Fabulous Staudt

Life after the Olympics

2010-02-23T19:49:00.000-08:00

So we went to the Winter Olympics in Vancouver and had a blast! I cannot tell you how cool it is to be right in the middle of the excitement. The city has lots of charm and cute places to go to like Granville Island or Stanley Park. A four day trip to Vancouver is not enough...The drive up to Whistler Olympic Park is breath taking. We wish we were still there! Going to Hudson Bay (department store) was a blast. Hundreds of people trying to get their hands on official Olympic clothing. We left home with two semi full suitcases and returned with two very full suitcases. They were over flowing with souvenirs, including a brand new Zara coat for my hubby. We are looking forward to seeing the World Cup Soccer games, but we will have to wait. Our 2010 travels have just begun!

2010 Here We Come!

2010-01-12T12:54:00.000-08:00

2009 was an incredible year! Matt was in Nursing school, graduated, continued to work at the hospital, studied for Nursing exam, took nursing exam, passed, and has been working as an RN at the hospital. I have been working at CSUSB and enjoying working for the Nursing Department. We got annual passes to Disneyland and go on "dates" to the Happiest Place on Earth! Our beautiful new car has taken us to Coronado, Fallbrook to visit Grandad, Ritz Carlton in Laguna Beach, and Hilton LAX, just to name a few. We took a trip of a lifetime to Europe and loved it, LOVED IT! We have so many great memories in 2009. We have been blessed, our love for each other has grown, and our relationship with our Heavenly Father has deepened. As we said good bye to 2009 we welcomed 2010 with open arms.

We are thrilled to see what God has in store for us in 2010. We will be starting our travels a little early this year as we travel to Vancouver for the Winter Olympics. I would love to travel to the Cook Islands or Tahiti. I hope my dream comes true! Our big goal for this year is to save for a HOME! We have begun to look for homes in Riverside (I would like to live down by the beach~but the cost of a home down there is still astronomical). A place that we can call home that is what we are praying for! We will see more of God's abundant blessings this year.

New or not so New

2009-09-01T14:23:00.001-07:00

Once again I have failed to keep my blog up and running. Not sure why I have not blogged in a while. Since the last blog which was in April we have had some great new changes.

On June 3rd we had to say good bye to my little Corolla. That poor little car never left the state of California. It had a little over 115,000 miles and was going to just collapse. After many weeks of prayer and deciding what we were going to do, the only option was to get a new car. We had been in the "buying a car" phase and it came down to a brand new Toyota Highlander. We are proud owners of a vehicle that is a whole lot smarter than us. The navigation was quote on quote "top of the line and the best in the market!" Well we have yet to fully figure it out. I still don't know how to change from one CD to another and the system and the manual is a bit overwhelming. The SUV is beautiful and really like that it is silver, has black leather interior, stunning sunroof, and can seat 7 people (yes that can be 7 regular adults).

On June 20th Matt graduated from Cal State San Bernardino. We had a great time cheering for him and his other classmates. We are so proud of him!

August 17th was the big day! Matt was ready to take the big Nursing State Board Exam. After a few weeks of studying he was ready to take it and move on. My hubby is so smart that I knew he did not have anything to worry about. In an hour and 25 minutes, and 75 questions he was done. He kept saying "that was terrible!" Bright and early on August 20th we checked to see if his name was posted (which means he passed the exam), and his name was there. We screamed and of course I cried (tears of joy). By the 22nd we checked the mail and in a bright white envelope contained his Nursing License! God is good!!! We prayed and prayed that God would give him the wisdom, knowledge, peace, and comfort. We could not have done it without prayer and genuine words of encouragement. Matt has begun his orientation and training to be the official Registered Nurse.

We shall see where God leads us in the future. Most importantly seek God's will and never lose focus!

New or not so new?

2009-04-07T15:40:00.001-07:00

It has been quite a while since I have posted a blog. I cannot remember everything that has happened in the last few months. There has been many answered prayers and we are continually thankful for all that the Lord has done and continues to do. I got a job at Cal State San Bernardino in the Nursing Department. As I turned in my application I told myself I must get this job. I interviewed and I told myself again I must get this job. God is awesome and I got the job. I have been in this position for over a month now and I am enjoying it very much. Each day brings new excitement and plenty to learn. A huge part of the blessing is that I am partly at the school and partly at the hospital which is only 3 minutes away! Matt cannot escape me now. I am at the school and at the hospital!

We can official say that Matt has finished Nursing School. The joyous Nursing Pinning Ceremony was March 28th. We are very proud of him and this great accomplishment. It is amazing to know that he has a job at the hospital and he can expand his knowledge in a growing career. Since he began the Nursing program we have been through mountain tops and deep valleys but always knowing that God had a perfect plan. It is a tremendous blessing to have a wonderful husband. He is the best nurse out there and I am 100 percent confident that one day he will be named the top nurse in the Inland Empire. He has such a caring spirit, love for people, humorous, spunky personality, and a brain that can absorb the most minuscule details. Watch out Inland Empire!

It has been a good day

2009-02-05T16:23:00.000-08:00

You never know what kind of day it is going to be. The forecast said rain but I woke up to a very sunny and warm morning. I enjoyed waking up late and relaxing around the apartment. My hubby and I darted off to our chiropractors appointment. We must kick start our immune system and stay healthy. We filled our stomachs with a Big Mac from McDonald's and I was off to go shopping. I got a pedicure which was very relaxing and worth the $25 since I have not had one for 3 months. I enjoyed lunch with my mom and sisters. They ate and I watched mainly. I did not buy a thing at the mall which shows true will power. With freshly painted toes I had to subject my clean feet to the wet and dirty parking lot. The dark clouds rolled in and it began to pour. Bye bye clean feet! On my way home I got a call from a job interview. I am beyond happy, so thankful to God for all of his blessings and provisions. Today is a very good day! I am thrilled!

Long gone are the days

2009-02-03T16:17:00.000-08:00

Over the last week I began to think of the some of the memories...Long gone are the days

That I was in elementary school and all I had to do was complete a division worksheet, studying for the spelling test on Friday, and just playing outside. Long gone are the junior high days when I went to private school and tremendous amounts of homework. Oh I wish that was all I had to do. Long gone are the high school days, formal dances, prom, AP testing, studying and cramming for that oh so important Anatomy test. High school seemed so long ago but those were the days that you could hang out with your friends and we all so wanted to do was grown up. Long gone are the college days that seemed to be an eternity and very well worth the money and the stress. Going to school till 10pm three days a week and working. I look back and wonder how I even made it through. I thank God for getting me through the tough times. For me long gone are the days of pouring over bridal magazines and thinking of the perfect dress, beautiful shoes, stunning hair, flowers, tuxedos, and the list continued. This was not too long ago and I wish I could still be planning and make it all happen, over and over again. It was fun, exciting, crazy, yet good memories. But it isn't about the memories that were but about the ones that we create. I look forward to my trip with my honey and how blessed we are to go on a trip and have new memories. I look forward to seeing my hubby graduate from college and how excited he is going to be and how proud I will be. Look for the screaming wife in the stands saying "I love you honey, you finally did it." Long gone are the days for him of staying up till midnight studying, writing a paper, reviewing, and reading. These days may soon be over but just think about what the future will hold. Very exciting!!!!

Day at the Aquarium of the Pacific

2009-01-10T18:08:00.001-08:00

A great highlight of the month so far was going to the Aquarium with our friend's little boy. He had a blast! He kept saying, "bird, fish, Matt, get down, dog, fish, Matt, hey Matt!"

He enjoyed pushing the buttons, touching the sting rays, playing with the water, pushing the elevator button, running around, and enjoying the day!
I could not stop laughing when he was dying to touch the birds especially the pigeons. Once he saw one he was running fast towards them. It is great to have energy like a two year old. Good times! The best picture is of him just wanting to grab the bird!

Oh Christmas Tree

2009-01-02T16:39:00.000-08:00

Our stunning Christmas tree and yes it is January 2, 2009 and I do not want to take it down. It is too pretty to put everything away. Maybe I will find time to store it away this weekend.

Celebrating the New Year!

2009-01-02T16:37:00.001-08:00

Holiday fun is always great and when you spice it up with some funny guys and some hats you get this funny photo! Looking forward to more funny photos to add!

Mac issues

2008-11-18T21:35:00.000-08:00

I have come to find out that my lovely new mac laptop requires more learning than I could ever imagined. I come home and I am just eager to check email and such. Today I realized that I cannot install updates correctly. Who knew that you could go wrong. I have only had this for a week. Just one WEEK! I called Geek Squad and sure enough they offered no help. So I am back to square one learning mac operations. I was not prepared to do so much reading. I have found myself going to Borders looking for books such as Mac for dummies. The winning book is Teach yourself Visually Macbook. So if any one is a pro and would not mind someone like me asking them a million and one questions about just about anything mac related please let me know. HELP!

I think I should

2008-11-12T22:52:00.001-08:00

There are at least ten things that I should complete
1. Read the manual to my very beautiful imac! I am not one to read manuals but I assume that I have to for many reasons, maybe because I am a first time user? hummm
2. Go grocery shopping or once again I will look at the frig and wonder why nothing seems appealing. Duh there is nothing really. I have slacked on my loving wife duties like going to the store and stock up for my very hungry hubby.
3. Organize my new filing cabinet from Crate & Barrel. We really like it because it matches all of our furniture beautifully.
4. Laundry! I need to say nothing more everyone knows about the mountain of clothes that needs to be washed.
5. Go to gym regularly. Now that some of my hectic schedule has calmed down I can focus on going to the gym and sticking to a routine.
6. Figure out Christmas shopping list. I have begun to do some shopping in the past few weeks but Black Friday is coming up and I will be one of the crazies out there so look out! Not sure what I am buying yet but it will be good. I am thinking Blu Ray dvds and gadets of some sort. I will not give out any more hints. But along with shopping I have to select photos for our annual Christmas photo card. It is too late to hire my photographer to do some amazing pictures. GRRRRR
7. Go through my calendar and update everything. I just go crazy when important dates are missing.
8. Upload new pictures. I have been slacking, which is not good. I have no excuse I have a new camera therefore I should post pictures.
9. Sync my phone otherwise it will crash mysteriously and I will cry again!
10. Complete a scrapbook before I really get behind. So off I will go to scrapbooking this Friday.

The list continues but for my sake I left it at ten.

My latest thoughts!

2008-10-21T22:15:00.000-07:00

* Finding a note on your door that states "Sorry we missed you, try and deliver tomorrow." I then aimlessly tried to figure out what I bought. Nothing came to mind-yikes this is very bad.

* My purchase was a fabulous coffeemaker.

* It is not good when you have to go to 2 different places to get Rocky Road ice cream and both places do not have it. I left disappointed and vowed that I would never purchase anything but Rocky Road. I seriously think there must be something going on. A shortage of almonds? marshmallows?

* Trying to sleep and thoughts of food come to mind....not good. My latest craving Chili Cheeseburgers from World Famous Tommy's. I think my cousins will totally go with me to Tommy's very soon to finally end my craving.

* My fascination with post-its has come around again. With the holidays and the cute designs, geee I have to purchase at least two.

* I cannot believe Thanksgiving is around the corner. Tentative plans for Progressive Style dinner is in the works. I guess I will be serving salad and something else at our place.

* My dear hubby and his cleaning skills always makes me smile. Coming home to squeaky clean home is wonderful.

*Remember I stated that I wish I did not crave food well the cravings are still here. My craving for hummus has reached another level. Yes, many will think yuck hummus but oh my when you try it you will be hooked. Add fresh hummus to warm pita and this could be a balanced meal.

* I have realized that my focus on details only applies to certain areas of my life. Why can't I be detailed in everything like arranging papers into orderly files?

* I will have to purchase a Mac laptop very soon. Have you seen the great applications? It will blow you away, once you are hooked on mac a pc will never measure up.

* Along with purchasing a laptop a filing cabinet (to be organized) and a new dresser are must haves for the season did you see it on "Favorite Things of 2008?"

* We need to make serious decisions about your next trip. The major trip is going to be Italy but the dates are not finalized. Still not sure where in Italy we want to visit. I would prefer a month long vacation.

Have you ever.....

2008-10-08T21:43:00.000-07:00

Eagerly anticipated a quiet yet fun dinner and a movie night out? We were SO looking forward to that today. We got to dinner and of course since I am trying to lose my addiction to soda I was left with the decision on what to drink. First I tried Sobe lean and totally did not the taste, yuck... tasted like mouth wash. Second I tried Peach Green tea, bad choice. Finally diet caffeine free soda. This is where my indecisiveness started. After dinner I so needed chocolate and my poor husband just went along with my craving for chocolate. Off to the store we went before purchasing movie tickets. At first I wanted M&M's then maybe a Snickers. Round two of putting up with not making a decision. So I asked for peanut M&M's in the fun size pack so that I could have more later on this week. I was stunned that in the entire store there was not one bag of fun size peanut M&M's. GRRRRRRRRRR after ten minutes of searching with an employee of the store I made my decision on the plain chocolate fun size M&M's. Off we went to get tickets and only ten minutes before the movie started. We were happily told that the movie we were going to see was open captioned. My hubby chimes in with "are the subtitles in Spanish?" Haha NO they are in English duh! I think he was trying to be funny. We nestled into our seats and excited to see the movie that I have been wanting to see. My poor honey it was his birthday and we went to see a chick flick. We have never seen an open caption movie. It should be an experience! Little did we both know that every little movement in the movie would be stated. At least there were no spelling errors. The movie began and so did the very loud chewing. It just got louder and louder, then the slurping and louder slurping. To top it off shaking of the cup that was filled with ice. I just wanted to say "PLEASE stop so that I can focus on the movie." But we were not that lucky it continued. About an hour into the movie I heard snoring along with loud deep breathing. I did not think it was a boring movie.... but somebody took a little nap. With twenty minutes left in the movie someone decides to just walk in and watch the ending of the movie. I have never walked into a movie at the ending, I am sure that person did not have a ticket for the movie. Have you ever wished you could re-do the evening????

Happy Birthday to my Honey!

2008-10-08T15:50:00.000-07:00

I was so excited to tell my sweetie Happy Birthday this morning. Today he celebrates the big 32! It seemed just like last week I was singing "Happy Birthday" and placing the number 27 on the ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins. Time flies by when you are having fun. Yesterday we kick started the fun at Islands and today we are off to dinner and a movie.

Us at home before the fun at Islands!

He was excited to get a Kona Pie!!!

Random things I have learned or ponder about.....

2008-10-03T18:07:00.001-07:00

*Going to the gym 4 days in a row does not mean you have lost weight.
*Junk food is still not part of a balanced diet.
*I might not understand certain people.
*The process to get tickets for the Olympic games is still stressful. Before I did not even know where to begin, now that I know which website it is I am confused!
*Do not believe estimated delivery times.
*Why do bad drivers still bother me. They are out there so get over it, right?
*Life in general will not always be easy.
*My refrigerator's thermostat has a mind of it's own along with the air conditioning.
*Freezer burn on food that is double bagged is not good. Finding spinach, orange juice, and container of crushed garlic in the frig that is frozen is not good either. My facial expression to all of this: Priceless!
*I walk into the hospital and I feel like trillions of germs have attached onto my body. Spraying perfume before I walk in does not make it better, neither does hand sanitizer.
*Do not stress over the small stuff.
*The good thing about some bad dreams will be that you might not remember them when you wake up.
*The scale at the gym is not accurate. I am positive that they purposefully make you weigh more so that you make a mental note that you need to go more than once a day.
*Strange people still scare me.
*I still go crazy when I cannot understand something and it continues to drive me crazy for days on end!
*I think I might write a book about general information.
*There are days actually years that I wished I did not crave food. I seriously think that I like food way too much therefore I look the way I do. Yes, I need to lose weight. Why can't I just crave water only, no soda (Pibb xtra).
*Lack of caffeine will cause me to have a headache, so I have to just come to terms that I will have headaches.
*Whoever types the subtitles when watching live television needs spell check.
*Putting someone on speaker phone to hear them better really does not work.
*Going over on cell phone minutes is very BAD! International calling will shock you when you get the bill.
*Booking vacations are not stressful then you are overjoyed to be packing your bags.

Random stuff helps me to be sane about 90% of the day.

You know something is not right when....

2008-10-01T21:43:00.000-07:00

1. You spray ant spray instead of air freshner.
2. You put soap in your hair instead of gel.
3. Just about everytime someone tells you something you ask "WHAT?????"
4. You manage to pack two black shoes that are uniquely different...two righties!
5. You ask about a few hundred questions like: what are you eating now, who is driving, what are you doing next, what?, who?, why?, and huh?

It has been a long time

2008-09-26T16:11:00.000-07:00

A summary:
*The last time that I have posted a blog has been a month now.
*Crazy things have happened and I do not have a camera to post new photos.
*While on our tropical vacation we had our wallet, camera, Gucci sunglasses, coach purse, and money stolen! Therefore I have no pictures. The trip was a blast so many stories to tell.
*We celebrated our one year anniversary. It was quiet yet fun. We ate cake and no it was not cake that was a year old. I had the fabulous bakery remake the top layer of our wedding cake and of course it was fantastic. You cannot go wrong with Strawberry Victorian cake!
*We have been hanging out for the past few weeks enjoying Matt having a break from nursing school. He is back now and I miss him terribly.
*Had tons of fun at Wild Rivers last weekend. Water parks are exciting especially since it was not crowded with teenagers.
*Went to the LA County Fair. I have never been to the fair out here and now I know why my parents never took me. First, there is way too many people; Second, parking is $10 and you have to walk a mile to get to the entrance of the fair; Third, junk food galore and it is expensive; Fourth and final bathroom situation!
*The last 30 days have been surprising and we have enjoyed the last of summer. Looking forward to the fall season.

Gustav Part Dos

2008-08-29T19:09:00.000-07:00

As we are getting ready to finish up and head out to the airport we are seeing that Gustav is now a hurricane. We are excited that it is not going to be a direct hit to Cancun nor a close one. The energy levels are high, the anticipation is overwhelming. This is going to be a great trip. We are looking forward to posting new pictures and messages as the week progresses. Lots of love to our family and friends. We might not want to leave tropical paradise!

Gustav Part Uno

2008-08-27T15:50:00.000-07:00

I can say that Gustav was downgraded to a tropical storm. I keep praying that it stays that way and does not build up into the category 3 hurricane that was predicted. God is bigger than this tropical storm and I am confident that He will not let our vacation fall apart. With my map skills and Internet skills I found out that the point that the tropical storm (or maybe hurricane) Gustav will hit Cuba is roughly 232.9 miles away from Cancun. We will experience T-Storms and rain. I just hope it isn't 20 inches of rain. A will post again tomorrow. We will see what the airline says on Friday whether we fly out or not. If not then we are going somewhere else....not sure where but it will paradise. Next time we are going to the French Polynesian Islands.

Not very happy

2008-08-26T10:48:00.000-07:00

Hurricanes are probably the worst form of natural destruction there could ever be. After meticulously planning a fabulous trip we are now bracing ourselves for a possible hurricane to hit near Cancun. Out of all of the weeks this had to happen exactly when we would be arriving. I am so upset and cannot find the words or thoughts to try and calm myself down. The list of bad things happening in the last month and a half keeps adding up and I wonder what did I do? I still have yet to hear good news or even something that would make me a little happy in terms of our glorious vacation. The airline will not cancel the flights unless it is extremely dreadful. The hotel is going to charge us one night if we cancel……they make it seem like I choose to cancel but my gosh there is going to be a hurricane. Before I went to sleep last night I had a hunch that the tropical storm would form into a hurricane. I checked the national hurricane center this morning and sure enough I was right. The storm picked up with the warmer water. I knew it! I should have told the airline and hotel if a hurricane happens to occur during the time of our stay (which I thought there might be) then I get some sort of prize for having an amazing talent….predicting weather. So, we are stuck in a weird situation. We are not sure when we could re-schedule the trip. We are pretty much tied down in terms of time availability. The question I keep asking myself “What are we going to do?” I am hoping by Thursday or even Friday at the latest I will have some good news. We so need this vacation……our second honeymoon totally in jeopardy due to hurricane Gustav………..

Boredom at it's finest

2008-08-25T08:46:00.000-07:00

The last few weeks have been a bit boring therefore I have not posted a new blog. My husband just informed me that I have that "blog face." Well what does it look like??? A face that is "focused" so he says. My blog writings have not been that interesting or maybe it is because I am thinking hard on what to write in order for it to be witty.

It seems like everyday I add more stuff to my to do list. My mind goes in a million different directions and then I have that "lost" look that my hubby keeps telling me that I have. The lost looked has been around for a few weeks and I have begun to wear it more often. (Blog face and lost face are not the same).

My family has been gone for a few days now and I miss them terribly. I have not heard from them and wondering how Puerto is working out for them. I hope they are not drenched!

My latest craze is to look at the National Hurricane Center website to check out the latest tropical storms just in case I have to make some necessary changes to our travels (worried face). Come to find out this morning that there is a high potential for a tropical cyclone. We leave in 4 days and we are so excited. Since we are leaving the to do list has grown tremendously. It is all the little things that you cannot forget like take out the trash right before you leave otherwise your entire place will smell like road kill for an entire week and then little bugs will be flying around. Bad smells and bugs are not a good combination for me. On top of all the necessary washing and packing I also need to remember to throw out some of the food in the frig so that it will not smell when we arrive. (Please make note that Baking Soda in the frig does not eliminate all smells especially food that has turned green and has grown little white hairs).

Being bored has taken a toll on me and I have filled my day with things to do and reading some books that I have picked out from the library. We are so looking forward to being in paradise minus the tropical storms. I pray that the tropical cyclone passes before we arrive in beautiful Cancun, Mexico.

Kids are too funny!

2008-08-15T18:33:00.000-07:00

Since we do not have any children and therefore cannot post some of their funny stories I had to resort to posting a blog about funny things that other children have told me recently. Almost everyone in my family knows that I enjoy wearing flip flops. I have nearly 10 pairs of just flip flops in many colors but mainly black. My dear friend has a three and a half year old daughter. She caught onto my crazy sandals, I have yet to wear the same sandal when I see her. So last week she saw me and said "is that the only kind of shoes you have!" I almost wanted to die laughing but I kept a straight face and told her "No, I have many other shoes but I like wearing flip flops." I think I should start wearing boots, high heels, or something besides sandals or flip flops. I wonder what she was thinking........ Later that day while she was eating her cereal in the afternoon as her meal I asked if she wanted me to make her a lunch. I offered a quesadilla and she said "is that all you can make!" Once again I wanted laugh real hard but managed to tell her that a quesadilla was really easy to make and it is very delicious. She is so adorable!

I am sure I will encounter some other child in the next few weeks that will make me laugh and wish that I had a cute child. Someday................

2008 Olympics

2008-08-08T22:03:00.000-07:00

Today is the opening ceremony. Since I do NOT have TiVo nor DVR, I missed the really neat opening. I am bummed! Hope to see the U.S. win some medals and learn about some new sport like Flatwater. Watching the Olympics for the next three weeks will be exciting. Best of luck to all of the Countries and the many sports that are out there, it will be fun to sit, relax, and enjoy seeing all of it. Wish we were in Beijing!

Vacation!

2008-08-05T11:30:00.000-07:00

These are two photos from our tropical paradise. We leave in 25 days...so let us just say 3 weeks. This will be a very well deserved second honeymoon for us, after all of the stress that we have endured for the past 3 weeks. Matt is finishing up his summer quarter and we will be off to powder white sand, turquoise blue water, sunshine, relaxation, and absolute bliss! We are so excited that I just want to pack up my suitcase and leave today. I can picture ourselves there....I will be laying in the sun to get a tan with my floppy black hat, sunglasses, a good book in hand, and watching Matt enjoy the ocean water or he might just be surfing or riding some motorized water vehicle. I am looking forward to posting some photos of the trip and reminiscing about all of it. I think a week long vacation is too short, next time we will plan for two weeks in the Cook Islands!

Stress and even more stress

2008-07-30T17:08:00.000-07:00

It has been a very long time since I have posted a new blog. I really have neglected posting new blogs or pictures. The past two weeks have been a disaster but we are making it through. Currenlty I have no job, no insurance, going through medical issues, and losing hope. I am beyond stressed out and would gladly appreciate a very long vacation for lets say 3 months. Matt has been a huge blessing since he is enduring the majority of my insanity. I have spent countless nights crying, praying, and saying "WHY ME?" There is something out there for me but I just have to be patient. I know that the perfect opportunity will come my way and I will not have to worry. I really wish: I did not worry, I did not cry even over little things, lived a stress free life, looking forward to the beginning of a better month. I pray that the month of August is brighter, happier, less stress, and overall happy. God only gives us what we can handle so I am confident that I can endure this chapter in my life.

Yesterday I started to begin a letter or maybe just a journal entry: July 29, 2008

The last two weeks have been the hardest and yet it is hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I do not know what to do or where to even begin. I have cried for days and to the point that my eyes are so swollen. I am so emotionally, physically, and mentally drained.

I have to remeber to say that my God is bigger than all of my problems. I have given him all of my stress, frustrations, anger, dissapointments, anxiety, tiredness, and illness over to him. He is my heavenly Father and only He knows what is best for me. Being able to write out how I feel has helped me tremendously. I look forward to what the future has in store for me and my wonderful husband. I love him so much that words cannot completely express how I feel!

Interesting Day

2008-07-12T19:03:00.000-07:00

I was hoping for a very uneventful Saturday.... I guess I should start at the beginning and then the day got worse! After finally seeing that the bathtub needed a major cleaning I began my cleaning process. I happily finished and was ready to just get out and it was only 10am. So I called the family to see what they were up to. They were going to breakfast (will not mention where we went). My dad gets in some sort of mindset that if he wants a particular kind of breakfast then he HAS to get it. He really never needs to look at the menu because he is so predictable. So off we went to breakfast. The wait was 30 to 35 minutes. Well ok we have to stay because Dad has to have this particular kind of breakfast and we were NOT going to leave. We stayed and withing 10 minutes we were called or so I thought. The hostess said "you are sitting in the patio" (I guess I gave her a disgusted look because it was extremly sunny, warm, and see all of the vehicles drive through the very busy intersection and we did not request patio)! I pipped in and said "patio?" And she quickly smirked with attitude "WELL I am getting you seated before many other people!" As if she was doing us a favor. The wonderful people that we are we sat down outside in the patio in the heat! We ordered drinks and the waitress failed to have everything to us. I can sometimes lose my temper very easily and I know that I need to work on it but hey if she cannot serve then please do not have many tables to wait on. The waitress was not that great and it got ugly very fast. The food came out and by this time we are very hot and complaining why in the world we had to sit outside. Not even 30 seconds pass and a giant june bug comes flying and lands on my mom's food. She screamed of course and I was irritated. My dad goes darting into the restaurant for the nearest table to eat his food. The waitress takes the plate with the giant bug and tells us that my mom would get a new plate...duh I wanted to say. To wrap this up we got into the restaurant to get more horrible service and the entire place was jam packed. We will NEVER eat there again!

I returned to my place to begin dinner and finish more cleaning. I made dessert and as I was trying to close the tupperware container with the scrumptious dessert it slipped out of hand and half of it lands on the clean floor. It splattered all on my clothing so I handwashed my tank top and shorts. GRRRRRRRRR What else?? The cleaning must go on and by this time I was feeling the tension and it was only 4pm. For as much as I despise going to the laundry mat to get the comforter washed since it is so big I had to go. I loaded everything up in the car including my book to read and off I went. All was going well until a strange man appeared. He first greeted everyone there as if he wanted a greeting. I did say anything for fear of starting a conversation with a stranger. I think next time I will carry my swiss army knife and air freshner and this is the reason why. The weird man tosses in dirty old black trash bags that are filled with junk. Not sure if they were stuff from a yard sale. There is nothing wrong with yard sales but it just could have been stuff that he had in his garage. Oh but it gets worse...... just re-thinking about it makes me want to vomit. Two ladies and myself were sitting on the bench waiting for our stuff to dry and we watched the man unload his junk. The stench sent us running out of the laundry mat. Each black bag (total of 5) had children's clothing, pillow cases, blanets, comforter that reeked of poop. All I could think of was "HE IS NOT GOING TO PUT THAT NASTY JUNK IN THE WASHER!!! Sure enough he did and all of it was brown like he dragged all rubbish through poop and let it ferment for a few weeks. All of it was so nasty that the water in the washer was brown. I was about to vomit (I am extremly sensitive to smells especially foul odors). I could not stand to see the man, go near the washer machines, or even enter the laundry mat to retrieve my comforter that was still in the dryer. Needless to say I did not let my comforter dry thoroughly because it was best for me to just get in my car and rush home. I left disgusted and I think I will always have my comforter dry cleaned regardless of the cost. Gee I hope I never have to return to the laundry mat! People can be so peculiar!

Life...

2008-07-09T20:45:00.000-07:00

Another warm day in good ol' Riverside. What more can we ask for!? On warm days like these I just want to drive down to the beach and enjoy the cooler weather and get a tan. Someday I would like to have a home down on the beach. I wish I was in the Caribbean enjoying the boat life again. While I was down there I missed everyone back home (Riverside) and when I am here I wish I was down there.

This is us in St. Maarten..........totally miss this place. Did not like having to pay for stuff in euros. There were some little shops that had signs "dollar same as euro." I was on the look out for these shops since the US dollar is weaker than the euro. We paid over $40 for lunch at a little lolo (hole in the wall restaurant ran by some locals). I found a cute little shop that was owned by a very friendly family. Not only did they own the souvenir shop but also owned a jewelry shop and a liquor shop. The dollar for euro and it was fantastic! Did I mention that I like to shop?? Well I got some shopping on the few days we were in St. Maarten! One of the coolest things while we were there was living among the other "boat people," and seeing the huge rain clouds coming towards us. My father in law would say "the rain is coming...........close all the hatches!" We would all run for cover around the boat. I would stand out in the rain and enjoy it. Life in the Caribbean simply the best and wish we lived on a boat for few years. Life somewhere tropical is the place for us!!!

Sisters oh joy!

2008-07-08T13:26:00.000-07:00

I can say I am blessed to have two amazing sisters. Even though I am not living with them I still manage to annoy them or give them a lovingly hard time. Both have been such great sisters and I thank God for that. We took this picture recently as part of a photo collage for my dad on Father's Day.

Some Cute Sister Quotes!

Having a sister is like having a best friend you can't get rid of. You know whatever you do, they'll still be there. ~Amy Li

How do people make it through life without a sister? ~Sara Corpening

A sister is a gift to the heart, a friend to the spirit, a golden thread to the meaning of life. ~Isadora James

Happy 10 months

2008-07-07T10:39:00.000-07:00

The annoying alarm clock blares it's obnoxious tune to let us know that it is 6:30am on Monday! Who wants to get out of bed on a Monday morning? Us and millions of other people would rather just sleep in. It is going to be another extremly warm day in Riverside. Today is July 7th 2008 and we can offically say we made it to the 10th month in our fabulous marriage. Besides the usually maddness in our apartment, stubborness, pouting (mainly by me), "whatever," and frequent "I told you so" we are almost to the one year mark. For many that have wittnessed us in day to day conversations you can truly say "they sound like an old married couple." We have been together for over 5 years and we know each other way too well. We know what makes each other laugh, cringe, frustrated, or to the breaking point but with love of course. In exactly one month and 21 days we will be basking in the sun in beautiful Cancun. The tropical paradise that I have been dying for will be here very fast but not fast enough. Happy soon to be one year Anniversary!

Welcome One Welcome All

2008-07-07T09:52:00.000-07:00

I am new to the blogging world but thought I would give it a try. It can't be hard... all you have to do is type something up and post it. It really does not take a scientist to figure this out. After seeing so many people's blogs I thought this would be something for me since I love to write. I can get a bit out of hand and go off on some sort of tangent. This shall be exciting it shall be thrilling and it shall be witty. Someday I think I will be a writer, I will be known as Andie the famous novel writer. I have not taken more than 3 courses in writing so I assume I would have to go back to school and get a degree.......Journalism, Writing, 18th Century Novels??? Not sure but there are other things in life I would rather be. So becoming a writer will have to wait!