{men in black}

The last couple of days I have been in Minnesota for a hearing aid convention/conference and my fellow audiology classmates (who I’ve recently found out read my blog, here’s a shout out to you, hehe!) will appreciate the sentiment of the title of my blog! Haha! Thankfully, it looks like I haven’t been scarred for life due to the men in black!

On Thursday morning, my classmates Katie and Bria, and myself started our journey to Minnesota. Katie was awesome enough to drive and Bria and I did our best at being co-pilots. We only took one ‘detour’ and that was my fault, but we didn’t have to turn around, nor did we end up really going out of our way. We all joked that we needed to see some more tractors so the detour was much needed, haha! The plan was to do some shopping at Ikea before checking into the hotel. I had never been to Ikea before and was excited.

About an hour outside of our destination Katie had the bright idea of going wedding dress shopping. We didn’t know if it would be possible because normally you need an appointment to go try on wedding dresses, but we were hopeful. I looked up bridal salons near our final destination and found one with a name that sounded promising. It didn’t have any reviews, but it was called Bridal Accent Couture and anything with the name Couture (spelling?!) has to have good dresses, right?! I had only tried on dresses at one other place and none of those were promising and the same had happened with Katie. We called them up and they were able to fit us both in! We joked that Bria was engaged too so she could try on dresses, but when we got there she didn’t feel comfortable trying them on so she just gave her excellent opinion to Katie and myself.

We definitely lucked out and the place had some awesome dresses (and many that were WAY out of my budget). Katie and I got right into it trying on different dresses. We have totally different tastes in mind and we both had some great dresses to try on… and… we both think we found our wedding dresses. Well, Katie is pretty certain and she definitely had that ‘look’ on her face when she came out in the dress. Her wedding dress budget is definitely higher than what I would like to spend on my dress and so she was totally okay with the price of the dress she had decided upon. ‘My’ dress wasn’t super expensive, but I’ve always been pretty budget conscious and don’t know if I could spend that much on a dress I’ll only be wearing once. My cousin told me that when I found my dress I would just know. Because this was the first place that I have visited that actually had dresses that I liked I’m hesitant to say yes that I found my dress. I can tell you that with the dress on and looking in the mirror and I was already at my wedding. I was envisioning walking down the isle to Jay and the party afterwards. It just worked!

Below are some pictures of the dress that I liked the most. Because I haven’t fully ‘committed’ to the dress, I don’t mind posting pictures of it for others to see. If and when I find the dress and it happens to be this one, no one will remember by the time the wedding rolls around anyways. The dress comes with a removable wrap. I tried it on without the wrap and if I were to get the dress, I would probably only wear the wrap for a few pictures. It is an A-line style dress; however, the consultant at the bridal salon said that it could be tailored in a little tighter on me so it wasn’t so ‘fluffy’ and the way she contoured it to my body was awesome! (I’d had pictures of me in the dress, but I left my camera in the car because I didn’t know if they would allow that as some places don’t.) What really made the dress me was the belt that she added to it which you can see in one of the pictures below too. It totally fit the feel I am going for for the wedding. Overall, I’ve found out that I am not a frilly super big fluffy wedding dress person who doesn’t want a huge long train or a lot of poof.

Only time will tell if this is the dress for me, right?! It definitely was a lot of fun though!

After some wedding dress ‘shopping’ we finished making our way to the hotel and relaxed for a little while before heading out for supper and the welcome reception for the convention we would be at for the next two days. I have to say, I was excited about the hotel stay because it looks pretty nice on the website and even in person. The rooms; however, left much to be desired. First off, Bria found a pair of underwear and socks in one of the drawers in her room. Ick! That earned her and her roommate some free coffee and access to the top floor of the hotel for a night. Secondly, there was no fan in the bathroom, they charged you for internet access and bottles of water in the room, there was no refrigerator and crap for TV channels, and the deadbolt lock on our room broke! The beds were comfy though and had nice comforters on them though, so that kind of made up for it. We got free water for our broken lock and they offered to switch us to a different room, but the other lock on our door worked and we didn’t really care. It was mediocre for a Marriott. The pool and hot tub were nice though… couldn’t complain about those.

The welcome reception/supper was good. We were definitely never hungry! Thursday night was our introduction to the men (and women) in black suits. Because there was maybe 50 students that were invited there was definitely a lot more one on one interactions with the people from the hearing aid manufacturer and at times (okay, more than just at times) it was uncomfortable and exhausting trying to keep up a façade of happiness when all we wanted to do as students was not talk hearing aids. Some of the people sort of held that air of superiority and it was annoying.

Friday and Saturday were both full days of classes and more men in suits. There were a few hands on labs and I have to say that that was the highlight of both days. I loved getting hands on experience with new things. Overall, I have to say that it was definitely an eye opening experience. Best part by far was ‘bonding’ with my classmates. We don’t get to see the Madison students in person very often and so it was nice to be able to spend some time with them outside of class and to be able to catch up. The same goes for my fellow on campus classmates. We see each other less and less each semester because of our schedules so getting to catch up with them was fun as well. I don’t know how much they all enjoyed it, we I had a good time venting about different things with them and hearing how their lives are going.

Katie, Bria, and I didn’t attend either social event on Friday or Saturday night. The group went bowling on Friday night and we went out to eat at Olive Garden and then spent an hour walking around Ikea. I didn’t realize that Ikea was so close to the Mall of America and would have liked to go there, but I know that we will be visiting in the summer so it didn’t bother me too much. Saturday after we got back to the hotel to change for the social event, we packed up and left to come home. Each of us had had enough of it and wanted to go see our significant others and sleep in our own beds. Little did I know that Jay had decided to go ‘home’ and I was headed back to an empty house. I was bummed a bit at first, but was okay because I got home and went to bed pretty quickly. (It was a LONG drive back!)

I have to say that the GPS on my phone didn’t let us down and Katie handled driving in the bigger cities AWESOMELY! I could never have done that, especially on the way home because my GPS led us through downtown Minneapolis and it got a little more crazy than I would have liked. Okay, a lot more crazy! I don’t do driving in big cities AT ALL! But we made it home just fine! Kudos to Katie!

I was definitely exhausted because I went to bed around 11pm and didn’t get up until 10am! Today has definitely been a lazy day for me, especially since my boys aren’t home yet. I got up and moved from my bed to the couch where I watched (don’t judge) Justin Beiber Never Say Never on Netflix. I have to say it was pretty good. I don’t really like or dislike Justin. I don’t really listen to music as country is my genre. I do have to say that around Christmas time I was listening to a song on the radio and thought the girl who was singing it sounded good and then found out it was Justin Beiber, haha! It was funny! Anyways, I enjoyed watching the movie and it made him seem so much more real and down to earth. And, I had to watch it while Jay wasn’t home because I knew he would give me a hard time! He probably still will! It was noon before I showered and got ‘dressed’ in sweats and a sweatshirt sans makeup and doing my hair. It is definitely a stay at home day!

While I was gone, my portfolio type photo book came in the mail. I have to say, I am SO in LOVE with how it turned out. I put a few pictures from each photo session in the last year in it that I really liked. When I ordered it I was worried that it would be too small, but I didn’t want to pay an arm and a leg for it either. I ordered it from Blurb.com because I LOVED how my last photo book from them turned out and this one didn’t let me down either. The size is perfect for what I wanted it for and it just turned out amazing! If you are looking for a very nice photo book at reasonable prices, check out Blurb.com (btw, I am in no way being compensated for my review of them, they don’t even know I exist), you will NOT be disappointed. My 7x7 book with 40 back to back pages (80 pages with pictures on) only cost $40 (sans shipping because I found a coupon code that made that free). Maybe I will post some pictures of it at a later date.

Okay, my boys are home, time to go!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

{story time}

Ayden and I (well Ayden actually), successfully read through the book of Curious George stories that we have and he did a stupendous job! I couldn’t be more proud of him!!! No, he doesn’t have to hold the book that close to read it, I made him hold it like that for my picture of the day.

Ayden has been very loving lately. Lots of melt my heart moments where he will just stop whatever he is doing and come give me a hug. Can he stay like this forever please?! Today while we were reading he stopped in the middle of a sentence and leaned over and gave me a hug and said you are the best mommy ever. Tears anyone?! Then later after we had finished reading and he was in his room, I called into him and told him how great of a job he has been doing and he thanked me for helping him read so well. More tears anyone?! I should find a way to bottle this up because I know he won’t be like this forever! Mommy’s little boy, that’s for sure! I’ll eat it up while I can!

There hasn’t many other super exciting things going on this week that I feel compelled to write about right now… classes have started and it should be a pretty decent semester (minus the capstone and praxis stuff).

CIAO! LOVE ME!

{last first day}

I'm pretty lucky and shouldn't complain about school (yet) this semester. It was the first day back to school and my one and only class runs from 1pm-2:15pm... that's harsh, right?! Ayden doesn't start school until 9am, which means the earliest I need to get out of bed in order to be ready to take him to school is 8am. That is totally doable, and yet I'm complaining about being back at school, ha! Likewise, when I start clinic next week, I probably won't need to be there until 8am and from my calculations, it should only take 45 minutes at the most, which means leaving my house at 7:15am and getting up by 6:30. Now, 6:30am is a little early, but I think I can manage it two days a week since when I start my externship, I'll probably be getting up at 5:30-6am EVERY day of the week. That will definitely take some getting used to. I haven't had to get up at 5:30am EVERY day of the week in who knows how man years! I can and will do it though, no choice.

Today was my last first day of school (on campus) and I couldn't be more excited! I can't say that it was my last first day of school ever because unfortunately I will have an online class each semester throughout my externship and from some comments I've read from current fourth year students, that one class might end up being more work than my two on campus classes. So not looking forward to that, but on the flip side, they are 'working' full time and then have a class on top of it. Right now I have two classes and I am not even working part time. However, I know I can pull it off because I worked three days a week when Ayden was a baby and still did two or three online classes on top of that at a time. Totally doable because I am super woman! Haha!

My class today went well. I am excited that the classes we have this semester are shorter in time than last semesters. Two plus hours of one class gets to be LONG. This semester one is an hour and fifteen minutes and then my other one is only 50 minutes. And with both teachers on the Point campus this semester it will make it much easier to pay attention, especially with one of the professors (for at least the first five weeks of the class) is my favorite professor and makes the learning that much easier. For the second five weeks of one class we have a speech professor and although we've had her before in undergraduate classes, I have heard that she is a much harder graduate school teacher and she is going to be teaching us speech perception and I've never really enjoyed that subject. Formants and such... just not my thing. I'm looking forward to getting into the groove of the semester and getting through it. Just one step closer to moving!

We've gotten quite a bit of snow lately and Jay has been working a lot more. He enjoys having something more to do and we definitely enjoy a little extra money in the winter months. It will be nice when he is working full time all year round at a job that he enjoys and we can start paying back his student loans. That is not a topic that I want to think about right now though since it is so depressing, so lets move onto something better...

My cousin, Amanda, crocheted me a hat and I cannot wait to get it in the mail. She posted a picture of it and I love how it turned out! She taught me how to crochet back around Thanksgiving and I'm bummed to say that I've only 'mastered' the single hook or loop or whatever you call it. I could make a scarf, but that's it. It was my goal to learn how to make myself a hat, but I guess that I just wasn't blessed in that area so I asked Amanda if she could make me one because she totally excells at it and she willingly obliged. I think I will stick to photography, hehe!

As I sit here on the couch typing this, Ayden is cuddling up next to me and reading the previous paragraphs that I have written. It is honestly too cute that he is reading it. I guess I have to watch what I am writing since he's getting better at reading. We have been working through a big book of Curious George stories lately and are almost done. He is doing so great and I smile each time we finish with a page. He is also excelling on his speech goals too. And even though he didn't have school today (lucky kid), we worked on his normal routine of homework when I got home and he didn't even complain. Yippie. Not that we get too much complaining these days. For the most part Ayden is pretty well behaved. He does have some outbursts at times, but they are typical of his age and he doesn't get away with them. They are pretty infrequent though, so I'm thinking we are doing something right, haha! We try! We are not perfect parents, but we try!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

{if]

I'm 'borrowing' a post from a few other bloggers. Fill in the blanks...

If I were to get pregnant again... right now?! I'd be thrilled and scared at the same time. It is no secret how much I want more kids right now, but it also isn't a secret that I have a year and a half left of school and being able to afford another baby right now would be hard. If I were to get pregnant right after getting married I would be over the moon! We'll just see what God has in store for our family!

If I could have any job in the world... I'm actually really looking forward to my future career as an audiologist. I love going to my clinical rotations and experiencing the different stuff that might some day encompass what I will be doing full time. If I had to pick any other sort of job it would probably be something that helps people. Maybe a counselor of some sort.

If I had a day to myself... I would meet up with some friends and chat the day away! I am not able to get together with my friends as often as I would like and so a whole day with them would definitely not go to waste!

If I could get married all over again... I'm not married yet so I don't have any 'do overs' for my wedding day, although I'm definitely excited to start some planning for things and have learned from people I know and weddings that I have been to. Bring it on!

If I could live anywhere in the US... it would be somewhere that was warm all year round. Snow on Christmas or a cold winter are WAY overrated if you ask me. But it would suck living so far away from my family so my guess is that we won't be moving to any place warm all year round any time soon! Oh well, a girl can dream, right?!

If Ayden were a girl he would have been named... I don't actually remember if we had any girl names picked out before finding out if he was a boy or a girl. I do have a running list of baby names for any future children, but who knows if we will end up using any of those either. Just names that I like and I thought why not start a list.

If I could have any talent in the world... it would be to be to better my photography skills. I continue to work at it and enjoy learning new things. I am my own worst critic.

If you met me in real life you would probably say... I was shy and reserved, although working with patients and photography clients has definitely opened me up some. I never thought I would be in a job that required working with people every day, but I am and I love it! And I'm not shy ALL of the time, just when you are getting to know me.

If I could go back to school and get a different degree... ha, I'm still in school! One degree wasn't enough... bachelor's degree, ha... I needed the doctorate, lol!

If money were not an object... Jay and I would be married already, we'd have a house, more kids, no student loans, and more feul efficient vehicles (well at least his, mine is okay), we would travel all over and just have fun. Remember, money is no object, right?! Jay would start his own lawn care business and I would only work part time. I would need to work, I'm not cut out to be a stay at home mommy, but it wouldn't be full time, just part time.

If I could meet one celebrity... I don't know who I'd meet. I'm not 'obsessed' with any celebrity so... um... can't even think of one, maybe a band that I like... Sugarland or Lady A!

If I could only shop at one store for the rest of my life it'd be... shopping just for me? Then it'd definitely be Maurices! Shopping for the whole family... Kohls maybe?!

If we get another pet I would want a... dog! We cannot have any more pets where we live now, but I'd love to get a dog. I know they are a lot of work, but I miss having a dog around from when we lived at my mom's house. I know that Jay really wants one too and Ayden would love growing up with a dog as well! What kid doesn't love dogs?!

If I could go on a trip, RIGHT NOW, I'd want to go to... Hawaii! Warm, beautiful, warm, warm, warm!!! I couldn't imagine the pictures that I could get!

If I had to chose between a house cleaner and a personal chef, I'd pick the... personal chef! I HATE cooking! I could clean my house all day long and even though I'd get sick of it, I could do it. I can't stand cooking!

If I had the option of plastic surgery I'd get... a b00b job and/or nose job. I haven't been blessed 'up stairs' and I had my profile picture because my nose just sticks out there! Maybe having some more kids can take care of my 'up stairs' haha! Only the future will tell!

That's all for now...

CIAO! LOVE ME!

{catching up}

I feel like I am mostly caught up with the stuff that I got 'behind' on when my computer was out of commission. There are still a few things that I would like to get done, but nothing too pressing. I've been keeping myself pretty busy this week getting stuff done and not lounging around and watching too much TV. I surprised myself the other night when I got up and started entering some more capstone data for my surveys and found out that I only had twenty more surveys to enter when I thought I had at least half of them to go yet. It didn't take too long and now I can start to analyze the data and see what the respondents overall view were on my hypothesis. Should be interesting.

I have a list of things I would like to get mostly done by the end of the week and that includes: mailing a wedding present, working on 'up cycling' a frame, finishing a photo book online and getting that ordered, starting another photo book, start and finish editing last weeks engagement session, and do some more capstone work. I don't know that I will get all of that accomplished, but I should get a good start on it. The only one that I would really like to get done is the photo editing. The rest isn't mandatory, but you know me... I'm a perfectionist when it comes to getting things done.

We had an appraiser come to the house yesterday morning to appraise the value of it for our landlords because I think they said they were going to refinance. Anyways, I know it was just some person coming to look at the bones of the house and not at our stuff, but believe me, it was clean! Okay, so not clean clean, like the kitchen floor could have been scrubbed instead of just swept, and the bathroom could have used a deep cleaning instead of just a little cleaning (done by little man of his own free volition, amazing what a kid won't do when you give them free reign with a spray bottle filled with water and a wash cloth), and the windows could have been sprayed down, but everything was picked up and orderly, just like I like my house, haha! Well, most of the time I just look past the disarray that Ayden's toys are in down in the basement. I mean, everything is picked up, but nothing is in the correct bin and sometimes most of the time that bothers me. But not enough to go through everything and put it in the right bin. That won't happen until we are going through everything to move.

The wonders of Facebook have allowed me to find out this week that three people I know are pregnant. As much as I am excited for them… I am secretly totally bumming that I cannot be among them at this time. My friend and I were just talking about this the other day… we both are sick with baby fever! But we have a plan… a year and a half from now, us besties are going to be preggers together, haha! Shh, don’t tell the hubbies (well soon to be hubby on my part)! Oh, wait, maybe I shouldn’t have spilled the beans, lol! We both have a year and a half of school left and the end cannot come soon enough for either of us!

And because a post wouldn’t be any good without a few pictures… here are a few from the last couple of weeks that I’ve wanted to share!CIAO! LOVE ME!

{proud mommy moment}

I received an email from Ayden's reading teacher yesterday morning and I wanted to share a little bit of it with you all... 'I have enjoyed working with your son, Ayden, this year. He has made tremendous progress in his reading achievement. He is highly motivated and a pleasure to work with.' Ah, if that isn't a proud mommy moment, I don't know what is!We have been consistently working with Ayden on his reading for at least the last two and a half months and I am glad that other people are seeing the progress that he is making besides me. He works really hard each night after school going through his check off list. Here is the list of things that we do every night after he gets home from school: empty his folder, mom or dad signs his planner, he reads through his list of 25 vocabulary words (50 words if he is still working on his previous sheet), we go through 10 spelling words (since his school isn't really pushing spelling and I feel it is important for him, especially with his reading difficulties), he copies two sentences that I've written to practice handwriting, he writes two sentences of his own to work on writing, he does some sort of math (on Wednesdays he comes home with a math packet from school, on other nights its either a worksheet of triple digit addition or subtraction, counting money, reading a thermometer, that sort of stuff), we read through 10 words, phrases or sentences that concentrate on a sound he is working on in speech, and then he reads to me for 20-30 minutes. That is a lot of work for someone who doesn't have nightly homework and has just come home from being at school all day long. But I think it is good preparation for the future when he does have homework and really it takes us less than a hour each night, if we have a little boy who is in a good mood, haha!Lately, I have been the one working with Ayden on his homework every night since I have been home and on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays I will still be able to help him, but Tuesdays and Thursdays might become Jay's territory once again when I start clinic. We shall see how that goes. Jay used to be the one who primarily worked with Ayden and for the most part it went really well. I couldn't stand reading with Ayden because he wasn't even trying and it would drive me up the wall. Not so much anymore because I know that he is trying a lot more. Jay surprised me Monday night while we were doing some grocery shopping at Wal-Mart. Normally, I am the one more prone to go buying things for Ayden on a whim. I mean, what mom doesn't like to spoil their child every now and then?! As Ayden and I were headed in one direction in the store, Jay said he had to go get something and would meet up with us. I thought nothing of it as this happens sometimes and avoids us having to walk all around the store if we split up. Little did I know that he would be bringing back a toy for Ayden. I was surprised. Jay said that it would be a treat for Ayden if he continued the hard work he has been doing through the end of January. Nice little incentive! It was really sweet to see Jay go out of his way to get him some sort of extra incentive (we normally do $1 at the end of the week for doing his homework and chores). So, Ayden now has a countdown on his iPod until the end of January when he can get his new toy (which is displayed on his book shelf as extra incentive). He worked extra hard last night and tonight.

That’s my boy!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

{craft-a-holics anonymous anyone?!}

I have been crafting up a storm lately… all thanks to Pinterest and here are a few of my latest creations!

1. Melted crayon art. I taped a bunch of crayons to a piece of cardboard at the top of the canvas board I had and used a hair dryer to melt the crayons and watch them drip down the canvas board. Too cool! Then I painted the ‘you & me’ at the bottom to add a little flair to it. Me likey!2. Mini chalkboard prop to use in my photo shoots. Made with all materials that we had laying around at home… including some scrap wood and left over chalkboard paint and spray paint. Love the rustic feel that it has to it.3. More canvas art. (I may be slightly addicted.) I had the two outer canvases done already and wanted to add to them with some canvases that I had gotten for Christmas so I just painted the base coat and then the words ‘love endures’ on the top. Simple and chic, me likey again!4. Custom ruffled camera strap cover! I braved using Jay’s mom’s sewing machine to make this beauty and it took me almost all morning, but I think it turned out awesome! I cannot say that I didn’t think about giving up here and there because I did have some difficulties with the sewing machine (we are not exactly back on speaking terms yet), but I love how it turned out! My camera strap was dying for an upgrade, hehe!5. Picture collages mod podged onto some extra canvas board I had lying around from a previous project. Turned out really nice and I am already planning how I am going to hang them on the wall, will post a finished project when I’m finished!6. One more picture collage.7. This last one isn’t anything special, but I have decided to start saving some money to upgrade my camera. I made a money jar and painted it and then put a ‘count-up’ on the side of it. I am going to put all of the money I make from my photo shoots into the jar. It will probably take me a good year to save the money up, but hey, that’s why they call it saving!I have two projects in mind yet and will be sure to share those with you when they are complete! I love crafting! And I thought I’d get it all out before the semester starts next week!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

{mommy time}

I've made myself very comfortable tonight. Sitting in 'the' spot on the couch, wrapped in my heating blanket, Hallmark channel chick flicks playing, and my tablet on my lap (getting my laptop back tomorrow), and good mood food in my belly! It doesn't get much better than this, does it?! I am enjoying some mommy time tonight, although given the fact that I've been able to enjoy some me time every afternoon for the last two weeks, it wasn't much needed mommy time. I am enjoying it none the less though and while the boys are away, mommy will play... or watch the Hallmark channel all night long, hehe!

The boys are gone a family christmas. I would have joined them, but I had a photo shoot today and I am going to my cousin's birthday/Packer party tomorrow. Excited to try out the new tires on my car for a long road trip.

Just wanted to pop in and say a quick 'hi'. Hoping to have some pictures to post the next time you hear from me. I'm also working on a new canvas project to add to something I've already done. I know... yet another canvas project. My walls will be covered with canvas in our new place, trust me! More canvas than one can take!

CIAO! LOVE ME

{video chatting}

The weather in Wisconsin the last few days has been unseasonably warm and I couldn't LOVE it anymore, especially the last two days. To have 40 and almost 50 degree weather in what is almost the middle of January is usually unheard of and believe me, I took some advantage of it. I should have taken more advantage of it with the impending snow we are supposed to be getting. (I'm still holding out hope that the predicted 5-8 inches of snow really ends up being only 2-3 inches.) But, I was outside with my camera non the less and I came out of my camera slump. For awhile there I hadn't really picked up my camera for much. Let's face it, I took almost zilch for Christmas photos and for a few weeks before that it sat collecting dust in its bag. But now that I have gotten back into my groove, I do not have access to my computer to get my edit on. I cannot tell you how anxious I am to get my computer back, to sit down in front of it and go full force! By the time I get my computer back I will have three seperate photo shoots to edit, along with numerous different photos that I've taken for myself that I want to edit! And it will be my last week of vacation before classes start.

I know that I talk about my weight a lot on my blog (my blog, my writing) and I'm sure it bugs some people. Heck, it even bugs me. I feel like I am writing the same thing over and over. It depresses me and stepping on the scale tonight REALLY depressed me! I have gained 5 lbs since the semester ended and it it is ALL MY FAULT! Yes, I am taking accountability for it and that is what depresses me. I let myself gain the weight. I've done nothing overly active for over the last month and I've continued to tell myself that one more dessert won't hurt, one extra bite is okay... I will start dieting again tomorrow, I will start working out again tomorrow. Always tomorrow. Remember how I was going to start working out again. I did and it lasted for... THREE days! That is IT! THREE pathetic days. Say it with me my friends, I am a BIG FAT FAILURE! Ugh, it sickens me, it really does! At this point I cannot wait for the semester to start up again so I am gone more of the day so I don't sit at home eating all day. That is all I do right now, sit and eat. No wonder I have gained back some weight. I know that I am at a healthy weight for my body type right now, but I worked so hard to get to where I was and I feel like now I have failed myself. But hear me out readers, I WILL lose these five pounds again. It might take me until the end of the semseter, but it will happen. I am going to start over again, but this time be more realistic and start with changing my eating habits first and try to slowly work back into working out. I WILL succeed! I WILL! How is that for persistance?! That's why I have it tattooed on my wrist!

Tonight while Ayden and I were working on his reading (which is going really well by the way), and my dad called him on his iPod (my dad was using my younger sister's iPod). Instead of stopping the reading, I had Ayden finish reading the book to Grandpa and Alexis. It was very cute and I love that technology has progressed to the point where we can video chat with people because otherwise Ayden wouldn't have been able to do that. He loves his iPod and is on it quite a lot and he is able to video chat with other people. He talks to Alexis on it quite a lot and to be able to see her more often. It really is pretty neat. We have video chatting capabilities on our phones as well, although I don't know that I can chat with Ayden and his iPod, but it is nice to be able to see him and Jay when either of us are away for the night.

I found out tonight that my sister has found a teaching job and I am super excited for her! She finishes up her student teaching any day now and she will then transition to teaching her very own first grade class! How awesome is that?! My sister has wanted to be a teacher for as long as I can remember and I don't know anyone who would be a better teacher than her! She is great with kids and they just seem to gravitate towards her and that is how I know that she will only prosper as the years go on. Her first grown up paying job! I cannot wait to join the ranks of those people... a year and a half and I will hopefully be there with her and so many others! Congratulations Emily!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

{love him}

{fairy tales don't exsist...}

...but happily ever after might!

For as long as I can remember my parents have been divorced. I don't have many, if any, family memories of when they were still married. But that isn't saying much because apparently I don't have very many childhood memories in the first place. I do remember some things from when my parents were getting divorced. I don't remember how old I was at the time, but obviously old enough to remember tidbits of it. I know that my brother wasn't very old and therefore probably has no recollection of when my parents were together. I suppose I am glad that I don't remember my parents divorce because then I don't know if it was messy or not. Given how my mom and dad get along now, I'm inclined to believe it was all pretty amlicable, but I haven't ever really talked to either of my parents about it. I guess I don't really care. Even with my parents not being together, they generally acted as a unit when raising us kids and we had a good upbrining. That.. and I got to live at two different houses, which had both its ups and downs.

But being a child who grew up with her parents divorced kind of jaded me when it came to my own marriage. In high school I was the one who was going to grow up and never get married or have kids. Ha! Now I can't wait to have more kids and I'm getting married in precisely 621 days!

It took me a long time to know that I was ready to get married. Ultimately, everyone enters into marriage thinking it will last forever, okay, so hopefully everyone does. Because I know the perks and pitfalls of growing up in two different households, I knew it was something that I didn't want Ayden to have to endure. Just because Jay and I weren't getting married, it didn't mean that that still couldn't happen, but why go through with a marriage if one of us wasn't certain about forever?! And for a long time, I wasn't certain.

Our relationship hasn't been all peaches and cream... no relationship is. And for a while a few years ago there was a point where I didn't know if our relationship would last or even if I wanted it to. Why consider marriage when you are having those kind of thoughts?! And then it hit me... he was the man I wanted to be with forever. I sit and look at the ring on my finger and believe with all of my heart that Jay and I will be together for the long haul. I mean, we've made it eight years already, doesn't that say something for us?! Most of the people I know who've gotten married and have kids have only been together for half that amount of time, if that. I think we've got something special here, no, I know we do and although I know our future will be full of twists and turns, I have faith we can work throught it together.

I know there will be days where I don't even want to look at him, I'm not obvilous to that fact. But I also know there will be days where I want nothing more than just to look at him. It is a part of what relationships are. Can't be peaches and cream all of the time.

Happily ever after doesn't negate the fact that the road to it won't include bumps, road blocks, and even some detours, but as long as I know Jay is by my side along the way, we'll make it. I mean, we've passed the seven year itch, haha!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

{tomorrow is monday}

Well, dear readers, it has been a rather low key weekend around our house. Lots of sleeping in, watching TV, playing with toys, and being creative Pinterest style!

I moved one of my photo shoots that was scheduled for this upcoming weekend to this weekend because the weather was supposed to be warmer and it was a family photo shoot with a little one year old. The photos turned out awesome (I cannot wait to get my computer back to edit them) and I am doing an individual indoor baby photo shoot this week as well. The little baby who is almost one is the most smilely little girl I've seen in a long time and she made the photo shoot go so smoothly, LOVED it! We managed to get it over pretty quickly because even though it was warmer than it will be next weekend, it was still cold!

Speaking of my computer, it is fixed! Turns out there was just a big dust ball in the fan that was causing it to over heat and turn off right away. I cannot wait to get it back! I want it back already, but since the plan is to go home next weekend, it really doesn't pay to drive home to get the computer before then and use gas when it is expensive to begin with. And I don't really NEED my computer right now anyways, it's just want at this point in time.

I was semi productive this weekend and created two different things that I found on Pinterest lately. Both turned out awesome and I will upload pictures of them when I get my computer back. One is a crayon canvas art and the other is a mini chalkboard prop for photo shoots and I cannot wait to use it with some upcoming photo shoots I have! Super excited!

Someone I know is getting married a couple of weeks after me and I find it funny and scary that she is already planning things for her wedding. I mean, she has more than 622 days to go! But then I sit back and wonder if maybe I am behind the game in planning things already?! I mean, does it really take more than a year to plan a wedding? Maybe to book a few things like a church and venue, but we don't really need either of those. I already booked my photographer and that is like my only mega important thing that I wanted to make sure was good. At this point in time, the wedding really isn't at the top of my to do list. Getting done with this semester, doing good in clinic, and finding a place to live and a job for Jay are top priorities right now. I figure I'll have more time to work on wedding stuff next summer after we get settled in to our new place and are hopefully closer to home. Or maybe it's just that I am jealous that other people are planning for their weddings when I'm not... I did however ask my cousins at Christmas to be bridesmaids in my wedding. I made cute little boxes that asked and they both said yes. I had previously asked my sister quite awhile ago to be my maid of honor and of course she said yes. And I asked one of my college friends as well! I debated long and hard about asking a friend to be a bridesmaid, but Kristi and I have that sort of unspoken bond between us, and we've already betrothed our children to each other, so she'll be around forever, haha! I'm excited. Jay hasn't asked any of the groomsmen yet, but they will for sure be at least his brother, my brother, and his friend JT. He is debating about one other person. And Ayden and Alexis of course!

Another week starts tomorrow... one week closer to the beginning of the semester! I am close to being ready for it to begin, but I know that with that is going to bring a lot more stress than I want to deal with. Winter break has been so relaxing so far and I wish that it could continue for longer than we have left. Actually, there is two weeks left and I know by the time that both of those weeks are over I will be ready for class again. I am beginning to miss seeing patients and having more than just a little bit of work to do when I do go to work. I won't miss sitting at home eating all day, that needs to stop!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

{ouch}

Hmm... this working out thing is overrated, have I ever mentioned that before?! I'm in pain and it's my own fault. My shoulders and back hurt. Why? Because I was the idiot who was picking up the basement the other day and saw Jay's 15 pound dumbbells laying on the floor and said to myself that I could do 10 bicep curls with them with both arms at the same time before I put them away. And I did. I was struggling by the last two reps, but I did it. And now I'm paying for it. Stupid me! And then getting back into working out this week is working muscles that I haven't worked out in a couple of weeks. Last night was supposed to be a short night and with only a 15 minute HITT workout, but then I added in 15 minutes of strength training on top of that. S.O.R.E! But it is a good kind of sore so I should stop complaining.

I had an episode with a strong willed child last night! Ayden and Jay got home from school and I could tell already that Ayden was in a bad mood. We do a list of homework almost every night when Ayden gets home from school. With Christmas break and being gone and busy so much in the last two weeks, I will admit that we haven't been on top of the homework at home thing and after Ayden's first day back to school he wanted nothing to do with homework at home. That led to more than an hour in his room whining and crying about doing his homework. I wasn't budging and just told him to come and get me when he was ready to do his reading. Needless to say, we didn't get all of his homework done until well into the night. Thankfully tonight was a TOTALLY different story and Ayden was all ready to go when he got home from school. Much better and we were all happier about that!

I dropped my computer off with my mom today and am keeping my fingers crossed that it can be fixed. I'm already missing not being able to go on it! I know that I can do almost everything I can on my computer on my tablet or phone when it comes to the internet, but not everything is the same. With some time off of school I was looking forward to getting caught up with my capstone data entering and doing some personal photo editing, but I can't do either of those things on my tablet. The orginal plan is to get my computer back next weekend at a family birthday party, but if it can be fixed before then I'd love to get it back sooner! I'm way to technologically connected and dependent, haha! Only when I don't have anything else going on.

I could go for a big bowl of ice cream right about now. All that hard working out down the drain! Or not... it's probably a good thing that we don't have any at our house, or many other junk food items because I don't have any will power. Today is my 'day off' according to the Turbo Fire program and I had every intention of working out today and 'banking' the day off for another day when I didn't feel like working out, but I am still pretty sore and so thought I would give my muscles a day to recoup so I can actually move tomorrow. That might be nice, eh?

CIAO! LOVE ME!

{jumped back on}

Last night marked Day 1 when it comes to working out. I'm jumping back on the band wagon and restarting my Turbo Fire program! I could not believe how one little month of not working out could leave me so out of breath when doing just a 30 minute workout, but it did and I regret not working out this past month more than anything right now! I had my endurance and stamina pretty high there for a while and now it is all gone! Ugh! But, I am going to put forth the effort again for real this time and not just like my last two attempts in the last month that lasted only a day or two. This time is for real! I have 20 days until the semester starts and I am going to use them to get back into shape and then continue that when the semester starts! I need this push! I am also going to give up soda again. Even the 0 calorie stuff that I have been drinking isn't good for me, not with all of the sodium that is in it! My goal is to drink LOTS more water, like at least three bottles a day! One in the morning, one with lunch, and one with supper. I know that I should probably be drinking even more than that, but that is my goal (at least for now).

CIAO! LOVE ME!

{i'm gonna miss this}

Since my computer has decided to hate me this weekend, I thought I'd sit down with my tablet and blog once again, you know since I'm taking a 'break' from everything else that is calling my name. Actually, I have been rather busy so far today and got a lot done. Our Christmas tree is now out of the house, the decorations are most put away, most of the rooms are clean and organized, the laundry is 90% done (just needs to be folded and put away, and only three small loads), picture editing is complete, and even some vacuuming was done in the house. I was able to finish editing my latest photo session last night when my computer was behaving, but today it hates me.

Here's the thing, I think I jinxed myself. Jay and I went to Best Buy this morning just to research computers. My current one is going to go at some point and I kind of wanted to look at the prices of ones out there now... see the differences between a desk top and laptop and just ask a few questions. The employee there was very helpful and he suggested I blow out the fan on my laptop with some air (I've been told to do that before, but just hadn't gotten around to it) and so we bought a can of air and I was hoping that that would do the trick to my computer overheating and it would last me maybe another six months or so. We get home and I go blow out the fan as best as I could on my computer, let it sit for a while and clean the office.

When I was done cleaning the office I turned my computer on because I wanted to do a few things on it before doing some more cleaning. Everything was going smoothly until I tried to scan some stuff with the printer. I was having trouble with the printer earlier in the day and had thought I solved the problem and was starting to scan a document when my computer just shut off on me. Okay, so that is nothing new, but this time it wasn't as if I was running four different programs at once. I chalk it up to my computer just being stubborn, until I try turning it back on. It starts up normally and starts to load everything I have on it and then shuts off again (sidenote: my computer takes about 4-5 minutes to completely load everything because it is over four years old and I have a lot on it). What the heck! So, I start it up again and SAME THING HAPPENS! UGH! This is really starting to frustrate me and I'm starting to get worried!

I backed up all my computer files probably a month or two ago so I have almost everything on my external hard drive, but there is stuff on there that I would like to get at! I have only my three most recent photo sessions that I haven't backed up and maybe a month or two of personal pictures (but I haven't been all that ambitious with my camera these last few months). What would irk me the most is losing my school stuff! I know there is stuff in those files that I saved in the last two months that hasn't been backed up. Although classes are over and it wouldn't be super damaging to lose it, it would still suck!

Jay went and tried getting it to start before and it loaded up and stayed on for a little while longer before shutting off. I think we might let it sit over night and try again in the morning. I'm keeping my fingers crossed because I really didn't want to get a new computer right now. I was just researching. Also, my mom's husband is a computer guru and so I'll have him (or someone at geek squad) look at it before I call it quits! It just makes me sick to think I could go through losing my computer again in just a matter of four years. Ugh! So, if you feel so inclined, please keep your fingers crossed that my computer can be saved!

But this post wasn't supposed to be about how I am going to miss my computer if it cannot be saved, it's supposed to be about how I am going to miss Stevens Point when we have to move. I am going to miss the familiar streets. I am going to miss all of the stores that I have easy access to. If I cannot find something at one store, I have like five other stores I can try! I am going to miss the parks and the Green Circle Trail (a 26 mile trail that goes around Stevens Point and Plover). I am going to miss the city pool, the school system, the little river we go swimming in, all of my favorite photography places, Ayden's cub scout den, my job, our current house, the feeling of being at home, and SO much more! The closer we get to our potential moving date (because the date isn't set in stone yet), the more scared, nervous, and not ready to leave I am feeling. At the beginning of the school year I was SO ready to leave and start fresh and now I don't feel ready to have to start over again. The other two times we moved while here in Point were because we wanted to... now we have to. I'm nervous we won't find such an ideal place for us to live and I will hate it for the next year. I'm nervous for Ayden to have to start fresh at a new school and for Jay to find a good job and for me to fit in at my placement. It's all coming to a head and well before we even have to start packing. I'm sure to have a panic attack before May even gets here!

One thing I am ready for is to PURGE PURGE PURGE! After trying to find places for Ayden's new Christmas presents, I decided that if I could have a rummage sale tomorrow, I would! We have SO much stuff that is not going to be coming with us when we move! SO much stuff that I want to try and sell at a rummage sale. It NEEDS to go! A lot of it I wanted to save for future children and there are things that I didn't get rid of, but I do know that any future children will be getting toys of their own as well so I don't need to keep everything. We did quite good at our rummage sale two summers ago (I think it was two summers ago, or maybe it was this past summer, I cannot remember), and now it is time to purge again. Especially if we end up in a place that is smaller than what we currently have. Ayden, Jay, and unfortunately myself all have things that need to go, go, go and I cannot wait to start getting rid of things. If money were no object and I wouldn't need to worry about getting something out of what we currently have, I'd donate all I could today, but alas, I would like to make a little bit from what we do have that needs to go. And let me tell you, that stuff I will not miss, hehe!

My little child tried to pull one over on me today. It was quite good if you ask me and it scares me, haha! Him and I were downstairs cleaning in the basement and I was putting some board games away and had asked Ayden to pick up some of his legos. He was doing good picking up his legos and then he became very adamant that he wanted to put the board games away by himself and that he wanted to pick up everything in the basement by himself. I was very proud that he wanted to do everything himself, but told him that it was okay if I helped because I wanted to put some of the games in a specific spot. Ayden got kind of grumpy that I wouldn't quit helping and insisted he wanted to do it alone. I should have caught on then, but I didn't. I continued to put the games away and happened upon why he wanted to pick up all by himself. Awhile ago he must have been playing with the paints and didn't pick them up and left a bit of a mess behind some of the games. He saw it before I did and didn't want me to see it and for him to get in trouble. Sneaky little boy trying to get out of that by saying he'd pick up all alone. Haha! I kind of chuckled to myself when I saw it and asked him if that was why he wanted to do it alone and he said yes. I just told him that we'd throw the stuff away (it was all kind of gross) and clean it up together and all would be fine. I think he was nervous he would get in trouble. Am I in for it already if he's trying to put things past me like that?! Hope not!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

{goals, resolutions, ambitions}

2012 is a new year and I am ready for it!

I have a few goals, resolutions, ambitions that I would like to accomplish this year. I know that you don't have to start these at the beginning of a new year, but I figured why not start fresh?! And when better than the new year?!

What are these so called resolutions?!

First off, I want to continue to be healthy. I weighed myself this morning and was surprised to see that even after all of my Christmas gorging, I have stayed plateau'd at 115lbs. I'd say that that is pretty darn good! So, my goal is to start working out regularly again and continue to be healthy! It has almost been a year since I started to take better care of my body. It is the only body that I will have and I want it to stay in tip top shape! I have not been good at working out since Thanksgiving and I would like to get back into it starting today!

Secondly, I want to blog more this year! In the last year I only blogged just over 100 times... that is half of what I blogged in the previous years and it bums me out. I love blogging, both writing down my own thoughts and feelings and reading other's thoughts and feelings and blogging helps me stay centered, so that is something I would like to do more of! So, stick around and I promise to try and blog more than I have in the last year!

Third, I am starting another Project 365! I redid an old blog that I used for it when I attempted the project a few years ago. I cannot promise to make it through the whole year, but I am really going to try this time. I will post the blog site on here for you to visit when I put my first week of pictures up! I really want to make it through the whole year! Of course, it is only January 1st... but I will try my hardest. I also want to continue photographing other families and children and slowly expand my photography. It isn't going to be a career for me, but I love doing it as a side job! I want to continue to grow in my photography skills and provide people with images they will cherish forever!

Fourth, I want to try harder in school, especially this semester. Last semester I know that I slacked off a lot and because of it, my clinic grade suffered and I feel like I need to redeem myself (mostly for personal satisfaction), but it still needs to happen!

So there you have it... the four things that I am aiming to work on this coming year! Of course there is a lot more things in my everyday life that I will continue to work on and areas that I know I continually need to grow in, but that is with everyone!

Along with some things that I'm excited to work on this year... 2012 will bring along a lot more great things for myself and my family and I cannot wait to see all of the things that will happen that I don't know about yet!

Some exciting (and scary) things that will happen that I already know of include: moving in May/June, starting my externship, Ayden turning 8, me turning 26, Jay turning 27, Jay finding a new job, Jay and I celebrating 9 years of being together and one year until we get married, starting to really plan for the wedding, and SO many other things! I cannot wait to see what 2012 will bring for my family and friends! It is bound to be one heck of a year for everyone I know!

Bring it on 2012! We are ready for you!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

(Three posts in one day... is that going over board on blogging more in 2012?! Haha!)

{did someone say wave pool?}

As if three full days of Christmas celebrations wasn't enough to cram in for our time off from work and school... we had to add in three fun days at a water park in the Dells as well! My mom, brother, sister, sister's boyfriend, Jay, Ayden, and myself all ventured down to the Dells last Thursday morning for three fun days at the Wilderness Resort. It definitely cost us enough for two nights at the resort, but they were SO worth it! The only downside was sleeping in a room with six other people when more than one of them snore and/or breathe loudly and you cannot sleep! Ha!

We all got down to the Dells around noon on Thursday and got in some mini golf, arcade playing, and swimming before our room was even ready! My mom, sister, sister's boyfriend (John), and I went on The Hurricane waterslide and I'll admit that I shut my eyes for the majority of it. It was fun and I kind of wish I would have went on it again, but we didn't. Ayden and my brother went down a few waterslides too, but the majority of our water park time was spent in the wave pool which was AWESOME! The water wasn't even all that cold which was fun too. And we even got to have fun in an outside hot tub while it was snowing out!

An adventure pass let us get in some more mini golf, laser tag, a mirror maze and haunted hotel, and some more arcade fun! Ayden hit it big on one of the games and ended up with 1000 tickets after just his third game! That was awesome and made the money that we spent on the games WELL worth it. The games were fun and I think everyone had fun playing them.

Each afternoon/night after we were tired of swimming we headed back to the room and had fun playing games. We had some hard core games of spoons going on! Jay gets pretty violent with that game too! Haha! The time went WAY too fast, but I think that everyone had a great time there! I didn't feel the greatest on Saturday so I was glad that we were leaving that day. We got home shortly after noon and I spent the rest of the day in bed with a headache and stomache... pretty much sucked! But I took some Advil PM last night and was dead to the world after 9pm and had the best nights sleep in the last week! I think I was still partly recovering from the cold that I got after Christmas as well. I just hope that no one else got the stomache like me.

Like Christmas, I neglected to take my camera out the entire time that we were there as well. Oops!

Ayden is already talking about going back to the wave pool! I told him at some point we will probably go back, hehe!

CIAO! LOVE ME!

{obligatory christmas post}

Well, since my computer decided that it did not want to work for me right now, I thought I would go on my tablet and write up my post about Christmas at our house (and the many houses that we visited during our stay at Jay's family's house). I was in the midst of editing a recent photo shoot that I did, but apparently my computer likes to overheat a lot these days and likes to just shut itself off on me. I definitely think I need to start looking for a new one! Ugh!

Okay, let's talk Christmas...

A few days before Christmas I went to Green Bay to visit my bestie and to take some photos of each other. I wanted to put something together for Jay for Christmas, but I have yet to finish the project... oops! This was the third time in as many months that I was able to see my friend which was awesome because usually we only see each other like once every six months. In any case, we ended up having a great time and we got some great pictures of each other. I just need to get motivated to get the project done. Well, I would if my computer would work for me. Someday I'll get it done.

We left for 'home' in the late afternoon the day before Christmas Eve. We were supposed to leave earlier in the day, but the weather wasn't very good and Jay didn't know if he would have to work or not. Turns out that he didn't have to work and we got home at a half way decent hour. That was nice because we needed to get up early to go to my mom's house Christmas Eve morning!

Christmas Eve was a busy day for us. We headed over to my mom's house by 8:00am because she had a Christmas scavenger hunt for myself, my sister, brother, and Jay to do. Ayden came along as well and was on Jay and Casey's team. There was a whole list of things that we were supposed to go out and take pictures of. Some of the things were different Christmas decorations, some were roads signs, and so on and so forth. I think there was like 50 items on the list and we had two hours to find as many as we could. It was a lot of fun and my sister and I thought that we had in the bag, but we ended up losing by 5 points. I know, SO disappointing, but we got a consolation prize anyways.

After the scavenger hunt, we opened presents at my mom's house and ate a yummy lunch. It was the second time we were had potatoes and ham as a meal... the second time of many over the next couple of days. The obligatory Christmas meal I guess, haha! We had a fun time at my mom's house and then it was off to Jay's grandma's house for supper. More food and presents and visiting with family before heading off to my grandma's house later that night for even more presents. It was a late night and by the end of it Ayden was getting pretty crabby.

We weren't up super early Christmas morning, but it was still early enough. Sadly (or maybe not so sadly), I left my camera in its case for the majority of Christmas. I wanted to really enjoy Christmas with Jay and Ayden this year instead of being behind the camera worrying about trying to get pictures of it all. And I'm pretty okay with that (for the time being anyways). Ayden got lots of presents on Christmas morning. He LOVED his iPod! He was spoiled this year, but then again, when is he not?! Haha! I had SO much fun watching him open presents this year and seeing his expression! It wasn't long before we had to head off to Jay's other grandparent's house for a little while. Ayden and I didn't stay too long at the Hoerth's. Too many people and I don't think that either of us really felt like socalizing all that much. It was a little bit too much overload at that point. But later Christmas night we went to my dad's house to watch the Packer game and get more presents. Ayden and Alexis and my sister were all playing with their iPods and had a great time! Another late night!

The day after Christmas was spent at my other grandparent's house and my mom's husband's parent's house. More food, more fun, more presents... just an overall great time! But I was SO ready to be done and go home and sleep in my own bed! We finally headed back to our place late afternoon on Tuesday after a photo shoot that I had that morning. It was a maternity shoot for my friend's sister in law and it went really well! I also had first hand experience driving two different ways to and from Sheboygan and seeing how long it would take if we were to live in Chilton and I had to drive each day to clinic. I was attempting to edit the photos from the shoot before when my computer decided that it no longer wanted to work for me and shut off, hence the blogging!

We were only home for about a day and a half when we packed up again and headed down to the Dells for a family vacation...

CIAO! LOVE ME!