Category Archives: Travel

Tsunami Friday!

I usually start every blog by saying, “Good morning!”, but this morning that feels a little disrespectful to all of the people in the world today affected by the massive 8.9 earthquake that hit Japan, and the resulting Tsunami that is still spreading its way across the Pacific.

For some reason, I was still up at 12:30 this morning, and I just felt like I had to check the news, which I NEVER do in the middle of the night! I was shocked by the news that I read, and my heart and prayers immediately went to all of the family members of anyone who has been directly effected by these natural disasters. It sounds like the 8.9 earthquake was just a portion of the events that literally shook Japan, as they are still dealing with all sorts of aftershocks, some of which are still considered quite large.

As I think on these people that I do not even know, it also reminds me to take stock of the people in my life that are the most important to me; friends and family that would be effected by losing me, or vice versa, me losing them!! I shudder to think of it. As you go through out your day today, I pray that you are safe, loved, and are even able to be happy!!

Have a FABULOUS BLESSED day!

You Have Your Vision Board, Now What?

Thank God it is Friday evening!! My stress level is so high, that my eye has started to twitch – NEVER A GOOD SIGN!! LOL! My go-live week, at work,  is technically over, BUT we have sooooo much work to do!!! I am going to have to work a little bit this weekend, but if it gets me even a little bit more caught up – it will be worth it!! I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel – WHOO! HOO!!

On a completely different note a WAAAAY more UPLIFTING NOTE: I have been getting a lot of questions that go something like this, “Ok, I have created my vision board, now what???”

So I thought that I would take a some time to answer this question! Take your vision board, a pad of paper (or journal), a pen (or a bunch of different colored pens), and go find a comfortable place to sit and write. This part may take you a little while, but in my opinion it is one of the most important parts of making your images on your vision board come to fruition. Deciding what DIRECTION you want your life to go!!

“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”
“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat.
“I don’t much care where–” said Alice.
“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat.
“–so long as I get SOMEWHERE,” Alice added as an explanation.
“Oh, you’re sure to do that,” said the Cat, “if you only walk long enough.”
~Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

I know I have posted this before, but just for a refresher, here is my vision board:

Ok, so make sure you have your vision board out where you will be able to see it! Grab your blank piece of paper and write your name write in the smack dab middle of it!! Don’t write it too small – this is a mental representation of your presence in your own life – so make sure are visible!! 😉

Next, while looking at your vision board, decide what are the top 5 or 6 things that will get you to the life that your vision board is describing??? Write those things in small descriptive sentences around your name.

Now is the fun part! On the back of this sheet of paper, you need to figure out what steps you would have to do to get each one of these goals. This may seem kind of tricky, but this is how I make this work for me:

Choose your first goal that you have written: I want to be fit, healthy, & vivacious!
Re-write it like this:  How can I be fit, health, & vivacious?

Then spend the next 10 minutes, 30 minutes, hour, day, week, or however long you want to give yourself just writing down ANYTHING & EVERYTHING that will make this goal a REALITY in your life!

Some of my list items could be:

  1. Exercise every day
  2. Eat more fruits and veggies
  3. See a nutritionist
  4. Get liposuction
  5. Have gastric-bypass
  6. Follow a specific diet plan
  7. Pray for a miracle
  8. Make exercise fun
  9. Take up an outdoor hobby like hiking
  10. Join walking club
  11. Get a physical trainer
  12. etc.
  13. etc.
  14. etc.

You get the idea – write IT ALL DOWN!! Not everything has to be realistic/feasible, but that crazy, zany idea might open your mind up to that ONE IDEA that clinches your mode to success!!!

Do this same thing for EACH of the goals that you have chosen!!! This may take you a while, matter-of-fact, I am sure that it will, but you are laying the FOUNDATION FOR YOUR FUTURE!!! So DON’T skimp on this step!!

WITH EVERYTHING IN ME – I KNOW YOU CAN MAKE THIS LIFE HAPPEN FOR YOU!!!

Let me know, in the comment section how this goes for you!! Even from afar, I am cheering you on!!!

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!! 😉

 

Weekend Update!

OK, so where do I begin!???

Well, wait – before I start, I wanted to say thank you to my two youngest sisters, Jennifer & Trina!!  I had to call them super late on Friday night to get some help getting un-lost – I KNOW SHOCKING RIGHT??? Ok, so everyone who knows me, know that is NOT shocking, but thankfully I wasn’t driving that night!!! Thank you, girls!!! You are still my saving graces! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE YOU!!!! 😉

After a whole day of driving, Jason, Fahline, and I FINALLY got home close to 2 am this morning!!! Fahline crashed on the couch and I literally don’t remember my head hitting the pillow last night!!! Last night, when we stopped for dinner, I noticed that I was experiencing some adema in my feet and ankles, which I had never experienced before but I knew what it was immediately because Jason has been having trouble with adema for about the past year. When I awoke this morning, not only was I exhausted, but my feet were sooooo swollen that it hurt to even move my toes!! OUCH!! So, apparently, I need to avoid salt for the next few days, and drink a ton of water, until my feet and ankles return back to normal!!

It was agreed that all three of us had a FANTASTIC time in California this weekend, much better than any of us could have imagined!! The resort that we stayed at, which I had mentioned previously, was just sooooo peaceful, and it was extremely easy to rest there – thank goodness!! and I had SUCH A GREAT time getting to better know Fahlene!! We have SOOOO MUCH IN COMMON, that I am STILL asking, HOW COME WE HAVE NEVER HUNG OUT MORE BEFORE???? I am going to most definitely make sure that we correct that!!!! I LOVE YOU, FAHLENE, YOU CRAZY, ZANY (& BRAVE) GIRL!!!! 😉

I do want to tell you about one person that I met. He was THE MOST AMAZING MAN!!! 😉 We hit it off almost immediately, and over classic movies of all things!!! Robert, aka Bob, is an older gentleman, and I found out later that he is and has been my adopted grandfather, Willy’s, financial advisor!! I had such a fun time getting to know him on that Saturday night, that on the next day when Adelle was trying to find a seat for him during the wedding reception dinner, I was more than happy to have him sit next to me!! by then end of the evening, it was like we had known each other my whole life!! At the end of the evening, after dinner, dancing, and have a  GREAT time!!! Bob came up to me, grabbed me by both of my shoulders, kissed me on one cheek, and then on my other cheek, and told me that I he was my new grandfather, and that he hoped I was ok with that, which you know!! I was TOTALLY EXCITED about!!! He then turned to Jason, who is almost 6′ 8″ by the way, and told him,

“You have a GREAT wife over there, if you hurt her in any way,  I will personally come to Salem and beat the sh*t out of you!!!”

I was sooooo shocked, and everyone who was standing around just paused for a moment, checked out the height difference between Jason and Bob, not to mention age difference, and we all just started laughing!!! I was COMPLETELY SMITTEN!!! and Jason reassured Bob that he was going to take FABULOUS care of me!!!

Bob is saucy, outpsoken, blunt, funny, charming, and a dear, dear man!!! Just to have met him made spending another weekend away from home was sooooo worth it!!! 😉

Jason had a tooth pulled today, and unfortunately they ended up having to remove some bone with it, so he is in A LOT of pain, and has been pretty medicated ALL DAY!!! So I really need to get going to go take care of him!!! which means I am not going to post any pics tonight, but I am hoping that I will have a whole slew of them to post tomorrow!!!

Anyway, have a FABULOUS evening!! 😉

Just Chilling in Wisconsin

It is official, I am in Madison, Wisconsin!! I am here for the next 4 days for some computer training. I flew in a day early so that I could get settled, and refreshed and ready for class tomorrow morning, and honey, I am sooooo glad I did! After checking into my hotel, I read a little down while sitting in the picture perfect lobby, took a 2 hour nap back in my room to catch up on the fact that I only slept 3 hours last night, I had dinner at they little hotel restaurant they have downstairs at the hotel, came back to my room and spent some time soaking in the GIANORMOUS whirlpool bathtub, while watching a little tv. If it weren’t for the fact that my friends and family are so far away, I definitely could get used to this life! 😉

I have to say thank you to my sister, Nette!! Your gift made my flights soooo much more relaxing!!! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

Well, I am going to have to figure out how to make myself go to bed right now – it is only 7:30-ish my time, but 9:30 here – so, I can get on the time zone here!!!

I will keep you posted how everything is going tomorrow evening!! 😉

Have a  FABULOUS evening! 😉

I’m BAAAACK!!

My Sweetie & I

To say that my Sweetie and I had a GREAT time this past weekend is a HUGE understatement. I agreed to a weekend getaway with the caveat that my husband was allowed to be 100% in charge!!! Now, for those of you who don’t yet know me, let me tell you – well, that was no easy feat on my part, but I agreed!! I mean, I LOVE going to the little beach house with my Sweetie, so I figured my “freedom” would be a small price to pay for a weekend getaway.

Well, my Sweetie DID NOT disappoint!!

We got out to the beach house and from that point on, my Sweetie had everything planned, paid for, and my every need taken care of! WHAT A FABULOUS MAN!!!

One of the big surprises of the weekend for me was that my Sweetie took me to a light house. Actually, he took me to the Yaquina Head Lighthouse, the tallest light house in Oregon.

Yaquina Head Lighthouse

We had a lot of fun taking our turn to walk up the 114 steps to see the panoramic view from the very top.

114 Steps to the Top

The views were spectacular, and my fabulously patient Sweetie let me just take pictures of all of the gorgeous surroundings without rushing me at all, what a treat!

The view from the top

This particular outing actually helped me cross of something from My Life List item #719. Thank you very much Sweetie!!!

On to our next outing, and one that my husband and I MUST do EVERY time we go out to the little beach house, can you guess what it is??? A USED BOOK STORE!!! No, let me rephrase that, THE BEST LITTLE USED BOOKSTORE IN ALL OF THE OREGON COAST!!! It is a little place with a HUGE heart, called Robert’s Bookshop. They sell all kinds of used books in ever genre imaginable! My husband and I have been going to this bookstore for at least 10 years, if not longer! and of course, I spent waaaaaay too much money, and bought waaaaaay too many books!! I am just going to have to admit it that I am going to need to purchase more bookshelves!!! 😉 Of course, I must confess that I did soooo much book shopping on the rainy day that we hid out there, that I did not take one single solitary picture of our 4 or 5 hour stay at that this FABULOUS place. (I did mention that my Sweetie was patient, didn’t I?? THIS IS PROOF!!!)

My Favorite Place in the World!

Tomorrow I will tell you more about our trip to the coast!

TREASURE HUNTING!!!!

Have a FABULOUS evening!!