Switching It Up!

Life has been interesting lately. I have run out of time to blog, but over the passed couple of days I have sparked some inspiration and I think I'm going to take a turn and charge myself to make some changes in my life. Recently two of my high school friends (I use the term "friends" loosely because I haven't seen either of them in years) died, one in a car accident and one took his own life. I am struggling with the realization that we are not as invincible as we think we are. We're supposed to be just starting out lives, settling down, starting families, not being killed by drunk drivers or taking our own lives. While both of these incidents are completely tragic and sad, they have inspired me to make some changes in my life.

I have always been a "big" girl. It never really bothered me, I was okay with being overweight. I found a man that loves me had a beautiful wedding and still manage to have a love-affair with clothes and have the credit card bills to prove it. While I have a little bit more confidence then your average overweight girl, I have a complete lack of motivation to do anything to change. I've done diets before, I've dropped weight and gained it all back (and then some). I don't really know how to live a healthy lifestyle and am an emotional eater. But lately, I have been thinking a lot more about HEALTH. Not size or buying clothes at the popular stores, but about being healthy and being around for the children I want to have. I don't want to pass on my lack of motivation or my poor lifestyle choices to any children I may or may not have in the future. So I am starting by taking some baby steps. So, in an effort to do so I will be making a lot of blog posts revolving around this issue....if you don't want to read about a fat girl complaining about how hard it is to work out/not eat junk food then you might not want to read :) Just a little disclaimer for you.

I start with making some small strides over the next couple of days, I would like to:
1. Go to the leasing office of the apartment complex to get a key to the workout room.
2. Start cutting down on the amount of sugar I am eating/drinking everyday
3. Do some research about food and sugar addiction
4. Make small healthy choices (ie: baked potato instead of fries, salad or veggies at every meal, oatmeal/yogurt instead of a bagel, etc)
5. Add in some workout routines.

Another source of inspiration - I read this article today about a writer from Marie Claire who berated the actors of a show called "Mike and Molly" I have never seen or heard of the show, but the things she (and some of the commenters) said really shocked me.

That's all for now, keep your eye open for video blog posts and some updates on what kind of progress I'm making - hopefully I can find some motivation to stick with it.

One Tree Hill, Raisinettes and a sleeping 3 year old.

Technically, I'm on vacation, from work that is, but I am actually spending the week with the three kids that I have been babysitting for the passed 8 years. The two oldest are pretty independant, so I'm just "hanging out" with them, but Miss Macaylah is 3 and so far we're having a good time. Right now, I'm lounging in bed watching One Tree Hill Season #5 while Macaylah sleeps next to my feet laying the opposite direction.

Tonight we're having the kids come over to our apartment to have a pizza and Rock Band night. It will be nice to see my husband and kittens. I stopped at home to feed them yesterday (the kittens, not the husband) and just wanted to cuddle Gus like crazy :)

Grad School started yesterday - Oh, yeah, I never got to that post, did I? I applied for EMU's Educational Psychology Master's Program. I got into the grad school three weeks ago and found out on Friday that I got into the program as well, SO EXCITED!! I'm a little nervous about how much reading is involved, since it's only a 6 week course, but I think I'll be alright...well, here's hoping.

ECLIPSE COMES OUT TONIGHT!!! I will not be going to the midnight showing - which sounds like fun, but I will be taking the kids (minus the little one) to see it tomorrow night. SO excited about this too, I love the book series, and like to see them alive on the screen but I am not the biggest fan of Kristen Stewart, who was on Regis and Kelly this morning and was totally rude and bitchy. Ugh. I can't stand her. But, alas, I will be running over 12 year olds tomorrow evening if they come between me and the movie theater.

Off to enjoy the rest of my day.
Catch you on the flip side :)

Hey Bloggers! Aparently you can blog via text message. I wonder how much info I can squeeze into 160 characters, which is all my BB will allow... We shall see.

Matrimony :)

So, I lied, I didn't come back in a couple days... it's been, what? a week?

I figured since I was late with updating you on my exciting (ha!) life, I would reward you with some wedding pictures. I won't do too many at once, but instead give some teasers. It was a great day, everything went incredibly well and we had a great time!

58 days, 21 hours, 36 minutes and 19 seconds

That's how long it's been since my last post. Life has been a little crazy since then, so I figure the best way to get back into it and update you the past 58 days, 21 hours, 36 minutes and 19 seconds is to make a list of things that have happened and make my way through it.

1. We got MARRIED!!!

2. Our Honeymoon

3. Meet Gus Gus!

4. Work Drama

5. The Chopping of the Tresses

6. Relay for Life

7. Upcoming Mackinaw Trip :)

8. Grad School, Here I Come!

 A lot of stuff has changed and a lot of things are the same... which really isn't very revealing is it? It would make the most sense to start with #1 and tell you all about our special day, but I won't get the CD with the pictures on it for a couple days, so until I can fully amaze you, I will skip straight to #3. GUS GUS!! He is our new kitten. We adopted him the week after we got back from our honeymoon. He is absolutely adorable but is completely insane as well.  

 

Kitty (Justin's family cat that also lives with us, she's 16 years old and pretty sick) is SLOWLY getting used to him being here, but she definitely doesn't like playing with him. She doesn't like doing much of anything so I'm not surprised that she has issues with him. In hindsight, we probably should have waited to adopt Gus, so that Kitty wasn't stressed during her last couple of months, but we had good intentions, we thought he would help her feel more youthful and have fun... not so much.  

He's tearing our apartment up, knocking stuff over and pulling up some carpeting, but other than that he's pretty sweet. He's a cuddler too, when he wants to be... Once he get's neutered and mellows a little bit, he'll be the perfect "First Baby" :)

That's about it for now. I will be back in the next couple days to upload some pictures and give you some stories. I'm glad to be back and am slowly getting back into the groove of life, but it's quite a shock to be off of work for 2 1/2 weeks and then being thrown back into a life of work, cooking, money, bills, traffic, etc. Urgh. Maybe the weekend in Mackinaw will mellow me out too. Maybe Gus and I both need to mellow :) Happy Blogging - I'll type at 'cha soon!

Detroit

So, I'm sitting here on a Saturday night flipping through my Comcast guide and came across the movie "Crash" - great movie, I've seen it a couple times, very controversial. It is starting to make me think about something that happened yesterday. I work in downtown Detroit, we have a Subway on the first floor of our building, it was recently purchased by an Indian family, they have been very nice and have taken care of the place since coming into the building. I go down there about once a week and they always know exactly what I want and are extremely nice. I went down on Friday afternoon to get my usual, I got in line behind two white women, looked like they were from the suburbs visiting the downtown area (they weren't in business attire, jeans and casual tops) but they could have worked in one of the places downtown - who knows. Anyway, while waiting in line they proceeded to have a loud conversation about the last time they were at Subway and how they got sick from eating there - this would be their first time back since then. Not a big deal, a little disgusting as I am waiting to order my FOOD, but whatever. They get up to the older Indian man, very nice, I think he owns the Subway. The first girl orders with a little attitude and when he asked if she wanted her flatbread toasted she says no, so he put it in the microwave to heat it up a little bit for her. She says nothing and then proceeds to give him little dirty looks as her friend orders. Her friend didn't seem to have as much of an attitude, seemed to be the bridge between nice and snotty. He makes girl #2's sandwich ahead of #1 (because her flatbread was in the microwave), girl #1 rolls her eyes and says something like "well since apparently you're getting your food first you go ahead" she looks at the man out of the corner of her eye. So he pulls her flatbread out of the microwave and starts putting the cheese and meat on the flatbread and then she starts asking if she can have a cold flat bread, she gave him a look like "um... I know you're dumb, but you should be able to read my mind" he proceeded to explain that he just warmed it up for her and she says "well, yeah, I get that, but I wanted a cold one" she then continues to talk shit to her friend under breath and then continues to give each employee dirty looks (they are all Indian) as she goes down the line. So anyway, she gets him so flustered that he ended up accidentally using her flatbread for my sandwich and put it into the toaster, as I wanted my sandwich toasted. So I get back upstairs (because I now have to eat at my desk because I used 20 minutes of my 30 minute lunch watching the girls shoot daggars out of their eyes) and take a bite into my sandwich and realize that it is as hard as a cracker and the whole thing cracks into pieces. I ended up having to throw away half of my lunch.

It may seem like nothing or not a big deal, but I was honestly saddened by how she was treating the family at Subway. What did they do to her? Had she ever stepped foot into that Subway before? Did she assume that because he had an accent he didn't understand her? I just don't understand the need to look down on someone because they are a different race, color, sex, size... ANYTHING!?!

It's not on the same level as Crash, by any means but it just got me thinking.

Hot Fudge and Hockey Players

Sound dirty?

Lol. I just finished a bowl of ice cream (ie the hot fudge) and I am watching the first Wing's game of the playoffs. Not a bad combo if I do say so myself.

So..... yeah.....I've sucked at blogging lately. Honestly, I just haven't thought about it. I think Justin and I are still in the transition period with moving and with the wedding just around the corner, I'm spending all my extra time on finishing up the finer details of the big day. It's been so sureal getting those RSVP cards back, the wedding has been such a huge part of MY life for the past 13 months, but now other people are involved. I am officially on their calendar. Crazy. Almost everything is done, just have some small things left to actually "do" then it's all about execution and the day of. I honestly, can't wait. I'm so exhausted I just want to go on my honeymoon and relax with my husband for two weeks.

In more recent news, we ordered a new digital camera last week and it arrived today. This camera is absolutely amazing! I am in love with it. I was afraid I was going to regret spending so much money so close to the wedding but I am so happy we got it. It will be awesome on the honeymoon. It's a Sony Cybershot DSC-HX1. It got great reviews online and takes great pictures. Here are a couple test shots I took from the balcony of the apartment tonight.

It's funny, I've been so busy with things I have to do lately that something really silly is getting me excited for my weekend. After meeting with the DJ Justin and I are doing a shopping trip to Kohls, he is in desperate need of some tennis shoes and work clothes and I have a gift card from my birthday, so I can find something fun for the trip for myself too! We're also making a stop at Lowe's so I can get some flower boxes to hang off the balcony rails, I'm super excited to have some pretty plants hanging out there!! OH! And I'm going to try and take advantage of Meijer's 10 for 10 sale this weekend and get some good deals on groceries. Awesome!

Now that I have completely bored you tonight, I'm going to head to bed and watch a little bit more hockey before hitting the hay. The hubs is out hanging with his best man so I can fall asleep before he gets home and avoid being elbowed in the face :)

Hopefully I'll get some time and good stories to update soon.
Nighty Night!

Counting The Minutes...

12.

I have 12 minutes until I get to step away from my desk for half an hour. It may not sound like much, but on days like to day, it's a life saver. Today has been so incredibly slow, I don't want to jinks myself, but I'm just getting a little stir crazy. Yesterday was super busy, now today, when I'm here by myself covering the phones...nothing. I guess it's a good omen. I don't want to me going crazy all day.

11.

So, I've been kind of slacking on my blogging lately. I think it's because Justin and I are just starting to get acclimated to living together and frankly, by the time I get home from work, cook dinner, eat dinner, do some laundry, random cleaning and make lunches for the next day - I'm beat. I haven't been sleeping very well lately either, so I just need to let my body/brain adjust to my new life.

9.

I already know there is one thing on my 101 in 1001 list that I will not accomplish... I've decided to give up selling Mary Kay. I know some of you are saying "what!? she just started"... others are saying "yeah, I'm not surprised"... Well, I'm not surprised either. It just took me way out of my comfort zone and frankly, when I'm working full-time I just don't have time to do everything that I would have wanted to do with the business. AND I would never get used to cold calling people to do pre-profiling or putting myself out there to get new clients. I'm just not that type of person. I also didn't get the friendships that I expected out of it, I honestly could have put more of myself into it, but it just seemed really "cliquey" (I know that's not a word, get over it) and seemed like I was just another one of the recruits. I didn't like that. Honestly, I could think of a million things that I would rather do on a Monday night, Saturday and Sunday then subjecting myself to something I wasn't confident in or even liked most days... So I'm just working on getting some of my investment back by selling my consultant supplies and the inventory I have left and using the crap out of my discount while it lasts, lol. Oh well... on to bigger and better things.

5 minutes...

The wedding is litterally just around the corner. 5 weeks. I will be a married woman in 5 weeks. It's just craziness. We had the shower the first weekend in March, it was beautiful. The next big event is the Bachelorette Party which is being planned by my Maid of Honor, my sister, Laura. She's been completely shocking me with her MOH abilities. She could make a career out of it :) I have a feeling she did some googling shortly after I got engaged to find out her responsibilities. Lol.

3 minutes...

I have really been feeling the need to go back to school lately. I'm just still stuck on what exactly I want to study. There are pros and cons to each arena I lean towards. Education - would have to get a second bachelors, hard to find a job, etc. MSW - not sure how I would manage the part-time internship, my full-time job and school...I'm having anxiety just thinking about it. Business - what if I end up finding out that I don't want to start my own business/non-profit OR I do start one and it's dead after a year and then I'm stuck with no job, no money and no health insurance... a lot of "what ifs".

LUNCH TIME!

While I leave you to ponder the rest of my life, I am going to go nuke my Lean Cuisine Beef and Brocoli and chit chat with Wanda.

Enjoy the rest of your day. I promise to update more soon.

Big Freaking Check!

The invites are DONE! FINISHED! SIGNED, SEALED, DELIVERED (well, almost delivered, Justin is taking them to the post office tomorrow).

This has seriously been the biggest and most aggravating wedding project to date! I purchased invite kits from Michaels and added different colored ribbon and a background of green cardstock behind the invite panel, so for the most part I made them. So this is what I did:
1. Printed the invite panels, RSVP cards (custom with guests names), Reception cards, inside envelopes, RSVP envelopes and outer envelopes.
2. Glued the invite panel to the green cardstock and glued that to the pocket fold
3. created belly bands with a custom monogram for the center of the ribbon.
4. put them all together (this took over a week...and about 10,000 paper cuts on my hands)
5. Put on the stamps
6. sealed them with a sponge and some water (because you know I'm not licking all those envelopes.

I started this project around October-ish and finished tonight.

Next on my list? Programs, seating chart and table numbers. Nothing earth shattering - most of them I can do at work ;)

I'm too tired to keep writing, so I will update on Saturday after Mom and I bust out some flowers.

Nighty Night Blog World!

Oscar Worthy

Evening bloggers!

Tonight was a fun night. I went out to dinner and saw "The Blind Side" with my mom. We did our usual chinese buffet which was fun. The vegetable lo mein was fantastic like always :)

I have to say - I really enjoyed the movie though. I am already a Sandra Bullock fan, but this performace just put her on a whole other level. It was solid and completely amazing. She totally made the movie! And, as we were walking out of the theater I said to my mom "Can you imagine seeing Sandra Bullock win an Oscar for playing YOU in a movie??" -- It makes me want to research more about Michael Oher (I think that's how it's spelled) and his family. It ALSO made me think about what I want to do with the rest of my life. I've been struggling with this lately and know there are about 7 different things that interest me and I can see me doing, but I just don't know what road to take. This movie made me take notice to two things:

1. Becoming a teacher -- Elementary Education was my major for the first two years of college. I bailed after two years mainly because I didn't want to do the student teaching and take the exams in order to get my teaching certificate. I regret that A LOT.

2. Non-Profit Management -- This is something that I have been thinking about lately. It would give me the ability to help people (whatever population I choose) while still be in the office enviornment, which I have grown to love (I'm weird, I know).

I guess I will have to look into both futures and start weighing my options. I see a Gilmore Girl Pro/Con list coming on :)

Bittersweet Symphony - It is my life

Welp. It's been a couple weeks since I last posted. (Sorry for that, by the way). A lot has happened and I'm going to break it up into a couple different posts because I don't want to overwhelm you with the past two weeks all in one shot. So first - Moving :)

So last you heard I was packing the night before the big move to our apartment. I have to say, I never want to move again (even though we will in approximately 15 months...), it is incredibly exhausting, frustrating, emotional and just plain crazy! We ended up moving on that Friday morning and mother nature decided to throw us a curve ball - it snowed for 24 hours straight. It was cold, wet and windy. Thankfully we had a lot of help from my parents and Justin's friend Tim. We eventually got everything inside and began to settle in. My mom had stayed with me the entire day. She brought over my first load of stuff and then we went shopping at Target for some food and "house basics", I was incredibly surprised by how calm I was, I wasn't nervous, I wasn't sad, I was just having fun. Then the time came to get my last small load from my parent's house and going back myself. I completely lost it. I didn't want to leave my room, my parents, my cats, my house, I just didn't want to leave at all. It was quite possibly the hardest thing I've ever had to do. Once I got to the apartment (longest drive of my life by the way... I ended up going through a red light because I was crying so much I couldn't see...) I cried on Justin a little bit and then went to bed. Each day was hard, each day is still hard, but it's getting a little bit easier as time passes. It's just so incredibly weird to be living somewhere else. My room has always been my room, my house, my bathroom, my bed, everything has been the same my entire life and it all changed in one day.

On the bright side, Justin and I are making a home here. It's taking some time and I'm trying not to be quite as OCD as I would like to be. It's a work-in-progress. And as we start making a home here we are getting closer and closer to the wedding. Our shower has already come and gone, the gifts have been unwrapped and put away in cupboards and closets...we've now got less than 2 months before we're walking down the aisle. YIKES!!

This is what I've got for you for now. I'm home sick from work today, but feeling a little better after getting some extra sleep. It's amazing what a couple hours on a comfy couch will do for you.  Maybe I'll take some pictures of our home later and maybe post them this afternoon.

Happy Hump Day!

Procrastination or Multi-Tasking?

So... we're moving tomorrow and I'm still not done packing.

So, is me sitting on my bed watching The Real Housewives of Orange County while blogging considered procrastination OR multi-tasking??

I think I'm just a little bit overwhelmed at this point. One can accumulate a lot of stuff in 25 years... and not all of it can come with me, but I have to have my room semi-cleaned out because my sister is stealing my room when she moves home in a couple months. BUT my 2 bedroom apartment will only hold so much (sidenote - Simon is a dick! I cannot stand him, he's does nothing but start drama - end sidenote) stuff, so we shall see. But I'm working on it, and I've brought PROOF!!

 

Notice the boxes and garbage bags, lol! I'm just not sure where the heck to put everything - my dad's truck isn't here, my mom's Jeep isn't here, so here sits my crap waiting to be taken downstairs for moving day. Unfortuantely and fortunately, we have no furniture (except a bed) to move because it's being delivered next week when it's in stock at the store. So right now we have a table, a 42 inch flat screen, a bed and all the crap I've accumulated over the past 25 years. I've definitely gotta get picutres of the festivities tomorrow. 

I'll update later when I'm closer to being done -- add a picture or two. In the meantime, have a great evening :)

And another one bites the dust....

In a good way!!

I have another thing to cross off my list today! Justin and I went out to Gardner White to find some furniture for our apartment, and we ended up finding one of those "couch with TV" packages that comes with not only a 42 inch LCD TV, but also a WII!!!!!!!!!! I'm so excited. As soon as it comes, I'm going out to buy Wii fit and Wii sports because I'm all about the bowling game. I think I might be more excited about the Wii then the furniture, lol. I haven't done much as far as packing goes, but I'll get to it this week. I am planning on doing nothing this week but packing (and working) so I can get it all done by D-Day.

In wedding news: Justin and I had a meeting at Laurel Manor on Saturday to go over our menu options and finalize everything. We ended up adding up-lighting and linens to our order. Originally I wasn't going to do special linens because it was ALL about saving money and not doing anything that could be considered "extravagant" but after going over the numbers and getting some much needed financial help from some family members, we actually have extra money in the savings account, so we looked at what they had to offer and got some sage green (chiffon) linens and will be doing 4 light pink lights at the points in the room. We also added a cake from Sweet Dreams. Originally, our package included the wedding cake from Sweet Dreams, or we could get 2.75 per person taken off of our bill and take care of the cake ourselves. Well, we were 77 days away from the wedding and hadn't taken any steps towards finding a bakery and honestly, I had no desire to drag Justin to another wedding meeting, so when our consultant brought it up again, we jumped at it. I wanted a simple cake, white on white with some scrolling and they had the perfect one for us. We don't have to do ANYTHING, our consultant asked if we liked strawberries, and both Justin and I said "yes!" as if she was dangling a million dollars in front of our faces and she suggested one of Sweet Dream's most popular cakes - Vanilla cake, butter cream and fresh strawberries. We said - Awesome, she filled out the sheet and faxed it over. CAKE - DONE!

We've got mostly little things from here and 77 days to get it all done. The biggest things that are fogging my mind this week are getting the coasters done for the shower, and moving. Once those two projects are done, it's on to the invitations they are about 75% done, and I've decided to just take on the rest of the project myself. That will be my project for the week after the shower so they can be in the mail before the end of that week. So, ladies, hold me to it. Invites in the mail by Saturday March 13th!!

That's all I have for now - I think. I'm off to update my 101 in 1001 list and to watch some US vs Canada Olympic Hockey.

Have a great evening and Monday!

Proof!

This is my last update for the day - I promise!

I just wanted to show you proof that I have completed my first 2 items on my 101 in 1001 list.

Earlier this week I ordered custom made wristlets from a seller on Etsy. I purchased one for myself and one for each of my bridesmaids. My intention was for them to have something that works on D-Day but also would work for everyday use. I found this awesome seller - Syl12830 and she had the bags made and shipped in less than 3 days!! I got them in the mail today - Here they are!!

They are black and white damask with sage green satin lining! So cute!

 

What do you think??

As for the other item on my list - I will not be subjecting you to a picture of me measuring my chest and ordering a bra that is the "right size". All I will tell you is that I was surprised by how different the sizes were. So, ladies - measure your boobies!

I will leave you with that for the evening :)

Official 101 in 1001 List!

I have officially made my list. It is organized by categories, no no particular order.

Start Date: Wednesday, February 17th, 2010
End Date: Wednesday, November 14th, 2012

Day
1. No TV for an entire day, twice (0/2)
2. Read an article on freep.com everyday for a year (0/365)

Weekly
3. Take e-mail off my Blackberry for a week
4. Drink nothing but water for a week, three times (0/3)
5. Eat no meat for a week, twice (0/2)
6. Eat no chocolate for a week
7. Go to bed by 10pm every night for a week, twice (0/2)
8. Don’t visit Facebook for a week
9. Pray at least twice a week without asking for anything for myself

Monthly
10. Blog at least 8 times per month (6/264)
11. Blog at least 2 recipes per month (0/66)
12. No fast food for a month (McDonalds, Arby’s, BK, Taco Bell, Boston Market, Subway)
13. Wash my face and remove all makeup before bed every night for a month (1/30)
14. No late payments for 12 months in a row (1/12)
15. Date night with Justin at least twice a month (1/66)
16. Wear a skirt to work once a month (0/33)
17. Go to church at least once a month (0/33)
18. Eat a raw fruit or vegetable at every meal for a month
19. Every month have a “I’m thankful for” blog post (0/33)
20. Take a picture a day for at least a month

Yearly
21. Wear my contacts at least once a week for a year (0/52)

Travel
22. Go camping at Aloha State Park again
23. Visit Wilmington North Carolina
24. Use my passport to go somewhere other than Canada
25. Watch the sunrise from 2 different locations (0/2)
26. Go to Chicago with Justin
27. Visit 10 states that I’ve never been to (0/10)
28. Collect postcards from every place I’ve traveled for a scrapbook
29. See a sunset on Mullet Lake again
30. Take a trip to the Toledo Zoo

Health Related
31. Lose 20 pounds and KEEP IT OFF
32. Visit a nutritionist
33. TRY Jillian Michael’s 30 day Shred
34. Go to the eye doctor
35. Get NEW FRAMES for my glasses
36. Try Yoga

Material Stuff
37. Buy a new car
38. Upgrade my digital camera
39. Order something custom made from Etsy
40. Buy a piece of art from Suze Ford
41. Buy a Wii


Personal – Hobbies
42. Read my collection of Sookie Stackhouse novels
43. Finish writing story started in January 09
44. Write an essay/article and find out how to get it published somewhere
45. Start and finish a sewing project
46. Learn how to make Thanksgiving dinner

Personal - Random
47. Start Graduate School
48. Write a letter to myself to open in 10 years
49. Take a picture of myself turning 26 and 27
50. Go strawberry picking
51. Join a bible study group at church
52. Make inspirational notes to leave in random places
53. Go to a Red Wings playoff game
54. See a movie in the afternoon by myself
55. Write a letter to a government official
56. Rescue a cat/dog
57. Find a spot to watch planes landing at Metro Airport
58. Find out how to properly measure my bra size and order a proper sized bra
59. Giving Mary Kay at least a 2 month effort after the wedding
60. Buy a pair of jeans not from the plus department (NO OLD NAVY)
61. Make a list of career dreams and find “my passion”
62. See Jack’s Mannequin in concert again
63. Do research on Downs Syndrome


Charity/Donations/Volunteer
64. Take leadership role in the Livonia RFL
65. Get rid of a piece of clothing for every new one I buy
66. Host an independent fundraiser for a charity
67. Find someone on Modest Needs to sponsor
68. Adopt a family at Christmas
69. Send a care package to soldiers overseas
70. Find 10 things I can do to “live more green” (1/10)
71. Donate old formal dresses
72. Commit at least 6 hours to Livonia RFL
73. Go to Wish Granting Training

Friends/Family
74. Host a girl’s night at home
75. Throw a surprise party
76. Visit my Grandfather’s site at the cemetery
77. Visit my paternal Grandma on a day that is not a holiday
78. Make a list of family/friends birthdays and send out cards for each
79. Find out more about my history
80. Complete an address book
81. Take Macaylah, Matt and Rachel for an overnight
82. Host Family Christmas

Marriage
83. Start a Travel Map
84. Research adoption laws in Michigan
85. Completely change my last name
86. Move in with Justin
87. Get married ☺ Yes – I know this a cop out, but it will be super fun to cross it off the list
88. Buy a house
89. Learn how to make Justin’s 5 favorite meals (0/5)


Money
90. Pay for an entire Christmas without using a Credit Card
91. Keep a log of all spending for 3 months (0/3)
92. Eliminate extra spending based on log for the following 3 months
93. Read “Total Money Makeover” by Dave Ramsey
94. Donate $2 for each item not completed to charity
95. Use at least one coupon every time I go grocery shopping
96. Get at least $1,000 in savings for “emergencies”
97. Save all my change for a year
98. Save a dollar a day for the 1001 days to spend at the end of the 1001.
99. Save enough extra money to buy a Coach purse
100. Pay off at least ONE credit card
101. Develop a money "system" for weekly spending

A DEEE-LUX Apartment in the SKYYYYY!

Yep, we're moving next weekend. We've been approved and will be signing the lease/moving in all of next weekend. It's super exciting, but packing is a b!tch. I have absolutely NO desire to do it, and I have 25 years worth of crap to go through. It's going to be a LONG week. I'll be sure to post pictures as things progress :)

In happy news - I have found my wedding shoes! They are super cute, fit well and were half the price of the ones I returned last week. I found them while browsing on Amazon last week - nothing like a random/perfect find!!


What do you think??




I'm super excited about my weekend! I am helping plan a baby shower for a friend that used to work with me and we're turning it into a girls night afterparty (after everyone leaves that is...) We're making sangria, eating a bunch of food and being crazy. I did find something a little odd though...

There are BOYS invited to the shower!
::GASP:: I know!

I had never heard of this before, but according to my friend Roz, it's quite common. It's going to be a little strange to have guys there - but whatever. I'm going to drink some sangria and eat junk food whether they are there or not... lol.

Justin and I are thinking about taking a road trip in October, somewhere on the east coast. I'm thinking driving to Boston and back, that would take us through a couple different states and the fall colors would be in full swing by then!! Hopefully we can make it happen :)

I think that's it for now. Sorry this is all kind of random, I haven't eaten yet, so I'm kind of all over the place.

I'm off to find some grub and then watch me some Grey's Anatomy!!

Starting line - Tomorrow

I've decided to start my 101 in 1001 tomorrow, instead of in June.

I realized I'm going to be doing a couple of the things in the next couple of months and may not have the financial ability to do them after the fact, so I will begin tomorrow Wednesday February 17th, 2010. My new end date will be Wednesday, November 14, 2012. I have updated my 101 in 1001 list accordingly :)

In other news, Justin and I got approved for an apartment - more on that later. My morning break is up.

Look for an update tonight.

Happy Tuesday!

101 in 1001 Update

I've started my list of 101 things, I figured I should post it as I go along and will edit it as things come up. So here is what I have so far. What would be on your list?

Start Date: Wednesday, February 17th, 2010
End Date: Wednesday, November 14th, 2012

Go camping at Aloha State Park again
Visit Wilmington North Carolina
Buy a new car
Lose 20 pounds and KEEP IT OFF
Upgrade my digital camera
Host a girl’s night at home
Start Graduate School
Read my collection of Sookie Stackhouse novels
Blog at least 8 times per month (0/264)
Blog at least 2 recipes per month (0/66)
Start a Travel Map
Take leadership role in the Livonia RFL
Write a letter to myself to open in 10 years
Go to church at least once a month (0/33)
No fast food for a month (McDonalds, Arby’s, BK, Taco Bell, Boston Market, Subway)
Use my passport to go somewhere other than Canada
Pay for an entire Christmas without using a Credit Card
Take e-mail off my Blackberry for a week
Watch the sunrise from 2 different locations (0/2)
Go to Chicago with Justin
Order something custom made from Etsy
Wash my face and remove all makeup before bed every night for a month (0/30)
Visit 10 states that I’ve never been to (0/10)
Buy a piece of art from Suze Ford
Keep a log of all spending for 3 months (0/3)
Eliminate extra spending based on log for the following 3 months
No late payments for 12 months in a row (0/12)
Drink nothing but water for a week, three times (0/3)
No TV for an entire day, twice (0/2)
Date night with Justin at least twice a month (0/66)
Read “Total Money Makeover” by Dave Ramsey
Take a picture of myself turning 26 and 27
Collect postcards from every place I’ve traveled for a scrapbook
Pray at least twice a week without asking for anything for myself
Get rid of a piece of clothing for every new one I buy
Wear a skirt to work once a month (0/33)
Throw a surprise party
Eat no meat for a week, twice (0/2)
Eat no chocolate for a week
Donate $2 for each item not completed to charity
Visit my Grandfather’s site at the cemetery
Visit my paternal Grandma on a day that is not a holiday
Go to bed by 10pm every night for a week, twice (0/2)
Use at least one coupon every time I go grocery shopping
Go strawberry picking
Host an independent fundraiser for a charity
Get at least $1,000 in savings for “emergencies”
Join a bible study group at church
Make a list of family/friends birthdays and send out cards for each
Eat a raw fruit or vegetable at every meal for a month
Make inspirational notes to leave in random places
Finish writing story started in January 09
Don’t visit Facebook for a week
Go to a Red Wings playoff game
Research adoption laws in Michigan
Wear my contacts at least once a week for a year (0/52)
Save all my change for a year
See a movie in the afternoon by myself
Find someone on Modest Needs to sponsor
Adopt a family at Christmas
Rescue a cat/dog
Read an article on freep.com everyday for a year (0/365)
See a sunset on Mullet Lake again
Every month have a “I’m thankful for” blog post (0/33)
Visit a nutritionist
Completely change my last name
Find out more about my history
Write a letter to a government official
Write an essay/article and find out how to get it published somewhere
Send a care package to solders overseas
Find 10 things I can do to “live more green” (0/10)
Take a trip to the Toledo Zoo
Find a spot to watch planes landing at Metro Airport
Take a picture a day for at least a month
Save a dollar a day for the 1001 days to spend at the end of the 1001.
Take pictures to document each month of our first year of marriage to create a "Year #1" Scrapbook

I've got 26 more to go. I'll update and organize as I go :)

Who can actually wear a glass slipper anyway!?!?!?!

I am going absolutely CRAZY trying to find shoes for the wedding. I have gone through 2 pairs so far, a but have not found the right ones. This has been harder then finding THE DRESS!

 Shoe #1 - David's Bridal - Marly


I bought these when I ordered my FIRST dress (yes, I said first). I didn't pick them out or even get a good look at them when I did. The girl at DB picked them out to try on for heel height and I was so exhausted at that point that I just said I would take them. Well... now they are sitting in my closet. They don't really go with my new dress and are pretty hard to walk in. My feet seem to move around in them too much and I can see myself twisting an ankle or falling down the aisle because I've got crappy shoes and 100lbs of dress on. Not a good combo.

Shoe #2 - Liz Rene - Melissa

Super cute, right?
Reviews said they were super comfortable.

Eh. WRONG! Not comfy, hard to walk in and make me look funny. AND the white isn't really white, it was a pinkish off white. They go back tomorrow.




I've looked at just about every site I can think of and just haven't found anything that jumps out at me. I need it to be a lower heel because I am not good in tall shoes and am a total klutz, I can't wear flats because Justin is already a lot taller than me and I will look goofy standing next to him without a little height and they need to be semi-comfy because that will be ALL I think about during the ceremony if my feet feel like they are going to fall off.

I just don't know what to do anymore. Maybe I'll just go barefoot, or in tube socks. Sound like a plan?

I need help ladies! Help me find some cute shoes that are a lower heel (under 3in) and aren't super expensive. I felt a couple chest pains paying the $86 for pair #2, so I'd like to keep it under $90 because lets face it, I'm never going to wear them again.

I can't post pictures of my dress because my blog is linked to my facebook and I don't want Justin stumbling on to my dress, we've already had one scare, I'm keeping him as far away from my dress as possible until I walk down that aisle!

Help Me!
Thanks in advance!

SuperBowl, SchmooperBowl

I honestly couldn't care less about the Super Bowl, so I am protesting by watching the Law & Order: SVU "Man-a-thon" on USA while bumming around on the internet.

I got an idea today from Heather from the blogs "Heather Drive" and "Road to the Aisle", she is doing a 101 in 1001, it's a list of 101 things that you want to accomplish in 1001 days (2.75 years in case you're wondering). While I've got enough stuff to worry about in the upcoming months (91 days, yeah!!!!) I want to spend the next couple of months coming up with ideas for my list and will start on June 1, 2010. I've already got about 5 and will keep adding as they pop in my head. There's a website where you can learn about the 101 in 1001 idea and start a list of your own. Keep your eyes peeled for additions to my list :)

I went with my Dad today to get him measured for his tux for the wedding. I realized while we were there that I have never seen my Dad with a tux on, outside of his wedding pictures. He's more of a flannel shirt kind of guy, so it will be fun to see him all gussied up for the wedding. Speaking of the wedding, I have found another wedding obsession... REGISTRY STALKING. I saw the convos about it on The Knot before, but didn't realize how much fun it would be. My mom got a call from a friend today asking about something on my registry and I immediately went online to see what has been purchased so far. My most anticipated gift has been purchased, and this one really is a "me" gift because Justin could care less about yummy, easy to brew coffee, but here it is:

A KEURIG COFFEE MAKER!!!! We have them at work and I absolutely love them, I put one on the registry and then after getting some grief from Justin and my mom, I took it off. After I saw one in my co-worker's kitchen I put it back on. I wanted one so bad, and now I will have one, lol. I'm pathetic, I couldn't even wait three weeks to see what we will get at our shower, I'm not proud but it is what it is :P

P.S. We're also getting our silverware, a chip/dip serving plate, a blender and an ice cream scoop... not that I checked both registries or anything.

Enjoy the rest of the SchmooperBowl, you SchmooperBowl Fans, you.

P.P.S Aparently "SchmooperBowl" is a word because spell check didn't put a little red line underneath it... you learn something new everyday.

A promise is a promise

During my PMS induced post last night, I promised to be back today with a better attitude and here I am :)

Still feeling kind of sick, but I had a decent day, so I am going to spread my happiness to the blogger world.

I woke up with two kitties cuddling with me, one of which proceeded to meow at me, right in my face. I couldn't help but laugh. I spent most of morning chatting with my Dad. We don't get to do that very often, so I like to savor the times when we do. He works afternoons, so I only see him on the weekend and it was just us in the house this morning, so we talked about all kinds of stuff including his job and how he is single handedly bringing in extra money for his company. He is just doing a little extra every week while still doing his job (he's pretty much cutting out a middle man for the company when he sees the opportunity). He's brought in an extra 10,000 since August. I was honestly inspired and very proud to see how he sees the bigger picture and is helping out his company even though he's received a pay cut recently and they have gone through tons of layoffs. I have been looking for something, anything, to inspire me lately and it's funny how you find it in the strangest of places. I never thought the inspiration/mood lifter I needed would come from a casual chat session with my Dad on a Saturday morning.

I went shopping with my mom today. I went looking for a shower dress, which I have yet to find, but I came out with a SUPER cute outfit for my bachelorette party. I guess that's something :)

Update on the apartment search: Justin and I went last night to check out a complex in Northville. Wasn't really our cup of tea, and frankly, the lady showing us around bugged me. There is a complex in Canton that has everything and I mean EVERYTHING we want, but I have been apprehensive about it because I'm not a huge fan of Canton because Ford Road is just a little too crazy for me, but the complex is perfect, so I just sent an e-mail out checking for availability.

ALSO.... I got my car back today, nothing was wrong so it was no charge. Gotta love the guys at Belle Tire in Livonia, they are AWESOME!

Now it's off to eat some Daly's with my parents and watch House. Lazy Saturday night in. Perfect for the February weather, gotta love it.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Too Late to Elope??

 Disclaimer: I'm in a bad mood and this post will reflect nothing but that, enjoy and you've been warned.

I'm so over this wedding planning crap. Is it too late to elope? I've only got 93ish days until my wedding...and for some reason all kinds of drama decided to come out NOW. 95% of the problem is I am a control freak and have a hard time letting go of things coupled with the fact that my family is CRAZY!

I've apparently "hurt my grandma's feelings" by deciding to print my invitations on my computer as opposed to having her hand write all 120 of the invitations. My alcoholic uncle and his crack whore girl friend are still in the "to be determined" pile. Do I invite them and risk having a huge blow out at my wedding? (My aunt, his ex-wife, will be there with her new husband...they mean 10x more to me then my uncle does, which is sad, but true). Trying to deal with people that think they are invited to the wedding but didn't make the cut because of budgeting reasons, without sounding like a bitch and hurting more feelings. I need a shower dress, ceremony and reception shoes, a bracelet, haven't tried on my dress since I picked it up in July (and it's sitting at my grandma's house who is aparently not happy with me...). My car is sitting at Bell Tire getting fixed for the second time in three months, Justin and I still have NO PLACE TO LIVE... we went to an apartment complex today to check it out and it just was not what we expected. I'm starting to get sick and my ankle is still bothering me.

I. AM. TIRED. (and sick of wedding planning)

Can you tell I'm PMSing? lol.

I promise tomorrow I will be in a better mood (god, I hope so) and will have a nice, upbeat post.

Good Night,
Happy Friday!

Chugging Right Along... I think.

So it's been a while.

It's been a hard couple of months for me, so I just didn't have the time or energy to update you all on my crazy life. Chances are that you're my friend on Facebook anyway and have heard my rants and raves on my daily status updates :)

My Mary Kay Grand Opening went well, I reached my goal, with a little stretching. I had four makeovers in total over 2 weeks, completing 17 new faces which gave a "Perfect Start"! Very exciting, but I'm not going to lie, very exhausting. After the first makeover I started to resent Mary Kay a little because I was realizing that the wedding was just around the corner and I was ditching my wedding stuff to work on my Mary Kay stuff, so it took a lot for me to get my crap together for the other 3 makeovers, but I did it and had a good time. I'm having a hard time seeing it in my future on a regular basis, but who knows, maybe after the wedding is over and life slows down a little bit, I'll be more ready to put sometime into it. We shall see...

So, the house hunt is officially over... and by that I mean, we gave up for the time being. We've put in 5 bids since November and only one was accepted and it ended up turning into a load of crap (you all know the story, I've explained it a couple times) and Justin and I were just tired of the stress and disappointment. We were also running out of time and I didn't want to buy a house just because the timing was right. If I'm going to spend thousands of dollars on a house, it's going to be worth it and I'm not sure we would have been 100% happy in anything that we saw while hunting. So for the next year or so we will be living in an apartment saving money are repairing some credit with the hopes that in a year we will be eligible for a little bit more money and will have more time and energy to devote to a house hunt. I do have to give my real estate agent real props! She fought for us and was amazing!! FYI: Her name is Wendy Harlow and works for Keller Williams in Plymouth, let me know if you want some more info, I would love to recommend her to anyone looking for a home.

We have an appointment with an apartment complex in Northville tomorrow night, so hopefully it will be a good place for a good price and we can move in sometime soon.

On the wedding front: I've gotten quite a bit done recently. The invitations are about 3/4 done, coasters are almost done and lots of little stuff have been checked off my list recently. I'm super excited to have all that stuff off my shoulders. This wedding is going to be AMAZING but I cannot wait for it to be over. Not in a bad way, I'm just ready to devote my brain to something else for a while, maybe... Grad School :)

Nice transition don't you think?

I am planning on going to Grad School in the fall, well, I would like to start Grad School in the fall. I'm not sure how I'm going to pay for it at this point, but it's definitely something I want to accomplish. Eastern has a Educational Psychology program that is fully online, which is AWESOME because then I can work full-time and take classes at the same time, no internship or classes required. Completely awesome! It's something I have a great interest in and would open quite a few doors, including teaching at a community college or working in a school. If anything it will give me something productive to concentrate on and make me feel like I have an escape hatch built into my professional life right now, which is much needed. I can't keep on the path I am on, it's not good for me.

That's what I've got for now. I had some political opinions and venting that I wanted to get out, but I think I'll save that for a different post... I don't want to overload you in one night ;)

Nighty Night!
Em.

Conflicted.

That's really the only word I can use to describe myself right now... oh, and overwhelmed, stressed and tired.

We've had condo drama lately and it's really wearing me out. The condo that we were buying appraised for less than what our offer was (as you might remember from my previous post) so it suddenly turned into a short sale situation because the seller owed more on the house then the appraisal price. Great, just what we were trying to avoid. So, they said it would be a quick 3 day process... that was over 3 weeks ago and we're still waiting. Well, just in case, Justin and I have been looking at other houses/condos while we're waiting to hear back from the seller's mortgage company. We found one we loved, we put in an offer (while we still have our offer in on Condo #1) and were told to bring our highest and best offer by this morning. Unfortunately, our highest and best is just $100 over the purchse price and I have NO idea how many offers came in between yesterday afternoon and this morning or if they were cash, over the purchase price, better credit, etc. Condo #2 was the first place I was actually excited about. It has no downfall, it has everything we want, and somethings that we never would of thought to want. So now we're waiting to hear on that one...

But wait, that's not all...

Last night Justin and I talked it out and we decided that we wanted to walk away from condo #1. It seems like, after seeing #2, that we were just settling. It didn't have some major things that we were looking for and has all this mortgage company drama coming along with it. It was really hard for me to walk away from Condo #1 because A) we lost $600 from the inspection and appraisal (our mortgage guy is going to try and get our appraisal money back, but no promises)... B) I had already completed 2 registries based on the colors in the kitchen/home. C)It came with all appliances which is hard to come by. But, in the end the "little" things that we didn't get made this a place that we were settling for. 1. No garage 2. No driveway 3. Only one parking space per condo 4. on the older end of the spectrum, so who knows what will need to be fixed in the near future and 5. the neighborhood wasn't where we wanted to be. I know some of you are probably saying "why in the hell did you put an offer in then?" and here's my answer:

At the time, it was the best condo we had found in our price range and because it was private owned, we could move in rather quickly. Until this "3 day" short sale crap started. Now we're 3 weeks into a short sale with no inkling of what is going to happen and we've found something else that has EVERYTHING we want and more. Even if we don't get Condo #2, it showed us that there ARE other places out there that fits what we need, in our price range. So, it's back to looking (unless we get Condo #2... cross your fingers) and if we dont' find something by March, we're going to start in an apartment and keep our search going until we find the perfect house not just "the best house we can find right now".