Happy Friday!!

Despite an occurrence this morning, I'm not going to let anyone spoil my mood. I'm ready for the weekend to begin! Other than the lame task of having my oil changed tomorrow morning, I have a pretty eventful weekend. Finishing up looking out houses, shoe shopping, clothes shopping, movies, and OF COURSE, going out to one of the biggest bars in the area. It has been on travel channels several times and a group of us figure since we are living so close, there is no excuse to not check it out! I'll share where and pics AFTER the weekend, never can be too safe with stalkers :)

Anyways, as many of you can tell from my music selection I tend to lean more to the alternative rock with some occasional pop thrown in. Today, I have an oldie to share, that I can't get out of my head and it makes me want to dance. Enjoy!

Thirsty Thursday!

Alright, so, I'm not sure how many places do this, but I know where I come from [big ups to my New Orleans people] we have someone called a Thirsty Thursday (well everyday is a "thirsty" day in New Orleans). Anyways, I'm going to try to still with a schedule and recommend a good alcoholic beverage to my followers each Thursday. Now sometimes it will be a plain mixed drink, wine, blended, or crazy fru fru drink! Who knows what I will come up with! So here I go!!

This Thursday I will recommend something that involves the love of my life, Mr. Jack Daniels. Not your typical 'Jack-n-coke' but instead, try mixing with diet rootbeer! (I would recommend A&W as I'm not sure if the other brands have the same flavor). I know it sounds really random and some of you probably think it sounds gross, but just trust me and try it out :)


Happy Drinking!!

Hunk/Hottie Hump Day!!

Happy Hump Day everyone!!! As promised, I have selected a Hunk and a hottie for this week's hump day!!

I will start off with the hunk, naturally because that's what I AM the most excited about. Now, before you get your panties in a bunch, I AM doing a repeat on a previous hunk, so sue me! Well, don't really sue me, but bear with me. This hunk randomly wanders into my mind, despite the fact that he is a few years my junior (hey people, only a few years!! don't judge me!). And while most people jumped on the bandwagon with the vampires, I'd take a wolf any day! My pick for hunk of the week: Taylor Lautner. I decided to put pictures of him fully closed up as to not get comments on being a perv AND because I think he looks just as hott clothed (not that I'm saying I wouldn't mind taking a gander at him naked), but I digress. So here you go, he's hott, tall, dark and handsome:

grrrooowwwlll!!

Now, onto my hottie pick of the week! I always tend to find women with darker hair more beautiful/attractive. This particular actress has been in quite a few things, more recently Forgetting Sarah Marshall and many many other movies/tv shows. Anyways, my hottie pick of the week is Mila Kunis!

Tuesday Morning Thoughts

I was in bed by midnight last night and up around 5:00 a.m. My weekdays take a toll on me and I never let myself relax on the weekends, my only days off. During the week, I'm up early, drive for an hour to work, where I am the office admin, which means I'm a jill-of-all trade. I'm in charge of keeping our workers happy. We usually fluctuate from managing 40 people all the way to about 200 (since I've been here), depending on what projects we have going on. I'm in charge of getting those people paid, sick/vacation leave, maternity leave, coordinating project starts and ends as well as taking care of everything on the front in (PC breakdown and set up, troubleshooting, etc.). My days are pretty hectic and it seems like they go by quick for the most part. At the end of the day, I get my car from valet and drive for an hour to get home.

I'm exhausted by the time I get home, but I don't sit down. I figure out what needs to be done for dinner, start those preparations, and as dinner is cooking I begin to pick up/clean. I feed the dog, give him attention, stop to finish dinner. Serve dinner while watching tv. Most of the time I'm lucky and something non-news related is on and I can have a laugh while I eat my dinner. After dinner, I clean the dishes, pack up the left overs (if it is something I like I divide the leftovers between hubby and me and if not, hubby gets a heaping serving to bring to work the next day). By then my food has settled and I hit the gym for about an hour or two. I come home drained, shower and go to sleep. That is my routine mainly Monday through Thursday. Most of the time Friday and Saturday it fluctuates (no work on Saturday of course) and Sunday is my day to "relax" which is usually spent doing laundry and heavy duty cleaning.

Anyways, as I sat and thought about my hectic schedule I realized, when will we EVER have time for children. It seems near impossible to me at this point. Who knows, maybe one day I will calm down enough, become less of a control/organization/germaphobe freak, be able to let things go and concentrate on completing our family. Until then, I'll continue one with my craziness, wall and ceiling vacuuming and all!

Monday Funny!

Whenever I'm in a funky mood, I like to think of something funny I remember seeing recently then watch it on youtube. From now on, when I do so, I'll make it a point to post it on here for my followers to watch when they get in the funk too :) Enjoy!

All My Single Ladies...

Let me just out by saying, wow, I never realized how much of a guy repellent a wedding ring is. That being said, here is my story.

As my avid followers know, I have been dropping weight over month or so. So much so that my clothes are beginning to fit super loose and, of course, my rings fall off. Normally it wouldn't be a problem if we were going to a friend's house, out to a restaurant, etc., but this night I was going out with a girlfriend to some clubs. Better safe than sorry, I removed my ring. There was NO way in hell I was going to lose it in such a public place, I would pretty much be kissing it goodbye. Hubby is fine with this. He is secure enough now that he knows I don't want to be nor could I be with another.

I've been out with this girlfriend before. She gets hit on randomly at least three or four times every time we go out. She is married as well but doesn't wear a wedding ring. ((so many of my friends are like this but I never dare to ask why they don't wear their rings)) I usually play defense for her, since I'm hardly ever hit on.

We walked in the club, I thought it would be no different than any other night. Within the first five minutes of us being there I was approached by a man, a pretty good looking one at that, and asked to dance. I had to decline, I'm married of course, and I know I wouldn't want hubby dancing with another female, even if it were just for fun. (maybe if I were there and knew her?). Either way, it boosted my confidence a bit. Was it the ring? or maybe the weight loss? Who knows. We continued the night with drinks and dancing. We were having a blast. Friend and I were dancing in the club with "cages" and there are cages everywhere you turned. We took a spot next to a cage and danced. The next fellow that approached me had the lamest pick up line ever. He asked if I "like dancing on metal or I would like to dance on something harder." The line still makes me giggle. I just had to laugh and walk away.

The nicest of the night I would have to say was a nice, young guy, who told me I was "stunningly beautiful." It almost made me tear up a little and I talked to him for a bit. Told him all about hubby and he told me all about his dating disasters. It was pleasantly surpringly how nice it was to talk to such a complete stranger.

Anyways, the whole point of this story is, is a wedding ring that much of a repellent? Is this why none of my girlfriends wear their wedding rings? Does the same go for the men? I couldn't rush to get home fast enough to put my ring on my finger. Maybe next time I'll go with some heavy duty duct tape holding it in its rightful place on my finger?

Update Time

So, I guess it is update time. I have been trying to make a conscious effort to get on here and blog this week, so far so good. Anyways, things have been going pretty good on my end. I've only been in this area for about half a year and I already feel like I can call it home. I do miss my family and friends back home and every now and then, when I just want a frozen delight (daiquiri), I miss New Orleans. But then I think about all the great things that I have going here and I can deal.

This weekend was to be spent with girl-time shopping then going out, which we haven't done really since the Marine Corps ball. Then hubby was given news today that he will be flying out to aide those in Haiti. While I am grateful that he is staying in the U.S. for these efforts (sending planes back and forth with people/supplies/medics/etc), I wish I didn't have to be without him. O well, I've done longer stints, so I can just put on my big girl panties and get over it!

Moving on, I am currently planning a trip in March to Vegas, which I am absolutely ecstatic about! A weekend trip to go snow boarding has been postponed since we discovered the nearest slope is about 9 1/2 hours away (just a bit too far for a weekend trip). Also, a cruise is in the works for the end of the year. I am ABSOLUTELY 100% excited about all of this! I have been working since I was young and have never gone on a real vacation as an adult (I don't include the two cruises I went on with my 'rents only because, hey let's been honest, I couldn't exactly enjoy myself fully).

That is the extent of the newer news I guess. I feel like my life is finally falling into place like I've always prayed for. A year ago today if you would have asked me where I would be I probably would have said "going through a nasty divorce, broke, an alcoholic with no friends or family." Now don't get my wrong, the only marital problems hubby and I had was distance. He is not the best communicator anyways, so add the distance and it was a nightmare. I felt at one point that he had given up, so why shouldn't I? I am grateful that for whatever reason, we both snapped back to reality at the same time and saved something that was worth saving.

Okay, enough of the gushy, mushy talk. It's Friday!!! I'm going to do a separate post with stuff to make you happy and giggle :) Have a great weekend you guys! I'll make sure to take pictures of the weekend fun and post the non-incriminating ones! hehe

Little Miss Sunshine

I have random thoughts at work about situations, or events, outings, movies, music, etc., and I feel the need to share them with you guys in the blogging world. Welcome to my randomness!!

I was just thinking about the dance scene from "Little Miss Sunshine" and couldn't stop laughing just thinking about it. For those of you who haven't seen the movie, you should. It was pretty good/funny. Anyways, here is the clip of the part I was just thinking about. Enjoy!

Even the Big Ones Fall

It is on nights like last night that I realize that hubby is actually human, and not a big, strong, immortal man. He is always the one to keep calm in a situation and take control, always strong, always dependable.

We went to the gym after I got home from work, per our norm, and we both hit the weights on the bottom level. I tend to finish up about 5-7 minutes before him so I head upstairs to start on the elliptical. Hubby is usually up shortly after me, so you can imagine my surprise when I noticed I was on the elliptical for 12 minutes, with hubby no where to be found. Just as that thought crossed my mind, I felt a heavy tap on my back. I turned only to see hubby looking extremely sick and asking if we can leave. Within a split second I had gathered my belongings and jumped off the machine. This was so abnormal, we was a work out-aholic (shh my blog I can invent words if I want hehe). Just as we were nearing the stairs I realized, something is so not right, just then he started swaying on his feet and I knew I needed to keep him away from the stairs. Not an easy feat when he has a couple inches in height on me and about three times the muscle.

Just then a passer-by saw the look on my face and knew something wasn't right. He saw me struggling to keep hubby on his feet so he helped grab him and talked him through a breathing technique that talked him out of passing out. He helped him over to the chair and disappeared.

At this point I realize, he isn't unbreakable. He is as real as me and any other person. Though he is strong most of the time, every now and then, he falls.

Don't worry, he is perfectly fine. He worked through lunch at work and didn't realize it until it was too late. Silly. Thank God he is okay. It is moments like those that remind me that I don't know what I would do if anything ever happened to him.

Happy Hump Day!!

Happy Hump Day Everybody! I'm trying to get back into the habit of posting my hottie pick of the week up on hump day to give you all a little something to think about. I know that I have a few men followers so I promise to change it up a bit and add in some female hotties too :)

Today's Hump Day choice is....drum roll please.....

MR. SAM WORTHINGTON! Sir, you are one major hunk!! I could stare into those beautiful eyes all day! But I digress, many of you recognize him as the main character, Jack Sully, in Avatar (amazing in 3D by the by!). I think maybe my attraction to him may partially be the fact that he played a Marine, but mainly because he is just a hottie. Anyways, ladies enjoy! Men, I'll have a male AND female hottie next hump day ;)

Whataya Want From Me...

This sums up my mood today. It's a good song but sometimes I just want to ask everyone "whataya want from me?!"

People Watching

I have always had a bad habit of people watching. I know I'm not the only one, but still I know it isn't the best hobby to have. Somehow though, I think this habit has helped me learn to watch people's movements and reactions. I can usually pick up on bad things about to happen, whether it be a fight or someone about to steal something. I can also sense when people are lying, hiding something, etc. I contribute my people reading skills mainly to my hobby of people watching, well that mixed with women's intuition.

Anyways, a relaxing day with the hubby lead us to the mall, to peruse the stores and wait for our movie to start. We made a pit stop in the food court for hubby (he has the bladder of a hummingbird!) so I took a seat at a table on the edge of the food court to optimize my view of the coming and going people.

Nothing unusual or exciting. I begin to get bored, when I see a couple come in the door. Not your typical couple. An elderly couple, each in motorized wheelchairs. The man following behind the woman, both looking unhappy, albeit grumpy. I know I should not stare, in any case, but especially in this situation, they have been around this earth a long time and the last thing they should have to deal with is a gawker. But I can't bring myself to look away. They remind me of my grandparents. My grandmother almost always unhappy (though I do love her to bits and pieces) and my Papa always joking and whistling, but always unhappy looking when around my grandmother. I watch as the woman stops short to look at the mall map and just as soon as she stops, the old man runs into the back of her chair. She barely budged, but felt the need to turn around and give the old man a dirty look. He looks away, almost like a little child in trouble, and the elderly woman shook her head and scowled. At that moment I wanted to walk over and hug the old man. He looked very similar to my papa.

She finishes viewing the map and whips her chair around to "talk" to her spouse. They both look very angry and you can tell she was saying something nasty to him. At this point the hands go up and you can see that they are very clearly arguing. The woman whips her chair around and takes off into the mall. The man left there for a minute, only to begin following after her.

I know this probably sounds boring and uninteresting to some of you, but this is a picture I cannot get out of my head. I watched in sadness and couldn't stop the tears from falling. I would be willing to bet my grandparents had many moments like this, but were they necessary? If she could go back in time, would she be nicer? I would like to say yes, but I'm not sure.

Either way, it took all the power I had in me not to walk over and hug the stranger, and just pretend it was my papa. I miss him so much. I think it was a sign from him to be thankful for every moment I have with my loved ones.

Hubby came back to the table only to find me in tears. After giving me a glance over and seeing that I hadn't been mugged, he sat quietly and asked what was wrong. He probably thinks I'm a loon at this point that needs to be committed. And all I needed to say was I saw someone that reminded me of my papa, and he understood. He hugged me tighter than ever before, almost as if he knew what I was thinking.

I hope everyone reading this takes a minute after and thanks God (or whoever you may believe in) for the giving you the people you have in your life. Don't take anything for granted. Never leave your loved ones with harsh words, you never know when you will see them again.

Culture Shock...

So as you may know, I LOOVE trying new things and challenging myself to experience the world. So, when a coworker/friend of mine suggested a Korean Spa not too far from where I live, I figured "sure why not." $18 would get you in and unlimited access to all of the rooms (salt room, hot room, cold room, you name it). You can also pay additional small fees for things such as acupuncture, massages, body scrubs, etc. This sounded right up my alley! I told my best friend that lives down the street from me about it and within no time she was on board as well. She is much like me and works all of the time and when she isn't working she is cleaning/taking care of others needs first.

The day comes and I'm SO excited!! We both put on our comfy yoga/gym clothes and head over to the spa! It is huge (see outside picture above-doesn't do it justice). 36,000 square feet of spa for us to sink our teeth (or should I say, bodies, into). We are quickly helped out at the front desk when we tell them it is our first time. We are given a pamphlet and instructions and sent to grab our clothes. There are spa uniforms neatly rolled by the entrance, we grab our size and begin to enter. We are quickly halted by the front desk, "Remove your shoes from here on please!" Okay, simple enough. We make our way to the locker room, still giddy with excitement. We discuss which rooms we should hit first, and as we round the corner to the ladies locker room, our eyes are met with the vision of a bare naked lady. O my goodness, how embarrassing, did her friends move her clothes while she was showering? We both look away as to not embarrass her. We put our shoes in the shoe locker and make our way to the clothes locker so we can change. We find our numbers down a long aisle and as we are quickly making our way to our locker, we are met with more and more naked women.

"What in the world is going on!" We look puzzled for a few minutes, change into our gym clothes, then move to our comfort zone, the bathroom! After we brace ourselves to come out again, we stood in shock/confusion. We weren't sure what we were supposed to do. Just then, a soaking naked lady comes and asks us if it is our first time. Our eyes met the ceiling as we nodded our heads. She begins telling us about all of the nakedness, so-on and so forth, but I can't understand a word she is saying. We quickly thank her and run off to the salt room. We sit there fully clothed and talk about what had just happened. Everyone else in the spa seemed to be fully clothed as well.

We later found out that there was a huge room connected to the locker room for women to soak in hot tubs, shower, bath and get massages and body scrubs. We weren't as freaked out then. We began looking at the extra packages that were offered and quickly decided that we could both use a body scrub/massage and couldn't pass up the deal, $85 for an hour and a half, that is a steal! We quickly make our way back, tell the lady booking the appointments that we are shy and we are assured that we can wrap ourselves with towels when we go in. Sounds perfect to us! We derobe and grab towels which barely cover us. I'm mortified as my friend has the perfect skinny little figure. We make our way in and we are quickly told that we must soak in the hot tub for 20 minutes before we get our massages. Simple enough. We are able to keep our towels covering our goodies while other fully nude women watch us. We are okay, passing the time with conversation, then we are finally rescued by our massage people.

We are laid on a table next to each other, this will be great! I'm covered by towels, not uncomfortable at all. Next thing you know the lady rips the towel off, and there I am fully naked for the world to see. I scream to my friend not to look over and she screams horrified, they just did the same to her. After the initial shock I thought to myself "you need to relax, you are paying for this, you are already naked, get over it" Just then the lady begins the body scrub, going into places we won't even discuss. The scrub is over, time for the massage! I'm covered in hot towels and left for a minute. Next thing I know, I have a lady standing on the table, walking on my legs. I try to get my friends attention, but then I notice, she is having the same experience.

All in all, I would have to say it was a good experience. The massage was relaxing, although humiliating and first and I can now say that I walked around naked at a spa with about 100 other woman. Not many people can say that! haha

Slim

(photo from Photobucket)

So as many of you know I have been trying to lose weight. I had recently been on a roller coaster, losing ten pounds then gaining it right back. A little over a week ago I decided, enough is enough. I have to get all this extra weight off and for good. Maybe I won't be a buck ten but at least I will be a healthy weight AND be in great shape. That is all I really want.

So I hit the gym everyday. I did weights to slim and shape my arms, legs, back and tummy. I did at least 40 minutes of cardio a day. I sized down my portions and was actually able to make the switch over to diet sodas and cut even the diet sodas down to the bare minimum. Added fresh fruits and veggies into every meal (some meals being just fresh fruits and veggies) And BOY, can I see results. I am two pounds away from being minus twenty pounds and it feels amazing. I know some of you are probably thinking "20 pounds in a little over a week isn't healthy" BUT I think it is fine since probably most of it was water weight. I'm not doing anything dramatic/unhealthy.

Anyways, I thought I'd share some of my motivation with you guys since I know some of you have the same goals as me.

Also, here are my recent favorites that have made their way to the top of my work out playlist, enjoy!!

1. Rihanna- Hard

2. Lady Gaga- Monster

3. Lady Gaga- Telephone

4. Black Eye Peas- Bebot

5. Do the Ricky Bobby- B Hamp

6. Faster Kill Pussy Cat- Paul Oakenfold (ft. B. Murphy)

7. System of a Down- BYOB

8. Britney Spears- 3

They Can Say Whatever, ima do whatever....

So I have been putting together the Ultimate Work Out Playlist (be patient with me and I'll post it soon enough). One song that I have been favoring lately is Rihanna's "Hard" Take a listen and tell me this doesn't make you want to run faster and try working out harder ;) (p.s. I chose NOT to use the official video, because I didn't think it was that great to be honest, so you get a pretty pic of her and the music without the tacky video taking away from it)

Enjoy!!!

Life After You...

Everyday it becomes more and more obvious that I would not be able to deal with everyday life without my hubby. Although we have had our rocky moments and sometimes I want to punch him, he is the all around best.

Climbing the Rockies

So as many of you know I have been trying to actively check things off of my "bucket list" if you will. Most of the stuff on my list has something to do with being super active and/or sports related. To be honest, I didn't think I'd ever be back in shape enough to live my dreams. Over the past month or so I can feel the fat shedding away, but more importantly I can feel muscles developing, which feels amazing! Yesterday I weighed myself and realized I have lost [not quite yet] about 20 pounds. Wow! That is an amazing feat for me.


Anyways, some friends of ours decided to do something active this weekend to get the men folk out of the house and away from the online gaming. The decision was made by us girls, rock climbing! Now, my friends that know me well are probably thinking "wow, you can't even walk without tripping, what on earth were you thinking!" Well, you would be surprised to hear that I actually did really well. My fear of heights hindered me at first. I watched the guys take turns, one climbing up the wall while the other anchored then vice versa. Then it was me and my female friend's turn. I was eager to let her attempt first. She is a lot smaller and flexible than me. I would watch her moves and see if I would able to do this. After getting halfway up the wall I look up and see her in a split across the wall clinging for dear life. A panic broke out and my heart started racing 'no way' I thought to myself 'you won't get me up there even if my life depended on it.' I brought her down, no problem, then eagerly agreed to be the anchor the rest of our trip. After being encouraged by everyone to go up and by hubby to "beat my fear" I strapped up and started climbing. I made it halfway up the wall on my first attempt before I let the height get to me and was encouraged to go up again and make it all the way to the top. I eventually did, quicker and actually enjoyed doing it. My shaking hands became more stable and by the end, I didn't want to leave. It was such a great experience. I have to recommend this to everyone to try at least once!