Hearts!

Happy Valentine's Day!  Caution, gushing ahead!

I think my man like's to out do me.  We say small gifts, he goes big and thoughtful.  Can't complain though.  I love him all the more for it.

We celebrated Valentine's Day on Friday night.  I happened to have Friday off so we went to a movie during the day.  I have to say, Deadpool may not be a romantic movie but it was good.  Violent but enjoyable.  I like that it wasn't your average superhero movie.  Not that there is anything wrong with those but sometimes you just need the smart ass comments to make life more entertaining.

After the movie we had a nice dinner out at a chophouse around town.  We both got a little dressed up, which is fun to do from time to time.  Then my hubby surprised me with a night at a cute little bed and breakfast down in Old Colorado City that I had no idea was there.  Sweet little room with champagne, a hot tub and chocolate covered fruit.  I wouldn't say my hubby is a romantic guy all the time but when he needs to he can really treat me to a night of much needed romance.

So yes, he once again out did me.  I got him personalized M&Ms (because I've always wanted to do that), a new bottle of the bbq sauce we discovered when we were in New Orleans, and new sweatpants (purely selfish on my part because I hated his old ratty ones).  Someday, I'm going to win in the gift category.  Someday.

I'm more and more in love with this man every time I see him.  Muah!

Finally an Auntie! (Post from the past)

Promised I would catch up on past posts.  So here's one I started back in June about my nephew and godson!



Leon is finally here.  After a hard labor, my nephew finally came on June 2, 2015.

My poor sister had 36 hours of labor over several days.  Labor would start then stop and start and stop.  When it finally came down to it, she got an epidural that made the lower half of her body go numb to where she couldn't even move.  Every time they did move her, Leon's heart rate would plummet.  She would push and throw up and his heart rate would have to recover.  He just didn't want to leave his momma but eventually he didn't have the choice and they did a c section.

I was at work at the time and immediately left to rush to the hospital.  We waited but finally Leon was here!  He had to go to the NICU for several days so Jak could only take a few of us at a time to visit but it was so worth it.  What a precious baby!  I might be biased but I thought he was perfect and I couldn't help but tickle his toes.

His lungs weren't as good as they could have been so he was on oxygen for the first month or so.  Then he has had issues putting on weight and growing along with some digestive issues.  He certainly has been keeping his mom and dad on their toes but I think he's finally getting so much better.

It has been so much fun watching him grow and develop a personality.  Sometimes he loves me, sometimes he doesn't.  Sometimes he just wants his momma.  Certainly a momma's boy.  Sometimes he makes me really want a baby and sometimes I'm so glad I can give him back.  I can't wait to see him grow up!

I could post hundreds of pictures of him all day but here are a few.  Probably the cutest baby ever.

He takes after his aunt!

Crawling boy!

High Horse

In the news, the Broncos won the Superbowl.  Can't say I really watch football but it was a good game and I'm glad Colorado won it, especially after the debacle of the last one two years ago.  Plus, Colorado is basically the best state out there so... no reason not to crush everyone else.

Something else I'm seeing is how "gay" the halftime show was.  ...Really?  Are we really concerned about that in this day and age?  It always shocks me how inclined people are to hate, disrespect and devalue other people based on aspects of that person that has nothing to do with them.  If the half time show was "gay" does it really matter?  You're watching a sport where grown men jump on each other, dance in victory and smack each other on the asses.  If that doesn't make it "gay" then why should rainbow colors make the half time show gay?  Can't you just relax and enjoy it?  And even if you don't enjoy it, then let it go and enjoy the game.  There is no need to get on social media and spew hatred and intolerance into the world.  Apparently there is enough of that already without people  going out of their way to be ignorant and hateful.  Shut up, eat your dip and leave everyone else alone.

Something else I've been meaning to mention is the whole "Oscars are too white" thing.  That irritates me beyond belief.  Racism does exist and it always will exist as long as we point out and highlight the differences between people.  Here's something that may not make me popular.  Just as a white person is not entitled to more than a person of a different race, someone of color is not entitled to more than someone white just because of the pigment of their skin.  If you don't want people to be racist, stop asking for favoritism based on skin color, no matter the skin color.  Yes, it is possible for people of other races besides Caucasian to be racist.

So yes, the Oscars may be pretty white this year.  Everyone who wasn't nominated, no matter their race, should strive to do better next year.  You shouldn't be nominated because you are a person of color that did a nice job.  You should strive to be nominated because you did an excellent job at something.  I also don't think every kid in the race should get a metal.  You get a metal when you win.  If you didn't win, try harder, improve.  That's how you learn and improve in life.  If you don't have to strive to be better because you'll just get something handed to you anyway, why worry about being the best you can be?  You can worry more about how you can alienate and disrespect that person over there when you don't have to worry about your own caliber.

Anyway, that's me on my high horse for now.  Stop complaining about other people and worry about yourself and being the best person and living the best life you can.

Morgan Freeman on Racism

Another Video

HGTV

What has this done to me?  In the past year I discovered my love for HGTV.  At first I refused to love anything but House Hunters but slowly I've ventured out timidly.  I knew already from buying my own house, that I love the old houses.  I know from my house that I don't want to renovate a house ever but it would be swell if someone else could renovate for me.  So that brings me to my newest love, Fixer Upper.

Fixer Upper

It is this show about a couple in Texas that renovate old homes for clients.  They're the cutest couple ever, besides my husband and I that is.  They kind of remind me of us because they're silly haha.  Anyway, they buy ugly old houses and completely renovate them then the wife stages the house BEAUTIFULLY!  Her style is so pretty.  I always want to decorate like that; I can see it in my head but I can never quite seem to get there in reality.  So her decorating is like eye candy.  So in love with it.  I really need to start writing down the things that I love so I can decorate our new house.

Good and bad news, she sells some of her stuff.  Magnolia Market  How cool is this stuff?  Someday I'm going to be able to decorate with some of this and have it look marvelous!  I love this little gem.  I am always losing socks when I do laundry so that would be so nice to have.

Someday I'm going to figure out this whole organizing and decorating a house thing.

Until then, I'll binge watch these shows and live vicariously through other people.

Surprise!

Hello dear blog!  I missed you!

I feel like I lost my brain for a lot of last year.  It went by so fast.  It felt like Jake and I got engaged at the beginning of the year then, bam!  We were getting married and went on the honeymoon and then the year was over.  That was pretty much 2015 for me.  I will go back and do some posts like the holidays and the wedding, just give me time.

For now, things are coming along.  Life has never been better for me than it is right now.  I've never been this happy.  Things are changing but change is so necessary for life, I can't even tell you.  If you're not changing then you can't really be happy because the world isn't stagnate.  There are exciting things coming that I am nervous about but also very excited.  I never would have guessed this would be my life if you asked me a couple of years ago but I am so glad it is.  So I can only look forward with hope and excitement.

This post will be less about the past than what is happening right now.  Right now is on my mind.

So:

Whitman is costing me a fortune with his foot.  About a month or so ago, I noticed his nail was bleeding and bent a bit to the side after he went running about the yard after some little critter or another.  The nail seemed solid on his foot so I didn't think too much of it except he kept limping off and on and licking his foot.  So I finally broke down and took him to work to get that looked at.  The doctor suspected that his toe was broken but there wasn't much to do with it except put him on pain killers and antibiotics and wait for it to heal.

Of course, right when Jake and I were leaving town for New Years, Whitman ripped it more and bled all over the car on the way to my sister's house.  Big thanks to my sister for taking Whitman to the vet for me.  The doctor decided to pull the nail off at that time and when he did a piece of bone came out with it.  So yes he broke his toe and it was pretty much cut the digit off or hope that the toenail didn't regrow in a painful way.  Just call him Whitman the Toeless Wonder!

That itself wasn't so bad but he's refused to keep his bandage on.  He ate it off once then pulled the stitches out a second time, requiring him to go back under and get the damn foot stapled.  He's a terror with the cone and looks so pathetic but it is finally healing up.  If he pulls anything out again I might just kill him.  I just want him to heal and feel better so we can start running together.

Work has been going great.  I absolutely love working at a vet's office; somehow, I always knew I would.  I have also answered the question of do I want to be a vet tech and the answer is no.  Don't really want to do that at all.  Good to know though.  I would love to keep working in vet's offices and possibly go back for a degree in management or something to further that career path.

Business is booming at House of Dog too and that's been incredible.  Going to look into putting more time into that here coming up soon.  It is great to have a passion that works for you.  Love it.

I was sitting at home going through things this morning and one thing I used to do that I miss is called Postcrossing.  It is a site that you can sign up for that allows you to send and receive postcards from around the world.  I've been collecting postcards for years and I loved getting them from all different places and countries.  Did it for years and then just kind of peetered off.  So I reactivated my account and sent some out this morning,  Strangely, I sent like 9 to Russia.  Come on, it's a huge world out there!  Why so many to Russia?  Then I ran out of cards so I ordered a few more.  We'll see how it goes from here but I can't wait to get some from the great wide world.

My phone headphone jack stopped working.  If you know me, you know I don't like the quiet.  I like to have my headphones going with something on, even if I'm not actively listening to it because I just can not stand the quiet.  Sadly, my husband does like the quiet so I wear my headphones a lot of the time all over the place.  It's hard not to have that work.  Course, it might actually be a good thing because I might be able to break myself of this obsession with having something playing at all times.  I need to distance myself from my phone anyway.  That's what Jake says even if he is on his phone just as much as I am.  (Honey, you know it is true.)  It is just hard to break habits.  I mean it took me about 10 years to stop biting my nails.  This could be hard.

Hmm... What else do I want to comment upon?  Eh at the moment that is all I had.  Love to you all out there in Blogsworld!

Musings

Things are coming together for the wedding.  I have an appointment for cake tasting on Thursday and picking invitations today.  I am going with the lavender theme since that was the first thing I picked out for my wedding.  Next is just the small touches that I am so interested in.  Excited about the whole thing now.  I always wanted a wedding but I wasn't always sure that I actually wanted to get married.  Well, I guess your outlook on life changes when you find that person that you can see sharing everything with.  I'm so excited about everything.  Can't wait to see what changes come in the next year and a half.

I don't know if I ever posted but I recently changed jobs.  Things kind of blue up at WNW but I am SO SO SO glad to be out of there.  Blessings happen in all different kind of ways.  I just don't do well when I feel people are taking advantage of me or treating me badly.  Fault and a strength.  I don't put up with it well so I am willing to sacrifice things to get away from it.  But now I have a job that I really love.  It makes such a difference to work with a different quality of people.  Professional people handle themselves differently and that is such a load off.  I hate petty, spineless people and I'm glad to be away from them.  And more than anything I am SO THANKFUL to be away from retail.  I don't like people enough to work in retail anymore.  It sucks.  It's a draining and horrible feeling when people walk all over you just because they can and you have to smile and be nice.  Hopefully never again.  I work at a vet's office now and I love it.  I thought about doing vet tech but I am glad now that I didn't do that.  I wouldn't want to spend all that money and time in school doing something it turns out I don't think I would like that much.  I love dogs but bleh.  I am happy to be up front doing more organizational stuff.  I always wanted to be a veterinarian as a child but that so is no for me.  Maybe with the move coming up in a year I will be able to focus on my loves, writing and animals.

I have a hard time sorting out my priorities.  Anyone who knows me, knows that I am a bit of a workaholic and in the past put everything I had in the world into it.  It has been a difficult transition away from that and thinking more about my social side of life and doing things outside of a work environment.  I struggle with feeling like I am letting people down and I still do.  But I am starting to understand that it is okay for me to have my limitations and it is not my responsibility to try to keep up with people who don't enforce the same limitations.  It does not mean that I am lazy or letting people down.  It simply means that I have to live my life in a way that I can maintain long term.  That is a hard learning curve for me.  I feel like I have been making so many changes in the last couple of years that not everyone understands.  I am just trying to find my way through life just like everyone else.  Maybe when Jake and I are facing the future together, the stress will ease on me.

Move forward in life.  That's all you can do.  If you're not happy, move forward and change it.  That's what I've been striving to do and that's what I will continue to do.  I don't understand how else to do it and I don't understand people who don't do it.

New Orleans and Cruise!

I finally got to scratch off a New Orleans trip off my bucket list!  That and Jake and I got to take a little pre-wedding craziness cruise.  It was a wonderful trip even if I kind of struggled throughout.  We flew out on Saturday afternoon and on Saturday morning I was feeling very sick.  I slept most of the drive to Denver and on the flight.  By the time we landed and got to the hotel I was actually feeling a little better so we were able to get out and walk to dinner.  We ended up walking to Bourbon street and there was a festival going on.  It was a lot of fun and busy.  I can not imagine the French Quarter during Marti Gras.  It must be mass chaos.  I used to want that on my bucket list but I don't think that it would be that fun for that long.  Still, seeing Bourbon Street up and running was an experience.  The music festival was going on all weekend so we spent Sunday walking around the French Quarter exploring and listening to music.  It was wonderful.  Of course though, I was getting over the cold and we ended up having alligator meat sausages.  I don't think they were cooked all the way through because I spent the evening with a very upset stomach.  Monday we had some hours to kill and my stomach was feeling better.  We were catching the boat that day so we walked down to the pier.  The hotel was expensive but it was a great find because it was within easy walking distance of the French Quarter but away from all the noise and craziness of Bourbon Street and within walking distance of the pier where we were catching our boat.  It was perfect.  So we walked down and waited in lines and lines and lines to get on the boat when I noticed my face was feeling weird.  It was burning a bit and turns out I was having some kind of allergic reaction and my face was breaking out in this really weird irritated skin.  It cleared up after a couple of days but it was just one thing after another because it was followed by a cough and stuffy nose.  I recovered though and had a wonderful time despite it.

Bourbon Street!

We took a five day cruise to Mexico and back.  We got on the boat on Monday, had a day at sea on Tuesday, Progresso on Wednesday, Cozumel on Thursday, day at sea on Friday and back in port on Saturday where we had a couple of hours before flying out.  I must say that it was fun but I couldn't do a cruise longer than that.  Jake and I aren't overly social or "organized fun" people so we did a lot of laying around and eating on the sea days.  There isn't much to do otherwise.  It was relaxing but after a while it is just like oh my God I can not eat anymore!

We were standing at the top front of the ship when it departed down the Mississippi River.

Our ship- Carnival Elation

Anyway, in Progresso we went and saw the Mayan Ruins at Uxmal and then had lunch at a little historic building where they gave us authentic Mexican food.  It was cool but HOT.  HOT HOT HOT.  I can't imagine doing something like that in the height of summer when it is melting hot.  We took the tour given by the cruise, which I am glad we did because we ended up being late back to the boat so they knew were coming and didn't depart.  I think the Mayans are cool but I just found myself wishing that it was more like something you would see in the US.  In the US there would be a whole museum to walk through to explain the culture and explain what you were seeing.  If you walk around the grounds, there is a lot to see and it was cool but there weren't any plaques or anything to explain what you were seeing.  And we found out that the cool stuff you are seeing is mostly refurbished.  None of the original stuff is taken care of, they restore it all and it doesn't look the same.  There is no explanation of how it is restored and how they know that it looked that way.  So it was very cool to see and walk around, I just wish that there was more.  A few plaques here and there would go a long way.

Cozumel was by far my favorite stop though.  We decided to do our own thing because Jake had been there earlier in the year for work.  We got off the boat and immediately caught a taxi south.  We just wanted to get away from the crowds and find something to do.  On the list was snorkeling, jet skiing, and possibly para-sailing.  We found this private beach down away from the crowds from the cruise ships.  When we arrived, we were about the only ones there.  Immediately, we decided to rent jet skis because there was only one other person out on the water.  It was so much fun.  I was giggling and laughing and then I got to drive and that was even more fun.  No, I didn't dump us or lose Jake.  I think I could do a lot more jet skiing in the future.  When we returned to land we had some pina coladas and enjoyed each other's company.  Next adventure we were thinking about doing para-sailing but it is SO expensive.  So we decided to go snorkeling.  I am a good swimmer so I had a great time floating and flippering around.  I love the ocean, which might be surprising because I'm a native of a land locked state.  While I was enjoying the fish with just my flippers and my snorkel, Jake was safely floundering along with his life vest and holding on to the lifesaver being towed by the little Mexican guy guiding us.  It was pretty funny I have to admit.  After we returned to land again, we took a taxi up to the other side of the island for some food and shopping.  Then back to the ship.

Feeding the fishies!

Ready to not drown!

International love!

Adventure seekers!

It has been a long time since I had a true vacation where I wasn't doing anything but relaxing.  It felt... weird but good haha.  And I know that I am looking forward to every second of my future with Jake.  If we can make it through being trapped on a boat together and not murder each other in international waters then we can make it through a marriage.  I can't wait.