MY OLD BLOG!

I had a blog before this one, named the same thing. && i couldnt find it, but i managed to track it down today and I'm so happy I did. I was reading through my old posts [from when i was 18] and it's crazy how DEEP i was then. I feel like i'm such a shallow thinker these days -- i used to write from my heart and it was OBVIOUS. Take a look if you dare to take a peek at my 18 year old mind... :) It'll bring smiles and tears. :)

My OLD BLOG

It's like having babies -- only you can crate them when you're gone

This is a post about my dogs -- my babies -- my little, lovely, spoiled-rotten princesses. They are the cutest darn things, and they bring A & I so much joy. I know that we would be absolutely lost if anything ever happened to them -- and we are crazy parents always worrying about their safety. Even our backyard isn't safe...a bird my swoop down and take 'em away. Really...it's true.

But why are they so wonderful to us? Let me explain each one, Monkee, Jayde & Sasha Boo, in perfect detail, starting in the order that they became a part of our family.

Monkee: Monkee Butt, She is the baby, even though she is not the youngest. She cries to get her way -- especially when it is food that she wants. Aaron thinks it's funny to make her howl. She loves to cuddle (especially under the covers) so she is the perfect little snuggle buddy. She has the cutest little face and she knows how to use it. Whenever you walk over to her, she will roll over unto her back because she wants her tummy rubbed. But she knows that in return she has to "give mama kisses." She knows that on command. There's nothing she hates more though than wearing clothes. She will stand in one place for an hour if I try to dress her up. She is little miss grumpy pants until I undress her. I feel like she was born to love, because she is everyone's best friend. She goes crazy when she gets to see family (Mom, Dad, Kelly, Grandma), especially when it is them coming to our house. She'll whine because she's so excited! Everyone loves Monkee...because she's the cutest :)

Jayde: She is our little monster! That's her nickname anyways. She has the most loving puppy eyes I have ever seen. It feels like she is looking deep inside of me whenever she looks at me -- and I know it's because she loves me so much. We got her from the humane society. I saw her picture on their website; they said she was a chihuahua mix. I wanted another chihuahua so I went to go and see her. Although she doesn't really look like a chihuahua, I didnt care. I fell in love with her right away. She was in really bad shape -- skin & bones -- but we nursed her to health within a couple months. From the first day she has been attached to me (almost too much), and I think she may have separation anxiety. She will do whatever it takes to get to me if I leave the room, even if it means jumping over baby gates. Wherever I go she goes -- i look at her and she is looking at me. & she She gives me kisses ALL the time :) She LOVES to play fetch and would play it for hours, and is quite amusing when she plays with the other two babies. She does great on a leash & I have a feeling she would make a great jogging buddy. She is characteristic of loyalty and I love her to death ... even if she's not totally potty trained yet :)

Sasha: Our little Boo Bear. We got her on halloween, and I thought that she looked like a ghost. We almost named her Boo; but decided to just have that be her middle name. She may not be able to hear, but she makes up for it with personality. She is such a bundle of energy & she is all BAARRRKK (she has a loud one). She drags all of the toys out of their toy box. She runs away from you when you try to catch her. She rarely sits still and she is ALWAYS trying to get her sisters to play with her. But the old ladies (haha) want nothing to do with her sometimes -- & that drives her crazy. She will bite their ears and face and make little growling noises. It's adorable and funny. She has just recently started to bark at herself in the full length mirror we have in our tv room. She will go and lay in front of it when we are watching tv and just stare at herself in it. She will even look at us through the mirror. It cracks us up. She's our little challenge, I mean, how do you train a deaf dog. Sign langauge is hard to teach a chihuahua who I believe has ADD. I'm not sure she'll ever get trained -- but she is adorable nonetheless, and we love her unconditionally.

Now do you see why we are absolutely, wholeheartedly, IN LOVE with our little munchkins? :D

Paint by Numbers

Since we bought our house, we have talked about wanting to paint it. Unfortunately, A & I cannot decide on what colors. I keep saying that I want to paint the house white, with black trim and a red door -- or -- a dark tealish color with all white trim. He wants to paint the house brown with light tan/white accents. Opinions? It's hard having a ranch style house because not all paint schemes go with the layout of the house. I know that does not sound possible but it is very true. The bigger the house -- the more drastic and bold the color scheme can be.

 We have done so much to the inside of the house -- but the outside still looks unmaintained. I cannot believe that in April we will have been homeowners for a whole year! It amazes me how fast the time is flying by. It also amazes me how much we have accomplished so young. I know there are not THAT many people who can say they bought a house when they were 19 -- but I can, and it still blows my mind sometimes. But I must admit, sometimes I start to feel a little sad that I didn't buy my "dream house." I see others who are buying houses that are more similar to what I would want and I start to hate my house. I tend to forgot all the hard work that was put into my home. It was a mess when we first got it -- but now it truly does feel like my home and I love it. It makes me happy to know that we made it what it is. Anyone can go buy a house that does not need any work -- but we didn't -- and because of that I feel like we have been able to make it more a statement of us. If it had been in perfect condition to start with, I'm not sure how much I would have wanted to change it -- and it wouldnt feel as much OURS as it does. But nonetheless, I get tired of things really easily -- and i have picky tastes, so here is a list of things that I want to change sometime this year:

-PAINT OUR HOUSE!
-new vinyl in the kitchen, bathrooms, foyer and laundry room
-either whole new sinks or new faucets for the bathrooms
-new shower door in master bathroom
-new doorknobs
-new fan in our bedroom
-new shades and possibly new curtains for the living room
-french doors to replace the sliding glass door
-fix closet doors in tv room
-new light fixtures in tv room and office
-get outside furniture for front porch and back patio
-fix outside patio area/ new roof for covered patio
-new dishwasher
-fix the fireplace
-build a mantle for fireplace
-BUILD tons of new furniture :)
-and tons more things that I can't think of right now! :)

I know we will probably not get to 1/2 the things on my list -- but it's fun to dream about how our house could look if we did everything we wanted to it!

I'll have to post pictures of our house on here soon since nobody has really seen it! :) It can be like a before and after... <3



I'm in love with this! How darling is that red door? :)

I See It, I Eat it!

I think I'm addicted to fast food -- more or less, Arctic Circle. They have the best french fries & their fry sauce is Ahh-ma-zing! I did sooo good all day. I went to the gym, had a really good workout, ate really healthy, drank more liquids than usual. Then I call A when I'm leaving school and he asks, "wanna meet @ arctic circle?" Of course I can't turn that down -- I know it's bad for me and it is completely going against my goal to get back in shape, but I just cannot help myself. I wasnt even that hungry and I ate a whole meal anyways. I think I need therapy. :X Do you have any suggestions to be able to just say NO!?! I told A when we were walking out of the place that he can't bring me there anymore. But I've told him that a million times, and well, there we were after 9 o'clock hitting up our favorite fast food joint. He doesn't understand because he's trying to "get bigger" as he says, and he can take in anything and not think twice about it. But me, my metabolism seems to be snail-speed and I have to do everything right in order to see results.  I forgot to mention that I've also acquired a pretzel/coconut m&m addiction as well. I'm following weight watchers and I manage to have just enough points every night to have a pack of m&m's. Yes, I have the points, but I should be using them on...well...not m&m's. I NEED HELP! I think that I need a bad food intervention -- because it's gotten way out of hand. :)  ...motivation please.

Take an open-minded walk in your own shoes...

I'm guilty of looking at others and wishing I had what they have, being jealous -- or wishing I was in a different part of my life -- or whatever the case is for that day. But then I sit back and think of how lucky I truly am. How lucky so many of us really are and take it for granted so easily. I have a lot of people that love me and I know I have a couple of friends who would be there for me in a second. I have a husband who puts up with my stubornness and loves me just the same. I have three precious dogs who are protected and loved because of me and my loved ones. I have a roof over my head, money to pay the bills and many doors open to me that others do not have. I am blessed and I know that. We dont always have all the things that we want but we have all the things we need plus some...and isn't that more than enough?

Some people may roll their eyes at me and say that my optomism is false, but I'm here to say that there is no room for pessimsm in my life. It would be wrong of me to act like i'm unprivileged compared to others or that my life is lacking in some way. Why not love the life you have and not feel bad about it? There are so many other people who wish they had half the things you have...and you take all those things for granted because you have your eyes closed to all the wonderful things in your life. Be happy for your life...because it's all yours. :) And I'm sure there are a lot of people who would love to be in your shoes for a day...you just don't realize it yet :)

Happy New Years! :)

For New Years Eve, Aaron & I did not have any big plans. All day we sat around and watched movies and I sat on the computer. But we did it together, and it felt perfect. Around 7, I got ready to go out to Olive Garden. We don't eat out much, and Olive Garden is pretty fancy to us. :) Needless to say, it was delish. We thought about going to a movie but instead opted to stop by Walmart and grab some champagne to bring in the new year --yea, we're classy :). We got home in just enough time to chill our champagne in our sink...what? we don't have an icebucket :) We turned on the ball drop, kissed at midnight, popped the champagne and watched a movie. It felt great. I'm learning that I don't always like being out, being busy. It's important to take time for yourself, to be with your husband, just the two of you. Sometimes, other people start to get in the way -- the hustle and bustle of the city can take away the beauty of life. So in 2011, I want to take more time to just be free and alive, even if that means sitting at home doing absolutely nothing. :)

To be inspired is to inspire

I used to write a lot when I was younger. It is as though inspiration poured out of me, overflowing onto the pages of my notebooks. But now, I try to sit down and write and there is nothing there. I'm more aware now that my writing needs to be worth reading, and these days, I just don't have time for inspiration. I'm always busy with school and work, and life -- there is just no time to relax and let it all flow out. If I let my thoughts flow out without regard for their importance or validity, I would probably leave a trail of math equations for you to read. It makes me really sad -- when I cannot write, I feel like a part of me is missing. But how can one write when it seems there is nothing worth writing about? So what do I do? I make time each day for inspiration -- to breathe in the day and let it soak in like water into the earth. But can one truly go looking to be inspired? Is that not against the "rules" of inspiration? Probably so. But what else can be done when everything in life is on a set schedule. Nothing. So I am penciling into my head ten minutes of inspiration tomorrow, and the day after that. Ten minutes to breathe in the world around me for what it really is, not how I view it in passing. I will stop everything -- think nothing -- and inspire so that I can inspire you.

Searching for inspiration...