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?

Our New Place

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

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

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...

Week #30

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!

An Annoyance & Resolve

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!

Week #24

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!

Week #18

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!

Christmas Favorites

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

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


2. The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire)


3. Jingle Bell Rock


4. 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!


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

Christmas Movies

1. 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!


2. Elf - Smiling's my favorite!


3. 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

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


2. 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!


3. 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.


4. 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?

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!