As Promised!

PICTURES!!! :-)

The top few are of the Indy 500, taken on Memorial Day Weekend.

Next few are frommy friend Katie's wedding

Last few are from the flowers I planted this weekend!













My two little cousins, Anthony and Nick. They went to the race with us. Their dad is an engineer for the Target team.













From L to R, Anthony, Jesse, Me, Nick, Future sis-in law, Natalie, & my brother Brandon










Some cousins at the race













My husband and I in front of the transformer, Bumble Bee.










The beautiful Bride and me!!










Bride & groom










Some bridesmaids with the Bride










My Family (L to R) My husband, Jesse, my lovely mother, my amazing father, my brother, Brandon and my future Sis-in-law, Nat.










Ok, any suggestions on how to make the Squirrels stop eating my Lilly's?










Our wonderful backyard, with Bear in the left corner. He loves it out there!










One of the rose bushes on the side of our house










Finally got these babies planted this weekend.










And the beautiful flower box my husband made me with flowers in it finally!

Upcoming weekend agenda

This weekend I plan to do this:

Friday:
Grill out with about 8-10 friends, having a few drinks
and enjoying the beautiful weather we are having.

Saturday:
Sleep in (Finally!!!), get some shopping done, finish cleaning the house
and doing Laundry. Saturday night date night with my husband
(o, how I look forward to these babies!) We will
be seeing the new Terminator Movie.... I know I know,
but it was his choice and it could be worse!

Sunday:
Sleeping in, yet again, finishing up that housework, and FINALLY
buying and planting my flowers!
I've decided that I've waited long enough and things are
looking too bare for my taste lately!

I will try to upload pics of last weekends adventures, as well as,
pictures of my newly planted beauties! On a side note, I will also
need to take a picture of the beautiful flower box
my hubby made me! He is an engineer
and I know it doesn't take an engineer to build a flower box,
but he made it removable and everything! So, I'm pretty impressed
and thankful to say the least!


Also, does anyone have a Apple shuffle? Would you recommend just paying the extra to get a nano? I have a nano, but my husband wants to use it. I just need something for running and I thought maybe a shuffle would be better.... Any thoughts?!!?!?

Far behind...

Ladies, I'm so sorry. I have been sooooooo far behind with housework, work, yard work, homework, etc.... I haven't had any time for blogging. I haven't even posted about our Memorial Day weekend!

I start my 2nd set of summer classes for my masters on June 4th.... (Yikes, next week!) Anyway, that means I have 2 more days of work to catch up and get things ready for me to be gone until June 29th! This job has allowed me to take the entire month of June off so that I can continue to go to school.

School for me, looks like this:

June- Two, two week classes. That means one class squeezed into 8 days!! Yes, my friends, these classes are very intense. This is the only time we are required to actually be on campus for an extended period of time, which is great since it's a 3 hour drive for me. So, I will be packing my bags and staying in the good ol fashion college dorms for a couple weeks. Granted, I get to come home on the weekends which is refreshing!

Fall Semester- one class (meet on campus for two Saturday sessions)

Spring Semester- one class (same 2 Saturaday sessions)

And then back to the summer sessions....

It's set up to allow for working students (especially teachers) to pursue their masters degree in School Counseling without having to take time away from work during the day. It's been a great experience, but already I'm feeling overwhelmed. I got my first set of homework assignments due already next Thursday the 4th..... I'm freaking out.

On top of that, since I am a non-education major, I have to take an additional two classes. One of which I started in March and have yet to actually start! The school gives you 6 months to complete the class, so I've been procrastinating big time!

Anyway, wish me luck! I'll try to keep blogging during the month of June, but it's going to be a busy one.

My husband will be working mandatory overtime 55-60+ hours during the month of June, so when I am home on the weekends, he'll be working... Great, so please pray for us and hope that the month passes by very quickly!

My Husband

Abby over at Live with B & A posted about her hubby in this: He loves post

That inspired me to share with you a little bit about the husband that I love o so much! These are the things that he loves:













His two favorite TV channels where he DVR's all of his favorite shows











His Buell XB 12S Lightening (Or as I call it, his bike) :-)












The Audi TT, his early mid-life crisis toy, until we have children.....











Building his own speakers











Our Home theater system. When we bought our house, his only requirement was that it had a basement big enough to fit a 92" projector screen in it and comfortable furniture for watching movies.










And, last but not least, our children. From left to right, Josie, Bear, & Allie. They are a huge part of what makes us a family and are the only children we have for the time being until we have real people children. :-)

Happy 3 day weekend!

Happy Memorial Day weekend ladies!!! I hope all of you get 3 days off as well.... I'll be off at 1:00 today, can't wait! Only 4.5 hours to go!! But who's counting??


On a side note..... Anyone else thrilled that Kris Allen won American Idol??? Thoughts???

The weekend is almost here!!!

So, since I will be very busy tomorrow, I won't have time to post about what we are doing on our extended weekend! This weekend has been, for the past 10 or so years, been a family weekend. We head up to Indianapolis, Indiana for some good ol fashion fun...

Friday:

Indiana is about 7.5 hours from here, so we're taking 1/2 days off work tomorrow to head to my hometown to meet up with the rest of my family and then we will head off to Indiana. We should arrive around 10:00 pm... We will be greeted with drinks and snacks and then head to bed.

Saturday:

We will be up early because my two youngest cousins will be sure we don't get to sleep in past 7. Jesse and I have planned to go running first thing Saturday morning if we aren't too tired from lack of sleep! My two aunts, Grandma, Mom and myself will then head out shopping for a bit and I plan to hit up my two favorite stores that we do not have anywhere around here..... So we'll be going here and here.... I am sooooooo excited! After shopping, we'll head back to my aunts house for our usual cookout and relax the rest of the night.

Sunday:

This my friends.... Is Race Day!! My uncle is an engineer for the Ganassi Target Racing Team and last year they did not disappoint in the Indy 500 with a 1st place finish!! :-) We wake up very early, get everyone ready and head down to the track. There are millions of fans and it is really a sight to see.... I'm pretty good at taking pics on this day, so I'll be sure to take some for you all! After we get there, we find our seats, grab some world famous, delicious, margarita's & bloody marys to start off the race! The weather looks amazing holding steady at 80 degrees and sunny! Say a prayer for us so that it doesn't rain! 2 years ago it rained, they had to clear the track off, dry it off and then start the race up again, three different times..... Then it was canceled. So anyway, we are not avid race fans, but this is a family event. This year my mom and my brother's fiance will be gracing us with their presence, so it will be even more exciting!

Monday:

This is the day we make the long trek home...... So hopefully there will be plenty of resting up for work on Tuesday...

Have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend!!! Anything special planned?

My Bucket List

This was inspired by Lucy Marie over at Lucy's Life

1. Take time out everyday to appreciate the little things
2. Plant a successful garden
3. Send more birthday cards
4. Talk to my long-distance friends more often
5. Tell my husband everyday how much I love him
6. Be a mom in the next 1-2 years
7. Continue to give to my favorite Charity
8. Run the 5K in under 24:00 minutes and the 10K in under 60:00 minutes
9. Be a grandma (Thanks Lucy!)
10. Become a successful School Counselor
11. Clean my house more thoroughly, more often
12. Have two healthy children
13. Stop gossiping so much
14. Pray more often
15. Teach my children the importance of Jesus
16. Build our own home
17. Life happily ever after with my husband
18. Get my PhD and teach at the college level
19. Be a better blogger
20. Visit my friends more often
21. Continue to have fun and laugh with my husband everyday
22. Be a stay at home mom someday
23. Cherish every moment I get with my family
24. Move back to my hometown to raise our children
25. Spend more time with my brother and my soon to be sister-in-law
26. Tour Europe with my husband
27. Scrapbook more often
28. Stay completely in love with my husband
29. Not worry about the smalls tuff
30. Spend a little money and have fun while doing it
31. See Cats on Broadway
32. Read more books
33. Raise my children the way my parents raised me
34. Do a good dead for someone else, everyday
35. Become a Big Couple with my husband through Big Brothers Big Sisters
36. Count my blessings everyday
37. Have a beautiful guest bedroom at our home for guests to visit
38. Renew our vows on our 10th Wedding anniversary 10/4/2018
39. Never give up on myself
40. Eat healthier
41. Teach my children the importance of humbleness, patience, love, honesty and loyalty.
42. Stop complaining about certain things....
43. Make new friends
44. Spend more time with my Mom
45. And my Dad
46. Complete our Wedding scrapbook
47. Complete a scrapbook for every one of our children
48. Visit 10 more states
49. Learn my directions (N,E,S,W) I'm horrible!!
50. Travel the world with my husband after we retire

Trying to waste some time

Shaina over at Post Smith posted the quiz below and I decided I needed a mid-day break from my work... So, here it is! :-) Enjoy!

A - Age: 24

B - Bed size: Queen

C - Chore you hate: Vacuuming and dusting.... Hate hate hate them!

D - Dog's name: Bear

E - Essential start your day item: A goodbye kiss from my hubby, a nice long shower, some computer time and some Honey Nut Cheerios

F - Favorite color: Pink

G - Gold or Silver or Platinum: White gold

H - Height: 5'0" Very short, I know..... I never got that 4th-8th grade growing spurt

I - Instruments you play: I "playED" piano, viola, Saxophone, and clarinet.... None of which I still play today.... Such a waste, I know....

J - Job title: Mentor Coordinator.... Dream Job Title: School Counselor (2 more years and my masters is finished! yeahhh)

K - Kid(s): Currently, zero.... Someday 2

L - Living arrangements: Our 3 bedroom, 1 bath home (with Jesse, Bear, and our 2 cats, Josie & Allie)

M - Mom's name: Joleen

N - Nicknames: Gosh.... I have a lot.. K, K-LA, K-Jo, KK, Kbert, Bert, etc...

O - Overnight hospital stay other than birth: None! (Knock on wood)

P - Pet Peeve: hmmm..... Probably people who think they know it all.... and argue all the time. I like to argue, but I make sure I am right when I argue...

Q - Quote from a movie: I honestly cannot think of one off the top of my head!

R - Right handed or left handed: Right

S - Siblings: One brother and one brother-in-law

T - Time you wake up: During the week I set my alarm for 6:53, though I wish I could get up earlier so that I could workout in the morning, but I do not have the motivation for that! On weekends, I get to sleep in till the late time of about 8-9..... :-)

U- Underwear: I love love love American Eagle's Aerie's Boybrief underwear

V - Vegetable you dislike: Zucchini and Brussels spouts

W - Ways you run late: gosh..... Think I have more time than I really do, take too much time doing something other than getting ready, the fact that I'm known for never being on time, don't want to be too early, there are a lot of reasons as to why I'm late.... oops!

X - X-rays you've had: Dental xrays, back/neck xrays for the chiropractor, xrays for my feet (I felt like an 80 year old woman, but the balls of my feet felt like they were on fire when I worked out), xrays for my ankle when I sprained it.

Y - Yummy food you make: I make a lot of yummy foods.... Jesse's favorite's are lasagna, French Dip subs (his new fav), my cookies (with vanilla pudding) [If you haven't tried making these babies, ask me for the recipe and you won't be disappointed!]

Z - Zoo favorite: Monkeys for sure! Love them!

Catching up.....

So, I have a lot of pictures to take from my good friend, Katie's wedding that was on May 9th... I'm terrible at posting pics on here, because for some reason it takes me forever! Anyway, this past weekend was another eventful weekend!

Friday night, Jesse and I finally got to have a night in. I actually did some shopping while he worked a few hours of overtime and when he got home, we ordered pizza for dinner and plopped in front of our ginormous tv (READ: 93" of tv....) I can't even remember what we watched, but since our PS3 is on the fritz and is our only Bluray player, we cannot watch our Netflix.... My hubby decided that we needed to order all of them in Blu Ray because it's better picture quality.... Yada yada yada.... Well I say DVD's are better than no movie at all! Anyway, I fell asleep pretty early, so I suppose putting in a movie wouldn't have helped me any...

Saturday, I left bright and early for my friend Bri's wedding shower. It was about an hour & 1/2 drive back home for her shower. It was so good to see her as I haven't seen her since October and she recently had a little baby girl named, Quinn, who is the cutest thing you've ever seen!! (sorry, I'm a bad photographer, no pictures.... Maybe I'll find one and put it up here) Then I did a bit of shopping with my mom and bought this and this for our trip to Vegas in July!

*Side story: My grandma turns 79 this July and said to my mom "I'd like to go to Vegas one last time before I die..." I thought it was the most morbid thing she's ever seen, given that she looks to be about 55 and is healthier than any other 79 year old out there..... But I suppose she thinks a lot differently than I do. Back in her day, it was a miracle if people lived to their 60's so I'm sure she thinks she's doing quite well! Anyway, my mom has 6 sisters and 2 brothers, so it's a big family. I have about 30 cousins and about 20 second cousins..... So, with that being said we are getting a big group of my aunts and girl cousins to go. I think we've mustered up about 20 girls to go already! I'm so excited, I've never been to Vegas, but I hear it's amazing... I'm not a huge gambeler, so I'm not even sure how much money to take.... We're staying here, which I've heard is very nice. Needless to say, I'm pretty darn excited! If all goes well, the hubby and I might plan a New Years Eve trip there!

Ok back to my weekend! :-)

After shopping, I headed back to my parents to get ready for my friend Molly's wedding. Hubby couldn't come with me because he was putting in some serious overtime hours, and well I figure a lot of people are getting laid off, we better take advantage of the overtime pay while we can! Molly's wedding was so beautiful! She was such a beautiful bride and once again, I forgot my camera! Sorry guys.... Don't hate me! I'll get better! We've been talking about getting a really nice camera, one that takes great pictures inside and out. Our current camera, a Cannon SD450 is quite outdated.... I believe my husband bought it in 05.... So it's time for a new one!

Ok So after the wedding, I headed back out to my parents. We watched a movie, and I fell asleep, what a surprise.

Sunday, my mom and I went to breakfast, then to Target to do some last minute shopping. I was home in enough time to get ready to go play sand v-ball with some friends. We played for a few hours and then we made dinner and I crashed right away....

I'm so ready for a weekend at home! Next weekend we'll be in Indiana and then finally we'll get to spend some time at home. So, I hope to get all of my planting done before my classes start on June 4th!!

What did you guys do? Any suggestions on nice camera's or things to do while we are in Vegas? I'm sure I'll talk more about the trip when it gets closer!

Giveaways!!

Head on over to Fabulous Fun Finds and check out her amazing giveaway!

All you have to do is "Visit Emmie Kate and return with a comment on your favorite jewelry by midnight 5/17 PST for a chance to win one Sterling Silver Whimsy Daisy Baby or Child Bracelet and one Sterling Silver Ric Rack Child or Adult Bracelet."

It's that easy! So go here now, and enter!

New Layout

So, I'm still new to this blogging thing and I want to jazz up my page... How do I go about doing so, without losing all of the information on my page??? Can anyone help me?

I won!!!!

So, I'm pretty darn excited about this.... I actually won one of Fantabulously Frugal's giveaways!!! Go over and check her out, it's pretty freaking awesome! :-)

If you go here, you can see that I actually did win!

Here's what I won:

Pretty cool huh? It's from the Etsy Store: Green Street Bags

Here is the snack bag:

Unbelievable!

So, I went running with my mom last Friday evening and let me tell you...... She almost kicked my butt. We started out on our run with the intent to run 2-3 miles.... Well Once she gets going, there's no stopping her. We ended up running a bit over 4 miles and boy was I winded! I finished it, because there was no way I was going to let my Mom, who is actually a little over twice my age beat me!

I must tell you though, she has been a Jazzercise instructor for over 4 years and she's very dedicated to anything she does. While most instructors practice once or twice a week for 30 minutes or so and then teach their 3 classes a week, my mom dedicates at least an hour or two each day to practicing her sets, she always switches out at least one song everyday she teaches, because she doesn't want people to get bored.

With that being said, I had better get my butt moving in the exercising department! She'll be 50 this year and I cannot be outrun by her! :-) Though I am very happy that she is so active, hoepfully it will help her stay very healthy for a very long time!

Anyway, Jesse and I ran another 2.5 miles last night. Our time wasn't very good, but we did it. I'm proud of that. I'm hoping to do at least another 2 tonight.....

Good luck in all of your exercising endevors!!!

Lasik

Have any of you had LASIK eye surgery? I'm thinking very heavily about it these days.... I cannot seem to find contacts that are comfortable all of the time. Granted, I cannot feel them most days, but one out of 20 days when they hurt, it makes me think all over about LASIK and how wonderful it would be to wake up and see everything right away.

My vision isn't that bad, I think I'm a -2.25..... So yeah, it's not bad... But it's bad enough to consider the alternatives.... Never (hopefully) having to buy contacts again, worry about losing a contact in the pool, worry because I'm on my last contact, worry about changing them every 14 days...... O, the benefits defiantly outweigh the negatives of it.

Until....... I realize that you are completely awake staring up watching them laser your eye!!! You are numb, but you can see everything, until of course they laser your eye (which you can't feel) and then they fix whatever they have to fix (while you are completely blind in that eye, mind you...) and then they laser it back and it only takes about 1-2 minutes per eye... (run on sentence, I know... But I had a lot to say)

So, today is one of those days where my contacts are totally killing me and today is the day that I scheduled my consult appointment with the eye doctor for July 17th.... Yes, it's about 2 months away, but it was the first appointment I could get in. I have class the entire month of June in a city about 3 hours away, so that wasn't an option and I have to have my contacts out for 7 days prior to the exam, and I hate wearing glasses. So I picked the week that wouldn't interfere with any summer plans.

What are your thoughts on LASIK? I'm still nervous as can be, but I'm trying to think positively. Who's had it, wants it, or wouldn't dare get it? and Why??

Online shopping

There's nothing I hate more than buying things online...... Granted, I do buy online items, but 9 times out of 10, I have to return it. It either doesn't fit, looks way worse on me than it did online, doesn't look right in the room I have chosen to put it in, isn't the exact color I thought it was or one of another million reasons why I choose to return things....

Do you guys buy most of your things online or choose to find them in stores? I'm not having good luck, that's for sure! Anyway, happy Monday!!! :-)

Our weekend was long, exhausting, and tons of fun with a little scare thrown in there..... I'll post more about that later.

Check this out!

Head on over to Fantabulously Frugal for her 31 Days of Giveaways!!

She's got a lot of cute ideas and a great eye for deals!! :-) Check out this week's give away here, you won't be disappointed!!

One uppers....

Have you ever heard of a one-upper? Well, I've gone one where I work.... Let me tell you, she is defiantly the definition of a one-upper..... Needless to say, anything someone else says or does, is never as good as what she has to say or has done..... So yeah... I'm dealing with one of those today...

With that being said, yes I have not posted my weekend recap from last weekend, I'm falling behind! ahhh Please help me! I also need to tell you about this up coming weekend, because it's going to be amazing because my best friend *Katie* is getting married! She has no blog, otherwise I'd let you see it! :-) The weather is suppose to be beautiful, and I'm off tomorrow at 1:30! So that's a +! I will take tons of pictures and hopefully be able to post them here for all of you to see!

If I don't post before this weekend have a fabulous weekend!! :-)

*Update... Apparently I'm losing it. I actually did post what we did last weekend. Sorry!

The usual.... Weekend post!!

It's that time again my friends! I have to say, I loveeeeeeeeee the weekend! Here are our plans for the weekend:

Tonight we leave to go visit the in-laws. They live about 4 hours away, so it's far, but it could be much worse. We haven't been there since Christmas, so it is darn time for a visit!

We will arrive around 9:00 pm and they may be in bed, but that's ok.... We'll get right to bed to wake up earlier than usual on a Saturday while still getting to sleep in.... :-) I'm not sure what's planned for the weekend, but I think we might be seeing a movie and enjoying delicious food! I'm never disappointed when we visit the in-laws. I guess I'm just one of those lucky people who actually likes vising her in-laws... It's quite nice!

So, I can't really tell you exactly what we will be doing, but I will update you on Monday! We will for sure be relaxing and having a great time.... I will even try to take some pictures to post. Yes, you know me. Chances of them getting posted right away is very slim, but I'll do my best

TGIF everyone!!!! Have an amazing weekend!

Directors.....

I work for a non-profit agency, which I love. My degree is in Criminal Justice, which doesn't exactly fit non-profit, but I'm going back for my masters in School Counseling.... So I guess it fits for now! Anyway! We recently got a new director that is uh.... MAZING! She's great. She's been around non-profit for sometime now, knows the ropes, knows the people and knows what she is doing.... This post isn't about her, unfortunately! This post is about our former director!

I want to give you a glimpse into what we had to deal with for 5 months until he called it quits...

Some of the things about him:

1. He once told us he spent a weekend watching 40 episodes of Andy Griffith while ironing 70 shirts...

2. Friday's was jean day.... He would come to work in a 3 piece suite... Then proceed to tell us he loves denim. He owns a denim shirt, hat, flask?, tie, etc...

3. The first thing he would do in the morning would be to straighten all of our blinds in or office... Because... "We don't want someone from the outside looking in, seeing the uneven blinds and thinking, wow, I guess that's the kind of office they run.....)

4. He checked our e-mail (you need to know, the person in this position, should not have enough time to sit in the office, they need to be out getting to know people & fundraising for us)

5. We were no longer allowed to get the mail, that was his job

6. He told us he was a police officer for 26 years (though we found out he was actually working as an administrative assistance in a police office...)

7. This man never left his office or met with one of us w/o putting his suit jacket on

8. My 2nd day on the job, he came in, sat next to my desk and proceeded to clip his finger nails!!

9. He lied to everyone about everything (Including important school administration that we work closely with)

10. He expected us to know more than he did, though he was the director

11. He freaked out at my office mate and I (threw, what I would call, a child's temper tantrum) because we rearranged our office after being told we could... He suggested that if we had told him, he could have had 3 strong guys there to do the work... (Because we were incompetent??? obviously, we got the job done ourselves)

12. This man lied to our bored about what we were doing, made policies that said we could not use our work e-mail for personal use... Ok fine, but we find out that the only thing he did while he was here besides make these weird policies was e-mail people about personal things... He deleted all of his incoming mail, but forgot to delete all of his outgoing mail.....

13. He changed his name, no, not legually..... But everyone was forced to call him by this new name...

14. He developed his own "fire department"...... Had a sign on his garage and everything. He thought it was "cool"

15. He proudly told us that he owns over 700 pieces of fire equipment, because he collects it... (we're thinking he was a fire-fighter who was regjected when he applied)

So, all in all, this is a very odd gentelman! We were all looking for new jobs at the time, because we were tired of dealing with his crap.... This is just a small idea of what we dealt with on a daily basis...... It was tortue....

How about you, did you ever have any crazy boss or co-workers? Or do you still? Do tell, please! :-)