Random Thoughts for the Day...

I typically delete emails I receive at work that have nothing to do with work and more to do with my mortal demise if I don't quickly send to 10 people I love. However, seeing that my post yesterday was sad, I thought some of these were kind of funny...Thanks to my BIL for making me smile, even if he did break my "don't send that shit to my work email" rule!

Random Thoughts for the Day (with the exception of the part in () in #1, I did not make these up...I don't know who did...if I did, I would give them the credit and thank them for making me laugh today...:):

1. I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die (or find and destroy the bag of "toys" in your closet).
2. Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.
3. I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.
4. There is great need for a sarcasm font.
5. How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?
6. Was learning cursive really necessary?
7. Map Quest really needs to start their directions on #5. I'm pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.
8. Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.
9. I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.
10. Bad decisions make good stories.
11. You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you know that you just aren't going to do anything productive for the rest of the day.
12. Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after Blue Ray? I don't want to have to restart my collection...again.
13. I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten-page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.
14. "Do not machine wash or tumble dry" means I will never wash this -- ever.
15. I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? HELLO?!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voicemail. What'd you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone and run away?
16. I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.
17. I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.
18. My 4-year old son asked me in the car the other day "Mom what would happen if you ran over a ninja?" How the hell do I respond to that?
19. I think the freezer deserves a light as well..
20. I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or Saturday night more kisses begin with Miller or Bud Lights than Kays.

Life goes by fast...yada, yada, yada....

Just a quick warning to you all this is not my normal happy go lucky post. So if you are looking for a laugh, today is not the day to read my blog...

How many different expressions have you heard about how quickly time flies? Stop and smell the flowers, life is too short to be unhappy, live every day like it's your last, live life to the fullest....the list goes on and on. There are entire bookstores, churches, TV programs devoted to the topic. Reminding people that life is short has become a very lucrative business for many people. It's a simple concept really. One that in most cases finally sinks in when it is too late to do anything about it....And it's easy to say the words....I have heard them so often from so many sources...hell, I've repeated them myself too many times to count... I have become immune to the true meaning behind the sentiment. Until recently....when my father, who is 70 and dying, said the words "I cannot believe how fast it went"...

My dad is ill. Very ill. Of course his ailments are from bad lifestyle choices including many years of alcohol and tobacco abuse. Neither of which matter when you are faced with 3 choices, pull the plug and let nature take its course, keep the plug in and let him get better until the next time, or put him on life support, which he does not want....all 3 suck....all 3 end in the inevitable. Me and my 7 siblings becoming orphans and taking another journey to Ireland to lay him to rest next to his wife, our mother, of 48 years.

Not sure how I feel about that yet. And while my dad may still have many months left ahead of him, I know he is tired. I know he is sad and has been since my mom died 5 years ago. I know he has regrets and has found God in time to ask for forgiveness. I know he has lived 70 long years and feels he didn't take the time to enjoy life, because he had to work so hard to support his family.... and I know our time with him is limited. So, to my dad I say this...

"I love you. Thank you for giving me the most amazing brother and 6 sisters anyone could ask for. Thank you for teaching me how to love with my whole heart no matter the consequences. Thank you for being such an incredible judge of character and keeping me from making mistakes that would alter the course of my life. And even though my childhood was tough and we did without a lot of things, the one thing we never did without was love. And I bet if you ask any rich kid who had everything but love from their parents, they would tell you they wished for love. You raised us to be smart and strong and beautiful on the inside. You taught us to have respect for ourselves,our bodies, our family and others no matter their lot in life. No money on the planet could teach the values I grew up with and am hopefully passing on to my children. For these gifts dad, I thank you and I love you with my whole heart."

I went to a wedding today in which my husband was the best man. It was at a beautiful farm with lots of sun, flowers, animals, and life. It was the type of wedding that makes you love your husband all over again...besides, he looked hot in that suit...And as I sit coloring with my 2 1/2 year old daughter, they played the song that I danced to with my dad at my wedding and the tears started rolling...I didn't even have time to be embarrassed because my daughter looked at me and said "mommy, why you cry? I be a good girl"....I looked up at my husband and my son and realized the name of the song was appropriate...

It was Unforgettable by Nat King Cole and his daughter Natalie Cole....

Vacation isn't supposed to be this exhausing....is it?

I have been on vacation for Spring Break this week. A whole week of vacation sounds like a dream, but holy crap, I feel like I need a week off to recover from being off for a week! I know I sound like a big fat whiner right now, but seriously, this week has been exhausing. AND as I sit down with a nice full glass of whine wine to recap my week with you all, I realize IT ISN'T OVER YET!

Monday was spent cleaning out our den to make it a "game" room for the kids...ridding it of all of my useless crap craft shit and trying to organize the stuff I actually use.

Tuesday was spent shopping for Bridesmaid and Flower Girl dressess for my nieces wedding. Probably my favorite day this week as with my weight loss, I didn't look like a fat cow in the sexy long strapless number we settled on. And seeing my daughter, the flower girl,  looking like a princess in all of the satin, tulle, and lace made me one proud mommy. That night was spent making Irish Carbomb Cupcakes and delivering them to people I love. OMG...you have to try the recipe I totally borrowed from The Vanilla Bean

Wednesday was St. Patrick's Day. I am 50% Irish so this holiday means a lot to me. I spent a lot of time remembering my mother who was 100% Irish. Our entire family traveled to Ireland 4 years ago to sprinkle her ashes in Galaway Bay on March 17. We spent the other 9 days drinking ourselves into a stupor...it was AWESOME! Anyway, the other part of the day was spent having breakfast with my husband and son, and then shopping for our kids with my hubby...It is always nice to get alone time together, even if it is spent running errands. Wednesday night was family meal at my sisters house. Corned Beef and Cabbage, Guiness, and THE cupcakes...it was yummmmmy!

Thursday we took the kids to Makutu's Island which is an indoor treehouse and arcade. After a few necessary rounds of Ms. PacMan and Galaga, my husdand and I spent the time playing Doodle Bowling on my iPhone...and of course, I am still trying to beat his high score. Thursday night was spent with a group of wonderful women who participate in our Stampin Up club...(scrapbooking, rubber stamping, cardmaking). Being creative can be freaking exhausing, but these women are so much fun, it is worth it!

Friday....today was spent running more errands including getting my poor dog groomed (see I F'ing HATE PETSMART blog later) cleaning my wreck of a house, worrying about my dad and youngest sister, and baking cookies for a few amazing women in my life who are having a bit of a rough time...those 3 ladies can expect some cookies fit for a queen in the mail this week! See....

Like I said....it isn't even close to being over...

Saturday...maintenance day for me...weigh in, gym, hair, manicure, pedicure. Oil change and car wash. Gymnastics for the kids. Shop for a wedding gift for our friend's wedding on Sunday. Single parent night for me so I need to find something fun for dinner and entertainment for the kids.

Sunday...Wedding...in which I have to get myself and two children ready to attend, find a way to get there as the only way in and out is closed for the weekend all by myself, as the hubs is the best man and is spending the night with the groom on Saturday night. Did I mention I think that is weird? It is his SECOND marriage and he is acting like he doesn't know what to expect...anyhoo...that is the wine talking. Once we get home from the wedding extravaganza while the bride and groom are heading to Hawaii for two weeks, I will be getting ready for our lives to be back to normal next week which means preparing food for the week, doing laundry, and whatever else comes my way.

Cannot believe I am saying this, but I cannot wait for Monday....I miss work. I miss my firends and  my team...but most of all, I miss my normal hectic schedule.

40 Things I Love about Spring

I love Spring!!. It makes me happy, puts me in a good mood... next to Fall, it is my favorite season of the year. I live in Arizona, and besides the abundance of "snow birds" that flock here for the winter, Spring in the desert is the most gorgeous 2-3 months of the year here. To celebrate my love for this season, I put together a little list of the 40 things I love about Spring...

1. Needing a sweater in the morning and short sleeves in the afternoon
2. The smell of orange blossoms outside and my Gold Canyon Orange Blossom candle burning inside
3. The sun
4. The smell of new grass
5. St. Patrick's Day
6. Easter
7. Spring Break- my first week of vacation each year with the kiddies
8. Transition wardrobe from winter to summer
9. Flip flops
10. Pedicures- in preparation for flip flops and summer
11. New blooms on my rose bushes
12. The anticipation of summer (wait for my "40 things I don't love about summer" blog sometime in July)
13. Because the rest of the country is in "thaw" mode, the turbulence isn't so bad when I travel
14. Dying Easter Eggs
15. Making Easter Baskets
16. Easter Egg Hunt
17. 40 days of reflection between Ash Wednesday and Easter
18. T-shirts
19. Shorts
20. Baseball Spring Training Games with friends
21. My car wash lasting more than a week
22. Reading- Spring kicks off my non-stop reading marathon between now and the end of summer
23. My wedding anniversary 
24. Planning summer vacation
25. Camping
26. Flowers blooming
27. Green everywhere! Everything is new, plants and trees are "waking up"...the earth is alive after winter...I LOVE IT!
28. Memories of my grandmother visiting
29. Memories of "Park & Swap" when I was a kid - many call it a flea market or swap meet, either way, it was a treat to get to go with my parents!
30. Outside seating at restaurants
31. Everyone seems to be in a good mood this time of year
32. Ireland on St. Patrick's Day...the MOST incredible trip of my life thus far
33. Scrapbooking
34. Spring Cleaning...this year it has been about turning our den into a "game room" for the kids
35. Blonde highlights
36. Self Tanning lotion on my ghost white legs in order to wear #19
37. Cool crisp nights
38. Family meals outside
39. My body requires less food...I'm kind of like an Eskimo and shed my fat coat this time of year
40. Memories of my mother....she loved this time of year too.

Happy Spring everyone! I hope you share my enthusiasm for the beauty of this season....

13 years ago today....

this girl married a boy....not just any boy. THE boy. Now, I didn't know that at the time, it took quite a few years to come to the realization that this boy was THE boy,  who is now the MAN who turned this girl into the WOMAN she is today. Well, with some help from Mother Nature....

I'm not gonna lie, our marriage isn't perfect. I don't want a perfect marriage, because then I would be full of crap and totally medicated to deal with the pressure...no... Our marriage is happy and healthy. We have had many ups and downs in 13 years and almost didn't make it on a couple of occassions. Which means our marriage is NORMAL...

Marriage is hard for a reason. It makes you see who you are through another person's eyes. Which isn't always pretty...And I have long been told how perfect my husband is...by family, friends, and strangers. It used to piss me off and still does on occassion. But honestly, I have grown to understand what they all see... and let me tell you ladies, when you meet a man who can put up with unpredictable mood swings, "secret" credit card debt, 4 pregnancies, two children, 35 extra pounds, your crazy family (all 30 of them!), who does laundry, cooks, cleans, and is an incredible dad, who still finds you sexy no matter what you look like, not only should you marry him, you should thank God for such incredible luck.

So, in case you didn't already know, today is my wedding anniversary. And do you know what I did to show my husband how much I love and appreciate him? I was a total bitch this morning...for NO good reason, other than Monday mornings suck in our house!...believe me, I know how awful that is!!! I just went to that dark place before I could help myself. Of course I apologized immediately a couple hours later, but still felt awful all day. Because he loves me and knows that I have been having a rough time lately, he totally let me off the hook...AND brought me these:

Yes...I am thanking GOD and my lucky stars! Happy Anniversary baby. I LOVE YOU! and THANK you for loving me all of these years! I have your "present" for you later... wink wink...

Stroke Talk....

Have you ever had those days where no matter what you say, people don't hear it the way you meant it, or even hear it at all? Have those spouses or close friends who get this brand new exciting advice or hear about the latest trend from someone else, well after you have told them?

My client calls this syndrome "Stroke" talk.

She told me a story of a close friend of hers who had a stroke, was conscious, but could not speak. Of course, she did not know she couldn't speak as the result of the stroke until afterwards. But during the examination was screaming at the top of her lungs the answers to all of the nurses questions. She became very frustrated when the nurse ignored her, or rolled her eyes at what she thought were very reasonable respsonses. She later found out that all that was coming out of her mouth were mumbles and slobber...

Yeah, that is how I feel today.....

F-Me and a bag of sugar....

I weighed in this morning and guess what? I gained! I effing gained 2.2 lbs! I am so pissed at myself right now! Over the course of my three week "vacation" from my diet, exercise, and health goals, I have gained back 5 pounds! That is the equivelant of a bag of sugar, 5 boxes of butter, one hand weight, my favorite boots, a watermelon, and too many more things to mention. I have no one else to blame but myself and on the bright side, it could be worse...I could have gained back all 8 pounds I have lost this year. But I didn't...and I'm pretty sure my 2.2lb weight gain this week was the result of too much wine and salt and not enough water and excercise while traveling this week.
SO...I have two choices, be all about the excuses and wallow in self pity or put on my big girl pants, suck it up and in, and move on! Today, I choose....VODKA...nah...just kidding...Thought I would throw in a line from one of my fave movies...Can you name it? Okay, besides the Queen, I bet nobody guessed it right away...Bridgette Jones Diary.

I digress...could be because I have the attention span of a gnat these days...could be that my head is up my backside today, who knows!

What I do know is that I am going to stop being pissed at myself and start fresh. I have 14 pounds to go until my first goal of 10%. That is totally doable by the end of April... Next week, there WILL be a lower number on the scale!

Thanks for listening to me vent...I am good. I am great...and now, about that vodka....hmmmmmm.

Weigh in "eve"....

For those of you who come to my blog to track my progress...you know that timeline with the cute girl running over there ===>...hasn't moved in a few weeks. well, it has moved, but in the wrong direction! I have been incredibly busy the last three weeks...okay the ENTIRE month of February was shot for me. BUT, I weighed in EVERY week. And I have gained a total of 2 of my 8 pounds back. :(

Here is my confession...I haven't been to the gym in over two weeks, and cannot remember the last time I logged into WWonline to track my points. I have fallen into that "hole" in the sidewalk. Hell, I walked right up to it and JUMPED in! I am pissed at myself, but now I need to dig myself out and get over it!

So here is the deal peeps...I only have 300 something days left to meet my goal and I need to kick into serious gear. I want to be at my 10% goal by the end of April. That is 14 more pounds in 8 weeks.

I need to get back to my meetings. They keep me focused and motivated. So, while I have to weigh in at a center tomorrow, I will be back to my at work meetings on Thursday.

I will post my results, good, bad, ugly, whatever...tomorrow. Pray for me!

AND if I meet my 10% goal by April 30th, I'm going to buy these gorgeous shoes to show off my "I don't need to wear tights anymore" legs for Spring!

Turbulence Induced Turrets...

I love to travel but HATE to fly! This is actually funny considering I worked for an airline during college and traveled everywhere for free on a weekly basis. I don’t hate the entire experience…I can take off and land all day long…I can cram all of the shit I find necessary to carry on a plane with me under the seat in front me…I can handle the bad breath, “silent but deadly” farts, screaming, gum chewing, loud talking, and bad conversation of the people sitting next to me. Hell I can even handle paying $7 for a cocktail if and when the need arises…what I CANNOT handle is the “OMFG this plane is going to fall out of the sky” turbulence.


Call me a chicken, a baby, a ridiculous idiot…whatever you like. But I am telling you people, this shit is serious and I have recently been diagnosed with Turbulence Induced Turrets or TIT as my not so funny friend likes to call it.

I was on my way to a super fun conference in Baltimore MD this week. A week in the middle of another one of the worst winter storms this country has seen in quite some time…and lucky me, I get to fly across the ENTIRE country to get to my destination. Yes, I know…you are jealous.

Anyhoo…the trip started out great. Boarding Zone 2 check….exit row window seat with no seat in front of me, check…iPod playlist for my trip (yes I create a new playlist for every trip…that is another blog), check. Bottle of water and Gone with the Wind tucked into the seat back WAY in front of me, check…decent neighbors who have no interest in learning about me, where I come from, what I do for a living, or where I get my pretty blue eyes from, check!

THEN….We are over someplace in the middle of the country, 2 hours from landing…I am minding my own business reading my book, drinking my diet coke, when seriously, the plan drops out from under me…what I mean is my ass actually lifted off the chair. I immediately throw my hands up to grab the roof of the plane and literally blurt the words “Oh Holy Shit”. The guy next to me grabs my soda can before I dump it all over him, and the guy on the aisle seat turns on my air and tells me to breathe. Sweet guys...and I'm quite sure I have never been so embarrassed in front of complete strangers so willing to help a crazy chick with a potty mouth.

Fast forward 4 hours to dinner and two glasses of wine when my $12 million dollar client who knows about my “love” of flying asks how my flight in was…before I can help myself, the story comes tumbling out of my mouth (I also have a serious case of verbal diahrea). Of course by now I can laugh about it...and here is the funny part…they are the one’s who diagnosed me with TIT…

Could it be any worse? Oh yea, did I mention I get to travel TWO more times this month?

Dear Baby Jesus, please help me and forgive me now and in the future for screaming out your name mixed with several profanities when that "OMFG we are going to fall out of the sky" turbulence hits ok?