Home Sweet Home

Today, three years ago, we moved into our home! We were first time home buyers and had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. Word to the wise, do not EVER move on Halloween. Between people running all over the house trying to unpack trucks, the door bell rang every two seconds with kids wanting to get candy. Thank goodness I had bought candy ahead of time so that our new house didn't get egged! We just had new sod put in and it made me cringe seeing people walk on it. Now that same sod is covered in moss and weeds :) Things sure do change.

We were excited to have our own place and to make it a home. We did not know that being a homeowner means that your "to do" list is never done! It just keeps growing and growing. There is always something that we need to buy or fix. I would not change it for the world though. Walking in the door to our home always puts a smile on my face {except when I walk in to cat shit on the carpet}. Because we have lived here three years now, we are no longer liable to repay Obama's first time home buyers credit! Yay! So now the question is...are we going to stay here for many years to come? Or will we be finding somewhere else to call home? Time will tell.

"What I love most about my home is who I share it with."

Resolution

It may not be the new year yet, but it is never too early to make a resolution. I had been making a mental list of things that I want to do differently in the new year. My husband had asked me why I wanted to wait that long to make these changes. I told him it was because the new year would be a fresh start. He reminded me that November first is right around the corner and that could be my fresh start! Not only is he cute, he is smart too! I knew I kept him around for a reason! He was right, there was no reason why I should be waiting around to better myself.

November 1st will be a new start for me.

I need to worry more about myself and do things that make me happy. I want to be able to tell people "No" and stick to it. I no longer want to stretch myself so thin that I find it hard to regain my strength. I need to put my husband and house first before anyone or anything else. I will no longer let myself be in the position for others to take advantage of or use me. I will try Pho and learn how to use my food processor correctly. I want to work out more and make sure that my health is a priority. I will be more physical with the husband {not like that, well...I guess that couldn't hurt either}. I will work harder to provide for my household. When people get me down, I will shrug it off my shoulders faster and know that I do not deserve to be treated poorly.

I am strong and I can do hard things.

Rawr.

*Side note* I may or may not be writing this as I eat some cookie dough straight out of the bowl. It's not the first yet!
  

Thankful

Six years ago today, our lives were forever changed.

My husband was involved in a near fatal car accident.

I almost lost him.

I had to look him in the eyes and say goodbye as they wheeled him off to surgery.

I thought that moment was going to be the last time I was ever going to see him alive.

My heart ached as I had never felt that much love for someone before.

He made it through surgery.

And is well today.

Although, this traumatic event will effect our lives indefinitely.

I smile every morning when I wake up and see him lying next to me.

I will forever be thankful that we are able to spend our lives together.

And that it was not his time to go.

He is my everything.

Busy!

The rath of October continues...

On Friday, the best friend and I went on a lonnnng drive to go take some newborn pictures. While on our way, we had to stop for some lunch. Look at the dolls that we saw in the grab machine game at Denny's...

What the hell?? We tried to win one, because who doesn't want to be able to sleep with an Obama pillow? But the machine was broke. *sniffle*

We got back on the road and soon had arrived at our destination. We had driven so far that we could even see Canada across the water. Too bad I don't have a passport, I would have just made a day of it and went to go enjoy some maple syrup and hockey. I had not had the opportunity to take pictures of a new born yet, he was six weeks old. I was hoping that he would be asleep for a majority of the shoot, but he was wide away and even broke out in a rash. Thank goodness for photoshop! I could have cuddled him all day long! My clock was ticking so loud that I am sure people down the road could hear it!

On the way home, we stopped by the store to get some much needed things. Such as, anything with the word pumpkin in it AND the worlds largest brussels sprout tree!

 

Told you it was big!! 

We know how to have fun anywhere that we go!

Later that night, I had made plans to go see the new Paranormal Activity movie. I LOVE to be scared and watch things that make me jump out of my seat. Five minutes in, I had already screamed out loud! About twenty minutes after that, during a part in which one of the characters are experiencing computer problems, the screen went dark! We thought that was really scary and that something was going to pop out at us...but nothing popped up on the screen...for twenty minutes! THE POWER WENT OUT IN THE MOVIE THEATER! Are you kidding me? I was under my seat hiding for the majority of the time. I am sure that my blood pressure was through the roof by the time the movie came back on. SCARY!

This last weekend was our first weekend in a long time that we had nothing planned! See my last post for details on what I had intended to do all weekend. I did none of that ;) Instead, the husband rented some video games and I had ladies night!

There was a hardware store down the street that was having a ladies night! I know you're thinking "ladies night at a hardware store?" Yep! You read that right. We could get 20% off all purchases,  complimentary fruit, wine, sandwiches and cream puffs! Free eyebrow waxes, massages or your makeup done! It was the most amazing thing ever. It was like Black Friday in October!

I bought myself this cute little hoodie...



Can you tell that I am from Seattle??

We then made our way down the street to eat our weight in mexican food. I had a blast hanging out with the ladies and letting loose! We should definantely do that more often. Believe it or not, I was even reffered to as "shit bomb" by the end of the night. It was amazing to be around good people and to enjoy myself. I can always rest when I die, life is too short to not have fun when you can!

Breast Cancer Awareness

One in eight women will have invasive breast cancer some time during her life.

One in thirty six will die from it.
 
These statistics are staggering and hit close to home. October, two years ago, my mom told me that she had a breast cancer scare. The results came back benign, thank goodness. She does however have a rather large lump in her breast and now needs to be checked yearly for the rest of her life. I cannot imagine watching yet another parent suffer with cancer. My mother and I may not have the best relationship, but I secretly pray every night that she will have a long, healthy life without any suffering. As selfish as it may sound, I am not strong enough to go through that again.  

October is breast cancer awareness month. Support the cause, find a cure.

October is my enemy

Please do not read any further if you do not want to hear me whine.

For those of you who think it may be entertaining...please continue.

By the powers vested in me, I officially announce the month of October to be renamed to fucktober. This has been the most overwhelming, exhausting month that I have ever had in my whole entire life. And it is only the sixteenth. Joke is on me.

The month started with us going on the free museum day, where I had apparently caught the plague. I don't even want to think about all the germs I may have come in contact with. I started with a little dash of strep throat followed by a nasty cold, add me not taking care of myself and that's how we got bronchitis. While battling a fever for days on end and feeling like I am constantly in the dessert with a sweater on, enjoying a nice dip in a hot tub. I was also coughing so hard that I would pee myself, in the middle of the grocery store, with snot running down my nose. I coughed things up that should be submitted to the Smithsonian and bought so much cough syrup that I am pretty sure the local drug store thinks I am making meth. *whine*

All while being sick, I still managed to celebrate our anniversary, help with my sister in law's birthday party and throw the best friend a surprise birthday party as well. *whine* Sometimes I think that I am super woman and can do it all, clearly I have learned that I am not super woman...that bitch is crazy.

The sister in law's birthday went well, although my crack head sister was there and made sure to make us feel uncomfortable. However, while being drugged up on cough medicine, I really didn't care! For the first time, I gave two shits what she thought about me. She is no one special! She doesn't pay my bills or sleep with me, she isn't the Pope and she didn't birth me, so what does it matter what her thoughts are about me? We definitely did not feel welcome at the party, I have no idea why I do things like this anymore. I don't know if it was the syrup or not, but this was the first time that I had this overwhelming feeling that I no longer care to please my family or do things to make them happy. It was probably the medicine, as there were also rainbows and unicorns in the room. Maybe I should take this stuff more often?

My first attempt at making center pieces! I really like how they turned out and super  affordable! I got all the supplies from the dollar store, came to about $6 per table. Got lots of compliments on them too!  

The best friends birthday was a TON of work, but totally paid off when I saw the look on her face. She had never had a birthday party before. EVER! I just wanted to do something nice for her and make her feel special. However, I am marking "party planner" off of my career list and may be contemplating the Jehovah Witness religion so that I no longer have to celebrate holidays. Who am I kidding, I could never give up Christmas or Halloween, but I am content being done with birthdays.

Made these for the best friends birthday! Again, all the supplies were from the dollar store. Under $3 per table!

This was her telling me that I was in big trouble for throwing her a birthday! Haha

Speaking of birthdays, we celebrated the cats birthday yesterday! We have had them for one year now. We let them have a whole can of wet food! We do not give them wet food very often and thought it would be fun to let them go to town on their birthday. I have never felt so blessed to have things in our home that shit and puke on the carpet, shed fur all over the place and eat my shoe laces. I think I still have some warming up to do with them. I catch myself leaving the door open longer than I should, in hopes that they will "accidentally" run away. <--- Kidding. Mostly.

This upcoming weekend is free. I have plans to not shower, clean or cook. I will lay on the couch with a blanket until the husband forces me to get up, probably because he won't take kindly to me peeing in a bucket. I do not want to move for a solid 48 hours. I am hoping that this will help to recoup myself and will take away this oh so lovely outlook that I have now. Oh! Speaking of positive, I started this thing on Facebook where I write five things everyday that "don't suck". You know, to remind me that not everything sucks.

1. Having leftovers so that I don't have to make dinner.
2. Wearing pajamas in the afternoon.
3. Lighting candles on a cold, windy night.
4. Pinterest.
5. Homemade apple pie.

If you have made it this far and are still reading, thank you for listening to my whinny blog post :) You, my friend, are a devoted follower!

Love in Seattle

Our two year wedding anniversary is tomorrow! We have been together for twelve years though. I cannot believe it has been that long! Some days it feels like we just started dating, other days it feels like we have been together for a lifetime. I could not imagine living life without him. He is my rock, partner in life and my best friend. I don't think I tell him enough how much I appreciate him and cherish his love for me. He still takes my breath away. <-- No pun intended, since I am currently infected with the plague and cannot catch my breath.

Because our anniversary falls during the week, we decided to celebrate during the weekend. We I have been wanting to go to Seattle for quite some time now. I know that we live here but believe it or not, there are many touristy things that we have not done! We have been on a roll crossing things off of our bucket list lately.

I drugged myself up on cough syrup and cold medicine and made our way downtown. The first stop was to check out the Great Wheel. We really wanted to take pictures of it but were hesitant if we actually wanted to ride it. Considering we are both not fans of heights or enclosed spaces, the outlook was not in our favor. As we approached the wheel, it was getting bigger the closer we got.

The husband was nearing an anxiety attack while I was seeing rainbows and unicorns due to all the medication I took. I left the decision up to him if we were going to actually ride it or not. Before I knew it, he was at the ticket counter purchasing our tickets. As we waited in the long line, I was calm as a cucumber. I was feeling a little loopy and out of it. When it was our turn to get into the gondola, it hit me like a ton of bricks! We were getting on the ride and it was really HIGH!! The seats were ROCKING! I was going to be STUCK on this thing! I might DIE! What if we had an EARTHQUAKE while we were up there?! Is my WILL up to date?! So many things were running through my head.

Because there are so many people in line, you have to share the gondola with up to four other people. A dad and his young daughter got in with us. The daughter could see the panic on my face and I asked her if she was scared. She responded "YES!!" I told her that I was more than willing to press the emergency button at any time so that we could get off.

The ride started going, we were getting high off the ground, when...it stopped! The gondola started rocking and I swear I saw my life flash before my eyes. My breakfast was in my throat and I was sure I was going to blow chunks all over the dad sitting across from me. I tried to look at the view, but was overcome with fear. I closed my eyes as tight as I could and asked everyone in the gondola to be quiet. I opened my eyes when we got to the top. The view was pretty, but my hand shook as I tried taking a photo. The wheel went around a total of three times and lasted about 20 minutes long. I am really glad that we did it, definitely something I will never forget. {bucket list, check!}

After regaining my composure, we walked across the street and made our way to the gum wall.

This is the heart we made out of our gum

 

I have always wanted to go to the gum wall! It was not really what I had expected it to be and I wish I would have brought a Costco sized thing of hand sanitizer! It was in a really small alley filled with garbage and homeless people. People could drive down the alley, so you had to make sure to stay out of the way so that you wouldn't get hit. Just image all the germs! It gives me the shivers. {bucket list, check!}

Our next venture was to go to Pike Place Market. {bucket list, check!} It was SOOOO crowded!! I couldn't walk 10 feet without someone bumping into me. It was like a really large farmers market. The flowers were beautiful and all the fruits and vegetables looks delicious.

The famous fish throwers! "HALLLLLLIBUT!" 

 I am disappointed that I did not see the original Starbucks, but it gives me an excuse to go back. Not any time soon by the way, Seattle is overwhelming. Even if the crosswalk says walk, you better watch out because drivers won't stop for you. We checked out the Hard Rock Cafe and City Target. I am not sure if you know or not, but Target is my sanctuary. I could spend the whole day there and spend money on things that I don't even need. It makes me happy and puts a smile on my face. The store was three stories and even had a special escalator just for the carts. Bags cost 25 cents though, so you have to stuff your items in your purse or something. *after you pay for them*

 

 

 After sitting in traffic for what seemed to be like 10 hours, we made our way to dinner. I was pretty sure I was close to being on my death bed, but didn't want to skip our dinner reservations. PF Chang's was on the menu. The soup was the most amazing thing I had ever put in my mouth. It felt so good on my throat and I begged the husband to go buy gallons of it to bring home.

Even though I was close to death, we really did have an amazing weekend. It was fun to spend time together and go on adventures.

Happy Anniversary babe. I love you and look forward to spending forever with you. We have been through a lot together and I am thankful to have you by my side.

Love you...

A Journey that's not yet over

Heather's story was just posted over at www.thetattoopage.com. I wanted to share it...

My name is Heather Phillips, My story started in about 2003 when I lost my brother to a very rare lung disease. He was only 18 years old. He went in to the hospital with shortness of breath in about august 2002, he turned 18 on october 18th and passed away jan.1st 2003. It was very hard to cope with since it all happened so fast. It was a very sad time.

I started dating my now husband in 2006 and we got married in 2009. He makes my world so happy. We lived life to its fullest and had our first baby in march 2010. We continued to hike and travel with our son Corbin and life was pretty amazing. In Jan 2011 I found out I was pregnant with our second and we couldn't be happier. Half way through my pregnancy I started to feel short of breath. I went into the hospital and my oxygen levels were so low that I was in and out of hospital stays for the rest of my pregnancy. I was very lucky to bring a very healthy baby girl into the world in Sept.2011.

Since the doctors were unable to do testing while I was pregnant they had no idea what was wrong, so after I had Keira I went back to the hospital to have a lung biopsy done. Come to find out I have a very rare lung disease called Constrictive Bronchialitis. There is no cure for this disease and it is what my brother had. I also have developed pulmonary hypertension in my heart. I now have to carry around an oxygen tank every where I go. I'm on the lung transplant list at the university of washington medical center. Life is very different now, I cant hike or run around with my kids. I'm so thankful for my amazing husband and family support. I decided to document my journey by getting a tattoo of lungs on my arm. Its done as a birds nests, with the 3 birds one that represents me, my brother and one for my family.

This is a journey that's not over for me but I am still one of the luckiest girls in the world. :) Thank you for reading my story.

Check out heatherslungs.com and jmichealarts.com for the full in depth story on me and my amazing brother.

Please head over to www.heatherslungs.com to donate. If you cannot donate, please pray for her and her family. xoxo

Free Museum Day

This past Saturday was free museum day in our state. You could go to select museums and get free admission. At the top of the husbands bucket list is to visit the Museum of Flight in Seattle. I was not too excited to go, but when I saw that it was on the list for the free day, I knew that we couldn't pass up this opportunity! We printed our tickets and made our way there. I was not prepared for how big it was!! We spent hours there and I am sure we did not get to see everything. To see the excitement on his face was worth going. He was like a little kid, running around trying to take in as much information as he could! The camera was glued to his neck and I am sure he could have spent the entire day there.

We drove another half an hour to go to the Museum of Glass {bucket list, check!}. Surprisingly enough, the best parts were outside! The Museum itself was rather small and did not wow me. I am glad we went, getting in free was a plus because I would have been disappointed to pay for that.

 

 

 

It was really nice to spend time together and go on adventures, making memories. We proved to ourselves that we can go out of our comfort zone!

October!

I apologize for the lack of posting as of lately. I am exhausted and have a lot going on right now, some of which I cannot say on here at the moment. There are not enough hours in the day and I wish there was a pill out there that would give me more patience. My mind is so full of thoughts that sleepless nights are the new normal. I have been overwhelmed with life and unfortunately put my blog on the back burner. Don't worry though, you have not missed much! I went to the Jimi Hendrix grave site, {bucket list, check!}! It was really neat to see a legend, even though he was buried. R.I.P Jimi!

Remember my blog about Heather's Lungs? I attended a benefit for her on the 21st, it raised $5,000! The dance crew RNG from MTV's America's Best Dance Crew was there to perform. {Bucket list, check!} There were also two great bands and tons of amazing food. I was so glad to be there and support her.

 

 I tried some new recipes, which included lemon bars, pretzel brownies and a lazy cookie. I also attempted homemade cinnamon rolls and our new favorite, homemade pizzas from Rhode's rolls. The lemon bars were gross and the pretzel brownies didn't turn out as good as I thought they would be, but the lazy cookie was phenomenal! The cinnamon rolls were fantastic and the pizzas were not only fun to make, but taste great! I would love to have a homemade pizza party :) The husband bought me an early anniversary present!!

Isn't she beautiful?! I nearly cried when I saw it. If it wasn't so heavy, I would let it sleep with me in bed. He sure is a keeper! I have wanted one for a really long time and am so happy that I have one now. I can't wait to try new recipes with it, I have yet to make some cupcakes. Did you know you can even shred chicken with it?? The possibilities are endless.

 I am beyond excited that October is here! The weather is getting cooler and it is getting darker, earlier. I cannot wait to get out my boots and sweaters! Our wedding anniversary is this month and we have fun things to look forward to! As much as I love the fall and cannot wait for the holidays, the month starts off on a sour note. October first is the day that my dad passed away. It has been seventeen years now, but yet it feels just like yesterday. I think that I miss him more now than I ever have. If he were still here, I would have somewhere to go for the holidays, someone to call when my thoughts have gotten the best of me. He had the most unconditional love that only a father has for their daughter. I meant the world to him and he made sure to tell me that every single day. If he were here, he wouldn't let my family treat me as bad as they do. He would have advice for me, wouldn't judge me and would shower me with love when I needed it most. I have finally convinced myself that he is indeed never coming home from this pro longed vacation. I won't ever hear his voice again, or feel his arms hug me tightly. I cannot wait for the day when I can see him again, I hope he is waiting for me. Enough of the tear shedding...time to move on and do things that put a smile on my face.

Like...

Spend my whole entire grocery list on fun pumpkin and Halloween food!

Still keeping my eye out for the Candy Corn Oreo's! They have been sold out every time I have gone to buy them. Fall will not be complete without them!  

I am not a huge fan of pumpkin, but love the smell and that it makes me feel like Fall is here! The bagels were outstanding and the waffles are my new favorite! Word on the street is that there is pumpkin butter, but again, I cannot find it.

When I found these, I thought that they would be the closest thing to heaven in my mouth. NOT! They tasted like apple perfume or caramel potpourri! We will be sure to give these company, no need to eat the whole bag myself.

We already went to the pumpkin patch to pick out our pumpkins and to buy a homemade pie. The decorations are up and the candles are ready to be lit! Happy October!!