Set Backs!

I was hoping to accomplish so much this week, most especially getting the Christmas decorations put away, and after that I wanted to make a start on 'prettying' up the house!  I love January for that 'fresh start' feeling, I'm always ready with great intentions of decluttering, cleaning out cubboards and closets, organizing my 'stuff'. Surfing around blogland AND Pinterest really gets me motivated - but am I doing any of this? NO!!!

Instead I'm feeling lousy, feeling run down, feeling like I have no energy whatsoever, and to be honest it is BUGGING THE LIFE OUT OF ME!! I hate when I don't feel 100%. Just two days ago I felt great, ready to get back to the gym (I went and worked out for 75 minutes with Cheryl), ready to start eating healthy again, planning menus and grocery shopping for all that yummy fresh stuff I love. And today, I can hardly pack a few baubles away without having to take a rest on the sofa! It's no fun I tell you. I do feel better than I did yesterday, but still, I just don't feel like I have enough energy to do all the things I want to do - hence the reason I'm sitting here at my computer desk for a rest, after putting more of the upstairs Christmas stuff away.

One day at a time . . .  isnt' that what they say. I'll just do a little, one day at a time.

So, did you notice my new header? I changed out the background from Christmas to 'every day', and I added a photo to the header, that was taken a few years ago when we first moved to Texas. This was part of the view from the house we had built. Kristen was only 3 yrs old at the time - I thought I'd share with you the 'front' of that picture that Jason took that day.Why? Because I haven't taken any new pictures this week . . .

and  . . . because I LIKE it :-)

OK, so rest over, I guess I should go try to do something else around the house. All of the Christmas stuff is packed away, I'm happy to say, but it's still sitting in the hallway waiting to go in to the garage. Once I get a little cleared up I am thinking of taking photos of around here and adding a 'Home Tour' to my blog! Don't hold your breath though, it could take a while. Have a great day, I hope you're feeling 100%, and if you're not, I hope you get better soon.

15 Years ago . . .

Today, 15 years ago, I was dressed like this . . . .

Today is our 15th Wedding Anniversary!

Wow, the years sure do fly by fast. I met Jason 16 years ago in May 1995. He was in the USAF and had just been stationed in England. I met him after he'd only been there for one week - the rest they say is history! A year later in September 96 he proposed to me after he'd come home from working in Greece - AND he'd bought my diamond solitaire while he was there. I was 33 and he was 25!!! To say I was shocked (and deliriously happy) is an understatement :-)

Like any marriage, life hasn't always been easy. But over the years, you mature (and I thought I was mature at 33!!) and you grow together. You respect each other, you keep on communicating, and life just gets better, life isn't the same without each other. I hope the next 15 years don't go by as fast, but I do hope (and I know they will) they just keep getting better and better and better.

Happy Anniversary, to the sweetest Man I know. I love you Babe! x x x x

These pictures were scanned into my computer a few years ago and I re-sized them! They aren't the best quality, but I thought I'd share them anyway!

and just for laughs, here's a picture of the two of us, ONE YEAR later, on our first Wedding Anniversary!

My gosh, I look so young! But I was actually 34!!! And Jason. . . ha ha, he looks gorgeous - and still does ! Can you see my beautiful rose bouquet behind us :-) We were married in CA, where Jason's mom used to live (before she moved here to TX with us), and a year later we went back again for Christmas. We actually stayed in the same hotel again, just for that night, it was compliments of the manager, because we weren't completely satisfied with our stay on our wedding night!

Jason is off work today, but we have no plans, other than to stay home and be together ALL day, along with our precious Princess and Boo of course :-)

Have a great day. It's raining here, so it will be a cozy day at home I think.

Spur of the Moment . . . Haircut!

After the gym this morning I decided I'd go get my hair cut!! Haven't been to the hairdressers in over a year, but Cheryl got her hair cut the other night (just before we went out to see Breaking Dawn) and it motivated me to get mine done. Jason took this picture on Tuesday night just before we headed to the movies. . . 

I'd used the hair straightener on my hair so it looked even longer I think!  I didn't want to change the style/length, other than to get some layers cut back in to it. I mentioned my hair cut on my Facebook page and a friend asked for pics, so I posted a couple there. I thought I'd share them here too. . . .

The girl just cut it (didn't wash or style it) so when I came home, I put a color on it and dried it myself, then put the straightener on again, but curling the ends under a little.

The color is a reddish brown by John Frieda. It's kinda hard to tell in the photos. Here's a view of the layers at the back . . . .

And a shot near the Christmas tree in the game room!

It's a wet and dreary Friday!  and the best part of that sentence is 'FRIDAY'!!!  Have a great weekend everyone. I have a giveaway to share with you all soon, hopefully I can do that this weekend. 

Not bad for 48!

Yesterday I turned 48! I honestly don't know where the years have gone. I don't feel 48, I'm told I don't look 48, but I AM 48. . . . .

48?!!! how? when? It's like you blink and your 30's disappear, then your 40's go even faster. I know many of you know what I'm talking about. And if you're like me, you get to this age and you really start thinking about yourself, and you wonder how long this 'ole body' will keep going? 

 

 I joined the gym again a few weeks ago, I'm trying to watch what I eat so the pounds don't keep creeping up and up and up. I got my yearly 'well woman' check up yesterday (can you believe I scheduled that for my actual birthday! that's what happens when you get old, you forget what day your birthday even falls on). I will schedule my mamogram for next week, go to see my ENT for more allergy drops - all in the hopes I can keep myself in the best shape possible as I head toward 50. . . . and beyond! 

My birthday was a quiet day, but I had a fun couple of hours last night when Jason got home from work and then we all popped next door to Cheryl's :-) On Sunday we went to the Melting Pot with my inlaws (their birthday treat to me), and I got to open my pressie from them - wanna see what I got?

 The UGGS from my wish list :-)

I was SO surprised when I opened the box - what a HUGE treat. We joked that I should put them on with my dress to go out to dinner, but I didn't actually do it :-) I just had to put them on and pose for a picture though.  Here's some more pics from Sunday night (a little blurry cos I had the camera on the wrong setting!)

 the best 'inlaws' a girl could ever wish for!

We love Fondue!

the waiter fetched us glasses of champagne after our meal 'on the house' to celebrate my special day, even Kristen got a glass of (non-alcoholic) strawberry bubbly so she could join in the toast :-)

a little blurry, but we're all in it!

I realize why I haven't been blogging so much. I was telling my sister yesterday when she was asking where my posts were. It's ever since I got my Ipad!!! I don't really come upstairs to use my computer much but typing on my ipad isn't that great, so I just don't get around to posting, and one day passes and then the next and I realize over a week has gone by without any entries. I will try to do better and make an effort to sit here and write something, even if it is just a couple of times a week.

Thank you all for the lovely birthday wishes (most of them on FB), you all made me feel so special. 

Still Here!

Yes, I'm still here and I know I haven't posted in over a week! Life was pretty blah last week and I really didn't have much to post about. That plus the fact I knew my sister was on vacation for a week, and because I knew she wasn't popping in to 'read me', well it felt like there was little point in posting anything!

I don't really have much to post about this week either! Not sure if or when I'll  even post this week, perhaps I should just take a little bloggy break until I come up with some 'blog worthy' material? For anyone that was wondering where I was, I just wanted to pop in and say hi, I'm here and feeling fine, just not in a bloggy mood.

October!

Hello October, it's so good to see you. Now, if you could just tell Mr. Weather to cool down a bit, I'd be one happy gal :-) I love October, it's my birthday month - let the celebrations begin!!! Here's a few pictures of Octobers past!

 2001

 My first birthday as a 'Mom' - 2001 (38yrs)

2002

My 40th birthday! (2003)

(I accidentally re-sized this picture years ago and saved it as the original! so it's not a good image)

I love OCTOBER - how about you?

Wine Time!

I didn't get a chance to post yesterday so I thought I'd pop on here this morning and do a wine post :-) Looks like I'm not actually managing to do these every week, so I'll just do them as and when I have something to share with you. This week I bought two new wines to try. Last night I tried this one (of course, with Cheryl - I cannot try a new wine without getting her opinion on it) ;-)

Pine Ridge Wine (you can find their website HERE). This is a Chenin Blanc + Viognier (which I pronounce 'von-yay', but have no idea if that's how you say it!!), the chenin blanc is a sweet wine but this wasn't too sweet because 21% of it is viognier. It has peach and honeysuckle flavors from the Viognier and crisp apple, pear and citrus from the Chenin Blanc. I was surprised that I actually could smell and taste the peach (and yay, I didn't look at the back of the bottle before I tasted). Cheryl got hints of citrus when she tried it.

I picked this wine because the first house we ever bought when we moved to the USA was on Pine Ridge Rd! It brought back sweet memories of my new life in the States.

The other wine I picked (but I haven't tried yet) is this one . . . 

Isn't that a cute label :-)  And of course we're still in 'flip flop weather' here in Texas (and probably will be all the way through to October!) so this will be fun to try next weekend.

I have to share this bottle with you - Cheryl opened it last night to try and I have to say, it's the best Merlot I've ever tried. 

This is a huge discovery for me (I'll definitely buy it again- Cheryl got it  from Costco) because I've never liked Merlot. They've always tasted too dry for me and very 'oaky', and LOL, I've always said it tasted very 'furry'!! But this wine wasn't like that, and get this - I actually tasted 'black cherry' (and not the usual blackberry taste that I get from a Cabinet) and that is what it said on the label :-)  I'm getting pretty good at this wine tasting stuff! Highly recommend this one.

I asked Cheryl last weekend to take a picture of my new dress and shoes - this is from her Iphone so it's not very clear (the shoe pics were totally blurry, so I'll get a photo of them next time). I got the dress at Ross and it was actually a gift from Cheryl because a couple of weeks ago she bought me one from there that she thought I might like (she's an awesome friend like that!) but it turned out too small, so I took it back. Couldn't find the dress in a larger size, so I got this one instead :-) 

 I also have to share with you the pretty cuff I wore with it - Susan will recognize this! I won it in a giveaway at her blog last year some time - it's made from a vintage man's suit and is adorned with beautiful lace and a hand sewn silk rose, and tied with a silk ribbon.

Well, I must be off. Hope you all have a great weekend. I have a giveaway coming soon - if you like scrapbooking or have wanted to try digital scrapbooking, you're gonna love it!

Just me. . .

saying hi . . . . wondering what ya'll are up to?

Yesterday marked the '1 month before school starts' date! We go back to school here on August 22nd. I really don't want to wish the next 4 weeks away, I just want to wish the heat away. Is anyone NOT having SUPER HOT days? It's hard to imagine that anywhere in the US is having anything but 100 degree days, although I know many of you do actually have it cooler than that. And I saw on the news that Chicago had terrible floods this past week. It's crazy that some of us are in such a drought and others are being flooded out of their homes! 

We are gearing up for a yard sale this weekend! We've only ever done one once before, back when we lived in MD and we were getting ready to move to TX. Usually we just load stuff up we don't need and take it to Goodwill, but last weekend we went through our spare/storage room and cleared a lot of stuff out.  There was so much stuff  we decided it was worth the effort to do a yard sale. We told our neighbors too, but some of them are busy. Cheryl isn't though, so she'll be putting some stuff out too :-)  Hopefully it will be a successful day for us all. 

To pass the time (when I'm not sorting stuff out  for the yard sale) I've been browsing shops on line and adding goodies to my Amazon Wish List - I'm already dreaming of Christmas!. Did you know you can add a button to your tool bar from Amazon 'Add to Wish List' and no matter what online store you look in, you can simply click that button when you see something you like, and it will automatically go to your Amazon Wish List. I love it. Here's a few things I added this week . . . 

I saw this bag in Dillards a few weeks ago when I went out shopping with Cheryl, I just LOVE it. So when I got back home I added it to my wish list ;-)

 I can't save the picture any bigger than that, so for a closer look click on the purse, or go to Dillards HERE

 Now, if I'm to have a new purse (wishfully thinking for Birthday or Christmas)  I think this purse organizer would also be great. . . .

 I found this one on Etsy at Divide and Conquer

I want this book!  :-)

I like collecting Willow Tree figurines and would love the nativity this Christmas.

 Now what's the point of a purse organizer if you're not gonna 'wish' for more purses - just sayin!!!

Believe it or not, I actually have this Coach purse (below) in my closet, but I hardly use it! Jason bought this  for me years ago when we still lived in England. It's really nice, but just a tad 'plain', and a little small, can't get much in it at all - certainly not a big purse organizer!!

A Chi would be nice!

Have you ever tried on a pair of Uggs! Oh My, these can go to the top of my list!!!

What's on your WISH LIST?

Oops - but oh well!

My friend Sue has joined me in the ‘30 Day Photo Fun’ and when I was reading her post she mentioned you couldn’t use old photos! Oops! I didn’t know this, so I guess I was cheating! It’s hard taking a picture every day. I’ll try to from now on, but if there’s some days I just don’t manage it, well, I might just have to cheat again!.

Jason has gone to Denver for a week to work, so I’m going to try and get all caught up with housework, laundry etc this week and try to keep on top of things throughout the Summer. Most years I just get so lazy during the Summer months and do the bare minimum to keep the house tidy! I want to do better than that this year, because I hate a messy house.

I went to the mall with Cheryl yesterday, we had the BEST time. Honestly as best friends as we are I don’t think we’ve ever had a mall shopping day together! Oh we’ve been to Hobby Lobby and the likes, but not a real shopping trip together. She was helping me pick a new swim suit that actually ‘fit me well’! I thought I wasn’t going to find one, I was nervous about buying a bikini, I didn’t like the idea of showing too much skin. I was aiming more for a tankini, but eventually I plucked up the courage to try some on and I bought one! I hate to say though that over the past two weekends I’ve over-indulged in cocktails and food and already gained a few pound back. SO, you’ll have to wait a few weeks to see me in the bikini ;-) 

You can see me in the new dress I bought though . . . .

This is a first for me to0 . . .  a strapless dress! I’m always put off by this style because I feel like I’d just be lifting it up all the time, but it fits quite well so I felt more comfortable in it than I thought I would.

I had no intention of buying new shoes, but I tried these lovely gold strappy sandals on in Dillards and they were so comfortable they were my first purchase of the day :-) I just couldn’t resist. It’s not often I can find a pair of shoes that are comfortable, so I when I do, I don’t care about the price ( well, within reason) These were less than $100, so well worth the money. I’m not one to buy shoes just because they look good if they kill my feet and I can’t walk in them! I took the above picture, then got Cheryl to take another one (below).

 

 

DAY 4 ~ Clouds

Day 4 was yesterday and this picture was taken yesterday – so that’s not cheating is it? You can see the lovely white clouds we had yesterday with a gorgeous blue sky. What you can’t see is how HOT it actually was! We took these photos then went straight back in side and didn’t come back out til the sun had gone down. It has been high 90’s all week, yesterday was probably 100!  I think it’s gonna be a long hot summer.

Patiently Waiting

+++ Blogger has been having issues and removed all our posts from yesterday! Some seem to have them back but I don’t so I’m posting this again, because blogger seems to be back up (but my post is still missing)!

 

Well this week is running away from me yet again! Can’t believe it’s nearly Friday, not to mention that we’re already just about half way through May! Kristen and I have started counting down to ‘school’s out for Summer’ . . . . it’s only 3 weeks away :-)

So, what am I patiently waiting for, you’re wondering? Well, I got this on Monday . . .

Jason surprised me early for Mother’s Day and told me last week that he’d ordered the new Ipad2 for me :-) It was on back order from Apple for 2 weeks so he knew it wouldn’t get here in time, but he just couldn’t wait to tell me. I received the cover yesterday, and today they emailed Jason and said the Ipad has shipped :-) I am beyond excited!!!!  It’s not often I want a new toy/gadget. Remember we got the new Nexus One phones last year (I bugged Jason cos I thought I wanted a smart phone) but neither one of us used them much at all. I really don’t call anyone during the day (sad to say), and I had to keep putting my reading glasses on to read and send texts! After 5mths we sold them (thankfully getting back nearly what we paid for them, via Ebay), and I just use a basic Verizon phone for emergencies!

But the Ipad! Now there’s something I can play with – all day, EVERY day!  Kristen’s piano teacher has one and she’s been letting me play with it every week while Kristen does her lesson! I told Jason weeks ago that I’d made up my mind, I was getting an Ipad for Christmas (we’ve been really good with our spending lately and I couldn’t justify just going out and buying one, it had to be for a special occasion). A few weeks later I told him, it would actually be nicer for my birthday (cos that’s October and I wouldn’t have as long to wait – cos I really really couldn’t wait). Of course every time I saw the commercial for it on TV I would ooh and ahh over it. It was a few days after that, that Jason said he couldn’t keep a secret, he’d ordered the Ipad for me that day :-)

So, while I”m waiting, I’ll share the rest of my Mother’s Day pictures with you. Jason still wanted to give me something on Mother’s day, so he and Kristen went out shopping! I told him I didn’t need flowers, they will just wither and die, I’d rather have something that will last and we can plant in the garden . . . they came home with these:

We already have some grapes but we wanted more, and this one is actually a concord grape (hopefully it will ripen so we can eat the grapes), the others we have are all wine grapes – merlot, chardonnay and a pinot I think. We have yet to have ripe grapes off them!

This is a pretty Esperanza plant, I love these yellow flowers.

And, I didn’t take a full picture of this, but it’s a little fig tree :-) You know, I really don’t know what a fig tastes like. I’ve seen them in the store (not very often, they must be very seasonal), but never bought one. I’ve heard they’re an acquired taste, but I’d really like to have some and be able to put them on a cheese platter or something when they’re ripe.

And lastly,  more girly girl pictures from Sunday :-) Next to my lovely new grapevine of course!

Kristen sure is getting tall!

  

I wrote something else after this picture, but I can’t remember what it was and it isn’t showing up in my saved copy on Windows Live Writer!

Never mind, It’s FRIDAY – that makes everything better!

Have a great weekend.