Merry Christmas!!

I was hoping to have pictures for you guys, but I haven't taken any yet, I'm slacking, lol.

Anyway, just wanted to take a minute to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!  Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday full of family, friends, and lots of love!


<3

(And I'll have pictures for you after the holiday!)

Ugh

Sorry for being so silent, but I am exhausted! I work every day this week and we've been so busy! I get Saturday off and then work Sunday and Monday and then get two days off before I start working again.

Unfortunately I still have not answered letters, I'm hoping to get more time after the first of the year. This job has been really draining on me.

In case I don't get a chance to update before next week, I hope everyone has wonderful holidays!!


<3

Before I Have To Go To Work. . .

This last week our wonderful wedding photographer offered to take some holiday pictures for our Christmas cards. . . for free! She is so amazing and so much fun to hang out with! I hired her for our wedding, she was a friend of a friend and now she's become one of my closest friends, it's great! 

So, we went to a park about 10 minutes from our house and had a great photo shoot!  She is very creative and we like to be goofy, so it made for some fun pictures! So, here they are!

This is my favorite of all of them.

This was fun, until I realized I was covered in ants from the tree, lol.

And now for a few of the goofy ones!

Moustache!

This is something my nephews would ask me to do with my hair, they say I look like "Cousin It" We thought it would make a funny picture.

Captain Morgan! 

I did not realize my husband had his arm up which makes this even more funny, ha ha.

Also, when we got to the park, my Dad and Rusty were there finishing their walk, so Rusty got some pictures done too! Here's the best one of about 30 or 40 pictures, lol.

My handsome boy! <3

So, there you have it! Christmas card order is in and will be ready for pick up today and then I'm hoping to get them mailed out by Monday so they make it to people on time.

I work the next three days, then we have bowling on Wednesday, and then I'm scheduled for an eight hour shift on Thursday, so it's going to be a hectic week!

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and has a great week!

<3

Catching Up!

Okay, so I know I've been apologizing a lot lately, but I'm gonna do it again! I'm sorry for being away.  But I'm here today to catch up on a couple things. . . I'm pretty far behind.

With everything that's been going on lately, life has really gotten in the way, and I just haven't had any motivation to blog and write letters. I sit down and get everything ready, and then I just walk away from it, horrible, I know. 

Anyway, onto more interesting stuff!


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Back in October Ryan over at It's all in the Ryting had a "Think Pink" giveaway to help raise awareness for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I was shocked to see that I won! I feel kind of bad about it, it was the second giveaway of her's that I won. . . and it was only her second giveaway too! Crazy! I don't think I'll enter her third ;-)

Anyway, at the beginning of November I received a lovely package full of homemade stationery/cards from her, and they were all pink (of course)!

Love the pink envelope!

A letter was also in the package :)

Save the Ta-Tas!

"Fight Like a Girl" Note card.

Some sheets of pink list paper.

This  was my favorite note card in the package! "We're on a mission to Save the Hooters!" The owls are so cute, and the saying so clever!

Pink letter stickers.

"To a Friend Worth Fighting For" stationery.

Loved her little labels too!

Thank you again Ryan, I love everything! And I hope you got my email at the beginning of the month saying that I received the package. :)


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Okay, now I'm really playing catch-up! Back in mid-October the whole family (except for me and the hubby of course) went on a 3 or 4 day cruise that they had planned for almost a year. Anyway, my nephew asked me to watch his tortoise Wally. So, I took a few pictures of Wally while he was staying with me. I have to say, I fell in love with this little guy, he's still a baby and fits in the palm of your hand, and he is just the sweetest thing! It took me several days to not be sad every time I walked in the room I had kept his tank in after he went back home.

Meet Wally! He's a cute little guy!

Climbing into his food bowl the first day, after that I just put his food loose in his tank and not in the bowl, lol.

I fell in love with this face! I would take him outside to let him get some sun, he stretch out his head and legs and eventually go to sleep in my hand, it was adorable!

This picture explains why I couldn't let Wally wander around on the grass by himself. Rusty was beyond jealous of the little guy and was always right there waiting for me to set him down so he could get to him. So, Wally's outside time had to be spent in my hand.

I don't know why Rusty was jealous of Wally, he got to sleep in my bed all weekend, this is him all curled up next to me when I woke up one morning, it was too precious not to post.

So, there's my October pics. . . actually, I think I have some Halloween pics of the nieces and nephews, but I'm not sure where my camera is right now. . . I may have to look for that, ha ha.


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So, there's a little catch-up. I ended up being off yesterday, which was good because I was exhausted from working Black Friday! Yesterday I had to call-in at 1p to see if they needed me from 3-7p. Tomorrow I call-in at 11a to see if they need me to work 1-5p and then I have scheduled shifts on Wednesday (10a-4p) and Thursday (3:30p-10p).  The hubby got a new job and is no longer working graveyard!!! Yay!! His schedule is currently Thurs-Sun 3p-11p!! This is great, because we actually get to spend some time together before he goes to work, well, when I'm not working.

Anyway, it's football day! I won't get to watch my Chargers because the game is blacked out, but I'm going to watch some of the other games. I get to watch the Packers! My second team since my inlaws are from Wisconsin and I like to support their team too :)

Hope everyone has had a wonderful weekend!


<3

Quick Update on Things. . .

Please forgive me my dear followers for being so scarce the last couple weeks or so. Lots has been going on around here, some of which I'll share, some is a little too personal.

So, a quick rundown. . . 

The most exciting thing, I GOT THE JOB!!! I went in for the interview, it was a group interview with 2 other girls, and all of us were hired on the spot! It is seasonal for the holidays and only part time, but it's something! It gets me the experience and I plan on working as hard as possible in hopes that if a permanent position becomes available, maybe I'll be offered. So far I love it. I'm mainly on cash register, and for someone with no experience I seem to have picked it up pretty quick :) And all of the girls that have been there for awhile are soooo helpful! Any questions I have are answered right away and they are great about helping a newbie. Oh, I'm working at Bath and Body Works, my favorite store!! :)

The hubby is starting a new job, he trains tomorrow, so hopefully this job will be better hours for him. *fingers crossed*

My Uncle in Nashville is doing amazingly well! He is 100% cancer free and getting stronger from a huge surgery he had at the beginning of the month, such a relief! 

Sadly, my Uncle that lives here is not doing so well. Today was a pretty bad day for him. He is back in ICU with no definite time of when he will be breathing without assistance or out of the hospital. 

Thanksgiving is in a couple days. I'll be busy cooking and baking tomorrow making yummy stuff to take over to my brother's for a big family dinner on Thursday! Unfortunately I won't be able to stay very late because I have to work at 5am on Friday morning since it's "Black Friday" and the biggest shopping day of the year! 

I think that about wraps it up for now. Since I'm off until Friday, and the hubby will be working from 3pm-11pm tomorrow, my plan is to finally sit down and write the few letters that I need to! Now that I'm in a better place emotionally I think I can write without feeling like it's too depressing.

Hope everyone has a wonderful week!

<3

I really stink at updating. . .

Sorry for being MIA again. I do have things to blog about. . . and pictures to post, but I will have to save that for another time.

My big news. . . a lot of my pals know that I've been searching for a job for almost a year and haven't been able to find anything. Well today I got a call for an interview!! So tomorrow at 3pm I will be interviewing at Bath and Body Works. I know it's not much, but it's something!!

Another update soon! Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!

<3

I Promise. . .

To have a decent update (with some pictures, most of them random) posted at some point today. . . or tomorrow. 

I will not procrastinate! Ha ha :)


Hope everyone had a great weekend!


<3

Apologies. . .

For being MIA the last week or so. . . 

Before I get into everything, I must apologize to my pals, I have two letters sitting here that have been waiting for replies.  So, Shannah and Melissa, I am hoping to have letters out to you soon, I just haven't been much in a writing mood, which I'm getting to. . . 

As you know from my last post, my Uncle in Nashville was diagnosed with cancer. I've been upset about this and talking to my cousin several times a day.

My Uncle that lives here (my Momma's brother), has been very ill. He is in ICU in the hospital, on a resperator with a feeding tube in and they put in a central line yesterday. He has some kind of infection in his lungs and they don't know what it is yet, they were able to get some of the fluid out of his lungs and are running a culture. He has a bad infection/sore on his leg, which he is prone to because he is diabetic and bed-ridden. I'm struggling a lot with all of this. . . I am so lucky I have my cousin in Nashville, her and I have been supporting each other during our rough times. 

There's a couple other things going on, but it's more personal and I would rather save that for letters with my penpals. 

Anyway, hopefully things will be back to normal soon and I'll have something fun to post. But I hope all my wonderful followers understand that my mind has been in other places right now.

Have a lovely weekend everyone!

<3

I had a plan. . .

I was getting pictures ready to post and talk about this weekend (not that it was eventful). But my plan was derailed when my cousin called from Nashville, and now the pictures just don't seem as important right now. . .

Since my journal is public, I'm not going to go into specific details to respect my family's privacy.  But they were just given some bad news about my Uncle, I will say it's newly found cancer.

Chelsea and I were the closest in age and spent a lot of time together growing up, as such I spent a lot of time with my Aunt (Dad's sister) and Uncle. They would even take me on little trips with them :)

Anyway, I have a simple request. The news today was not as good as we were all praying for, so could everyone take a minute and say a quick prayer for all of them?  I know it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for reading.

<3

I haven't posted in a week?

I don't really have anything exciting to post, just wanted to check in and let everyone know I'm still around! :)

Let's see. . . Fall has finally arrived, it's been so much cooler during the day and actually a little cold at night (at least for me, lol). It's a wonderful change. And we have a storm moving through Wednesday night which will give us a chance for some scattered showers, yay! We haven't had rain since April, so we need it badly with it being fire season out our way.

I had an exciting Saturday night this weekend. . . I went to my brother's and babysat his two youngest (Joey and Jillian). Their cousin Brooklyn was also there for a little bit until her Dad picked her up because she changed her mind about spending the night. The two little ones were both asleep before 8pm, which made me wish I had taken some stationary to work on letters, for some reason I didn't even think about it. So I watched a movie on television and read a little bit. Although Joey startled me just before midnight when he came walking into the family room. I wasn't expecting him to get up, but he was thirsty and wanted to cuddle on the couch with me. He was back asleep within 20 minutes. I never complain about cuddle time, I'm just glad he was able to go back to sleep. But before he did he was so sweet. He kept looking up at me and smiling really big, and we had this little conversation:

Me: "What's up Joe?"
Joey: "I'm happy you're here with me Bet-Bet."
Me: "I'm happy I'm here with you too buddy."
Joey: gives me a hug and a kiss "I love you with my whole heart."
Me: "I love you with my whole heart too Doe-doe bird."

He makes my heart happy <3 (Doe-doe bird is my special nickname for him because when he was younger he called himself Doe-doe instead of Joe-joe.)

I just started reading "Sing You Home" by Jodi Picoult, my Aunt gave it to me awhile ago. I'm not very far into it, but so far it seems like it's pretty good. I'll have to post a book review when I'm done with it (whenever that will be). 

Well, I guess that's all for now. I've started working on letters, so later this week I will post pictures of my outgoing. . . maybe I'll take some pictures during bowling this week too, we'll see how it goes and if I can remember, ha ha.

Hope everyone has a wonderful week! 

<3

I'm Slacking. . . .

I didn't get to writing any letters this weekend. I don't know if I'm just in a slump or if it's this summer-like horribly hot weather that has me feeling like doing nothing. . . I think it's more the latter. It's October, and our weather is in the triple digits. . . ugh.

Anyway, yesterday I heard something weird flying over the house. We have a small airport about 5 miles down the road, and honestly, I thought it was a plane with engine trouble and I freaked out. Until I saw that it was a blimp! It was a small one, but it was still cool because it doesn't happen very often. So, I snapped a picture.

Not the best pic, but I only had my cell phone, lol.

Anyway, that's all I have for now. Hope everyone has a great week!


<3

One Year Wedding Anniversary Stay-cation! (Photo Heavy!!)

Yay! I finally got my camera to connect to the computer last night! This post is very photo heavy. I went ahead and did collages of a lot of them because there were almost 200 individual pictures! Yeah, I take a lot of them, ha ha.

Anyway, onto what we did. . . . 


~SUNDAY~

 We started off with going to see the musical my Aunt directed for the second time! It's called "Cowgirls" and this is closing weekend, almost every weekend of the run was sold out!

The cover of the play bill, the little round  color photo is a scan of coasters that they tossed out at the end of the show. My Aunt gave me a couple because I wasn't lucky enough to catch one, lol.

~Monday~

We decided to play tourist in our own city. So we went to Old Town San Diego and spent the night there after sightseeing the whole day.

Yeah, I see a fake person and have to act like I'm visiting with him, LOL.

Wells Fargo Museum, a lot about the stage coach and pony express, pretty cool!

Top pictures: Old Town was not made for tall people, as demonstrated by my 6ft5in hubby! ha ha. Bottom Pic: The love of my life :)

Amazing lunch! Pizza had pesto sauce (instead of tomato sauce), sun dried tomato, artichoke hearts, grilled chicken, & pepperoni. It was so yummy!! And we had to try a Cannoli for dessert (equally yummy!!).

One of our stops was my favorite place to go, The Whaley House! America's Most Haunted has named it the most haunted place in America! Quick little story, my mom's uncle has told me this story my whole life. About 40-50 years ago he worked for a security company and they did the system for the Whaley House. A few nights a week he would get a call that the alarm was going off and he'd go down there. The place would be locked up tight with no sign of anyone trying to break in. I talked to the docent that was working on Monday and she said it still happens about once or twice a week. Creepy! :)

Outside of Whaley House, the sign, and the steep & narrow staircase.

Mr. Whaley rented out part of the house as the courthouse.

Dining Room.

The Theater upstairs. The stage is so tiny! I can't believe they put on shows/concerts on that stage!

Bedrooms

Guest Bedroom.

Mr. Whaley's office and the sitting room. It's actually one long room with a large archway separating them.

So, that was a big part of our day! But it was fun, as always. Even though I got startled. I heard loud, heavy footsteps behind me and I turned expecting to see my husband, but he was in another room down the hall and came out thinking it was me. The docent was sitting in her chair downstairs reading a book (I could see her from where I stood) and no one else was in the house at the time. . . I think it might have been Mr. Whaley, lol.

The old cemetery. It was covered over and there are actually grave sites under the street :(

Randomness.

Yummy rootbeer! The cartoon drawing the hubby talked me into, I think he looks like "Sloth" from "The Goonies" ha ha.

Had dinner (and margaritas) at Old Town Mexican Cafe. The food was amazing. This is a scanned picture, they took it at the restaurant and the hubby wanted to buy it when we saw it, lol.

Where we stayed. Champagne we saved from our wedding (like the fancy glasses? ha ha). And my hubby posing to show everyone how short the shower head was at the hotel. It was even short for me, I had to practically bend in half to wash my hair, lol.

~Tuesday~

Neither one of us slept very well, so we were slow moving and took advantage of having a checkout at noon. We enjoyed a free breakfast (bagels, waffles, hard boiled eggs, fruit, coffee, orange juice, I know I'm forgetting some stuff that they offered) at the hotel before we headed over to Balboa Park (where we got married). We forgot to go visit our ceremony venue because we were on the other side (about 2 miles away) on the park. We took advantage of resident free Tuesdays and went to the Aerospace Museum!

Outside the Aerospace Museum.

Next to the museum is the old starlight bowl, it's an outside theater. I spent many summers going to shows here, unfortunately they went bankrupt as live theater is a dying art these days. Many fond memories, wish they still had shows.

I thought this was a cool display at the museum. 

Space exploration!

Lots of airplanes!

Anything and everything to do with flight and past wars.

Love the Blue Angels.

Amelia Earhart display, I spent a lot of time reading and looking at this display, such a sad story.

Had to get pictures of the US Airmail plane and truck! Yay for Penpalling!!

So, that was our stay-cation! It was a great couple days away, even if we were only 30 minutes away from home!

Rusty missed us! When went to bed Tuesday night he tried to join us, but since he's such a bed hog, we kicked him out. The sock is on his paw because he cut his pad again, so he was all wrapped up so it would heal. He's better now and back to walking on all four legs instead of hopping on three.

Tomorrow I'm hoping to take advantage of some free time and catch up on mail. I had an unexpected visitor today, my niece. So we spent the afternoon watching Disney Princess movies (Sleeping Beauty & The Little Mermaid) and then cooking shows on Food Network. . . it was funny, she loved them! She kept getting upset when they would go to commercial, ha ha!

Hope everyone had a wonderful week and has a lovely weekend! 

<3