GONE, BABY GONE!

Whew! Where has this year gone? July fourth over and done with, this year has been going way too fast. Well it has all been good none the less. I am feeling very accomplished these past few weeks. I have knocked out quite a few resolutions without any major planning. For starters the past two weeks off of school has just been jam packed! I was suprised with a trip to Florida by a friend who needed help driving a car back. WOW! A free trip to Florida! I had never been a plane prior or to the East Coast.
Well the plane ride was amazing, I landed in Chicago, and North Carolina, both beautiful places, before arriving in Fort Meyers, Florida. I must say the last plane ride left me feeling sick and with a major headache! However I did finish a book, 'Betrayed' the second book in P.C. Cast's House of Night series.
After landing in Florida, there was a miserable taxi ride, and then finally arriving at my final destination. The house was amazing, I really wish I had taken more pictures but there was no time. I arrived at 11:00 pm and we were on the road driving back by 3:00 am. I did enjoy a nice swim and shower before hitting the road. Although I didn't get to see much of Florida's scenery, the Sun Rise was amazing, and the northern part of the state and into Georgia was gorgeous!
The drive was long and at times exhausting, we drove for 13 hours aproximatley straight, finally deciding to stop in Tennessee. I was so tired at this point I couldn't even seep! So We walked around the little town that was tucked in between two mountains. This I did get a few pictures, on my mytouch slide, turned out pretty good.
Driving through the Appalachain mountains was the highlight of my experience. Its just so different then what we are used to in the cities. The size of them are just amazing. I dont think I could ever become tired of seeing such amazing creations. This was also my first time seeing the Ocean! Although I only seen it from a window in the plane, it was just awesome and the best view I could of asked for.. was really able to capture the greatness of just how big the ocean is! I Really wish I could have taken more pictures of these things, but I am glad to have the memory of them.The next day we finished the drive through Tennessee, Kentucky, and into Illinois, all very GORGEOUS and unique. We stayed at a relatives house in Illinois and I seen the coolest thing ever. They had a pond in the front of their house, and they had catfish that they fed. They fed the fish regular fish food, but they would just throw it in and the fish swarmed in a large mass jumping over one another to eat. This went on for about 10 minutes, until just a few large catfish twirled around the waters edge sucking up whatever was left. Well I am quite familiar with the drive through Iowa and Minnesota, but let me tell ya I was very happy to be in familiar surroundings, and made it home just in time for Rush hour in the cities. I was just happy to be home after four days of non stop travel.
So home at last, I was covered with hugs and kisses and squishes from Blake and Aiden! Showered and was restless enough to start another book 'Chasing Brooklyn' by Lisa Schroeder. This was such a nice change of pace.


In other news, I was able to get my car back, after a long time of back and forth, waiting and a bunch of BS from the insurance company I finally just decided to fix the car. It only took a week, and I am very pleased with the work. Just extremely happy to have my own car back, rather then driving a rental and borrowing other people's vehicles. What a relief!!! So the past two weeks I have traveled far, drove even farther, finished two books, got my car fixed and did some major swimming, relaxing and chillin at the pool with the boys, and celebrated a pretty awesome Fourth of July. Geez wondering how the next two weeks will compare! :)




Until next time...

Finally!

It has been weeks since I blogged. Our family has been through many changes in those weeks. For starters our move to Minnesota is long done and over. As exhausting as it was, it was worth it. However we had some delay when my car was struck by a semi-truck at 3am on the drive up here from Kansas. Very scary experience that has shocked our family and caused many more obsticles in re-adjusting to life here in Minnesota.However we are thankful no one was seriously injured, and my boys do not have a scratch on them. Very thankful for that!
I have completed yet another quarter and I am nervously awaiting my final grades.I fear that I did not do so well, especially these last few weeks of final papers and tests due to the accident and moving, homework was nearly impossible. Keeping my fingers crossed!!
This wekend I wa sfinally able to get some hang-out time with boys, We took them to see Toy Story 3. Cuteness! I totally loved this movie!
I am FINALLY on the second book of 'House of Night' series by P.C. Cast. However I am torn between finishing this series or reading a few other books I have splurged on like J.R. Ward's 'Black Dagger Brotherhood' series. hmmmmm....
On that I have been looking into buying a sony e-reader.. pocket edition in rose color... I like the experience of going to Border's (my one and only fav bookstore!) and buying my books, but I would love the convenience of having them at my use whenever I want!! What to do, what to do.....

Just WOW!

Today has been just WOW! Blake had a Friend's Birthday party today at Tanganyika Wildlife Park in Goddard Kansas. It was the best experience. The park itself is just beautiful and then being allowed to get so very close to the animals was so cool. We started out visiting the Giraffes. The kids all wanted to feed them, but we were all able to pet one and get close. The Giraffe seen the green birthday hat I hade hanging from my arm and leaned over trying to lick and eat the hat..hahaha..when he looked up he had his face right in my camera lense.. What a cutie.Definatley my favorite part of coming in contact with the animals. The funniest part had to be the turtle's pen. There were about 10 turtles running around snatching lettuce leafs from kids, they were so fast! The turtles were especially fond of my shoes and kept crawling under my legs and over my feet! The animals were soo friendly and I was amazed at how well they were around people! We also were able to walk into a huge bird cage and feed the Lorikeets, gorgeous birds! When we walked into the cage there was a woman feeding them and she had a lorikeet on her head, her arm, one on her shoulder and her other wrist as well. It was hilarious, I think she was kind of freaked out by how many landed on her. The birds were landing on people's heads left and right, it was just awesome!
We also watched the penguins be fed, people get Camel Rides,watched a Rhino wander around his little chunk of land, seen some baby ducks swimming and walked around with Kangaroos, and ended the day with some running around in the playground eating Dippin' Dots. I highly recommend if anyone ever visits Wichita Kansas, they should stop at this amazing place right on the outside of West Wichita.
I was kind of bummed because when we first arrived at the park, I took a total of 3 pictures and then my camera died, Luckily I had my cell phone (and it was actually fully charged!) so all the pictures I took were from my Droid, they actually turned out very nice. I knew the phone had a good camera but I never really took any outdoor pictures with it before. I had the perfect opportunity and it worked out great. The camera on the Droid is actually much better than the Blackberry and the memory available is greater. On my Blackberry Curve I could only store typically 10-15 pictures with an additional memory card, on my Droid I have a large assortment of pictures and videos with room to spare.
Well the rest of our day consisted of having dinner, which was also amazing, Chicken Stir-fry, and now the boys are watching a movie upstairs while I do my business on the computer.(Smile) Looking to go to Borders, possibly stop for Frappe from starbucks, although borders has Seattle's Best coffee and their JavaKula's are deliciousness, I am really liking the frappes from Starbucks (Cookies & Cream! Double Choclaty chip with white chocolate mocha sauce! YUMMAY). I am so addicted to buying books it's ridiculous, because I have a stack of in-progress reads on my nightstand that I read about 2-3 chapters of and then somehow manage to start another book. I'm slowly but surely making it through P.C. Cast's book 'Marked'.. Perhaps I will Invest in a cookbook this time, it's about time for a new one.. OH wait I dont even own ONE! With all the cooking I do and I don't own a cookbook.. shame..
I have had my eye on 'The Arthur Avenue Cookbook' recipes and memoirs from the Real Little Italy. Maybe it will be my special Mother's Day Present to myself! (Wink-Wink)




Anybody have anything special they are doing with their Mothers or loved ones for that Special day tomorrow? I hope to just spend the day with kids whether it be at the park, lounging on the couch, or going out for dinner, I just want to be with them. If I had the choice I would be back in Minnesota with my Mother, and Grandmother treating them to a Special treat.

Well Blog, Goodnight and I wish you all a Happy Mother's Day

Yikes!

I have been contemplating for a few weeks now about cutting my hair. Everything is changing and I was ready for something different. My hair from the nape of my neck to the longest tip was aprox. 18". I cut off about 14" and donated the hair to Locks of Love. I am excited about this new style and feel like a new person.

The After Picture

What a difference huh? I love it! I know I can always grow my hair and I didn't want to keep it long FOREVER.. so now was the best time.. I was thrilled that I had enough length to donate my chopped off ponytail to the Locks of Love organization that makes hair prosthetics for children that have developed long term medical hair loss. (awesome)

I would love some recommendations on Italian foods and cookbooks! A few years back I found a neat book 'I loved, I lost, I made Spaghetti' by Giulia Melucci. She writes about her romances and the food she makes to console her ever-failing relationships, seduce her men and smooth out the lumps. The memoir offers a look into her love life as well as her cooking abilities, which often time the recipes are thrown together by stray ingredients that haunt an otherwise empty fridge.. and best of all it's Italian food..pasta..yummay!!

Goodnight Blog!

Accomplished!

So I feel very accomplished, I have finished the book I previously blogged about; 'If I stay' What an amazing book, it was an easy read, and kept me interested, time is not on my side when I want to sit and finish anything, so it did take me a few days. The story was tragic and the characters were deep. The story had soo many elements- Tragedy; I cried like a baby throughout this book! Love; this story displayed love how it should be!(I really dont want to spoil the book for anyone, so please excuse the lack of detail) And I loved the description of the family- the closeness between them all, made the tragedy even harder to bear.
I always feel sad when I finish a book, because it's like the end of those characters you just spent hours or days reading about, you become engrossed in their lives and their world, and then its over. I remember when Harry Potter released the final book, and they had support groups for those who were depressed about the end of the story. I honestly thought it was a bit odd (I do not mean to offend anyone) but I believe I understand the idea of that. You go through a journey with the characters, and you just want it to continue and go on forever. When you feel this way does this mean you were especially moved by a book? By the character and what they were made of?
Well a young friend of mine from work suggested the 'House of Night' series by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast. So I think I will give it a go and start the series with the first book 'Marked'

My Reeboks finally arrived yesterday! Love them! I wore them today, everywhere I could.. I think I am more excited about the way they look, hahaha, I think any results as far as toning will just be an awesome bonus to the coolness of this shoe.. maybe a little silly but I am thrilled to have bought these!

On an even cooler note, me and my oldest son Blake, we share the same Birthday April 3rd. Well this year his Dad and I bought him a Nintendo DSI XL and I decided I wanted one as well- with the large screen, two cameras and brain age pre-installed- I was anxious to get one.. in a matter of days I recieved one as a present also! Well I was playing around with the camera and photo album the other day and realized you can upload your photos right to facebook, etc. AMAZING! I was excited to upload my goofy pictures with the boys.

Keepin On!

Today has been just a blah frickin day. Who am I to complain though, after all the complaints at work, after all the unfinished homework, stack of dirty dishes, and the pile of the laundry, I still have my beautiful babies and my health. Tomorrow is another day!

I have started a new book this week, so far so good! maybe a possibilty of actually finishing something this week... fingers crossed!!! Book title: 'If I Stay' by Gayle Forman; I love reading Young adult fiction.(Smile)

The character in this book 'Mia' has a decision to make, life or death, (and believe me it's not what you think) Its a perspective on holding onto what you know and what is unknown to happen in the future. I'm only 40 pages into the book and I hate having to put it down to return to work. The story covers tragedy, family, love, and some interesting characters. Oh how I am anxious to finish this book.

Well goodnight Blog!

Reebok Baby! Easy Tones!

Latley there has been a swarm of shape up shoes that claim to do wonders for your body.. hmmm... I am on a mission to find the true outcome of walking around in these tone-up shoes. I chose the route of the The reebok Easy tones. They look good! The easy tone can Pass for just a regular shoe so I would favor wearing it more often. Will they be effective though.. I hope to find some amazing results for my gluteus maximus.. hahaha.. so the claim is that you get better legs and a better butt with every step. The shoe is designed to increase your legs muscle action by 28% in your glutes, 11% in our hamstrings and 11% in the calves. The percentage is based on tests done compared to a regualr reebok shoe such as the Reebok Express walk. I have reeboks for running shoes, so I'm looking for some major improvments.
I was sad to find out that the only Finish Line close to my house was sold out of the Black and pink EasyTones.( They Look Awesome!) So I will be waiting patiently for a few days while the shoes are shipped.

Excited for their arrival!