Wow time flies

I know we've kinda been MIA again but December kinda crept up on us. We got back from the cruise and then had to throw ourselves into getting ready for Christmas. The cruise was a blast and I'm going to write about that next and then finally Christmas. So check back later.

HAHAH They're out there....

So I donno what's come over me the last few days but I've been obsessed with fashion, but more specifically plus sized fashion blogs. I've gone crazy reading about 6 different ones in the past two days. It's been really reaffirming to know that there is such a thing as plus size fashion.

Growing up my mother wasn't very supportive of my weight and would constantly harp on me to lose it. She would tell me over and over again how there wasn't any cute clothes for girls my size. I bought that hook line and sinker. I never thought even into my teen years that I could find cute plus sized clothes so I didn't bother looking. I never looked at fashion magazines other then to actually  read the articles. I never looked around online. I just gave up and lived with the ugly, bland, yuck clothes.

In the recent years I've gotten a little more involved with fashion but it wasn't until I started selling mark. that I really started looking around for proof that I could be as cute as my slender friends. Then with the help of Google's new Instant Search I was awakened to the truth. I found other plus size women....and they look good. Seeing pages after pages of photo's of them being themselves, wearing cute clothes and feeling good about themselves made me feel good about myself.

It's a new day....and I want to go shopping....now I just need a job.

Here's the blogs I've been checking out.

The Curvy Girl's Guide to Fashion

Diary of a Fatshionista

Sound Bites

Young, Fat & Fabulous

Musings of a Fatshionista

Nothing intentional

So we've kinda taken a break from blogging. Nothing intentional, it just kinda happened. Life got in the way. Plus we're kinda boring.

Here's what you missed.

We went to the zoo with our nephew.

I got the shoes I've been wanting for two years and I LOVE them.

Got some super exciting news about our next trip.

Our business have taken off.

I've fallen in love with Coolata from Dunkin Donuts and I'm brazen enough to drink them in Starbucks parking lots. 

Been hanging out with my peeps.

Daniel and I have been going to Marriage on the Rock. It's been pretty good.

My new obsession is the move (500) days of Summer. I've must have seen like like 3 times this month.

I bought a dress that makes me look divine.

Another thing that has been an interesting change is that I've gotten more involved with make-up. I'm not a pro at it but I've been trying out different colors that I wouldn't normally. I got three mark. flip it's and they have a nice variety of colors I wouldn't normally buy for myself. 

Another thing I've fallen in love with has been TLC's "Say Yes to the Dress: Big Bliss". It's a show that is about plus size ladies looking for wedding dresses. As a plus size woman who has gone though the wedding dress shopping ordeal I  understand what it's like. There are so few shows on tv today that are about plus sizes let alone the oxymoron that is plus size fashion. I've seen every episode and there is a good buzz about it. I just hope it stays for a while. As I've always said, "Big girls need love too".

So far nothing....

So I started selling mark. online and hosting giveaways and I haven't got a single sale to show for it. I've been working really hard on getting my name out there and letting everyone I know about mark and about how great the products really are. I've been wearing the eye shadows and the lipsticks and for a girl that isn't very girlie they are really at makeing me look good with minimum effort.

I don't know what more I could be doing to get my name out there and to drum up sales. I guess not having any friends is a bad thing when it comes to getting people to buy things you're selling.

I'm going to keep going as Daniel is being really supportive as is my parents. I know that it's going to take time and it's going to be work but it would be nice to just see one new comment on my mark. blog. It would be nice to see at least one sale, just so I know I'm not wasting my time....and money.

Work from home?

So over the last couple of weeks or so I've been thinking about trying to figure out a way to work from home. I've thought it over and did some research and thought about Avon and Mary Kay. I looked into Mary Kay and the start up cost wasn't feasible to me but I'd already start in the hole. Nah.... I then started looking at Avon and some how ended up on the mark. site. Hummm this looks interesting. A bit younger, fresher and hipper then what I remember from Avon.

So I took the plunge....I decided to sell mark products. It feels really pretty good because I know it's something I can do from home. I'm really excited to start trying to work for myself. I've started a new Facebook page for my mark products as well as a website for my reviews of products, promo's and giveaways. So if you're interested in just finding out what mark. is you can check out my boutique or my product blogs.

Lottie

So not to long ago we got a new puppy from Daniel's sister. Her dog had puppies with Daniel parents dog so it's a mix of a dachshund and some kind of Irish terrier. She's really cute and we were originally going to call her Naddie to go with our chihuahua Cincy. (Get it Cincy-Naddie) but after a week of calling her Naddie I changed it to Charlotte. Daniel felt that Charlotte was to long of a name for a dog so it was shorten to Lottie.

Lottie is a handful and had made me wonder if children is really in the cards for us. I mean we adore kids but enjoy the freedom that comes from being child free.

Anywho some of the things Lottie has learned this past couple of weeks.

• To go up the stairs. I sat on the top of the stairs showing her over and over how to climb up with her finally figuring it out. She's gotten pretty fast at it now.
• To go down the stairs. This was learned separately from going up the stairs so for a long time she would just whine at the top waiting for someone to take her down after she climb the stairs. Now she drops her front paws to the stair below and kinda just slides herself down. She hasn't figured out to bring her hind legs with her so she's half sitting on the top step and kinds moves herself to the right to let the hind legs fall to the step she's on.
• She's started sleeping through the night. At first I was getting up about every 2 hours for her to go to the bathroom. Now she wakes up every 4. Looking forward to the day she goes all night.

Cincy hasn't really taken to her. Most of the time she gets ignored with a rare time when Cincy will allow herself to be chased around the couch. When Cincy gets done she'll just jump onto the couch since she knows Lottie can't get up there yet.

It lasted a week...and we're a family of four

So I had this great idea about how we were going to save money by not having cable or internet. Well that lasted less then a week. On the day they were gonna come cut us off I caved. I had really good reasons. Daniel is taking classes for his job to get different certs and has to do them online twice a week. We had no idea how he was gonna study. That and life without Pandora or Accuradio isn't a life at all.




Also this week we welcomed a new bundle of joy into our family...no I'm not preggers we got a puppy. Daniel's sisters dog had puppies with Daniel's parent's dog. So now we have this floppy eared, big eyed dog following us all over the house. We went through like 3 names for her and finally settled on Lottie which is short for Charlotte. My mother is dead set against the idea and is pouting that I didn't listen to her. Oh well. Mom will just have to get over it. I've got more funny stories about Lottie so look for those coming soon.

Experiment Time

So a while ago I wrote a blog about 101 things I wanted to do before I die and one of them was to unplug the tv for a whole month. I've also been wanting to cut internet and cable since we I saw a documentary called "No Impact Man" but I've never been able to convince Daniel to try it.

Well guess what? I finally talked Daniel into trying the experiment of not having cable and internet. I was only able to talk him into trying it for 6 months. I showed him how much we could save by not having the extra expense. I also showed him all the nice excursions we could take on our up coming cruise with us not having the extra expense.

Now comes the practical application of my experiment. Since Daniel has internet at work he wont miss it much. Since I'm home bound it will impact me more but I want to prove to myself (and my mother) that I can live without internet. Cable wise it's not really a big deal. We have the basic plan currently and only get about 30 different channels. Of the 30 we only watch about 5 of them. Of the 5, 3 are free over the air channels. The biggest things are blogging about the experiment and paying our bills since I normally do this with online bill pay.

Daniel asked me how am I going to pass the time and I've started thinking about it. I've been trying to knit a scarf now for about 2 years so that's first on my list. I've gotten away from reading which I used to do all the time. I have my crafts. I'll have time to visit my friends. I'm thinking life will become simpler. Who knows maybe Daniel and I will come to like it and stop having it all together. I doubt it but who knows.

Cruise Time

So Daniel and I decided to take a cruise this year for our anniversary. At first we were going to go with a Norwegian Cruise out of Miami. Then we found a deal with Carnival cruising out of Jax. It came out cheaper because the taxes involved are cheaper here then in Miami.

We booked a balcony cabin and we are going to the Bahamas. Daniel contacted a DJ acquaintance from Nassau so we will know a local person that is willing to show us around. I'm not really wanting to go to a beach while we're in Nassau since the next day we're going to be going to the cruise lines private beach. So we're looking for historical things to do while in Nassau. Neither of us wants to go to Atlantis since we've read that the place is normally packed and we'd rather learn something about the history of the islands.

The next day we are going to a private island called Half Moon Cay. The big thing we're discussing is if we should try to rent a cabana on the island. They are about $200 but everyone RAVES about them. I found a video for them on Youtube. What do you guys think? Spurge or Save?

I'm getting kinda excited. We have a while till the cruise but I'm excited.

Photo blog

So since Erin said I should add photo's to the blog I guess I will add two from my most recent date with my extremely sexy husband. We went to the Cummer Art Museum and Gardens.

Struggling.

So I've been struggling trying to come up with content for this blog. I mean are any of you really interested in the day to day happenings of our life? Most of it is painfully mundane. Nothing of interest has happened. Birthdays have come and gone. Holidays have been celebrated. Other then that we're just living. I've had some idea for blog topics but Daniel prefers me not to wonder into the area's where I might ruffle feathers.

So basically you're pretty much looking at the last few days of this blog.

I love saving money....

So a long time ago I reading online about real ways to save money. I stumbled on a website that gives you rebates on online purchases. It's beyond simple. You log in and look to see if your online store is there and you click on it and it gives you a rebate on your purchase. We've used it when we've booked hotels and earned 5% back. We've used it on business cards for Daniel and earned 10% back. The best part is every 3 months you get a big check for the total of the rebates. Simple. I love saving money.


Wanna check it out.....

http://tinyurl.com/29qwqzn

Life....moves....fast

Wow life just kinda moves fast. You blink and months have gone buy. We've been in the house now for about 9 months. It's seems strange to think about any time before the house. There are things I love about it( I love our lake) and things I hate( drywall problem, shower problem and HOA drama). Daniel and I were talking the other day that if we won the lotto we would stay here but pretty much redo the whole house. Put in hardwoods, new counters, put my cork flooring in the kitchen, etc.

Another big thing is that two really good friends are pregnant. I'm so happy for them. They are already great mommas. It's been hard on me a personal level since Daniel and I have started trying for children but it hasn't happened yet. At first we were going to wait two years but decided neither of us is getting any younger. It's kinda hard on me since I see others and it seems so easy for them but not for us. Just have to put our faith in the Lord that He has a plan for us. Maybe not biological children but adopted child like I was. Just hoping to over come the money hurdle with adoption.

In happy news Daniel and I have made plans for our 2nd anniversary trip. We're taking a cruise this year. It's a really nice Norwegian out of Miami. A 5 day trip to the Caymans and Cozumel. We're not going to be traveling on our anniversary just as a celebration of the anniversary. We got a really good deal and a free upgrade for their best balcony. We were going to try for a ocean view room but we love sitting out on our deck here at the house and looking at the lake...and what is an ocean if not a huge lake. lol.

We finally held our housewarming. We just had it for family mostly and a few friends. I want to plan another party that is more laid back. Looking forward to football season so I can have more football paries.

How would you do as a 1930's housewife?

For some reason I was thinking about the 30's and what it must have been like to live during that time. Dealing with the great depression and the dust bowl. I ended up stumbling on this in another blog. How would you rate as a 1930's housewife?

66 As a 1930s wife, I am Superior Take the test!

Oh and men there is a test to see how good of a 1930's husband you'd be.

101 Things I want to do before I die

This is my bucket list. All the things I'd like to do before I die. Some are silly, some are unrealistic, but all of them are things I'd to get around to doing before I die.

1. Be a mother
2. Go to Naples Italy
   
3. Skydive
4. Take a road trip to CA
5. Stay at Disney's Wilderness Lodge
6. Learn to play the piano
7. Learn Italian
8. Bake a cake from scratch
9. Go to Vegas
10. See Beatles Love
11. Attend a taping of the Martha Steward Show.
12. Go to a Sun's game
13. Do a mission's trip.
14. Learn to fly a plane
15. Knit a scarf
16. Learn First Aid and CPR(again)
17. Take Daniel to DC
18. Take a cruise (We have our first one planned for Nov)
    
19. Take a trip on a train
20. Dress up for a costume party
21. See the cherry blossoms in Japan
22. Sleep in a hammock
23. Go camping
24. Go snorkeling
25. Sit on a jury
26. Own a Louis Vuitton
27. Kiss the Blarney Stone
28. Take ballroom dancing lessons
29. Do fire walking
30. See the Northern Lights
31. See the Fjords of Norway
32. Go to the Pike Place Market in Seattle
33. Read the Bible cover to cover
34. Learn to let go of anger
35. Unplug the TV for a month
36. Dye my hair red
37. Take a vacation without a camera
38. Buy something nauseatingly extravagant
39. Go to a film premiere
40. Travel to Ireland
41. Renew my vows with Daniel on a beach just the two of us
42. Do a Polar Plunge
43. Visit the White House
44. Visit Buckingham Palace
45. Have a reason to wear a ball gown
46. Own a really good camera
47. Ride in a Limo
48. Ride the London Eye
49. Watch the sunrise at a beach
50. Watch the sunset at a beach
51. Achieve my ideal weight
52. Play a round of Golf
53. Take a social etiquette class
54. Fly First Class
55. Learn sign language
56. Take a trip with my Mom
57. Take a carriage ride in Central Park
58. Watch all 6 Star Wars movies back-to-back
59. Try and "In & Out" burger
60. Log 100 hours on the Wii Fit
61. Use a metal detector at the beach
62. Spend the day at a spa
63. Go canoeing
64. See Phantom of the Opera on Broadway
65. Drive a wickedly cool car
66. Take my parents to dinner
67. Play Poker at The Orange Park Poker Room
68. Wear a bikini in public
69. See the Taj Mahal
70. Receive flowers for no reason
71. Toured the UN
72. Rent the Hermes Vintage Crocodile Kelly Handbag
73. Attend at least one major sporting event: the Super Bowl, the Olympics, the U.S. Open.
    
74. Go back to college and graduate
75. Meet my half-brother
76. Live in New Orleans
77. Be on Jeopardy
78. Have over 1,000 entries on my blog
79. Forgive
80. Be admired by at least someone other than Daniel
81. Paint more
82. Sell one of my paintings
83. Meet either of the two remaining Beatles
84. Stop drinking soda
85. Go on a full-blown Shopping Spree at a Mall
86. Finish my year in photo's
87. Raise my children as my mother did me.
88. Buy a "little black dress"
89. Have a beach bonfire
90. Score a YouTube hit
91. Touch a pyramid in Egypt
92. Go fishing on a boat
    
93. Go completely organic
    
94. Finish reading Devil Wears Prada
95. Be in a movie
96. Rent a house at the beach
97. Own a copy of Dance in the City and Dance in the Country by Renoir
98. Buy two more pairs of Tom's shoes
99. Learn proper posture
100. Own an expensive piece of jewelry
101. Never make a list like this again. 101 things? Man it's harder then it looks.
     
     

Who am I part 2.

As some of you no doubt know I'm adopted. I was adopted at birth (within minutes of my first breath) and was raised by my parents William and Carolyn. As you can no doubly tell it's never been a secret in our family that I was adopted. My parents after struggling to have children were finally given the chance to be parents.

My birth was something of a whispered secret on the military base where I was born. My (birth) mother wasn't married to my father at the time and from what I later learned he was abusive. They were also of difference ethnic backgrounds. My mother decided that what would be best for everyone involved was to place me for adoption. My (adopted) parents doctor knew of my parents struggle and talked to them about adopting me. After some genetic testing to find out my dominate traits* the doctors decided to give me to my parents. My parents had about a week to prepare for their new bundle of joy and my mother went crazy baby shopping.

After my birth my parents went through the legal hoops to finalize the adoption. Since I was technically an Italian being adopted by Americans my fathers transfer out of Italy was a problem. I wasn't legally their kid so my birth mother had to fill out all kinds of papers to let me be taken from the country. The Italian government also requires 3 years of home studies before the adoption could be finalized. So after 3 years I was officially their kid.

Growing up I never thought anything of being adopted it was more a problem of my mixed background. People were confused when they saw us out and my mother remembers someone thinking she was my nanny. Over the years I wondered about my (birth) mother. If I had any siblings out there. My (adopted) mother is also adopted so she understood my need for answers. In my teen rebellion phase I uttered the one statement all adopted parents dread...you're not my real parents anyway and my mother and I have had our struggles. Friends mostly didn't care( the military breeds racism out of you) other then the random your parents don't look anything like you. Into my adult years co-workers were shocked to find out my parents were black (whole other kettle of fish). Dating in the south could be problematic, looking not black while having to explain my black adopted parents cut a few relationships short.

There are funny times like when well meaning sales people make the comment that I look just like my (adopted) mom. We say thanks and laugh about it later.

Overall I think being adopted opens your mind to the whole idea of love. That family isn't just blood. Family is whatever you make it, that friends can become like family. That you can be born into a family but can forge yours out of whatever you want.



* The genetic testing was because if I had white dominate traits I would have been given to a white family. There is this belief that minority children need to be raised by minorities. Even today it's hard for non blacks to adopt black children and vice versa.

Who am I?

This week I have been watching shows about ancestry. All of them have been by Harvard University Prof. Henry Gates Jr. The two shows that I've watched are African American Lives 2 and Faces of America. Both shows are about the ancestry of famous Americans. The first show focuses on African Americans, including Morgan Freeman, Maya Angelou, Chris Rock, Tina Turner and others. Faces of America is more multicultural cast with Stephen Colbert, Yo-Yo Ma, Dr. Oz, Meryl Streep and others. (Both shows are on PBS, highly enjoyable, a nice show to catch).

Watching these shows make me wonder about the history of my ancestors. This is where things are tricky. First I'm multi-ethnic. Second I'm adopted. Who's history do I trace? My blood or my life? I know a few things about my adopted families history. On my father's side I'm a distant niece of Frederick Douglas and both sides are the descendants of slaves. Do I claim this as my heritage?

I know a little bit about my birth mother and I have met her and my half sister. I know that their family comes from TX but that is where the trail goes cold. When we visited she didn't want to talk about my birth father other then to say he was married and abusive. So I have half a history on that side. Do I claim this as my heritage?

When you're adopted these are things to wonder to yourself. How will I explain my ancestry to others or to my children?

I'm going to be doing some more blogs on my life as a multi ethnic, adopted Navy brat, so check back with me.

Sick...Sick....Sick...

So after my illness I got excited for my 27th birthday which was on the 19th. I was trying to recreate a birthday that Daniel had done for me where we went to St. Augustine after we eat at Caddyshack at the World Golf Village. We started late and never got to go to St. Augustine. We ended up just going to the Caddyshack and seeing an IMAX. Toward the end of the day I started feeling sick.

The next morning I woke up with a fever and my joints were hurting. I think I ended up with the flu. After a week of having a fever over 101, I finally came out it with just enough strength to make meals and start doing the wash. Today I'm going to try and clean the house a little.

I know to some it feels like we're always sick but I don't think that we are. I think that we get sick worst then other people. Most of the people that we know are parents and get exposed to germs that kids bring home. Since it's just Daniel and I and we don't have kids we don't get exposed to them. I've noticed we only get sick after visiting family on the holidays. Sooooo I donno......

MIA

I know it's been a while since we wrote in the blog but we have reason's. It had been really busy and then I got a bad cold. Here's what you missed.

We celebrated Christmas like last year. We spent Christmas eve with my parents, then came home to unwrap each others gifts and then on Christmas morning we went to Daniel's parents house and then back to my parents. I love doing this because the little kids faces at Christmas is priceless as is my Moms. We over eat and then try to figure out where to put the gifts.

New Years Eve Daniel had a gig. It wasn't too bad. A company had hired us to play music for their employees. It was easy because for 2 hours(out of 4 hours total) we mostly played background music while everyone talked. They were drinking and towards the end of the night a couple of people became rude. The usual stuff of I'm friends with the owner and you need to turn this song off and play one I want. I just roll my eyes. It was really funny when some drunk lady told us to turn off the chicken dance song while their was like 7 or 8 kids dancing to it with their parents. Ahhhh the life of a DJ.(In case you were wondering what you shouldn't say to a DJ I'd recommend you look at this, it holds true to any type of event.)

Then the great cold of 2010 came through the house. Daniel brought in some kind so death sickness. It always works like this. Daniel will get a tiny bit sick, give that sickness to me and I'll spend the next week dying and begging my parents to bring me med's and juice(sometimes having only one car stinks). Then after sleeping a week of my life away I'll get better only to have Daniel get sick again.

So that is where we are today. I'm gonna try to get back into the swing of things with the blog so check back again soon.