LoveStruck

|{ Overwhelmed }|

2012-02-16T11:42:00.001-05:00

I have been doing a lot of research and reading lately about pre-pregnancy, pregnancy, and babies and while I feel like I have learned some good and valuable information and I am also starting to feel really overwhelmed. I need to start writing down what I need to remember in a readable way because I know I've forgotten at least half of what I've read!

The lovely Elena from The Art Of Making A Baby had her baby girl a few days ago and I decided today that I really need to stop reading all the comments from her readers... They make my head spin and there are a lot of judgmental people who are being much to negative and rude to her. I feel bad for her but she's pretty awesome and is taking it all well! They sure are making me feel even more overwhelmed though and often talk about things that I haven't even thought about. Sometimes I don't even know what they are talking about!! Lol!

I feel like I have so much more research to do, I feel like I don't know anything about babies and I worry that I won't be a good mom because of it. So for right now I think I just need to take a step back for a few days and get my mind re-wired so I can come at this in a new and better way! I know to some people it may seem like I am going overboard but I just want to be as informed as I can so that I can better know what to expect and how I can have the healthiest baby possible!

|{ Early Valentines Day }|

2012-02-12T14:52:00.001-05:00

Valentines day is going to be pretty busy for us this year. I have school and then work a long shift and Jon will be busy with school as well so we won't get to see each other much that day.

So I decided that we should celebrate Valentines Day early! So on Saturday I set up a surprise Valentines Day for Jon. He spent most of the day at school studying with some classmates so while he was gone I got everything set up!

I made a fort in our living room, using the cushions from the couch, it was pretty comfy actually! I made fried rice for dinner and put it into some take out containers and put it into the fort. When Jon got home he was so surprised! I had him climb inside and waiting for him was dinner, a dozen yellow roses, and his favorite black licorice! We had dinner and watched the Big Bang Theory on my computer. It was very relaxing and so much fun! We spent all night in there! We even played Killer Bunnies! It was a wonderful way to celebrate Valentines Day!!

Pardon the bad photos, it was dark and I suck at taking dark indoor photos in a hurry..

|{ Analyze Me (Well My Blog Anyway) }|

2012-02-06T22:21:00.001-05:00

So I've been thinking about what makes blogs popular and wondering what I could do to make mine more interesting to general readers.

Are my posts too long?

Do I have too many photos?

Are my posts too centered around just my life so they are uninteresting?

Also, I would really like to add links to my blog so it can more easily be navigated, links like the ones they have at The Art Of Making A Baby and Rockstar Diaries. I want to make my blog more accessible and professional looking in that way.

I would like to do giveaway's sometimes as well but I have no earthy idea how to even go about doing that...

I could definitely use some honest opinions and tips here, I won't be offended! I would really be grateful for any tips and constructive criticism.

|{ Biorhythms- Phlomax }|

2012-01-29T22:17:00.003-05:00

Do you remember when my awesome hubs did a rap for 'Biorhythms' a few months ago?

If not, I talked about it HERE!!

Biorhythms is a show that the medical school puts on where students get to perform dances, songs, and things of that nature. Last time Jon's rap group was called 'Phlomax' and this time they got the group back together (with a few new members) and wrote a new rap! It was even better than last time! They did great!! Everyone thought it was hilarious (even though I personally did not understand some of the jokes!)

It's about pathologists (doctors who work in a lab) versus internists (doctors who work directly with patients).

Gangsta- Dr. Agon

This following photos were not taken by me!

|{ Photo Shoots }|

2012-01-15T23:35:00.001-05:00

For Christmas we gave Jon's sister and her husband, Sarah and Adam, a photo shoot for their family for their gift!

Here are some of my favorites!

Also, while we were in Utah I had my sister, Kira, take some photos of Jon and I!

|{ 2011 In Review }|

2012-01-14T16:35:00.000-05:00

January

Niagara Falls

February

The largest grocery store in the US, us in Cincinatti

Black and White party, Valentines Day

March

St. Patrick's Day, Jon's volleyball team

My brother's wedding

April

Jon's scooter, Easter dinner

May

The new Lady Gaga CD

Jon's biorhythms rap group, Jon's birthday

June

Chicago

July

Getting ready to go and see Harry Potter 7, part 2

Painting our new home, my friend Katie's baby shower

Trip to Chicago for Travis and Larisa's wedding, all dressed up for a wedding!

Camping with Ember, Niagara Falls with Ember

August

Detroit Zoo: Red Panda, Tiger

My surprise party: Tiger cake, walking in the door

My actual birthday: Harry Potter presents, raspberry picked with the mosquitoes

September

Sleeping Bear Dunes

Michigan Football

Raspberry picking

October

Class 1 Killers sand volleyball- Winning the championship!

Edwin Cider Mill with my mom

Bronner's Christmas Wonderland with my mom, fall leaves

Rowing

Halloween: Pumkins, Angela and Dwight costumes

Our nephew Ethan is born!

November

Movember mustache

First fire of the season on our anniversary!

Thanksgiving dinner

Decorating for Christmas

December

Italian dinner

Temple Square

Skyping with Ben

Christmas morning

So, in a quick review, this was 2011! It was a really great year and a lot of wonderful things happened!! I'm am thrilled for 2012, I think it's going to be our best year yet! There are lots of exciting things that are coming up!

And, just for fun, here is a random photo that Jon took!

Jon was throwing cards at the cat and this card landed in the space of our floorboards, it was crazy!

|{ The Holidays In Utah: PART III }|

2012-01-11T23:40:00.003-05:00

After Christmas we did a lot of things! We played even more games, we met up with some friends, and celebrated New Years!

We ate at In-N-Out twice!

I met up with my one of my very best friends, Mercede, and we went where we always go, Happy Sumo, for lunch!

We went to hang out with Jon's two best friends, Matt and Josh, and their wives, Kim and Jaime. The both just hand babies last fall!

Josh and Jaime's baby, Keira. Sadly, I realize now that I did not get any photos of Matt and Kim's baby, Mitchell.

For New Years we went and saw a movie with my sisters! We saw The Darkest Hour, it was super fun! Then we went home and watched the ball fall with my family, p.s. YAY LADY GAGA!! We rang in the New Year with a glass of sparkling cider and a kiss!

Us at the Movie Theater!

We also went and saw the 'Up' house! :)

|{ The Holidays In Utah: PART II }|

2012-01-01T15:39:00.001-05:00

For Christmas Eve we opened our pajamas at my parents house! We got matching shirts that say 'Peterson University'. The rest of my family all got matching ones too that said 'Longhurst' instead of 'Peterson'. They also gave a us a matching onesie for a future baby, it was awesome!! We played a few games too!

Playing Swedish Twister

After that we went and spent Christmas Eve with Jon's family and slept there that night.

Jon with his parents

On Christmas morning we got up so we could talk to Jon's brother Ben who got to Skype with us from his mission in Estonia! It was so awesome to talk to him!

After that we went over to my parents and spent the rest of Christmas Day with them!

Making Christmas breakfast

Opening presents. I got lots of Disney movies and Jon put our home video together for me (me thinking we had lost all of our videos)!! Jon got 3 booster packs for Killer Bunnies and I made him (okay my Mom made them for me) that scarf and hat!

Playing games. Starting at bottom left and moving clockwise: Jon, Skyler, Kira, Ember, Mom, Shantell.

And more Swedish Twister!!

It was an amazing Christmas!!! I am planning on posting some videos later too!

|{ The Holidays In Utah (In 3 parts): PART I }|

2012-01-01T15:01:00.002-05:00

This year we spent Christmas and New Years in Utah! Both of our families live there (about 5 minutes from each other) and it was really wonderful to spend so much time with them! We did so many things while we were there, it was a busy trip. Prepare yourself for a lot of pictures...I may do this in 2 posts...

First- A few miscellaneous things we did there:

We made this monster bookmarks and decided to do the 4 Hogwarts Houses!

We got to meet our nephew Ethan!

We played Killer Bunnies... A LOT!

Went to Desert Star to see 'It's a Wonderful Life'!

Second- Every year we have a big Italian dinner and this year we did it with both of our families.

Appetizer plates/Jon cooking

My sister Kira taking pictures

The table

Ethan was definitely the center of attention, especially with the women!

After dinner we went to Temple Square to see the lights!!

Jon's little sister Angela was the only one of his family who decided to come.

My dad and sister Kira

My sister Ember

My parents

|{ Stockings Hung On The Chimney With Care }|

2011-11-26T22:45:00.001-05:00

If you know me at all then you will not be surprised that the day after Thanksgiving we started to decorate our house for CHRISTMAS!! I definitely listen to Christmas music and watch Christmas movies well before that but I try to hold off on decorating to make it a little more special! :) It's always fun to be in a new place for Christmas because you get to figure where you want everything to go and how to put the lights up outside!

My husband and I both really enjoy decorating for the Holidays! Today we watched 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas' and burned a Christmas scented candle while we put up the tree and finished decorating the inside of the house since yesterday we did the outside of the house!! We got done surprisingly quickly and the only thing left to do is find and hang some mistletoe!! Don't worry, we'll warn everyone about the Nargles. (Geez, can you tell I'm currently reading Harry Potter again?) :)

Here is our house this year!!!

Our hallway

Outside

|{ Anniversary & Thanksgiving }|

2011-11-26T22:34:00.002-05:00

So we celebrated our anniversary on Wednesday the 23rd! It was really fun! It kind of felt like we got to have our anniversary twice as both days were filled with extra doses of love and admiration! We watched our wedding video, made sushi, and looked through this years photos to decided which ones we want to put in our album (all of which are yearly traditions)! We also decided that we wanted to start a new tradition since we have a fireplace now! We want to build our first fire on our anniversary! So we did that this year too, which of course consisted of Jon having to cut wood! It was so much fun and oh so toasty warm!!!

Ripping apart a log

The many funny faces of my husband!

Before we started the fire we found these little ash-y pawprints on the hearth, maybe we shouldn't have left the fireplace doors open. :)

Our first fire! See the little bits of green from the newspaper? We decided that bits of Floo Powder must have gotten on the paper.

It was a really wonderful day and we really enjoyed just spending time with each other!

For Thanksgiving this year we stayed at home and celebrated just the two of us! The only other time we've done that was the year we got married because we were on our honeymoon!! This year we prepared lots of delicious food and tried some fabulous new recipes, among those were a pretty fantastic gravy made by yours truly and an awesome pecan pie made by my talented husband!! We always have a lot of fun cooking together and we definitely enjoyed the holiday!!

|{ All I Need Is Love }|

2011-11-20T19:47:00.001-05:00

Today I have been married to my amazing husband for 4 years!!!

I can't even believe it's been 4 years already!! It has gone by so fast and has been the best times of life!!! My husband is everything I could ask for and so so much more!! I feel so lucky to have snatched him up for myself and we still have all of eternity to enjoy being together!!

Today did not really work out with our schedules however. I had to work today and Jonathan has been studying all day (literally) because he has one of his toughest quizzes this weekend. Even so, we still made today great. I surprised Jon with some treats that we remember fondly from our honeymoon and he wrote me the sweetest letter and left it for me to find when I got off of work. It was all I needed, it was so wonderful!

I am planning on taking pictures sometime soon, I have a little shoot in my head planned out, I just need to find the time to make it happen.

Later tonight we are going to get a pizza and watch our wedding video together! I'm very excited! We are also going to officially celebrate our anniversary on Wednesday and that will be great too!

Oh! And Jon also gave up on Movember. He hasn't had the time to raise any money so he is just growing a mustache for no reason. He hated it (and so did I) so he decided to shave it off today! Here are some photos of him with his 'stache!

|{ Movember }|

2011-11-15T00:02:00.001-05:00

I just love November! It is starting to get cold and snow, the Holidays are coming up, Thanksgiving, Christmas music starts up, our anniversary. It's just a very exciting time of the year and this year it has been even more busy than usual!

Jon is doing his neurology sequence this month, which is apparently one of the most difficult ones so far in both 1st and 2nd year, so he has been very busy studying. I have been working as much as I can and just got a new job at Applebee's as a waitress. I officially start training on Wednesday. I really hope it goes well. I am still enjoying massage school and this past weekend I learned Thai massage which turned out to be pretty enjoyable.

This month has flown by! I can't even believe that next Sunday is our 4th year anniversary! It just came out of nowhere, and since Jon is going to be so busy studying and taking his neurology test we have not been able to plan much, but I'm sure it will still be great. 4 years...WOW!

I am increasingly anxious to go and see our families in Utah for Christmas. I keep seeing pictures of my new nephew, Ethan, and I am dying to meet him and cuddle him! We have been planning our Italian dinner too which is going to be amazing!

Also, November is Movember/No shave November (slightly different things). Jon is participating so he is growing a mustache to help promote and raise money for male cancers. He looks kinda funny...different anyway...and I am not really enjoying the tickle-y kisses. I'll post pictures later with his new look! :)

The photos here are from the first day we got snow!! There is no snow in the pictures but it was such a pretty moment that I ended up grabbing my camera to get in some of the pretty scenery around my house.

I hope you all are having a very happy November!!

|{ Welcome To Your Nightmare }|

2011-11-01T18:50:00.002-04:00

This year for Halloween we actually did something!! Last year we had nothing to do and it was a bummer of a day. The only downside to this year is that our house is not visited by trick-or-treaters, sad. At least we don't have to buy candy.

We dressed up as Dwight and Angela from The Office this year! On Friday night we went to a party with some people from our ward. It was a blast!!! One of the best parties I have ever been too! We had such a good time. On Saturday we went to a party with some of Jon's classmates but didn't stay too long (not our kind of scene), it was fun while we were there though!

Then on Halloween itself we got together with some friends from the ward, The Miners, and had dinner (Vindaloo!!) and then carved pumpkins and watched the Halloween episode of Modern Family! It's one of my favorite episodes. Gloria- "Welcome to your nightmare! Ah Ah Ah!" HAHA!!! It was a really good Halloween! :)

Shalay's, The Miner's, Jon's

The back of Shalay's

Jon definitely got into character as Dwight!

|{ A Visitor & Rowing}|

2011-11-01T18:26:00.001-04:00

My Mommy came out to visit us a few weeks ago!!! She got here right as the leaves were perfect!! It was so colorful! She also got to see Jon play and win his volleyball tournament!! GO CLASS 1 KILLERS!!

We really enjoyed having my Mom here! She was a huge help for us and it was so much fun to just be able to talk to her and get all caught up! We are very excited to go to Utah for Christmas (thanks to my Papa for buying our plane tickets!), it's going to be a lot of fun!!

While she was here we got to go to a cider mill (one of my favorite things about Autumn in Michigan), we got fragels from Bagel Fragel, we went out to lunch a few times, we made yummy food, we watched a lot of Jon's volleyball games, we watched X-Files, and we went to Bronner's Christmas Store in Frankenmuth! I was so happy to be able to share that with someone from my family!! My Mom loved it!!!

We had such a blast! I'm so happy that she came out to see us!! She's the best!!

We also went rowing a few weeks ago with some friends, it was super fun! We even tricked the guys and put in the anchor without them knowing. We were trying so hard not to laugh out loud (we were definitely laughing silently since they weren't looking in our direction) while the boys were rowing trying to chase swans and not getting anywhere. "Row harder!" "Why aren't we moving?!" It was hilarious!!

George rowed too hard and fell!

Jon just chillin'

|{ Raspberries: Take II }|

2011-10-06T21:45:00.002-04:00

So remember how I told you about the last time we attempted to go raspberry picking and got eaten by insects?

Well we decided that we needed to try again. We took our friends Katy and Clayton and one of their couple friends (names are eluding me) and went back to the same place to pick some raspberries. We really wanted to pick some of the yellow and amber raspberries and didn't get a chance last time.

So, armed with clothes that covered us up and mosquito repellent to use if needed, we headed out. And this time it was lovely!!! We didn't even need the repellent and got to pick all three kinds of berries! It was wonderful and we had a great time!! The yellow ones were pretty much just tart versions of the red, but the amber ones were AMAZING! We decided that the only was to describe them was that were kind of apricot-y! YUM!! I'm glad we gave it another shot.

On another note, I'm really missing the Clark's. Jon has been super busy with school lately and we haven't really got the chance to hang out with anybody... I can't wait until our Harry Potter marathon when the last movie comes out on DVD! :)

|{ Camping At Sleeping Bear }|

2011-10-02T18:32:00.001-04:00

A few weeks ago Jon and I went camping with some of his classmates!! We have been camping twice since we came to Michigan and both times it has been so warm at night that we couldn't even comfortably sleep in our sleeping bags. Being from Utah and always camping in the mountains we are used to it being cold at night, even in the middle of the summer, so we really don't enjoy the warmth that comes with this kind of camping...not to mention that it seems like most people camp in trailers now... silly people.

We went to Sleeping Bear Dunes, a place that we had heard a lot of great things about. The day we got there we set up camp and then went to hike the dune....I'm glad I did it the one time...but I was not about to try and do it again, it was really hard for me (I am really not as in shape as I should be, but even so, it was hard). That night we had chili for dinner, roasted marshmallows, and just had a good time with everyone. That night was FREEZING!! Which was a big improvement from being so warm but I ended up being really cold all night long, which was rough!

Jon and I got up the next morning before everyone else so we could make breakfast. We had bagel sandwiches with "omelettes" cooked up in Ziploc bags that were boiled in water to cook them...everyone liked that, it was fun. We also cooked up some sausage. After breakfast we played Frisbee and then volleyball. It was the first time I really played volleyball and I definitely had a great time playing! Then everyone went their own way to do what they wanted to do. We went to the beach with a few people and hung out for a bit. Then Jon and I went into town and to get a few things we needed and also some pumpkin donuts. Then we went up to a scenic drive and through that we saw a REALLY steep dune. I would NEVER even attempt to try to climb it, it was nuts! Then we went back to camp and roasted hot dogs for lunch!

That evening, once everyone got back, we played Dutch Darts!! It was a blast...I did terrible, haha. Everyone had a really great time! Then we started dinner. Jon and I (with the help of everyone else of course) made the stuff for shish kabobs! We had chicken, steak, tofu, mushrooms, and green peppers. We also made rosemary and olive oil potatoes and corn on the cob! It was delicious!! That night it was much less cold (still not warm, which was wonderful) but it started to get cloudy so we looked up the chance of rain. When we found out that it would be 100% chance of rain both for that night and the next morning (the day we planned to head home) and everyone decided that we better head out before it rained. So we packed up our stuff (mostly in the dark). We stayed as long as we could, enjoying the fire, making smores, telling stories, and singing a few camp songs, then we left just as it started to rain. We got home at 2:00 a.m.!

It was a wonderful trip and we had a fabulous time with everybody!!

|{ Looking Back }|

2011-09-14T18:55:00.000-04:00

I just skimmed through all of my previous blog posts and it was really entertaining to see all the changes that happened since I started blogging. Not just in my life, which is obviously always changing, but in the quality of my photos, the way I posted my photos onto my blog, the way I typed out my blog posts, and the different people who commented on my blog posts during different times of my life.

It is really pretty eye opening just to see where I was and where I am now. I really like where I am now and I am so happy to be seeing progress in everything that I am doing!

I really do love my life and I love where I am at and I have so much to continually look forward too! I have AMAZING friends and the most wonderful husband a girl could ask for!

I am feeling so blessed right now as I type this, my husband studying at his desk next to me, listening to the rain softly falling outside.

Life is good!

p.s. I love Pinterest.

|{ Massage Therapy }|

2011-09-09T23:25:00.001-04:00

I recently started school to become a massage therapist!!! I'm so excited to really learn and get good at this skill and so far I am really enjoying school, partially just excited to actually be in school again, it's so much fun! I can't even believe how much I just enjoy taking notes in class and doing homework at home!! (Silly, I know, but there you have it.) But I also just love what I'm learning! So far it has mostly anatomy but I enjoy that too because that's what hubby is studying and I like that I can understand better (though not to quite such a large extent) what he is talking about.

Last week we bought my massage table and I just had to do a selfie shot of me studying with my massage table set up!! :)

|{ My 23rd Birthday }|

2011-09-08T19:07:00.001-04:00

I had the most amazing birthday this year!!! My dearest husband threw me a surprise party and he did it so perfectly!! I was over at my friend's (Katie and Doug) house the day before my birthday sewing curtains so we can finally finish decorating our house and they were going to make dinner but they were 'out of rosemary' and wondered if we had any. So we hoped in the car to go and grab some rosemary only to find a group of people yelling surprise at me when I opened the door the house! Haha!! They did so well at tricking me. Doug even had a pot of boiling water on upstairs and kept turning on the microwave even though there was nothing in it to convince me that he really was making dinner. Lol!

It was a great party! It was so fun to see everyone who came!! Jon even decorated my cake tiger-striped, it was perfect!! After that we went and played Dutch Darts and everyone had a blast!! It was a fabulous party!!

On my birthday we went out to breakfast together at Angelo's (a super popular eatery here in A2 (Ann Arbor)), we decided that it is definitely going to be our birthday tradition as it is delicious and you get a free meal on you birthday!

After that we went home and I opened up my presents!! I am always so impressed with my husband's skill of gift giving, he knows me so well and really pays attention to what I say. I have all of the Harry Potter books, but the first 4 I had in paperback and the last 3 I had in hardback. Hubby got me the first 4 in hardback, he also got me the Harry Potter 6 game on the Wii (which I told him I wanted the Harry Potter games for the Wii so he went online and found the one that people said was the most fun and got me that one, I LOVE IT!), I also got my favorite perfume, a lap fan for my computer so it will stop dying when I try to do anything that it finds too strenuous, some jewelry, and some clothes! He is THE BEST!!

Then he had to go to class which was sad but it wasn't for too long. After he got home we went and got free birthday stuff!! (We got 6 free bagels and gelato (ginger-flavored=AMAZING)!). Then we got together with our lovely friends Katie and Doug (and Paige) and we went raspberry picking!!! Which would have been super delightful only we realized that we really should have brought bug spray, there were so many mosquitoes it was ridiculous!! We only picked for probably less than 5 minutes before we called retreat and ran back to the car...in that time I collected a total of 45 bites...yeah... We really should think more about terms like "pesticide-free" means LOTS of bugs, and "we make our own honey" means LOTS of bees.... It makes a good memory though! Haha!

Then we came back and Jon made Tangerine Stir Fry Beef with Sushi Rice!!! YUMMY!!! And then we played some games, Katie totally dominated!! :) It was a wonderful birthday!!

|{ I LOVE The Zoo }|

2011-08-21T21:35:00.000-04:00

Once my sister left Jon decided that we really needed a nice day all to ourselves, so he took me to the zoo!!! I LOVE the zoo so much and I was so excited to go to the Detroit Zoo since it would be our first time there!!

We started off the day SUPER early since Ember's flight left at something like 6:00 a.m. So we dropped her off and then went to get breakfast. It took a while but we finally found a diner that was open 24-7 and we ate there. Then we had to wait for the zoo to open, so we drove through Detroit until we hit the lake and then we finally headed to the zoo.

It was nice to be there in the morning because before we left it was getting crowded and hot. I was super excited when I found out that they had a red panda! I LOVE red pandas!! AND it was right across the way from the tigers, which was AWESOME! We also particularly enjoyed the reptile house (as always), the kangaroo path (where you get to walk on a path with kangaroos around you (no fences)), and the polar exhibit where we saw a little gray arctic fox playing around and they have a tunnel (like at aquariums) where the seals and the polar bears swim above you!! It was great fun!! I'm so glad we got to go!!

It was just what we needed!

He looked like he was having a really bad morning.

Lazy otters

Look at those crazy teeth!!

I just wanna cuddle him!!!

|{ Niagara Falls And Camping }|

2011-08-21T17:04:00.002-04:00

While my sister was here we decided to take her to Niagara Falls! We stopped for lunch on the way there and then we hit the falls! The first time we went to Niagara Falls it was on the Canada side and in the winter. Since Ember didn't have a passport we went on the US side and it was cool to see the falls unfrozen!! I just love how close you can get to the water, it's really neat! It was kind of hard to take pictures because I was afraid of getting the mist from the falls on my lens, but I got some good shots!! It was so hot that day, we were all very uncomfortable, but we had a good time anyway!

These cute little birdies were rolling around in the dirt. I think they were trying to get cool. It was so cute!

That night we went camping! Camping is Michigan is....weird. We've been twice now and both times were at camp grounds that had a ton of lots and the large majority of people (99% of them) all use campers instead of tents. It's weird not to be up in the mountains where there is no one else around, or at least a lot less people and since it's not in the mountains it also doesn't cool down at night. I'm used to freezing at night even in the summer when I go camping, but even bringing a sleeping bag here is practically pointless as it's too warm to get inside of it!

We definitely miss camping. We did have a lot of fun though. Our camp ground was on a little lake and they had some floating slides in the lake. It took some courage but I eventually joined Jon and Ember on the slides (I'm afraid of swimming in dark water like in lakes and the ocean, scares me to death). It was REALLY fun! I'm glad I went out there! :) We played with our slingshot for a while when we got back to our campsite. I sucked, as I usually do with things like that, but both Jon and Ember were pretty darn good at it!

This looked like a dragon, which I thought was appropriate!

For dinner we roasted hot dogs on the fire and some marshmallows too!! Sleeping was a lot less fun. My poor husband hardly got any sleep at all as he could not get comfortable and then we got a HUGE scary thunderstorm in the middle night with thunder and lightening every few seconds and really loud and then it started pouring!! We were worried enough that we almost considered getting into the car. It was nuts!

All in all though, it was a really great trip! We had a blast!!

|{ Our First Visitor }|

2011-08-21T15:35:00.002-04:00

My lovely sister Emberlee came to visit us this summer!! She was here for about 3 weeks and we were just thrilled to finally have a guest. It meant a lot that she made the effort to come and spend time with me!

I felt bad because I had to work while she was here so we didn't do near as much as we did last summer. However, we did get to drive up and see Niagara Falls and then go camping! We also went and saw a movie (Crazy, Stupid, Love- it was awesome), watched all of the past episodes of Modern Family, did a photo shoot for her senior photos, moved to a new house, played games, made lots of desserts, and went to the botanical gardens!

So I guess it wasn't a total waste of a trip. Poor girl had a bad start though when the airport lost her luggage on the way here. But they had it delivered by the end of the day, so it wasn't too bad. It was super hot and humid while she was here and then a few days after she left it started to cool down and feel more like fall, I wish she could have had better weather! :)

We had a lot of fun having her here and I hope she enjoyed herself enough to want to come back.

Here are some pictures of her time here. I'll post the senior photos in another post (I just finished editing them, took me way longer than it should have). I'll also post Niagara Falls and camping in another post since I don't want to overload this one with pictures, and I don't want to skimp on photos of those either.

Jon caught a baby frog! That is our toaster, so you can guess the size.

We played Deal or No Deal!

Doesn't she make a great Howie?

We even found the Deal or No Deal sound effects so play with during our game!

I made a bad deal!

Ember made a great deal!

Jon played all the way to the end, but still couldn't beat Ember's deal.

We went to the Botanical Gardens!

We saw lots of pretty flowers there!!

And a bunny!!

And a gigantic fly that would not leave Jon alone!!

|{ Road Tripping }|

2011-07-23T11:34:00.001-04:00

My amazing husband and I really love to go on road trips. A few weeks ago we went to a wedding in the Chicago area for some friends we have here in Ann Arbor. On the way there we decided that instead of taking the straight route on the freeway we would take the side streets so that it would take longer. It was a lovely little drive. We stopped at a little diner that we found on 'Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives' for lunch and it was awesome!! The food was great and it was so cute.

We got to the hotel and got a little gift bag from the soon to be married couple that had all sorts of goodies, it was so sweet! :) Then we met up with some other friends to go find something to eat for dinner. To our delight we drove by a Chevy's!!!! We have been craving it for such a long time and haven't had it since we lived in California!! We definitely went there and loved every second of it!! Then we went to the mall and wandered around for a while. Back at the hotel we met up with Travis and Larisa (the bride and groom to be) and helped them load up some gifts, then met some of their family and friends before heading back to our room to relax and then hit the sack.

The next morning we got up and went to Ikea, which was literally across the street from the hotel and wandered around. It was cool because they had a few rooms that were set up that were 2 story tall rooms with big windows and it was awesome to see how they decorated those. We grabbed a few things and then decided to go and see a movie. We saw The Green Lantern, it was pretty good, definitely entertaining. We then we back to the hotel to get dressed and then headed over to the church for the ceremony.

It was a lovely ceremony, they both looked amazing and it was really wonderful to see the two of them finally get to be together as husband and wife! After the ceremony we blew bubbles as they left the church. It was cute! Then we headed over to the reception and that was great!! The dinner was really yummy and then there was dancing! Jon and I really loosened up and we had A BLAST!!! Definitely the funnest time we have had dancing since we've been married and it was so much fun!! Jon even requested 'Bubbly' and we got to dance to our wedding song, he is such a sweetheart! Travis and Larisa definitely seemed to be enjoying their time too!! It was a great day!

The next morning we decided to take the LONG way home! We are about 4.5 hours or so away from Chicago but we decided to go up through Wisconsin, around the lake, and back down and it took about 14 hours to get home!! It was great!! We hit a really bad storm just a few minutes into the drive and that was rough but after that we had a great time!! We also hit 100,000 miles on our car!!

I was getting tired so I decided to try a 5 hour energy thing and Jon thought it was hilarious. I suppose it did wake me up, mostly it just made me feel all hot and uncomfortable for about an hour. Haha! We stopped wherever we wanted and got out of the car to walk along the beach for a few minutes. We chased a lot of seagulls and then for lunch we stopped in Mackinaw City and got some pizza, we listened to our book on CD, and we hit a couple fireflies once it started to get dark, which is pretty cool, they still glow for a few seconds after they are squished on the windshield. lol!

It was a really great trip! We had the best time ever!!

Congratulations Travis and Larisa!!! We are so happy for you!! See you when you get back from Aruba!!

|{ The End Of An Era }|

2011-07-20T10:50:00.000-04:00

It's over!! It's all over!! Like all other Harry Potter fans, I am very sad about this fact.

I'll start by giving you a ***SPOILER ALERT**** for those of you who have yet to see the movie (and haven't read the books).

The last movie was FANTASTIC!! I was a little surprised at how quickly the film got to the battle scene at the end, but I was so glad that it did! I feel like it really gave it the attention it deserved in order to end the series well! There was so much detail that they really didn't leave much out from the books. The only thing I really missed was that I did not feel that they did the deaths of Fred, Tonks, and Lupin justice. I feel they were hardly even noticed and it should have been a bigger deal.

We were able to go to the midnight showing and it was so awesome!! There is absolutely nothing like going to a midnight showing of a Harry Potter movie!! To be surrounded by so many people who are equally as big of fans as you are makes the whole experience that much more exciting!! I know that a lot, probably most, people really hate crowds but in the past few years I have decided that I actually love crowds! There are only a few circumstances when I really wish there were no crowds. Crowds make everything more exciting!!

Jon and I dressed up as death eaters for the movie! I drew the dark mark on our arms, we wore black clothes and cloaks, Jon wore his graduation robe which was perfect, and I wore my Hogwarts robes that my Mom made me for Halloween one year. I was ecstatic that they still fit!! A little more snuggly around the shoulders but that's it! We even brought some nice chopsticks to use as wands! :)

We did NOT see it in 3D and that was great! We both pretty much hate this sudden 3D crazy, it makes everything so cheesy. So Jon saved our seats while I went and stood in line for 15-20 minutes for popcorn and a drink, and I was happy to do it! It was fun to watch all the people and see all the costumes. A guy even walked by with a big Gryffindor lion on his head that he had made! :)

While we were sitting in the theater waiting for the movie to start it was so much fun. People started chanting "Snape, Snape, Severus Snape" from the puppet pals video and a lot of people joined in. Then a guy from the theater came in to announce that they were starting movie and when he said "As you know, this is the last film..." Some guy in the back suddenly called back, "Wait! What?!?" in mock surprise. It was hilarious. He also said that we cheered the loudest that he had heard so far that night, take that 3D goers!! :)

When the previews came on you could feel the excitement that everyone had, that is until the preview of a movie that starred Taylor Lautner (Jacob from Twilight) came on and the second you saw his face there were suddenly sounds of disgust coming from everyone, it was so funny! Once everyone heard each other we all started to laugh. I love Harry Potter fans!

The best though, is during the movie, and this is why going to the midnight showing is better than anything else, the strong reactions you get from everybody makes the movie so much more exciting and more emotional than it would be without them. The loud cheering whenever a character does something great, the laughter at moments when you won't hear anyone laughing out loud a few days later, it's like seeing a different movie, a better one, and I am really going to miss going to see Harry Potter with so many wonderful fans!

So raise your glasses of butter beer to the end of the Harry Potter era, you will be greatly missed by millions of fans!

|{ Selfie Saturdays- GIFs }|

2011-07-02T11:50:00.001-04:00

I was super excited about this weeks Selfie theme! I was one of the many people who asked Elena specifically to do this one and I couldn't wait to try it out!!!

See the post below for my hubby being attacked by a bird! It was that series of pictures that made me REALLY want to learn how to this and I'm so glad I got to do it GIF style!!

So the day after Elena taught us how to do it I went outside with my man and we took this series of pictures for our families back home! It was also the first time we have done a selfie together, so that was fun.... Well it would have been more fun it we weren't being eaten by mosquitoes the entire time!

Here it is!!
We...Love...You!!

|{ Mad Mama Bird }|

2011-06-26T19:09:00.001-04:00

You didn't think I would just leave this out after telling you I had pictures did you?!?

In the very first picture, you can see the bird sitting up on the lamp post waiting for unlucky people to walk by.

|{ First Time In The Windy City }|

2011-06-26T13:31:00.001-04:00

Last weekend I was lucky enough to be able to go with Jon to the American Medical Association (AMA) Conference in Chicago! Someone else had dropped out so I was able to sneak a space and we ended up being able to go FOR FREE!

So on Thursday evening we drove to Chicago, which actually isn't even that far, it barely even felt like a road trip since it only took about 4 hours. We also carpooled with 2 of Jon's classmates and it was fun to get to know them/get to know them better. As soon as we got to the hotel we had to hurry and get changed to go to a cocktail party thing. It didn't really feel like a 'cocktail' party as some people were not dressed up at all and others just wore business suits...and they only served beer and soda, no cocktails, go figure. :) But they had a few little finger foods. It would have been less cool except when we first walked in Jon turned to me and said something about everyone there being future doctors, and that was a neat thing to think about.

Pardon my weird angle

After the party we went to a bar with everyone and hung out for a bit. It's fun to be around friends but it's also a weird feeling to be in a bar and be the one of the very few people who weren't drinking. Haha. It's definitely something we are getting used to though and we have good time with Jon's classmates. As we left to go back to the hotel we got stopped by 3 people asking for money, 2 were definitely drunk and kind of scary, but that's a big city for you, and MAN did I miss big cities!

The next day was mostly REALLY boring, for me anyway. I went to the conference with Jon. We told them I was taking the place of the person who had dropped out and I got a pass to go in. :) I turned to Jon and told him "Wow, getting into med school was easy." I probably would have found the conference more interesting had I actually understood what anyone was talking about, but it all just went over my head. I was glad to be able to be there with Jon though.

At the end of the day we met up with everyone for Chicago style deep dish pizza and then all but the other girls in our U of M group went to see a comedy show! It was called Second City and it is the place where A LOT of famous comedians got their start, including Steve Carell, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Mike Myers, and Stephen Colbert. It was really funny, we had a great time!!

Left to right: Brian, Me, Jon, Adnan, Johannes

The next day was much more eventful. We didn't go to the conference at all that day and we spent the day walking around Chicago. I had not thought we would have the chance to do that, so the only shoes I brought that didn't have heels were flats...very flat flats. My feet were killing me by the end of the day! BUT, we had a fabulous day!!! We went to Millennium Park where they have this cool kidney bean looking art piece which is super popular!! They also have a cool looking stage and we stopped there to listen to an afternoon concert. We also found this funky fountain that they project images onto, it was fun to see the kids playing in it.

I liked all of the different styles of buildings in this shot.

Our reflection in it.

Underneath it, looking up.

After that we started to make our way to the Planetarium! On the way there we ran into a Puerto Rican parade!! It was so fun to watch, we even got bead necklaces just walking by it, it was great fun!! We then stopped to get some italian ice treats, which was super delicious and refreshing. We made it to the Aquarium, which is close to the Planetarium, and were walking to go and look at the skyline when a bird suddenly flew down and swooped right into the back of Jon's head! It was crazy. We turned to find out that it was protecting it's baby's nest (which was almost not even a baby anymore). Silly Mama Bird had built her nest in a bush right next to a busy sidewalk! So I took a few pictures. She was pretty, even if she was angry.

So we kept walking and finally made it to the Planetarium. We had already decided that we would take a taxi back because our feet were sore. The Planetarium was great, we just strolled around and played with all the interactive things, it was great! We also had lunch there. As we were getting ready to leave we saw 5 Quinceanera parties and 8 wedding parties!!! It was crazy, but totally made sense since it was the middle of June at the place where you can probably see the best skyline view, it was so fun to see!

So we started to walk back to find a taxi and got back to the Aquarium. We decided to walk back over the where the bird was and I made sure I had my camera ready. Boy, am I glad I did! Just as we were walking by the nest Mama Bird comes swooping down and started attacking Jon, swooping around his head and chasing him away, and I caught the whole things in a short series of pictures (which are all at least partially blurry)! I was laughing hysterically by the time the bird stopped and so was Jon (not to mention the other people who saw it happen)! It was hilarious!

We decided to start walking along the shore of the lake. which is surrounded by docks, until we got too tired to go on and then we would grab a taxi. But it was such a nice and relaxing stroll that we ended up walking the whole way back. We stopped close to Buckingham Fountain and I got a snow cone! We sat down and just relaxed for a while. It was a dreamy day, I loved every second of it that I got to spend with my darling husband.

We made it back to the hotel and went to the hot tub with the only person who hadn't gone home yet, Jon's friend and classmate, Leah. Poor girl had a terrible blister on her foot and could barely walk. We went with her to go get dinner at Navy Pier and then watched the fireworks show.

That was pretty much the end of our trip. The next morning we drove home with Leah, stopping by a random place we found, Egg on your Face, which was delicious breakfast place.

It was a really fun trip and I can't wait to go back! Chicago was amazing, it was a such a beautiful big city and it was surprisingly clean! It was so much fun!!

|{ Those Darn Cats }|

2011-06-25T16:38:00.000-04:00

Our cats have been SO BAD this week!! They are extra annoying with their meowing, they have been getting into EVERYTHING, and yesterday one of them swiped at our snake while I was holding her and actually managed to hit her!!! Kitty got in BIG trouble for that one.

But this morning I had to clean up the biggest mess I have ever had to due to our feisty felines!!

THIS

One of the cats got up onto the shelf and knocked over our Costco sized jug of laundry soap, causing the lid to come off and spilling half of the jug!!! It was everywhere!!! On the washing machine, my newly cleaned sheets, the floor, and ALL OVER the walls!!! Laundry soap is surprising hard to clean off walls and we found out the quality of the paint that was used to paint the walls before we moved in. The paint was coming off with the lightest little scrubs.

On the plus side? It was probably the cleanest mess I have ever had to clean up.

|{ Selfie Saturdays - Perfection }|

2011-06-25T11:35:00.002-04:00

So this week Elena taught us a few fun things to use in Photoshop to help make you look more perfect! :)

It was really fun to learn and I really liked what she said when she explained that the point was not to edit yourself so that you no longer looked like your true self, but that we shouldn't feel bad about making odd poses and angles look better. :)

I just played around with it a bit, and while this is probably a bit over the top in the editing department, I was just playing around with the new tools that I hadn't used before, so it was fun! :)

BEFORE

I didn't like the odd way my hip was sticking out, so I tucked it in.

I want to get better at using Photoshop, so it was a fun way to get to learn some new things! :)

And this coming week Elena will be teaching us how to use animations so I can layer these 2 photos together so you can see the change easier!! AND I already know the pictures I want to use it for!!

Oh, and this wasn't a selfie, so I cheated. Hubby took this picture.

|{ Best Birthday }|

2011-06-09T15:16:00.002-04:00

I felt really bad because I hardly took any pictures of Jon's birthday this year!! How could I just forget!? I feel terrible.

On a more happy note though, Jon said that his birthday this year was the best he has had since we got married, so at least I am getting better in the gift giving and holiday celebrating departments! :)

Jon was gone most of the day at his final practice for Biorhythms, which is a production that the medical school puts on every year, usually mostly with the first years, and they perform dances and singing and you can sign up for as many performances as you want. Jon signed up for 2. He did a rap and a dance, kinda bollywoodish, I forget what it's called. Anyway, so he was gone all day for that.

He did come home in the middle of the day for a break and he opened his presents then. He got a robe which he asked for, Super Mario Bros for the Wii which he is playing as I type this, and a magazine all about him with letters and stories from a bunch of his friends and family! He loved everything!

So that evening he had his performance, he did so awesome! Especially in his rap, who would have thought that my husband could rap? It was great! They rewrote the words to California Dreamin' and Slim Shady with a bunch of inside jokes about medical school. Obviously I didn't get most of them but everyone who did thought it was hilarious! :) Pardon the bad pictures.

Jon and his partner Ashley

Afterwards the two of us went to get ice cream for his birthday and then we went to meet everyone at a bar to party but his shin splits were hurting really bad so we left early and went to get free birthday tiramisu and a pizza across the street.

The next day we had a bunch of people over for a BBQ. A few people even brought him presents which was so sweet! We had delicious hamburgers and then carrot cake! He had a great time. Again, I didn't take pictures of any of this. Geez! I'm glad he had a good time though!

This is his rap performance. His group was called Phlomax. He is the first person in this video and later is the one who jumps over the guy.

|{ Pre Pregnancy Planning }|

2011-06-07T16:57:00.001-04:00

Photo found HERE

I have been reading books and looking up facts about pregnancy and infants for quite a long time now and recently, with such a large number of people I know who are pregnant and after Jon studied stuff about how babies develop, I have started to read even more. I have also been inspired by Elena from The Art of Making a Baby who started reading up long before she started trying, and who just announced she is pregnant (YAY!).

Sometimes I think it's weird that I am reading a bunch of pregnancy books when we aren't planning on trying for more than a year but when I really think about it, I'm really glad that I have been. For me to pick up a book on pregnancy AFTER finding out I was pregnant seems like getting a late start. If I already know when I plan to get pregnant, why not learn all I can ahead of time?

I've been learning about but then I hit a big problem.... how the heck am I supposed to remember all of these things! I don't expect everything to perfect, please don't think that, I'm not naive, but I want to do the best I can. I certainly can't remember everything there is to know. So I decided that I need to start taking notes of what I think is the most important or just the little tidbits that I find interesting.

Only how do I even start taking notes? There has to be some sort of organization. Notes on 'Pregnancy' is way to broad when I have to worry about what to eat and not eat, how to exercise, and everything else I'll need and want to know. I'm excited to start making my notes! It should be fun!

P.S. This is my 200th post!!! WOW!! I have a bunch of stuff that I need and want to blog about, including Jon's birthday which was almost a month ago. Hopefully I'll get caught up soon! :)

|{ Our Life }|

2011-05-26T16:06:00.001-04:00

I told you it's been busy, here I go again, a few weeks since my last post. :)

New things? Not a whole lot. Jon is SO close to being done with his 1st year of med school!!! This is his LAST WEEK!! WOW!! He just did Embryology and is now on Human Growth and Development. It has been interesting to hear all the crazy facts he has learned and all the scary things that can happen to babies has definitely scared him, I don't blame him at all. All the possibilities is definitely a scary thing.

I am still looking for a job. I did not get the one I had the interviews for unfortunately but I try to take comfort in the fact that out of 142 applicants I made it to the top 5, that's cool to know. Why doesn't anyone else want to hire me though? Sigh.

I started a second photography class, well more like a camera class and it's not near as good as the first but I hope it gets better and if nothing else it will get me to stay on top of things and cram as much info into my brain as often as possible. I also started an exercise class, Zumba. It was the fun the first time, the second time I got stuck in traffic and missed it, and the last time I left my tennis shoes at home, I was super irritated. I won't be there next time either, so hopefully after that I will start to get some more exercise.

The reason I won't be there next time is because Jon and I are going to an orientation for a massage school. I am considering trying again to go into massage therapy but we want to make sure not only that the school is a good one but that being a massage therapist in general will actually make me a good amount of money. We'll see.

I have to give a talk on Sunday, bleck!

Hmm, what else. All of our TV shows are ending, but that also means that are summer shows are coming on!! Like LEVERAGE!! Which starts in a month! I can't wait!!

Also, WE GOT THE LADY GAGA CD on the day it came out!!! We're so excited! :)

Oh, and last but not least we found today out that Jon's sister, Sarah, is having a BOY!! Congrats Sarah and Adam!!

|{ When It Rains, It Pours }|

2011-05-10T15:27:00.000-04:00

Phew! Things have been super crazy in the past few weeks!

Jon has been super busy with school and studying. He just finished the Infectious Disease section and it was longer and more difficult than the others have been, and on top of that he did not enjoy it very much either. Thank goodness that section is over! Now he only has 3 weeks left of his first year of medical school!!! How crazy is that!?!

I have been trying to find a new job. I am going stir crazy being stuck inside and at my computer for 8 hours a day, including Saturdays, and I am not getting paid enough either so I have been trying to find something else. I got an interview yesterday for a front desk position at a chiropractors office. The interview went well. It was group interview with 10 of us total so that was pretty weird and super intimidating, but somehow I pulled it off and about an hour after getting home from the interview I got a call to come in for a second step interview on Thursday. I am a little anxious though because it is not quite 40 hours a week so while I would be making more than I am now, I won't quite be making what I want to be making. So not only do I have to actually get the job but I have to decide if I can make it work. And I am worried because while I am not desperate for a job right now, if I turn down this job, what if I can't find another one? So that is stressing me out.

On top of that there are a bunch of other things going on right now! Jon is trying to decide what he wants to do over the summer. He got a research job so that is super awesome, but it is only a few days a week and he wants to find other ways to make sure we can make enough money to get us through the summer. He is considering working for Pinnacle again and is also considering joining the National Guard that will not only pay us routinely but will also help to pay off school loans when he is done with medical school.

We are getting ready to move into a condo that is closer to school and we are super anxious to move but we can't until our lease is up at the end of July. Jon got a scooter that will help save tons in the cost of gas but the battery has been giving us issues lately.

On a more positive note, I did start my photography class and today will be 3rd class! I am really enjoying so far! It's a super small class, only 5 of us and 3 of them are over 40. But that's okay, I definitely am learning a lot and also feeling pretty good that I do know a lot of the stuff we are talking about!!

Also, my sister is coming to stay with us!! She'll be here around the end of July (the same time we'll be moving) and will be here until the second week of August! I am so excited!! She'll be the first person to visit us since we moved here, a year ago by the time she'll get here! She's the best!

Lady Gaga's Born This Way CD comes out on the 23rd of this month!!!! I can't wait!! She has already released 3 of the songs from it!! Born This Way, Judas, and The Edge of Glory!! She is AMAZING and I hope the CD rocks!! We will definitely get it as soon as it comes out!

So yeah, that is what has been going on. We are both feeling super overwhelmed, but we are doing our best to get through it! We are really homesick and missing our families and all of our dear friends! We love you all so very much!!

|{ Going Natural }|

2011-05-07T17:06:00.000-04:00

I eventually want to dye my hair super blonde, but I want to wait for it to grow out and be long before I do that. So instead, I dyed my hair as close to my natural color as I could get it!! This is just a quick picture of it since people were really wanting to see it when I told them on Facebook!

I have a lot to talk about, it has been crazy since I last posted, but I'll get to that later! :)

|{ Glasses }|

2011-04-16T18:21:00.000-04:00

On Monday I got my first pair of glasses. I was pretty sad to find out that I needed them and was really picky in finding ones that were stylish. I think these will do, and at least now I can see better, which I definitely enjoy.

It took me a while to take a picture. I don't liking taking cell phone pictures since my phone doesn't take good pics. I'm spoiled with my camera I guess. Haha!

This is an unedited SOOC picture. Don't you just love the camera's shadow on my chest?!? haha!

|{ Selfie Saturday- Magic Tricks }|

2011-04-13T17:23:00.001-04:00

First of all, I am SUPER proud of myself because not only did I DO this challenge but I also did on MONDAY instead of putting it off until last minute! Yay!!

I don't really know what made me think of the photo I wanted to take, it just sort of popped into my head I guess. I wanted to do levitation but I wanted it to have a story behind, a reason, so the one that came into my head first?!??! Alien abduction!! I think it turned out pretty cool, I am still trying to figure out if that is people think of when they first see or not, but that's okay if they don't. I made some mistakes in editing, but for my first try I don't think it's too bad and I learned a lot just getting down and dirty and doing it! :)

So, here is my final product!! :) **Click to see full size! **

I posted this on Facebook and got tons of 'How did you do that?!?!' questions so I thought I would actually show you my steps into how I did this one.

It's all about layers!!

First I started off with my background:

Then I had to make all the floating objects:

Then I wanted to make it even more dramatic so I grabbed my fan to make the curtains blow:

And last but not least.. me! It took me a while to figure out how I was going to do it. I knew I had to find something to hold me up, so I grabbed some rolled up sleeping bags at first. I originally was going to wear some fairly tight pajama looking clothes so that it wouldn't look weird when I laid on the sleeping bags, however, the sleeping bags did not get the height I wanted. I went looking for something else and found a couple of folding chairs. It was perfect. So I put on a flowy dress (too bad I didn't have the perfect white nightgown) since I now had the space between the two chairs to let it fall. It was SO HARD to try to stay balanced on a couple of chairs sitting on my mattress AND try to take the picture AND make it look like I wasn't falling off the chairs. Haha. But I did get a few good shots.

Then I put them all together and did all the rest of my edits, like making it look more like night, changing the clock from 7 to 1, and adding a more obvious light coming through the window. Ta-da!!

It was a really fun challenge! I had a blast doing it!

I am so glad the weather is warming up because I really want to do next week's Jump Shot outside!

|{ Baby Names }|

2011-04-12T23:24:00.001-04:00

A few days ago we were hanging out with some friends and the subject of baby names came up. They asked us if we had any ideas for names for when we have kids and I ended up pulling out my list. I always keep it in my purse because we usually think of names when we aren't home and I don't want to forget them. I had not looked over the list in a while and we ended up eliminating some names while I was reading through them. As I was nearing the end I realized something funny, 3 of the names on our list were the names of our friends new babies, named after we had made the list. The names were Conner, Ashlyn, and Lydia. Another funny thing was that the names all came from people who are our friends that we worked with through Pinnacle. So those names are pretty much are off the list now, haha! :)

Also, speaking of babies, I'm going to be an AUNT!! This will be my first niece/nephew and I'm pretty excited!

|{ Selfie Saturday- Model Eyes + Arms Length}|

2011-04-09T23:23:00.001-04:00

This weeks selfie challenge is actually My Friend the Fan, but I have really short hair and it really is kind of challenge for more of the long haired variety. So while my current plan is to start growing it out again, I think I'll wait for that challenge when it gets to more to a movable length.

So, I didn't want to just skip a week, especially after I didn't get a photo in last week so I tried to focus on the challenge from a few weeks ago, Model Eyes.

I did this in the evening and the lighting is awful. I also JUST took them and finished editing them, seriously like half an hour ago. I also decided to attempt to do the challenge for Arms Length Selfies.

So all you lovely people out there, especially the ones who have done this challenge and know what to look for, what do you think? Do my eyes look right or are they just weird? Do they actually look like they are taken at arms length like they aren't supposed to? Let me know, I need the constructive criticism in order to learn! :)

P.S. I LOVED going through all of your Fan photos this week! You guys are so talented!! :)

I am SO SO SO excited for this coming weeks challenge, Magic Tricks, it's going to be A BLAST!! I am hoping to do it either tomorrow or Monday since they are my days off work. I also can't wait to see what everyone else comes up with!!! :)

|{ Selfie Saturday- Focus (Bokeh) }|

2011-04-02T13:13:00.003-04:00

Sigh, I am so disappointed. I was so looking forwards to this week's Selfie. The theme was focus with a more specific goal of 'bokeh'. To quote lovely Elena, "For those not up on the lingo, Bokeh is the blur we get shooting at large apertures, specifically those beautiful light spots as a background that gather in clusters and give any photo a magical feel."

I am one of those 'not up on the lingo' people and I was excited to try this one! I even had planned out what I wanted to do, part of which included also practicing my model eyes from a few weeks ago.

However, the first few days of the week I kept putting if off because it was a little cold and I had plenty of time, right? Well wrong. It started to get cloudy and even colder and my husband needed the tripod for a project at school so I didn't have it towards the end of the week, so I couldn't (easily anyway) do the outside shoot I had hoped for. I also didn't really know how to go about shooting a bokeh photo.

I am NOT a total slacker though, just almost. I DID pull out my camera and play around with the settings to try to figure out how to get those adorable light balls and when I finally figured it out I realized why exactly this challenge was placed into the focus theme! Because you need to focus on something in the foreground in order to get the little blurred balls in the background.

Anyway, long story short, hubby still has the tripod at school and I never got around to taking a picture, FAIL! BUT, I will STILL be doing this one, just a little late! :)

I also have been coming up with a lot of other selfie photo shoots that I would like to do so I'm excited for those too! :)

Here are the pictures I took trying to figure out how to use bokeh. I was in the car waiting to pick hubby up from school one day.

Well that did nothing at all...

Sunspots, but not quite the same thing...

Blurry, but still not it....

There we go!! There are some bokeh spots!

Now I just need to take some with me in it and hope they work out! I'm excited!!

Also, when I saw Elena's picture of her feet by the pool in her focus tutorial it reminded of a very similar picture I took about 2 years ago, so I went and dug it out and guess what! It has a little bokeh in it in the bush in the background! Sweet!

|{ Selfie Saturday- Self Love }|

2011-03-25T10:52:00.003-04:00

So this is week 8 of the Selfie Saturdays challenge but as you already know, this is my first week doing it!!! I am so excited!!

I think this photo turned out pretty well for my first real selfie photo shoot! I tried a little to do the model eyes from the previous challenge but I kept forgetting and these photos aren't really close enough to really tell anyway. I do want to do a model eyes photo though, so I will hopefully get to that soon! :) I just feel like I'm doing it wrong, haha! It reminds me of America's Next Top Model 'smize'!

This week's challenge was a Self Love photo, a photo of you holding a sign that says "I am beautiful." I liked this challenge, it reminded to see myself for the beauty that I have even though sometimes I don't feel it. It also reminded me that you don't have to be what the world considers beautiful to really be beautiful!!

Also, my mom decided to join me for Selfie Saturdays and I AM SO EXCITED!!!! It is going to be so much fun to do this together and motivate each other!! Yay!

Here is my picture of this week!! Click to make it larger.

This challenge also reminded me of the new Lady Gaga song 'Born This Way' where she says "I'm beautiful in my way cause God makes no mistakes, I'm on the right track baby, I was born this way."

So it made sense to me to take this photo too! :)

Put your paws up Little Monsters!! :)

So there we go, my first week of Selfie Saturdays!! I can't wait for next week!! The theme is Focus.

|{ Garcia Family Photos}|

2011-03-22T09:18:00.001-04:00

My cousin asked me to take some photos of her family while I was in town for my brothers wedding. They were such a cute family! We, unfortunately, ended up taking pictures in the rain. I felt so bad, but we still got some really sweet photos! They were very patient with me and the weather.

|{ Mom And Dad Couple Photos }|

2011-03-21T09:00:00.001-04:00

Also while I was in town I took some pictures for my parents. They were pretty silly and we got lots of them being funny. I love how fun my parents are and they were super sweet together too which is always nice to see!

|{ The Wedding Day: Part II }|

2011-03-20T13:35:00.003-04:00

I didn't want to overwhelm you with too many large pictures in one blog post, so I split it in two!

|{ The Wedding Day }|

2011-03-20T13:35:00.002-04:00

Here are some photos from the wedding I recently did.

|{ The Bridal Shoot }|

2011-03-19T21:59:00.001-04:00

I have a hard time really narrowing down the photos I want to share.. Haha! But here are some of my favs from Shantell's bridals!!

It's sad because they lose quality when I put them online, but it will have to due.

|{ Selfie Saturdays }|

2011-03-19T16:34:00.001-04:00

I started following this lovely blog called Selfie Magic probably.... oh what was it... 6 weeks ago or so, just as she was starting her challenge called Selfie Saturdays. I LOVE THIS BLOG!! It is BY FAR my favorite one to follow!

What are Selfie Saturdays you ask? Well, Elena (the gorgeous lady who owns the blog) writes up a tutorial/tip/example post about that weeks theme for taking self photos. Then on Saturday you link up to her blog with the photos you took. She is amazing! I learn SO MUCH from her ever single week and I am constantly looking forward the next week! Then themes are so fun and her photos are so inspiring!

However, I have to admit, I have not been participating in the challenges... I have been wanting to but I always come up with excuses. My biggest excuse being time and the weather outside being yucky, lame-o I know! But after this super inspiring post I felt that I can no longer just watch from the sidelines. So, I am going to start participating this week! :) I can't wait, in fact, I plan to make up for the weeks I missed and take photos for the past challenges as well.

I decided to start doing it not only because it looks likes a BLAST, which it does, but I think it's really important to make sure we take the time to take pictures of ourselves! I am tired of looking through photos of fun times or vacations or holidays and realizing that are WAY MORE photos of my hubby and other people than there are of me. I love having photos of myself that are current and I think it's important in order to document your life and all the things you've done. I hate to think that when I have kids and they get older that when they look back on the photos over the years of their childhood that their mother is not really in them.

I really think that everyone should try doing this, even if you don't think you are 'good enough at photography' or 'don't look good enough', I know I certainly feel that way sometimes but I am excited to use this opportunity to learn and to get better and have more confidence!!

So join me and all the wonderful ladies who are also involved in Selfie Saturdays! What you say?! Let's give this a shot!!

|{ Frustrating Technology }|

2011-03-16T13:41:00.000-04:00

I finished editing the pictures for the wedding as well as the bridals!! It took me about a week to finish that and then my computer decided it hated me so it took me a couple of days to get everything onto CDs, in the end I actually had to use my husband's computer to do the copying, Grr. Oh well! I got it done and the CD design and CD case design is done and they are in the mail on the way to their rightful owners! :)

So only a few more days until I get to share them! Yay!!

I also decided that I am just going to count my photo a day challenge numbers 59-72 in with the photos I'll share of what I did for the wedding! I don't want to get further behind.

Day #73

I found this funny drink is a gas station while I was in Utah and I thought it was too hysterical not to buy!

Day#74

The front and back of the finished CD cases!

Day#75

The finished CD design!

|{ Lots Of Photo Shoots }|

2011-03-10T15:25:00.001-05:00

Phew, I am so glad to be home. There was nothing relaxing about my trip to Utah, though I did have a great time. I got there on Wednesday night (after a scary flight) and went straight to bed since it was after midnight by the time we got home. On Thursday I had to be up by 7 so I could start work (still had to work on my 'vacation'), but after work I got to go and visit with Madame Baigue, my French teacher from high school. It always makes me so happy to see her, she is so wonderful!

On Friday things started to get serious. I still had to work, and after that I went immediately to go take bridal photos/couple photos of my brother and his fiancée. We went to the International Peace Gardens. Then we went to the reception/ceremony center to start setting things up and then we went to Saltair to finish doing bridals/couple pictures and after that went straight back to the reception center to start decorating; at which time my sister and I realized that the only decorations they had were red and white streamers and that just wasn't going to fly with us. She we went to Michaels and Lowes for supplies and went home. I made dinner and then we put together our decorations.

Saturday, the big day, was obviously VERY busy!! We were out the door by 8 a.m. and over at the reception/ceremony center. My sister and I finished decorating, which was interrupted a few times since I had to take pictures of the bride getting ready as well, and in the end it looked much better! From there, things went exactly as you would expect a wedding to go. I was extremely nervous about taking pictures for the wedding, especially the ceremony, but I did what I had to do, bossed a few people around and after a few bumps along the way I think in the end I did a pretty decent job.

On Sunday I ended up being pretty busy as well. In the afternoon I did a family photo shoot for my cousin and her family...in the rain... but I think those turned out pretty cute. I then went to do a couple shoot for my parents. I went to bed early that night because I had to leave by 5 a.m. in order to catch my flight.

And do you want to know the best part? I never got tired of taking pictures! Sure, I got nervous and stressed out but in the end I was still having fun with my camera in my hands. I even took pictures of Jon's volleyball game the night I got home.

So I have spent the last few days trying to work as well as go through all the thousands of pictures I took and editing the best ones. I am almost done with wedding photos. I still have to do the bridals/family/and couple photo shoots though. I will post a teaser soon of what I have done and once I at least get the CDs in the mail I will do a full post with the pictures.

I also need to catch up with my daily photos, I have 12 as of today that I need to do. Good thing I've been taking lots of pictures lately huh?

And since I hate doing a blog with zero pictures here is just one for you to look at.

The bride wears this necklace constantly since my brother gave it to her years ago. She was sad to not be wearing it and ended up borrowing my pearls for her big day. (I am also going to count this as Day #58 in my photo a day challenge)

|{ Day 30: The End }|

2011-03-03T10:24:00.000-05:00

Day #30- Something you could never get tired of doing.

Eating good food!! If my stomach could hold all I wanted and I wouldn't get fat then I could just eat and eat and eat! I love food, good food!! It makes me super happy!!

So there we go, THE END!! I made it! Late, yes, but I made it!! Hurray!

Yesterday I flew into Utah. I was supposed to get in at 11:00 pm but due to winds I actually got in at midnight!! I felt bad because my Mom wasn't the only to stay up to come get me. My WHOLE family did! Which was sweet and I was so happy to see them but Kira still had work and Amber still had school and my Mom had to work the next day. They are good people! :)

The next couple days are going to SUPER crazy busy, so you may not hear from me for a few days.

Here's to hoping things go well! :)

|{ Day 28 & 29: Movies And Pet Peeves }|

2011-03-01T09:25:00.001-05:00

Day 28- What is your favorite movie?

Wow, with all the movies out there does anyone really have a #1 favorite?! I really love movies so this is a super tough question.

First though, I am so glad I saw The King's Speech before it won the Academy Award for Best Picture!! I would have to agree and I am so happy that it won! That movie was amazing and surprisingly funny! And it had SO MANY people in it that I recognized including Colin Firth, Helena Bonham Carter (who I ADORE!!), Geoffrey Rush, Timothy Spall (who play Wormtail), and Michael Gambon (who plays Dumbledore). It was really cool and just a fantastic movie!!

And, coincidently, that also leads me to movie I have decided to claim as my 'favorite movie.' One that also has won the Academy Award for Best Picture and also has Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush in it.

Shakespeare In Love

(Image found HERE)

I love this movie with all my heart and soul!! It is so romantic and so well done! It is absolutely beautiful!! I will never forget how I felt after the first time I saw it. I am so glad we decided to see it!! It also has Gwyneth Paltrow in it and I absolutely ADORE her!! (Her and Helena Bonham Carter are my favorite actresses and while I am on the subject, Johnny Depp is my favorite actor, they are all AMAZINGLY talented people!!). So yes, I think Shakespeare In Love is my favorite movie! :)

Day 29- What is your biggest pet peeve?

My biggest pet peeve would have to be bad drivers. I can get pretty angry while I'm driving, mostly due to stupid people and bad drivers. It drives me nuts! Go the speed limit, use your turn signals, and don't be stupid!! That's all I ask!!

|{ Sweet Disposition }|

2011-02-28T21:38:00.001-05:00

We keep hearing this song on the diet coke commercials!! I LOVE IT!!

Sweet Disposition - The Temper Trap

|{ Guilty Pleasure }|

2011-02-27T00:51:00.001-05:00

Do you want to know my guilty pleasure? There are few but I think my biggest guilty pleasure of all is

TIRAMISU!!

It is so wonderful, it's definitely a big happy maker for me and I just can't resist its delightfulness!! I had it for the first time ever in November of 2009 on a cruise and now it is just IRRESISTIBLE!!!

My husband and I celebrated Valentines tonight, late due to our health issues, and we went to Macaroni Grill for dinner. I had a baked lemon pasta and he had lamb, which I tasted for the first time and FELL IN LOVE, lamb is wonderful!! What a unique flavor, it was crazy! And then, for dessert, we had tiramisu and lemon passion cake, YUMMY!!! After that we went and saw The King's Speech, which was really funny and a great movie!! It was a great 'Valentines Day!'

Jon let me have the last bite of tiramisu and I was very thankful!!

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!

|{ Day 27: One Year Ago}|

2011-02-27T00:16:00.000-05:00

DAY 27- A PICTURE OF YOU LAST YEAR AND NOW AND HOW HAVE YOU CHANGED SINCE THEN?

One year ago

Now

(Still haven't edited these, haha. Things have been crazy lately, that's my lame excuse.)

So, physical differences, my hair is shorter and a different color and I've gained a few pounds (:( which I am trying to lose).

Other than that... let's see. I have a job now, I am even more interested in photography (and I at least think that I'm better than I was), my sense of style in clothes has changed a bit (and I'm trying to wear more colorful things), I continue to get more and more happy in my marriage, I continue to become more independent, and... well that's all I can really think of right now. There are plenty of things I am still trying to improve and change, but that will come in time and it's been a great year!

|{ Day 26: Somewhere I've Been }|

2011-02-26T10:36:00.001-05:00

DAY 26- A PHOTO OF SOMEWHERE YOU'VE BEEN TO.

The Vatican, the smallest country in the world! This picture is up on top of St. Peter's Basilica looking out over Rome, it was amazing!!

Day#57

Eating sushi with our friend Larisa! (I feel bad that I haven't been editing many pictures lately, sorry about that.)

|{ Day 25: My Purse }|

2011-02-25T11:38:00.001-05:00

DAY 25- WHAT'S IN YOUR PURSE?

I did a post for this a few months ago so I won't do it again, even though a few things have changed (mostly that my purse itself is different), but it's still pretty close.

See it HERE.

Day#56

PEZ!! Yummy!!

|{ Day 24- A Special Something }|

2011-02-24T12:43:00.001-05:00

DAY 24- A PHOTO OF SOMETHING THAT MEANS A LOT TO YOU

This is the music box my husband proposed to me with. He bought in Italy when he was on his mission specifically to give to his future wife. I love it and treasure it. The only thing I keep in it is the necklace and earrings I wore on our wedding day.

This also counts as todays photo, #55.

|{ Day 23: 15 Facts About Me!! }|

2011-02-23T15:16:00.001-05:00

DAY 23: 15 FACTS ABOUT YOU.

1. My favorite nail polish color is black and I own more black shirts than any other color.

2. I have a habit of chewing on my headphone cord while I work.

3. As excited as I was to settle down for a few years here in Michigan, I find myself already anxious to move. I hope one day that goes away and I won't feel it for my whole life.

4. I used to hate Mexican food and now I find myself craving it quite a bit.

5. My favorite cartoon characters are Bambi and Peter Pan.

6. I have a real problem with finishing things that I start and I hate that about me.

7. I used to be totally against moving to California for good (even though that is where Jon wanted to live) because I am scared of earthquakes but now it's the only place I want to end up.

8. At 22 years old I am still afraid of the dark.

9. There is nothing that I enjoy more than dreaming of our future together.

10. My childhood dislikes in food were tomatoes and zucchini. I still hate both.

11. I really miss the atmosphere of Pinnacle summers.

12. I am terrible at keeping up with all household chores, but especially the dishes and the laundry.

13. I am not very independent, I almost always need someone with me in order to do things. I really want to change that.

14. I can never stay mad at my husband for very long.

15. I have the most amazing husband in the entire world! No doubt about it!!

|{ A Quick Trip To Cincinnati }|

2011-02-23T12:17:00.002-05:00

Jon's spring break started this last weekend so we took advantage of it to take a little trip. We drove somewhere that was close enough to not waste ALL of our time driving and ended up in Cincinnati, Ohio, which took about 4 hours! We stayed at a 4 star hotel for $40!! Woot, yay for Priceline!

The drive down was really fun. We usually listen to a book on CD when we drive long distances and we did have one but we just ended up talking the entire time! It was wonderful!! Towards the end of the trip we turned on some Gaga, which is always wonderful!! For dinner we stopped at Chipotle (not as good at Qdoba but hecka better than fast food) and then finished our drive.

The next morning we made sure to get up at a decent time (we sure do love sleeping in), ate a little Cookie Crisp for breakfast, and hit the town. We wandered through downtown for a bit and then walked across the Purple People Bridge over to Kentucky. We went to a little mall like place and it was not as exciting as we had heard that it was supposed to be, but that was okay, we still had fun. We played in the arcade and got some candy with what we won and had a blast. Except that I broke my favorite Fossil bracelet which definitely broke my heart. Then for lunch we ate a yummy burger joint which was definitely tasty! They had this appetizer that was slices of jalapeño that were deep fried. YUMMY! I decided I definitely want to make them, maybe even better than they did! Haha!

After lunch it started raining and we didn't really want to walk back the almost 2 miles to our hotel again, so we got a cab, which I always HATE! So nasty! Even after the few minutes we were in the car I felt all gross after inhaling nasty smoke smell and it took about an hour or so to feel ship shape again, but I would take that than having to walk in the rain so it wasn't so bad! So we got to the hotel and took a little break then walked across the street (literally) to where they were having an auto show! It was SO fun!! Not only did we get to look at nice expensive cars, which is always fun, but we actually spent most of the time looking at SUVs that would fit a family a six for our future car! I am VERY anti van, so I refused to look at any, except Jon did convince me to look at the Toyota Sienna, you know, the one with the awesome commercials that make it look amazing! It actually was pretty good looking and didn't have quite as much of the 'van' look, but still, it was still a van. If I HAD to get it I could live with it, but I prefer SUVs. We eventually decided we liked the Acura MDX the best! :)

AUDI!!!!

After that auto show we went back to the hotel and just relaxed. We sat by the window (on the 21st floor) and just looked out at the city. After a while we started to notice that someone was playing with a laser and shining onto buildings and into peoples rooms. It was awesome and entertained us for quite a while!! Then we went to The Green Papaya for dinner, which was a pretty decent sushi restaurant. We definitely enjoyed it. That night we went to the hot tub (which was probably the thing we were looking forward to the most) and it ended up being disappointing. It was filthy. Oh well, maybe next time.

The next day we got up and drove to Jungle Jims, which is the LARGEST grocery store in the country and (being the foodies that we are) it was amazing!! They had some pretty fantastic things including enormous amounts of cheese, tons of salamis and cured meats, a HUGE variety of food from all sorts of countries, and the biggest produce section I have ever seen. It was so big that they even offered tours! They have tons of fun displays everywhere, it was like an amusement park! They even had a big hot sauce section that had a full sized fire truck sitting on top of it! And we found the perfect hot sauces for the two of us!! :)

MMM... cheese...

Porta-pottys??? In a store!?!!

Haha, of course not silly!

RATTLESNAKE?!

For $140!!!!!!

After we were done we drove home and hit a huge snow storm. It was rough but we made it back safe and all in all had a pretty fantastic little trip!! It was a blast!

He put the whole licorice bag in his shirt to warm them up.

Oh!! And look at this CRAZY house we saw!!

Day#54

What Jon has been drinking for the past 3 days. He is definitely staying hydrated!

|{ What I Missed Over The Weekend }|

2011-02-22T14:40:00.001-05:00

DAY 20- THE MEANING BEHIND YOUR BLOG NAME.

I fairly recently changed the name of my blog to LoveStruck!! I chose it for several reasons. One- Because I am! My husband is everything to me! Two- It also comes from two songs that my husband and I love! Thunderstruck from ACDC and Starstruck from Lady Gaga. I wrote a post all about it HERE!!!

DAY 21- A PHOTO OF SOMETHING THAT MAKES YOU HAPPY.

This lovely lady!! I miss her to pieces and I can't to see her in 1 WEEK FROM TOMORROW!!

DAY 22- A LETTER TO SOMEONE WHO HAS HURT YOU RECENTLY.

Dear Dragon,

I love you so much but when you keep stepping on my toes with your heavy shoes it really hurts, especially when you do it on purpose! But that's okay, I love you anyway... you do bite hard sometimes though. ;) RAWR!!

Love,
Your Tiger

Photo Challenge
Day#50

Jonny at the car show in Cincinnati sitting in a sexy car...and just like a girl, I can't remember what car that is... Haha!

Day#51

The entrance to Jungle Jim's, which will be explained in more detail in my next post!

Day#52

Waiting for sushi at the Green Papaya in Cincinnati.

Day#53

Playing at the arcade!

|{ Day 19: A PICTURE OF YOURS TRULY }|

2011-02-19T09:35:00.001-05:00

Day 19: Another picture of yourself.

This was taken about a year ago. I am actually planning to do a special photoshoot with my lovely Legion in the near future, so be looking for that too! :)

|{ Catching Up On The 30 Day Challenge }|

2011-02-18T19:59:00.001-05:00

DAY 13- YOUR FAVORITE MUSICIAN AND WHY?

(Photo found HERE)

LADY GAGA!! I ADORE her!! There are a million reasons why, enough so that I decided she deserves her own post. So keep an eye out for a post all about GAGA!! Love you Mother Monster!!

DAY 14- A TV SHOW YOU'RE CURRENTLY ADDICTED TO.

I am watching SO MANY shows right now it is ridiculous!! So to pick just one... I would normally say Leverage, but since it's not on right now, I'll pick one that is.

(Photo found HERE)

MODERN FAMILY!!! If you have not started watching this show yet then you must! It is HILARIOUS!! I love watching it with Jon, he always laughs so hard!! And it's won awards including an Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series!! It's amazing!

DAY 15- SOMETHING YOU DON'T LEAVE THE HOUSE WITHOUT.

(Photo found HERE)

Chapstick!! Oh my gosh!! If I don't have my chapstick I freak out, I'm totally addicted! I seriously can't live without it, it's sad.

DAY 16- YOUR CELEBRITY CRUSH.

Again, so many to choose from in both the male and female categories. But for right now, I'm going to say ...

(Photo found HERE)

MATT BOMER!!

He plays Neal Caffrey in White Collar and he is BEAUTIFUL!! Not to mention he plays a thief, which just happens to always be my very favorite! But dang! I can't get enough of him! He was one of the people to introduce a category for the Golden Globe Awards!! Oh man he just gets me excited every time I see him! And who can resist those startling blue eyes!!

DAY 17- A PHOTO OF YOU AND YOUR FAMILY.

Starting with ME and going clockwise, Me, my husband Jonathan, my soon to be sister-in-law Shantell, my brother Skyler, my sister Kira, my sister Amberlee (Nichelle), my daddy Ray, and my mommy Tami.

DAY 18- SOMETHING YOU CRAVE A LOT.

(Photo found HERE)

Sunflower seeds. It's an addiction, one that I am actually pretty embarrassed about, not the most attractive food to eat but my Dad always had them growing up and now most of my family constantly eats them. But for goodness sakes I do love them, especially hot ones! They are kind of perfect for me, they keep me doing something with my hands and they are small enough that I don't feel like I'm snacking like crazy. I especially love them on road trips, they keep me awake when I start to feel sleepy.

|{ Worst Week Ever }|

2011-02-18T17:34:00.000-05:00

I apologize for my absence the past few days. Right after I got sick I started having this terrible pain in my mouth and ended up going to the dentist as soon as I possibly could, which just happened to be Valentines Day where they told me the only way to stop the pain was to pull my wisdom teeth (the ones my previous dentist had told me would NEVER come in!) So I got both my top wisdom teeth pulled (no bottoms ones to be seen yet) and I have spent the past few days recovering. I stopped taking my Vicodin when it made me super sick to my stomach and forced me not to eat or drink anything for the fear of just throwing it up again. So I have been on Tylenol and ibuprofen for the past few days, which is fine. I also think I might be slightly allergic to my antibiotic since I started getting a rash all over my neck yesterday.

Yesterday I felt good enough to get back to work but just before I was about to start working Jon was suddenly in A LOT of pain! I have never seen him in so much pain. We didn't know what was wrong and he suffered for a good 2 hours or so until we finally decided we should go the emergency room. We got there and he still had so suffer for what felt like ages before they finally gave him the right kind of medicine to make the pain stop, morphine had done nothing for him. Turns out he has a kidney stone which is right on the verge between too big to pass it and too small to take it out. So they decided he should try to pass it. I was so worried about him but was pretty impressed with myself at how well I handled such a stressful situation.

So I missed another day of work for the week and took care of my sick hubby. So far the pain is not bothering him too much and he has been drinking tons of liquids! Hopefully he passes it soon, I feel so bad for him!

Hopefully by tomorrow night we will both be feeling fit as a fiddle so we can go on our Spring Break trip!! We are going to drive to Cincinnati and stay in a hotel for the weekend. We got a super good deal on it and the only thing we were really looking for was a hot tub!! We have been spoiled living in apartment complexes during the summer and always having a hot tub available (except in Nashville) so now we are REALLY missing hot tubs!! So hopefully we'll be able to enjoy our break! :) We really need it after a week like ours! Our house is a disaster area! I don't think it has ever been this messy before! It's nuts!

Here is a little catch up on my pictures. Yes I cheated a little by using pics from the same day, but I would rather cheat than fail. We went to the a fraternity/sorority party last weekend, the theme was black and white and it was pretty formal. It was super fun!

Day#42

Day#43

Day#44

Day#45

Us with our friends Travis and Larisa!

Day46

All numbed up to get my wisdom teeth out on Valentines Day.

Day#47

The reason I need a external flash for my camera. My lens is too big for my pop of flash and causes shadows.. Grr!

Day#48

My poor honey still studying after going to the Emergency Room for his kidney stone.

Day#49

Totally an accidental picture, haha. Pretty freaky looking!

|{ Day 11 & 12: This Is My Town }|

2011-02-12T10:39:00.000-05:00

DAY 11: WHAT IS IN YOUR MAKE UP BAG.

I almost decided to skip day 11. It's just my make up bag. It's probably pretty similar to yours. But I figured it wouldn't hurt, I just don't want to take pictures.

So, I use Covergirl Lash Blast Fusion mascara, Bare Minerals for coverage, and I have a mix of eyeshadows from Mary Kay that I have had for way too long, and from Smash Box which I love. Other than that, I have lipsticks from tons of places, black eyeliner pencil, a pair of tweezers, my brushes from Bare Minerals, and some other random things that I hardly ever use.

So there you have it! :)

DAY 12: A PHOTOGRAPH OF THE TOWN YOU LIVE IN.

I did get the title of this post from the song 'My Town' from Montgomery Gentry. I love country music, I go through phases where I don't listen to it for a while, but the past few weeks I can't get enough! :)

Anyway, so here is a picture I took on our first day in Ann Arbor! I love Ann Arbor! It has a cute small town feel with big city amenities! It's kind of perfect! I adore it!

|{ Days 9 and 10 + Photos in February }|

2011-02-10T10:54:00.001-05:00

DAY#9- A PHOTO OF THE ITEM YOU LAST PURCHASED

New clothes!!! We decided that I really need more color in my wardrobe. I tend to lean towards grays and blacks so something needed to be done. Today I'm wearing the yellow shirt! :) (With gray pants! Love!) And I'll be wearing those sexy zebra striped heels to a party this weekend! Rawr!

DAY#10- A PHOTO OF YOUR FAVORITE PLACE TO EAT

The place we eat at most often here in Ann Arbor is called Nagomi Sushi and it is DELIGHTFUL!!! But I think our favorite place to eat, (besides at home because we LOVE cooking and eating our delish food) is Settebello! It's an authentic italian pizza restaurant and it is the only place we have found so far that REALLY is authentic!! It's amazing and it really makes us miss Italy!

(Image found HERE)

Day #32

My notes about my job

Day#33

We started drinking loose herbal tea that we found at By The Pound! Yum!

Day#34

New colorful socks!

Day#35

I was invited to an online meeting because I've traveled so much and they wanted advice! It definitely made me feel special! :)

Day#36

My view every day.

Day#37

I was trying to refill our sugar dispenser when the lid came off of the container and I dumped sugar EVERYWHERE!!

Day#38

My handsome husband making dinner for me while I was sick!

Day#39

And then he bought me soap from Bath and Body Works in my favorite scent, Wild Honeysuckle, because they DISCONTINUED it!!! :(

Day#40

I got my hair cut and then decided to play 'dress up'. Haha. Not really a look I can pull off! :)

Day#41

And sort of cheating with this one, but hey! At least I haven't quit yet right?!

|{ Days 6, 7, and 8 }|

2011-02-09T21:46:00.003-05:00

The weekend plus me getting sick did not help me stay updated, big surprise I know! But I'm catching up and that is what counts!

DAY #6 - A PHOTO OF AN ANIMAL YOU'D LOVE TO KEEP AS A PET.

There are quite a few things I would love to keep as pets but I'll stick with #1 on my list!! :)

(Picture found here)

A Toyger!!! It's a newer breed of cat specifically bred to look like tigers! Look at those lovely stripes!! They are slightly larger than an average house cat, have big paws, noses, and ears. I want one SO BAD!! But they are definitely on the pricey side so it will have to wait a bit!

DAY #7- YOUR DREAM WEDDING

This could be quite a long one for me so I'll keep it short, I am really into design and I love the idea of planning weddings. Mine was super amazing!! The colors were bright and happy!! Bright blue, super bright yellow, and hot pink! It was wonderful!!

And I had the most amazing man at my side to share the day with! I'm so lucky to have him!

DAY #8- A SONG TO MATCH YOUR MOOD

I REALLY miss California right now! I'm in a pretty happy, sexy mood, so that works too!

|{ Day 5: 2 Years Ago }|

2011-02-05T11:22:00.001-05:00

DAY 5: A PHOTO OF YOURSELF TWO YEARS AGO

I can't even believe this was two years ago!! It doesn't seem that long ago! A lot has changed since then! :)

|{ Day 4: Best Friends}|

2011-02-05T11:08:00.001-05:00

I had this mostly done yesterday but my computer was being retarded and wouldn't let me upload pictures.

DAY 4: YOUR FAVORITE PHOTOGRAPH OF YOUR BEST FRIEND

I have a lot of friends that I really love so it was hard to try to pick my 'best friends.' So please don't be offended if you aren't on the list. These are the people I keep in contact with the most! :) I love you all!

Mercede, my very best friend since we were in 5th grade together!! Even though she moved before 6th grade started we never lost touch! I love her with all my heart and I wish we could see each other more often!

Erick and Kira, I met them after Jon and I started dating! Erick and Jon went to undergrad together and are a blast when they get together!! Erick is also in medical school! He is in his 2nd year at Stanford! We miss those 2 like crazy!!

My lovely sisters, Amberlee and Kira, I love these two to pieces! We have a blast together and I know I can always talk to them and they know they can always talk to me! I miss them everyday!! p.s. The 3 of us are hoping to start a blog together soon, so keep an eye out for that.

Rochele! Oh how I love this girl!! We met during one of the Pinnacle summers. We were in Sacramento that year! It was sad that we didn't really get to know each other until the summer was almost over because we clicked instantly. Then the next summer we only got to be together while in Nashville, maybe about a month, before Jon and I left for Dallas. I was super bummed to leave her behind. I love her with all my heart!

Jess! I met her this last summer when her and her husband came out with us to Dallas! I was intimated by her at first, she always looks so amazing, but we instantly became friends. Before we left Nashville the two of us and Rochele were practically inseparable! She really inspires me and I look up to her so much! She's a blast!

Why don't ANY of my friends live close! It really sucks! None of them even live close to each other! Mercede and my sisters live in Utah (about an hour or more away from each other), Erick and Kira live in California, Rochele lives in Idaho, and Jess lives in Arizona! So unfair!! I miss them all so much!

And then of course my #1 best friend in the entire world! My amazing husband!! He's always the one I can turn to and talk with and play around with! We have a blast and I'm so happy I have such a wonderful man to spend eternity with!!

|{ Work Stress and Day 3 }|

2011-02-03T17:07:00.001-05:00

Every 2 weeks at work I get a call about how I am doing with my quality as well as my productivity. While my productivity is getting better my quality is dropping a ton!! I am making more mistakes than ever and I really dread those calls! Every other week I fear I hear those awful words.. "This isn't working out...you're fired." I've never been fired so that would really suck, not to mention I really need this job. I am stressed and worried about it all the time and it's driving me crazy. So for the next 2 weeks I will be slowing down my productivity to make sure my quality goes up, which is the most important thing.

I'll get it eventually.... I hope.

DAY 3:
YOUR IDEA OF THE PERFECT FIRST DATE

Probably my least favorite question of all of them but I don't want to start off bad my skipping it.

I've had some great first dates and some really not so awesome ones!

My idea of the perfect date isn't what you do but how much you enjoy the other person. The best first dates are the ones where you can talk and talk and talk and both of you never get tired of it and you just feel really comfortable together. That's how Jon was, we just clicked immediately! That's the best! It doesn't matter what you go and do as long as you have fun and enjoy the person you are with! :)

|{ Days 1 and 2 }|

2011-02-02T17:10:00.002-05:00

Instead of starting on Day 1 today I thought I would day 1 and 2 so I can just go along with the month...until I get the end of the month of course! Haha.

DAY 1- A PHOTO OF YOURSELF AND A DESCRIPTION OF HOW YOUR DAY WAS:

(Taken in 2007)

My day has been alright. I am getting over a cold, today is the first day that it isn't so bad, so that's good! Other than that I have just been working, which went well today! And of course I have been blog stalking, which is my favorite thing to do on the internet! :)

DAY 2- TELL US ABOUT YOUR JOB:

Well, I work as a medical transcriptionist. I had to get certified to do it and that took about 9 months to finish. I get to work from home (which is the main reason I decided to do it) and I work a full time 40 hour week, Tuesday through Saturday! It can be hard sometimes, mostly just to stay focused, but other than that I really enjoy it and I'm glad to be able to be bringing in some money while my Med School Student Husband can't work! :)