a very nice day out today. A perfect day for the park!! And more importantly, to see the ducks and geese!! And feed them bread!! It was a lot of fun. Kyli sure was fearless around those big geese, they are not shy and come right up to you!! Of course, her and I loved the little ducks the best. They are so darn cute. We especially liked one little white duck...we named it Snow White..lol. Too bad the bread ran out or Im sure we could of stayed there for a very long time, a lot longer than thirty minutes thats for sure!!

I bought this blue betta last night and kept it in the little cup they come in. I knew it would be something that Kyli would enjoy "moving into his permanent bowl" type activity today....She LOVED him...and helped me name him Blueberry...so cute and very appropriate!! She sure has a knack for promptly naming things...and perfect names at that!! Here are pictures of her enjoying the fish. She even talked to him and sang to him. It was so cute!! Here are some pics...

New Year. New You.

Time flies...........when you get to do whatever the f you want.

It sure does. That really sucks!!! I have to go back to work on Monday. BOO!!! That was fast!! How is it that 2 weeks of work goes so slow, but 2 weeks off goes incredibly fast?! ugh!!
Oh well. I am glad I have new clothes for work, that actually fit me!! Thank goodness for Christmas presents. :) I am so relishing my time off. I love time off from work, etc. In fact I love it so much, I am already planning my next vacation time. It will be the two days before the valentines weekend. I am booking a mini vacay at a bed and breakfast or a resort somewhere fairly close to home. That's exciting! It's fun to have a bit of play money (again thank goodness for Christmas presents aka cash). So I heard a commercial on the radio today, and it was for a bridal and prom expo. And I was soooo happy that is all behind me. Like freaking ecstatic. I am glad that my sisters still have several years before the whole wedding thing will pop up again, well the weddings that I will be fully involved with all the planning that is.
This is a random post. I had a very good day. I got a steal on boots, I thought they were 30 bucks which is still a hell of a deal on the Ugg knock offs. But at the register they ended up being 15 bucks. 50% off select winter items. HELL YA. That and I got some cute clothes (in smaller sizes) :) Other than the dread of Monday, today has been a fun and happy day. Yay.

Pondering 2008. Positive outlook on 2009.

So it is 2:15 AM on the first day of the new year. I am up from being in bed since 10:40. Lame, I slept through the Ball dropping, etc. But I was tired and since Jeff had been sick all of the 31st, I went to bed with him. I briefly woke up from hearing fireworks at midnight but thats about it. I am up now and not sure why. I watched a rerun of the times square chaos from the ball dropping. And now I am up and cannot get back to sleep. I am pondering this past year. It was probably the craziest year of my life....thus far anyways. Here is a quick run down of my life in oh eight.

JANUARY: the first month of my new lifestyle, weight loss plan (lost 6 lbs) & also the first month of my new job at HBC. I also started selling random stuff on Ebay and thus began making quite a bit of extra cash. I started seriously buckling down on wedding plans.

FEBRUARY: this month I went to KC a lot to visit my very sick uncle. I was very close to him. It was a very bittersweet time. This month I also turned another year older, and rejoined the Y. (lost 4 lbs)

MARCH: this month I lost a very significant person in my life- to freaking cancer. He was more of a father emotionally to me than my 'real' dad. This was a very sad sad time. I also lost 5 lbs in this month.

APRIL: this month the wedding planning crunch really hit. I had been preoccupied with bigger life issues from my uncle the past 3 months. In April I had my first bridal shower, it was amazing. My side of the family kicks ass. I also attended a good friends wedding. This month I lost 4 lbs.

MAY: this month the wedding planning became just plain nuts- I cursed myself for putting this off earlier in the year. I also had another bridal shower. My baby sister graduated High School. This was a very proud moment for her, and also me as I felt like a proud parent crying when she walked across the stage.(I have always been a mentor to her, more so than your average big sis). We also had some sad news this month as well, one of Jeff's aunts was diagnosed with cancer. I. hate. cancer. Also- this month I lost 3 lbs.

JUNE: This month I got married and went to Ireland. :) Enough said. Oh, and I didnt lose weight this month....or gain any. Which is amazing since we ate and drank horribly in Ireland. But hey, I cannot complain!! At least I didnt gain anything.

JULY: This month was an adjustment for sure. After we got back from the honeymoon, I had to get back into the swing of things with real life. We had the fourth of July and that was fun. But the rest of July was just....sorta....blue. I was depressed and had a major case of the back from vacation blues. This month I lost 2 pounds.

AUGUST: This was an exhausting month. I helped a friend by doing her wedding programs for her ceremony. That was more time consuming then I had imagined. But worth it. This month, work was hell. The union went on strike so for about 3 weeks....going to work was hell. HELL. There was one good thing about the strike though, I got to fly onto the property in a plane. :) One of the many perks of working with pilots! My baby sister moved away to go to college. 6 hours away in another state. That was so emotional moving her up there and leaving her there. The drive home was brutal. I left part of my heart and soul up there. I lost 4 pounds this month.

SEPTEMBER: Things slowed down a lot this month. Thank goodness. We started bowling on Monday nights with another couple. They are newlyweds as well, and so that is our team name. We had our first house guests this month. My cousin, her husband and three young children. For only like one night and morning. It was intense. Those kids are just nutty!! It really made me strongly think about how I felt about having my own kids. I also sold a ton of stuff on Ebay- phones, bridesmaid dresses, lotions, books, random stuff. I think to date I have sold over 1k worth of shit I had laying around. NICE!! I am on a roll. I have started selling for other people too..lol. Also this month I lost 2 pounds.

OCTOBER: This month was a fun month. I just LOVE october. It is quite possibly my favorite month because of the fall weather. We celebrated my Grandpa's 86th bday, that was fun and I made a ton of cupcakes. I also celebrated being with Jeff for 5 years. Time flies. This month I gained 3 pounds. Not sure why, didnt do anything differently as far as eating habits. My doc thinks it may be becuase I did more weights and less cardio this month so I gained more muscle which weighs more.

NOVEMBER: This month was pretty busy. I got to see my aunt who was in from Cali, and I hadnt seen her for over a year. She is so silly and fun. I just wished I had more time with her. I also had a friend of mine get married. That was fun, to actually be a guest at a wedding for once...not involved in any way like all the weddings I have had the past few years. This was also Thanksgiving time. And I went to Dallas. That was interesting. At the end of the month I started and finished the Twilight book. This month I lost 3 pounds.

DECEMBER: This month was bittersweet. It was fun because I read 3 awesome books in 2 weeks. I also didnt have too much stress for the holidays since I didnt have much shopping to do. So it was nice to get to avoid the crowds and craziness of this time of year. I did have a scary driving on ice experience. Yuck. I hate winter. I also had a friend from highschool die suddenly and it was very sad and tragic. And right before the Holidays. I got almost 2 weeks paid Holiday vac. YAY. Our Holidays were good, busy, but nice enough. I am glad the holidays are over!! I get to actually enjoy part of my break from work, I can do what I want, when I want or nothing at all if I so chose!! So different!! I love it. It will make it that much harder to go back to work on the 5th though...Oh well!! I have gotten so much done so it has been nice. Time sure flies when you arent at work though. And stops when you are. Boo!! Oh and I lost 4 pounds this month.

Why did I get married?

Why?

Starting the resolutions early.

So apparantly I cannot or should not blog about whatever I want. It is too negative or just venting. And I feel I need to put disclaimers constantly. Becuase even though I created this just to vent, hence the name of the blog, it seems to irritate people. People are too sensitive but so am I. But my point of this is to say that I am going to try to be more positive. And when I am not feeling so positive I will put on a mask and not be myself completely. Hmm sounds like real life when I hide what is really bothering me 98% of the time. So much for the purpose of this blog...lol.

My Christmas post started out poorly. I meant to spin it back in the right direction which I started to, but then just stopped. I had a great Christmas eve with my mom's side. I also had a great Christmas with my family and then Jeff's immediate family. We have his big extended family Christmas later today. We were very surprised and feel so blessed from the presents we received this year. And more specifically from his parents. They sure surprised us. Which is saying a lot since in his family, there are never any surprises and everyone knows pretty much everything about you or whats going on. But, we got a great gift, even more than we could of imagined. Two words: Savings Bonds. Everything else we got was amazing as well. We had great times with our family members the past 3 days, it is such a fun, loving and uplifting atmosphere- Christmas. I am very happy and also looking forward to the New Year for several reasons. I am going to continue to lose weight, be positive and just live a happy life. This past year was filled with ups and downs. I only hope to outdo 2008. I lost 34.5 pounds in one year. I will beat that number in 2009.
So, I as I regret being negative on my blog a lot - I will not apologize becuase that was sorta the point. But I will be more positive for everyone elses' sake and more importantly for my own.

It's the most wonderful time of the year....or is it?

That's what they say in a song. But I think it is a load. I hate the weather this time of year. So that is not wonderful by any means. I hate the crowds everywhere this time of year.....so that would be anti wonderful in my book.
I will tell you what I find wonderful this time of year. I get 2 weeks PAID Holiday Vacation from work. Hell Yes. I am so extra glad because I havent had a break from work since June. I also am happy with the fact that I helped my husbands aunt do about 98% of her Christmas shopping. She has been sick with cancer since May, and doing much better now, but still not herself. She has two teenage daughters and a huge extended family full of kids - so needless to say that Christmas is still very much a big deal to her. I was so glad to help. I got to shop for presents....with someone else's money. How cool is that. It especially was fun since this year Jeff and I are not really doing a huge Christmas when it comes to gifts for others. This is due to two main reasons.
The first being, we are trying to save our money as best we can for a house soon. Plus we have some bigger expenses in 2009 to look forward to and prepare for. So, instead of going over board like I do every year on gifts - I am practicing self control and not going over board. It is especially hard when it comes to my sisters. I usually spend 100 plus on both of them. I LOVE being an older sister and i LOVE to spoil my sisters. This year, we decided to draw names in my immediate family. Normally, we all get one another a present or two each. There are 7 people in my family. That sure adds up fast. So only buying for one is a HUGE cutback. But everyone liked the idea since it saves everyone money. Now my dad still gives us all money, but the rest of us just drew names. So now I have one name to shop for instead of 2(one from jeff and one from me) presents x 5 people. That roughly is about a 400+ savings right there. I drew my mother...easiest person to shop for. I got her some hippie fun shit from 3rd planet and then a 12 pack of beer. Trust me, its the best gift and she will LOVE it (esp. the beer). Now, this year Jeff and I opted out of our big extended family Christmases. That equals 4 presents @ approx 50$ a piece and then we save 200 bucks right there. And we also cut down on the random gifts we get for our closest friends or cousins. This brings me into the second part of why we scaled down this year. Since I could remember, I always spend a lot of time, money and thought into gifts for others. I am not a "gift card" giving person, unless it is for a couple with young kid or kids and they need a date....OR if its a way to get them out and we agree to go out as a group. But anyways, last year is the most recent to think of, we end up spending a lot of time, money and thought into gifts and usually receive a crap gift or nothing at all in return. This really irritates me. I mean, how crappy is it to receive a random gift from someone that was off the clearance rack when you spent time and thought and got them gifts that actually catered to that person. Not just a random purchase. I know I know "its the thought that counts" but that doesnt apply to every gift giving or receiving experience. And on that note, that doesnt have to be a way to put a positive spin on shit, because what if the thought was mindless, cheap, and inconsiderate....yep that counts...counts against them. But last night we had Christmas Eve with my family and it was a great time. Probably one of the best in awhile. One, becuase I had a whole bottle of champagne at my side and drank the majority of it and was tipsy. Two, becuase I opted out of the gift exchange, but still exchanged with my two closest cousins. It was very nice. Plus my aunt and uncle were extremely generous with their gift to us and so was my Grandfather (as usual he is the sweetest person I know). I think I had so much fun because I avoided my own disappointment and the hurt feelings PLUS the champagne was very nice. That is something I am very much looking forward to at our next family gathering on Saturday. I guess its something like "fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me" and I will not be fooled twice....at least this year. I thought cutting back and not buying a lot of gifts for others would be hard. It was hard at first, but not as bad as I expected. But for the most part it was nice. Less stress and happier. Now I will take that any day. I better get going, it is time for Christmas Mass with mi familia and then presents and brunch. THEN off to Jeff's parents to open more gifts and eat more food. Merry Christmas to all!!