The Versatile Blogger / Thankful Thursday!!

How awesome is this? This is my brand-spanking-new (and sparkling I decided) award given to me by Heather from "Life With Drew" As part of this award, I am to provide 7 thinks about myself and then pass this award to 15 different bloggers! Since I am just starting out blogging I FAIL at the 15 different bloggers part, but I did what I can!

Things about me :
1. I am 26 years old *27 in November* and was born and raised in California.
2. I am in Arizona by choice of course, but the main reason why we moved out here was so my husband could watch his now 11 year old daughter grow up and be involved in her life.
3. I swear like a sailor on a good day. Sometimes, I think I would make sailors blush with my colorful vocabulary. I try to tone it down on the blog though... so everyone thinks I'm "sophisticated and refined" ha ha ha ha.
4.I am a scaredy cat. I am afraid of trains, the dark, large "un-natural" sized mascots and amusement park characters, earthquakes and things that go bump in the night.
5. I am holding a wonderful secret inside of me and I find pleasure in the fact that most people I interact with on a daily basis have no clue... and I quietly giggle (and sometimes cry) to myself that they are clueless.
6. I do not really like my job much anymore. What I was hired to do and what I do now feel like polar opposites to me. All though I don't have the balls to quit via a white board conference, and I will most likely suck it up and suffer through for many many more moons.
7. I am going to California to visit family on October 13th. I am so excited, I can't wait and the excitement of this (and #5) pretty much consume my thoughts 100% of the time.

And now.. drum roll please!! I would like to pass this award to the lovely ladies (no gentlemen in this one) who help me spend my day reading, and sometimes laughing and crying with.
1. Incognito2009 over at "Song of The Day" If I may say so myself, this is one of the first things I check out in the morning
2. Erma Derma over at "Becoming Mama Moe" - Follow Erma on her journey to become a Mama!
3. Kirsten over at "Moochie Town" - Her kids are adorable!!
4. Sara over at "Moore Art" - This is really the only Artistic culture I get. Thanks Sara!
5. Jennifer over at "Now and a Jenn" - Jennifer is a busy lady and doesn't update her blog as much as I do, but when she does, its worth the wait!

This is all I got!

Now for Thankful Thursday.
I wanted to take a second out to be Thankful for all of the new friends I have met over the course of the last few months. My life continues to be enriched by their love, support, and friendship despite us being complete strangers to each other in real life. All though sometimes I feel alone in the path I am walking on, I find comfort in the fact that my secret is safe with a few wonderful ladies who are sprinkled all over the world (and some in Canada!). Thank you to those ladies (you know who you are) for your friendship, support and sometimes T&P's. I know we walk this path together, but alone and I cherish each one of you!

Wordless Wednesday (Mashups)

Trying to find Inspiration

In attempt to photograph my life and find inspiration somewhere. I want to share with you a random picture I got one day stuck at the light on my way to work waiting for the train to pass! Of course I was late for work, but it wasn't the train's fault it was on time!

As a side note. I am really afraid of trains, but this morning with the sun peeking through the breaks in the train and over the cars. It turned out to be a sign of a beautiful day to come!

... Tell me my future Mr. Fortune Cookie (MITM Weekend)

This weekend was yet another Mommy In The Making Weekend (MITM). This weekend specifically I was looking forward to meeting up with my good friend Sara for some laughs and pedicures. This turned into laughs, pedicures and lunch (courtesy of Pei Wei). I wasn't to thrilled about booking an adult day in the middle of my MITM weekend but my schedule always seems to conflict with Sara's schedule so I said "To hell with it" and we ran away together for a few hours (to Tucson of course) and dragged MSD along for the ride.

Before my wonderful day with Sara on Saturday, on Friday my husband Jedi-Mind-Tricked me into craving hamburgers. Not any hamburger but I was craving In&Out. YUM! Unfortunatly, this craving was only half assed met by 5 Guy's Burgers. A new Burger joint in Tucson. We piled into the car and headed to get burgers and fries (they don't sell shakes which was odd to me). Joe and Alexis both got Bacon Cheeseburgers but I was repulsed by the smell of this Cajun seasoning as soon as I stepped in the building, apparently they have Cajun fries which I did end up trying.. I tried them and well.. they reminded me of this Cajun feast I had at Joe's Crabshack once upon a time and I was over the fries in a jiffy. I did manage to get some pictures of the place because it was a big deal going here for dinner. It looks like In&Out but don't be mistaken. Its like... Wendy's burgers and without the frosties... and a tad more expensive.



5 Guys Burger Joint on Campbell and Grant

The "ride" started out with me almost losing my cool over finding a parking spot in downtown. (Sorry Sara) See.. even though I've been living here for 3 years there are still parts of Tucson that I have no clue even exististed. Sara is the best tour guide of the city because despite her leaving me for bigger and better things she grew up here and knows the city of Tucson way better than I ever will.

Sara and I (with MSD in tow) met up at Spring Nail Salon on University. As a side note, university is pretty bad ass and I will most likely go back because its like a little town inside of Tucson (in the middle of UofA I'm guessing) anyway, its cool and there's places to shop, eat and walk around. It reminds me a lot of Birch Street in La Habra back home.

I have grown quite tired of the typical French polish on my toes and also a tad sick of Pink. Yesterday's choice of color was a very pretty blue. I even took a picture of my toes so you can see! Anyway, the pedicure was nice and now I have cute toes to show off before Fall/Winter rolls in and makes me dig my Ugg's out of the closet!



Your welcome to anyone with a foot fetish!
P.S. I was standing on the bathtub when I took this!

 After the Pedicures we went next door to Pei Wei. I had my heart set on Pei Wei since I Google'd directions to Spring Nail Salon and saw it was next door to Pei Wei. In fact multiple times during this pedicure all I could think (and talk about) was what I was going to get at Pei Wei. Hanging with Sara and eatting at Pei Wei was one of the highlights of my day!

MSD got Orange Chicken and Fried Rice it looked YUMMY

We were there for a while and we talked and also took a few Fortune Cookies out of Pei Wei's stock to giggle at our fortunes. I would really like to live my life based on Fortune cookies.. and "make" the fortunes come true. Wouldn't that be fun?

 Here are our fortunes that I accumulated by the way maybe we can see together if one (or any of them) come true.

  1. An unexpected event will soon make your life more exciting.
  2. Now is the time to call loved ones at a distance. Share your news.
  3. A blonde from afar as something interesting for you.
  4. More art in your life at this time will help you feel better.

Today (Sunday) I woke up around 7:30 and hung out online for a little while, did some work and then took MSD to Bookman's to exchange some books and get some new ones. I picked up a couple new ones and MSD got this book that looks like a Diary called "Cathy's Book" (which I quickly googled to make sure it was age appropriate as soon as we got home by the way). Now we're home, I'm blogging about my MITM weekend and she's reading her "Mystery" Diary.  Happy Weekend-end everybody!! Cheers to hoping this week FLIES BY!

Flashback Friday

As I am getting older and seeing MSD grow up too, I see the toys she played with as she was growing up and I look back and wonder.. when did I grow out of this or when did I stop playing with that. 

Barbie and the Rockers Doll
Courtesy of Kaboodle.com

I'll be honest and share that you couldn't pry Barbie out of my hands before I was in Jr. High. Her and I didn't have a falling out, I probably just stopped "calling" her to hang out. Which is fine, i'm sure she understood. As I grew up and even after I got married, I was excited to give my Barbie's to MSD I saw her play with them a few times, but apparently the 80's retro clothes and the naked Ken doll weren't as much her style as they were mine! She even didn't touch my Barbie and the Rockers doll which I adored. I think she had a leather mini skirt.. She was pretty awesome.

I was in love with GI Joe, (I know right?!) Barbie, and had a couple Cabbage Patch children of my own, and had a Rainbow bright comforter. All of my awesome bright color nail polishes (we had green, yellow, orange, pinks and blues) were all shoved into my now "vintage" Caboodle that I loved more than anything. As I grew up, the contents of the Caboodle changed, but those things were made to last forever! 

What I love the most is that now.. as I grow up and dream about having babies of my own (sooner rather than later), I wonder what my children will play with. I can identify with both, if I have a boy, as a Mommy I will have my G.I. Joe's covered, if I have a girl, I hope that there will still be Barbie's, Cabbage Patch kids, and she will have a Kaboodle of her own. Now I wish I could've saved more of my stuff when I was growing up! I think I will rummage through my mom's stuff when I go there to visit next! 

Thirsty Thursday!

When I was growing up my family didn't go on very many vacations. We got to go to Palm Springs every year with my Aunt, Uncle and two Cousins but other than that vacations were few and far between. When my sister and I were in high school my parents managed to pinch, scrimp and save enough for us to be able to go on a family vacation. I don't know if it was my parents "last" thing they wanted to do with us before we got older, but it was shortly after that my sister and I grew our wings and started becoming more involved in school, activities and friends. I guess the timing wasn't so bad after all.

The family vacation was a cruise from the port of Los Angeles (in Long Beach) to San Diego, CA to Catalina Island, CA and then Ensenada Mexico. All though my sister and I were not of the legal drinking age anyway drinking was not a "family" thing (we were not raised around it). I do remember ordering this "Tom and Cherry Colada" on the board of the Radiance of The Sea (Royal Carribean) and it was the best Virgin Cherry Pina Colada I had ever had in my life. I was "craving" one the other day and wanted to learn how to make it (or ask a bartender to make one for me) keep in mind kids, this is the "virgin" version. You can always substitute the soft stuff with the hard though.

Ingredients to use:
2 oz Coconut Cream
1 cup Crushed Ice
6 oz Pineapple Juice
1 oz Marachino Cherry Juice (or Grenadine)

Garnish
Pineapple wedge
Cherry
Umbrella

Directions
Pour all ingredients into a Blender. Blend well at High speed. Pour drink into a hurricane glass (or a pineapple if you have one) and garnish.

Wordless Wednesday

Ode To Kleenex

My loving husband of three years was coming down with the sniffles. I jokingly told him that I wasn't getting sick because I was taking my vitamins like a good girl. This conversation happened about 3 days before I stuck my foot in my mouth.. Oh ya ... I got sick!!

Being sick is awesome (not!) but I have become a self-declared connoisseur of a sickies best friend.. KLEENEX

Did you know there are Vicks-infused-kleenex? Those are my favorite.. but here are my other favorites!

1. Kleenex Anti-Viral - Nothing makes me more happy than something that helps me from spreading my cooties around. Kleenex Anti-Viral lets me and my husband use the same kleenex and not have to worry about spreading our germs to each other for a never ending cycle of cooties!

2. Cottonelle - Okay, I know what your thinking.. Toilet paper? Seriously.. have you ever been out somewhere and used toilet paper as kleenex? Let me tell you, its a heck of a lot nicer on your nose to bring along some toilet paper because when you are desperate.. 1 ply doesn't feel good on your butt and it sure doesn't feel good on your nose. Trust me.. this brand is the best for both!

3. Puffs with Lotion - If you are like me you will go through a lot of Kleenex when you are sick.. Puffs with lotion keeps my nose nice and soft without the redness. Have you ever blown your nose raw? Not with these guys!

Wordless Wednesday!!

Temptation and a romantic dinner

Have you ever had a non-romantic moment turn into something that you never expected? I did last night, and I didn't know it at the time, but looking back it will be one of the best moments of my life if everything goes okay. I am honestly getting ahead of myself here but isn't that what romanticism is all about? 

Monday's are traditionally Monday Night Margarita nights at a local Mexican food restaurant. Monday Night Margaritas have actually played a heavy roll in my dating life with my husband (go ahead start judging) when Joe and I first started dating, we actually worked together (gasp!) and after work most Mondays we would go to another local Mexican food restaurant and eat chips, talk, get to know each other and of course have a fair share of Margaritas as I got louder as the night went on... and Joe was always just Joe, which I grew to love. All though as we dated more often, changed jobs, and grew closer together as the years went by, we stuck with Monday Night Margaritas (MNM's) as a way to talk about our lives, future, etc. When we moved to Arizona, this was not something that we were able to pack up in a box and move with us out here. Mostly because we moved to a small town which had NO restaurant around, it was a freeway drive to get to a McDonalds when we first moved here. (True Story) About 6 months ago, the Mexican food restaurant opened and we quickly realized that the Margaritas were cheap on Monday nights and we promptly found our Monday night spot.

So.. why the picture of KFC and Beer you ask? Let me tell ya! Sometimes due to money, stress, and our work days MNM's doesn't work out. Which is fine, because I know it will be there next week. This is my week (or two) of limited drinking during the month and with my awesome work day yesterday and Joe being pretty sick, neither one of us was willing to cook (typical for Mondays.. which is why we go out) so while I was in one room of the house and Joe was in the other he sent me a text message that said, "I know, lets get a bucket of KFC, drink some beers, and watch Super Troopers" (one of our favorite movies that we quote often). I texted him quickly back with "DEAL, lets go" and we left.

When we got home, we ate our dinner and toasted with our beers (I only drank 1/4-1/2 of mine.. I'm not much of a beer fan but it was good with the chicken) to "hopefully" my last beer for the next year or so while my husband teased me about the horrible things he was going to do to me while I was pregnant with his child for 9 months of "hell" to prepare me to raise a hellion spawn from his seed. (This is fairly normal I imagine since most women I talk to also have stories about their husband's having super-sperm) All though this type of dinner conversation is rare in our house, it was a heart warming topic as we talked about our future, what we wanted to do to our home to get it "ready" for a baby and what our lives would be like one day when I finally get pregnant. I am hopeful that everything will go okay, and that the 1/2 of the XX beer I had last night will be my last and I will be able to look back on the day my husband and I "figured it all out". We shall see...

The only thing that would've topped off this awesome dinner would've been if we got to watch Super Troopers.. but alas, consistently with two old farts spending their lives together by the time we cleaned up, took showers and got ready to watch the movie in our room, it was late and we were both tired!

Ahh Married Life

Mommy-In-The-Making Weekend

I call our every other weekend visits by my step-daughter as "mommy-in-the-making visits" all though I don't refer to myself as her mom, and try to avoid explaining our situation at all costs, its nice to have a pre-teen around to prove to myself that I will be a good mom and that my time will come sooner or later (hopefully sooner)

My step-daughter (abbreviated as SD or MSD) is 11 now, I've been around since she was 3 turning 4 and boy was she adorable when she was little. The age difference between her and I is  15 years, meaning that I was a sophomore in high school when she was "conceived" yikes right? Anyway.. moving on. This weekend was kind of our "fun" weekend, all though I try hard to not spoil her whenever she is here. I try to instill some sense of normalcy in schedules etc as much as possible so she will grow to understand that this is not a "play house" this is our home and she needs to be apart of the family when she is here (even though our "family" right now is my husband and I and our animals.. whatever still a family). I try at least once a month to have a "girl" weekend with her where I take her to do something fun, shopping, pedicure or something. This weekend, was going to be our "girl" weekend, and in between my crappy work schedule (I worked this weekend) I tried to take some time out of each day to get in our "girl" time.

Friday night, I was told by my husband that MSD was told by her volleyball coach last minute that they were having a day at the local pizza place. It would start at noon and to bring enough $$$ for a drink. I was not too happy about this last minute shenanigans that the coach was pulling, but I didn't want MSD to be punished and not able to participate because of a last minute attempt for some team bonding. I put on my happy face and took her to the pizza place on Saturday. Long story short, out of a team roster of about 30-40 only 6 girls showed up. (Looks like the other parents didn't feel the same way I did) So instead of leaving her with the coach and a gang of girls, I ended up staying and lurking as the creepy Step-Mom but she didn't mind. She pretty much stuck by my side the entire time and didn't mingle as much as I had hoped.

After Pizza we went shopping at Ross and Marshalls (my two favorite places) and checked out a new shoe store that has a bunch of shoes for $10.00 or less (there's a reason why they are cheap btw) and made our way home. All in all this was about a 3 1/2 hour experience out of our day and I was happy enough that I was able to hammer out some time in the day to still spend time with her.

I am lucky enough to be able to get into the local gem, mineral and lapidary shows in our area as one of the "perks" of my job. All though I go for a few hours one day to purchase for our company, I was able to bring MSD to the show in town to be able to see what its like first hand. The amount of beads, stones and varying options around you is mind boggling. I wonder what its like at her age, even now and being around the industry for a few years now, walking into the shows and looking through the mounds of beads each vendor brings still boggles my mind. All though she's really not as "young" as she once was (neither am I) its still cool to sometimes get glimpses of first-time experiences since I'm not around her a lot. Hopefully, this will go down as one of the things she remembers about her child years when she's grown up. I would love to keep this up as a tradition and I even let her buy a couple beads, just so she could pick out some cool stuff that she will probably never use.

Rest & Relaxation.

 A lot of people have spent today vacationing with friends and family. I personally, worked (from home) but it was still wonderful. After having my Saturday and Sunday to relax, I felt myself LAZY last night and didn't want to cook. I am glad we went out for dinner because I got a glimpse of our beautiful sunset last night and wanted to share it with you!

Something about our sunsets out here remind me of Rainbow Sherbert do you see it? 

The nice thing about working from home today is that I am taking tomorrow off instead. Why? Well, I decided since my husband doesn't get holidays off (Come On Time & A Half woo hoo)  that we deserve a day to spend together. See, my husband works Saturday, Sunday and Monday and I work Monday thru Friday, so we very rarely have a day off together, unless one of us is sick and who wants that? I am looking forward to tomorrow and getting to spend time with him. Also, his daughter has a volleyball game tomorrow that I will get to go to and I can't wait to see her play.. another thing we haven't been lucky enough to see together.

Flashback Friday

During a random conversation at work the other day I realized I had a talent not so many people have (or know about) nowadays. Sit back everyone and get ready to awe in my awesomeness!

I am the Magic Eye Master!

Now, I know this may come as a shock to you, and you may not know what I am talking about so allow me to tell you. The Magic Eye was most popular in the early 90's and this is when I learned that I had what it takes to see the hidden images beyond and not judge an image by what you see initially, but what is buried secretly deep inside. 

So please, sit and flash back to the wonderful world of the Magic Eye, courtesy of course by MagicEye.com!

We will start off easy!

I ____ You

And A Little Harder

Mans Best Friend In the Summer

I posted the captions below the photos to help you out a little. I didn't want to ruin it for you but here are the answers just so you don't get too frustrated!

1 First picture was a heart

2. See Below

Mans Best Friend In The Summer

Hope you enjoyed Flashback Friday!!

Happy Haiku Thursday!

I have followed Haiku Thursday for a few weeks now and now that I have jump started my blog, I am excited to carry this over to mine.

Happy Haiku Thursday Everyone!!

Feel free to join us!!

Need to be positive

Wish I could give my stress away

Why did I choose this path

Goodbye Summer.. I hardly knew ye

Happy September 1st! With summer already almost over I found myself looking back and realizing how much it SUCKS to be an adult. Most of my childhood memories revolve around summer, going to the pool, beach, playing outside until it was dark, and even spending our nights in a tent in our backyard. (That was my favorite).


Now that I'm a working adult, and having the responsibilities of bills, and managing a home my summer memories really consist of how "good" the Monsoon season was out here (I look forward to Monsoon season every year) and what time I get out of work. Ever since we moved out to Arizona (we moved out here in the heart of Monsoon season in August,2007). I remember driving home and seeing the storms off in the distance with vibrant lightning and dark cloudy skies. With Monsoon season nearing the end of it's summer "term" this year. I wanted to share some pictures I caught (mostly on my way home from work) of the storms!

Now - Arizona Monsoon Season 2010

Now - Arizona Monsoon Season 2010

Now - Arizona Monsoon Season 2010