Feliz NYE

Happy New Years Eve all!! I'm at work, which isn't all that bad considering this is the first New Years' Eve I have worked in...maybe forever. I was able to get some early (8:15 a.m.) jazzercise in before heading to spend five hours or so with Landon-my work for today:) Not too bad of a gig, starting work at 10:00 a.m. after a great end of 2013 workout, coffee and breakfast sandwich! Besides, tonight is the most important part of New Years' Eve anyways:) I will be off by 3:00 p.m. with plenty of time to get dolled up and fancy for an evening out with Adam, Sean and Tyree celebrating an important/exciting year for them as well as one for Adam and I:) Cheers to fond memories of 2013, love, laughter, good eats and tasty drinks to come!

Today is a pretty special day for another reason as well. New Years' Eve 1983 is the night my parents said "I do" to one another! That's right, today marks 30 years of marriage for my parents and I couldn't be more happy (or proud) of them:) I know it hasn't been all rainbows and butterflies over the past 30 years with five kids, too many pups to count, along with various other animals and many moves, but I can honestly say that my parents have put some great work in. They have managed to stay true to their vows and be there for one another in good times and in bad. I feel that they are stronger because of it. I have watched them grow together as the years passed and now that almost all the kids are gone and moved away, I am seeing them learn to be just them, together again:) It makes my heart happy to see them traveling together and investing in not only their kids, whom I know they love to the ends of the Earth, but also in one another. I don't worry about them being happy together for another 30 years.
So on this day I want to wish my parents the very happiest of happiest anniversaries with many more to come in the future! I love you, I'm proud of you and I want to thank you for setting such a good example for me to follow when it comes what it takes to make a successful marriage go the long haul.

Last Monday of 2013

Well Mondays, I can honestly say that I won't miss you and I'm super excited to be more than half way through the last one of this year. 2013 has been an amazing year in so many ways, but it was also a year of endings (most were for the better) as well as another year without a teaching job for yours truly. *Insert sigh here. However, I have high hopes for 2014. Optimism and a hopeful mentality are my saving sanity and keep me going, but I'm certain they will most likely be my downfall as well:)

The final days of 2013 have been both relaxing and full of big decisions. Adam and I both had Friday off of work including the weekend to spend together, a luxury we haven't had much during this last month of 2013. Back in September, we decided that we were ready to move in together and began looking for a place to call our own around SE Portland, which is where we love the most :) We found an amazing loft space on Belmont and have been first on a waiting list, but after a few months with nothing popping available figured we should branch out to find other equally impressive spaces. I would absolutely love to start 2014 together under one roof (I think we both would), but we may have to hold tight a little longer to find our perfect place. Adam is putting his 30 day notice in at his current apartment and will either move in with me or into a new place for us, so I guess I will be starting 2014 with him no matter what:) Positive note!

Adam and I have also been vacation planning for a 10 day trip in April and will hopefully have our trip settled and booked within the first few weeks of the new year :) We are sticking with our original song, "Aruba, Jamaica, oooooooh I wanna take you! To Bermuda, Bahamas come on pretty mama!" But since the timeshare isn't available for April in Aruba, we have almost come to an agreement on taking a trip to the Bahamas instead:) I'm equally happy with either outcome, naturally.

I'm officially excited for the start of 2014, but you better believe I intend to party out 2013 like a champ with the man who makes my days happier and two fantastic friends!!

Let the holiday parties commence!

IT'S CHRISTMAS EVE!!! Today has been pretty relaxing thus far I have to say:) I was up around 8:30 a.m. to make it to jazzercise class at 9:30, which was awesome! Now I don't have to feel as guilty for all the yummy holiday food I will be consuming this evening at the Gessler residence for our Christmas Eve get together and tomorrow when Adam and I have brunch with my parents and then dinner with his parents. Adam slept in because, well, he deserves it after the crappy work/sleep schedule he has had to endure this month. I am in full party swing! Bring on the eggnog, beers, wine, delicious finger foods, and what not! No jazzing for me tomorrow, but I can make it up on Thursday so I intend to enjoy myself at each of our parties, within reason of course, I don't want to be a glutton for punishment when I doooooo head back to jazzercise:)

The Beavers' play in their bowl game against Boise this evening at 5:00 p.m. so we will of course have to watch at least the first half before heading to Bridget and Brandon's around 6:30ish. I am really hoping they get ta win tonight! I know that's what Adam wants for Christmas:) As do many of our friends...GO BEAVS!!

 I am so excited to spend the next two days with both our families! We are lucky that we don't have to travel too much in order to do both. Even though many of our siblings are in different places, at least we can give both sets of parents some QT time :) I hope that all of you enjoy the time with your family and have a VERY happy (as Harry Potter would say) Christmas! I'm off to make some key lime cheesecakes to bring to Adam's parents tomorrow:)

Happy Christmas eve eve!

I am feeling like a giddy kid today!! Well, actually I've been feeling all holiday giddy for a few days now:) I even let (made) Adam open a Christmas gift last night! He loved it...the me making him open presents part aaaaand the gift too:) There is just something...special about the holiday season. I have even stopped simply thinking about and wishing I had taken opportunities to give more to those in need and actually taken action to help those that are less fortunate to have a more enjoyable holiday season. This alone has made my heart feel full and is something I am planning on continuing.

The holidays are such a crazy, busy time where I feel like I am trying my best to get around to see everyone, which of course, is impossible, but I am making a huge effort and doing my best. Yesterday afternoon, I was able to spend some time visiting with Bernadette, the little I used to nanny, and her parents for Christmas drinks and munchies and it was such a wonderful few hours! I can hardly believe how fast she is growing! She is so smart, independent, kind, funny and one of my absolute favorite kiddos:) Afterward, Adam and I met up with my parents and Caleb to take in the lights, music and sights at The Grotto. It is really nice to do things together, but I especially love it this time of year:) The lights were awesome and even though it was a cluster fudge of people, it wasn't too cold and we had a lovely time. I enjoyed seeing my parents taking it all in, it was quite magical really:) I get my sentimental heart from both of them.

Today is my last day of work before Christmas and I'm spending a modest 6-7 hours hanging with Jack and Sam, who got me the cutest owl mini pitcher/coffee mug for Christmas! I intend to use it as much as possible:) I also got a great scarf from Sarah and James as well as a Christmas bonus. One of the great things about being a nanny is the relationship you form with the family and how much they appreciate you. It is enough to make a girl feel all mushy and loved! I'm lucky to work for two wonderful families like the Tycasts and the Shipleys:) They truly treat me like one of the family and make me feel valued, which is something that often gets lost in the work place...feeling valued.  

 

I love everything about this time of year, but I especially love that I am able to spend time with the people I care about most (or at least many of them) and also that I am able to help out those that have not been as blessed as myself or simply had a bad lot with some aspects of life.

Cheers to all and here's wishing you a very merry Christmas eve EVE! ♥ ♥ ♥

Deeeeaaaaar diary

A couple nights ago, I walked by the bookshelf in my room and realized how FRIGGIN dusty it was! Yeeeeaaah...I don't dust. I'm super tidy and neat, but I don't clean clean very often. This thick level of dust required immediate action...at 11 o'clock, on a Wednesday night mind you. As I proceeded to dust I naturally began looking through my old photo albums and such because let's face it, I'm easily distracted by shiny, colorful things:)

As I looked through old albums of college shenanigans, and Costa Rica travel, I came across an old journal with a few entries from my two trips to Italy when I was living in Thailand. That sentence alone makes me want to get off my butt and go somewhere, ANYWHERE. What a sweet and awesome traveling life I had for two years! I decided that I liked the idea of keeping a travel journal back when I took my first trip to a new country sans parents. The idea being that I would have a written record of my thoughts, experiences and all the feelings that I had while discovering a new place:) The first time that I kept a travel journal was when Leah, Lauren and I traveled to Costa Rica the summer before I moved to Thailand. At the end of every single day of our two week trek around Costa Rica I would sit on the bed, knees drawn up and hand write about the adventures we'd had that day. Leah thought this was hilarious! She in turn would say to me as I pulled out my travel journal, (a journal that I received from my bestest Jessie) "Deeeeeaaaar Diary!" It became an ongoing joke for the entire trip. Although they poked fun at me every day when I wrote in my travel log, I'm so so SO grateful that I took the time to sit down, reflect and record all the amazing things I was able to see and do while traveling around Costa Rica. The picture album I have is an excellent way to remember all that we did, but there is something about reading my own words, thoughts and actually being able to recall the feelings I was having at the time. I didn't do as great of a job recording my travels in Italy and Thailand, but I do have a few journal entries that bring back happy memories that take me back:) I encourage those of you who do travel to try writing in a journal, even if it is just a word or two to describe your day because having that tangible book to look back over is a wonderful way to relive fantastic memories! HAPPY TRAVELS!! ♥

It's more tingly than hot

That's right folks! I officially got my very first tattoo today! After four years of mulling over possible designs and spending the last few months hemming and hawing on a location on my body, size, tattoo shop and artist, I pulled the trigger today and could not be happier with the results:) Over the past month, I have had to reschedule (because of holiday/birthday conflicts on my side) with my tattoo guy, Adam, a time or two, but I made it in today at 4:00 p.m. with Adam by my side in case it hurt like a biotch! For the record it did not :)

I woke up this morning feeling confident and excited. I headed to jazzercise at noon after having a cup of coffee and it wasn't until my way home around 1:15 p.m. that I started thinking about what I should and shouldn't be doing on tattoo appointment day. Maybe I should Google it?? So I did and I found the following: lay off caffeine, eat meals, drink plenty of water, don't take any blood thinning meds like headache pills, and oh yeah...don't consume alcohol 2-3 days prior. Crap. I had wine last night while we were putting up the tree at Adam's parent's house along with a beer later on, woke up this morning and had two ibuprofen (on account of the glasses of vino :) before jazzercise, no breakfast aaaaand coffee! Off to a great start! I called tattoo Adam and asked if I needed to bring anything...my tattoo newbieness was showing:) All I ended up needing to bring was a copy of my design, which ended up being the one I presented originally to Adam, turns out it was already perfect and he could find no way to tweak it to make it better suited for me :) I made myself eat scrambled eggs and potatoes along with ritz and peanut butter and of course LOTS of agua in the two hours before we headed to my appointment. I was not about to be the fainting girl!

Adam and I showed up at right at 4:00 and got settled in while tattoo Adam drew out my design (he flipped it and made it bigger to fit the inside of my right forearm) and went out for a smoke...I peed TWICE (I'm an anxious pee-er and had consumed mass quantities of water beforehand mind you!) Before I knew it he was calling us back to get started! I sat right down in the chair and put my arm on the plastic covered arm rest. He had everything out and ready and you better believe I asked him and made sure everything was new, clean and sterile before we began! I also asked my Adam to tell me if he got any weird vibes when we walked in, but Anatomy Tattoo shop passed both our inspections:) Tattoo Adam put the stencil on my arm, I checked it out in the mirror, showed my Adam for confirmation and gave the thumbs up to start. Here we gooooooooo!!! I'm not sure what I was expecting it to feel like, but getting a tattoo was not nearly as painful as I was prepared for. I figured that because I have such a strong dislike for needles that I would need to hold Adam's hand and bite down on something to keep from crying or flinching! Adam sat by me, but I didn't need to hold his hand:) I watched as tattoo Adam completed the outline and began filling in my design. The three of us chatted easily about tattoos, life, and such and before I knew it we were finishing up! The whole tattoo took a little over 35 minutes to complete. I was also surprised at how little it bled. I think I was expecting crazy pain and lots of blood :) If I was to describe how getting a tattoo felt, I would say it was more annoying than painful and felt a bit like repeated stinging by a bee. I have felt much more painful things before. I'm sure there are other places hurt more than the inner forearm though.

All in all, my first tattoo experience was more than I was hoping for :) I was pleasantly surprised at how brave and able to withstand the needle pain I was and actually enjoyed the process. Uh oh...you know what that means... :) more tattoos in my future!

a stumble off my 'high horse'

I consider myself a fairly opinionated person. When I was younger, you know...back in the day, I didn't share my feelings as much. Now, as a grown ass woman I tend to share them even when they are not solicited. Yes, that's right, I'm that girl. Unsolicited opinions spew from me every so often and here's one bummer part about that...I have had friendships end over it. Apparently we were not that great of friends if all it took was for me to speak my mind, but still, a bit disheartening in the end.

I never thought that being opinionated (and sharing said opinions) would ever be a bad thing, but lately I've been trying to figure out a way to share less of what I personally think or feel regarding certain situations. This is especially true when it comes to my family and closest friends. I often feel like it is my duty to be honest (brutally at times) with them about choices they are making when it comes to their actions within their relationships, what to do and not to do while raising children (talk about a sensitive topic!) and general life choices. These are all things I should probably keep my nose out of, but with family and best friends...it.is.difficult! I should say that it is hard to sit back and watch some of the choices that are being made and not share my thinking. What makes it even more tricky is not coming across as an arrogant know-it-all, which I most certainly am not and don't want to be perceived as. Honestly, I watch and listen A LOT and when I see or hear things that are troubling, I feel like I should say something! Am I alone in this boat of open honesty? Maybe I just need a better filter for what and  much I say...

As far as healthy romantic relationships go, I am definitely no expert considering that it was not until I was 28 that I found myself in one. However, I am well aware of what red flags in relationships look like as well as what are the risky things a person can do to end a relationship before it has even had a chance to succeed, seeing as I have experienced many first hand. When I share my concerns with family and friends regarding their present relationships, it is not out of arrogance or thinking that I know everything or am doing things better, it is simply to show my genuine concern and highlight mistakes that I have made so no one ends up repeating the past. Again, most people don't view unsolicited opinions or advice as concern. It puts me in a tricky position, let my feelings be known or bite my tongue and let the chips fall where they may in turn disregarding the probable heartache and endless hours of crying that will possibly come to be if I say nothing. Heck, even if I say something this could still be the outcome, but at least I can feel a bit less guilty given my forewarning.

Giving kid advice to parents is really never taken well, no matter what the reasons or motives behind it. I pretty much always get the same response..."You are not a parent so you have no idea how I should be raising my child." This is usually said in a nastier way and is a bit like a smack in the face every time. Sure, I don't have kids of my own, but I grew up with younger siblings, spent my entire young adult life caring for and working with children and oh, you know, only devoted around seven years (and counting) learning everything I could about teaching and caring for kids from birth to adult. That's clearly not the same though and I should probably just shut my stupid non-parent mouth for even suggesting that yoooouuuur method was possibly not the best one. I get it, sensitive subject, but all arrogance aside, I do know stuff about childrearing and development. Actually, lots of stuff. I listened, participated and studied like a crazy person all through university, so yes, I like to think that I am qualified to offer useful and knowledgeable advice. Perhaps if I ever choose to have kids of my own someday I will understand first hand why parents take such offense when offered any unsolicited advice or opinions, but until that time I am going to work on holding my tongue a bit more than I would like and not necessarily sharing aaaaall my feelings, concerns, or actual experience, whether theoretical or practical with the people I care about. More offense seems to be taken when I am really just voicing genuine concern. Consider this my dismount from my apparent "high horse." From now on I will try my best to offer blissful support and encouragement. And hey, if I can't manage that then I will just smile and keep my mouth shut :)