Category Archives: Family

Living in a State of Gratitude!

Good morning!

Today is the day before Thanksgiving, and my sweetie and I are looking forward to the big day! This year we are spending Thanksgiving with Jason’s family, something we haven’t done in many years.

So, for today’s post I thought that I would list out some of the things that I am grateful for this Holiday season!

I am thankful because:

  • I serve a God who loves me and wants more for me than I can ever imagine
  • I have a husband who adores me and is constantly going out of his way to make me happy (Keep up the FABULOUS job my BHLM!!!)
  • I have a fun, cheeky, and loving dad, who gets more and more charming every year (I love you, Daddy!!!)
  • I have a bunch of sisters (both in my family and in Jason’s) who are fun, zany, brilliant, loving, thoughtful, and supportive. (You are my HEROINES!!!)
  • I have two little sisters who don’t mind if I have adopted them and treat them like my children!! (Thanks girls!!!)
  • I have nieces and nephews who are such a HOOT! These kiddos are the special people in my life that keep me feeling young (Whew – I am tired already!! ;-))
  • I have aunties who understand me, and are such a joy to hang around with (See you girls Saturday – I CAN’T WAIT!!!)
  • I have a job, although not always my favorite, pays really well, and has helped me get to where I am today, all while introducing me to a lot of really fun people, some of who have become dear friends to me (Yes, Chris – I am talking to you!!!)
  • I have two little puppies who think that we are the sun and moon and stars no matter what is going on or where! (Look! mommy’s home, and it’s bath night!!! Faye: “YEAH!” Sophie: “Boo!”)
  • I have a best friend who has been an important part of my life for over 22 years (Dawn, how would I ever make it without you???)
  • I have family members who, even though they have passed on, have left me with a strong sense of who I am and what I can accomplish if I put my mind to it (Mom, Grandpa, Grandma, Grandpa, Grandma – you know who you are – I hope you are all having a party up there!!!)

God really has blessed me in more ways that I can list here! I am so thankful for my life, and all of the events that have led me to this place! I pray that I am able to be a blessing to all of you who are in my life – I would not be who I am without you! LOL – I just heard my daddy say in my head, “No, no you wouldn’t – literally!!!” Even from afar my dad is with me!!! I LOVE YOU DADDY!!! 😉

I hope all of you have a FABULOUS (and blessed) day!!!

Monday Night Date Night!

Well, tonight I am practicing my spontaneity muscles and going to the movies with my sweetie on a work night! I know – I have issues!!! LOL!

Jason and I are finally getting to see the new Harry Potter movie! I know, I was totally planning on seeing it this past weekend, but I couldn’t seem to rally to get out the door! However, I am feeling much better, SO here we are!!!

I will let you know what I think – but for now I am off to enjoy some time with my sweetie!!!

Have a FABULOUS evening!
~Christina 😉

 

I’m Seeeek!!

Good morning!

I have been dealing with some kind of bug all week that has been increasingly causing me to feel really achy, cold, and just REALLY OFF!! I can’t put my finger on it exactly, but what it equates to is that I am just sick (AKA seeeeek)!!! I really HATE being sick, but then again, who likes it??? You see, I am a very needy sickie! My mom spoiled myself and my 4 sisters whenever we would get sick – we would get the princess treatment all day and night until we got better; a special bed made on the couch, we got to hold the remote (something that NEVER happened in my house growing up), we got to eat in the living room, on said couch (which again NEVER EVER happened in the living room), and our mom would basically dote on us and take care of our every need to make sure that we were comfortable enough to recoup!! OH HOW I TOOK THAT FOR GRANTED!!! Nowadays, being a sickie usually means staying home by yourself ALL DAY LONG. No one to tend to your needs, or comforts 24/7. No one to bring you an ice cold glass of 7Up, one of those childhood sickie treats, and no one to make sure that you have warm socks on, or squeeze your toes so you will instantly feel better!! LOL!!! Those were the days!!! AAAAH!! Come to think of it, I am not sure why I wasn’t “Sick” more often as a kid – I could have really lived it up on that scam!! LOL!!!

Anyway, even though I am staying home from work today, I am still going to TRY and get SOMETHING creative done today, ANYTHING! I really don’t want to lose that momentum that I have been working on. I can feel my creativity muscles getting stronger, which has been a nice change! Matter of fact, last night my sis, Alex, and her daughter, V, spent some time in my craft room last night, and we did a couple of projects, which was really quite fun!

It has been kind of rainy/blustery around here, and it has been really getting me longing for a camping trip with my sweetie! Camping is always so good for our marriage, Jason is just one of THE COOLEST people to camp with because he is just so DANG GOOD AT IT!!! Once, early in our marriage, we went camping, and I remember our tent being under this tarp-canopy that Jason had set up for us. It rained SOOOOO HARD ALL WEEKEND!!! The sound was absolutely AMAZING!!! I was so sure that we would somehow wash away, but amazingly we didn’t! I remember being bundled up in comfy sweats, sweater, and Jason’s oversized socks on my feet. It was soooo cold that weekend, that for the most part, I stayed nestled warmly in the tent all weekend, which if you’ve ever camped with Jason and I, know that our tent kind of resembles Jeannie’s bottle, with pillows, and oversized comforters all over the place, on top of an huge air mattress – PURE BLISS!!! I remember that particular weekend hunkering down with a good lust-in-the-dust-book, and both Jason and I either reading, napping, or spending some quality time together just being silly, or talking about our dreams, or simply snuggling to stay warm. Man, I am going to have to get it together and schedule another camping trip for us soon!!! 😉

As for now, I am going to take my sickie self and snuggle back down into bed and see if I can kick this bug’s booty while I sleep!!!

As for the rest of you, have a FABULOUS morning! 😉

Getting Creative!

Good morning!

I am up , showered, and dressed early this morning! This is quickly becoming a daily habit of mine, getting up early strictly for the purpose of spending time in a creative state of mind! This habit is beginning to be one of the favorite moments of my day. I have given myself permission, if I am dressed and ready to go to work, the time between being ready and actually walking out the door, I will spend that extra time in my art studio being 100% creative! I spend enough of my day being analytical and responsible – this time is just FOR ME!!!

Let me clarify on my “Art Studio”. What I am now calling my art studio, as of this morning matter of fact, is a previously unused room in my house that has habitually been the catch-all room for all of the miscellaneous crap that we really never knew what to do with. Well, after an inspired 3 hour clean out last Saturday morning, I have a large clear area where  was able to place a large table that I am going to use as my crafting table. I am finding that this table is GREAT place to journal, blog, read, get inspired, and create miscellaneous long awaited crafts! This room is SUCH A BLESSING!!!

One of the habits that I am trying to delve into is to create one piece of 8 x 11 “Art” every single day! I keep telling myself that the idea is not to necessarily create a masterpiece or even something that looks good – for that matter, but to flex my creativity muscles and get the idea out of my head and onto the piece of paper. I am hoping that this exercise not only gets me out of my “fear of failure” mode, but will also inspire me, and help me get better at expressing my true inner self! I am really don’t know what that is going to look like, and heaven forbid someone psycho-analyzes what comes across each piece of paper, but so far it has been EXTREMELY THERAPEUTIC!!! I look forward to sharing some of those pieces with you soon! 😉

As for my day today, or more especially, this afternoon, my sister, Alex, and our niece and nephew are going to come over for our weekly dinner and swim night! Tonight our niece, in honor of her 8th birthday this past Mondy, has requested that Uncle Jay-Jay make his special spaghetti dinner – apparently it is her FAVORITE!!! Uncle Jay-Jay is happy to oblige – we just LOVE these kiddos SOOOOO MUCH!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Miss V!!!

I LOVE whenever Alex comes around, Alex is one of those rare, special people, who carry an aura of love, warmth, and true sisterhood with her everywhere she goes! TRULY she RADIATES JOY!!! and I am just SOOOO BLESSED to have her in my life!! I LOVE YOU, SISSY!!! 😉

Well, I am going to get a move on, and get started on my daily art page for today! I think I am going to make a collage, or maybe do a quick painting, or…, or… well, we will see!! What would you create today if you had an extra hour in your morning??? I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments above!

Have a FABULOUS day!!!

 

Getting REAL!!

Good morning! I  did my weigh in this morning and am up .2 pounds from yesterday, which is frustrating because the weight was falling off so quickly before, and now it seems to be inching up a little every day. UGH! I am not really sure what adjustments to make – I am counting every calorie, exercising more, stress level is down, and I am making sleep more of a priority – I am not sure what else to do. I pray for wisdom in this area, because I am a little stumped! I just don’t want to have weight loss surgery! I want to know that I did this without such invasive medical intervention!

Anyway, I am loving taking the time to tap into my creativity every day! It has really taken the edge off of my sometimes stressful life.

Also, I have started, along with my partner at work, Chris, walking through the Willamette University campus for about 45 minutes every day. Willamette University has such an electric and creative feeling atmosphere – that feeling is VERY CONTAGIOUS! When I was in both Junior and Senior high schools, I had always dreamed about going to Willamette. It has always been so prestigious and the grounds are both stunning and architecturally MAGNIFICENT! I just wanted, and maybe still do, to be a part of that school’s history! Well, for now, I will just have to be satisfied with my daily walks!

Can I confide in you? I am having a health issue and normally I would let it go, but this issues has really become a problem. The thing is, is that I am menstruating seemingly all the time, which can really make it difficult to feel normal, not to mention clean and absolutely un-GROSS! My mom had a total hysterectomy at 32, I think, and here I am at 35. My doctor suggests getting a DNC done, which she warns will be very painful! I have ALWAYS been a BIG BABY when it comes to pain! A DNC is basically where they go in and scrape out the lining of your uterus! SHUDDER!! That sounds HORRIBLE!!! I think my hesitation, besides the pain, is that I hear that it can make it more difficult to get pregnant; like we need ANYMORE issues in that area of our lives! My husband and I have been together for 16 years and we have NEVER even gotten pregnant. That is REALLY rough because I have always known that I was born to become a mom, and Jason would make a FABULOUS daddy!! It is really hard to not be constantly jealous of my friends and family who have kids; ESPECIALLY those people who you come across in life who either ignore, or take their children completely for granted – that has been REALLY ROUGH! Anyway, one way or the other, I am going to have to get myself to my physician and get this issue taken care of, OR I will have no other choice but to invest in Kotex – since I may be SINGLE HANDEDLY keeping that company in business!!! LOL! 😉

Has anyone else ever had a DNC done? I would love to hear your thoughts on the subject in the comments above! Is it really as painful as I am thinking it is? Were you able to have children after having one done? Anything to help fill me in on the details would be EXTREMELY appreciated – thanks!!! 🙂

ON A SIDE NOTE: I hear that is supposed to be some kind of AMAZING show of shooting stars this evening! If the weather cooperates I will have to check it out!

Have a FABULOUS day!! 😉

Thursday Night Update!

I am enjoying a nice quiet evening with my husband. There is soft music playing in the background. Our sis and niece stopped by and had a healthy dinner with us and we played some rounds of Bananagrams – still one of our FAVORITE games!!! I love you sistah!!! 😉

Jason and I have had a little bit of a health scare here today. I will not go into any details, but I think my husband is finally on board with getting fit and healthy! I have been following the calorie guide from Livestrong.com, and have lost almost 9 pounds in a week and a half. I am really thankful that I stumbled upon this site. My husband, sis, and one of girlfriends have all joined up because of my progress so far. I am telling you – try it for one week, and if you don’t lose any weight, then quit – but it is free. So, what do you have to lose??? Except some unwanted lbs that you know have been bothering you!! 😉 Ok, commercial is over! Let me know if you have any success!!

Anyway, tomorrow is Friday – YEAH!!! Jason and I are heading out on a date tomorrow night – we are actually planning on watching the new Harry Potter movie. The 7th of 8. I have high hopes that it will be entertaining, not as good as the books mind you, but good just the same! I think it is going to be odd to watch one of these movies without Dumbledore – he has been so integral to the story. I also think that this movie will be scarier than I am used to. I am a big chicken when it comes to these things – my imagination has a tendency to get too out of control! I know, but now you know why I watch so many light and fluffy romances, and comedies.

Jason is asking that we go for a walk, and I am going to take him up on it!! So until next time!

Have a FABULOUS evening! 🙂

Blackberry Monday!

I would love to tell you that I am being proactive, and spending my evening exercising, planning for tomorrow and all that jazz, but really? I am pretty much just wasting my time playing with my new Blackberry!! I got it from work today, and I am trying to figure out how to work all of the features, and actually having fun doing it!!

You know, working in an IT department, it is really easy to stay up on all of the latest gadgets and techie goodies!! and yes, I am ashamed to say that have become quite a gadget junkie!! But you know, it is very common that I find myself sitting in a meeting on any given day, and all around me I see my co-workers sitting with i-pads, laptops, cell phones, pagers, and all kinds of other assorted electronics. It is amazing how difficult it is to talk to an actual person face-to-face now a days, I sometimes worry about upgrading my electronics because I feel like I am just feeding into the electronics as people/relationships/entertainment/life. Ok, wait – this posting just got heavy, really heavy all of the sudden!! Anyone seen the people in Wall-E???? Ok, I’m done! I will just have to make sure that I remember to disconnect as often as possible!! 🙂

Anyway, I am off to go sneak as much sleep as possible before I have to slip off to work again tomorrow morning!!

Before I go for the evening, I want to give a shout out to my dad – he took me and my little sister out for lunch yesterday to celebrate our October birthdays and we really did have such a good time!!! I love getting to spend time with my dad!! and he is so sweet! When I hugged him I just didn’t want to let him go because he smelled like home!!! Thank you for lunch – I love you, Daddy!!! 😉

Have a FABULOUS evening!! 😉

Learning Spontaneity!

Happy Halloween Chickies!!!

You might be surprised to hear that I sometimes have problems with being spontaneous – shocking, I am sure!!! LOL!! (YES, Sweetie, that was a joke!) 😉

Well, I took a large leap of “Look at me, I can be spontaneous”, and took an impromptu road trip down to my family’s place down in Roseburg/Winston. I knew we would be cutting it close because we couldn’t stay for more than one night, and I knew that I would have a BUNCH of stuff to get done before bed on Sunday night, not to mention try to squeeze in a visit with everybody down there so we don’t make anyone feel left out or neglected. WHEW!!! That is a LOT to try and cram into just a few hours of daylight!!

Anyway, I would LOVE to tell you that everything went without a hitch, BUT… we had set up our dogs with bed, food, and water so that they could spend an evening by themselves. As Jason and I were leaving the house, Jason had been a little grouchy because he was coming down with a bug, and wasn’t feeling very well, and as I was pulling out of the driveway, Jason yells, “STOP THE CAR! I’M NOT GOING!” When I turned to looked at him to find out what happened, he had already hopped out of the car, and when I spun around to see what happened, I see that one of our chihuahuas has somehow gotten out and was trying to follow our car go down the drive. OMG – I would have FREAKED if we would have left for the night, and came home to only one dog!!! Long story short, pack up the dogs, they are going with us – they can sleep in the car overnight!

I would LOVE to tell you that everything went perfectly on this little adventure, but by the time we got to our family’s place Jason was full on sick, AKA the largest-man-baby EVER!!!! LOL!! and one of my sister’s were sick too – so I figured the sickies could keep each other company!! And when bedtime came, I just did NOT have the heart to make the girls’ sleep in the van by themselves, and because my sisters live in an apartment that won’t let animals through the doors, I bit the bullet, and my youngest sister and I slept in the van all night – YES – I SLEPT IN MY VAN — AND ON PURPOSE!!!

HAHAHA! Ok, I know it might sound like I am complaining, but we really did have a lot of fun! Ok, everyone besides maybe my sickie husband, Jason!

So, we made it home and tonight while we were all lazing around the house, we had a quick visit from some of our favorite Halloween kiddies tonight – thank goodness we had some dum-dum suckers on hand!! We don’t usually keep candy on hand, and what kind of auntie and uncle would we be if we couldn’t deliver for Halloween????

Anyway, all is good – I am getting excited about sleeping in my own bed this evening!!!

Have a FABULOUS evening!! 😉

 

Swimming with the Kiddos!

I just got done swimming with family!!! I LOVE doing that, especially since playing with the kids is THE BEST DISGUISE for exercising!!! WHEW!! These kiddos REALLY WORK ME OUT!!!! Man, I am soooo sore, but so HAPPY!!!

Anyway, I heard a Bible verse in the car on the way to the office this morning, and it has been running through my mind all day. The verse was:

As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend.

Proverbs 27:17 (New Living Translation)

All day, I was thinking I think this is a verse that I have to share with my husband because somehow it meant he was lacking something and I was going to be able to share this verse to help open his eyes, and I would be the hero that helps “fix” him. Well, as the day went on, I realized that this verse was really presented to me this morning to open my eyes to my own flaws. I need to learn to lean on my girlfriends more. I sometimes have a tendency to shut myself off from people for fear of getting hurt, and this verse tells me that if I have faith and let people in, they can actually “sharpen” me and make me a better person. What a great lesson! Thanks, I needed to hear that!!

Have a FABULOUS evening! 😉

Happy Tuesday!

It is only Tuesday and work is pretty rough!! BUT God bless my husband!!! He totally came to my rescue this afternoon – YES, I do need to be rescued every once in a while!! He met me with one of my favorite interior design magazines, a small Canoli, and he made my favorite feel good food – spaghetti!! Thank you, Baby!!!

I am working on some new brainstorming for some future endeavors. I will keep you posted after I make some hard and fast decisions on working on creating a more creative future for myself. My goal is to just start where I am, and see where the good Lord is going to take me! I know that there has to be more to life than what I am doing now – not that I am not ABSOLUTELY GRATEFUL for what I have achieved so far in my life, but I am ready for some new adventures!!! Wish me luck!! 😉

Starting this week, my sweetie and I now have two swim nights every week, which we can tell is already going to be a lot of fun. One night is with one sis-in law and her family, and the other night is my other sis-in-law and her family!! Have I ever mentioned that it is SOOOO MUCH FUN to live close to the fam!! I have a few more fam members that I wish would move up here – wink, wink, nudge, nudge, you know who you are!!! LOL!! 😉

Have a FABULOUS EVENING!