New York or Bust...??? Try San Diego

Back in November, Brandon gave me my Christmas/Birthday present. Him and his dad had gotten, me, Bethany, and Michelle a trip to New York along with a Manhattan apartment to stay in, Limo service to and from the airport in New York, and Wicked show tickets. We were stoked! We were to leave Saturday morning, December 19th at 6 am and then fly to Albuquerque on Tuesday December 22 and then Brandon and I would drive back to Texas on Christmas day (Brandon drove to NM with the dogs on Saturday the 19th). The Friday before, I drove Brandon to pick up the rental car that he was taking to NM. I had just driven away when he called me to inform me we had a problem. "What, no SUV's?" I said. "No, worse. Your flight is cancelled," he said. Well that sucks. After a few hours, his dad is able to get our flight switched to later flight to leave Saturday afternoon. Problem solved. He picks up Bethany and Michelle from the airport and we all go out to eat thinking everything is fine. Brandon wakes up the next morning at 5 am to get on the road early and the rest of us sleep in a little since our flight is now in the afternoon. At about 7:30 am, Brandon calls me and tells me there is no way we are getting to NYC that day based on what he had been listening to on the weather channel while he is driving. There goes my vacation! I started frantically trying to figure out things to do to keep Bethany and Michelle entertained for the next few days in Austin while Brandon and Gary try to figure out what the hell we are going to do. At the very least, we need to get a flight to Albuquerque by Tuesday December 22. Bethany had to work on Wednesday and I wanted to still spend the holidays with Brandon (he, by this point, had gotten in trouble by his dad for just leaving us in Austin). At about 8:55 am, Bethany and I are both up and moving around and trying to figure out what to do when she asked me what I thought about going to San Diego so that's what we did....we booked at 10:40 am flight to San Diego less than 2 hours before it took off. Michelle was still in bed so we got her up, called a cab who made it to my house in less than 10 min, and hopped on a plane to San Diego completely packed for New York! The only stress that we had in this whole thing was trying to figure out where we would get to vacation while Gary was stuck trying to find us a place to stay and hoping Orbitz would work with him on this cluster fuck of a situation! Overall though, we still had a fabulous time. We stayed in the middle of downtown San Diego at the Hyatt,

The view from our roomwe ate at a fabulous sushi restaurant called Nabu which is only in San Diego, New York, and Venice (not sure if Venice, Italy or Venice, CA).

We walked around the Gaslamp Quarter, did lots of shopping, had great drinks, went to the San Diego zoo,

watched a christmas boatshow while eating dinner and The Fish Market (the best fish I have ever had, fresh from that day's catch!) did more shopping, walked around Coronado Island and saw the Hotel del Coronado and did even more shopping! It was great. The last night we were there, we went to the Top of The Hyatt bar and saw breathtaking views of San Diego. Then on Tuesday we flew back to Albuquerque and finished up the rest of the week with Brandon's family in New Mexico and got to see my uncle while I was there as well. I also go to have my very first (at least that I can remember) white xmas! Los Alamos, NM is so pretty in December.

My first snow angel in Gary and Bethany's back yard

I never realized how truly pretty snow can be and how much of it there is in Bandon's hometown! Christmas day was spent driving back to TX (11 hours in a car with both dogs........joyous!)

I believe......

I BELIEVE......

• That everything does NOT happen for a reason. Sometimes things can be crappy and all you can do is move on.
• Everyone can benefit from yoga
• Pets bring pure joy to lives
• Sometimes I should just keep my mouth shut
• In 98% of cases, being fat is a choice and most people are just too lazy to change their life
• Life is short
• Love is blind
• Good people can make very bad decisions
• Bad people can very good decisions
• That a book cannot be judged by its cover
• Most books are judged by its cover
• Work is over-rated
• Family should come first
• Work should come last
• God provides guidance but it's up to you to make your path
• Trust should be earned
• Aerosmith is the best band on earth
• Guns is the coolest beagle on earth
• You should not worry about things that you cannot control
• Stress causes pimples
• No one should get married before the age of 25. I don't think people are their true selves before then
• You should have a balance of passion and friendship in a marriage
• Couples who play together, stay together
• In lives outside your relationship
• You shouldn't change your core values and who you are for anyone, however, I do believe that a successful relationship takes compromise on both ends
• Boys should never be invited to girls night

Wedding Date is SET!!

As of yesterday, we are confirmed for a Friday, June 18, 2010 wedding date at 5 pm at Paradisus Punta Cana in the Domincan Republic. You can see the resort at www.paradisus.com. It's amazing. In addition, here is a link to the pictures they sent me so I can see the different packages I have to choose from if I choose one of the wedding packages as opposed to customized. http://picasaweb.google.com/romancebyparadisuspuntacana



Besides getting the date booked, we also booked the entire honeymoon as well. We will be arriving Saturday June 12, 2010 and staying til Sunday June 20, 2010......yes we are basically doing the honeymoon before the wedding but who really cares, right? For anyone who needs to book a trip in the future, use Mitch from Tripguy! His email is mitch@tripguy.com and he can find you GREAT rates and is very responsive and attentive to your needs.

Dress, Venue, and Date all done!

I went wedding dress shopping this weekend not expecting to find the dress just yet. I was really afraid of not finding one that I really liked AGAIN.....given this is the second wedding dress I have purchased. I wanted to find one that I loved even more than my first dress! After going to 4 different places, finding 2 dresses in the first place 3 places I went to that I was considering, I went ahead a made a last minute appointment at a place Amanda suggested me going to. I thought going to 4 different places was a little much for one day but went anyways. We pulled out about 10-12 dresses and the second one I tried on, I absolutely fell in love with. It matched me perfectly and is very flattering. Not the "poofy" kind that most girls wear. That just doesn't match me. I went ahead and continued trying on more but after I tried on two more, I just had no desire to put on anymore. I had found my dress! Without hesitation or the chance to even bring my mom back to look at it, I just bought it.

We have had so much trouble picking a date because our original date was already booked at the venue we chose and after looking at several resorts and talking to some different wedding coordinators, I was unwillingly to pick a different location. Just like a dress, I knew this resort was the one. It's at the Paradisus Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic. And after several emails back and forth, I was able to find several available dates in June that will work for me. As long as I can get my deposit in before anyone else, I will be getting married on Friday June 18, 2010 but I really don't care what day of the week I end up getting married on! So glad to have that knocked out and I can finally relax a little.

We CHANGED the date!

So we got a little over excited and picked a date before picking a venue, thinking that we would be able to find SOMETHING on our date. Little did we know that you can't really do a destination wedding that way unless you are willing to settle on just any place. We found a venue and I was sold at the first picture. They weren't just any pictures that you can find online and everything looks awesome, they sent me actual photos of each wedding package basic set up so I knew what I was buying. Too bad though they didn't have March 12 or 13 available. They had March 6 and 20 but the reasoning for picking the dates we did was around spring break (which affects 1 parent and two siblings) so those other dates just wouldn't work. So we decided to push it back til June or so, assuming something is available for a date there. The good thing about June though being in the summer, is we can do it any day of the week if we choose. No one will miss school and regardless, everyone will have to miss some work so it's a viable option. Plus, it gives everyone more time to save $$, me more time to have the perfect beach body (after all, we will be in the tropics), and overall......June is just a fun month!

We Set The Date!!!

After 1.5 weeks of being engaged and changing our minds 3 times, we have set the date! We are getting married March 13, possibly Sunday the 14th somewhere in the Caribbean or Dominican Republic. Any friends are welcome but there will be nothing formal. No reception, no dinner, etc. We are just going to have a nice, cozy ceremony on the beach and do a reception in Austin when we get back. If you feel like taking a tropical vacation in March in the same place we happened to be getting married, that would be awesome!

Crazy Dogs

What happens when you have a sick dog and don’t want to crate them? You put them in the bathroom only to find it destroyed. We have a gigantic crate for our two dogs that they share. It’s pretty much a mansion to them and they actually both love it. But Colt is sick and made a big mess in there which also leaks out to the kitchen floor. Instead we put them in our master bath today when we went to work. I made sure to put the trash and rugs in the closet and even took the toilet paper off the roll and put it on the counter. I put two rib bones in there for them to chew on, one of their beds, a blanket and a toy. You would think that would be good enough to occupy them for a few hours until we went home for lunch. Nope! This is what we came home to. They knocked everything that was on the counters into the sinks. If that wasn’t bad enough, the left sink was also turned all the way on. The got onto the side counter and knocked down my basket with the deodorant, hair products, perfume, headbands, etc. I’m surprised they didn’t eat the basket too. Crazy dogs! The toilet paper that I put on the counter had been shredded and wet and balled into little balls all over the floor. I have one guess as to which dog is the one who actually got high enough to knock everything around……lol.

Re-size this

UGH! I'm so annoyed! Brandon called the jewelers today to see if my ring was ready at lunch instead of having to wait til he gets off work which is about 4:30 and the time they told me it would be ready. I dropped it off last Wednesday at lunch to have it re-sized and they informed me that all the work is done in-house. I thought Tuesday was a little long to begin with but oh well, I was just going to deal with it. Well when he called, they told him it may not be ready til 5? WTF?? Seriously? I know it's only 30 minutes but they've had my ring now for 6 freakin days! And they do everything in house. It's not like they had to send it off. I was not very happy at all so I called them right back and griped about it. She dug herself a bigger grave when I told her that I know people who have gotten their rings back the next day and she was like, "Ya, well we can do that too." REALLY YOU IDIOT! Then how have you had my ring for 6 days and now you need 30 more minutes? Her excuse was "Well we get tons of rings every day to work on." I told her with service like that, I will question getting my wedding band there. Ugh. Needless to say, my ring will be ready when they originally told me! :) I win.

Office Prank

Today is Brandon’s first day back at work since he got back from Colorado (golf tournament). He didn’t tell anyone at work that he had proposed 2 days before he left for Colorado but they found out through my facebook. Brandon got an email or something last night from one of the guys saying there was some electrical problems in the building and that they would have it fixed by 10 am so not to come to work until then. The email was apparently believable enough that there were a few other people at Brandon’s work that fell for the email as well. Gabor, one of Brandon’s co-workers, just sent me an email with pictures of why Brandon wasn’t really supposed to be at work til 10 and said this is what he gets for withholding information…….. pretty funny if you ask me!

The Proposal.....

It was any other Tuesday…….turn my alarm off in the morning and skip the gym because waking up at 5 am sucks and I was being lazy. Go to work. Got a call from my cousin in the afternoon because she was in Austin. Go to gym. Go home. Cousin comes over for a little over an hour afterwards. Shower. Sit in bed and attempt to study. It was about 9:45 and I hadn’t done a lick of studying that evening and I have the BEC (Business Environments & Concepts) section of the CPA exam on Saturday at 8 am. I’ve already failed this section once (72 and I needed a 75) so I know how much I really need to study. I get distracted easily so I went in the bedroom and sat in bed while Brandon watched TV for a bit but he decided to come sit in the room with me since he wasn’t really doing anything except for playing games on his phone. We decided the dogs would sleep in the room but in their own beds. Brandon brushed his teeth and climbed into bed but since it was still early, we just left the lights on because we weren’t actually ready to go to bed yet. We have been trying to keep the bathroom door shut at all times because the dogs are really bad about taking everything out of trashcan and leaving a trail of trash all over the house. I looked up and saw the door open and nagged him for leaving it open. Since he just got into bed, he asked me if I would go close it. “Fine! Even though I’m the one that needs to study.” I go in there, turn on the lights because Guns is still in there and, of course, I thought he had gotten in the trash because there was something on him. He was just standing there, wagging his little innocent tail, letting me know he could do no wrong and that’s when I saw it……the ring and card tied around his neck. The note was made out like it was from Guns telling me how much daddy loves me and wants me to say yes and marry him and spend the rest of my life with him. It also said, “PS – Colt and I really like him so we think you should say yes!” Too freakin cute! Of course, when I first spotted the ring, I was like, what the hell is going on here……very much a surprise. I mean, I knew it was coming but I didn’t expect this soon. I was thinking in the next 3 months or so. And I would have never expected on a random Tuesday evening which made it all the better. I had no say in my ring and I absolutely love it! I love that he picked it out all by himself and that made it even more of a surprise. He has asked me what I like but for the most part, I like anything. There are only 2 things I don’t like and I told him what those were and he took good note and went from there. Anyhow…he intended on proposing earlier in the evening but couldn’t since my cousin came over (no wonder he kept asking me what I was going to end up doing that evening once I told him she was coming over). He had also tried practicing with Guns when he got home from work so he would run up to me when I sat down or something but once it was tied around his neck, he was not moving. So when Guns had it around his neck in the bathroom, and Brandon came to sit down in bed, he knew Guns wasn’t going anywhere and he knew I would complain about the door being open. It was so cute though too because normally Guns is all slouchy when something is on him and he was just standing there wagging his tail and panting (so it looked like he was smiling). It’s like he knew he was in on the surprise. It was perfect! Of course I said yes after running back in the bedroom and tackling him.

Gym Annoyance

To me, the gym is a place to workout. That's it. I get there, I try my hardest to burn so calories and build some muscle so I can look decent naked. And for overall health. I want to get in and get out. There are few things that annoy me at the gym:

• Cell phones. It's one thing to have them at the gym if you are expecting an important call, got dropped off and need to know when the person is picking you up, etc but what is the purpose of running on the treadmill talking to you buddy about that girl/guy you just met last weekend. Really? Can it wait an hour?
• Girls in sports bras and short shorts. Really......I'm just jealous. I don't want to see how great your body is while I'm busting my butt to look like you. That's all.
• The gym is for working out. Not for socializing. I'm guilty of this one but I try hard not to be. I hate when the gym is already crowded as it is and I'm waiting for a particular machine or several machines only to find that the person on it has been chatting w/ their gym boyfriend/girlfriend for the last 30 minutes.
• If I have my ear phones in, see you and say hi, but don't take my earphones out, please let me be. I will not be rude and not acknowledge you but I really don't want to be at the gym too late b/c I was too busy catching up and not working out.
• Wear deodorant to the gym. It's likely you will work up a sweat and stink but please be considerate of those around you.
• Guys trying to lift way too much and have terrible form. I see this with guys more so than girls. They want to lift a whole lot of weight but swing their back where they aren't even working the muscles that particular lift is for. They think they look cool, but they really don't.
• Fat guy/girl in a little shirt........

Being fat is a choice

Now that it's summer, everyone is getting ready for that bikini body; hitting the gym, watching what they eat, tanning, etc. It's this endless cycle most of us put ourselves thru to make sure we look good for at least a few months. We all let ourselves go occassionally and then we all bust our ass later to fix it. It's a choice we make.

Just like being fat in general is a choice. I guess, overall, this came up because I'm sick of hearing excuses of why people think they are fat. It's one thing to know what you did to make yourself that way (too much fast food, soda, laziness, etc.) but stop making excuses for it already! The biggest excuse I'm sick of hearing is "I had a kid and now I'm fat." Here is what I think:

Having a kid is obviously going to put some extra weight on you. I don't have kids so I may not understand the lengths you have to go to lose the weight. What I do know is I know more people who lost all their weight after having a kid and look just as good as they did before. Now I'm not talking about those people who complain that not everything is the same (skin, body tone, etc), that is probably expected. I'm talking about the people who weigh the same as they did at the climax of their pregnancy or more 2 years after having their kids and use the kid as an excuse of why they are fat. It's not the kid that made you fat....it's YOU! It's a choice you make everyday. Here are some common choices:

• Snacking: Chips vs Fruit/Veggies. It's so much easier to open a bag a chips than to prepare fruit
• How often do you watch TV? Why not go for a walk/jog, gym time? Got a kid? Take him/her w/ you in a stroller.
• Going to the gym takes time and money. But I would bet that you find time/money to eat out
• Taking naps isn't needed that often....go to the gym/walk/jog
• Eating healthy is a chore. Eating unhealthy is easy
• Fast Food = Fat Food
• 1 can of Dr Pepper = 150 calories, 40g of sugar!! Vitarain from Costco = 0 calories, 0 sugar, lots of vitamins
• Breastfeeding burns thousands of calories. This alone is a surefire way (from what I have seen) to shed some pounds. Not doing it is just asking for more trouble losing weight

These a just little things that can contribute to a fat lifestyle. Being healthy is not easy. You have to plan your meals and make sacrifices (like waking up at 5 am to go to the gym so I can come home and be lazy after work). It's like anything else in life you do....you make choices, you prioritize what's important and you live your life accordingly. I don't have a problem with larger people in general......I do have a problem with people using excuses like their kid as the reason they are fat and not their lack of physical activity or poor eating habits. I realize genetics can play into your body type but it's also been proven it doesn't account for 100% of your body type. That's all on you. I have no desire to be fat. And I have made the choice that I never will be. Go ahead and say, "Well, when you have a kid, you will think differently." Watch me. I've done everything I've ever said I would and I promise you I will do this as well. I may never be as skinny as I was in high school (but I won't make excuses) but I sure as hell will never be fat.....kid or no kid.

Facebook Loser

I’m tired of being nice to everyone on facebook and/or myspace. I get random requests from people that I guess I went to high school with or something. Or they went to the same high school but they were friends w/ my best friends sisters cousins brother. But since we went to the same place, that automatically qualifies them to be my friend. Seriously? I realize that I don’t talk to even half the people I’m “facebook friends” with but if we were friends at any point in our lives, fine, we can be facebook friends. But if I have never so much as spoken two words to you in my life because I have no idea who you are, we just happened to go to the same school 8 years apart, well then….sorry, I am going to ignore that request. I’m not here to be in a popularity contest. I’m here to be nosy on the people I know and what they are doing and looking for people I don’t like and spying on what they are doing as well. And every once in a while, I actually use it as a tool to keep in touch with some people. Call me crazy. I really don’t care.

CPA test.....not so fun

So….this CPA exam is probably the hardest thing I have ever done. You would think with as much education as I have and as many classes I have taken in everything, it would be more of a refresher studying for this and then just knocking it out. So wrong! And I don’t think people realize just how many topics are covered. I’ve been working in the accounting field with real experience now for almost 6 years now. My work experience and what I do is not nearly enough to even come close to preparing for this exam. What I’ve done for a living doesn’t even cover 20% of one section of that exam, not to mention all 4 sections! I think just the mere act of studying this material and wrapping my mind around it is more exhausting than anything athletic I have done. I just took the BEC (Business Environment Concepts) on Friday and let me tell you, all I wanted to do when I got home was just sit. I’ve heard that that is supposed to be one of the easier sections but I have a feeling that that section was and will be my biggest struggle. It covers computer crap, economics crap, financing shit, strategy, risk management etc, etc. These are all the subjects I hated most. And contrary to what many people think, finance and accounting are not as related as it sounds like they would be. The first section I took was FAR (Financial Accounting and Reporting) and the book I used to study was pretty much thicker than a linebacker and the BEC book was skinnier than an anorexic model but I could barely get thru it! Oh well. Got another section in May, and then the last one soon after. My goal is to have this test passed by September so hopefully I pass them all the first time around and move on to a new challenge.

My good luck flowers from Brandon

Be Kind to Cyclists

So I have decided to get into this world of blogging. I have a lot to say. Most of it is when I’m bitching about something! First on my target list are all the cyclists in Austin. I think it’s great. I really do….WHEN THEY OBEY TRAFFIC LAWS! I’m sorry but when I see a cyclists speeding thru red lights and almost hitting me when I’m going thru the cross walk when I have the walk signal, the last thing I want to do is “be kind to cyclists.” Or when I’m sitting at a red light and they go hauling ass between cars…I’m not thinking “be kind,” I’m thinking that I wish I would have seen it coming sooner so I could open my door and knock them off as they ride by. It’s so annoying. When they obey traffic laws, I will be kind….until then, I’m just looking for the day I knock one of them out!