hello, third trimester!

I am now less than three months from my due date -- crazy, right?? It's hard to believe that in two days, I will be at the 29 week mark. Last week marked the start of the third trimester already. It honestly feels like I just found out I was pregnant, and now we are on the home stretch! I know that everyone keeps telling me that this is the trimester that will drag on and on, but we've got some things going on in the next couple months to keep us busy. My baby shower, for one. Thanksgiving, Christmas, and getting the nursery ready. Now that I think about it, three months doesn't seem like ENOUGH time for what we have to do! We have some clothes, I bought the letters for her name hanging on the wall, and well, that's about it. After my baby shower, we will need to be in full baby mode and get prepared!!

On the baby front, everything with her is going well. She's kicking every day, which is still cool to feel. Ryan gets to feel her all the time. He talks to my belly, which is sweet :) One night, he was being silly, talking into my stomach to her in a weird voice and baby didn't like that very much -- she kicked him in the face. LOL. May have been a punch, I can't distinguish body parts quite yet! haha.

I failed my one hour glucose test. Barely, but enough for them to want me to go in and do the three hour test. I got that done the following week, and it was NOT fun! It was a fasting test, so not only did I not get to eat for over 12 hours (pregnant woman torture!!) but I got to get blood drawn every hour, which ended up being four separate blood draws. Needles don't bother me, but my poor arms were starting to look like a drug addicts by the end of the test! Luckily though, I passed that test so all is well with that. Thank GOD. Gestational diabetes is not my idea of a good time, for several reasons.

Next week is Thanksgiving, then after that is my baby shower. I'm looking forward to it! A few short weeks after that is Christmas -- I need to start my shopping! We'll also probably put our tree up sometime after next weekend. Lots of exciting stuff going on around here in the next few months :)

I will leave you with my latest belly shot, taken at 27 weeks.

baby kicks :)

It's been awhile since I've posted! I don't wanna say this pregnancy has been very un-eventful (*knock on wood*!!) since I've hit the second trimester, but it really has! Therefore, there hasn't been too many milestones to write about. Everything as far as my health and the baby's health, is going smoothly. I had my 22 week check up last week, and everything looks and sounds great. My next appointment is set for October 28th, which is when I get the lovely glucose test. However, I've already been there, done that..so taste wise, I'm not worried. I just hope the tests come back normal!

A few weeks ago, I went on a little adventure with Katie and Jamie to pick up a doppler off of a woman from Craigslist. For a retail value of $99, I got it for $40. woo! I don't use it all the time, but its been nice to hear the little one's heartbeat here and there :) Always in the 140's. It was definitely a good investment!

The biggest and coolest thing since my last update is baby kicks :) It started as flutters, and is now full on kicks, punches and rolls. Since I've gotten over the freaking me out part, its the coolest thing! Ryan has even felt her over the past few days :) I think he really likes it & can now feel more involved. A few weeks ago whenever I'd mention the baby was kicking a lot, he'd ask if he could feel yet. Now, she's definitely strong enough to be felt on the outside! I'm pretty sure she recognizes his voice by now, because when he talks to her, she kicks even harder. So cute.

We celebrated our one year wedding anniversary last weekend :) We both had the weekend off, and instead of going out of town somewhere like we planned, we stuck around Pittsburgh and just spent the whole weekend together. It was nice! We hit up the pumpkin patch, went out for dinner one night, and even went to Babies R Us to work on our registry (lol). It was a nice, relaxing weekend and a lovely way to celebrate one year of marriage together :)

That's all I've really got for now. I promise to update more frequently, especially since we are getting closer to the end now!

Before I go, my most recent belly shot. Taken at 21 weeks. I'm due for a new one, I know!

we have a healthy heart!

Yesterday was my fetal echo-cardiogram. I went alone this time, because Ryan had class and we weren't sure I'd be done in time before he had to leave. Since he took off most of his classes for the day for our 18 week ultrasound, I told him not to worry about it.

When I arrived, I was nervous. I told myself I wouldn't worry -- and for the most part, I didn't. But the DAY OF..nerves were a little high. I was a little relieved when the tech told me that she would take some pictures first, then the fetal cardiologist would come in and take a few more, and then give me the results. Here, I thought I'd have to wait three more weeks until my next check-up to find out any news!

The test itself was kinda boring. I didn't even get a screen to look at. Plus, the tech was SO QUIET. She literally said two words once she started scanning my belly with the doppler. I know she was concentrating on getting all of the right shots of baby's heart, but the silence was a little awkward. And, I've never had a silent ultrasound tech before. They've always assured me as they go along, that things were looking good. So, I was starting to assume that maybe she saw something, and didn't want to say anything -- and of course, I was afraid to ask! Luckily, the doctor came in shortly after that. He looked through all of the shots the tech had taken, and seemed satisfied enough not to take any himself. The good news is, he said everything looked BEAUTIFUL and there was absolutely no need to worry!! This was such a HUGE relief. Now, we can concentrate on getting everything ready for the arrival of our little girl. I just realized that on monday, I'll be 20 weeks. This means I am halfway done with this pregnancy. What?? Where has the time gone?!

it's a...

Last week, we had our 18 week anatomy scan ultrasound, and discovered we'd be welcoming a sweet little girl in about five months :) I can honestly say, neither of us were surprised. In fact, Ryan almost convinced himself that it was a girl for weeks before hand. Even though I thought all along that it was a boy (not sure why, but my "intuition" was clearly way off!!) but when the tech said there were no boy parts to be seen, I wasn't shocked. Probably because EVERYONE except me, thought it was a girl :) But I have to say, shopping for a girl is going to be SO MUCH FUN. Yes, much to Ryan's dismay, our daughter will be wearing pink and big hair bows and everything else girly..at least while I have the power to dress her and choose her outfits!

Finding out she was a girl actually proved to be a little difficult! For awhile, we thought we'd walk out of there still not knowing. She's a stubborn little lady!! For the longest time, she refused to open her legs enough to get a peek (good girl! lol) eventually, she moved her legs just enough to show us that she is indeed, a female. Then, the tech was trying to get a good shot of her face to check for cleft lip, and she refused to move her arms away from her face! So stubborn -- she's taking after her mom already ;)

Everything else was measuring on track. I have to go in on Thursday to get a fetal echo-cardiogram done, to check just her heart. Apparently, they could not get a good enough picture of all four chambers, so as a precaution, they are bringing me back in to get another picture. I have chosen not to worry yet, because that will get me no where. I did a little reading, and it seems that its not uncommon for this to happen, especially since at 18 weeks, the heart can still be hard to see. My doctor did not seem concerned, and assured me that this happens in 20-30% of pregnancies. So, in the meantime, positive thoughts and any prayers you might want to throw our way are certainly welcome!

For those who have asked, yes, we DO have a name picked out. However, we've decided to keep that to ourselves until she's born. A few family members know, but, we thought it would be neat to keep SOMETHING a secret. Sorry for those who have to wait!!

Until next time..

goodbye first trimester..hello second!!

Monday marked a milestone, as far as this pregnancy is concerned -- we are now in the second trimester! This is seriously crazy to me. I am already three months pregnant. Where has the time gone?? Ryan commented today that in six months, we'll have a baby. What?! But, I've heard from several people that the second trimester was their favorite time -- so, I am looking forward to it! The nausea has already gotten better (yessss...oh, and KNOCK ON WOOD!!) which is wonderful!

I had my 14wk appointment yesterday. Much to our disappointment, our doctor STILL couldn't locate the heartbeat using the abdominal doppler. She tried four weeks ago, during my 10wk appointment (after much begging, on my part) and we couldn't hear it. I thought for sure we'd be able to hear it this time. Nope :( She didn't seem concerned though, but decided to pull out this extremely ancient ultrasound machine to check on the baby. The machine was seriously SO OLD -- but, we were able to make out the baby very briefy, saw a little movement (I think it was sleeping..lol.) and most importantly, a heartbeat. I felt better after that! I might just end up being one of those unlucky folks who NEVER gets to hear their kids heartbeat...only gets to see it flickering on the screen. Thank you for that, tilted uterus!

I finally purchased my first pair of maternity pants! Honestly, I'm still able to wear my regular clothes (though, my pants are getting a teeny bit snug) but, I had been eying up these gaucho pants on Old Navy's site. For a week or so, they had pretty much no sizes left in stock, except for extra-small (yea, right!) and one morning, I noticed they had re-stocked their sizes and also, had a 20% off special going for that day, so I jumped on it! I ordered two pairs -- one in black, one in coffee brown. The black pair arrived today and I LOVE them. They are SO comfortable! They are nicer than sweat pants, so I can wear them out in public without feeling TOO much like a bum ;)

Before I go, I leave you with my first belly pic (okay, I took one at 7wks, but it doesn't look like anything, I promise) Most of it is still not baby bump, but oh well!



Oh! Our next appointment is set for September 7th -- this is when we find out if Baby F is a little boy or a little girl :)

the secret is out!

I suppose now that the big secret is officially out -- we can share our big news with you! In February, Ryan and I will be welcoming a new addition into our family -- our first baby!



We first found out in the beginning of June (it was confirmed via blood test on my dad's birthday, to be exact!) and while it was a surprise, it was a wonderful surprise, and we're getting more and more excited about it everyday! We told a couple of our closest friends and family, but chose to wait to make the big announcement until we got our first ultrasound at 12 weeks, to make sure everything was absolutely okay.

Our first ultrasound/first trimester screening went AWESOME. It was truly amazing being able to see our little bean right in front of us! It's so crazy that at just 12 weeks along, it already looks like a little human. We saw it's little face, arms and legs -- it was wonderful! Up until that point, we hadn't been able to hear the heartbeat, so to be able to SEE the little heart beating on the screen was so cool :) The heartbeat was coming in at a strong 165 bpm. Then, the little one must have woken up, because it started kicking its legs and punching its little arms around in the air. Ryan was so excited, and couldn't stop staring at the screen (neither could I!) he even asked the tech if she could tell the gender yet, but she said it was way too early to even make a guess -- lol. We should be able to find that out around Labor Day! At first, I was up in the air about wanting to find out, but honestly, I don't think I can wait that long. Plus, I am not a huge fan of the color yellow, and I want to be able to go out and buy little outfits!! I'll be darned if my kid has to be decked out in yellow for the first six months of its life! haha! Speaking of gender, I made a post on a baby board for some ultrasound tech's to try and guess what they think the baby is -- and we got 50/50 answers, so right now, it truly is up in the air!

The other day, I was out shopping and spotted a clearance section of some baby stuff at Target. Normally, I try to steer clear of baby stuff right now because I don't plan on buying anything until we at least have the anatomy scan. However, that bib caught my eye! I have been a blogger for YEARS and that bib is absolutely perfect. lol. Not to mention, it was only 58 cents!! What a deal! Then, Renz spotted those little pants and even though they are yellow (ehhh) when I saw they were only $1.98, I couldn't resist! So, the baby officially has its first few baby items :) I promise, no more purchases for a little while!! That is, unless I run in to some more sweet deals ;)


Pregnancy news wise, I've been feeling a lot better than I have been the past few weeks (thank the Lord!) I never got violently sick, but I definitely felt nauseous a lot, and had some serious food aversions. Seriously, NOTHING sounded good. It was incredibly hard for me to even think of what I might want to be able to stomach, so cooking on my part was very scarce for those couple months! Luckily, my husband was a trooper and ended up eating A LOT of subway sandwiches during that time! lol. Now, things are a lot better in that department (I do get nauseous at times, but mostly when I go too long without having something in my stomach -- gotta work on that!!) and I've been cooking more, and food is starting to sound good again (yay!). The biggest annoyance right now, is headaches, but I can deal with that!

Now that we have such big changes going on in our lives, I promise to update this more often than I do, because there will be many updates in the coming months!!

Until next time...

naan bread tomato & basil pizza

When I first started this blog, I fully intended to share lots of recipes -- because they are fun, I enjoy seeing other recipe blogs and since I've been married, I've been experimenting much more in the kitchen than I ever have before. This is mostly because it was no fun cooking new, fun things for one person. You need another critic in there! And, whats better than a husband who eats almost anything?

A few weeks ago, the husband and I were at the store and he spotted a pack of Naan bread. He started talking about how great it was, and how he used to eat it all the time during his deployment to Iraq. I had heard of it before, but never tried it. So, we decided to buy a pack and see what kind of stuff we I could make with it.

Has anyone ever heard of those new Philly creme cheese cooking creams? I kept seeing the commercials, and was intrigued and bought one today. There was a recipe on the container for a pizza using the cooking cream, so I decided to adapt it to the Naan bread, and see what happened. Results? Delicious! And SO easy! If you're interested in the recipe -- proceed forward :)



The supplies you need:

- Naan bread (we got ours at GFS, but I'm pretty sure it can be found at almost any grocery store, in the bread aisle, or "international foods" section)
- Philly cooking creme in Italian Cheese & Herb flavor
- tomato
- onion
- fresh basil leaves
- mozzarella cheese


Preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Then, start off by spreading a thin layer of the cooking cream over your bread. Use your judgement on this. You can use as much or as little as you want! I recommend a thinner layer, because I'm not sure if it would get too soggy otherwise.


Next, sprinkle on your cheese. Again, you choose the amount. They always say less is more..but I don't think that rule applies when it comes to cheese ;)


Cut up some onion slices, and put them on the pizza.


Thinly slice the tomato, as much as you want, but obviously enough to cover the surface of your pizza.


mmm fresh basil. Normally, when a recipe calls for basil, I always use the dried stuff from my spice collection. However, when it comes to a pizza like this, you have to use the fresh stuff. I just don't think it would taste the same without it!


Rip a couple basil leaves into smaller pieces and put on the pizza. I think for two pizza's, I used 2 full leaves. A little goes a long way, when it comes to herbs.


Before putting in the oven, I sprinkled a little bit of parmesan cheese on top -- just for effect ;)


Place pizza's directly on the top rack of the oven. You could probably bake it on a baking sheet, but I don't think it would get as crispy. Bake for about 12-15 minutes, depending on your oven and how fast it bakes. Just watch for the cheese to start melting and the bread to start getting brown.


Voila!! Eat & enjoy :)


And, oh yea, it's critic approved!

its all in the coupons.

I said I'd report back about our coupon saving game..and, well, there is not much to report unfortunately. I've definitely been reading up on and looking for the good deals, but I have yet to work up the courage to go out and do it. Except for once. Ryan and I went to Walgreens to take part in a good toilet paper sale. One always needs toilet paper, right? I was nervous of course, and tried to be discreet about it, as I didn't want to appear like a crazy coupon person. My husband? Oh no. He walks right up to a store associate and starts asking her if she's ever seen that show "Extreme Couponing" and that we were here to get a good deal. OMG. I about DIED. I swore I'd never take him on a couponing adventure ever again!! Luckily, they were cool with it and helped us out. We ended up walking out of the store with 96 rolls of toilet paper, a box of tampons and 3 greeting cards for $18. Not bad for our first time! My goal is to try and save money (and stock up) on things we ALWAYS need -- like toiletries, non-perishable stuff, etc.

I've got to say though, that show is definitely inspiring! We watched it recently, and Ryan looks at me and tells me I need to start doing the same. HA! That's honestly like a full time job in itself! Maybe someday, but right now, I simply do not have the time (or patience) to go through and organize HUNDREDS of coupons. Oh my!

In other news, the husband and I have decided to join a gym! We actually went last night to sign up and we even got a workout in. We're both excited about it, because we want to start getting in shape. Plus, if we go together it will serve as a motivator. After I leave the gym, I just feel so much better!

Other than that, we're gearing up for summer! The weather around here has been much nicer, which is always a welcomed change. We don't have anything big planned for the summer. A few weddings, including a weekend trip to Hershey. We *may* try to get our honeymoon in before our first anniversary (God willing) and my brother-in-law will be moving here mid July for college. Hubs is definitely looking forward to that!

Until next time..

coupon mania!

I have never been one to cut coupons. For deals, I've pretty much always just relied on the in-store specials with your store card or for retail stuff, the sales racks (even then, I'm not the best bargain shopper). However, lately I've been thinking that maybe I SHOULD look into coupon cutting. I mean, with a crappy economy -- why not try and save a few bucks off a grocery bill? Plus, with coupon saving blogs and now, even a coupon saving show on TLC, its hard not to be curious!

In the past, I've always just tossed the coupons and store inserts we constantly get in the mail. I found them bothersome as they just sit on my dining room table and start piling up until they get thrown out in one foul swoop. But, the past few weeks I've been glancing through them, and putting some aside that I thought we might use. About 60% of the coupons we get are useless to us anyway, but some caught my interest!

So, I decided to join the coupon saving game! Okay, so I haven't actually done it yet, but today, I starting cutting some out for our next shopping trip! I'm actually kind of excited about it. I was surprised at how many different coupons were out there, and coupons for stuff we actually use.

I do not, however, plan to be a crazy coupon cutter that gets $1,000 worth of stuff for $70. Thats awesome, but really, a little insane. Who needs 30 bottles of Maloxx or 10 packs of lunch meat?

At any rate, as soon as I get my coupon saving game face on, I will surely report back about how it goes/how much money is saved!

Stay tuned.. :)

time to get crafty!

I used to pride myself on being a crafty person. When I was a kid, I was always the one getting the fun little "craft" sets like window clings or some other type of artsy thing. Over time though, I've kinda lost the drive to WANT to be crafty. Once in awhile though, I see something that strikes me interest, and I just have to do it.

Like the other night, for example. I was reading through some blogs and stumbled across this adorable wreath the blogger had made, out of her husband's old Air Force BDU'S. PERFECT! Not only have we been needing a neutral wreath to keep on our door in between holidays, but, my husband just so happens to have TONS (and I do mean tons!) of old ACU's in his foot lockers in our basement.



The wreath itself looked easy enough, so I got to work on googling exactly how to make one. It took a little research, as I stumbled upon several sites where women were offering up the instructions via a PDF file -- for a price. Really? Or, I could buy a pre-made wreath for $40+ if I wanted. Again, really? Luckily, I found another blog nice enough to list the steps for FREE (honestly, after all was said and done, I probably could have figured it out on my own) so I was grateful for that!



Last night after work, I headed to the craft store to pick up a few supplies I needed. Once I got home, I had Ryan dig around for a uniform that he wouldn't mind I chop up. After that, I got to work! Originally, I planned to just focus on the cutting of the pieces, and construct the actual wreath the next day. Once I finished dissecting the pants, I had quite a large pile of fabric squares, so I decided to maybe stick just a few pieces in the wreath, just to see what it looked like. Well, just a few turned into the whole wreath! lol. At one point, Ryan even joined me on the floor, helping me cut material and get even more fabric out of the tricky parts of the uniform (mainly the pocket and hem areas) -- teamwork! I am very pleased with how it turned out, and I think it looks great on our door :)

april showers bring may flowers...hopefully?

Our trip out west was wonderful. Exactly what we needed! It was a quick trip, but trust me, it was great for both of us. I got to get away from work for a few days and Ryan was on spring break, so he was already away from school -- but otherwise, he would have sat at home all week. Not to mention, the sunshine did wonders for us! We returned home with color while the rest of the city was still pale! It was sooo nice being able to take off some layers and soak in the vitamin D after months and months of cold weather and snow!

I got a chance to see & explore gorgeous San Diego, and also Arizona! I had never been to Arizona before, so that was a new experience for me. I actually enjoyed it, though my husband talks down about it all the time! One day, we even ventured into Mexico for a few hours. Even though we were literally just miles from the border, it was still neat to see! I left with a gucci wallet and a prada bag ;)Getting that bag took some SERIOUS bargaining skills. I refused to pay what the guy was asking (I mean hello, you NEVER pay full price for a knock off!) and kept trying to walk away. Eventually, the guy followed me out the store and finally offered me a price I couldn't refuse. WINNING! haha. It was also nice to spend some time with the in-law's and get a glimpse into my husband's life before me. Much to his disbelief, I still want to be married to him after seeing Yuma. LOL. In all seriousness though -- how could you not fall in love with a sunset like THAT?? I always thought Erie had a beautiful sunset (it still does, I promise) but I'm pretty sure Arizona has a one up in that department!

Ah, California. This was my third time there, and as usual, it did not disappoint. I absolutely love it there. LOVE IT. I've now been to three different parts of the state, and I've loved each one. I truly wish it were not so far away from my family because I would totally move there in a heartbeat. I don't even know what it is about it that draws me in, but I feel very content there. Probably the palm trees? We don't have those up north! lol. Much thanks to Rainier hosting us and being our (well, my) tour guide while there! I definitely got my fill of In-N-Out Burger and Pinkberry (for the time being, anyway!) I hope that someday soon, we can make it back out there! It's definitely a bonus having a husband with friends and family in fun places :)

helllllo february!

It's been over a month since my last post -- and its nearly the end of February already! I need to get on the boat here with regular updates.

The weather is much, much nicer around these parts, which has been completely lovely. I know that it has the ability to change at any given moment, so I am just enjoying the sunshine and soaking up the rays as much as I can. It was a little chillier today than it has been the past few days, but the sun was still out!

Our first Valentine's Day as Mr. & Mrs. was nice. The husband did very well, and had two dozen assorted roses sent to me at work :) It was a great surprise, and he knew how much I always wanted to have flowers delivered to me at work. lol. Everyone was complimenting them whenever they walked past my desk! We also enjoyed a nice italian dinner that evening. For my part, I made him a cookie bouquet and got him an itune's giftcard. Nothing fancy, but the whole point of the holiday is to show the people you love, how much you care about them -- right? In all honesty though, Ryan does a great job at that every day. Even if its just the smallest gesture, he truly does do a great job at making me feel special and loved <3.

In less than two weeks, we'll be flying out to San Diego & Arizona for a few days. I am SO looking forward to this trip! We're calling it our "mini-moon" since we haven't taken a real honeymoon yet. We are still planning on going, but probably a little later this year. However, our trip out west should be a good time and a nice little getaway. I'll get to see where my hubby hails from, and where he spent the majority of his childhood :) According to him, Yuma is a terrible place -- but I need to experience it myself! Not to mention, there are several In-N-Out Burger's ;)

I truly enjoy Sundays. I feel most like a "housewife" on this day (not that I aspire to be a housewife!) because I do domesticated things like catching up on the laundry, cleaning up around the house and cooking a nice, homecooked meal. I try to cook every night, but when I'm getting home from work after 6:30p five nights a week, its tough to be "fancy" So, I typically use weekend nights to make the good, time consuming stuff. Plus, I think Ryan appreciates it after coming off of 12 hour shifts every weekend. lol. Tonight, I have homemade spaghetti sauce with both sausage meatballs and beef meatballs simmering on the stove. It smells absolutely delicious. Plus, we have some fresh foccacia bread on the side. I can't wait for him to get home so we can dig in!

I spoke too soon about the gorgeous weather -- in the time it took me to start typing this post, it started SNOWING. Can I get a giant W.T.F and a thumbs down??

first 3 months of a blissful marriage -- check!

As of yesterday, we have officially been married for three months. I actually didn't even remember until about 9 o'clock last night. Shame on me! Oh well, I guess time just flies when you're having fun :)

This past week has been a weird week. Since last Sunday, I've been fighting this awesome sore throat/cold/cough combo. It started with a sore throat, which led me to take a sick day from work on Tuesday after I woke up feeling like complete poo. Then by friday afternoon, my sore throat was better but my voice was completely shot. Since my job entails talking on the phone all day, my boss ordered me home to rest my voice. By Saturday, it was still raspy, but at least you can somewhat hear me.

We went out last night and purchased a Vick's Warm Mist Humidifier for our room. We figured its a good investment because a.) the air in our house is really dry in the winter -- we constantly, unintentionally shock eachother, ourselves and the poor cats! b.) Ryan suffers from bloody noses a lot, so hopefully this well help combat some of that and c.) perhaps it will help fight off the rest of this nasty virus thing I have going on. Ugh.

We also had a mini date night last night after Ryan got home from work. We had plans to go to dinner at Red Lobster since the hubs was craving seafood and I was craving cheddar garlic biscuits (I loathe seafood) however, when we arrived at the restaurant (at 8pm, mind you) there was a 45 minute wait. We said forget it, and decided to go to Red Robin instead. It was a delicious and fattening dinner :) After we ate we decided to walk it off a little bit and check out Barnes and Noble.
While in B&N, we discovered this little gem Now, I know its not nice to make fun of other people..but really? This girl was found browing around the "World of Warcraft" section (where else?) and wearing a lovely purple, velvet cape. Why? I have no idea -- but the husband and I got a serious laugh (out of her earshot, of course) and I snuck a photo to remember the moment. Oooh, the little things that amuse us!

Until next time...

the end of another decade!

Happy New Year!!

It's so hard to believe another year has passed. Not even a year, but a new decade. I think back to where I was ten years ago, and I am amazed. I am amazed at how far things have come in life -- how far I've come in life. I mean, ten years ago I was still in high school. Just learning to drive, plastering my walls with hockey posters and pictures of 98 degrees (no judging!) and spending late evenings at Eat N Park with friends, since we really had nothing else to do at midnight on a friday.


I look at my life now -- a college graduate, a decent career, my own home, and a wonderful husband. It's just crazy how quickly things can change in just a few short years! 2010 in particular, was a great year in itself. Mostly, because, I gained the majority of those things listed above in one year! It certainly makes me excited for 2011, and the new and exciting things that might get thrown our way :) We don't have anything major planned, except for our honeymoon! We never got to take one after our wedding due to Ryan's school schedule and my work. However, in March when he is on spring break -- its happening! Now we just need to figure out WHERE we are going :-P


I have not made any New Year's resolutions for this year. I feel that in the past when I've made resolutions, I never follow through. So, my plan is to just try and stick to things I want to do for myself and if I don't reach it by 2012, then I won't beat myself up over it. I guess my two biggest "resolutions" would include just slowing down and enjoying life to the fullest, and getting back on the right track to healthy eating with some more physical activity. Isn't that everyone's plan for themselves?? It sounds so cliche, but, its important to me!

I hope everyone had a safe & Happy New Year and heres to an even better 2011 :)