Meme - Day Twelve.

Today I have to post a picture of the town I live in. I live in a small town of about 50,000 people in Arizona, called Sierra Vista. If you're not familiar with Spanish, sierra vista translates to mountain view - and boy, is this town full of mountain views, which is why I decided to share the following picture.

Photo via City-Data.

Those are the Huachuca Mountains, which surround my town. In the winter, they are always covered in snow, while we almost never have any on the ground here. I may live in a teeny, tiny, town - but the views are amazing!

Meme - Day Eleven.

The topic today - What's in my makeup bag. I actually have a lot of makeup that I never wear, which I keep in my caboodle. Yes - a caboodle. I was excited when they brought these back. I bought one and put all my excess makeup in it and put it under my bathroom sink. I then have a smaller makeup bag that store my everyday makeup. In there I have:

-CoverGirl Concealer - My must have makeup item.

-Physicians Formula Mineral Powder

-L'Oreal Mineral Blush

-L'Oreal Mineral Finishing Powder

-L'Oreal Mineral Bronzer (I wear this in the summer)

-CoverGirl Eyeshadow - I almost always wear some shade of brown/copper.

-Eyeliner - In both black and brown, depending on what I'm wearing.

-CoverGirl Lashblast Mascara - The best mascara ever!

I don't wear makeup everyday, when I go to work, it's usually concealer, powder, blush, and mascara. Occasionally I will wear eyeshadow and liner. I also wear lip gloss, but I keep it in my purse. I know I could've taken a picture of this, but I'm lazy today :]

Meme - Day Ten.

Okay, so I'm back. Don't judge me. I will try to be better.

Today I have to post a picture of my favorite place to eat. My all time favorite restaurant is...

IHOP

But it's very sad - we don't have an IHOP in the town I live in. So my favorite place to eat in Sierra Vista is Filiberto's which is the most amazing Mexican fast food ever. I usually get the chimichanga plate and some horchata:



It's the best and I L.O.V.E. it!

Meme - Day Nine.

Okay, so I fell off track for a few days. I kept forgetting about it after I had a busy weekend. Anyway, I'm back on track now. Today I have to post a picture of the last thing I bought. Today I actually bought a few things - cat food, kleenex, zip-lock freezer baggies, two pomegranates, but my favorite purchase has to be my new coffee creamer. I usually drink cinnamon coffee and use fat free creamer & Splenda. I wanted to try something different, so I bought some regular coffee when I went grocery shopping and was waiting till I found the perfect creamer. And today was the day:

Sugar-free Hazelnut creamer! I love hazelnut and actually have some hazelnut coffee, but it's so strong that it requires a lot of creamer to tone it down. They don't make many creamers that are sugar-free or fat free (I prefer sugar-free since it usually has less calories), let alone one with an amazing flavor. I plan on trying it tomorrow and I hope it doesn't disappoint.

Meme - Day Eight.

Today I'm supposed to share a song that matches my mood. I'm in a pretty good, mellow sort of mood today, so I thought I'd post a mellow song. It happens to be one of my favorite songs of all time and if you don't have this album, I highly suggest it. It's beautiful and every song is amazing.

Fallen by Sarah McLachlan

Meme - Day Seven.

Okay, so I missed a day, but I did pretty dang good, making it five days in a row. The topic today is My Dream Wedding. My husband and I got married at the courthouse and there is only one thing I would change about that - I would've had some family there. But for the sake of this blog, I'll entertain the idea of my dream wedding.

So here's a picture I made at DavidsBridal.com:

I would have a small wedding on Lake Michigan with no more than 50 guests. I never got into that wedding stuff.

Meme Day Six.

I almost didn't blog today, but it kept eating at me, so I figured I'd get on here and do day six since it's not a very labor intensive topic. Today I have to post A Picture of an Animal That I'd like to Keep as a Pet.

Let me start off by saying that I am a HUGE anima lover. I appreciate almost every mammal and find them all pretty adorable. I have a special spot in my heart for rodents - hamsters, beavers, mice, guinea pigs, etc. I have two favorite rodents and I couldn't narrow it down between the two, so I decided to post both of them. I hope I'm not breaking the rules ;]

Alas, here they are:

Squirrel

(via Flickr)

Prairie Dog

(via Scientific American)

How can you not love these little guys?

P.S. I never realized how much these two animals look alike!

Meme - Day Five.

Today I have to share a photo of myself from two years ago. This time two years ago, I was living in Tennessee, attending Austin Peay State University, and awaiting my husbands' return from Iraq. I had just lost a total of 70+ pounds and was feeling pretty good about myself.

I've changed a little since this picture was taken - I no longer have bangs. My hair is a little longer. We now live in Arizona. I'm working.

But the best thing is something that stayed the same - I can still fit into those jeans. That is a huge accomplishment. Trust me.

Meme - Day Four.

Todays topic is Your Favorite Photograph of Your Best Friend. And since Bestie did hers on me, it's only fair that I do mine on her :] Let's start out with the picture, and then I'll explain why I like it so much :]

So there is my best friend Ashley with her two dogs, Pixie and Louie aka Woo. Firstly, I love this photo because Ashley looks truly happy. Remember when you'd take a picture of yourself just for MySpace? Both Ashley and I were guilty of that, but this is a candid shot, not one where she took 10 pictures just to get the perfect one. And the smile on her face is not forced or fake. It's genuine.

I also love this picture because of the way Woo is looking at her. Being a dog owner now, I can understand the look on his face. You can see how much he loves her and how loyal he is to her. Then there is Pixie in the middle. If you knew Pixie at all, you would understand why I find it comical that she is in between Ashley and Woo. Pixie always wanted attention, whether it be by hopping on your lap, or by chewing up something, she wanted to be the center of attention.

Both dogs are no longer with us, but I hope Ashley can look back on this picture and remember the love they gave her and her family & friends.

Meme - Day Three.

Today is day three and the topic is Your Idea of the Perfect First Date. I'm a really simple girl (for the most part) and I prefer simple dates! The whole dinner and a movie date sounds so cliché, but it's truly what I would prefer. But let me go a little deeper and be a little more specific.

I like to go out to dinner occasionally, but there is something special about a man who cooks! My husband cooks here and there, and can make a killer omelette, but he's never an entire meal for dinner. So I'd like to be cooked for. I don't think men realize how much it sucks to cook everyday, and on top of that, to actually come up with meal ideas. And it wouldn't have to be anything extravagant, spaghetti, bread, and a salad would please me :]

So after he'd make dinner (with a little help from me), we'd eat at the table, with candles lit and some music in the background. After dinner, we'd sit on the sofa and watch a movie - preferably a scary movie. Sure, I like the occasional romantic comedy, but I really love scary movies. Of course, we'd cuddle on the sofa during the movie (cuddling might be the best thing ever), and afterwards we'd go sit outside or go for a walk.

This felt so cheesy to write! I really prefer nights in and would much rather be at home with my husband, cuddling, kissing, and being sweet :]

Three days in a row - this might be a record!

Meme - Day Two.

Today is day two of my 30 day meme series and the topic is A Photo of Something You Ate Today. When I woke up this morning, I knew I would have to photograph something that I ate, so before I ate breakfast, I thought I'd better take a picture of it before I forgot. So here is my grand breakfast:

A Cocoa Full Bar and some Lite Blueberry Pomegranate yogurt. A while back, my friend had ordered the Full Bars in an effort to lose weight, but they didn't really work for her, so she gave them to me the other day. They're like a cereal bar - and unlike her - they seem to be working for me. The idea is that you eat one 30 minutes before a meal and it's supposed to make you less hungry. I'm not dieting or trying to lose any weight, but I figured I'd eat them in lieu of the granola bars that I usually eat. Here's a picture of what the Full Bar looks like:

So you can see they're actually pretty big. After I ate it, I felt so full that I didn't even know if I could eat the yogurt! I posted on Twitter that I felt like I had just consumed a steak dinner! She also gave me some flavor packets for water made by the same company, but I haven't tried those yet.

Be proud -- I blogged two days in a row!

Meme - Day One.

The Meme topic for today is A Photo of Yourself and a Description of How Your Day Was. Let's start with a photo of myself, taken today just for this blog. This is how I look most days - nothing special.

Now that we have the photo out of the way, lets get onto my day! I woke up today at 4:45 and made my husband his lunch and let the dog out, then laid myself right back into my comfy bed until 6:30am, which is when I actually got up for the day. I again let the dog out, got his breakfast ready. While he ate his food, I checked my Facebook, Twitter, and other important sites (Hey, Lamebook and Failbook are really important!). At around 7:20, I started getting ready for the day. All that means for me is brushing my teeth, getting dressed and putting on minimal makeup (i.e. powder, blush, and mascara). After I was ready, I took the dog outside to throw the ball around and get him worn out. After about 15 minutes of playing ball, I came back inside and ate a cup of peach & mango yogurt and gathered my things for the day. After putting the dog in the crate, I left for the day at around 8:20, stopping at Gas City to get a Diet Coke fountain drink. I then made my way to work.

When I got to work, I counted my money and waited for the store to open at 9am. Work was pretty typical, am a cashier and I just take peoples money, sounds exciting, I know. I get a 15 minute lunch break, which I usually take around 12:30. Today I ate a granola bar and some peanut brittle that someone had brought in to share. I spent the rest of my lunch break walking around the store, but I didn't find anything worth buying. The next 2 hours went by pretty slow and after the store closed, I counted down my drawer and left to come home.

My husband was home when I got here, he was outside watering the plants and cleaning out our fountain, after he had played with the dog. I started a load of laundry, mostly my husbands work clothes, and then I decided to write this blog. The rest of my night entails dinner at 5pm (I'm reheating a pepperoncini roast and making some mashed potatoes). Then I'll take a bath, and perhaps watch some TV and play some Halo Reach, and then head to bed between 10-11.

And there's my day!

30 Day Meme.

I haven't been blogging lately, but with Summer winding down, I am going to try to blog more. I've used Meme's in the past, and recently my Bestie started a 30 Day Meme. I decided to be a poser and join in on the fun. Here's the list of the topics I'll be blogging on:

Day 1 - A photo of yourself and a description of how your day was.

Day 2 - A photo of something you ate today.

Day 3 - Your idea of the perfect first date.

Day 4 - Your favorite photograph of your best friend.

Day 5 - A photo of yourself two years ago.

Day 6 - A photo of an animal you'd love to keep as a pet.

Day 7 - Your dream wedding.

Day 8 - A song to match your mood.

Day 9 - A photo of the item you last purchased.

Day 10 - A photo of your favorite place to eat.

Day 11 - What's in your makeup bag.

Day 12 - A photograph of the town you live in.

Day 13 - Your favorite musician and why?

Day 14 - A TV show you're currently addicted to.

Day 15 - Something you don't leave the house without.

Day 16 - Your celebrity crush.

Day 17 - A photo of you and your family.

Day 18 - Something you crave a lot.

Day 19 - Another picture of yourself.

Day 20 - The meaning behind your blog name.

Day 21 - A photo of something that makes you happy.

Day 22 - A letter to someone who has hurt you recently.

Day 23 - 15 facts about you.

Day 24 - A photo of something that means a lot to you.

Day 25 - What's in your purse?

Day 26 - A photo of somewhere you've been to.

Day 27 - A picture of you last year and now and how you changed since then?

Day 28 - Your favorite movie.

Day 29 - Something you could never get tired of doing.

Day 30 - A photograph of yourself today + three good things that have happened in the past 30 days.

I can almost guarantee that I won't blog everyday, but I will try my hardest.

The Concrete Jungle.

This weekend, I was on a quest for some queso de freir (cheese for frying) since the website I found for ordering was sold out, the hubby and I came across a Mexican store the reminded me of the bodegas in New York City. If you've never been to or heard of a bodega, it's basically a tiny grocery store, like the size of a gas station convenience store. It has all your basics, but then it has fruit, meat, beer...everything. Here's a picture of a typical bodega:

So the bodega didn't have my cheese, but we did buy some carne asada with marinade to grill out with. But it really got me thinking, about New York and how much I love it.

I can't even count how many times I've been to the City now, but every time we cross The George Washington Bridge into the City, it reminds me of my first time. Jenry videotaped it and I was just awestruck by the lights and all the buildings. The energy changes immediately after you get out of Jersey and into the City...I can't even describe it.

My husband always wanted to go back to New York, or even just the East Coast, but I knew he'd have better luck finding work out here in Arizona. We have discussed moving to New York, probably within the next 10 years. If he makes the same amount of money as he does now, we could afford decent housing there. He'd be home, I'd be closer to home.

And most importantly, I wouldn't have to look so hard for this damn queso de freir :p

Letters From Me.

Sometimes I feel the need to say things to people, but instead of saying it to them, I think it in my head. I was inspired by Nicole to write them out, knowing fully that the recipients will never read them. Here we go.

Dear Next Door Neighbors,

Can you please pull your effin weeds? Geez. I've lived here for 9 months and you haven't pulled them once. It's an eyesore, and since both our houses are behind the mailbox for the entire street, everyone sees your grossness when they check their mail. While I appreciate how awesome you make my yard look, I can't stand to look at yours. While we're at it, you have a 3 car garage, is it necessary to have 3 cars in your driveway? Especially that bright orange truck with a flat tire and garbage in the bed. That one needs to be hidden in your garage.

Love,

Your Annoyed Neighbor

Dear Adults Obsessed With Twilight,

I've never seen Twilight and who knows, I might've liked it if you freaks hadn't scared me off. I'm not talking about all Twilight fans who are adults, but the ones who act like teenagers, you know the type I'm talking about. My sister bought me the first book, but I'm afraid to read it, for fears I might be associated with you weirdos. Seriously, if you have two kids and husband, do you really need to be swooning over teenagers and clogging up my Twitter feed with this garbage?

Sincerely,

Scared of You

Dear Parents Who Don't Vaccinate Their Children,

Personally, I plan to vaccinate any children I have when they are babies. I understand that some people don't want to because they think it will make their children autistic. Every person has their own thoughts about the topic, but understand you will make people mad. Don't tell a doctor that you're not going to vaccinate and expect them to not be concerned. Doctors are medically trained and might have a reason to be concerned.

Yours Truly,

Vaccinated & Not Autistic

Dear Fat People Who Eat Like Crap,

If you're fat and content, more power to you. If you're fat, unhappy, and eating a stack of oreos every night, then shutup about being fat. I was fat and I did something about it. I don't want to hear you complain about it anymore. Please, just stop.

Regards,

Formerly Fat

I think that's it for the day. If I offended you, I didn't mean to. These were all directed toward specific people who I don't really like to begin with, so I get more annoyed than normal.

Happy Monday!

Meme.

Thanks to my Bestie, I discovered Meme's, which is basically like a blog prompt. I decided to investigate further, and came across this site - The Daily Meme. Since I haven't blogged in so long and I find it difficult to find any inspiration, I decided today I would try a meme. So today's meme says, "Post any photo that is straight out of the camera, in other words, not enhanced or tweaked in any way." Lucky for me, I took pictures of myself yesterday because I wanted a new picture for Facebook. So here is the totally raw, unedited image of me:

Of course, I like to edit my pictures a little bit using Paint Shop Pro or a cool website called Picnik. So here's the actual picture I added to my Facebook after editing.

I only used one effect called 'soften' which didn't change the photo drastically, but it did change it. So there you have it :]

I'm Boring.

Which is why I haven't blogged in ages. Life is seriously so uneventful. I now have a job 2 days a week, so that keeps me occupied some of the time. The days I don't work, I go to my friends house where we take our dogs on a walk & then let them play. Yes, a playdate for dogs. But it seriously helps Bronx get out some of his energy! The hubby and I bought a 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee 2 weeks ago, so now my husband drives himself to and from work - which is truly amazing if you know my husband! Since he's now driving, it is imperative that he makes his new ride cool - so this weekend he & some friends tinted the windows and bought a new CD player for it (he's driving the Vibe to work since it gets better mileage). The CD player is waiting on a mount kit to come in the mail since that car has the weirdest dash ever:

Notice the little 12V plug on the bottom right - I love that thing!

I talked to my parents on Sunday and they informed me that they're coming out west next Spring! They'll most likely meet us in Vegas and spend some time there, then drive down to AZ and hang out with us here for for a while. I am very excited!

Other than that, life is pretty boring - and boring is good in my book :]

Ding Dong!

Since buying a house & moving into a subdivision, rings on my doorbell and knocks on our door have increased. I am the type of person who doesn't answer unless I am expecting someone or the person on the other side looks harmless. But due to the weather warming up, these knocks have increased and have the money in my wallet has decreased! Here's the knocks in a nice little list.

#1 - Girl Scouts. Okay, I'll admit I wasn't unhappy when they knocked on my door. I don't mind buying things from schools or organizations, especially kids. I remember being a kid, knocking on someones door, and feeling hurt when they turned me down. So when the GS came, I politely bought a box of Tagalongs and Thin Mints and my waistline hated it for me later :]

#2 - Republican Party. Okay, I am not a Republican, but I listened to this old guys speech and then told him I wasn't yet registered to vote in the state of AZ, so sorry pal, I can't sign your petition. I'm not going to sign it regardless - I know nothing about the guy your talking about. I'd like to research a candidate before I just sign my name to some piece of paper.

#3 - Cookie Dough. This was for the local high school's cheerleaders. Granted I'm probably not going to even make the white macademia nut cookie dough I ordered, I again remembered my childhood door knocking, and paid the $15 for it. Besides, they told me my dog was cute :]

#4 - Meat Guy. I knew I should've turned this guy away right when I answered, but I get suckered in everytime. Everytime. So I let him in and he shows me all these kinds of meats - for $400 or something. I didn't want to spend the money, but when you break it down, it really is cost effective. I bought 9.5 lbs of beef, 9 lbs of chicken, and 3lbs of salmon for $190. It sounds like a lot, but the beef is steaks (Ribeye, T-Bones, etc). I hardly ever buy beef because I for one don't really eat it. My freezer is stocked for the next 6 months I'd say!

#5 - Random Creepy Guy. Okay this one happened about an hour ago and I didn't answer. It's Saturday and my husband is sick and we're still in our PJ's. Anyway, he rings the bell and stands there for literally 5 minutes. No exaggeration. Then he knocks and stands there for another 2 minutes, finally leaving. It was creepy and he was old. I don't know what he wanted, and I don't really care. I swear he was peeking in my house too. This is our front door. It's hard to see in, but if you put your face close enough, you can see inside on certain parts of the glass.

So there you have it. I'm sure more will come and knock and I'm sure there are more who will be ignored or get my money. Sometimes I miss apartment living - no one ever bothered me there!

Spring!

I love Spring and here in Arizona, Spring is only a month long before it's so hot you regret buying a black car. This Spring will be mine & my husbands first Spring as homeowners! Which I guess only sounds exciting in writing. In actuality, it means a lot of work! So far, we've pulled all the weeds and picked up all the leaves - and that alone makes my yard look a million times better! Weeds aren't normally a big deal, but since we have gravel instead of grass, they're way more noticeable, therefore I think the whole neighborhood looks at our yard with disgust (even though I know it's my next door neighbors yard that is truly the worst!).

Among the weed pulling & leaf pick-up, our trees have all started to blossom! Our two unidentified trees now have leaves again. Our peach tree has the prettiest pink flowers (I didn't even know peach trees had flowers before peaches), and our purple flowering trees look and smell amazing (too bad the bumble bees are always around them, freaking me out). To go with all our nice landscaping, we have to put new flowers in our flower box, hang our hanging tomato plant, and put a new plant in one of our pots - I'm waiting until May though, when I'm sure the threat of freeze is over.

Then of course, there is Spring Cleaning! The only area that we have to do is the garage since I keep my house pretty clean. We still have all our moving boxes, which we're giving to some friends who are moving in May, and giving them back their washer/dryer that we were storing. So that will clear up some space. I'm really excited. I love cleaning and organizing. It calms me :]

Hope everyone has a happy Spring!

All I've Got.

"All that I'm after is a life full of laughter; As long as I'm laughing with you. And I think that all that still matters is love ever after, after the life we've been through. 'Cause I know there's no life after you."

-Daughtry

Have you ever come across a song that really hits home for you? Of course you have, who hasn't? The chorus of Life After You by Daughtry is one that I am just so in love with. It corresponds with how I view my marriage. My husband and I don't have a perfect marriage - who does? But we do laugh a lot. I still look at him and wonder how it's been almost six years of marriage already, I still feel like we're newlyweds. I brought this up to him the other day and he agreed. This is the kind of marriage I always dreamed of, one like my parents had. Of course all my memories of my parents marriage come from the perspective of a child, but I remember there being a lot of laughter in their marriage.

I met my husband when I was 18, almost 19, and while he made me laugh when we were friends, I never would've picked him for my husband. But then I got to know his heart, and honest to God, he has one of the kindest hearts of anyone I've met, to a fault sometimes. But I really think it was all the good laughs he gave me that won me over! Seven years later, we're still laughing.

I believe without a doubt, that laughter is the key to a good marriage.

I have no idea why I wrote this blog :]

Sports Nut.

Growing up, I only liked one sport and one sport only: football. My father is a Detroit Lions fan and my mother was a Chicago Bears fan. Being a 'mommy's girl', that meant I too was a Bears fan. Somewhere around the ago of four, I also became a Buffalo Bills fan. I ask my dad how that came to be, and the only conclusion he could come up with was that I like the way their name sounded, which sounds like a four year olds logic I suppose. The Lions play every Thanksgiving, don't ask me how they earned that honor. Back in the days of Barry Sanders, it made sense, but as of late, I question it. The Thanksgiving after my mom died, the Lions played the Bills and my dad decided he's take my sister Heather and I to the game. The Bills lost, but I remember how cool I thought it was. We didn't have a lot of money back then, so going to a game, a Thanksgiving Day game no less, and staying in a suite at the Radisson was a real treat! Looking back now, I think of how my mom would've loved it - she was a die hard Bears fan and I can remember her screaming at the TV and screaming when they'd get a touch down. I have her Walter Payton pin and I look at it and smile, and realize how much I am like her. Only with a different sport.

When I met my husband, I was introduced to baseball. He is a lifelong New York Mets fan and I had only seen baseball once when I went to a White Sox game in middle school. To take interest in something he liked, I decided to pick a team and go with it. I made the unfortunate mistake of becoming a Yankees fan. That lasted about a day when I realized I didn't want to be some sort of bandwagon fan. So I watched a Mets game and realized why my husband liked them. I can't explain it, but they are the underdog team of New York, and I love rooting for the underdog. We went to a game in 2005 and I loved it even more. I picked a player - David Wright - who happens to be good looking and really good. I never imagined myself as a baseball fan, but I love it and I am glad my husband introduced me to it!

Then in 2006, I met Kelsey at school. She was a hockey fan, and even though I am from Michigan, I never cared about hockey and couldn't understand her fascination. She finally convinced me to go to a Nashville Predators game in 2007, a playoff game, which they lost and ended their season. I loved it though, the energy of hockey is unmatched by any other sport. The next season I went to more games with Kelsey and fell in love with it. The next year, I bought a half season and became slightly obsessed with the sport.

Which bring me to the Olympics. I was so happy that Team USA made it to the gold medal game, as no one really expected that. Even though they lost the gold, they won silver, which really is an accomplishment, and I was really proud. And it made me happy to hear people talking about hockey. I hope that game brought more people to hockey and maybe created some new fans of the sport. I was sad for the Olympics to be over, but I am happy that NHL will be back in action this week.

Seven years ago, I was football fan. These days, I am sports fan.

Just 2&1/2 years until Summer Olympics, haha.

Bronx.

I have hardly had anytime to update - 2 weeks ago my husband and I got a puppy. My husband has wanted a dog as long as I've known him, while I am a 'cat lady'. I could live my entire life never owning a dog and be perfectly happy. We had 2 dogs and 2 cats growing up and I liked them fine, but I've just always liked cats more. My husband likes bigger breeds, particularly German Shepherds and Huskies, while I like smaller breeds, especially Pomeranians. Since I already have three cats, it was his turn to get an animal he wanted. We had contemplated it in the past, but we already had the max allowable pets at our apartment complex, and secondly, we didn't think it was fair to have a huge dog in a 900 square foot apartment. After we bought a house, it became possible to get a dog, but we wanted to wait until after the holidays so we could go home without worrying about a dog.

So for the past two months I have been scouring the classifieds and pet finder for a puppy. Normally I wouldn't mind adopting an adult dog, but with the cats, I wanted a puppy. We did find one Husky puppy for adoption in the next town over, but after doing some research, these dogs just really aren't good with cats, often killing them, so that was a no go. So I decided to try to find a German Shepherd. These dogs are impossible to adopt as puppies - they get adopted so fast. So buying one was our only option. I found some in Phoenix (3 hours away), but they were crazy expensive since they were AKC registered, something I really could care less about. I'm not breeding my animal, so why pay for a piece of paper. I finally found some pups in Tucson (1 hour away) and showed my husband immediately - and he liked them. They weren't papered, as the mother dog was not papered, but they were fully blooded Germans and that's what we wanted.

I called the owners and decided to drive up that day (Feb 11). The puppies were perfect - they were 10 weeks, had their shots, and had the black & brown markings we wanted. My husband took about 30 minutes picking out the perfect puppy and finally settled on one. We already knew we wanted to name him Bronx after my husbands hometown in NY. He was shy and scared the first day, but is already a great dog! He sleeps in his crate with no problem, the past three days he has not had an accident in the house. The only time he will have one is if we're gone for more than 2 hours (in his crate), but when we're home he goes and waits by the back door. He loves to play - he caught onto fetch after day one of being with us. He is still a little curious about the cats, but is learning to leave them alone. Leash training is a little more difficult, but he is getting better. And he just loves my husband, follows him around whenever he is home.

It's a lot of work, but I love him so much already and I think he will be a great dog!

Money $aver.

I LOVE saving money. One of my biggest areas of not totally watching how much I spend is at the grocery store. I am always in search of a great deal and use coupons frequently - but my problem lies within the fact that I buy more than we need, averaging about $170 every two weeks on groceries.

The other day I was in search of coupons on the internet when I came across this blog - The Krazy Coupon Lady, and I'm telling you, this blog is filled with deals. My favorite part of the site is the grocery store match-up, where she posts advertised sales from leading chains with coupons she finds either online or in the paper, and tells you how much you're saving, etc. I shop at Fry's (which is also known as Kroger and Smith's, among other names) and today I sat down, looked at the match-up, printed coupons, and *gasp* - planned 14 meals for the next two weeks and made a list. So instead of my over buying and overspending, I spent $117. That's nearly a $60 savings, which if you break it down, is $63.50 a week. What I saved is a whole week of groceries.

She also posts match-ups for CVS, Target, and Walgreens. I've learned that I don't need to buy all my things from one place. Before I went grocery shopping, I hit up Target and used coupons I had to buy things they had on sale - cat litter and dish washer tablets. The tablets were on sale for $3.99 and I had a $1 off coupon that was mailed to me from here the Home Made Simple website. Every few months they will mail out a coupon book full with coupons for cleaning products.

One of the things I've learned since moving out to AZ where everything is more expensive - never buy anything that isn't on sale or you don't have a coupon for. It really saves you money in the long run. Another great thing about Fry's? For every $100 you spend, you get $.10 off gasoline. So I make sure I use that too.

Anyway, I was just really excited about my savings and since my husband seemed not so interested, I thought I'd blog about it. Have a great day!!

From Small Space to Large Space.

If there's anything I've learned in the past three months since becoming a homeowner is that it's expensive. My husband and I went from an 800 square foot apartment to a house more than double that. And now I am finding I need more furniture. Yesterday the hubby and I made a stop at Lowes since we had a gift card from my parents as a housewarming gift. We'd decided long ago that we wanted an outdoor fire pit. We looked around, and a few caught my eye. But we decided to get a chiminea instead, which are very popular out here. Here is a picture of the one we bought:

So that's one thing off the list of things we need to buy! In my kitchen, there is a counter that overhangs into the dining room, so now we need bar stools. These are the ones I'm considering:
I like the red because that is the color theme we are going for in the kitchen, and I also wanted stools with backs on them. The material is microfiber, which I know is a good fabric for cat owners. While I like them a lot, the hubby is not sold on them (yet!).

Another piece of furniture we need - a table for the front entry way. It really needs one, it is so empty by the door! I really like this one from Target:

Nothing fancy - just something to put there!

There are so many other things we want to buy - patio furniture, a grill, and God knows what else. It's expensive moving from a smaller place to a larger place and buying the furniture to fill it up. I keep telling myself that it doesn't all have to happen at once. I can buy a piece here, buy a piece there, and one day it will all come together!

So Over It.

After our experience this year, I am pretty much over traveling, or rather flying! On Sunday the 20th, the hubby and I headed up to Phoenix to stay in a hotel since our flight left at 6:30am the next morning and we weren't sure about traffic & making the three hour drive so early! The day started off fine, the airport wasn't too busy, security wasn't a nightmare, and we waited only a little bit before they started boarding. Then it got bad. Our flight took off 30 minutes late, but I wasn't too upset since we had a 2 hour layover in Minneapolis/St. Paul. About an hour into the flight, a flight attendant came over the PA and asked if there was a doctor on board. Apparently, a older man in his 60's had collapsed near the bathroom. He had an oxygen tank, and as he was walking out of the bathroom, the tubing got caught in the door, cutting off oxygen, and causing him to pass out & fall. The flight attendants and a nurse gave him CPR & mouth to mouth for about 30 minutes, when the pilot finally came over the PA to announce that we were making an emergency landing in Denver so the man could get medical help. Yeah, I was annoyed, but I couldn't be mad, it wasn't his fault. So we landed and proceeded to sit there for almost 2 hours while were waiting to re-fuel and be taxied onto the runway again. Long story short, we missed our connecting flight and ended up home almost 2 hours later than planned.
The time home was wonderful though! I got to meet my nephew who is six months now, and is oh-so-adorable. He is a a happy baby for the most part and has the cutest little grin! I love him so much already :] I also got to meet up with Bestie while in the Mitten. Her husband grew up about an hour away from me, so they drove down and we went to lunch. And it felt like we’d never been separated. It felt good to talk to someone who understands me and I can be myself around. And of course, her baby is becoming a boy! He will be two in February and he has changed so much since I last saw him! Along with that, it was good to be around my family, especially my sisters who I love dearly and miss so much.
As if getting my Michigan weren’t annoying enough, I would soon find out that the trip home would be 10x worse. Our flight was supposed to leave Chicago at 6pm, so we of course arrived 2 hours early, went through security fairly fast, and were waiting for the plane to arrive, when an announcement came over the PA: Our flight coming from Atlanta, was being diverted to Indianapolis due to the weather in Chicago, which wasn’t bad AT ALL. They said they couldn’t keep the runway clear from snow, which I don’t understand because it was barely coming down. As soon as they announced this, I knew we were in for a long night, as our we only had a 40min layover and our connection flight was the last one out of Atlanta to Phoenix that night. They immediately rebooked us for a flight out of Atlanta the next day at 1:30pm – a whole 16 hours later than our other flight. I was seriously annoyed, but what could I do? Nothing. We kept getting updates saying our plane would land in an hour, oh then another hour, and on and on. Our flight finally landed at about 10pm. But then the flight attendants had worked their allotted hours and we needed a new crew, who had to fly from O’Hare, which took and hour. It’s in the same city for crying out loud! After much waiting, we finally boarded the plane and took off at 1:30am, arriving in Atlanta at 3:30am. We hadn’t eaten dinner, because we didn’t know when we would board and didn’t want to miss the call to board, and when we got to Atlanta, of course everything was closed. We ended up sleeping on benches on the airport; it was pointless to go to a hotel only to check out seven or eight hours later. The only plus to our big mishap – we got to sit in first class on our 4 hour flight to Phoenix. Free movies, a meal, and larger seats – if I could, I would always fly first class! It was so nice. We finally made it to Phoenix and then had to drive 3 hours home, ate dinner, and went to bed since my husband had to be up at 4:45am for work.
I could understand having a traveling mishap on our way there, but to have such luck on both travel days? Like I said, I am over traveling…until next year :]
Hope everyone had a safe holiday, and here’s to a new year!