Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Buh Bye

So I got rid of Facebook today. I didn't really see the point of having it. I mean yes a few people talked to me on it but outside of that it was sucking the life out of me. It wasn't this joyful place to see how friends and family were doing. It was draining me of free time, of desire to be around people and goodwill towards my fellow man.

Only a few people will notice. I'm not known for my adoring fan's. Mostly it's friends that live in the same city as me who I never see. Maybe I'll get a random thumbs up from people but otherwise it's pretty pointless.

If you read my weight loss blog you will see I had a falling out of sorts with someone which lead me to not being involved with my fitness group. I doubt they'll even notice. I'm also thinking about taking a step back from my church. For a number of reason's. I've never really been a "church" person. I have a strong faith but that faith isn't wrapped up in a building or a place or a person. Daniel needs to go to church so he'll still be going but I think I'll just hang back and read my Bible in the time I normally spend at church. I'll miss the few people that I've gotten to know and who have taken the time to get to know me. It will be sad not to get a chance to talk to people and be social but in the words of my father, " C'est la vie!"

Well I'm off to put the niece down for her nap.


Monday, December 5, 2011

Crazy months

So I've been having the craziest couple of months. I broke my baby toe on my right foot...TWICE. I don't know if it's really considered two separate times or that I just re-broke it from the first time. Also I threw my back out. I've had bad back problems since I was in a horrible car accident when I was my late teens. It's been a problem that has plagued me for a really long time. It gets so bad I'm unable to walk. On top of that I had a tetanus scare after pruning the rose bushes outside the house.

Also during this time my mother and I had a falling out where it looked like we wouldn't be talking to each other ever again. It was really hard since growing up in the military my parents were the only family I had. My extended family lived states side while we roamed the Caribbean.

All of this took a toll on me mentally and physically. There were days when I just didn't feel like dealing with anything. I was supposed to be involved in a ladies Bible study but most of the time I was sick and couldn't make it. I wasn't really able to keep up with the housework. It was just bad.

It's times likes these that make me thankful for Daniel. He really is my rock. When I broke my toe the first time he moved our mattress downstairs because I couldn't make it up the stairs. He'd come home from work and clean and cook. Daniel's always been the guy who could make me laugh even when I didn't want too.

It's been a crazy couple of month and I'm just ready for the new year to begin. It will be the last year of my twenties, we'll have been married for 4 years, living in our house for 3 years and we'll be planning some big things for our future.

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Covering my head.

So I've been praying on something for a really long time. As most of you know I'm Catholic and traditionally when I attended Mass I would wear a mantilla. I have my personal reason's for doing it as well as 1 Corinthians 11 2-16. Since I got married Daniel and I have always gone to either a Methodist, Baptist, or a Non-Denominational church where the tradition of head covering isn't "normal" outside of the rare hat. 


During this time something has been calling me back to wearing a mantilla. Maybe I need it to make me focus more on what the pastor is saying vs. who's walking in late. I donno. But in the last 3 years this subject has been popping up in my head. Something is leading back to wearing a head covering in church. 


Finally I broke down and talked to Daniel about it and he agreed that if it's something that I'm being lead to do he'll support my decision. Here's the interesting part. As part of the idea of wearing a head covering you are meant not to be seen as a distraction to others. When I went to Mass I occasionally saw another woman wearing a mantilla or some other head covering but it wasn't seen as "strange". Women have worn them in the Catholic church since forever. Since I go to an amazing Non-Denominational while I doubt anyone would think I was strange (maybe they think I'm strange anyway. =) ) it might be a distraction to some. During the winter time I know I can get away with a scarf and just pull it over my head when we get to church but that wont be cutting it on days when I'm serving or in the summer. I've been looking around online and stumbled onto Snood's  which are worn by married Orthodox Jewish women. So I ordered two so I can start wearing them to church. 


I feel really happy and relieved by my decision. I feel like a weight has been lifted off my heart about this since it's something that I've been praying about for a very long time. 



Monday, November 14, 2011

Toddlers and coffee tables

So for the next couple of months I'm going to babysitting my niece.

Well let me back up some. I don't have kids. And there are no real plans to change that fact. I love kids, we just don't feel the need to have any little bundles of joy ourselves. I know a lot of parents out there who are doing a bang up job raising little pinballs.....I just don't feel the need to be one of them.

Since I have the luxury not to have to work my sister-in-law came to me and wanted to know if I'd watch my niece. I said sure and jumped right into it since originally I was in school to become a teacher. I'm familiar with babies and prefer this age to older kids. There is even a kinda joke floating around at my church that if your kid gets to be 2 they drop from my radar and I'm on to the next little baby. Crying doesn't phase me, vomit doesn't bother me and changing diapers doesn't stop me.

So I'm hosting my niece Gracie for the next 7 months. Even with my prior experience this is the longest amount of time I've spent alone with a kid at a single go.

It's nerve racking. She's a human pinball. One moment she's jumping on the couch, the next she's trying to ride the dog like a pony  and then she's trying to use me as a human lazy-boy. Her favorite thing to do is open her mouth and let Lottie kiss her. She thinks this is hilarious and she'll give you this death stare if you try to stop her. I've watched the same Bubble Guppies episode like 10 times already. It's the only thing I can do that will make her sit in one spot long enough so I can take my eyes of her for a moment. If I put it on I know I have about 2 minutes to run into the kitchen to fix lunch or gab her bottle. It's nice because she's learned to say apple, milk and soap.

Daniel tries to keep the coffee table clean during the week but I just laugh at him. That's where the pin ball eats. There is no point trying to polish the coffee table because tomorrow she'll just smash whatever I'm feeding her into it because it makes Lottie jump up to lick it. She thinks that's hilarious too.

Diapers.......did I mention I don't have kids.

It's pretty tiring but it's worth it because prior to this I only got to see her every so often at family get together's. She never really took to me. But now...haha take that everyone......we have our own inside jokes now....bam bam....chicha chicha bam barm....whoaaa cha-cha-cha.

Oh and she refuses to call my dog anything but Sizzles which is my dog's father's name. 




Sunday, October 30, 2011

R.A.C.K.

This year I stumbled on a blog that this lady had wrote about how her family does Random Acts of Christmas Kindness and it struck a cord with me. She uses it as a way to show her daughters,

"about loving others and in the process, sharing God’s love for others."

What she does is for every day of Advent her family does a different act of kindness. Here's a list of things she's done in the past.

  • Taping candy canes to ATM machines around town
  • Bringing the girls riding instructor {and barn manager} hot cocoa and a muffin early one morning
  • Taping quarters to vending and toy machines around town
  • Grocery shopping for the sole purpose of putting it in the “Food for Families” box in the entryway of the store
  • Plugging meters around town {and lots of fun explaining to the girls what “plugging” a meter meant!}
  • Donating 72 stockings with treats, candy and a craft for second graders at a school in need
  • Ringing Salvation Army bells
  • Handing out Starbucks gift cards {$5.00 value each}
  • Paid past due library fees for 5 people
  • Donated a poinsettia to the girls school
  • Bought and donated toys for “Toys 4 Tots”
  • Brought the girls teachers their favorite Starbucks drinks
  • Brought treats to the employees of our local Post Office branch
  • Purged from the girls personal “library” and donated to a school library in need
The woman who's blog I found actually stole the idea from another blogger who's website.

Anyway, the idea has really hit home with me and made me want to try to do something similar. I don't have the resources to do all of the things she talked about so I've decided on doing my own Random Acts of Christmas Kindness. This year Daniel and I are going to buy 20 $5 gas or grocery gift cards and mail them in Christmas cards to people. I settled on the gas or grocery cards because I'm a shade more practical then Starbucks and it's something you know people need. $5 might not buy much but it might help a person out. We decided on mailing them because as I was talking to Daniel about this we pasted this older lady at her mail box and I could tell all her mail was bills and it made me think, "I wonder when was the last time that lady received a nice card in the mail?". When was the last time someone mailed you a card randomly? I send and receive cards at Christmas but outside of that my mail is all junk. So on December 10th our little R.A.C.K. Christmas cards will be send out into the world. And no you wont be getting one. =)

Saturday, October 29, 2011

Things I'm loving right now

So I'm like in love with two new things right now.


1) Pinterest- OMG. I've been in love with this site since I got an invite. It's like an online pin board. You can save photo's of anything found online to different boards. I have ones for home, clothes, places, Daniel and even Lottie. It's amazing because sometime I'll see something I like and when I go to look for it again I can't remember what website I saw it on. Now can just pin it. I have a pin it icon on my toolbar, so I just click it, name it, and post it to the corresponding board.   Simple!!! Plus there is a whole community on Pinterest. I can see these amazing crafts that other people have made. And then there is the recipes section. There is a never ending supply of recipes. It's great for entertaining. I've already made a couple of them. All in all there are 31 different categories for boards. Best of all you can follow your friends.

2) Pollo Tropical- We have this place here that has some of the best yummy food. They are local FL restaurants with a couple out of state. They have this cilantro garlic sauce which is divine. We stopped in today to try it out. We went through the drive through and it's a good idea to either grab a menu prior to getting to the drive through or checking it out online. There is a lot of different combination's and we sounded like a pair of noobs at the window. The food was quick and oh so tasty.

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Trains vs. Planes

So I'm one of these weirdo people that like to plan trips. Not take the trips but just plan trips. At any given time I have about 4 of these mental trips going in my head. I read somewhere that planning a trip is just as rewarding as taking the trips. Any who I said all that to say this.....The rail system in America STINKS. Amtrak is failing and we don't have high speed rail her in the states. They say that is because there isn't any demand for rail. I think I know why.

When I was kicking around the idea of going to Chicago, Daniel tossed out the idea of taking the train up there. We took a local sightseeing train on our honeymoon and LOVED it so we've always wanted to take a trip via rail. So I went to the Amtrak website and plugged in the information for our fake trip. We picked March of 2012 and said we wanted to leave March 4th and return March 9th. Then I was hit with the tragic truth. To take the trip to Chicago is would cost $579 and take us 40 hours EACH WAY to get there. Whaaaaa?!?!?!? It would involve switching trains with one layover of 8 hours in DC. Just to give you an idea of how crazy that is I went to Priceline and punched in the same dates and we could fly there in less then 4 hours and it would only cost us $56 more. Hmmmm I wonder which one we would pick? Give up 80 hours and save $56 or spend $56 and save 72 hours of my life. Which one....which one?

I like traveling by train. That trip on our honeymoon was amazing and relaxing. No TSA to worry about. No weighting suitcases. No being cramped up with the seat in front of you invading your personal space. I would LOVE to say goodbye to the unfriendly skies but we don't have any other alternative.  

Oh well I'm off to plan my mental trip to Bora Bora.





Thursday, April 28, 2011

Knocking them out left and right.....

  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 (Planning a trip next year)
  10. See Beatles Love (Planning to see it on the above trip)
  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 (Done)
  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 (Might do the Limo xfer from airport on the LV trip)
  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 (Done while in California)
  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 (Done on 4/26)
  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 (Done)
  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.

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Fashion & me

I'm far from a fashion plate. I've never been someone who spends a lot of money trying to look fashionable. As a plus size woman there isn't  much to choose from. I can't run into Target and grab something cheap and fabulous. In the plus sized fashion world you have two basic choices cheap, shapeless, colorless ugly grandma wear or expensive semi decent last year designs. I could go and be the avantguard plus sized girl where I don't seem like I care about fashion or that I'm plus sized. The problem is that I feel my sense of style is lady like glam (think Charlotte from Sex in the City).

Right now I'm watching The September Issue on Netflix. Trying to gleam nuggets of style from watching the people at Vogue. It's funny because I've never even opened a copy of the magazine. Manly because I don't live in that world. In the high fashion realm I don't exist. I'm a woman of color who's plus sized. I might as well not even try. LOL.

I wrote all that to say I'm trying to figure out what I'm going to wear to San Fran. I want to look good. I want to seem like I'm a first class traveler. So far I've got a white shirt with a light blue paisley scarf with black ballerina slippers. What I'm trying to decide now is do I travel in jeans or these gray slacks that I have that are really comfy?  I'm also aware that it's gonna be chilly both on the plane and in San Fran. I have a heavy light gray sweater that I'm thinking about wearing. Once I land I'm trying to figure out what to wear. I don't know why I'm trying to look more glam while traveling to see people I'll never see again. But I donno. Maybe I want to use this trip to break my mold.

I guess I'll just have to see. And hope for the best.

Friday, March 18, 2011

We're going to California


By some amazing miracle Daniel and I are going to California. We'll be flying to San Fransisco for a week. This is one of the most exciting things that has happened to me. We're both very happy for so many reasons.

This will be the farthest we've traveled from home together, the first plane trip for Daniel, the first time we've been to the west coast. I'm so excited since this will be the first big city that we've visited. I'm so excited I grabbed the suitcases out and started my packing list even though we have plenty of time to do it. Yay!!!!!

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Update: My bucket list

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 (Planning a trip next year)
  10. See Beatles Love (Planning to see it on the above trip)
  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 (Done)
  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 (Might do the Limo xfer from airport on the LV trip)
  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 (Done)
  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.