30 Days of thanks in one post!

Instead of posting every day through the month I figured I would wait until the end of the month! That or Ive been reminding myself this whole month to post and I always forget, but either way, here you have it! My 30 days of THANKS!!

 #1

My Husband, he's the cheese to my macaroni and I couldn't have asked to marry any one better!

#2

My mom, she is probably my favorite person of all time. I could go on about her for days but wont :)

#3

My other parents: My Dad, Rich (step-dad) and Sherri (step-mom)

#4

My siblings: Chelsea, Breanne, Lexus and my Brother. I love them all so much but am so sad I don't get to see them as much as I would like.

#5

Blogs: I love reading blogs because it makes me realize how many different type of people there are on earth. It also makes me thankful for being able to find ways of how I can improve my life or fun things to do with out much money

#6

The United States: Obviously I love living in the greatest country on earth. Sure, there are many things I don't agree with and would like to change but overall I am so thankful to live here

#7

BABIES!! Yea I said it, I love love LOVE babies. I seriously cant wait to have my own and every time I see one I realize how grateful I am for the gift of birth and babies.

#8

Being Mexican: I am mexican, always have been always will be but up until recently I wasn't immersed much into the culture. Moving to Colorado has helped that a TON and I think its so neat!!!

#9

Mexican FOOD: enough said, but i LOVe pan dulce, fresh tortillas, queso fresco and how its always a family event when people get together to cook great mexican food!

#10

My best friends: Amanda, Sabrina, Liz, I have known some of them my whole life and feel so lucky to still be involved and close to them even though they all live in different states.

#11

GOD: I'm not one who usually goes much into detail about my spiritual beliefs but they are there and sometimes I am more in touch with God than other times and for that I am grateful

#12

DEPLOYMENT: I thought I would never say this but looking back Im glad it happened, and for that I am thankful. Eric and I were brought so much closer because of it and I learned a lot about myself during it.

#13

Having a roof over my head: Sure its not where I want to be, but I am grateful none the less to not have to worry where I will be sleeping.

#14

POSTSECRET.COM: something about this website and the purpose just warms my heart and makes me see what some people have gone through in their life. I  haven't sent one in but I probably will some day.

#15

FAMILY TIME: I dont get to see my family much but when I do, its amazing. I think about them all the time and am constantly reminded of how lucky I am to have a family like them.

#16

Football: Now I am not really a fan of it, but I love how EXCITED and happy Eric gets when he watches. It makes me laugh most of the time but I think its great. Not to mention, if we are at home, its snuggle time for like 2 or more hours. Who wouldn't want that.

#17

Snuggling: I love to snuggle, I love the way you can feel another persons body against yours and how connected you feel. I especially love snuggling with sleeping babies and kids. They are so innocent and you are reminded not to take life so seriously all the time.

#18

The Military: No matter what branch, Army, Marines, Air Force, Navy I am so grateful and thankful for all of them. ENOUGH SAID!

#19

Military Spouses: Sometimes they dont get the credit they deserve but they have one of the toughest jobs in the military and to them I am thankful.

#20

Flowers, trees, the earth in general

#21

Technology

#22

Homebuying: It is the most stressful thing I have ever gone through and when its over I will be even more thankful.

#23

Random Acts of Kindness

#24

Christmas time: because people seem to be more happy than normal. And they are nicer and cheerful, it should be like this all year round but sometimes its not.

#25

My Health: While Im a little plump, I am otherwise extremely healthy and to that I am thankful.

#26

Mean people: WEird right, not really, it helps me realize who I want to be and I always kill em with kindness.

#27

All of our other friends: who I miss so much, Im thankful

#28

Food: I love food and we are so lucky to live in a place where we can get any kind of food that you want. I am thankful for the nourishment it gives to your body.

#29

Children: for always reminding us how we should see the good things in everything and that life is always happy and joyful.

#30

LOVE: I couldn't forget love, any type of love, I am thankful.

What are YOU thankful for?

Another Blog Give Away!!!!

Sadly not my own give away but one can dream (either that or finally do a giveaway of my own)

ANYWAY, my wonderful and lovely friend Suzi is having a giveaway!

You can win on of these babies! (also comes in 3 other colors, that aren't pictured obviously!)

you have 4, thats right 4 ways to win so go over to her blog and enter!!!

GOOD LUCK

FRIENDS!!!

Job Frustrations!!!!

So I have been meaning to post lately but really just haven't had the desire. Most of the time I'm on the computer searching for nothing else other than a job and let me just say I am ready to pull my hair out. I have never had a problem finding a job, that is until now. I have been in Colorado for a little over two months now and have had no luck finding a job.

I went to a job interview that I was sure was THE job, but was sadly not offered the position. I declined another job interview because of the hope for the first job, HUGE mistake on my part. I learned my lesson there. I was also offered another job interview, but I was called while in the hospital and my message didnt come through until last week, thanks stupid blackberry!

I am on the computer every day looking for jobs where ever I can and I honestly cant see what the hold up is. I have a wonderful resume and would be more than willing to work any where and every where. Needless to say, Im getting fed up and trying my damnedest to keep my head up and keep chugging along!

Christmas cards!

So I have my CHRISTMAS music blaring,

and now my friends,

it is time to start my CHRISTMAS CARD list!!!

This is one of my favorite things, seriously....

Just saying!!

Aren't you excited?!?!?!

ONLY 37 days until CHRISTMAS!

The last Christmas before Eric deployed! 2008 I think!!

Kidney Stone!

So Sunday Eric and I were going to buy tickets and got to the Denver Broncos vs Kansas City Chiefs game but we decided to back out at the last minute. Its a good thing we did because about an hour later or so I started getting horrible cramps in my lower right abdomen that were shooting into my lower back.

I thought that maybe I had a pinched nerve and figured it would go away or something. After some walking around and laying down it was getting worse so I told Eric that he needed to take me to the ER and luckily it wasn't far from our house. Once we got there I started throwing up right away and the pain continued to get worse.

The doctors drew my blood, gave me and IV and some morphine to help with the pain until they could figure out what was going on. After a pelvic exam and a CT scan they discovered I had a very large kidney stone... (see below, circled in yellow)

Since I was in so much pain and on so much morphine the doctor decided to admit me so that way my pain could be monitored and hopefully the stone would pass on its own. They told me that if it didn't pass it by the following afternoon, I would have a ureteroscopy.

And what do you know, my body doesn't listen so I had to have the procedure done. I was put out so I don't remember much other than going to the operating room and then waking up in recovery. My doc had to put a stint in that connects my kidney to my bladder to help things pass along and I cant wait to get it out.

After another night in the hospital, I was discharged this morning and am feeling much better with the exception of being a little uncomfortable. Eric was amazing and very helpful to me while I was at the hospital. I am glad its gone and hope to never have to go through it again!

Meatless update!

So it has been 7 or 8 days since I have eaten meat. 

I havent had a single craving so thats been great! 

I went to the doctor the other day to learn I have already lost 5 pounds! 

GO ME!!! 

Must get back to cleaning :D

PS I LOVE my MAC and photo booth!

To meat or not to meat...

So it has taken me several days to decide to actually post this and at this point I don't even know how this post will end up but I shall give it a shot anyway.

I have always had an issue with food, not in the fact that I don't eat, always in the fact that I love to eat and with that said, I usually always over eat. This has been a never ending battle and I honestly don't know when it began but has seemed to only get worse with stress or any time life changes. Sure, I love healthy food and I know that I should choose it over unhealthy food but it isn't always that easy. I will always find an excuse to eat what I know I shouldn't and its sometimes pathetic.

Lately I have been thinking a lot about what I am eating vs. what I should be eating. Considering Eric and I are thinking of having babies soon, food has been on my mind even more because lets face it, I don't want to bring babies into the world that would headed down the path of an unhealthy lifestyle.

The other day I was watching a documentary called FOOD INC, if you have the chance, watch it, its very eye opening. Anyway, I think it came at the perfect time for me. It basically explores where our food comes from starting with the slaughter houses, then goes into grains and corn and ends up talking about healthier alternatives. It made me realize how naive we as Americans really are about what goes into a lot of our food and the process in which most of it is made.

I decided that I was no longer going to eat meat. Well kind of. I am no longer going to eat meat that is processed or comes from a slaughter house or has been altered (meaning the animals were fed hormones to make them bigger.) I will also not be eating any fast food as well as doing my best to stay away from processed foods. Sure, this will probably be really hard for me but sometimes I don't think it will. In the long run I know that this is the healthiest option for me.

I have gone 3 days on my new life change of no meat and in reality it hasn't been hard. I have been forced to make sure that I am eating a lot more fruits and veggies and thinking about how I can make my food that much better with out meat.

So there you have it, it wasn't a really hard debate with myself, and I am honestly proud of myself!

Wordless Wednesday

Its Crazy To Think...

 That a little over a year ago, Eric was just getting into his deployment,

And I had just barely turned 21.

And today, we are together, hopefully forever (meaning no more deployments!)!

At the time, I never though the day would come where Eric and I were together again. And now that we are, deployment seems like such a distant memory! I am counting my blessings :D

GIVE AWAY!

My wonderful friend Suzi See is doing a fantastic giveaway on her blog!! Some hand made earrings! So go CHECK it out and enter to win these babies:

Photo by Suzi

GOOD LUCK GALS!!!

PoRtLaNd!!

Shortly after Eric came home from the suck fest, he planned a romantic weekend getaway for him and I in Portland Oregon! He is usually horrible at keeping secrets but he did such a good job on this and I had a BLAST! We stayed at the Paramount Olympic Hotel in downtown and it was really nice! I forgot to take a picture of the hotel though! 

As I may have mentioned before, Eric LOVES micro brewed beer and is always looking for his next favorite! One of his top brewers is Rogue and they happen to have a restaurant in Portland so we headed there when we got in town.

Here is my sexy husband at Rogue trying to decide what to eat.

 Weather you drink or don't drink, Rogue has some of the BEST food I have ever eaten so next time your in town, do yourself a favor and go eat there!

Here he is with a brew!

 Before we left for our trip, he told me that I needed to buy something nice to wear so my best friend and younger sister and I went shopping at Macy's and I found the most amazing dress even though I had no clue where we were headed. After lunch at Rogue we headed back to the hotel for a little nap and relaxation then it was time to get ready!

Eric all dressed up and ready to go! He even let me give him a fo-hawk which I think looked so awesome on him!

Here is a picture of my dress, I felt like a million bucks!!

Another pic of me all dressed up!

 He took me to see a production of SOUTH PACIFIC and I had such a blast! The musical was amazing and he and I both had a great time. We sadly didnt get a picture of us in front of the signs together but I am so looking forward to going to more shows!

Eric and I after the show!

After the show we headed out to Old Time Pizza, which we had seen on TV a while back. It is an old hotel which is haunted by a prostitute who was killed there years and years ago. It had such a cool vintage feel and Im super bummed I didnt take pictures of the inside. Another place to check out! 

AMAZING pizza! The best I have ever had!

 After our late  night on the town, we headed back to the hotel for a good nights sleep. The following morning we headed out into Portland in search of the world famous VooDoo Doughnuts. We had heard about it from some friends of ours and then saw it on TV.

Eric not happy about the wait in line

 After about 45 minutes of waiting (totally worth it) we got to order! They have weird doughnuts but they are amazing! We got a few maple bacon bars, a couple voo doo doughnuts and a few others. 

Eric a little happier

After Doughnuts we headed around to a few of the local markets and just enjoyed a relaxing afternoon spending time with each other. I miss portland and hope to go back some day!