Friday

I'm trying very hard not to be sad and cry this Christmas....really hard!  I find that if I keep myself busy, I do much better.  Today, I stopped crying and pulled myself together when I started to think about how lucky I am and how it could be so much worse.  I have been thinking about the little Kindergarten student who passed away at my school from a horrible disease and another family that recently lost their little one.  It's when I think about and pray for these families that I realize that I can only allow myself to be sad and cry for a little bit because I have so much.
That being said, today I have made two coleslaw recipe's and an Apple Cake with caramel cream cheese frosting.  I also made two, yes only two, cupcakes for my nieces to decorate for Jesus tomorrow.  This is an amazing recipe and you only have to make two cupcakes at a time :)
http://www.howsweeteats.com/2011/03/one-bowl-vanilla-cupcakes-for-two/


This picture made me smile and think about how lucky I am to be married to my best friend....you are definitely the shake to my bake honey!  I love you!  I found this at Homegoods and if it's there next time I go, I have to purchase it!

Looking forward to spending time with Ashley and Ace tonight.....then off to celebrate Kochie (no idea how to spell this) with the Yuditsky's.  Missing my mom and dad this Christmas but happy that they get to spend their first Christmas in their new place together :) 

Exhausted Wordless Wednesday

How I feel............

20 Questions–Christmas Style

I stole this idea from Shannon but it provides some entertainment :)

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?  I love wrapping presents and opening wrapped presents.

2. Real tree or Artificial? Real - we cut down our tree every year.  This started when I was little and I introduced and continued the tradition with TJ and Leo :)

3. When do you put up the tree? We usually cut down our tree the first weekend in December.


4. When do you take the tree down?  Usually on New Years....it's an easy "hungover" activity.

5. Do you like eggnog? Hate it :(

6. Favorite gift received as a child? My Feona Fathead dolls (horrible name I know) with burgundy pram.  We got these big baby like dolls (with fat heads) and these beautiful pram like strollers and played Mommy.

7. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes....it's super cute cause it's little.

8. Hardest person to buy for? Parents

9. Easiest person to buy for? Leo

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail....I love getting Christmas cards!

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? A sweater with a howling wolf on it.....in hindsight it's funny since my school mascot in the Timberwolves, but when I was 12 it wasn't cool!

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Polar Express

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Usually after Thanksgiving

14. Ever recycled a Christmas present? Yes....the Shamrocker's party always includes re-gifting.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Cookies


16. Clear lights or colored on the tree? Clear outside but colored on the tree!


17. Favorite Christmas song? Trans Siberian Orchestra Christmas Cannon Rock

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home?  Anywhere my family is

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Of course....my car is currently dressed as my favorite reindeer.

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Angel my mom made :)

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? One on Christmas Eve and the rest on Christmas Day.


22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? TRAFFIC

23. Favorite ornament, theme, or color?  I love the wedding ornament my mom gave us on our first married Christmas together.

24. What do you want for Christmas this year?  Happiness and the hope of a little baby in the NEAR future.

A little video humor....last year TJ and Cris taught Erik what to say when we saw a pretty girl, "How delicious!"  What great role models!  The person gasping in the background is my mom!  They didn't stop there...they also taught him what to say when he saw two girls hugging, "Oh la la and Don't Stop!"

Thankful on Thursday

1) Nomi and Sammie, two of my very best friends, who sent me beautiful flowers at work today with a beautiful message attached!  I'm so blessed to have them in my life.  Thanks for always knowing what to say and do to make me feel better.  I love you both very much :)

2) Happy news for a good friend (aka bestie on blogs)....looking forward to sharing in this wonderful journey with you.

3) A great girls weekend at Ashley's making cards, laughing, eating yummy food, and spending time with some of my favorite ladies!!

4) Winter and the possibility of snow!  I was very disappointed on Wednesday (can you imagine how much snow that would've been if it were 20 degree's cooler???)  Anywho....I love snow and love when the forecast is chilly enough to leave the possibility of snow in the near future!

5) Winter break is only 9 1/2 days away...it's going to be the longest 9 1/2 days of my life, but at least it's coming up :)

6)  A wonderfully supportive Mom who continues to give me "hope" each and every day.  Don't know what I would do without your daily chats!  Love you!!

7)  My wonderful hubby who makes me laugh :)

Wordless Wednesday

How do I feel...this picture explains it all...exhausted!  (I only wish my legs were this long and slender!)

Thanksgiving Thankful on Thursday

It's the Thanksgiving version of Thankful on Thursday :)

1) My wonderful, loving, supportive, caring and funny hubby!  I honestly did marry the guy that I wake up next to each morning wondering how I got so lucky.  We laugh together on a daily basis :)  I love you honey!

2) Leo....who has been wiped out and sleeping since we got back from the Thanksgiving dinner.  His constant begging, cute faces, morning wake-ups, slinky walking and never ending happiness and kisses when we get home.  He really does make life more fun.

3) My wonderful parents for always being loving and supportive.  I am proud to say that my Mom continues to be my best friend.  Thank you for making me the person I am today!

4) SKYPE...skype has given me the opportunity to video chat with my parents in WA and video chat with my nephews.  Last night both Erik and Zack skyped me just so I could be a party of their naked balloon party!  I also got a few ideas from Erik about what he would like MeeMee to buy him for Christmas.  As usual, Zack just smiled into the camera and looked cute :)

5) My in-laws for hosting a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner today....the food was great, the company even better and the games super fun.

6) My wonderful FRIENDS!!  I'm blessed to have so many friends in my life that make each day better. 

7) Happy and healthy baby girls for two of my friends who are due in April.  Please continue to share your happiness with me.....I cannot wait to meet Baby Z and Baby Krimma.

8) HOPE that a very dear friend and I can soon be blessed with healthy babies to call our own.  It's gonna happen.....but here's to hoping it happens sooner rather than later.

9) My job....while it may be stressful and super busy at times....I love my new home at TCW.  It has been so refreshing to be appreciated and actually laugh at work on a daily basis.  (I do miss my Springwoods friends though!)

10) My new fridge....I must say that I am LOVING it!  I loved our old fridge too, but this new fridge is amazing and I cannot imagine how I lived my life without knowing how many ounces of water I'm getting :)

11) Our new camera....TJ finally broke down and got us a Nikon for Christmas...it takes great pictures and lets be honest, any new toy is fun to play with.

12) The Holiday Season....while at times it may bring up not so good memories for TJ and I, I do love the holiday spirit and am going to try and focus on that this year.

13) So funny story...the other day at work we were discussing how many pounds of turkey you should buy for each person.  I guessed 3-5 lbs per person....OBVIOUSLY, I was way off....it's actually 1.5 lbs per person.  That being said, TJ and I are doing our own mini Thanksgiving tomorrow so that we have leftover turkey (our favorite and lets be honest, you cannot really take lots of leftovers when you are a guest for Thanksgiving dinner) and I got a 13 lb turkey for the two of us.   If you are hungry for more turkey tomorrow.....swing on by :)

Hope everyone had a wonderful gobble gobble day :)

Random Thoughts...........

So this was posted on a family members facebook tonight....

"Don't need an angel on my Christmas tree, I already have one looking down on me. Put this as your status if you have someone in heaven you wish could be with you on Christmas."

Now I know that there are many angels who are looking down on me but only one came to mind.....Baby Y.   I know it's been five months now and while each day gets a little easier....the pain, thoughts and memories are still there.

I love the holidays....everything from the shopping, food, to spending time with family and friends.  This holiday season has been so tough for me!  While I am still so thankful for everything I have, wonderful family, great friends, great job, WONDERFUL husband, happy puppy, etc.  I cannot help but think about the fact that we were supposed to be welcoming our first baby on/around Christmas.  I was supposed to be waddling and have a huge belly by now.  It's been very hard to not associate this Christmas with the loss of Baby Y since he/she was supposed to arrive then.  I still pray on a daily basis that we are blessed with another healthy baby....sooner rather than later.  I still pray that one of my very good friends is blessed with the same thing!


So when I think of all the angels looking down on me this Christmas, I will shed a tear for one special angel that I never got to meet and whom I miss every second of every day.

Primal Mud Run

I know this is long overdue....but nonetheless.....


On 11-5-11 I successfully completed my first Primal Mud Run :)  Why you ask???  My wonderful hubby did the Spartan Race in June and everyone that crossed the finish line was laughing and looked like they had a blast....so I thought.....I wanna do that....hence the Primal Mud Run. 

Driving to the race....didn't expect it to be 39 degrees outside..........it was so freaking cold!!!

 I'm not much of an athlete but for today I was :)

 Yep....that's my number on my forehead!  We had to wear chips to track our times though!!

 

The Team....Kat, Erin, Mark, Adam, Erik, TJ and Moi :)

 

And we're off.............

 

First Obstacle.....get over the tall wall.......yes....all the girls needed help :)

 

 See we made it!

Next....flip the large tire four times one direction, four times the other direction

Then the cargo net....that TJ almost to the top :)

I'm not going to lie....I seriously wasn't sure I'd be able to do this....straight up and then straight down!

No seriously....I got this....

See....I made it to the top....now what???  OMG this is high!

 TJ reminding me to go slow!!

 Next we had to run through this dark tunnel!

Then grab a sand bag and run with it!!

The sandbag was HEAVY....so I walked a little.  Now here is where it all went down hill for me :(  You can't see the next obstacle, but we had to walk through a small creek with waist high water while carrying our sandbags.  When we entered the creek, the helper said, "Now there is a spot where the water looks different, there is a big rock there so make sure to go around it!"  Well how was I supposed to focus on the water and my sandbag and just walking through FREEZING cold water.  Needless to say, I found the rock....with my shins causing me to drop by sandbag and go under the water.  I was so worried about how much my WET sandbag was going to weigh that I wasn't focused on the pain in my shins.  I met up with TJ, got out of the water to bloody shins with golf ball sized knots!!  SERIOUSLY....in the beginning of the race!  TJ urged me to quit cause it looked pretty bad!  I responded, "Fuck this....I'm finishing!"

 The next water obstacle....seriously people it's 39 degrees outside and you expect me to swim under those water jugs......REALLY....well I had to!!  I can't even explain how cold it was!  It was so hard to stop from semi hyperventilating due the cold long enough to hold my breath to swim under the water barrels.

 See....I made it....barely!  Now we walked because honestly when I started to run, my shins bled more and throbbed with pain!  I think being so cold actually helped with the pain!   We walked through the corn fields, through the creek again, up the steep hill and around the corner to see....

 The giant slip and slide :)  This was by far my favorite part!

 A couple that slides together...stays together!

 At the bottom of this nice slip and slide was....you guessed it...more freezing water to swim out of!!  The rest of the course you couldn't really see from the viewing areas.  We basically had to jump over more walls, climb over and under wooded obstacles, run through tires, climb up and inclined plywood pyramid, slide through big black tubes into more freezing water, run through the muddy track, climb over several hay bails, swing on monkey bars (this I skipped) to the end.......

We made it to the mud pit at the end....lucky for me the barbed wire wasn't too low so I didn't have to get too muddy!

As Kat put it...."The mud model!"

We might have gotten in a small mud fight!  So fun!!!  Honestly I was just happy to be done!!!

I think I can finally run from my hubby....seriously...it's mud so there is no running!!

We made it :) 

Muddy Hubby!

Happy Muddy Couple :)

The muddy, freezing and happy couple!  I have to say that even though we had to walk most of it because of my poor shins...we finished in about an hour and 45 minutes.   The first question people ask me is, "Would you do it again!"  I have to say, "HELL YES!!!"  One condition.....it needs to be a little warmer because the freezing cold water was brutal!!

Cupcakes

So......I've decided to start making different cupcakes just for fun!  Since it was a cold, snowy, sleety and yucky day, I decided to try and make one of my first homemade batches of cupcakes :)  I always make the frosting myself, but haven't tried making the actual cupcakes myself.  Today I made chocolate cupcakes with a vanilla cream cheese frosting from scratch!  OMG............the frosting is to die for....seriously it's pretty amazing!!  The cupcakes themselves are pretty good.  The recipe called for good cocoa but I only had hersey's in the cupboard and I used skim milk instead of whole milk.   Leo loved the frosting...hehehe :)  I think I need a new frosting bag as mine seemed to be too small (I just bought the wiltons decorating kit from BBAB) cause the frosting kept coming out the top no matter what I did and I could only frosting three cupcakes at a time!   Any suggestions????
TJ approved and he typically doesn't care too much for sweets!!  Leo of course begged for a cupcake but can't have one because of the chocolate...still he begged!!  All in  all a pretty big hit in our household :)

Up next....Oreo cupcakes, pecan pie cupcakes, and Apple cupcakes with caramel cream cheese frosting :)

Apple Picking

We traveled to Hartland Orchard in Markham, VA a few weeks ago to go apple picking.  We try to go every year cause it's a fun family activity (which included Leo :)).  Hartland is one of the few local orchards that we have found which allows four legged family members.  Leo loves to run around in the fields and eat the apples.  This time we took a little picnic with us and made an afternoon out of it!!  We highly recommend the orchard...great apples, great prices and yummy cider :)

 

Thankful on Thursday

This is going to be quick since I'm exhausted and still have to watch Grey's Anatomy......

1) I'm thankful for Nomi and Sammy....what a great time we have when we get together :)  I so enjoyed our mini hike, talks, trying PHO for the first time, awesome cupcakes with a shot of milk and cotton candy....all of my favorite things with my favorite people!!  Love and miss you both!!
2) A healthy baby for a teacher at Springwoods...it's about time :)
3) Baby Z for getting Mommy's blood pressure down and remaining happy and healthy!  Cannot wait to meet you in April...the 5th sounds like a good day to me :)
4) Did I mention how fun last Friday night was....it was a blast.....got to spend time with Ashley, Christine, Shannon and Kelly....and we got to buy purses and such....I haven't laughed that hard in a LONG time...felt really good!  I can't wait until our goodies come in so we can get together again!
5) Fun fonts....nothing makes me happier than finding a new font to use at work :)
6) My hubby for putting up with me this week...I've been a little sad and grumpy....
7) The weekend....cannot wait to sleep in!!
8) Is it sad that I'm excited about the possibility of WET SNOW this weekend???

Have a super Friday!!

Wordless Wednesday

Just for Fun

So I decided to use the frosting decorating tips I purchased a few months ago this past weekend to try and make some "Timberwolf" cupcakes for the office staff at work.  While they don't look so hot, I was told they were super yummy (I might have sampled one or two myself!!)

 I decided that I didn't like the look of the wolf face not colored in!

 Up close shot of the Timberwolf cupcakes!

I also had my hair done this weekend...decided to get rid of the highlights!  The bonus is that my hair now looks good both straight and curly :)

 

 

Can you tell Leo is spoiled and maybe missing Daddy???  He seriously lays on TJ's pillows and stares at me...it's super cute and makes me smile!!  

Looking forward to sleeping in again tomorrow (two days in a row this week) due to morning meetings that start at the KLC at 9:00 a.m. (one extra hour of sleep for me!!)

REALLY

Really....are you freaking kidding me...again, I'll ask REALLY!  How is this the plan??  Speaking of the plan...I'm starting to think that there isn't a plan or that the plan just SUCKS.  This really post also goes out to a close friend who has been asking REALLY a lot lately....Here's to hoping that the next post titled REALLY has a positive spin on it!!!  Until then, I think I deserve to ask REALLY!!

Here's to hoping that REALLY is removed from my vocabulary soon :)

Work is still going great and I'm enjoying it more and more each day!!  (Sorry to all my Springwood friends who are struggling right now...I'm here if you need anything!!  Same goes out to Ashley....here's to hoping you actually get to teach this week instead of missing a meeting for a meeting!!)

So excited to see Shannon and Sarah for dinner tomorrow night...it's been way too long!!

Fabulous Friday

This week was very busy......and while it was a little stressful and felt like one thing after another, I made it :)

Somethings I was very thankful for this week......

1) Coffee.....it definitely keeps me going throughout the day!
2) No rain...it seems like it's been forever since I was able to do arrival and dismissal without being soaked or trying to carry an umbrella!  I did enjoy the chilly weather we had over the weekend because I love getting cozy in sweats and a sweatshirt!
3) Seeing Kelly and Joanne on Wednesday :)  It was so good to get to show them around my new school and then spend time catching up.
4) My wonderful hubby for being so strong and taking the first step towards possible work happiness.  I realized, yet again, how strong and totally in love we are with each other.  Together...we can make it through anything.  I love you honey!
5) Leo!  Every day when I come home after TJ, Leo greets me at my car and jumps up while I'm still in the drivers seat trying to cuddle and crying from happiness that I'm finally home!
6) Working for and with a wonderful group of people. 
7) I got an IPAD cover in my favorite color...aqua blue!
8) My mom and dad are getting settled in their new digs out in WA.  I cannot wait to visit again!!
9) Skype....It lets me see my mom every night..why wouldn't I be thankful!  I really miss seeing her!
10) Catching up with Ashley this weekend...way overdue!
11) Dinner with Shannon and Sarah this week....cannot wait to catch up!

Virginia Beach Century Ride

Congratulations go out to my AMAZING hubby on completing his first 100 mile bike ride...yes, I said 100 mile bike ride.  I am so proud of him!!  Especially considering he only bought his bike in June!!!  The best part of this ride was that all the money raised benefited the "We Promise" foundation.

Again..I think my hubby is a pretty amazing guy!!!

 Getting the bike ready at 6:30 a.m.

Jersey I made for T.J. - "Riding for Baby Y!"

 Waiting to take off!

 Riding to the start line

And the ride begins - 7:30 a.m.

 50 mile rest stop!!  (Yes...I brought him a Wendy's cheeseburger! Just in case you are wondering, Wendy's does serve lunch at 10:00 a.m.)

 

Getting ready to leave the 50 mile rest area! (Still smiling after 50 miles)

 Road signs for the bikers to follow!

 75 mile rest area!!!

Feeling the burn!!

 

FINISHED!!!  So proud!!

At last...a video of TJ biking into the finish line...100 miles later!!  Can't figure out how to change the orientation!!