Pretty

This Alice + Olivia dress is so pretty! I love anything in the mint pastel color and I love that it hides all flaws lol Pair this with a silver clutch and heels and it would be a great date night dress or even a pretty outfit to wear to a spring wedding. I found this dress at chickdowntown.com.

Its been awhile....

This was 8hrs into the ride and we look a little rough.. getting RESTLESS much?!

Driving into West Virginia

The lake where Dan spent his summers...Sylvan Lake.

So life has been crazy these past two weeks. Crazy in good and in bad ways. I guess because I am trying to be optimistc I will start with the good. Last weekend Dan and I made a spontaneous road trip to Indiana- Yes- I said Indiana- meaning 10hr car ride from Charlotte to a little hole in the wall town called Columbia City. You see Dan's grandfather is 94 years old and I have never met him. He sends us Christmas and Birthday cards like clockwork and out of the goodness of his heart always includes a little cash. After talking with Dan's father, Jack, we heard Grandpa S. was having to move out of his townhome into assisted living. We decided that we needed to go up and help Jack move Grandpa S. and also meet some other relatives that were unable to make it down to our wedding. Let's first start off saying that I was in a slight bit of culture shock once I arrived in Columbia City. I am not joking when I say when you are driving all you see is 100 acre farms, then the old farm house, and then another 100 acre farm. There was only a Dairy Queen and a Pizza Hut... and those seemed like the hip places to hang out for all the teenagers. Bloggers I tried my best to stay loyal to my weight watchers diet, I even booked it to the local Walmart to stock up on Smart Ones, but alas the Pizza Hut salad bar was my demise (but I'm back on as of the day we got back into town).

So not much happened the entire weekend we were there.. just helped move Grandpa S. into his new little apartment. I did get to see my first Amish horse and buggy though- let me tell you I was so excited to actually see this that I was nearly hanging out the car trying to take pictures of them troting by lol.

Ok so now on to the horrible, awful, depressing, maybe worst thing that could possibly happen to us. Dan lost his job.

Yeah, for real and totally not kidding and I have been bumming about it since last Wednesday. SO much so that I couldn't even bring myself to write on this blog since it seems like most blogs I read are so cheery and I thought this post would just bring anyone down that read it. Well, I realized that this blog is for me to get my thoughts out there and cover the good and not so good of our life. So here we are... our family of two has now joined the ranks of the unemployed. The whole situation was entirely fishy and the guy who made the most at his position ended up being the one let go. Dan has worked for Home Depot for the past few years and was in their management program. He had just been promoted to Department Head and his 5 yr plan was to become and store manager (for real the SM make close to $80-100k). The whole story of how this came about could equal about 5 blogging posts, but I will spare you all. Dan has an interview with Lowe's tomorrow so we will keep our fingers crossed. All I can say, and it might sound biased, but Home Depot lost a seriously good employee and a damn good future store manager. Hopefully Lowes will scoop him up. I have to keep thinking that everything happens for a reason, that there are not accidents, and that maybe there is a reason we live so close to the Lowes headquarters and we are living in LOWES country? I just have to keep telling this to myself. I guess we pick ourselves up and keep moving forward, right? Ugh if only it was easier to do than say. So I'm putting this out into the blogging world as well since I know Charlotte people read this blog or may come across it... if anyone knows ANYONE at a Lowes store or in management or if anyone knows a company looking for someone with management experience please get in touch! Thanks to everyone and anyone who read this and all my blabbering. Its nice to have a place to put it out there.

Hello Babies

So I feel bad because I was going to bring my camera over to take a ton of pics of baby Jaxon, but I forgot once again. A friend of mine had him two weeks ago. He's so adorable and Yas is such a great mom. So she gave me her whole labor and delivery story which I always find so interesting. Caroline was also there and Nicole ended up coming over later. One thing I really realized was how I have NO NADDA NOTHING in experience with babies- especially newborns. Trust I know a ton about them, watch A Baby Story (not that that really counts lol), and read up on all the knowledge I can, but when it comes to holding little Jaxon I was kinda like a deer in the headlights lol I guess I was scared of not holding him right or supporting him right or I really don't know what the hell was my problem lol I ended up sitting in the same position with him till my arm was about ready to fall off. Maybe I was disappointed that I didn't feel like a natural with him? Whats all this Dan and I wanting a baby and I feel weird holding a newborn business about??? I think I just have had zilch for practice- I am an only child and all my friends are just now starting to have babies. Seriously everyone in our circle is having a baby or trying! And as we were sitting there one of my friends (I can't say who because with my luck someone will come across this blog and the news will be out) is PREGNANT!!! 6weeks along exactly! I was so excited I started getting teary eyed (Im such a marshmellow). I think I was also surprised because it happened to fast for them- where I have a few other friends who have been working on it for like 6months. I ended up leaving shortly after and I found myself wondering what this weird feeling was I was feeling- I mean I am rarely short on words and I just can't for the life of me express what I was feeling... it wasn't happiness.. it wasn't sadness... it just was. and it was weird.
I called Dan on the way home and told them so and so was expecting (he is high school friend with her hubby). He was shocked and excited and then promptly asked when we were getting pregnant. I changed the subject because I had no idea what this weird feeling was and didn't feel like really getting into it. Whats up with this? Ugh anyways I'm off to chill with my Real Housewives of NYC DVR shows (so excited about the reunion show tonight) and then I am going to pick up trash with the LKN Jr.s for a volunteer thing- fun fun.

Belated Happy Mothers Day

So I realized I totally missed the bandwagon on posting the "Mother's Day" post. I decided to put up a pic of my momma and I last Thanksgiving. I honestly think of her as my best friend. I look a lot like my dad - unfortunately I was not born with my moms olive skin. We act more alike than we look, but a lot of people think I have her eyes.
I literally call her every day sometimes twice a day- especially if one of us finds a great buy somewhere- its like I instantly pick up the cell and call her. Maybe its an only child thing, but I really am trying to work on not being so codependent on my parents opinion. I'm a total momma's girl:) I hope someday I can be as good a mother as she was to me..

Steel Magnolias- One of the BEST movies ever!

This is what I am watching right now.... and its just one of the best movies ever. ever. ever.

New Shoes:)

So I am so happy to report that the WW meeting was kind of like stepping off a cliff and landing on a cloud (weird analogy lol) Anyways what I mean to say is that I'm relieved I went.. of course the scale was not reading a number I even wanted to fathom could belong to me.. I knew I made a good first step towards a skinny mini healthy me. I was so proud of myself I went shopping... for new running shoes! I fell in love with these and they are very comfortable! They are the new Nike Shocks.

Today has already been a much better day because I am happy to have the feeling of control back. I even went to Target and purchased a small notebook to write all my points down. Also on my agenda today was buying our mothers some flowers for M-Day. Geesh! $180 for two bouquets.... am I in the wrong business or what? I sent both of our mothers two vases full of pink Tulips from the Martha Stewart Collection (Im sure that had something to do with the price). I have to make this short but for anyone who reads this now or down the road after this post - if you know of any blogs that have twentysomething bloggers blogging about Weight Watchers please pass me their urls. I need the motivation! Thanks!

Weight Watchers HERE I COME!

So I think maybe.... j u s t m a y b e ...... I have realized I need to get my butt into Weight Watchers- and really make it a lifestyle not something just to get on for a few months to lose weight . So you know how when you feel your eating is completely out of control and you feel like a total idiot for going to the fridge yet again when you know its not going to be a pretty outcome? How many of us just say to ourselves "THIS IS IT! This is the last hoorah, the last day to splurge because tomorrow is the first day of the rest of your skinny life"? I feel like I've been saying that for the last three months. Its always scarry and its always a question of whether or not you can do it.... I just can't keep telling myself "tomorrow I will start" because it never happens. So tonight I am going to Weight Watchers at 6pm. There is a meeting tomorrow at 7pm at a place closer, but this is desperation setting in and I am willing to drive further tonight to jump start it TONIGHT. I've done WW in the past, but the last time I was on (in Sept.) I was on a roll (6lbs in 1.5 wks) so I thought it would be even better to throw a personal trainer in the mix as well. Ummm... no. I ended up getting someone who thought "Don't use WW Just eat protein, protein, protein and don't worry about the fat grams!!!" So I got off of it- I did tone up, but the scale didn't budge much (I'm sure I did lose a few lbs of fat that turned into muscle, but mentally I really needed to see the scale move).
So long story short I am going to keep updates on the blog to document my WW journey as well as documenting my life in general. Please wish me luck, cross your fingers, keep me in your prayers, show support or anything else you can possibly think of- I'm going to need all I can get!!!

Spring and herbs!

Lola sends her love to everyone!

Rosemary, Lemon Thyme, Mint, Basil, and Parsley

Spring is here!
So after coming to the conclusion that just about every recipe on foodnetwork.com calls for fresh herbs I though that I might as well grown my own. So lets all just say a little prayer that they don't end up like the rest of my plants (I'm sure everyone knows how that story ends). SO FAR SO GOOD. Lola bean even decided to get in on the picture- she sends her love ! I then noticed as I was watering my way too pricey hanging ferns (I mean $20 for a fern? Really...?) A bird flew out and on closer inspection we have five little eggs in a nest. As cute as it is.. now I have to find a way to water my fern and not water the nest lol.

Today I woke up in all my cold sick glory (still sick:( and dropped my momma off at the airport- I seriously get light headed driving down Billy Graham Parkway to Charlotte Douglas Airport... I don't do well with flying... even dropping and picking people off makes me uneasy. Although it started after 9/11- I'm not so much scared of terrorists as I am a plane going down and me having no control- I'm a tad bit of a controller if you haven't gotten that already. I then came home and started looking into where weight watcher meetings are around me- Its time for me to be accountable for my eating and ww does work- I just need to be committed to being committed.

I wish I had taken some pics the past few days as it has been sunny and beautiful at the lake... I actually got really good color and it felt great to have a tan! Now its been overcast and I can see the color going= I'm going to the tanning bed... I know its soooo bad, but I'm like an addict that just got a taste of some color and I need more!

Also ended up watching Slumdog Millionaire this weekend- very good!

Sick as a..and we bought a house!

Ugh the plague has hit me lol... no I did not contract the swine flu (although I did have a moment of hesitation haha). No, I just ended up with the hubbs swore throat and sniffles this morning that ended up in a full blown cold by 4pm today. How come he just gets the sniffles and I am like a leaking faucet running around the house for tissues?Not fair at all.

Anyways a lot has happened in the past few days. I know that I had posted a picture of a house in a subdivision we were thinking of buying, but things have drastically changed (isn't it funny how your plans never work out?). We decided to go in on property with my parents - and before you ask if Im totally crazy for having my parents live close- this is 10 acres we are talking about! And if you were to meet me in real life you would know that as preppy as I am I love to ride horses (I sold my last one before college), I have actually raised chickens before, and I love everything that has to do with rolling pastures and home grown organic vegetables! Actually we are purchasing the home on the property and 2.5 acres with it. My parents will be putting up a summer home on the other side of the land so they will not be there all the time. Now as selfish as this might sound I'm glad to have my parents there occassionaly (having a spelling issue sorry !) When we have kids it will be really nice to have a baby sitter there and not only that my mother and I are like best friends. We are really lucky to have this opportunity so I thank my lucky stars everyday!
The land is just great- the house is even going to be really nice once we put finishing touches to it, its also in a great school district and only 27miles to Charlotte (but if anyone is from around here you know I77 at peak times turns that into about 1 hr drive lol). It has about 15 full grown gorgeous pear trees lining the drive down to the house (we are going to name it Pear Tree Farm)- it also has a full grown peach and cherry tree on it!
I will post pics as soon as I can... we close on it on June 15th!!!