Our Fate is in the USMC's Hands!

So as you all know, I am back home on the east coast being super busy with pre-wedding fun and catching up with people I haven't seen in such a long time (as well as preparing Petrie for his big move to the west coast!). Along with all the fun stuff going on, an important piece of information has been passed along to me by my future Mr....the assignments have finally been released (to those who don't know, that basically means the list of available jobs is finally out and now is the time for Marines to pick, in order, where they would like to be placed next).  Marine life has us moving potentially every three years. Yes, I signed up for it, but it doesn't mean I can't say that it's a little stressful being handed a list and being told "here...pick where you want to live out of these places, in the order you want to go"....then the guy in charge of placing the men (and women) will have our destiny in his hands. Mr. Devil Dog's tour is up here in Sacramento between April and June...we find out around December where we are supposed to be moving next. That means I cannot apply for jobs, grad school, start looking for places to live until we are given "the word". Frustrating, right?!  (But I have to admit...it's also very exciting. See, there is a silver lining to everything!)
So I was given a list and was told to put in order of where I want to live. It goes as this:
SD, CA                                                                               Fort Worth, TX
Beafurt, SC                                                                       29 Palms, CA
Yuma, AZ                                                                           Ft. Mead, MD
Quantico, VA                                                                    Arlington, VA
Hawaii                                                                                New Orleans, LA
Camp Lejeune, NC                                                          Guam
Okinawa, JP
 The choice is harder than you may think! At a glance I would say "HAWAII...DUH!"...but then I have to think about where I want to be in 3 years. Do I want to start a family by then? Heck yes. Do I want to move so far away from my family? (moving to Cali was hard enough!)   THEN we have to think about what would be beneficial to his career down the road (he is a Captain right now...we want to make the right choices for him to get promoted to Major..fingers crossed! He's hard-working..he deserves it).  And it pains me every time I go over our options because I have to keep telling him "you told me you wanted to deploy again..and I'd rather it sooner b4 a family starts than later...so maybe we should be smart and pick deployable units (am I really SUGGESTING this? Who am I?!)  Of course I don't want him to deploy. But it is going to happen regardless..if not in the next 3 years then DEFINITELY sometime after that. I just want what's best for our future.

So anyway, I know this all sounds like I'm negative and stressed about this whole situation, but in fact I'm really excited that I now get to see our choices! I am always up for a new adventure. I know that wherever I am, as long as I am with him, I will be okay. We can make anything work.  So in case you are interested, my top three picks (and my mom may hate me for not choosing the ones closest to home..) are San Diego (it's the easiest move and its beautiful there), Hawaii (how can we pass up Hawaii as an option? We are young and as of now, child free), and 3rd is North Carolina, Camp L. We originally were putting Fort Worth/Dallas ahead of Camp L but since it's a non deployable unit, I think that's an option we can look at down the road (though I would love to live in Tejas!).   So there we have it. Top 3...now it's up to the good ol' Marines to pick and choose where we go. Fingers crossed it is somewhere great :)  This is turning out to look like one crazy, event-packed year. I love it! :D
ps. San Diego and Hawaii are places I KNOW friends would love to come visit, right? hint hint hint!!

Warning, Bachelorette On The Loose!!

Sorry it has taken forever to post anything new, but PHWEW have I been busy!! I left last Wednesday morning (super early, might I add) to fly across the country back to my hometown in Virginia. It has been a breath of fresh air being back in the company of my family (who I love dearly) my friends and my dog (who is basically my child..so cute!).  While the schedule has been pretty hectic, I wouldn't trade it for the world.  So let me start from the beginning:

Hurricane Irene has been threatening the east coast with her presence...every day we hear on the news that she is getting closer and closer and that places are already considering evacuating the area. Well, at this point the plan was to have my bachelorette party that weekend in Atlantic City ( you know, do some drinking, lay beach-side, maybe gamble..DEFINITELY shake our tail-feathers) but after the rumors started spreading that AC may be evacuated (which eventually they did!)  the girls put their heads together, very quick on their feet, and came up with a plan b: to keep the party semi-local (DC)  and spend the weekend there. Great idea!! We had a blast...hurricane and all!! 

Friday night we got ready, the girls gave me my bachelorette tiara and we hit the streets of Adams Morgan. That is basically a strip dedicated to bars, clubs, good eats..you name it. And the crowd there (for the most part)  is not ghetto or suspicious. Mostly yuppies, but I'm okay with that!!  So Jackie, Vivi, Dawn, Kim and my lil sis Rachel brought me to a fun karaoke bar (I love me some karaoke!)  to do a few songs and pre-game with a few drinks. After that we ventured down the road to a club called District. That's basically a club that has a basement level, and then the main level where the VIP area is an upstairs area that you can look down on the club dancers. We started in the basement which was having it's opening debut. So much fun! The dj Manifesto was there. He is a unique one in that he plays along to the house music with a violin..you gotta see it to really appreciate what I am talking about. If I can figure out a way to post vids on here, I'll try to post it. So cool. --So later we made our way upstairs and Vivi, with her hookups, got us up on the VIP level. (I mean, that's how we roll!) Fun Fun Friday.

Saturday was RAIN RAIN RAIN. Irene was making it clear she wanted to join the party. We were troopers and cabbed it out to dinner, came back, and started on the drinks and decided that the weather was bad enough (and the fact the clubs we were going to bless with our presence were all closing due to flash flood warnings and lack of clubbers) for us to keep the party in the hotel for the night. Fine by me! As long as I have my girlfriends around, I can have fun doing anything. We drank, played some games, opened some fun gifts (can't say much as it's a surprise for the honeymoon!)  and seriously had the best time. I believe we all started to crash and burn around 4 am (me being the last one standing...go me!!)

 I'm not going to go any more into the details of the weekend, as what happens in DC stays in DC! All I can tell you is that I am blessed with the best of friends a gal could ask for. I mean seriously, they weathered the nasty storm just to make sure they can give me the bachelorette party they wanted to give me. That's friendship. I am just so thankful for all my bridesmaids and friends who have put me back in perspective in what and who is important in my life. Thank you Jackie, Vivi, Dawn, Rachel and Kim for being so awesome. I love you all so so much.  <3 

PS. I don't have my camera hookup here in VA so I will post some pictures from the weekend in a later blog once I get back to Cali. :)

Two Down, Forever To Go

Two down..that's two years. Two years I have been with the love of my life. My partner in everything I do. My best friend. The future father of my children. Two years of complete happiness.  It feels time is flying by so fast. It feels it was just a month ago he was a patron at the sports bar I was working at and we ended up talking all through the night. Crazy, huh??   I couldn't be happier.  I know I snagged myself a WONDERFUL partner in life, and I will never take that for granted! 

It's also the one year anniversary of when we got engaged. This time last year we were in Disneyland, watching the fireworks, and he got down on one knee and asked me to spend the rest of my life with him. Like I said before..oh how time flies. In just a month and a half we will be tying the knot in DisneyWORLD..can't wait, can't wait, can't wait!!

So last year we spent our 1 year anniversary in Disney..big things happened! So, since the wedding is coming up we decided to keep in low key this weekend. Last night we went to see Harry Potter (finally!) 3D at the IMAX and it was AWESOME!! I love the graphics, I love the story..I leave the theater always wishing I had a wand lol I never followed the books but I'm thinking I may have to start.  So today (Sunday) we woke up, had a great workout at Matt's gym, and then I came home to make homemade 4-cheese baked mac n cheese. Our favorite!! Let me tell you, this is by far my favorite mac n cheese I have ever had.  (In case you're interested, I simmer 4 cups evaporated milk, turn to low heat and add 4 cups shredded cheddar, 4 cups shredded american, 2 cups shredded muenster and 2 cups mozzarella. Cook 5 mins or until all melted, add to a casserole dish with cooked elbow noodles, cover with bread crumbs, I also add a little garlic powder, and then bake in oven @ 350 for 50-60 mins. so yum)  

Tonight was Matt's XOSO Recess Championship (XOSO is a sports rec league people join...like a social network..it's where most of Matt's friends are from in this area).  So we went (they won, btw!) and then celebrated at a bar downtown. That's pretty much it!! Matt bought me a very pretty bracelet which was very unexpected! We agreed no gifts this year, so it was a very pleasant surprise :)

ALSO, on a side note, I got my first bridal shower gift in!! I am now the proud owner of a slow cooker/crock pot! I cannot wait to use it for the first time!! 

Okay, enough babbling, I'm going to go finish this movie. PS. Watching Red Riding Hood and drinking a glass of wine is pretty entertaining. I can't tell if I like this movie or not. Def don't hate it..

Holy Guacamole!

Last night my friend and I decided to do a get-together at my apartment. I thought wine, appetizers and good chatter would be perfect. I decided to make two dips..hummus and guacamole. Now, I normally don't eat either one. The hummus I don't normally like the taste, but I gave it a shot (this recipe was too lemony for me so I'm nixing adding it to the blog) and guacamole it's more of a texture issue I have with it (I'm weird like that!).  Matt was my taste tester guinea pig since he loves both. This little taste tester of mine must have approved of both since he kept dipping chip after chip! I had to eventually use my kitchen towel to shoo him out of the kitchen!

I'll have to admit, after trying the guac I became a fan. And it was super simple to put together too! My Cooking for Dummies recipe goes as:
                                  -Mash in a small bowl the flesh of 2 medium, ripe avocados                 (don't do what I did and neglect to mash the avocado first..mashing it with all the other ingredients wasn't cake. ALSO..to keep it's nice green color squeeze a little lemon juice on them)
                            add: 1 small finely chopped onion, 1 ripe finely chopped tomato, 2 tbsp chopped cilantro (I didn't have any so I just skipped that), half a jalepeno chili (seeded and minced--ps just half gave plenty of heat), and the juice and grated zest of half a lemon.   So after all the avocado and ingredients are mixed in the bowl, add salt and pepper to taste and voi la!  There you have your guacamole!

I personally love it because it's not just a smooth creamy texture (which for some reason turns me off) I like the chunks. I like that the onion is a key player and then the jalepeno comes sneaking up on you!  If there is ANY change I would make, it might be to add a tiny dash of Tobasco. Even though the chili adds the heat that sneaks up, I like to feel that immediate bite on my tongue..which I think Tobasco would do that trick.  Also, I wouldn't add more than a teeny salt since the Blue Corn chips provided that salt fix :)  But to each their own, so try this recipe! Mix it up, let me know how it is!  I'm always open for new recipes so if there's any you'd like to share and convert me to be a bigger fan of, please do so! :)

They're In!

Our wedding rings arrived!! Instead of taking yet ANOTHER trip to San Fransisco to pick them up, we decided to have the jewelers ship the rings to us. (yea, waking up early this morning to a knock on my door so I can sign for the rings was NOT pretty..I think I grumbled a few words and went back to bed lol). 


Picking out our rings was a little bit of a challenge. Since Matt plans on wearing his even out in the field (overseas, during training here, etc) we had to find one that wasn't super shiny (reflective wear is not a smart thing to wear when you are trying to keep hidden from your enemy) but not ugly. We compromised on one we both really liked and it's a strong metal. My engagement ring is a little different in the fact the band isn't completely smooth and circular..it's almost as if two thin sparkley bands crisscrossed over eachother on both sides of the center stone (think: infinity symbol). I didn't really like the matching wedding band that Tacori had for it, so it was a pain finding a circular wedding band that held the same feel/vibe as my engagement ring (my ring has almost like an old world fairytale feel to it..ALMOST antique-y yet modern). After a couple trips to San Fran I finally picked which one matched the best and would also look very pretty by itself if for some reason I wasn't able to wear my engagement ring (I normally don't wear my ring to the gym). 


Anyway, Matt just got home and now we are going to open this package that has been staring at me and check out our rings! Fingers crossed the sizes are perfect and no stones are missing!! :)

Strong People Are Harder to Kill..

"Strong People Are Harder To Kill Than Weak People And More Useful In General"...yep, that's what was painted on the wall of the USMC Recruit Station, Sacramento, gym (a quote by Mark Rippetoe). I found this hilarious as I was struggling (and I mean struuuggling) with my squats done with a medicine ball.  So typical of the Marines,those muscle-y meat heads!(gotta love them!) :)

 
Yea..they're pretty much hard core..

Lately, Matt has been helping me to get in the shape I would like to get in. It's hard for me to motivate myself to get to the gym because 1. The classes I really like are all right smack dab in the middle of dinner-time and 2. I started to feel like I was getting different results than I was aiming for.  So instead of hiring a trainer, who better to ask than a man who trains others and knows a good workout..my future hubby!

We are easing my way in with the level workout I get..apparently my workouts are the Marine's warm-ups (lol). As of now it goes as follows:
                                      10 pull ups
                                      15 second sampsun stretch
                                      10 sit ups
                                      10 dips
                                      10 wall balls (squating low with a 12lb medicine ball and extending your body, trying to throw the ball as high on the wall as possible, and at full extention you continue with a jump----let's just say by 7 I am wheezing and legs are jelly)
                                      10 box jumps (again..legs are jelly)
                                      10 back extentions
                                      10 squats with 12lb medicine ball held above the head

                               Okay...and do all this X3!
So that is my "warm up"...next was followed by (and me throwing profanity under my breath at Matt..):
                                     10 push ups
                                     5 burpees (because at this point I was literally mush)
                                     10 2-punch sets on a punching bag
                                Again...all X3
So there ya have it...I am complete jiggly jello by the time I am walking out of the gym...I feel like Bambi learning how to walk!! lol  And while I still sweat and sometimes out of breath..I don't FEEL as winded as I did in my classes at the gym...but the feel of my muscles the next day was 5x more intense! So...in time he will extend my workout sessions and up the anti. I'd hate to see what a REAL workout consists of..oy.

I'm going to stray a teensy bit off topic but I promise it does tie into this blog...Last week the future Mister and I went to Travis Air Force Base for a 2 day long family readiness "conference". Basically we attended talks on marriage, family, communication and goals. While it was all really important (and actually really interesting) I want to touch on the GOALS portion.

A retired Marine gave a talk on the business he started and how/why he focuses so much on goals and how he applies his knowledge of the Marine Corps to almost everything he does.  Making a long story short (rare for me, huh?!) he made some really good points as to why New Years Resolutions are hardly EVER kept. Main reason? Because it's so easy to say something you want to change or work on, but never give yourself the big "WHY". WHY is this resolution so important? And HOW do I plan on holding myself to it? What is the game plan? He says to TRACK your progress on your goals. One of his goals (among many many many of them..which he has fulfilled pretty much all of them minus one or two he is currently working on) was to lose the weight he gained while taking care of his wife who was going through chemo treatment. He said, "I weigh 230lbs..I used to be a buck 70 something. So I am going to shoot for losing 16 pounds in 90 days". He kept a track record of what exercises he did, what he ate, etc etc. 90 days were up and he lost 45 pounds!!  That motivated me to make a list of 3 goals I have.. I will only mention one right now and that is getting in shape. Not just for the wedding, but because it's healthier, I feel more motivated when I feel good about myself, and frankly I spent way too much money last year buying all new jeans (because SOMEHOW I lost 15lbs....and recently gained it back).  I don't want to lose a LOT..just enough to look what I consider good, and fit in my jeans! It's discouraging for me to say "I want to lose 1-2 sizes..or lose 10-15 lbs." Instead, I am giving myself shorter increments, and who knows, I may exceed my expectations! My goal is to lose 2lbs/week (Matt says that's the healthiest weightloss to go for..no more than 2/week). So I can keeping tabs on what I eat (not counting EVERY SINGLE calorie, but getting a general idea) and what exercises I do, and for how long, and what days, etc. Even though we do not believe in scales in this apt, I feel having one, and seeing even ONE pound lost, will add to the motivation. It will also let me know that I stretched out my "cheat day" for too long..like say maybe TWO cheat days in a row lol  (I'm a cheater, I'll admit...hey, I love my food!!)
So that's about it for tonight. I'll get the last name to this man, Erik, if anyone is interested in a little inspiration. He really is great with his words and has been through so much (wife has been diagnosed with 4 cancers to this date and she just turned 40...and all while they've been married) and has accomplished just about everything he has set his sights on. Really cool stuff.
Gonna go pass out now..anticipating my muscles to be screaming at me in the morning..ugh..nighty night!

West Coast Bachelorette Fun!

What is one perk of having friends on the east AND west coast? TWO BACHELORETTE PARTIES!!  Well, I think the big party with all my closest friends (and some family) will be east side (Atlantic City, baby), but one of my best friends, Juanita, lives here in Sacramento and was disappointed she couldn't travel across the country for this party! So she came up with a plan to do something here. She's awesome. She has been planning for a couple months now to do a weekend event. We decided, to help save the girls money on hotel costs, to stay in town Friday night and go karaoke-ing and then for the MAIN event drive up to NAPA Saturday afternoon and spend the day/night there. Great idea!! At least WE thought so. I told myself I was not going to bitch (pardon my french, folks) and I just won't go into it, but let's just say that for whatever reasons they had, not one girl chose to come to the Napa fun. Who knows why..I'm super grateful they came out Friday but I can't be 100% certain if it's because they came for ME, or because they felt guilty about Saturday or if it was just more convenient/cheaper. Who knows...

So anyway, I'll just stick with the positives because I am tired of this bitter after-taste the let-down left in my mouth.  Friday night Juanita put together a fondue party for us girls and made sangria..yum! She got creative and decorated our wine glasses with "glass slippers" and my wedding colors..so cute! Here is a picture..sorry I couldnt make it smaller:


So after we sipped on Sangria and had some cheese and chocolate fondue we all headed over to a local dive karaoke bar (and when I say dive I mean DIVE! lol). But even though it was a bit of a hole-in-the wall type place, we had a blast. Most of the girls joined in with karaoke, we accomplished some bachelorette party dares, and I donned a headband (some of the time) that was silly enough to make me blush. Let's just say Juanita's cousin kept calling me d***head. (appropriate, I know lol).  So with some laughs, drinks, and songs I went home feeling happy and thankful for the girls showing up. Now it's time to get excited about tomorrow!!

The next day, Saturday, Juanita, myself and Matt (we invited Matt to come along since everyone else didn't come..he's pretty much my best friend, why not?!) left for Napa. It was a gorgeous, sunny day, perfect for wine tasting. We checked into our cute little hotel room and immediately set out in search for Downtown Napa.  Once we arrived we purchased a $25 wine card that was good for going to about 6+ wine bars to taste their wine. Pretty good deal! Even better was since I was wearing my "Bride to Be" sash we got extra free tastings..booyah!  The wine was amazing!! We of course had to buy a couple bottles :)  We ate, fell into a food coma, then had some more fun.
Today, instead of packing up the car and heading home like planned, we decided to head back downtown to check out a couple places we didn't get to the day before. Today was even better than yesterday. The heat cooled down (just a tad!)  and was PERFECT. Matt and I joined a Wine Club at one of the tasting bars.  We tasted more yummy food, bought some chocolate, more wine (of course!) and then ate lunch before heading back to Sacramento.

This is a trip I will most definitely make again. The people were great, I was in wonderful company, and drank high quality wine. Mmm mm mm...great West Coast Pre-Wedding Fun for this girl!! I cannot thank Juanita and Matt enough for making Napa so memorable. And thank you to the girls who put up with karaoke on Friday! I know it's not everyone's thing..but it's mine :) Love it. Xo

here are some pictures:

Juanita, Me, and Matt <3


twirling awayyy


Me and the weekend hostess


drinking some delicious Napa Valley wine

Hope you enjoyed!! In a couple weeks I'll keep you posted on the East Coast Fun! xoxo

Cooking for Dummies = Written For Me

I have a newfound hobby: COOKING (believe it or not)! Now that I have more time on my hands, being done with school and situating myself in my new home, I have developed a love for cooking (or LEARNING how to cook is more like it). So far, Matt is in LOVE with my food. He credits me in the fact that I am systematic and follow a recipe (to an extent) and then tweak it as I see fit. He says I have a natural eye for cooking and it turns out better than what following the recipe word for word would have produced. I'll take that compliment!!  I may have mentioned it before, but when we were at the bookstore he saw the book "Cooking for Dummies" and held it up to me (I think to tease me) and I said I must have it!! I could never make moist, juicy chicken. It always turned out very close to jerky (no exaggeration!). So, he bought it for me and I think it is the most used and helpful gift he has gotten me to date.

I decided to focus on one food item at a time, perfecting it, getting used to making it without looking back at the recipe to remind myself how long it needs to cook and how high the temp should be, and then move on to the next. Lately I have been working with skilleted chicken. It's quick, simple, and yummy! To compliment the chicken I chop up garlic and onions and throw them in the pan that I cooked the chicken in, eventually add tarragon, basil, and then either chicken stock or white wine (whichever I have available), I reduce the liquid and voi la! There is your chicken topping!(I also sometimes add diced tomatoes, but sometimes I just dont care for tomatoes..I'm a picky eater).  Along side of that I will make homemade mashed potatoes (yummm) and then quickly fry up a few pieces of bacon. One or two of the pieces I will use to crumble over the creamed potatoes when plated, the others I chop up and fry it up as chopped, add in green beans and minced garlic, a little garlic salt and some pepper. There ya have it! (Oh, and did I mention that the chicken, it's topping, and the creamed/mashed potatoes and greenbeans are all under 500 calories!?  The bacon adds a few more, but it's a preference, not a necessity to have).

Now it's time for me to move on...to the BIG MEAT! I'm thinking of cooking up some steak tonight with cracked peppercorn and sauteed onions and garlic (again with the garlic..gotta have it!). Since Matt is giving me the "USMC Workout" we might not get home til late, which gives me the idea to try to make homemade tomato soup and grilled cheese with muenster and american. The book says it takes 15 mins to prep and 15 mins to cook so, sounds quick to me. And comforting. Gotta love comfort food.

So, go me and my cooking self! I feel so accomplished when Matt tells me he would prefer MY homemade spaghetti sauce over the high-end pasta sauce we get at the store for when I am lazy (and I even add my own onions and garlic and peppers and seasoning to it). So to me, that says a lot :)  Thank you "Cooking for Dummies, ei Lauren"

Leavin' On a Jet Plane

Welp, today was my girlfriend Kim's last day visiting in Sacramento! Matt and I dropped her off at the airport this morning around 10:30 and was so sad to see her go! I feel better knowing knowing that I'm going back home in a week and 1/2 in which I'll get to see her again.

Our weekend was packed full of fun, relaxation, and quite a bit of wine!! Thursday I took her to a bar here called the Distillery..it's my go-to karaoke joint (they have it 5 nights a week..HELLO, sounds like a winner to me!) where Matt and some friends met up with us there. It was nice for me to finally introduce a little bit of my east coast side to the rest of the group. I think I was finally able to break a little more out of my shell.

Friday Kim, Erin and I packed a cooler full of drinks and mixers and went to the pool. That was really relaxing..drank a little, got some sun, had some laughs...good times! We then went home and I cooked up a big dinner for everyone. We went to bed fairly early (and by early I mean before 2:30am) and got up Saturday to go to Lodi to taste some local wine! That was AMAZING and so much fun. My ONLY complaint would be that they need to serve food. Doesn't have to be anything big or complicated, but more bread and maybe some cheeses would be nice, seeing as how everyone is drinking when they go to these places!

Sunday was pretty lax...went to the pool and did the karaoke thing again, but at Level Up instead. Level up is a bar upstairs from some Asian cuisine restaurant. It's small but pretty chic. With the dim lighting with lots of red and light-up bars, Kim and I agreed it looked like a place we could find in DC..which is pretty refreshing (to me, anyway).  Food was great, bartenders were awesome, and the dj rocked too.

Monday we went to Old Town Sacramento which is reminiscent of the good ol' Gold Rush days with it's cobblestone walks and street, really old schoolhouse and train museum, and the wooden walkways that wraps around all the bars and shops. In the evening we took Matt out to BJ's Restaurant to celebrate him completing his Master's degree! I am super proud of him and all the hard work he has done in the last year and some months. So proud. :)

So that was our itinerary..there is so much more I would have liked to show and tour myself (I've yet to see quite a few things) but it'll have to wait for hopefully a future visit. It was good to not feel so alone and new..familiar faces and personalities are always welcome in my book :)    Now that I am not entertaining anymore I am going to relax and get over this cold that is threatening me! That means lots of soup, nyquil, and naps. Isn't it funny how these things spring up on you when you know you have a lot coming up and don't have the time to get sick??

A Little Taste of the East Coast

So, I woke up around 5am to a Facebook message alert on my phone only to see it's a message from one of my best friends, Kim! Normally I would be super grumpy (I HATE being woken up before my alarm goes off) but the news was totally worth the lost 4 minutes of sleep: I am getting a visit from her on Thursday through next Tuesday!!

I'm so stoked..this is the first visitor I've gotten since moving here in January. To be honest, I didn't think anyone was going to come out and see me until sometime next year, what with wedding happening at Disney World in October...

It's a fairly spontaneous visit which gives me about a day and half to clean this apartment top to bottom! Now don't get me wrong, I think I keep this place looking pretty darn decent (for me, anyway. I HATE to clean) but I think I do a good job. Dishes get done constantly, kitchen is always clean..etc.  I just gotta do some dusting and vacuuming and a little tidying and we'll be good to go :)

The only thing I have planned in mind is going to the Lodi Wineries which is about 20 miles or so from my area. They've got some pretty cute places where the owners/staff are so personable and really educate you on the types of wine they offer and why those wines are so special. So I'm really looking forward to that!  Other than that I guess we shall play everything by ear.  I'll keep you posted!

Yay. Yayyy. Yay!

I have come to a realization (well not a realization but a confirmed previous finding) that cyberspace is either the best piece of technology or the root of all evil. The root of all, if not most, drama.  It hit me yesterday on Facebook just how frustrating typing thoughts and emotions can be. I posted a status and got a teasing comment back on it. Since I knew she was teasing I commented BACK in the same manner. No big deal. But certain busybodies (no, not Matt and not the person who originally commented on my post) take it upon themselves to read into everything I say and do and felt they needed to text me to tell me how rude I am on Facebook. How so-and-so was teasing me and I need to stop snapping back at her and being so sensitive.. and FURTHERMORE how they have "noticed" I snap at others as well.

Well, this just frustrated the hell out of me. This person was not even a part of that interaction. How is it they saw one person teasing and I was "being mean and snappish". And I have never snapped at ANYONE online! I don't like confrontation and if there is going to be any I would rather face to face so there IS no miscommunication.  I thought about this more in the shower. I tend to do a lot of my deep thinking in the shower. And what kept popping in my mind was: To Interpret.  Everything that is said, typed, texted, etc is to be interpreted. It's especially hard to get a point across when you can't put a facial expression to it (which is why I flood my words with exclamation marks and smiley faces, or sad faces, whatever suits the mood of my words).  I didn't realize I needed to add a tongue-sticking-out smiley face to let EVERYONE ELSE know I was teasing.  I always like to tease Matt on his comments to my statuses..it's always "Yay". Just "yay". LoL We were talking last night and we brought this subject up..I ask him,"how are you saying it in your head when you type that?" and he's like " Yayyy so exciting!!". So I tell him he should add 3 y's or at least an exclamation point to let me know that's he's really excited versus mumbling 'yay'. See what I mean?

Interpretation means that whatever is you see, read, etc has many paths you can take with it. And honestly, I think it's in the eye of the reader on how they see it. If someone has eaten a bunch of sour grapes that day, then most likely they are going to misread something in a negative way. Someone in a great mood with an optimistic outlook can read that exact same thing, but see it in a completely different way.
So, I'm realizing what bothered me most about that text to me was that this certain person chose to read one comment as an innocent tease and read mine as mean. Does this person not think very highly of me? Are they looking at me to act a certain way? Why is it I'M the bad guy?  I shake my head in confusion because I honestly don't know what else I can do! This isn't the first time this person chose to see me in a certain light. And seeing as they are permanently in my life I cannot ignore them forever. And I really don't want to have this talk AGAIN. It's exhausting and it's maddening!