Mariah Smile

Our Babies

2012-01-24T07:11:00.001-05:00

I have decided to introduce you to mine and Phil's fishy babies today!

First up is Chameleon! Chameleon is a Plecostomus, aka pleco or algae eater. He is a type of catfish (all our fish are). We have had Chameleon since he was a baby about 5 years ago! Isn't his belly pretty?

Next is Harley! Harley is a Striped Raphael catfish. She likes to stay inside of her house most of the time, but she will sometimes venture out, especially if Chameleon kicks her out! We have had her for about 4 years.

This is 1 of 3 new additions to our fishy home! Meet Bruce! Bruce is an Eclipse Catfish, aka SunCat. These guys like to hide, so I though I'd get a picture of him in his bag before we released him.

This is B.B. King, our new Spotted Corydora catfish, aka cory cat. B.B. King is much larger than this now and we have had to put him on a diet!

And finally, our last baby is an Albino cory cat we name Mr. Miyagi! He is named that cause his favorite past time is swimming back and forth the front of the tank waxing on and off! haha

I also wanted to mention my outside furry baby we named Muffin! Muffin is not our cat but loves to visit us occasionally and will want me to pet him and will stare at us through our window! We first met Muffin on Phil's birthday, a couple days after we moved into our place. The birthday card I got Phil is above, then Muffin shows up looking alot like the cat on the card! It was meant to be!

What kind of pets do you have?

Valentine's Wreath

2012-01-22T07:11:00.000-05:00

I know I promised to show you my Valentine's Day wreath I wanted to make, and I think it turned out just okay. Let me know what you think...

I used the flowers from my bridesmaid bouquet from my friend's wedding I was in several years ago. After the wedding, I hung the bouquet upside down until after my wedding when I put my bridal bouquet in it's place! I was inspired to use it for my wreath.

My mom purchased this wreath around my wedding and thought we could use it. We didn't use it there, but I was looking for something to put up on my door in place of the Christmas wreath so it came in handy anyway.

And the finished product! I think it turned out good enough. I kind of just placed the dried flowers in between the branches of the wreath, so I hope the wind won't be too harsh on it! At least our porch is covered and the rain can't get to it! I kinda want to have something hanging down in the middle, like a cute little Valentine's sign or something. What do you think?

I Had A Dream...

2012-01-20T07:11:00.003-05:00

Very fitting for this week, but not what you may think. A couple nights ago, I had a dream about Jake Pavelka, you know the pilot guy who was once "The Bachelor"? It was pretty weird and I can't even remember what it was about, except that maybe the song "On the Wings of Love" may have been in it! But, after I woke up from that dream I kept going in and out of sleep thinking about how to write a blog on my love for the show. I did tell you I didn't feel good in the beginning of this week, right? haha One of my ideas was a list of how you knew you might be addicted to "The Bachelor/Bachelorette"... so I am just going to try that idea! Here goes...

You have dreams about past cast members of the show! (obvious addition to the list!)

You can't wait for Monday nights!

You watched Miss America just because you love Chris Harrison!

You follow Chris Harrison and Ben Flajnik on Twitter!

You root for the girl (or guy) who is in your profession to at least not be crazy!

You follow past bachelors/bachelorettes after their shows! For example: did you know that Kasey Kahl, you know the guy that wanted to honor & protect you, was arrested??? Click here to see his mug shot! Also, go here to see who will be the next Bachelorette!

That's all I could think of right now. Can you all think of anymore? Feel free to comment them to me, I would love to see what you think!

Yuck!

2012-01-18T12:07:00.002-05:00

I haven't felt too great this week. Monday I worked and felt fine, but yesterday and today I just don't feel the best. Anyways...

Since I last blogged, on Friday we celebrated mom's birthday with some yummy garlic mashed potatoes I made! They turned out really yummy and I found the recipe here.

On Saturday, Phil and I went to his work party at the casino/dog track. I finally got to play the Sex & the City machine there and ended up making $10! Woot!

Sunday, we did nothing except go to Subway, which we should make into a place we regularly go out to eat instead of some other places we go. It will save us some money and be a healthier choice.

I need to start working out again. Last week I went and pushed myself to run a faster mile, then my hip hurt. So I didn't do anything else the rest of the week. Now I don't feel good, so I guess I am just making excuses now for not doing anything. Tomorrow, my plan is to go to Zumba! I miss it!

I still plan on making my Valentines' wreath! Stay tuned!

Just to let you know...

2012-01-12T21:57:00.003-05:00

Tomorrow is my mom's birthday! Happy Birthday Momma!

I am going to attempt to make some scrumptious garlic mashed potatoes to bring to mom's birthday dinner and I need a recipe! Anyone know a good one?

I am going to be decorating a Valentine's Day wreath for our door, and I think I will take some pictures to show you all!

I am hoping I wake up to some snow in the morning, but that the roads are okay cause I don't wanna worry about my hubbo driving to work!

I got woke up to work this morning and I get to work Monday too!

I love you friends! Have a happy day!

Makeup!

2012-01-07T07:11:00.001-05:00

I almost forgot to tell you about one of my most favorite gifts I got for Christmas from my awesome hubby! I use it everyday (that I go out and wear makeup) and it is great!This is the Sephora Collection Makeup Studio Blockbuster and can be found here! As you may remember, I LOVE eyeshadow and I can make so many color combinations with this collection! I have already made a few and haven't even scratched the surface of what I could create! It also includes liquid eyeliners, tons of lip glosses, 3 different shades of blush, a bronzer, mascara, and some brushes to use with each. The price is pretty good too, ecspecially for the amount and quality of makeup you get!

Thank you husband! You done good!

The Hunger Games Movie Trailer!

2012-01-05T07:11:00.001-05:00

Oh my, this movie trailer for The Hunger Games, looks so close to what I imagined when I was reading the book! I cannot wait until March! Go here to view the trailer!

Book Review: Matched by Ally Condie

2012-01-03T00:21:00.005-05:00

Just 2 days into the new year and I already have read a book! This book is a super simple read and keeps you interested all the way through.

Matched by Ally Condie is about a "perfect" society designed to keep everyone happy and healthy, at least until their 80th birthday. Cassia is a girl who lives by the Society's rules and trusts they know and do what is best for it's citizens. On the eve of her 17th birthday, Cassia has her Matching Ceremony, where she comes to find out that her perfect match is her best friend, Xander. This is rare to be matched with someone you already know. Her faith in the Society waivers after that ceremony when she is confused by a glitch in her microcard that supposedly has all the info about her match. Xander's face appears, then fades away, and another boy's face appears... and she knows this one too.

I feel like Matched is like a cross between 1984 by George Orwell, Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, and the recent hit The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. So if you like any of the previously mentioned books, with a little romance and rebellion, I recommend this one.

12 Goals for 2012

2012-01-01T12:58:00.003-05:00

Happy New Year!!!

Hope everyone had a fantastic time last night! Phil and I decided to go out to eat then stay home for our first New Year's Eve as husband and wife! It was pretty great to be able to stay home and be an old married couple! haha

This year I am hoping to complete 12 Goals for 2012 instead of making any resolutions at all... I'm not too good at those!

12 Goals for 2012

1. Learn to quilt!

- one I didn't accomplish last year that I made sound more realistic as an overall just "Learn to quilt" instead of forcing myself to make 3!

2. Continue eating healthy and working out!

- this one may sound familiar too, but it is an important one to keep up with!

3. Make dinner and eat at home as much as possible!

- this is a new one for me & Phil since we have started living together, and we have done pretty good so far, but I would like to make it a goal.

4. Make tooth fairy pillows for my cousins/nephews!

- yes, another repeat but Alec is bound to lose his first tooth this year and I need to be a good dental hygienist aunt!

5. Read more books than I did in 2011!

- I changed last year's goal up a little bit this year! I only read 18 books in my busy 2011, and I just bought 3 new books a few nights ago, so I am bound to complete this goal!

6. Wish all my friends and family a "Happy Birthday" on their special day with either a card or a phone call.

- I am pretty bad about keeping in touch with everyone, and relying on Facebook and texting to convey my message just seems so impersonal.

7. Hang out with my friends more!

- they are special people in my life, and they showed up to the most important day in my life, so I need to be able to let them know I will be there for them!

8. To become full-time with my current job (or possibly another).

- It is hard to work only a few days a month, even though I understand our program is just starting out in my state. I just hope I will be thought of as an important member of the team enough to where they will pick me to work and rely on me!

9. Keep up with housework.

- now that we have our own place to take care of, I wanna make sure that I/we keep our house clean and organized!

10. Be a good wife!

- I want to be the best wife to Phil as I possibly can! I want to be understanding, listen to him, and make our first year of marriage go by as smoothly as possible! (they do say that the first year is the hardest!)

11. Pick back up some of my old blog followers and acquire more!

- during my absence from blogging last year, I feel like I've lost many followers and feel terrible I let them down.

12. Continue to blog!

- I know, another repeat, but I love blogging and hope to continue throughout this new year!

Well, there they are!

What do ya think?

What are your goals for 2012?

Accomplishments of 2011

2011-12-31T14:51:00.004-05:00

This year was a totally crazy one! It went by so fast, yet played out in slow motion. I feel like I have accomplised a lot in this past year and want to share those moments with you! Here is my list of my "11 Goals for 2011" that I made at this time last year:

11 Goals for 2011

1. Find a DH Job!

- and I can check that one off the list! I just hope that it continues out to be a full time position and things pick up!

2. Find an apartment/house

- another check off the list! We are loving our new place and you can view it here!

3. Learn to quilt - Quilt a t-shirt quilt, a baby quilt, and a quilt for me & Phil

- I unfortunately did not complete this goal, but I kinda think I dreamed too high with this one with all the wedding planning going on! We did receive a quilt from Phil's grandmother and one from my friend Jeff's mother for our wedding!

4. Continue eating healthy and working out

- I did accomplish this goal until the latter part of the year! The holidays hurt me, but I plan on getting back on track! I will list this as goal complete because I did so well for 95% of the year! (that is a made up percentage so don't even try to calculate that!)

5. Use my crockpot

- check! We have made a couple different dishes in the good ole crockpot, including a potato casserole, thai chicken, and chili!

6. Have fun planning mine and Phil's wedding!

- check again! Planning was definately fun, but also very stressful as well! I am glad it is over with, but it was truly the happiest day of my life!

7. Make tooth-fairy pillows for my cousins/nephews!

- this did not happen! Luckily noone has lost a tooth yet! haha I did make the ring bearer pillow for my nephew, Alec, to hold while walking down the aisle!

8. Get a kitty

- this hasn't happened either, but it can't while we are living in our new place cause we aren't allowed to have any pets except our fishies. We did acquire a kitty friend that most likely belongs to a neighbor that comes to visit us and we call Muffin!

9. Continue to read for pleasure as often as I can.

- this I did! Although I didn't read as many books as I did last year, I did read as much as I could with all the craziness going on! I read a total of 18 books and plan to read more next year!

10. Start paying off my loans.

- I started doing this! Big accomplisment here!

11. Continue to blog!

- although I've had some trouble, I have continued to blog as much as I could! I fear though that I have lost many followers due to my absence!

I am happy that I completed 8 out of the 11 goals that I have set for myself! Many of which you may see again for 2012! Come back tomorrow to see what they are!

...and have a safe and happy New Year's Eve everybody!

This Week...

2011-12-30T11:49:00.005-05:00

This week was a very busy one for me! I know Christmas Eve wasn't technically this week, but I will tell you that we went to Phil's family's houses that evening. We celebrated Christmas on Sunday at my house with my uncle, aunt, and parents. We got too much for Christmas! I really seriously felt like we got enough from the wedding and tried to tell everyone this, but it didn't work. We are blessed.

A couple things we got that were awesome were our new shelves for our pantry! We needed these badly cause everything we had was just sitting on the floor!

We got Scrabble! And can't wait to play it!

We also got some Disney movies, since it is our new obsession. We got Bambi, The Lion King, and my favorite, Beauty and the Beast.

We got some new yellow sheets that helps our bedroom with the yellow and grey theme I was trying to convey.

The most evil gift we got was our new Isotonic Memory Foam Mattress Topper! This gift makes it hard to get out of bed at 6:30 am and makes you want to hop in bed after a long day of work! It is like our new little island of comfort and we LOVE it!

This week I worked for two different dental offices filling in for their hygienists. It was nice to be able to do since kids are out of school and I can't go to my regular job. I just hope it picks up some, or I can at least fill in a little more the next couple months!

Tonight, Phil and I are going to our friend Lee's birthday dinner at Hibachi! So excited to see some friends and possibly eat some sushi!

Hope you all have had a great week too!

The Christmas Song

2011-12-25T07:11:00.000-05:00

Just thought I'd share a favorite Christmas song with you...

The Christmas Song

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire,

Jack Frost nipping on your nose,

Yuletide carols being sung by a choir,

And folks dressed up like Eskimos.

Everybody knows a turkey and some mistletoe,

Help to make the season bright.

Tiny tots with their eyes all aglow,

Will find it hard to sleep tonight.

They know that Santa's on his way;

He's loaded lots of toys and goodies on his sleigh.

And every mother's child is going to spy,

To see if reindeer really know how to fly.

And so I'm offering this simple phrase,

To kids from one to ninety-two,

Although its been said many times, many ways,

Merry Christmas to you.

Go here to hear it!

Christmas Wish

2011-12-24T07:11:00.000-05:00

I hope everyone has a very warm and merry Christmas

surrounded by family and friends!

Traveling West Virginia

2011-12-22T07:11:00.001-05:00

I had posted before about traveling for work, so last time I was gone by myself I took some pictures to share with you all! This particular trip took me to Petersburg, but there were some sights I saw along the way.

I took these pictures to depict the snow and the mountains.Here are some pictures of the awesome windmills that I think are too cool!Here are some pictures driving through Elkins.Seneca Rocks from afar.The farm behind the hotel where I stayed.My hotel room had a geese theme. It kinda freaked me out a little!The frosty sheep farm behind the school we were at the next morning. Next to the farm was a cemetary, and beside that was the school's playground!And finally, a picture on the wall in the hall of the school we were at. I don't know about you, but I don't think this kid respects his tooth brush very much!

My work has the benefits of being able to travel around my beautiful state and can be pretty entertaining due to the kids we see!

Our New Place

2011-12-20T07:11:00.000-05:00

We love our new place that we have together! It really is pretty perfect for us as newlyweds! It is pretty spacious with a good amount of storage space and is in a great location that makes us feel pretty safe! What more could you ask for our first place? It does have some quirks, but nothing we can't handle!

Enjoy the tour!

The front of our new place, here it shows our fall decorations.

This is what we see when we walk out our front door. This is where we and our neighbors park our cars, but beyond that is just an empty field. We are on a dead end gravel road and our landlord lives in a house at the beginning of our street.

This is what we see out our back door. There are some nice pine trees blocking the view of some houses which is nice and we also have another rather large field and a little patio.

Our Living Room

It is rather spacious and we need a coffee table badly (which we are most likely getting for Christmas), but right now the Christmas tree fills it in nicely. I hate our couch, which I have had forever, but that will have to wait until our pockets are a little heavier! The couch has this beautiful quilt, a wedding gift my friend Jeff's mom made us, on it now!

Our Dining Area/Phil's "Command Center"

Our table doesn't get used much right now cause it is so busy, but Phil uses it to play on the computer while I watch television.

Our Kitchen

...with 70's gold coutertops and a gross built-in cutting board (that we cover up!) that we are sure was placed there when the apartments were built in the 70's. The closets hide the washer/dryer and the pantry. Say "hi!" to the fishies!

To the upstairs!

Our Bathroom

...complete with 70's gold toilet and tub!

Our Office/Guest Room/Phil's "Man Cave"

"Man Cave" because that is the room where Phil keeps his guitars, video game station, and his closet, because I took the 2 closets in our bedroom :)

Notice the other very special wedding quilt on the bed that was a gift from his grandmother that she entirely hand sewed for us!

Our Bedroom

...with humidifier (because it is extremely dry in there, never experienced that before!) and the same comforter they had on this season's Biggest Loser! haha We noticed that about 2 weeks after we purchased it! Please excuse the mess!

Well, that's it! I still need to put pictures up and decorate a little better! I feel like I can't get that part put together. I hope once I get our wedding pictures printed that alot of them can fill our blank walls!

Any tips for me for decorating?

Christmas #1/Decorations

2011-12-18T22:57:00.007-05:00

Tonight, Phil and I went to our first family gathering for Christmas! My aunt, uncle, and cousin will be out of town visiting my cousins in Idaho for actual Christmas since the babies are there. That's why we decided to celebrate early with them! This year we had picked names out of a hat and got eachother presents $20 and under. That turned out really well and we had a great time! The icing on the cake was getting to see and talk to my cousins on the phone/ipad app thing! I got to see my 8 month old baby cousin Aysley for the first time in about 3 months and she is growing so fast!

This is also mine and Phil's first Christmas together as husband and wife! I'm excited to wake up next to him on Christmas morning and be able to start our own traditions.

I know I haven't shown any pictures of our new place, and don't worry cause that is coming soon, but here is a small glimpse of it with our Christmas decorations!

Our first grown-up tree with some new ornaments!

Our Disney ornament we got on our honeymoon!

Our stockings and some Christmas cards we've received!

The little tree we had before, but now all it's old oraments can fit on the big one!

This is my wreath I made! Fits my color theme nicely!

Well, there ya have it! Do you think I did a good job? I'm not totally happy with my stockings because I got them randomly since I could not find exactly what I was looking for! I saw some stockings last year at Hobby Lobby that were my color green and red and were made out of sweater material, but of course now they don't have them and I can't find any like them! Oh well, the search will continue until I find what I want.

Hope everyone is done with their shopping and enjoying their holiday season!

On The Road

2011-12-04T23:23:00.003-05:00

Sorry for the lack of posts after I promised I would be blogging more often. But I have been traveling for my job all over the lovely state of WV! It has been pretty tiring, but my job is slow in my part of the state, so they have been making my team travel to where there is work. I guess I should elaborate on my official job!

About 1 1/2 weeks before Phil & I got married, I accepted a job with a company that travels to schools and cleans/restores the kids' teeth! It is a fun job that makes each week exciting cause I don't know what school I'm going to be at until I get an email with the details the Friday before! I also get to work with children, which can be both fun and tiring. Another tiring part is the traveling and the loading/unloading of the van with all our equipment in it.

I was hired on full-time, but right now I am only part-time cause alot of the counties around where I live haven't hopped on board, and our company has only been in our state since February of this year. Since there hasn't been much work in my part of WV, I am glad they have been sending me places to where there is work, but I also don't like being away from Phil for a week!

I had to leave last Sunday, drive 4 1/2 hours, spend the night in a hotel to work Monday and Tuesday, go home Tuesday, leave again Wednesday, drive 4 1/2 more hours, spend the night again in a hotel to work on Thursday and Friday, then go home Friday after work. Now I am in a hotel as I type this and I am repeating the whole week in different places! I don't know if I will have internet access where I will be this Wed-Fri, but I will try to post again before if I can!

Gobble, Gobble!

2011-11-24T07:11:00.001-05:00

Hope everyone enjoys their Thanksgiving and please be safe if you are Black Friday shopping like me!!!

Hellooooo out there!

2011-11-22T23:17:00.004-05:00

Can anyone read this? Are any of you still there? I thought the cute kitten in a sweater may get your attention! I know, I know I have been gone for way too long, but I am going to try my darndest to start updating this blog again on a regular basis! This return to blogging is also my 200th post!

Here are a couple events that have happened since I last blogged:

September 26th - found a townhouse with Phil!

September 29th - got a job, an actual dental hygiene job!

October 15th - Phil and I got married!

October 16th - October 22nd - Honeymooned in Disney World!

November 21st - brought our fishy babies to their new home!

So, I have been a busy girl! Now I'm just getting used to married/working life and trying to set up our little nest. I'm also awaiting our wedding photos and cannot wait to see and share those!

I'll be back...

Gettin' Hitched!

2011-10-13T14:58:00.003-04:00

I get married Saturday!

Hopefully then I can get started on blogging regularly again!

Showering!

2011-08-12T12:17:00.001-04:00

My Wedding/Bridal Shower is this Saturday!!! My aunts are throwing me this party at a tea room which is sure to be fun! This makes the whole wedding process seem much more real! I'm so excited!

Excuses

2011-08-07T16:27:00.006-04:00

So yeah, I know I've taken a VERY long break from the blog so hear is my list of excuses:

What free time I have is on the weekends, and that is when I actually get to spend time with Phil... so it really isn't free time anymore.

I am tired when I get off work and usually have to take my workout clothes to work with me so I won't have to go home to change beforehand. This doesn't give me the excuse to stay home and not workout. To tell you the truth, I haven't really got online that much at all except to occasionally check emails, job listings, and fb stalk... oh and there was this whole researching caterers thing...

So the so-called wonderful caterer Phil & I thought we had called me once in a 5 month period. He had promised, when we had our tasting, to email me a list of things we had discussed (food, plates, glasses, silverware, etc.) with prices for each. That never happened. Phil went to the restaurant repeatedly and told him I needed that email. Never happened. I got the call about 2 1/2 months ago with a total price, he said he'd email me the breakdown. Never happened. Phil continued to visit him and the last time he said he'd email me that night. Never happened. The next day, I called myself and the guy that answered said he was working on it now and would email me in the next hour. Never happend. It never will now cause we got us a new caterer! I let that charade go on for much longer than I should have, but it is okay now and the new caterer is great! I was just a wee bit stressed about that one!

I had been working for 3 months for a hygienist on maternity leave. The people there loved me (yes, I'm tooting my own horn) and the other hygienist is wanting to go part-time, but for some reason the boss man thinks it will be a lot of work for her to do this, so he is resisting... for now. I have an insider, a mole, who is keeping me informed of these details as they progress. It sure would be nice...

That job ended 7/27, I had last week lined up for another hygienist going on vacation, and now I'm getting ready to start another maternity leave for 6 weeks in an office I never worked before! So that will take me up until around 2 weeks before the wedding! I just pray something comes from all this. I really, really need it!

I am obsessed with watching tv. Yes, I watched The Bachelorette. I figured she'd pick JP, but was really loving Ben. I felt really bad that he was so confident. So yeah, tv/tivo has over ruled my online time. There is also Flipping Out, So You Think You Can Dance, Design Star, True Blood... omg I'm addicted again! I think I had mentioned here that I was not going to let the tv rule me, but sadly(?) it has yet again. Okay, I'm not sad about it! Judge all you want.

I am still planning the wedding! And the closer it gets to the wedding, the more things that need to get done. I feel like I've been pretty well organized, but there are just some things that have to wait until the end.

Future excuses:

more tv

more wedding stuff - dress fittings, invitations, hair/makeup trial, meetings with other vendors...

more work

more tired

more stress

more working out

I apologize in advance to the few followers I have accumulated, and hope you'll bear with me!

And I have a small request: If anyone finds a cute pair of reasonably priced grass/kelly/clover green high heeled shoes for my wedding that are cute and preferably 2 1/2 inches or less, please send me the link/store to find them! It would be appreciated :)

Oh, and the last update to the blog I made wasn't even supposed to be posted cause I had planned to add more to it. Oh well!

Week #41

2011-07-18T07:11:00.000-04:00

This is what I did this past week, although it may not be the entire week, at least I am posting it! Again, there are multiple pictures of some of the days!

Day 281

We (Phil, Adam, Sarah, Michael, & I) went to the Vandalia Gathering this Sunday to see Adam compete in the annual WV Liar's Contest! The food vendor's are pretty good, but I had a hot bologna sandwich (does anyone else have to sing the spelling part of the Oscar Meyer song when typing this word?!) that was not very tasty. It was in a spicy bbq sauce which I didn't care for cause I usually like b-o-l-o-g-n-a.

This picture shows Adam winning first place as WV's Biggest Liar for the third time! He got a certificate, blue ribbon, and a golden shovel!

This is Phil acting like he is hitting me with the golden shovel.

This is Adam holding onto the Capital as well as his blue ribbon and golden shovel.

Adam is putting the golden shovel to use on the Capitol grounds.

Sadly, I did not get a picture of Sarah & Michael. Sad face.

After Vandalia, we ate the traditional sushi dinner. Later that evening, Adam came over to play a game of MegaMan with Phil and eat some Jolly Pirate donuts.

Day 282

Happy Memorial Day!

Here are pictures of my new Jumbo Waver and the effects of it on my hair. This is a horrid picture of me, but my hair is even more terrible! I don't think it's because of the waver, but because it needs cut badly!

This picture is of my new cell phone and proof that my friend, Jeffs, actually texted me back! It says, "I thought of you yesterday when i was ordering a blueberry donut :) they didn't have any whole wheat". It is common knowledge amongst my bffs that Jeffs loves a whole wheat donut!

Week #36, #37, #38, #39, #40

2011-05-31T07:11:00.010-04:00

Hello! Long time, no blog! This long weekend inspired me to finally update with my Pic-A-Day Challenge (which, I guess I have failed now, but I keep going!). I am not presenting it like I usually do cause I have more pictures for certain days, and no pictures for other days. Here goes...

This last week in April I have no pictures! I can tell you that I had an orientation, for the temporary job I am currently working, the Monday & Tuesday of this week. The last 3 days of the work week, I was working for a hygienist in another office in the area.

Day 253

The Mole (aka my car) turned 100,000 miles this Sunday! I had planned to take these pictures all week and was happy I remembered to do so! I took the 99999 mile photo cause my lucky number is 9.

The other picture is of my loaner phone from Ntelos. My old flip phone was breaking at its hinges, so I needed this one to get by until Phil and I decided which phone company to stay with/go to together on one plan. We had decided on staying with Ntelos cause we figured it would be cheaper, but they messed up our paperwork and it was going to take forever for our phone numbers (we wanted to keep) to move to one family plan. My service was ending soon, and they made us mad so we went to Sprint. It ended up being slightly cheaper for us anyway. And it somehow was easier for our phone numbers to switch over to another provider than to keep our old provider and switch the phone numbers over to another plan. Go figure.

Day 254

I worked for yet another hygienist in the area 5 days this week! This is a picture of their old pop machine in the lunch room.

Day 257

A perk of working is that I actually was up to see the sunrise! It was a beautiful, foggy Spring morning without any rain!

This Wednesday, I also met up with the place who is making the cupcakes for our wedding! They are actually going to make us a brownie "cake" for the top of our cupcake tower that Phil & I can cut into at the reception! This relieves me that the place I wanted from the beginning will actually do this for us!

The Friday of this week, I took my local anesthesia exam so I could give anesthetic injections. It was a crazy week for me cause I hadn't studied in a year, but also cause I put this exam off til the last minute (some things never change!) and this was a week out from the deadline in taking it! I got it done though and still I'm waiting for results.

This was my first week working for the hygienist who is out on maternity leave for the next 3 months. They have a crazy computer system, that the chief dentist praises that I have learned how to use faster than anyone else that has worked there. I don't think it is necessarily hard, there are just lots of steps to go through to complete a patient note. The whole office is paperless and the x-rays are digital.

Day 267

Today, Phil & I went to his sister's pinning ceremony for nursing school! So proud of his sister for achieving her goal after so many obstacles! The downside of this ceremony was that it lasted 2 1/2 hours... not fun!

Day 269

How could I have not bought nail polish during these past 5 weeks!? Well, I couldn't pass up the sale stickers of 75% off of course! I need to try them out soon!

Day 279

My parent's anniversary was this past Thursday and they took a mini-vacay! So Phil & I decided to do their grocery shopping for them this Friday and went to the Kroger. I had to go to the little girl's room and when I came out I saw Phil pushing around this buggy full of pork rinds! I thought he'd filled up our buggy, but found out it was one that just had them all in there to sell like that. It was funny anyway, so I got this pic and it has that guy's hilarious face on the sign in it too! I think he wants some pork rinds!

I also used some of those Real Nail Polish Strips by Sally Hansen this evening! They were fairly easy to apply and turned out pretty good! I got the Laced Up strips to go with my current lace obsession!

Day 280

This Saturday evening, Phil & I met up with his parents to go out to eat at the mall. After our meal, his mom and I went to Charming Charlies where I got this watch! It is one with the rubber band that I have been eyeing lately!

Earlier this day, I went with two of my bridesmaids and my friend Lee, who will be marrying us, to order their bridesmaid dresses. We had a great time and went to eat lunch together as well!

---------------------------------------------------------

Also during these past 5 weeks, I have been running every Monday, Zumba-ing 2 days a week, and for the last 2 weeks, I have been kick boxing! I'm feeling pretty good exercise-wise, but just have to get my eating on track, especially on the weekends!

Well, that's all I have for you for now! I hope everyone has had a great holiday weekend and will have an even better short work week!

Hiatus

2011-05-22T23:53:00.001-04:00

Hello friends!

I swear I will be back in full blogging force here sooner or later, but it has been good to take a wee vacation from it here lately! I am getting the hang of my new schedule... going to sleep by midnight every night, waking up at 6:30am to be at work by 8am, getting off work at 4:30pm, then going straight to the Y/Zumba/Phil's house right after work, catching up on my shows, and repeating it all over again! Then I have the weekends of fitting things I can't do during the week and actually getting to spend time with my fiance! I guess I've entered the realm of workdom for the time being, I just hope it can continue!

I have come to the conclusion that I will once more have to rely on TiVo to take of my new shows that are beginning so I can start doing more things throughout the week! haha I just have to finish watching all my finales though! Speaking of finales... I really hated how Grey's and Private Practice left off this season! Aggravating! I hope that The Event and The Biggest Loser will not disappoint this coming week! How are your finales going?

I will also try to catch up on all the Pic-A-Days I have missed. I'm not saying that I will post a picture for all that I haven't showed here lately, but I will skip around and try filling you in on what I have been up to the last couple months!

I've also missed reading many of my favorite blogs, so I apologize to all of you reading this that I haven't been commenting! I will try my hardest to catch up!

XOXO

Working Woman

2011-05-02T22:43:00.004-04:00

Hey all!

Sorry I've been MIA for the last week, but I've been working temp jobs nonstop. I have everyday except holidays booked up until the 2nd week in August! Woohoo! Now to try and figure in the rest of my stuff that needs to get done, including sleep and this blog.

Don't worry, I will return... even if posts get backed up for a while!

SMILE!

Week #35

2011-04-25T07:11:00.003-04:00

I hope everyone had a happy Easter! I actually have a pic for each day this week, and also slept so much better!

Day 239: Phil and I are pretty much finished registering! We finally found these pint glasses we've been looking for forever and put them on the registry! haha All I have to add is some bedding stuff and maybe a few other decor items that he isn't too interested in!

Day 240: Mom got me this handbag from the new store here at our mall called Charming Charlie! I love this purse cause it's lacey! This place is pretty much awesome and is organized by color! You could spend hours in there and still not see everything! It's pretty overhelming!

Day 241: This is a pic of my orchid sprouting a new little branch! I've had this orchid for about 10 years, and this past year it has grown more than in the previous years combined!

Day 242: Mom and I went to the florist today for a wedding consultation! I know this can be a big expense for a wedding but we are trying to do our best to keep it as low as possible! It is probably one of the most exciting parts of planning for me!

Day 243: Today I had a girl's day out with my friend Heather! We went to Panera Bread to eat lunch/soup, then shopped at Target and Sally Beauty Supply. The main point of going to Sally was to get this crackle nail polish that came out recently! I really wanted grey but all they had was black, white, and this blue color. You can see which I picked. Sorry for the pic of my toe, but I painted under the crackle a yellow color so my toenail isn't really yellow! haha The crackle worked pretty well as long as you worked pretty fast, cause it dries on the brush fast and goops up. Try to make it a thin layer on your nail.

Day 244: Before I left to go to Phil's house today, mom and I colored Easter eggs!!! I LOVE to do this! I got the one where you have to color the egg then glue it and then apply the foil! I think they turned out pretty well, but they got kinda sticky after we hid them in the damp grass on Easter!

Day 245: Phil and I went oot and aboot today to a game resale store where I actually bought the 1st Harry Potter book for $1 (that I will be able to read after the last Harry Potter movie comes out!) and got a computer game as well. We also went to a antique store that had this fantastic (*sarcasm*) inflatable Incredible Hulk that Phil loved. I love the Hulk probably almost just as much as Phil, but where would I put this??? Let me just say that it was nice that it cost $500 cause Phil is probably just as frugal as me, if not more!

I hope everyone has a happy Monday! I get to go to an orientation today and tomorrow for a job that I will be working for the next 3 months! It's only temporary because the hygienist will be out on maternity leave. Yay for working! haha

Don't Worry, Be Happy!

2011-04-19T23:49:00.002-04:00

I am definately a worrier! And recently it seems like it has got worse, like with Phil's tooth, the wedding, and how other people feel about various things... But now I've decided I'm not going to spend so much time making myself upset because other people are upset, I'm going to be happy! Of course I want everyone to be happy too, but I'm going to put myself first and not worry so much if others don't want to be happy, no matter how hard I try! And with that I present you this video:

I can't think of this song and not think of 6th grade! One of my friends was spending the night with me and it was back in the day when requesting and dedicating songs on the radio was a big deal! We had a teacher that we didn't really like cause he was a major Debbie Downer, so we thought it would be hilarious to dedicate this song to him on our local radio station! I seriously don't remember if it ever got played, or we worked up the courage to actually dedicate it to him in the first place, but I just remember that we cracked up everytime we thought about it!

Remember: Don't Worry, Be Happy!

Week #34

2011-04-18T07:11:00.003-04:00

So it's pretty sad that I really don't remember what I did this week, and had to remind myself from the few tweets I post! I just didn't sleep well all week for some reason, except for the first part - I do know why... Day 232: Today Phil was in major pain because of his tooth! His face was starting to swell, and in hindsight I should have just taken him to the hospital. I reluctantly left his house that day, couldn't really call and talk to him cause it was hard for him to open his mouth. I didn't get much sleep cause I was worrying so much. Didn't take any pictures... sorry!

Day 233: I got up early this morning and drove back to Phil's house cause I was so worried! He had already set an appointment to get this tooth pulled previously for Tuesday, but he was going to call this Monday morning to see if they could get him in since he was so bad. They could and I was glad I was there to drive him. They pulled it even though it was infected and put him on an antibiotic (for the second time). They said that if he swelled any more to go straight to the ER. So today I took care of him. I know I'm doing bad but no picture today too! My worrying got the best of me. When I went home again tonight I didn't sleep well again.

Day 234: Phil was okay today and I didn't worry as much, but still didn't sleep well. It was like I would get my hours in, but didn't feel rested when I got up. Anyway, I had to do stuff today like go find wedding invitations. I found these at Target that I liked, but when I went with mom today to get them, they only had one box. Sooo, I was frustrated cause everytime I find them the place doesn't have enough or you can't order/find them online. We decided to go to a place in town that designs/prints them for you and it is for a good price. This pic is of the paper we want, you can't tell very much but it is a ivory color with a bit of sparkle!

Day 235: Today, was my bub Adam's birthday! I also finally got to the Y! It was a hard workout mostly because I was so exhausted. Also, this morning my dad calls me up to talk to him before he was leaving to go to work, and I look him in the eyes and one of his pupils is dilated and the other isn't. I freak, thinking that he's had a stroke or something and tell my mom to come look. They start laughing at me while I have tears in my eyes! Turns out dad had gone to the eye doctor that morning and they only had to dilate one eye! It was okay, but it was a bad joke on me!

Day 236: Mom and I went for a walk in the park. We walked to the place where *I think* will be the place in the park that we are having the ceremony(pictured). Later today, I went to Zumba with Rachel again! So much fun!

Day 237: Phil is feeling much better now with the help from his antibiotic, and got to come to my house for the weekend! The lymph nodes under his chin are still a little swollen, but the rest of his face is much better! Those swollen nodes are stopping him from getting some early Easter treats!

Day 238: Phil got a new game for the DS that I decided I would try out before him! It's called "9 hours, 9 persons, 9 doors" and sort of feels very "Saw"-ish to me. There is a lot of reading to this game but you do get to figure out some puzzles, get to know some people, and search some rooms to get through the 9 doors.

So that was my week, and I'm happy to say that Saturday I had a good night's sleep!

Too Cute!

2011-04-15T07:11:00.000-04:00

Happy Friday!

Week #33

2011-04-11T07:11:00.002-04:00

Hey all! How was your weekend? Mine was pretty good, mostly so because of the weather, except for that crazy severe thunderstorm with hail I drove in on Friday! At least it was warm!

Day 225: Today, Phil and I went for a walk around his neighborhood then went bike riding with his nephew! It was a beautiful day as you can see from this picture with the blue sky and pretty spring tree!

Day 226: This is my favorite gummy bear, the clear or pineapple one! Yes, I had gummy bears today! Yum!

Day 227: So I worked at the dentist office again today for the hygienist that hurt her shoulder. I have never worked at or been to a dentist office where they wear the surgical hair nets, but that is what I have to wear there! Too funny!

Day 228: It was gorgeous out today, so I worked out at the Y and at the park! I walked 2 miles and took a few pictures along the way. I would have ran some, but my ankle was hurting and I feel weird running around so many people right now. I still feel like I have some work to do before I get to that point. Here is a pic I took while there, tulips are one of my favorite flowers!

Day 229: I got to work again today too, at the same office. After work, I met up with my friend Rachel to go Zumba! Obviously this isn't a pic I took, but I didn't have my camera on me at the time! Forgive me?

Day 230: Today was just one of those days where it felt like everything went wrong! I woke up early (for me) today to go meet one of my friends for lunch. I called before I was getting ready to leave the house and he said that he didn't feel good, so that ended that. I then decided to do this extravagant online thingy for a certain place that wants me to do temp work for them - it took way too long and all the pages took forever to upload. I then needed to get my TB test read for same said temp job and had to wait an hour because they were way under-staffed, and it only took them 2 seconds to look at my arm and say it was negative! When I got home (mom had driven me before) and was getting ready to leave in my car so I could go to Phil's for the weekend, The Mole (my car, pictured) didn't start. So I ended up taking mom's car and having to drive in the severe thunderstorm with hail in a car I wasn't used to! Then my day got significantly better cause I got to spend it with Phil :-)

Day 231: This day was much better than the last, except that Phil was starting to experience some tooth pain with a tooth that he is getting pulled this upcoming Tuesday. We had gone to Lowe's and to eat lunch with his mom and grandma, then we went shopping for me some wedding shoes and to look at some possible wedding invitations. I didn't find any shoes, but I found these invitations at Target that I like a lot!

I hope this week goes well, and that Phil can get his tooth pulled ASAP cause it is hurting him so much! I just want him out of pain!

Have a great week everyone!

Honeymoonin'

2011-04-08T07:11:00.007-04:00

Phil & I need to figure out where we will be going on our honeymoon! We don't really know if we will be able to go right after our wedding since I don't have a job, and if I do by that time - will they let me take off a week after I've only been there a short period of time? Anyways, we'll need affordable and here are some ideas we have thrown around:

1. New England Fall Foliage

I don't really know if this would work out well for a honeymoon or not. My dream would be to drive up the coast of the New England states all the way to Maine and drive home, but seeing we would only have a week, it doesn't seem possible. Another idea was to fly to Maine then rent a car and drive home. That still seems like it would be a lot of driving and not much sight-seeing. Then there is always just going to one particularly pretty place where there is lots for us to do, and we would still be able to drive around to see the spectacular fall foliage!

2. Hawaii

This was an option presented to us from Phil's mom & grandma. He has a great uncle that lives in Hawaii and they have a community guest house, which is supposedly nice, that we would be able to stay in for free. I would simply love to go to Hawaii on vacation, I just don't know how I feel about visiting family on our honeymoon. I feel like it should be me & Phil time! Still a beautiful and nice option though!

3. Disney World!

Phil came up with this option and I love it! We both love amusement parks so I think this might be topping our list right now! I know I have a lot of bloggy friends out there that know a lot about going to Disney World and I am asking for your advice right now since I haven't been there since I was 7: What parks should we visit? Are there websites out there I should be looking at to get affordable vacation packages? Where is a good place to stay for our honeymoon or a place we shouldn't stay? Any other tips?

Okay people, where do you think we should go? Help!

Let's Play Tag!

2011-04-07T07:11:00.000-04:00

I was tagged by Stephanie from The Eclectic Girl to answer these questions:

1st - Four Places I Go

Phil's House

Hobby Lobby

Target

Random Dentist's Offices

2nd - Four Favorite Smells

Freshly Baked Cookies

My Banana Cream Pie Candle that is almost gone :(

Men's Cologne

Butterfly Flower by Bath & Body Works

3rd - Four Favorite TV Shows (as of right now)

The Biggest Loser

The Event (I know many don't like it, but I really like this show people!)

True Blood (always)

Property Virgins

4th - Four Recommendations

Laugh often.

Look for the good in all things.

Don't be too serious.

Smile!

I TAG:

Anyone who wants to play!

Pass it along once you've answered.

PPQ: Springland

2011-04-06T07:11:00.003-04:00

Springland

©Mariah Smile

There is a tree that I know
With drooping branches that seem to flow
In the wind just like a dance
Sighing sweetly in spring’s romance

From the tree that I have found
Tiny, pink petals swirl around
Throughout the day the colors enhance
Sighing sweetly in spring’s romance

As chirping birds play in the tree
La vie en rose is what I see
Staring like I’m in a trance
Sighing sweetly in spring’s romance

Thinking of What Dreams May Come
Visions of beauty to me succumb
I close my eyes and ease my stance
Sighing sweetly in spring’s romance

Week #32

2011-04-04T07:11:00.002-04:00

Happy Monday everyone! I hope it is going okay for you so far! I hope some part of my week will make you smile!

Day 218: This Sunday, Phil and I sat around and watched our collection of Jack Ass movies and finally watched the newest one. In a lot of ways I cannot stand to watch these movies, but in part they are quite hilarious and I cannot take my eyes away! haha No matter what, it's always nice to be able to laugh together!

Day 219: Today, I went to the Y and ran! I also finished up watching the Square Pegs DVDs I got for Christmas. Has anyone else ever watched this TV series? It is like totally 80s, totally! I had never heard of it before I got it as a gift, but it was a lot of fun to watch! I believe this was one of Sarah Jessica Parker's first roles.

Day 220: Mom and I went to another florist's shop today to get a feel for how they would be for the wedding. The woman was really nice there and I have a feeling she is who we are going to go with! From there, we went to Hobby Lobby and picked up a few things including these (pictured) that we are going to use as table numbers. What do ya think?

Day 221: I spent the better part of this evening going over our gift registry and figuring out everything we still need to register for. I printed off this checklist and compared it to what we already have bought/registered.

Day 222: Today, I got called into temp work at a new dentist's office (that's #5)! Their dental hygienist hurt her arm which is so sad considering her line of work, but I'm glad I got an oppurtunity to fill-in somewhere new and meet new people. My aunt, uncle, cousin's wife & daughter (Asyra) left today to see my cousin graduate from basic training in Texas! This pic is Asyra and mom playing the 'scrub your ears' game she made up!

Day 223: I went to Phil's house this weekend. This evening Phil and I went to Point Pleasant to eat at a new place. Then, we went back to his house to relax. This pic is of Phil's mom's dog, Baby. Baby loves me and cuddled up on my lap tonight and went to sleep. I sure do miss having a doggy!

Day 224: Phil's nephew Alec turned 6 years old the day before, but today we, along with Phil's parents, took him to Chuck E. Cheese's to eat pizza, play games, and get prizes! He had a blast! After, Phil and I went to the bookstore where I finally got "Dead in the Family" by Charlaine Harris since it just came out in paperback! I cannot wait to go read it!

Have a good week!

Registry: Bathroom

2011-04-01T07:11:00.002-04:00

Love this bathroom!

I love the tub, all the counter space, and the wallpaper - and I'm not a big fan of wallpaper! My bathroom would definately not look this tidy though.

I know I need to register for bath/hand towels, but what else should I register for in a bathroom? Should I register for a shower curtain?

PPQ: The Road Not Taken

2011-03-30T07:11:00.003-04:00

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim

Because it was grassy and wanted wear,

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I marked the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

Week #31

2011-03-28T07:11:00.003-04:00

Hey all! I had another busy week this past week, but my weekend was a little more relaxing so this is posted at the regular time! Woohoo!

Day 211: Isn't it lovely that when the calendar says that it's finally Spring that nature decides it is too!? Today the grass looked greener and the little white & purple wild flowers sprouted making my backyard look so happy! Yay!

Day 212: I actually did it folks, I took down the Christmas tree!!! Then I got into full on Spring cleaning mode with the rest of my house!

Day 213: This is a new nail polish I got! I keep seeing these pale shades of pink polishes and had to purchase one for myself! (Peter Piper Picked...) This color is called Easy Going by Sinful Colors. It took about 3 coats before it covered properly and since it's so pale it is not very forgiving for someone who doesn't polish neatly (me)! I like it okay, but may try finding a better color next time. Also, I got to work today at a dental office I've worked at before! It's nice to know that they'll call me up when they need someone and found out they want me to work a week for them in May!

Day 214: Got another call this morning from another dental office saying they need me! Feels great to be loved! haha It had been raining this day, but the sun came out so strong when I was driving home that I needed to put on my sunglasses for the first time this year!

Day 215: So I went to a "working interview" for the pediatric clinic that I regular interviewed with before. They say that they work so differently than a regular dental clinic that they wanted me to come in and make sure it would be a good fit for all. They are totally paperless, so I had to get used to their computer system and what they enter into that system, which was the major part that was different. The other dental hygienist there said that I did really well with that cause it took most of them a lot longer than it did me in just that one day. I hope that will make me look good, not only that but all my other qualities as well!

Day 216: My television in my living room has been on the blink for the last month or so, and with that is my TiVo, which you know I can't live without! So I've been recording all my shows to watch on my parents TV. Anyway, Phil came over this weekend and said he wanted to mess with it. He turns the TV on and it is working perfectly fine. Just him looking at it. This is not the only time this has happened, and it is pretty weird. Also, I actually ran at the Y today for the first time since I hurt my ankle! I didn't try to push myself cause I was afraid of hurting it, but I did pretty good!

Day 217: Today was my daddy's birthday!!! It just so happened that Phil and I were getting some more free cupcakes (and brownies this time) from another bakery for our wedding tasting. This is a pic of the brownies, which may look okay and all but they did not taste good. They were more like cake (and you know by now Phil does not like cake), but they were not good tasting cake, and the cupcakes weren't good either. So this was a FAIL on being dad's birthday treats, but luckily Phil and I made brownie cupcakes (brownie mix poured into cupcake tins and baked) the night before that turned out deliciously! Too bad we ate all of them before I forgot to get a picture of them!

Hope everyone had a good weekend, I did even though it was entirely too cold for me!

Registry: Kitchen/Dining Room

2011-03-25T07:11:00.001-04:00

Phil and I already have our casual, everyday plates which are white with a little black on them. The color inspiration for these room though comes from the fine china we are asking for in our registry:I have always loved them and could not wait to get them! So I'm thinking I want white cabinets, with most everything white but have maybe one wall painted that color blue, and have some of our kitchen items we ask for be blue too. I already have my eye on a bread box and some canisters from Target that are that color! ...now to find a house!

Any tips on great kitchen/dining room items I definately need to have?
For any room - If you have ever registered and are already married, what is the one item you could not live without from your registry?
What is the one item you didn't register for that you wish you did?

PPQ: Rain

2011-03-23T07:11:00.000-04:00

Rain

©Mariah Smile

Umbrellas, wetness

Puddles, splashes

Pitter-patter

On my window

Faster wipers

Slickers, boots

Muddy sidewalks

Flooding rivers

Big, grey clouds

Wipe your feet

Watch your step

Hydroplaning

And fishtailing

Week #30

2011-03-21T22:56:00.000-04:00

I was pretty busy last week work-wise... then the weekend was filled with fun and wedding stuff! The bad part is that I forget to take pictures of some of the things that matter the most! It's the small little things that I'm like "Oh! I'll take a pic of that!" but I guess I'm so wrapped up in the moment during lots of wedding planning fun! I really need my wedding photographer to follow me around all the time! Sorry this is late, enjoy!

Day 204: I was at Phil's house this Sunday, and we decided to take his nephew on a little field trip to Kmart and GameStop on a quest for an Xbox game he and Phil could play together. We got to the Kmart just fine and dandy, and even bought some delicious and addicting Thin Mints (pictured, then gobbled) from the Girl Scouts. Anyway, after that we were on our way to GameStop when Alec says "I'm gonna puke" about 5 seconds before he does. Vomit is everywhere. It stinks. I feel bad for the little guy! Phil complained all week about this situation in his car and dumped about hundred different products on his car seat to get the smell to go away. Arm & Hammer was the winner! Sorry to incorporate the delicious picture of Girl Scout Cookies with this story!

Day 205: I woke up extra early cause I had a temp job today! It was at the dental clinic I've been filling in for since September. About 10 minutes into my 30 minute drive, I get a call from the girl I was filling in for saying that the clinic was cancelling all patients for the day due to a death in the dentist's family. I turned around and drove back and got a picture of the sunrise out back of my house! Then I got ready and went to the Y!

Day 206: I worked for the same girl mentioned in Day 205 today! And I actually got all the way there and worked! It was a rainy day, but it was starting to feel like Spring was coming!

Day 207: Wednesday I had to go to an "orientation" for a dental hygienist I would be filling in for at a new dental clinic. I went there for about 2 hours where I learned where everything was that I would need when I worked there, got accustomed to the digital x-rays I would be taking, and mostly just talked to the dental hygienist. On my way home I got me some much needed new tennis shoes! Love them! I am going to where my old ones only when I work out now.

Day 208: Happy St. Patrick's Day! I wore my green today, it's my most favorite of colors! As I drove around today, I was suprised to see there were a lot of people out around my hometown wearing green! Guess it's pretty easy garmet to wear since the local high school's colors incorporate green and so does the university... or they just didn't wanna get pinched!

Day 209: So I worked this Friday at the new dental clinic I mentioned above in Day 207. They were really laid back, with just one dentist/one assisstant/one hygienist (me for the day!)/one receptionist. It was a busy schedule but I did just fine getting used to the new location! I am currently a fill-in for 4 different dental clinics in the area, but still hoping for that full-time position!

Day 210: This was a busy, busy Saturday! First, I went with my mom & bridesmaid Corey to go look at bridesmaid dresses and finally picked one! Then, we went out to lunch where I talked to the cupcake lady that works there and got 6 different cupcakes for free to take home to Phil! As you know, Phil does not like cake but was willing to try this lady's orange cupcake since it was a different flavor. So mom, Corey, Phil, & I sat around the kitchen table at my house and had our own little cake tasting! They were so good for all except Phil. Next, Corey, Phil, & I went to the mall. We dropped off Corey with her hubby, and Phil & I shopped around (I was looking for wedding shoes, which I didn't find). We ran into our friend Rachel and her mom, chatted a bit, then went on to JCPenny where I found the banner pictured! Sephora is coming to our mall!!! I was super excited and sadly this is the pic I took instead of all the wedding activities of the day! After the mall, we went by another local bakery where we found a woman willing to make a small brownie cake for me and Phil to cut at the wedding to solve our cake problem. The rest of the guests would have cupcakes, and this woman said we could call her back sometime this week and she would give us 6 cupcakes/brownies to try for free too!!! So yeah, this was a looooong day and we passed out when we got home!

This post doesn't even incorporate yesterday's Sunday and you see that Saturday was so packed! Thanks for bearing with me and sorry if there was too much to read! Have a happy week!

Spring Fever!

2011-03-20T22:18:00.005-04:00

Hello my lovlies... my weekend was super busy and I am exhausted! So, tomorrow's Pic-A-Day will be late! Hope your Monday is not so Monday-like!!!

...and HAPPY SPRING!

Registry: Library

2011-03-19T07:11:00.000-04:00

Okay, this really doesn't have anything to do with my registry besides only hoping I could be lucky enough to have a library like these some day! ...or maybe I could register for books? haha

We may not be able to have a library, but it would be nice to have a little office/extra bedroom to have bookshelves and be able to display my hoard of books! Oh, and I want the walls to be kelly green!

For Japan With Love

2011-03-17T23:07:00.005-04:00

I will not be posting tomorrow because of the Bloggers Day of Silence for Japan. Please contact the American Red Cross or For Japan With Love to help out.

PPQ: Reality

2011-03-16T07:11:00.000-04:00

Week #29

2011-03-14T07:11:00.002-04:00

I hope everyone had a good week! I got up to the 200's on this week's Pic-A-Day! I had a busy week, and it's looking like this next week is going to be a busy one as well!

Day 197: Yup, I still have my little Christmas tree up. I had planned to take it down before but my ankle got in the way and I just really haven't thought about it since. Maybe this week it'll go to sleep for the rest of the year!

Day 198: I woke up so nauseated this morning and figured it was from the dinner I had out the night before. I continued to feel yucky the rest of the week off and on and figured out my mom had the same thing the week before. I really do love the taste of Pepto and I'm much better now!

Day 199: Went out to eat lunch with my Maid of Honor/BFF - Sarah, then we went to go look at bridesmaid dresses at various places. After all that, mom and I met with a wedding coordinator who is going to help us with just the "Day Of" events.

Day 200: Today I had an interview with pretty much my dream job, a pediatric dental clinic. It scares me to even type that out thinking I'm going to curse myself! I feel like it went really well, but we'll see!

Day 201: Went out with Sarah again today! This time we went looking for her some wedding dresses! It makes me wish I could try more on, which I guess I could if I wanted - there are so many pretty ones and she looks good in anything :)

Day 202: Phil and I met another one of my bridesmaids - Corey, and her husband/possibly our ceremony musician, in Charleston this weekend at a new pizza place there called Pies & Pints. I had me a pint of rootbeer on tap and each couple got their own pizza with two different kinds. We shared them all: one was 1/2 Margherita Pie 1/2 Eggplant & Red Pepper Pie (pictured) and the other was 1/2 Cuban Pork Pie 1/2 Chicken Gouda Pie. My fave was the Cuban Pork!

Day 203: Phil and I went to our tasting at the Buffalo Diner today! Everything was yummy and we got lots of things sorted out to get estimates. This food was so much better than the other tasting we went to! Yay!

I don't know about you, but daylight savings is screwing me up right now! I have to work a temp job in the morning (it's Sunday night when I'm typing this) and to me it should be 11:45pm and I'll be getting in bed early (for me), but it's actually 12:45am and hopefully I'll be good to go early! Have a good week everyone!

Registry: Living Room

2011-03-11T07:11:00.001-05:00

What do you ask for in your registry for the living room? I really have no clue. I'll take suggestions! I do know that I want it to be casual and have neutral colors. This would make it easy for me to change up.
Man, it is hard doing this without an actual house!

PPQ: Like the Wind

2011-03-09T07:11:00.000-05:00

Like the Wind

©Mariah Smile

You wrap around me like the wind

The way you reach and flow and bend

All of my senses you do attend

Everything I lack, to me you lend

If my heart breaks, to it you will mend

Always beside me, my faithful friend

Week #28

2011-03-07T07:11:00.003-05:00

Had a busy week full of getting stuff done! Woohoo!

Day 190: Only watched the Red Carpet portion of the Academy Awards, and maybe a little bit of the beginning just to see how Anne Hathaway and whats-his-face would do hosting. I agree with a lot of my other bloggy friends that Anne totally did the carrying on this one, at least the part I watched.

Day 191: Made my way back to the Y today for the first time since I hurt my ankle. I did pretty good using the bike and the precor machines but it is when I am just walking that it bothers me. Ended up only gaining 1lb in all that time off, so I thought that was pretty good compared to what I thought! It's been raining a lot here so this is a pic I took, on my way to the Y, of the creek near the park that was overflowing.

Day 192: My purse strappy broke today :-( Time to buy a new one :-)

Day 193: Mom and I went down to the Ramada which we reserved for the wedding reception! Exciting stuff!

Day 194: Dad booked the DJ for us today! It's nice getting all this stuff under control! Also, it seems Charlie Sheen is now writing lines for Conversation Hearts! It reads: "WIN ME"! haha I totally found this in my V-Day sale rack bag of Sweethearts I bought!

Day 195: Qdoba... Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm! Sorry I didn't get a picture of the delicious food, but I was too busy scarfing it down!

Day 196: Phil and I went out registering more today! It is pretty fun! This is one thing came up on our registery that we didn't scan, and I kept my eye on Phil when he had that gun, so I know he didn't do it! Might just leave it on there! LOL

More wedding stuff going to be accomplished this week as well, stay tuned!

Registry: Bedroom

2011-03-04T07:11:00.009-05:00

Phil and I are currently scouting out stuff to put on our wedding registry. Let me tell ya, it's hard! Especially when you don't have a house/apartment in mind when your shopping. So we've been trying to come up with colors we would want for each room, and are trying to cross items off the list that either of us already have.

We want grey walls with black/white/grey in our bedroom and maybe some splashes of yellow. It's hard for me not to incorporate some aqua with this, I don't know why but that's how my room is sort of now. Here are some pics I found that are my inspiration:

So, what do ya think?
Do you like 1, 2, 3, or 4?
Do you like my color combination?

I also found these bedrooms for multiple children and LOVE them! I think they are so neat and I would love to have them for my own bedroom!

Do you have any registry tips for me?
How should I go about registering if we don't even have a house!?

PPQ: From The Chrysalis

2011-03-02T07:11:00.001-05:00

FROM THE CHRYSALIS

by Emily Dickinson

My cocoon tightens, colors tease,

I'm feeling for the air;

A dim capacity for wings

Degrades the dress I wear.

A power of butterfly must be

The aptitude to fly,

Meadows of majesty concedes

And easy sweeps of sky.

So I must baffle at the hint

And cipher at the sign,

And make much blunder, if at last

I take the clew divine.

Week #27

2011-02-28T07:11:00.002-05:00

Hi all! Here on time this week's Pic-A-Day at it's normally scheduled time! Yay!

Day 183: I read this book - "The Girl Who Chased The Moon" by Sarah Addison Allen - in one day. It is an easy read, not to mention romantic and magical! I am trying to watch how many books I buy right now, so I may start reading some old mysteries I read a long time ago that I have forgotten what they are about, but I may just have to go buy the other 3 books by Ms. Allen!

Day 184: It seems like this whole week has been about the rain. It goes from warm to cold, rain to snow, but at least rain means that Spring is near!

Day 185: I got to work again at the same office I worked at last week! I didn't want to go out in their waiting room to take a picture so this pic I took from the internet will have to do! Yes, they have a Ms. PacMan table video game in their office! I wanted it badly!

Day 186: I worked again for the same dentist office again today! So excited that they will be able to use me so much! I just wish I could be a full-time hygienist there. Mom met me at Burger King today for my lunch break!

Day 187: My friend, Lee, won tickets and took me to see "Chorus Line" at the Keith Albee tonight! It was pretty good, but has to be the cheapest musical to produce ever! The characters all had the same clothes for the entire show except at the end for their "One Singular Sensation" finale and the background was just dance studio mirrors. This pic is of the inside of the Keith Albee, it's pretty amazing.

Day 188: On Wednesday night of this week, my babysitter/3rd grandma passed away. She was two months shy of her 90th birthday and such an amazing & strong woman. Anna took care of me from the time I was 7 weeks old until I was about 12 years old. I will miss her dearly. This day was the day of her funeral. She had tons of pink roses at her funeral, pink being her favorite color.

Day 189: I finally got some material to make Phil's nephew, Alec, a tooth-fairy pillow. I hope to have it done by his 6th birthday on April 1st. Do you like my fabric choices? There are so many different ones I love that it takes me forever to pick them out!

For those of you who want to know, my ankle is feeling alot better now. I am still limping a bit, but Ibuprofen helps tremendously. I am going to try and work out at the Y today cause I feel like I've gained every pound back again that I had previously lost.

So, my week had it's highs and lows... how was your week?

Week #26

2011-02-25T07:11:00.001-05:00

Here it is finally... totally not into it this week, sorry guys! I guess I'm having a blog slump (blump).

Day 176: My momma and daddy got me some Dove dark chocolates for Valentine's Day! They were yummy and quickly eaten by sharing :-)

Day 177: Got my certificates for bleaching and monitoring nitrous oxide in the mail today! I slacked and didn't get them until now, but it's not like I really needed them yet :-/

Day 178: Mom and I went here to see if it would be a possible wedding ceremony location. I love it but the only available spot for a reception close by does not look too hot. Ritter Park is getting closer to being the place.

Day 179: A new dentist's office called me into work for their hygienist today! I love this office and wish I could work here every day.

Day 180: Got to work for the same dentist as the day before! Their office is right next to a library so I went to read a magazine on my lunch break!

Day 181: My beautiful Valentine's Day flowers Phil got for me! They are Hulk colors, our favorite ;-) We had a great V-Day weekend and went out to eat at Uno's!

Day 182: Finally moved all my stuff back downstairs to my bedroom. I had been staying in the upstairs bedroom due to my ankle.

I've already been working on next week's Pic-A-Day post, so hopefully it'll be up bright and early Monday morning! Have a great weekend everyone!

PPQ: BLUSH

2011-02-23T07:11:00.003-05:00

Off Schedule

2011-02-21T22:40:00.004-05:00

Hey all! I haven't forgotten to publish last week's Pic-A-Day, I just haven't felt much like composing it. I promise to have it up by the end of the week though.

I do want to tell you right now that I got to work for a dentist 2 days last week which was extremely nice, and I get to work again this Wednesday! Also, on Wednesday, Phil and I might get scammed! haha I got this text and a phone call from a business that wants us to meet them for a 90 minute demonstration. At the end of it, we get free stuff including a 2 night vacation! They said that we didn't have to bring any money with us, that we had already been picked to win this stuff. I love me some free stuff! I think they got my info from the Bridal Expo I attended in January.

I'll update ya on the result!
Have a happy week!

PPQ: When You Say You Love Me

2011-02-16T07:11:00.004-05:00

When You Say You Love Me
- Josh Groban lyrics -

Like the sound of silence calling,
I hear your voice and suddenly
I'm falling, lost in a dream.
Like the echoes of our souls are meeting,
You say those words and my heart stops beating.
I wonder what it means.
What could it be that comes over me?
At times I can't move.
At times I can hardly breath.

When you say you love me
The world goes still, so still inside and
When you say you love me
For a moment, there's no one else alive

You're the one I've always thought of.
I don't know how, but I feel sheltered in your love.
You're where I belong.
And when you're with me if I close my eyes,
There are times I swear I feel like I can fly
For a moment in time.
Somewhere between the Heavens and Earth ,
And frozen in time,
Oh when you say those words.

When you say you love me
The world goes still, so still inside and
When you say you love me
For a moment, there's no one else alive

And this journey that we're on.
How far we've come and I celebrate every moment.
And when you say you love me,
That's all you have to say.
I'll always feel this way.

When you say you love me
The world goes still, so still inside and
When you say you love me
In that moment,I know why I'm alive

When you say you love me.
When you say you love me.
Do you know how I love you?

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-14T12:00:00.001-05:00

I hope everyone has a lovely day!

Week #25

2011-02-14T07:11:00.003-05:00

WARNING: This post has pictures of my swollen and bruised ankle in close proximity of a picture with delicious artichoke dip. You have been warned! haha!

Day 169: This Superbowl Sunday, Phil and I hung around the house, ordered pizza, and made this yummy artichoke dip (pictured). I found Hutch's recipe on her blog, Be Awesome Instead. It was a perfect way to watch the game, along with the Puppy Bowl of course! And I totally think that the Kitty half-time show was so much better than the Superbowl half-time show! If only Slash played withw the kitties instead!

Day 170: Monday I got up early, went to the Y to run a mile, then sprained my ankle like I ~~devoted a whole post to~~ mentioned in my last post. Well, if you liked that post you are in luck, because that is mostly what this week's Pic-A-Day depicts as well. Sorry. Here is my ankle, majorly swollen.

Day 171: This is the inside of my ankle, swollen and bruised.

Day 172: This is the outside of my ankle, swollen and bruised.

Day 173: My parents came home this evening! It felt so nice to have people there to help me if I needed it! I managed myself by using a plastic bag to carry things from room to room, but it was still hard! This is my foot in it's bandage. I was happy I'd painted my toes before I hurt my foot!

Day 174: Phil got me out of the house and took me to Captain D's today! I had been craving it! haha It was a bit hard being out of the house with the crutches but we managed.

Day 175: And finally, it's not an ankle pic! Phil's mom sent over a Valentine's present for me! I love dark chocolate! Phil and I also ventured out of the house again today and pushed me around in a wheelchair! Wish I had pics of that! haha

Okay guys, sorry that I've been complaining about the ankle so much. That's all I've had to do though since I was home alone for most of the week and unable to do much. I'll try to make this week much more entertaining!

An Annoyance & Resolve

2011-02-10T07:11:00.001-05:00

So Monday night, I was watching The Bachelor on the TV upstairs in our house. It was over, so I was going back downstairs carrying some munchies and my phone in my hands. As I was coming to the last step, I look out the window and get distracted by yet another snowfall when I myself start falling, due to too many steps left when I only thought there was one. I land on my right ankle and down I go. Pain ensues. Crying starts. Stupid snow! My first reaction was to call Phil, I tell him what happens and start sobbing into the phone. He wants to come over, but I don't let him cause it was snowing outside and dark. I tell him I'll call him back.

I am all alone. My parents are away for a week, lovely. Good thing my aunt and uncle live just next door so I call them up. They rush over with their spare key and help me assess the damage. A LOT of swelling. I feel nauseous. They help me to the couch where I prop up my ankle and apply an ice baggy. Oh man it hurts! I told my aunt and uncle I didn't want to go to the hospital and would wait til the next day to see how I felt.

I find out that not having crutches is TERRIBLE! I hopped around the house on my left leg all night, and sometimes crawled on my knees just to get another baggy of ice at 4am. Thank goodness the bathroom is like 5 hops from the bed! This is all on the main floor of my house and my bedroom is in the basement. So I stayed in the guest bedroom. I went to the doc, got some x-rays, it is only a sprain thank goodness, then got the crutches which are pretty bad too but not as bad as none.

The sprain will have many annoyances: pain from both my right ankle and my left thigh from hopping (good thing I've been working out!), not being able to keep up with my running (which I got up to running a mile recently!) and *hopefully* won't interfere with possible job offerings which I'm supposed to find out really soon. This week I also had a "To Do List" of cleaning and running around doing errands, both of which isn't possible cause I can't go up and down stairs and I can't drive my car with my left foot without scaring myself.

Resolve: It had been 2 years since Phil proposed to me. Didn't plan on seeing him this day cause he works, but he took off at lunch to come help me out. He brought me food (I'd only had a banana all day), he got some much needed items for me downstairs out of my bedroom and bathroom - including my toothbrush and books to read, and he actually helped me into the bathtub because I was feeling pretty nasty (hopping around can really work ya out!). This gave me a glimpse into our future when we are old. It was a little awkward but sweet at the same time. But mostly he was there for me for company and hugs. I think he may be off the hook for Valentine's Day :-)

Sorry about the long post on my ankle. It is all I am thinking about since I'm here alone moving from the couch to my bed and to the bathroom. Better posts to come!

PPQ: My Love

2011-02-09T07:11:00.001-05:00

My Love

©Mariah Smile

The night was soft

A first glance taken

Our path untouched

A first step taken

Conversation flowed

Hearts were racing

A connection was made

Our lips embracing

My life would change

I knew that evening

I knew you liked me

My lungs stopped breathing

We met again

And again we talked

Ever since those days

My heart was locked

You’ve been my love

And will forever be

You are my best friend

So close to me

2 years ago...

2011-02-08T07:11:00.004-05:00

I became engaged to the man I am going to marry in just 8 short months! You can read about our engagement here. That may sound like a long time to you but I have a feeling it's going to go fast for me with all the planning I have to do!

It also feels weird that we have been engaged for 2 years. It seems like a lot of people rush off and get married ASAP after they are engaged, which isn't a bad thing but just didn't turn out that way for me. I know we did it this way because I was in school for most of it, and I figured I'd have a DH job by now and would be busy working and planning at the same time, and there is the fact that I was stuck on having our wedding outdoors in the autumn. That didn't turn out to be the case with the job, but I've enjoyed taking my time and being engaged to Phil.

Now to figure out what to get him for Valentine's Day... there's always this option :-)

Week #24

2011-02-07T07:11:00.003-05:00

So I had a fairly good week, lots more wedding research and accomplishments were made! Enjoy!

Day 162: My parents and I went next door to my aunt & uncle/cousin's house to say farewell to my "little" cousin Zach before he was leaving the next day to go to basic training. This is a pic of me playing with his daughter, Asyra. She had me ride on her horse with her in the kitchen floor.

Day 163: Went to the Y today and Mondays are my meeting days. We talked about cholesterol today and I thought this little cartoon was pretty cute. If you can't see it, it is a vampire scaring a woman but the woman says "I'd better warn you - I've high cholesterol!"

Day 164: Went looking around for more options for the wedding ceremony and reception location. For the reception I'm liking the Ramada, but we'll see if this will be close enough to where we want the ceremony. This is a pic of the floor plan.

Day 165: Got another free wedding magazine in the mail! It has options for decor, invitations, favors, and gifts in it. It may come in handy!

Day 166: Went Krogering today! I love grocery shopping for the most part, but I especially love getting the Kroger sushi!

Day 167: Took my parents to the airport today! My mom and dad had planned this trip a long time ago so they could go visit some of my mom's relatives down in Florida. Although I would have liked to join them, it probably is for the best that I stayed here cause I ended up with another interview this Monday (today)! This pic is driving down the hill from where the airport is located. I also ran into my friend Jennifer (Crazy Shenanigans) there and it was good getting to catch up with her! After that, I went right to the Y and ran a mile without stopping for the first time ever!!!

Day 168: Phil and I went to Ashland today. We ate at the Cheddar's there, went to the mall where I got my Clinique freebies (pictured), then went to Burt's Pet Shop where we got our pet fix!

I am crossing my fingers that I will get some calls about jobs this week! I also have made a chore list for myself to complete... we'll see how that goes!

Book Review: One Day

2011-02-04T07:11:00.000-05:00

I had promised this awhile back but just now getting to it. It's been busy for me the last couple weeks with all this wedding stuff piling up on me! Anyways, here's the review...

One Day by David Nicholls is about Dex and Em, Em and Dex... you'd get it if you read the book... two people who went to college together but never really met/became friends until the night of their graduation. You follow these "friends" over the course of 20 years, but here's the kicker: you only follow them on July 15th of each of those years. The author does a good job of catching you up on how each character is doing during the rest of the year which makes it an easy read after you get into the book a couple chapters.

I wasn't sure how I was going to like it at first. I sort of made myself read the first few chapters, but then I was hooked and loved it. It wasn't like The Girl With The Dragon Tatoo where I pretty much had to make myself read 3/4 of the book while only 1/4 was good. One Day always makes you wonder: what is going to happen to these people next year? The book is filled with ups & downs as Emma and Dexter go through their lives with and without eachother.

Have you read this book before?
If so, what did you think of it?
If not, do you want to read it now?

PPQ: The Best Thing

2011-02-02T07:11:00.002-05:00

Week #23

2011-01-31T07:11:00.003-05:00

I hope everyone had a good week and will enjoy week #23 of my Pic-A-Day challenge!!!

Day 155: Today we celebrated my mom, aunt, and cousin Zach's birthdays! My family got together and ate some cheese fondue, pizza, and ice cream cake. My little cousin Asyra made this picture for my mom using some glue and leftover confetti from her mom's baby shower! Isn't it cute?!

Day 156: I started reading Breaking Dawn for the second time today. I had borrowed the book when I read it the first time, but when I got it as a present for Christmas, I decided it was time to read it again! I'm almost finished with it now.

Day 157: I have been obsessively going through the new WV Weddings magazine since it came out! Love it!

Day 158: I had gone over to Phil's house the day before cause I felt like just being a normal couple and getting to see him whenever I wanted. It's hard just being able to see eachother on the weekends! Anyways, I left from his house this morning when he left for work and it's a good thing I did cause shortly after, it started pouring the snow!

Day 159: Mom and I went here to Nandel's so I could try on some more wedding dresses. The people and the dresses were nice but it just didn't compare to THE dress that I'm going to go purchase today!

Day 160: Dad cut his fingers on a countertop he was moving so bad that he needed 19 stitches! His hand looks like Frankenstein's!

Day 161: I was at Phil's house again this weekend and we went to go eat at the Buffalo Diner. This is who we want to cater for our wedding! The food is sooo good! I got the stuffed chicken, pasta with garlic sauce, green beans, and garlic cheese bread! Mmmmm...

This coming week is looking fairly busy for me, so hopefully I'll have an easy time getting some pics to share with you all for next week!

Wedding Update

2011-01-28T07:11:00.002-05:00

Yesterday my mom and I headed over to another place to look for more wedding dresses. My goal was to find a dress that I liked just as much or more than the one I found last week, but for less money. There were a lot of lacey gowns that I loved, but just didn't love them enough for them to be THE dress. So Monday we are going back to the place I went last week, I'm going to try THE dress on again, and we are going to order it!

We are also going to take mom's wedding veil with us so I can see if it would look right with my dress. This is something I really wanted to do, but we are going to see if it looks good and if it could be altered a bit. Instead of one of those comb things that attaches to your head, it has a little hat thingy that would have to be bobby pinned on me and I really don't like that part. The dress I'm ordering is also ivory (which I never thought I'd want) and mom's veil is white.

This afternoon I'm headed off to Phil's house for the weekend! We are going to go eat at the place near his house that we want to cater our wedding. We need to ask prices and what we can get for those prices.

I'm pretty sure we are now not going to have our wedding at Sleepy Hollow like I had previously thought. Some things are just more important than the great name during the month of October. The food we had at the tasting was really good, but alot of things that were told to us before this meeting ended up not being true. Like we could have our ceremony out on the golf course and if it would rain we could have it on the covered patio. Both not true. So now we are thinking that it would just be better to have it all happen in Huntington. Stay tuned on that idea.

Have a great weekend everyone!

PPQ: The Chariot

2011-01-26T07:11:00.004-05:00

THE CHARIOT

by Emily Dickinson

Because I could not stop for Death,

He kindly stopped for me;

The carriage held but just ourselves

And Immortality.

We slowly drove, he knew no haste,

And I had put away

My labor, and my leisure too,

For his civility.

We passed the school where children played,

Their lessons scarcely done;

We passed the fields of gazing grain,

We passed the setting sun.

We paused before a house that seemed

A swelling of the ground;

The roof was scarcely visible,

The cornice but a mound.

Since then 't is centuries; but each

Feels shorter than the day

I first surmised the horses' heads

Were toward eternity.

Week #22

2011-01-24T07:11:00.002-05:00

This past week was heavily influenced by wedding preparations with a few other activities thrown in!

Day 148: Today was the day I had been waiting for - The Briday Expo! There were many different vendors that came to our civic center such as photographers, djs, wedding planners, caterers, and bakers. The most helpful to me though was the wedding fashion show! They had a few shops from around our region show off their wedding dresses, bridesmaid dresses, as well as some flower girl dresses, dresses for mom, and some tuxes. They also offered, if you went ahead and made an appointment to go to this one shop, you could get $200 off your dress and 1/2 off your veil. This is how I came about finding my dress on the Tuesday of this week. This pic is of the fashion show, even though it is not that good, it is the best I got.

Day 149: Printed off more resumes to send out today. Yay.

Day 150: So I found a wedding dress today! I haven't gone back to get it yet, but I have until the end of this month to use the special deal I mentioned above. Most likely getting it cause I love it, but it is still a wee bit out of my price range, but making some budget changes to make up for it! I did not realize how expensive a veil really was until I started trying on dresses! This pic is of the bottom of my dress that is lace. This pic (uncut) is of the only dress mom got to take one of before we found out no cameras allowed! Guess we were lucky with that one!

Day 151: I've been addicted to oranges this week. I've eaten one every day which is pretty weird for me. The oranges are just so good this time of year which is the complete opposite for most fruits.

Day 152: Added to my collection of Mason Jars I'm using for my wedding.

Day 153: My cousin's wife is having another baby and today I went to her baby shower! If you couldn't already guess, it's a girl! She is naming it Aysley, pronounced like paisley without the "p".

Day 154: We finally had the tasting at Sleepy Hollow today. We were quite impressed with the food, even Phil since he had had their food before. The only drawback now is that they said we couldn't have the ceremony in the location they had originally told us would be okay. So now there is something totally new to consider and we are on the lookout for another location. If any of you know someone who has a farm inbetween Huntington and Teays Valley, WV that would allow us to have a wedding ceremony and/or reception there let me know! This pic is of a birdcage we are using for cards and just represents more wedding decor since I didn't get a pic at the tasting.

I feel as though there will be more and more wedding prep pics coming your way! We are past the 9 month mark and things are moving fast!

It's Alluring...

2011-01-21T07:11:00.000-05:00

So I may have actually found my wedding dress yesterday! I haven't purchased it yet, but I pretty much know that's THE dress! I didn't want to show you a picture and ruin the surprise, so I put together this little picture collage of clues!

Can you guess what my dress looks like???

PPQ: Dream

2011-01-19T07:11:00.002-05:00

Picture Edenpics.com-retouched

Week #21

2011-01-17T07:11:00.001-05:00

This week was pretty busy, like I told you on Friday! Here are some more details about it!

Day 141: So I broke down and got a 2011 planner. Well, it's not like I don't love them or anything, but ever since I got out of school I didn't think I would need such a thing! Anyway, it'll help me with wedding planning and it was on sale for only $2.48 at Target!

Day 142: I kept close tabs on my phone (my old Samsung, I want a new one soon!) all day because the dentist I interviewed with the week before told me multiple times before leaving his office that he would call me and let me know on Monday. Did I know Monday? No. So unprofessional. I called Tuesday afternoon. Did I get the job? No. Am I terribly upset? No. But do I need a job and money? Yes. Sigh.

Day 143: On Sunday I awoke with a pain in my neck. I thought maybe I had a swollen lymph node or something. I tried applying a warm compress to it multiple times a day and taking Ibuprofen, but by Tuesday it was still getting bigger. I went to the doc and he said it was an infected hair follicle. I guess it is really close to my baby hairs on my neck, but how did it get infected? So now I am on antibiotics again.

Day 144: Decided to switch over to another purse that was bigger. It's amazing how good it feels to go from a small purse jam packed with everything to a nice, big one with plenty of room to spare!

Day 145: Today was my momma's birthday! I took her out to eat and we picked out some cupcakes! Top Left: Vanilla Bean - Bottom Left: Key Lime with raspberry filling - Middle 2: Chocolate with chocolate icing and chocolate filling (my fave of the day!) - Right 2: Italian Cream.

Day 146: Painted my fingernails She's So Glitzy by Milani - probably my most favorite pink polish!

Day 147: Saturday was supposed to be our tasting at the venue we want for our wedding. But on Friday the guy called me back (after I had called to make sure we were still on for the next day) to say that he had something "come up" and had to reschedule. That he had tried calling me many times this past week to let me know. I asked what phone number he had for me and it was wrong. I don't get it really cause we had talked on the phone multiple times before. Maybe he forgot and was making an excuse? Should I even have my wedding at a place like this? Hmmmm... well, I rescheduled for this coming Saturday so we'll see. I also went to Phil's work party this day. It was short and sweet - eat food, give door prizes, mingle, leave. *picture shows schedule in my new planner!*

Now I have a busy upcoming week! Tell ya all about it next Monday!

Busy Bee!

2011-01-14T07:11:00.001-05:00

This week has been pretty busy for me sending out MORE resumes and celebrating my mom's birthday. First off, I hate when people don't return phone calls. Especially important ones like about someones future job. Anyway, it all worked out for the best. Yesterday was mom's birthday and I took her out to lunch and we got an assortment of some delicious cupcakes from this place called Paula Vega Cakes. Yum!

This weekend is going to be pretty busy too! I am heading to Phil's house this afternoon. Tomorrow we are meeting my parents for a tasting at the place where we might have the wedding. I hope it's good! Later that night, Phil and I are going to his work party/dinner. I haven't spent that much time around the people he works with since I've usually been away at school when they've held this annual party before. I hope I won't become too shy! Then Sunday I will be going with my mom, aunt, and possibly Sarah to the Bridal Expo at the civic center! I've been waiting forever (it seems) to go to this! I hope I can find some good ideas/vendors for my wedding!

I would also like to say that the new Michael Jackson Album is pretty great!

And I'm reading a new book called "One Day" by David Nicholls and it is not part of a series! So far it is okay, just starting out slow, but it is getting much better! Someone I know that blogs had written a review of this book and that's how I found out about it. I can't remember who it was though! Was it any of you bloggy friends? When I finish, I'll try and write something more about it.

Have a great weekend everyone!

PPQ: Snowflakes

2011-01-12T07:11:00.000-05:00

Snowflakes

©Mariah Smile

Beautiful sight
Before my eyes,
Glitter is falling
From the skies.

If I breathe
Some will die,
Making them extinct,
Each, one of a kind.

They won’t get the chance
To reach the ground,
They are so pure and innocent,
Not making a sound.

Between my lips
Hot air is exhaled,
A cloud is formed,
Their mission has failed.

Week #20

2011-01-10T07:11:00.004-05:00

The first week of the new year ended up being pretty eventful...

Day 134: My parents made a huge pot of beans and some other fixins and invited the rest of my family over for a New Year's feast! It was quite delicious, but I don't think I've been that full in a really long time.

Day 135: I decided to get out my new sewing machine this evening. To tell you the truth, it kind of intimidates me! This is a pic of my new sewing box I got with it!

Day 136: Today I had an interview and got to wear my new suit jacket. I think the interview went pretty well except that they dwelled on the fact that I don't have much experience. I tried to let them know that I don't know how I am going to get the experience unless someone gives me a chance to prove that I can do the job. Not too excited if I get it since it is about an hour from my house, would have to hurry to find an apartment a little closer, and it only pays okay (because of my lack of experience, according to them). I do need the job, money, and experience badly though.

Day 137: The nephew of my old babysitter, Anna, emailed me today to tell me Anna wasn't doing very well. We went to visit her and it was sad cause she isn't the old Anna I'm used to seeing. This is a pic of my 3 grandmothers, Anna is in the middle with me on her lap.

Day 138: My mom, maid of honor Sarah, and I went wedding dress shopping today! It was a lot of fun but felt very strange trying on the dresses. The girl that was supposedly helping us didn't do a very good job. I felt like I was being rushed and she didn't care about me finding my right dress, just trying to make a sale for herself. This pic isn't the dress I liked the best (I didn't buy anything today), but this is the dress Sarah liked a lot. I didn't like it because of the tulle and the fluffiness.

Day 139: Sarah and I got to hang out again today since she was still in town. We went to eat at Cam's Ham, one of our favorite places. Then we went up to the mall to look around.

Day 140: Phil and I went to eat at Bellacino's for the first time and it was pretty tasty. I found it funny that there were so many of these lights all grouped together in a small area.

Well, that was my week! It was busy, but I got a lot accomplished. Hope you all have a great upcoming week!

Goals for 2011

2011-01-07T07:11:00.002-05:00

I've decided to make goals for myself for the new year. They really can't fall under the category of "resolution" since they aren't really things I need to change, although I do have few resolutions too.

11 Goals for 2011

Find a dental hygiene job!
Find an apartment/house for me and Phil after finding that DH job!
Learn to quilt - by year's end I would like to have finished at least 3 quilts: My t-shirt quilt, a baby quilt (for my new little cousin due May 1st!), and a quilt for me and Phil.
Continue eating healthy and working out.
Use my crockpot.
Plan mine and Phil's wedding and have fun doing it!
Make tooth-fairy pillows for my little cousins/nephews.
Get a kitty.
Continue to read for pleasure as often as I can.
Start paying off my loans.
Continue to blog!

Resolutions

Begin going to sleep earlier and waking up earlier - This will be a hard one to start and I'm afraid that it won't happen until I find a job I need to get up for.
Start writing down what I eat everyday - I was doing this really well for the first part of my weight-loss program I joined at the Y, but lately I haven't at all.
Be more patient.
Hang out more with my friends!

Last year my resolution was to call my family/friends more often and get over my phone phobia. This resolution didn't turn out too well cause I never did. Bad Mariah! I hope this year's goals/resolutions turn out better than last year's!

I've also added the 11 Goals for 2011 to the left sidebar so you can track their progress with my other lists!

Do you have any goals/resolutions for the new year?
How did you do with last years resolutions?

PPQ: Anonymous Poem

2011-01-05T07:11:00.005-05:00

I am beautiful. Look at me.

I am intelligent. Listen carefully.

I am faithful. Tell me all.

I am steadfast. Dare to fall.

I am giving. Ask away.

I am loving. Dare to stay.

I am funny. Share my smile.

I am patient. Stay awhile.

I am courageous. Trust my heart.

I am gentle. Come apart.

I am playful. Try my game.

I am waiting. Call my name.

I Didn't Know I Was Stylish!

2011-01-03T21:21:00.003-05:00

I want to thank my friend Miranda over at Hanging Loose With The Tucci's for this award! I didn't realize I was considered stylish, but I'm glad to find out that I am (just don't go through my wardrobe!).

There are 4 duties to perform to accept the award:

Thank and link back to the person who awarded you this award:

Share 7 things about yourself.

Award 15 recently discovered great bloggers.

Contact these bloggers and tell them about the award

So here are 7 things about me:

I technically have gone to 3 different colleges: Marshall (B.S. Biology), WV State (just for 1 class - Organic Chemistry II), and WVU (B.S. Dental Hygiene).

I'm getting married on October 15, 2011!

I love to scrapbook, but don't think I have actually finished any one project.

I need to find a DH job soon!

There was a huge spider in my laundry room today and thankfully my parents found it before i did. I wanted to vomit after seeing it and was scared to use my toilet after dad flushed it.

I've lost 10lbs. since I have started my weight-loss program at the Y. It seems like it has taken a long time, but I consider maintaining my weight during the holidays as an accomplishment!

I got a Christmas card in the mail today! haha

Now I'm going give this award to 15 bloggers I've recently (or not-so-recently) discovered. They may or may not be a follower of mine.

Week #19

2011-01-03T07:11:00.001-05:00

So this week I'm sort of cheating on my Pic-A-Day challenge. Instead of posting a pic of something I did for each day of the week, I am showing off some of my Christmas presents! I am too spoiled for Christmas by both my family and Phil's family and consider myself extremely blessed to have them. I would be happy if I just got hugs :-) There are also a couple pics from NYE and New Year's Day.

Day 127: I got Michael Jackson The Experience for the Wii! This weekend we tried it out and had a lot of fun learning some of Jacko's dance moves! It's pretty funny cause it comes with the MJ sparkley glove, but the packaging that it comes in says "IMPORTANT: Glove is not to be used during gameplay". I find this strange as well as the fact that the glove, when worn, feels like it is not fit for a human to wear.

Day 128: One of the gifts from my parents was a DH (dental hygienist) bead to add to my bead bracelet!

Day 129: Phil's parents got me a dental nutcracker! Possibly called a Toothcracker? ...nah! He's very cute and holds a toothbrush in one hand and a tooth in the other!

Day 130: Phil got me some loose leaf tea from the new tea store that opened up here! It is pretty pricey so I had put off buying it myself, and hadn't found it anywhere else. I've had a little tea pot that I have been wanting to use for a while now, so finally I can! And it's mint chocolate chip flavored!

Day 131: Phil's grandmother got me a sewing machine! I couldn't believe it! She is going to teach me how to quilt but I never thought I'd have a machine of my own to use! I am going to go watch the instructional dvd it comes with right after I finish this post!

Day 132: For New Year's Eve, Phil and I went to the dog track and casino with his parents for the 3rd year in a row. Unfortunately, they do not allow you to bring in a camera so I got this picture of my pretty, sparkley, silver eyeshadow before I went.

Day 133: Happy New Year! Phil got me this baby bottle of champagne to ring in the new year with! I doctored it up a bit to be a little more festive!

I wanted to post a few more pics of some gifts I got for Christmas:

Phil got me this beautiful necklace and earrings.
My best bud Adam got me a giraffe mug with a giraffe actually in the the mug! So cute!
I got some Michael Jackson CDs including Off The Wall, Dangerous, and his new CD called Michael all from Phil and his family. I also got Josh Groban's new CD called Illuminations from my parents.
I got some random DVDs including Mr. Bean's Holiday, Square Pegs (the complete series), The Sound of Music (only ever had it on VHS), and My Fair Lady from my Aunt Cheryl and my other aunt, uncle, and cousins.

And finally, a Christmas pic of me and Phil being dorks decked out in our red and green! ...planned of course! I can officially declare the Christmas posts over until Christmas 2011! And Happy New Year again!

1-1-11

2011-01-01T01:11:00.001-05:00

And to ring in the New Year is one of my favorite quotes, from one of my all-time favorite movies When Harry Met Sally:

*Harry attempts to describe the meaning of the song Auld Lang Syne (Scottish words, meaning 'Old Days Gone By') - the actual plotline of the film itself:

Harry: What does this song mean? My whole life, I don't know what this song means. I mean, 'Should old acquaintance be forgot'? Does that mean that we should forget old acquaintances, or does it mean if we happened to forget them, we should remember them, which is not possible because we already forgot?
Sally: Well, maybe it just means that we should remember that we forgot them or something. Anyway, it's about old friends.

Happy 2011!!!

The Year I Read 35 Books

2010-12-31T07:11:00.008-05:00

On this special edition of "The Day...", I decided since it is that last day of the year that I would entitle this post "The Year..." and give you a run down of all the books I read this year. I quite honestly don't think I've ever in my life read this many books for pleasure, or for really anything, in a single year. Here's to hoping I can do it again!

Grave Sight - Charlain Harris
Grave Surprise - Charlaine Harris
The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
An Ice Cold Grave - Charlaine Harris
Shakespeare's Landlord - Charlaine Harris
Always Looking Up - Michael J. Fox
Animal Farm - George Orwell
Shakespeare's Champion - Charlaine Harris
Shakespeare's Christmas - Charlaine Harris
Dead and Gone - Charlaine Harris
Shakespeare's Trollop - Charlaine Harris
Shakespeare's Counselor - Charlaine Harris
Honeysuckle Summer - Sherryl Woods
The Inn At Eagle Point - Sherryl Woods
Flowers On Main - Sherryl Woods
Harbor Lights - Sherryl Woods
About That Man - Sherryl Woods
Ask Anyone - Sherryl Woods
Along Came Trouble - Sherryl Woods
The Last Summer (Of You And Me) - Ann Brashares
True Colors - Kristin Hannah
The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo - Stieg Larsson
Stealing Home - Sherryl Woods
Real Murders - Charlaine Harris
A Slice of Heaven - Sherryl Woods
Feels Like Family - Sherryl Woods
Welcome To Serenity - Sherryl Woods
Home In Carolina - Sherryl Woods
Grave Secret - Charlaine Harris
Sweet Tea at Sunrise - Sherryl Woods
A Bone To Pick - Charlaine Harris
Three Bedrooms, One Corpse - Charlaine Harris
The Julius House - Charlaine Harris
Dead Over Heels - Charlaine Harris

To group these together I have read:

The whole Harper Connelly Series by Charlaine Harris
The whole Lily Bard Series by Charlaine Harris
One book of the Sookie Stackhouse Novels by Charlaine Harris (Because the previous year I had read the books leading up to it and there are no more in paperback yet.)
The Chesapeake Shores Series by Sherryl Woods (that's so far in paperback)
The whole Trinity Harbour Series by Sherryl Woods
The Sweet Magnolia Series by Sherryl Woods (that's so far in paperback)
Part of the Aurora Teagarden Series by Charlaine Harris (I'm finishing it up first thing in 2011!)

My least favorite book would have to be The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson and my favorite would probably be The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins because it is really hard to pick a favorite out of a series. And it is really hard for me to pick a favorite series. There was a book that I began reading but just couldn't finish and that was the classic book The Lord of the Flies by William Golding. I will try really hard to finish this one in 2011! And there was one book that I read twice which was Honeysuckle Summer by Sherryl Woods, because I started out reading her books at the end of one of her series so I had to go back and read it again after I read the previous ones! I didn't count it as an extra book though!

I owe finding out about Sherryl Woods to my friend Jennifer over at Crazy Shenanigans. We ironically have the same favorite and least favorite of the year! Maybe next year I will branch outside of Charlaine Harris and Sherryl Woods, but if they keep producing books then I know I will read them!

Do you have any book suggestions for me for 2011?

What was your favorite/least favorite book of the year?

PPQ: Stopping By The Woods on a Snowy Evening

2010-12-29T07:11:00.003-05:00

Whose woods these are I think I know.

His house is in the village though;

He will not see me stopping here

To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer

To stop without a farmhouse near

Between the woods and frozen lake

The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake

To ask if there is some mistake.

The only other sound's the sweep

Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep.

Week #18

2010-12-27T07:11:00.002-05:00

So this is the crazy week that led up to Christmas! I hope everyone had a happy holiday!

Day 120: I got me some Kroger sushi to eat today! That's really all I did, but it was delicious! haha! My favorite is the salmon with avacado roll.

Day 121: My phone woke me up at 6:30am to the dental office that I temporarily work for calling in to see if I could work! Yay! Working this whole day helped me out for Christmas so much! I just wish I could work more often cause I love cleaning teeth! This pic I took of myself in my car on my lunch break. Notice the hair sticking out from my goggles!

Day 122: Phil and I had made some mint chocolate Oreo truffles this past weekend (we are pretty addicted to them!) and I couldn't wait until Christmas to eat'em! So I snuck one... shhhh!

Day 123: Mom and I did some last minute Christmas shopping. And it had been a while, so I painted my nails all sparkly and Christmas-y!

Day 124: On Christmas Eve Eve, my uncle got into town from Atlanta! I went to the movie "Little Fockers" with him and my parents, then ate at the Thai House Restaurant, and got me a couple more books in my "Aurora Teagarden Series" by Charlaine Harris to read! This pic is of me and my Uncle Abbie by the tree at Pullman Square. Later that night, my best friend Adam was in town so he picked me up and we went to Jolly Pirates for some donuts and scratch-offs! It was great to drive around and catch up!

Day 125: Christmas Eve! I went over to Phil's grandmother's house to spend this day with his family. This is a pic of his nephews opening all their presents! They had such a good Christmas! After we left his grandmothers, we went to his other grandparents house to visit. Then, we went back to his house before heading to my house! We did things a little differently on Christmas Eve at my house this year. Usually we only open one gift, but this year we opened them all! It was pretty crazy for my family to do this, but we knew we could do it this way or lug all those presents to my aunt's house in the morning! It was a great day!

Day 126: Christmas Day! And it was a white one! We went to my Aunt Cheryl's house to eat and open presents. It was nice that we had opened most of the presents the night before because we got to enjoy watching my little cousin Asyra open all hers, like in this picture! Don't you love her Christmas dress?!

Well, that's it folks! Christmas is over and New Year's is upon us! Hope your Christmas was merry & bright, but it's finally time to relax!

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T07:11:00.000-05:00

PPQ: 'Twas The Night Before Christmas

2010-12-24T19:11:00.000-05:00

This is one of my very favorite poems! I hope you enjoy it on this Christmas Eve, Happy Christmas to all and to all a good night!

'Twas the Night Before Christmas
by Clement Clarke Moore

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
in hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there.

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
while visions of sugar plums danced in their heads.
And Mama in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap,
had just settled down for a long winter's nap.

When out on the roof there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
tore open the shutter, and threw up the sash.

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
gave the lustre of midday to objects below,
when, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
but a miniature sleigh and eight tiny reindeer.

With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.
More rapid than eagles, his coursers they came,
and he whistled and shouted and called them by name:

"Now Dasher! Now Dancer!
Now, Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! On, Cupid!
On, Donner and Blitzen!
To the top of the porch!
To the top of the wall!
Now dash away! Dash away!
Dash away all!"

As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
when they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky
so up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
with the sleigh full of toys, and St. Nicholas too.

And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
the prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As I drew in my head and was turning around,
down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.

He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
and his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot.
A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,
and he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.

His eyes--how they twinkled! His dimples, how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
and the beard on his chin was as white as the snow.
The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
and the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath.
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
that shook when he laughed, like a bowl full of jelly.

He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
and I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself.
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head
soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
and filled all the stockings, then turned with a jerk.
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
and giving a nod, up the chimney he rose.

He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, 'ere he drove out of sight,
"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!"

The Day I Knew Santa

2010-12-24T07:11:00.001-05:00

Quoting one of my favorite Christmas movies, ELF: "SANTA! OH MY GOD! SANTA'S COMING! I KNOW HIM! I KNOW HIM!"

Be prepared to be jealous people because yes, I do know Santa Claus!

He visited my house back in 1987... take that!

...and hopefully he'll be back tonight if I've been good enough!

Merry Christmas Eve!

Christmas Favorites

2010-12-23T07:11:00.004-05:00

Merry Christmas Eve Eve! I thought that I would share some of my Christmas favorites with you all to mark this occasion! Here goes...

Christmas Music

Sleigh Ride - specifically this version, it was my one of my favorites songs ever to play in band!

The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire)

Jingle Bell Rock

All I Want For Christmas Is You - Mariah Carey, but I also love when the little girl sings this song in the movie Love, Actually!

Let There Be Peace On Earth - Vince Gill, we listen to this whole CD a dozen times around Christmas!

Christmas Movies

Miracle on 34th Street - The old black & white one is the best! My favorite part is when Santa talks to the little kid in German!

Elf - Smiling's my favorite!

A Christmas Story - a must watch of the season... even if you don't like it, it's hard to not come across it in the month leading up to Christmas!

Christmas Traditions

My parents and I have always loved driving around and looking at all the Christmas lights!

When I was little we always went to my grandparent's, on my mom's side, for Christmas Eve. We would have a big dinner but we would have to wait until midnight (if we could wait that long!) and then we could open our presents!

We would go to my grandparent's, on my dad's side, for Christmas Day. I would get up early to open my stocking presents with my parents at our house, then go just next door to my grandparent's house to open up all those presents with my whole family.

Now, I go to Phil's grandmother's house and spend Christmas Eve with them. After we are finished up there, I go home and spend the rest of the night with my parents and my Uncle Abbie and still try to wait until midnight to open some presents! On Christmas Day, we now load up our car and go to my Aunt Cheryl's house to spend the day with the rest of my family!

Are my favorites some of your favorites too?

What are some your family traditions?

PPQ: Animals

2010-12-22T07:11:00.004-05:00

Y"Animals are reliable, many full of love, true in their affections, predictable in their actions, grateful and loyal. Difficult standards for people to live up to."Y

-Alfred A. Montapert

Christmas Prep Work!

2010-12-21T07:11:00.002-05:00

It's hard to believe how much work goes into preparing for Christmas! I thought this would give me a chance to show you all the baking, wrapping, and decorating that has been going on at my house!

Christmas Candy and wrapped presents!

Phil's grandma's Christmas tree shown with all kinds of presents!

My family Christmas tree in our dining room

White and Red Poinsettias

Our Christmas Mantle

The decorated table next to our front door

The Christmas tree in our kitchen, along with some stairwell stockings!

Mine and Phil's little Christmas tree down at my place

Some ornaments on the tree includes the ice cream cone that I stole from my family tree this year!

The newest additions to the little tree are these 2 Incredible Hulk ornaments Phil found!

The old Santa of my grandparents that plays music, walks around, and shakes his bell!

My huge candy cane and stocking!

You can see last year's decorating along with some more of my favorite ornaments in last year's Christmas post!

Week #17

2010-12-20T07:11:00.001-05:00

Only one more week until Christmas people! Can you believe it? This past week, there was a lot of decorating, snow, and nostalgia going on!

Day 113: I decorated my little Christmas tree today! My mom and I got a new, bigger star for the top of our big Christmas tree so I took the old one! Yay! I secretly like the old one better and it has a lot of memories attached to it, so I'm happy I can put it on mine and Phil's tree for year's to come!

Day 114: Mom and I decorated the big Christmas tree today! Dad put up the tree the night before and hung the lights on it, but then mom and I put the decorations on. We got some silver beaded garland and some silver bulbs this year for something different. Then we hung our old familiar and favorite ornaments.

Day 115: My parents got a beautiful white poinsettia and I love it! I also got to work my temporary job again today! It makes me sad to think that I want someone to call in sick so I can have my chance! I really don't want them sick, maybe just playing hooky!

Day 116: Mom spent like 2 weeks working on her picture arrangement seen here. She had to get just the right frames and have our whole family displayed. I think it turned out really pretty!

Day 117: Today was a lovely snow day! I stayed around the house, scared that I couldn't get down the hill that I live on, and listened to some old music I haven't heard in a while!

Day 118: I ventured off my hill today to go to the YMCA. My hill was fairly clear, just mostly slushy. All the main roads in town were clear, but the side roads were a different story, like seen here on the street the Y is on. Guess, I should have been paying attention to the road more while driving instead of trying to take a picture! Ha!

Day 119: Phil and I were out and about today and on our way to Applebee's for dinner, I saw that the Keith Albee sign was proudly flashing! This was very nostalgic for me and made the snow-filled downtown, with its lighted snowflakes, look very picturesque!

I want to wish everyone luck this week at finishing up their last minute Christmas preparations!

The Day I Sort Of Had A Cat

2010-12-17T07:11:00.002-05:00

I am very much an animal lover and crave those fluffy hugs! And ever since my Sunshine passed away, I've felt like a part of me is missing. I want a pet badly! More specifically, I want a kitty badly. I feel like a puppy would be hard for me to take care of at this time in my life, but a cat would be purrfect (haha)!

So, I've never really had a cat all for myself. When I was little, my grandparents always had cats that lived at their house but were outdoor cats. I always had a ball naming them, chasing them, and trying to cuddle them though they really didn't want me to (think that little girl Elmyra on Tiny Toons and that was me, and probably still is me!).

When I was about 10 years old, my babysitter got me a cat I named Pixie, but it lived at her house. Then, about 6 years ago I found a tiny kitten (Parker) at the tennis center in the park where I was working that I could fit in my pocket! I called my roommate Corey, mostly because I knew she would want a kitten and be on my side about getting the other roommate (Deb) on board. Well, it turned out that very same day that Deb, who I was so unsure wouldn't want a cat, excepted one (Rory) from someone from where she was working. And that's how I came to partially own Parker & Rory.

After my 2 roommates and I went our separate ways, Parker & Rory went to live with Corey and her fiance Josh. Then, when I moved to Morgantown 3 years ago, I lived with Corey and Josh, and was in kitty heaven once again! Sadly, they moved after that first year and ever since I have wanted a kitty for my own. Hopefully, when I get my job and Phil and I get a place of our own, we will get a kitty or two!

Anna & Pixie circa 1992(?)

Baby Parker (grey tabby) and Baby Rory (peach tabby) when we first brought them home (2004)

Parker, all grown up, in Morgantown (2008) during the kitty photo shoot I conducted

Grown-up Rory in our Morgantown apartment (2008) during the kitty photo shoot I conducted

My Blog's 1st Birthday!

2010-12-15T07:11:00.006-05:00

Today marks 1 year of my blog's exsistence! I really can't believe that it has gone by so fast and so many things have happened in this year.

My very first post.
I've shared with you some of my quirks.
I passed my Dental Hygiene National Boards and [finally] passed my DH Regional Boards.
I got a couple of bloggy awards!
I graduated from Dental Hygiene School.
I've been planning my wedding.
Phil and I celebrated our 5th Anniversary of being together.
I've started my Pictures, Poetry, and Quotes (PPQ) Posts, my "The Day..." Posts, and my Pic-A-Day Challenge Posts!
And so much more!

I want to thank all my faithful followers who have lifted my spirits with kind words and encouragement this past year, and also to those silent followers I know I have that mean so much to me! You all make me smile so often!

Week #16

2010-12-13T07:11:00.002-05:00

Welcome to Week 16 of my Pic-A-Day Challenge! We are getting closer and closer to Christmas and I keep getting more and more excited as time goes on! I love giving the gifts to the people I love and I love watching the little ones open their presents! Here's what I did this week.

Day 106: It snowed every day here for like a week and this is sadly the only photo I got of the snow. On my way back into my house, from walking Phil to his car cause he had to go home, I took this pic of the solar light shining on the snow.

Day 107: Today was a Y day! I went and worked out this day (I usually go to the Y on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays) and then had to come back this evening to go to my healthy weight loss class I've joined. I took this pic of the outside of the Y cause the windows, on the second floor where the workout room is, were all steamed up due to the temperature difference inside and outside. Hard work going on in there!

Day 108: Pablo came over to visit us from next door. He told us that it was too cold outside and my cousins forgot to let him back inside. When we heard them calling for him, he didn't want to go back out in the chilly weather! I sure do miss having a doggy.

Day 109: Mom and I decorated the mantle today. I think it turned out beautiful! I love the pinecones she added!

Day 110: Today I was not feeling being awake. I lounged around for a long while on my couch with my warm blankie until Mom wanted me to go to Hobby Lobby with her. On our way there, we stopped by the Starbucks and saw Rachel!

Day 111: Just wanted to show you some of the Christmas cards I've recieved!

Day 112: Saturday, Phil and I went to pick up his grandmother and take her to the mall for some of the final gifts she needed to purchase. I showed you her tree last year here, and this year it is just about the same minus the hundreds of red bows! I kind of miss them, but know they had to be a real pain to put on each year.

I hope everyone has a fabulous week!

Are you almost done with your holiday shopping?

Are you finished with your decorating?

The Day We Ate Soup

2010-12-10T07:11:00.001-05:00

Once upon a time, my friends Lee, Heather, and I used to have a "Soup Day" every Tuesday. These were the days before Morgantown that were set aside for us to get together and eat lunch where soup was most likely involved (because we loved soup).

It wasn't until recently, since I've been home from Morgantown, that we have started Soup Day up again. We have all decided that we have stayed in our little caves (houses) long enough and needed to hang out again. I know that I haven't really been very social since I've been home and their friendship is much needed in my life!

About 2 months ago, we started Soup Day up again by going to eat at a new deli that is downtown. They ran out of their soup, so no soup for us that day. Two weeks ago we tried again when we went to the Harry Potter midnight showing. The menu the restaurant had for this premiere did not have soup on it, so strike two on no soup for us! Then finally, last night we went to our old favorite soup destination of the Marshall Hall of Fame Cafe and enjoyed some lovely french onion soup together! The picture below does not do this soup justice! It was definately delicioso!

We are going to try hard to get Soup Day back to being an every week occurence again. It may be hard to go on a Tuesday every week, but at least will get to be together!

PPQ: Poetic Reverie

2010-12-08T07:11:00.000-05:00

Poetic Reverie

©Mariah Smile

Sitting by the warmth of friends

As a jet flies somewhere over our heads

Light shines, but no moon is seen

No words spoken, senses keen

Fog hangs low, breath is shown

Shadows loom with origins unknown

Thoughts are racing everywhere

Piercing the night’s dark, cold air

Death surrounds us, frail and brown

Reaching toward us with thorny crown

But in out circle life shines through

With radiance we never knew

Souls connected as we sit around

Silence is broken, words are found

Week #15

2010-12-06T07:11:00.001-05:00

Hello everyone! This week I hit triple digits on the days I've been doing this and we also have entered the last month of the year! And with Christmas fastly approaching, you'll notice that most of the pictures are holiday related.

Day 99: On this Sunday, Phil and I decided we needed to get some wrapping done on our presents so he could start taking those for his family to his grandmother's house. Our method of wrapping is me doing the actual wrapping of the gift and him handing me tape when I need it and writing the name tag. It worked out pretty well!

Day 100: This day was a dark one. I did not want to get out of bed cause I thought it was still night time! This was a precursor to all the snow we got the rest of the week.

Day 101: Found an ad for a dental hygienist job today! Printed a resume off and got it ready to mail out the next day.

Day 102: Finished and sent out some of my Christmas cards today (along with that resume)! Didn't see when I bought my cards that there was "Extra Postage Needed" on some of them. Boo! Also went to the mall and ran into a friend from high school that is now a dental assistant! She recommended that I apply to her office cause they would be hiring for a part-time position soon! It also started snowing today and has snowed every day since!

Day 103: Went to Walmart to see if I could get an idea for another Christmas present for Phil. Ended up only getting some Buffalo Cheddar Kettlecorn by Popcorn, Indiana! Popcorn, Indiana is one of my newest favorite things! This flavor is pretty good, but my fave is the Chocolate Fudge!

Day 104: Finally got the bows on all the presents after a trip to Hobby Lobby!

Day 105: Phil and I made some of Kathy Burch's famous Christmas candy so Phil could take it to work again this year! We tried making some dark chocolate ones this year and they were okay, but the white chocolate kind is still my favorite!

What did you all do this week?

Are you ready for Christmas?

Any ideas of what I should get for Phil?

Happy Hanukkah!

The Day I Shopped On Black Friday

2010-12-03T07:11:00.000-05:00

My very first Black Friday experience was not so bad this year, it was actually really fun! I went with Phil, his parents, and his sister. We left the house around 10:30pm and went to Walmart first. Their door busters started at midnight. Phil's family was successful in their shopping and we all sort of helped eachother out.

Phil and I went looking for the $1.96 dvd section. I asked a random girl around the dvds if she had seen them and she said they were over there (pointing the opposite side of Walmart). And, in fact, she was actually hovering over them and pointing me in the wrong direction. This was the only act of unkindness I saw the entire time, but I found what I was set out to find.

I got all 3 of The Lord of the Rings movies for $1.96 each!

The Notebook for $1.96!

And P.S. I Love You for $1.96!

After we went to Walmart, we had a while to wait before any of the other stores we wanted to go to was open. So we went to the Toy-R-Us that had been open since 10pm. We heard that there were 1,000 people in line here when they first opened so we were happy it wasn't that long when we got there. When inside, we found that the checkout line started at the entrance and wrapped around the whole store. We did not purchase anything here.

Next up, we went to the mall. Some stores were already open. Not ones I really cared to go to though. Phil and I walked around for a bit and waited for Radio Shack to open at 4am. We were in the front of the line and got the only 2 -500MB Portable Hard Drives they had, so we got them for eachother for Christmas. We also got a new wireless keyboard and mouse for my parents.

Portable Hard Drive originally $99.99, we got for $50.00 each!

Wireless Keyboard and Mouse originally $29.99, we got for $19.99!

This last purchase was when I went off with Phil's mom and sister. We went to the Shoe Carnival and they gave out so many $10 off coupons for the first so many customers, so I figured I'd find some shoes that weren't very much money so I could spend as little as possible with the money off.

Beaver Creek shoes originally $34.99, on sale for $17.49 but got them for $7.49 with my $10 off card!

After that we left the mall and went to go find somewhere to eat at 6am. After eating, we stopped by Kmart. Then we headed home. By this time we got home and in bed, it was 8:30am! I had officially been awake for more then 24 hours! We then slept until 4:30pm, got back in bed at 2:30am, and woke up again at 2pm. It has been really hard to get back into a normal sleeping pattern, so maybe I can try to remedy that in the morning.

Did anyone else go out for Black Friday?

Were you successful?

What did you get?

PPQ: Smile

2010-12-01T07:11:00.000-05:00

Week #14

2010-11-29T07:11:00.002-05:00

This is Week 14 of my Pic-A-Day Challenge! I hope everyone had a great week full of everything they are thankful for, I know I did!

Day 92: Mom and Dad surprised me when I got home by finding and cleaning up my grandparents old (and I mean very old) treadmill! Now I can "tread" at home while watching my shows!

Day 93: Finally got rid of our Halloween pumpkins that were rotting. Dad threw them over the side of the hill in our back yard.

Day 94: On the deck on the backside of my house, I found a black pansy growing! I have never seen one before and thought it was lovely!

Day 95: I found this funny-looking pretzel I thought I'd share with you all. Your welcome.

Day 96: Thanksgiving Day! I got up this day to put the turkey in the oven at 7:30am! This was my first year taking an active role in this process. Phil helped too cause dad wasn't able to lift it since it was over 10lbs and he had just had a heart procedure done the previous day. This is a pic of my dad's famous, huge rolls that he was still able to make! So yummy, so yummy!

Day 97: It felt like day 96 wasn't even over yet cause we joined the masses at shopping for Black Friday. I had been awake for over 24 hours and we were getting a little loopy! Phil decided he wanted his picture taken in this coin operated machine... and he never wants his picture taken, so I know he was going a little crazy!

Day 98: Went to Taco Bell for the first time in forever and saw that they had two new sauces I've never seen before. And I have to say they were both really tasty!

Have a great week everyone!

The Day I Loved Hamburgers

2010-11-26T07:11:00.002-05:00

In sixth grade, I came home from school one day and told my parents "I don't want to eat beef.". And ever since that day, I have never really missed eating it and haven't eaten it again until recently when I felt like I needed to.

Before that day back in 6th grade, my favorite place to have a hamburger was Dwight's Drive-In on 8th Street in Huntington, WV. It was a drive-in and restaurant, so you could go inside to eat or you could stay in your car to order and someone would bring your meal out to you. My mom and I would pull in the drive-in to order and I would get just a single hamburger (no cheese) and it would come with mayo and shredded lettuce. It was the best hamburger ever! I would gladly eat that beef right now if it was possible!

Dwight's opened in 1963. It was a great place which relied heavily upon the nearby college crowd for late night/early morning feedings. Unfortunately, Dwight's closed in 1995 when I was in seventh grade. This little piece of history was demolished and a bank was built in it's place.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-25T07:11:00.002-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

I am very thankful for my supportive family and for my fiance who is the love of my life! I am thankful that my dad's heart is now "fixed" and okay after having a scare yesterday. I am thankful that I have roof over my head and that I have food to fill my belly. I'm thankful that my future in-laws are kind people and have welcomed me into their lives. I'm thankful that I have my blogging buddies that offer me words of encouragement. I'm thankful that I have wonderful friends who I know I can count on and will be there for me when times get tough. Thank you so much and have a great day everyone!