12 Goals for 2012

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

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!

On The Road

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!

Hellooooo out there!

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!

I get married Saturday!

Hopefully then I can get started on blogging regularly again!

Excuses

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!

Hiatus

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

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!

Let's Play Tag!

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.

Spring Fever!

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!

For Japan With Love

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.

Week #28

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!

Week #26

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!

Busy Bee!

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!

Goals for 2011

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

1. Find a dental hygiene job!
2. Find an apartment/house for me and Phil after finding that DH job!
3. 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.
4. Continue eating healthy and working out.
5. Use my crockpot.
6. Plan mine and Phil's wedding and have fun doing it!
7. Make tooth-fairy pillows for my little cousins/nephews.
8. Get a kitty.
9. Continue to read for pleasure as often as I can.
10. Start paying off my loans.
11. 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?

I Didn't Know I Was Stylish!

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:

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


2. Share 7 things about yourself.


3. Award 15 recently discovered great bloggers.


4. Contact these bloggers and tell them about the award

So here are 7 things about me:

1. 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).


2. I'm getting married on October 15, 2011!


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


4. I need to find a DH job soon!


5. 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.


6. 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!


7. 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.

1. The Country Chic Cottage
2. A Girl In Pearls & A Boy With Toys
3. Apothecary Fox
4. Be Awesome Instead
5. Color Me Katie
6. Crazy Shenanigans
7. I know, right?
8. In Between Laundry
9. It's Blogworthy
10. Knock Knocking
11. Lavender, Leopard, & Lace
12. Making Stuff Is Fun
13. Princess & The Blog
14. The Fickle Nickle
15. Thoughtful Day

Christmas Prep Work!

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!

My Blog's 1st Birthday!

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!

Happy Thanksgiving!

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!

Blog Makeover

My friend Miranda at Little Sailor Design is giving away a free blog makeover to one lucky blogger! She does some beautiful and totally cute designs! All ya gotta do is get on over to her blog to read all about it! You can see her button here on the right hand side of my blog.