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?

Week #35

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

Week #27

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?

Off Schedule

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!

Week #22

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!

Week #21

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!

Week #19

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!

The Day I Shopped On Black Friday

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?

The Day We Had A Cabin

Back in "The Day..." my family partially owned a cabin in Canaan Valley. It was referred to as "The Cabin" and we knew what cabin eachother was talking about. Anyway, this was not the typical log cabin of luxury you see on the Travel Channel, but it was a quaint, made of metal and not very insulated, hunting cabin. This is why it was partially owned by us, cause the other families/people that owned it used it for hunting but we did not.

Let me try to give you more of a description of the cabin. The outside of it was pea green with a silver roof. There was no assigned parking spaces, just grass and a place where we had bonfires. When you walked in the door the first thing you saw were 2 bunkbeds in the kitchen. It had an old timey refrigerator and stove, a cardtable and 4 metal folding chairs. There was a very small tv with antennae on top the fridge that we could never find a channel on. Next to the sink was a wall where all the people who used the cabin to hunt wrote with sharpies the description (their name, what point the deer was, etc) of their hunting experience.

The room next to the kitchen was bedroom #1 with another bunkbed that led into bedroom #2 with yet another bunkbed. There were no doors into each of the rooms. In #1 there were always these old wooden skiis propped up in the corner. This was the coveted room to sleep in cause it got heat from the floor heaters in all the rooms. In #2 there was a sliding door. When you opened the sliding door, there was the toilet. When you closed the sliding door to the toilet, on the other side it opened to where the sink and shower combo was! hahahaha This always cracked me up and it was SO awkward! So if someone was showering, you couldn't use the toilet without the door open. I wish I had pics of this to show you people cause I don't think you are believing me!

Writing this post makes me extremely nostalgic and I wish I could go to our cabin right now... I will continue this "The Day We Had A Cabin" post with a part two next week!

McDonalds = Romantic?

So, I got this in an email from my best friend, Adam, today. It had this link to the Herald Dispatch, our local newspaper in Huntington. It is describing how the McDonalds in Kenova, WV is offering a Valentine's Day Special. A meal for 2 for $9.99 all with candlelight, music, and a photograph! Does anyone else find this hilarious but me? I told Adam that Phil would absolutely LOVE this since McDonalds is like his favorite place to eat in the world (besides a BBQ called Little Richards in NC). I am not the biggest fan of Micky D's. All the menu items I've ever liked get taken off. Anyway, I may find myself at the Kenova McDonalds on February 13th from 5-7pm.

I'm watching The Bachelor right now and I'm finding it extremely boring compared to past seasons where there are home dates. I'm rooting for Gia mostly but think Jake is totally enamored with Ali, who I quit liking after she talked about Vienna constantly. Tenley is okay too, but don't think she is ready for such a big commitment right now. Vienna is just annoying. Maybe everything will change in the next hour of the show... it's supposed to be dramatic!

My roomie and I ventured out to the Kroger today to get out of the trailer! I got my favorite Kroger sushi and finally broke down and got the Maybelline Eye Studio eye shadow that I've been wanting for some time now. The color is called Irresistable Ivy and I'm excited to try it out!

I dug my car out today but broke roomie's shovel in the process! I'm hoping school will be canceled tomorrow since we are expecting 8 more inches of snow in the morning! C'mon WVU! What's another day?

P.S. Today has been 1 year since Phil proposed and I said yes! You can read about the proposal here!

I ♥ CVS

This has been a super win week for CVS! I went on Saturday and found that a lot of their makeup was 75% off with your CVS card! I bought some makeup I'd like to try but not for the usual $6 price. Then today I went with a couple of my friends and got some more. Everything in this pic was under two bucks each. I love eyeshadow. I love bright colors and all shades of colors no matter if they look good on me or not. I am pretty much a color freak anyway. I feel sorry for Phil having me pick out all the different colors to paint our walls when we get a place to live together. It'll look like Rainbow Bright lived there or something!


Here is a pic of the nail polish I got painted on:

Notice:

#1 How I painted way out of the actual nail on my pinky.

#2 How I leave the stickers on my laptop (may need'em someday, who knows?).

#3 My pretty engagement ring (almost been a year since Phil proposed!).

#4 How I use a regular mouse on a laptop cause I hate the built-in one.

#5 The dollar in the background, which actually has written on it one of my patient's email addresses cause it was the only thing in my pocket I had to write on. Now I can't spend it without feeling bad that my patient's email address is actually on it! I guess I could mark it out.

#6 My mousepad I've had forever. It is one of the picture ones you can make at Walmart that my friend Leslee got me in high school :)

Question: Anyone ever use mousse blush before? I never have and was hoping for some tips! Also, two of the eyeshadows I got are cream eyeshadow and they crease really bad. I know you can get a primer to help for like $17 on Sephora.com but seeing that I like 75% off makeup, I don't really want to spend that much.