Blog, Blogger, Bloggest

Birthday/Fitness Countdown

2012-01-18T00:48:00.001-06:00

30th Birthday

2011-08-08T22:05:00.003-05:00

Firework

2011-02-23T22:15:00.002-06:00

Do you ever feel like a plastic bag

Drifting through the wind

Wanting to start again

Do you ever feel, feel so paper thin

Like a house of cards

One blow from caving in

Do you ever feel already buried deep

Six feet under scream

But no one seems to hear a thing

Do you know that there's still a chance for you

Cause there's a spark in you

You just gotta ignite the light

And let it shine

Just own the night

Like the Fourth of July

Cause baby you're a firework

Come on show 'em what you're worth

Make 'em go "Oh, oh, oh!"

As you shoot across the sky-y-y

Baby you're a firework

Come on let your colors burst

Make 'em go "Oh, oh, oh!"

You're gunna leave 'em fallin' down-own-own

You don't have to feel like a waste of space

You're original, cannot be replaced

If you only knew what the future holds

After a hurricane comes a rainbow

Maybe you're reason why all the doors are closed

So you could open one that leads you to the perfect road

Like a lightning bolt, your heart will blow

And when it's time, you'll know

You just gotta ignite the light

And let it shine

Just own the night

Like the Fourth of July

Cause baby you're a firework

Come on show 'em what you're worth

Make 'em go "Oh, oh, oh!"

As you shoot across the sky-y-y

Baby you're a firework

Come on let your colors burst

Make 'em go "Oh, oh, oh!"

You're gonna leave 'em all in awe-awe-awe"

Boom, boom, boom

Even brighter than the moon, moon, moon

It's always been inside of you, you, you

And now it's time to let it through

Cause baby you're a firework

Come on show 'em what your worth

Make 'em go "Oh, oh, oh!"

As you shoot across the sky-y-y

Baby you're a firework

Come on let your colors burst

Make 'em go "Oh, oh, oh!"

You're gonna leave 'em all in awe-awe-awe

Boom, boom, boom

Even brighter than the moon, moon, moon

Boom, boom, boom

Even brighter than the moon, moon, moon

I spend SO MUCH TIME thinking of what the "what ifs" in my life. There are way too many hours and HOURS wasted on thinking of what would have happened if I did one thing instead of another and I am at the end of my rope.

2011 isn't about what ifs for me anymore. 2011 is about changing that what if into a " I did it." There is so much that I have already accomplished that hasn't even happened yet because I chose to change it. I am signed up for school and I cannot wait. I bit the bullet and talked to people about situations that I was unhappy about. I have already changed a couple what ifs and I feel amazing about it.

"You just have to ignite the light".

We have the ability as humans to change our circumstances in a blink of an eye. To me, that is simply amazing. I tend to get into a routine and when its broken, I break. I have realized I don't do well with change and I have to learn to embrace the change (whether I think its good or not) and run with it. I'm stubborn, I realize this. I'm lazy, I realize this. I want others to fix everything FOR me, I realize this. But I can't sit by and be "ok" with this anymore. I have realized what a detriment I am to myself.

I can sit here and think of a million reasons why I shouldn't go work out. I can make up a million excuses (I'm really REALLY good at that) not to go out and just take a walk. (Its too cold, my knee hurts, I'm too out of shape to go do movement outside and have witnesses to me huffing and puffing all over the neighborhood whilst having body parts jiggle that shouldn't). But enough is enough. For every reason I come up with in my head to hold me back, I HAVE to come up with 3 reasons why I SHOULD do it.

I know that getting fit ins't going to be easy. Nothing ever worth anything comes easily. I know that I'm going to have to give up a lot of things to become who I want to be. I can't live my life anymore thinking, " Well jeez....If I would have started working out when I wanted to, I could have been half way to my goal by now. " I do that EVERY. EFFING. YEAR. and I don't want May to come around this year and say that. I want May 5th (that just happens to be the birthday of MEEEEE!!!) to come around and be proud of who I am and where I've come because I had the nerve to change every aspect of my life I didn't like.

I know that being fit isn't the end-all be-all for me. But I truly believe that when you are truly happy in one area of your life, it resonates throughout the rest. If I'm happy because I'm out and moving around and getting fit, I know that Aaron and I can only be better. I know that when Aaron and I are at our best, my friendships can only be better. Its such a domino effect.

So.... I have decided to make a change. For real. I'm done talking about doing it and am going to jump with both feet first. I'm scared and excited at the same time. I wish I could afford to have a personal trainer or do the Boot Camp that I did a couple of years ago, but I can't. I do very well with structure in a workout and had someone pushing me. I tend to not push myself as hard as I should by myself. I just have to remember my end goal and push through blood, sweat, and tears to get there. In the Blue Stars we had a saying: Finis Coronat Opus - The End Crowns The Work and am going to let that motivate me from here on.

So, I'm sitting here at 11PM on a random Wednesday night in February igniting the rest of my life with this post. Both feet first.

"But lately I'm beginning to find that

When I drive myself my light is found" - Incubus

A post in the key of V

2010-09-01T01:27:00.002-05:00

I'm at a breaking point. Its here. I feel it. I've been getting antsy with my job for far too long now. Perhaps "antsy" isn't the correct word to use. Frustrated. Frustrated is a far better word.

I knew this time would come where I would get so frustrated that I start showing it in my interactions with guests. I'm not the type of person to outwardly show frustration to a guest that comes along, but I can't help it. For example, I was setting up the bar today and the front desk called down to tell me that they were sending some people into the bar. This happens from time to time. People walk by the bar, try to open up the LOCKED door, and then march right up to the front desk and ask if they can come into the bar. I know this isn't a huge deal to 99.999994% of anyone who would read this, but it frustrates me. They then come into the bar, as I'm visually frustrated with them, saying, " Oh, we don't mean to rush you! " Um, then take back what you did because you ARE rushing me. I want to wear a sign saying, "You make me open early, you'll get bad service surely." And why...because they want a drink? Just a drink. That's it. How are they supposed to know that they set me back 20 minutes? When I step away from the situation, I realize how completely silly I'm being about it, but at the time I want to kick them in the shins.

I can't lie, the money used to be great there. Walking home with rent money in one night was fabulous! ( You mean I can work another shift and get my car payment, too?) It was pouring in. Then, the Economy took a nose dive. Everybody scattered. If people would come into the bar, they would have a free drink coupon to give to us only to take their drink and leave.....without a tip. This has become the norm nowadays. The only thing that really keeps me above the red (BARELY) are the regulars who come into the bar now. Le sigh.

So, the time has come. Something has to change otherwise I'm going to continue to loathe going into work and my bad attitude will stick with me for life, I fear. The only way out that I can see is going back to school. I need more education. I want homework. I want to help people, but not help them get drunk. I want to be in the Medical field. I want, I want, I want. And its time I go get it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LBn6rq8OlE

Friday the 13th. Spoooooky.

2010-08-13T16:38:00.006-05:00

The weekend is here! I have been looking forward to this weekend for such a long time (about a week or so) so I'm deliriously happy that it has arrived!

Aaron is out of town this weekend for a bachelor party. He is camping up north with one of our college friends and a bunch of his buddies. I think they are doing the typical guy stuff; Golfing, drinking, whitewater rafting, drinking, playing cards, drinking, BOOBS, drinking...you know, typical stuff. Meanwhile I'll be home having pillow fights in my underwear with my cat, Stewie.

Tomorrow the sister and I have appointments to get our hair cut at around Noon and after that, we are sailing on open waters! Nothing major planned for the day other than just spending time together and maybe:

A. Making dinner

B. Drinking Some Wine

C. Catching a flick

D. Pedicures

E. All of the above

F. A and D

G. C and B

H. I'm bored of this

Well, that's all the forecasting of a weekend I can do at the moment. I'm getting antsy sitting in the house alone and it has only been 5 hours since Aaron left the building. Must go out and do something! Anybody want to lend me $75 so I can go to Target? No?

Yikes!

2010-08-10T00:54:00.004-05:00

Yikes is right! Its been SO long since I last posted anything. And quite frankly, I'm ok with that.

So much has happened since the last post that I really do not know where to start. Maybe I'll just do bullet points? Yes, I will try that:

*We went to Mexico with some of our friends. We had a blast. Pictures below.

*We moved into a duplex next to Becky and Ryan in June

*We also seemed to move everybody else in SE Wisconsin the same month

*Saw a Dave Matthews Band Concert

*Killed a MASSIVE bug without freaking out about it

*Threw a party at our new place that kicked some serious butt (and my own)

*Have gone to a butt-load of Brewer Games (20 pack)

*Quit smoking

*Took up smoking

*Job is/was a wreck. Sum it up: My pay got cut in half along with the customers that *I* personally will be serving.

*Realized that I love the people I work with, not the job

*Probably picked my nose sometime in there.....

*Applied for a job that I am hoping to hear back from

*And more currently, I have a massive headache.

Pictures of Mexico:

Mexico

And because Blogger is so kick-ass, here is a picture I cannot delete for some reason. #sarcasm

Out with the old, in with the new

2010-04-01T12:21:00.002-05:00

I'm still considered a newly wed until May 22nd, 2010. I'm holding onto that so tightly!! I wonder if I really ever have to give up the phrase "Newly Wed". I can tell people 7 years down the line that I'm a newly wed for 6 years, can't I??

But with being married, how much should you give up? I'm toying around with the idea of changing my email address. To some, this may not be such a big deal. If your whole life didn't revolve around an email address, I can see how changing it would be no big whoop. But mine does. It "links" my life together. Its what I shop with, its what I find a job with. Its thousands of conversations I have in a year with my sister with. Sure, I could send out a mass email to people telling them to switch it, but what about those forgotten people/places?

I know this seems.....silly. I'm no longer a Rowe. I'm a LaBau. That's my name. For people who meet me now, tianna_rowe@yahoo.com isn't "really" me. It would be weird that my name is different from my email.(right?) Since my age is kind of the "Internet boomers", how long do I have before my email address has to change? Do I get a grace period? Do I even have to change it at all?

Perhaps it would be nice to start fresh. I can send out a mass notification to everyone on my email/facebook account and BOOM. Done. Is it that easy, though? I suppose I would check my "Rowe" account for awhile, but could I totally phase that address out? Can that really happen?

I guess I'm going to sit on both my accounts for right now. That much I can do. It will be a slow process, but I (think) am up for the challenge.

New:

tianna_labau@yahoo.com

Old:

tianna_rowe@yahoo.com

Er, umm.....uh.....

2010-03-17T03:38:00.002-05:00

I had the most fantastic evening ever!

This post was brought to you by the band Heart.

I can't say I've forgotten how much I love this band, it goes unsaid how much I love them. I've been a fan for many, many years and they are always in my top five; three rotating songs.

See!

2010-01-26T23:53:00.000-06:00

All I needed was a little sunshine in my life to cheer me up!

Blarg, mate!

2010-01-25T23:50:00.000-06:00

Sometimes I feel like I'm an outcast....almost as if people are making fun of me and I have no idea. I feel like people make up excuses not to hang out with me. I feel like I am never really "wanted" in a group and that there is someone else who they want to hang out with ...but they just have to get through me first. I feel like I'm slipping away from things and RIGHT THIS INSTANT, I don't give a shit. Why do I need to feel wanted? Why am I relying on others to make me feel good? I shouldn't do that.

Am now going to change things so I don't have to feel unwanted anymore.

Faults

2010-01-18T01:15:00.002-06:00

My Aunt Kathie cleaned out her basement the other day. Whenever she does this, she gives us a pile of stuff that belonged to our parents that were left there when Mom was still alive. This time, she gave me my Mom's journal. Why I choose to read it tonight, at 1 o'clock in the morning, is beyond me. I guess I was overdue for a good cry.

I'm reading the journal and getting more and more saddened by every page. My Mom went from an active, witty, young professional with two young children to, how she put it, "a bird with its wings clipped. Still a bird, still with wings, but unable to do what sets me apart; fly. " The tears raced down my face.

The journal basically starts from surgery one and goes to about the 7th or 8th brain surgery. She outlines almost every surgery which didn't bother me to read. What bothered me to read was how these surgeries took "her". She was frustrated with not being able to look in the mirror and not see "herself". She said something on the lines of, " I'm not looking into a mirror anymore...I'm looking through a window to a place I don't understand." Tears again.

She wrote about Dad and how wonderful he was through all this. While I always knew that he was the worlds best Dad (I got him a coffee cup that proved it), I never really thought of it from a spousal stand point. My dad could have ran. He could have picked up and moved on. It could have been too much for him to handle, but he didn't. He stood by her through EVERYTHING. Totally amazing and I model my relationship after theirs completely.

While reading more, I got mad. Pissed off, really, at my Mom. I don't know why it hit such a sore spot with me, but she at one point wrote something like, " People are going to just have to deal with me any my faults. " Faults!? If I could see her again and talk to her, I would scream to her that she did not have a single fault. She was perfect. But then I would have to hug her for a good 24 hours. But while the world looking in may have seen someone with a limp, an eye patch, or a shaved head as faults, I looked at HER as Mom. Because that's what she was. Not a person with faults, just my Mom.

New

2010-01-11T23:29:00.002-06:00

I want to live somewhere warm. I want to live where flip flops are part of my wardrobe 90% of the year. I generally get an itch to start wearing flip flops sometime in March, but it seems that this year it has come earlier.

I want to go lay out out on a beach with friends. Then after writing our names in the sand, taking a dip in the ocean, and laying out for a good portion of the day (knowing it was probably too long), I want to go to a beach side restaurant and have dinner and drinks (Of course wearing super cute sun dresses or still in our beach gear). I imagine that we would meet locals and they would inform us that there is a live singer at a bar just down the beach....which I could only hope the person singing that night would be this girl.

I want.

Wacky--This post is mainly for me. So its going to be awful.

2009-12-18T11:37:00.004-06:00

I had another wacky dream last night!! I can only remember bits and pieces of it, but I wanted to get it down somewhere so hopefully I can remember again.

So, here I am working (but its not work, you know how it goes) and someone, Steve Carell, orders something for room service. I took the order, he calls down and wants to have it delivered the next day. Well, we've already made it. So I go to pack it up and bring it home for Aaron to eat. But I don't make it home because suddenly we're in the middle of a disaster zone. I'm with my parents (I think? My dad for sure) and there is this flood happening. We are standing in the middle of a really tiny waterfall in this house that looks to be made for 5 year olds. Some lady was with us lifting up the floor boards to it showing that the flooding is about to take over this little home. She then just rips the floorboards out and I am quick enough to jump out of the little house and get to safety, but my parents were not quick enough to get out of the house. The flood took them. (That's really sad. I totally forgot about this part until I started writing this wacky dream out)

So now I'm visiting this old touristy place. I'm not quite sure what this place was, but it had sad undertones to it. I was walking around the museum (?) with a guy that I was apparently dating. Now fast forward to all of a sudden I'm in my Aunt and Uncles bathroom with the guy I'm dating (he had just woken up) wanting to say "Good morning!" So I'm in the middle of kissing him, and "Aaron" walks in. (didn't look like Aaron) I remember him coming through the door and me getting SO excited to see him....because he was my "main" boyfriend in the dream. I had two boyfriends who knew about each other and were ok with that. But also, Aaron was a vampire. He was as solid as a man could get. He hadn't an ounce of fat on him and walked around in the bathroom with only a towel on. He was just SO cool in the dream. The other boyfriend just kind of stepped back while I was doting on the vampire. !!!!!!!!!

Never again am I watching Temptation Island before bed.

What the!?

2009-12-13T01:15:00.002-06:00

I seriously want to know if as you get older you tend to cry more?

Tonight as I was laying in bed flipping through the channels, I came across the movie The Notebook. I've seen bits and pieces before, but never in its entirety. So I'm watching it and all of a sudden, towards the end, I'm in tears. I think I'm finally done crying and at the end of the movie, I'm bawling. I'm not talking a couple of tears running down my face. I literally have to get up to keep my giant weeps from waking Aaron.

Where is all this emotion coming from? I know its a sad movie and people tear up over it, but to cry like I did? Do hormones shift that much as you get older? I can remember a couple of weeks ago I started tearing up at a State Farm commercial. A commercial!!!! I know I'm not pregnant so it can't be pregnancy hormones. I'm just in awe.

Perhaps its just my way of getting emotions out. I tend to push down emotions/feelings and wait for them to come to head. Generally, it comes out with crying at odd times of the night with me sobbing, " I miss my parents! ". Don't get me wrong, I love a good cry. But seriously. A State Farm commercial? A movie!?

Either way, I really do enjoy a good cry. Such a great release! Most of the time I don't start out crying because I'm sad. I can remember one other night not too long ago that I was watching something on TV about a husband and a wife. It was one of those "fairy tale" courtships. They feel in love, were about to get married, and BAM. His fiance gets into a car accident. She becomes paralyzed and can barely talk. He doesn't leave her side. He literally carries her down the isle so that they could get married. Of course that moved me to tears, but then as I'm crying tears of happiness, it quickly turns to tears of sadness as I think of my Mom (parents).

Oi. Whichever way you cut it, I'm becoming more emotional and I, so far, am ok with it. I just hope I don't break down someplace extremely public.

Celebrate!

2009-12-03T14:23:00.002-06:00

There are so many things to be thankful for this time of year! I guess anytime of year one can be thankful, so I'm not quite sure why it takes Christmas to bring it out. But, whatever the reasons are, I'm thankful for everything/everyone in my life.

So much has happened that I feel like I should just recap.

-Friendsgiving was flippin' fantastic. I love having everyone here for that. Its great to be around friends and I wish I could have that group of people around me 24;7!!! We had a total of 9 people staying in our apartment that weekend!!!! SO. MUCH. FUN.

-Gallbladder was removed in November. I'm healing nicely. I just have four little marks on my belly where they had to go in, and those are continuing to fade quickly. The first two weeks I was pretty sore. Now I feel almost 100%! This week was my first week back and although I feel pretty good, I still get a little sore from time to time. =)

-Thanksgiving was short and sweet this year. Aaron and I headed to Rockford and arrived around 1pm. By 2:45, everyone was leaving. Granted, this year was smaller than normal, but it was very strange to have everyone gone so quickly. Aaron and I were about to leave, but decided to stay and play a card game with the family. We're glad we did! It was so much fun! I really enjoy the fact that since moving down to MKE, we've become much closer to our relatives in Rockford. I've always felt disconnected from them considering we've always lived 4.5 hours away. I'm just really thankful for them!

-Andrea and I had a strange turn in events recently. I'm not going to say how much, but we're running into some money from a Roth IRA that my Dad. Its going to help out so much! I really couldn't have asked for it at a better time. I NEED my car fixed as service lights keep coming on! We also found out (two days ago) that there is a life insurance policy from NEA that we did not know about! Its just crazy how when it rains, it pours (wether its good or bad).

-I've been looking to go back to school. I had an interview/tour of Sanford Brown College today. I want to go back to school for Diagnostic Medical Sonography. Its an 18th month long program that could possibly start on February 8th (if I get everything in/done that I need to). I'm really excited at the prospect of going back. Not that I don't enjoy bartending, but its just not something I want to do for the rest of my life. I want to help people but not help them to get drunk. So I'm super excited about this! Its a pretty expensive program, which has me worried! ($33,000). They do have financial aid available, but I don't even know if I qualify. But, I will go through the process of everything that I need to because this is something that I really want. Nothing will stop me from getting there.

Well, that's just about it. I'm going to go take a nap before work. I think I'm getting a cold! Grrr.

Hope everyone enjoys the holidays! It will be over before you know it!

Its been awhile....again

2009-11-03T02:11:00.003-06:00

I'm sitting here on my computer....MY computer. Its nice to use it again. I'm not 100% sure why we aren't using it more often, but whatever. I'm on it now and so far, it has worked.

Kind of a boring evening home after work. Normally I have a million things to do online, but tonight I found myself reading a stranger's blog for an hour. It was a bit bizarre to know that I have gone through the same things that she had (her blog was from 2006 and earlier). But at the same time, it wasn't weird at all. It was almost as if *I* had written it. The same relationship woes, food woes, death in her family (and loved one's family). Just makes me stand back and see that everyone goes through the same emotions/life events. Nobody is secluded from pain...and just remembering that makes things a bit easier to deal with.

Not much else is new "right now". Lots of things coming up in the near future, though. This coming weekend is our 5th Annual Friendsgiving. I cannot believe we are already to that point. Its amazing how quickly time flies by! (UGH! THANK YOU CARDS NEED TO BE SENT OUT!!! ACK!!! I literally hate how effing late they are.) But, we are approaching that and I am starting to get very excited about it. I'm not so nervous, this time, with the massive amounts of people that will be there. Looking forward to seeing everyone! (Not that I was ever NOT looking forward to seeing people...Large crowds make me nervous. Hate answering questions of "What are you up to lately?" And having the same boring answer, "Nothing. STILL bartending...going nowhere. " Ugh.

In health news: Am all healed up from the LEEP procedure. Woot! Went to the doctors office last week and got an "all systems go" from McComis to resume normal activity. From that appointment I literally went upstairs to meet with a surgeon about getting my Gallbladder removed. About 3-4 days after I had my LEEP done, I developed pain under my right rib. At first I thought it was from the LEEP, but then I started getting nauseous after eating. Made an appointment, got an Ultrasound, and BAM. Gallstones. So on the 12th, I will have it removed. I have to take a week off from work (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) Gross. So close to the Holiday season, too. This won't help with what I want to get Aaron for Christmas!

Well, its pretty late.(2:30!!!) and am fading quickly. I will for sure update after this weekend! Can't wait to see everyone and just spend time with people that I care about!!!!

Sunday Funday!

2009-10-04T14:53:00.004-05:00

It has been awhile since I last posted, so I shall catch you up to where I'm at.

I will start with last weekend. Last weekend was Tony's 27th birthday (Tony Seven) so LB was in town!! She came in on the train on Friday and we met her at Wicked Hop to pick her up. She had been there for a bit and was hangin' with the birthday boy. We grabbed a couple of brews while we waited for Scoot to come in one the train. I must say, timing worked out really well with everything.
Once Scoot was in our possesion, we headed home to where we would play games! Tons-o-fun had there! Andrea and Scoot had to wake up early to catch a plane to Cape Cod for a suprise birthday party so LB, Aaron, and myself headed to Waterfront to finish out the night....and what is a night out without Denny's? Mmmmm....Denny's.

Saturday was the Tony Seven celebration! We met up at Tony's house to catch a bus to the Brewer Game. We tailgated for about 3 hours and headed into the stadium. We had pretty good seats along the first base line. It was a great game to be at!

From there, we took the crowded shuttle to Zim's (almost without Tony-Seven!!) Once at Zims, we were pretty hungry so we ordered some REALLY good Nachos and proceeded to drink from the keg that Tony-Seven bought for his birthday. Mmmmm......Beer and Nachos. Oh! Matt Anderson, from high school, was in town that night for the KOL concert, so they ended up meeting us at Zim's for the night! It was really nice seeing him!!

Sunday was a lazy, lazy day. Ended up going to Denny's again (!!!!), lounged around for a bit, snuck a nap in there, and ordered some Chinese food. (!!!!) We got LB to the train station to make her 5:45 train and came home and crashed again. It was such an exhausting weekend...but a fun one at that!

Moving on, I had my LEEP procedure on Thursday. Going into it, I thought it was going to be painful because of what pain the Colposcopy procedure left me in. Turns out, I was completely wrong! They numbed up my cervix with novocaine, which was weird. I could literally feel the numbness move up on my insides. It was the most bizarre feeling. My tounge was even numb!! But the entire procedure took about 30 seconds,, which was nice. So now its just the waiting game to get my biopsy results. (EEEK!)

Last night we had Beaky and Tivis over to play games. Always fun. We ended up playing Apples to Apples. I've played that game before, but didn't remember having a good time. I guess it's the company you keep that makes it a good time!

Well, I suppose that should be it for now. Hope everyone has a fantastic week ahead!

The boy who lived before

2009-09-21T00:20:00.003-05:00

I am watching a video on YouTube tonight. It's called Extraordinary People - The Boy Who Lived Before. If you have time, I suggest watch it. Its about life after death...and dealing with the memories of a previous life, while in the current life. It's so interesting. It really makes me open my eyes to life after death. Could it really happen? Are we automatically reborn into another family? I think about it often, so when I ran across this, I couldn't help myself.

I am going to try to find out more!

2009-09-18T02:39:00.001-05:00

Edward. Cullen.

*swoon*

For real, I feel like I'm in middle school! I CANNOT wait for November 20th.

Looks like I"m buying Twighlight (The movie) tomorrow.

Edward Cullen

2009-09-17T09:20:00.002-05:00

I must say, I think I'm in love with a vampire. It's only a book, I know, but I can totally see how these tween girls get all ooey and gooey over him!!! (and by tween I mean every women in the Universe!)

I'm in the last book, about half way through, and cannot wait to finish it. I will be devastated when its over. The past four days have been simply dedicated to reading all the books ....so then what?

Anyhoodle, I love Edward. Sorry, Aaron!

Wowsa

2009-09-12T14:50:00.001-05:00

So sorry for that last blog entry. (Or am I?) Either way, today is a new day and I feel 120% better than I did yesterday! I was all sorts of crazy......Eeek!

Also, Happy Birthday, Mom!! LOVE YOU AND MISS YOU!!!!

Wanted

2009-09-11T11:28:00.004-05:00

Everybody wants to feel wanted so when they don't, it can totally ruin a day/week/year. I sometimes think, " Ok, its me. It's totally me. I did something wrong that I deserve this." So then I step back and see a pattern. Nobody gets excited to see me. Nobody misses me. Nobody comes over. It scares me. I know I've pulled away socially over the past 4-5 years and I'm trying to stop that. But seriously, unless its a big party, (wedding, Friendsgiving) I can't get anyone here (at MY place) to just hang out. This sounds so pitiful and I cannot believe I am blogging this, but its all true.

I just miss the old me.

le sigh.

2009-09-01T21:52:00.001-05:00

Click here for goose bumps. This is one of the many reasons I marched drumcorps. Oh, how I miss it!

Cervical Dysplasia

2009-09-01T12:56:00.002-05:00

So there we have it. I have a high level of Cervical Dysplasia. Just heard back from the doctors office. It generally comes from HPV, but that has never been brought up in any doctors office I've ever been in. So I'm not sure if that's where it came from. But mainly, its pre-cancerous cells. I have a LEEP procedure on October 1st where they will remove some of my cervix in hopes to get rid of the abnormal area. From there, its a pap smear every 2-3 months to monitor everything so it doesn't develop into cancer. This is, clearly, the short version of this all ......

Biopsies

2009-08-27T15:45:00.002-05:00

Had my doctors appointment yesterday......OUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Its like taking your worst cramps ever times a million! I was expecting some mild cramping (which I'm use to), but nothing like this!

I go into the office and there is this huge microscope sitting next to a chair. (Kind of reminded me of Wall-E). The chair has pads all over it, as if it was going to catch bodily fluids. Gross. Anyhoodle, Dr. McComis repeats the pap smear and then all of a sudden her assistant, Candice, is bombing me with questions. At first I was thinking, " Wow, this lady really wants to know a lot about me! " Then I realize that she's trying to keep my attention off of Dr. McComis as she's taking samples of my insides!!! I start to sweat. It was painful. Very painful. The cramping that came along with it is almost unbearable. Its awful.

Anyway, I asked McComis if she saw anything wrong in there, and she said that there were a few spots that she took biopsies from. She proceeded to tell me that if it is precancerous, I will need to have check ups every 3 months. WHAT!? Can't we just wait to get results back? Me thinks so.

So, now I have to let my insides heal for two weeks. (Aaron doesn't not like that.) I should know the results by next Wednesday.

*crosses fingers*

Welcome back!

2009-08-24T10:24:00.004-05:00

Hello, readers! Long time no blog! Hope all is well with you and yours. (I think that's a strange statement..."you and yours".) Only a couple weeks left of "summer". BUMMER. Not that we really had summer anyway ...but its shocking looking at status updates on Facebook reading, " One week left before school..." Oi.

A recap of this past weekend. It was awesome. It was seriously just a fun, relaxing weekend with friends/family. Andrea, Tony, and myself headed to Naperville on Friday night to meet with Lori and Scoot (who came from Chicago). The ride down was pretty uneventful, thankfully. We didn't run into much traffic at all, which is surprising. But once we arrived, we headed to the grocery store to get snacks and beer before Lori and Scoot arrived. Watched some Family Guy and got acquainted with Scoot's 5 cats. FIVE!!!!!!!!!!

Scoot and Lori arrived about an hour later and we were all pretty set to go out. We ended up going downtown Naperville (which is totally cute!) and pretty much just went to two bars. Lots of drinking/singing ensued and before we knew it, it was time to go home.

We get back to Scoot's condo and apparently I was on a mission to get pizza. But, that isn't easily attainable in Naperville. 459 calls and an hour and a half later, we had a $37 pizza delivered. Disgustingly overpriced.

We wake up about 5 hours later and head to MKE. Lori, Tony, and I had a healthy cooking class to attend. It really wasn't what I thought it was going to be, but it was very interesting and surprisingly relaxing. The smells in the room where amazing! Our teacher showed us how to make Chicken Piccatta, a Salmon dish, and a thin crust pizza. I will put the recipes at the bottom of the blog.

After the class, we went to Hooligans to have some lunch. It was a bit cold (WHAT!? IT'S AUGUST!!) But actually nice to be chilly instead of sweltering. After some run ins with a couple hungry bees and inevitably LeeAnn, we headed back to Tony's to take a nap. Much. Needed.

After a two hour nap, it was back to game mode! We head around the corner from Tony's to Cafe Hollander. There, we ordered some appetizers and waited for Tivis and Beaky to show up! A couple Grimmbergens later and 1 or 2 shots, it was time to head home. Again, ordering pizza. I swear, I ate so much pizza this weekend and I'm not even a huge fan of it.

All of the food from this weekend was disgustingly bad for me, but it was so worth it. I knew heading into this weekend that I was going to just let go and get whatever I wanted, as Boot Camp started up again today!

Anyhoodle, Aaron and I stay over at Tony's on Saturday night and headed home on Sunday morning. From there, we just sat around for a bit, Aaron took a nap, and I had a nutrition seminar to go to. If the seminar wasn't free with my boot camp, I wouldn't have gone. There was really no new information....but there is a thing called EPOC that I found very interesting!

After the seminar, I came home to pick up Aaron and we went over to Kathie's. We had some dinner over there and just sat around and talked. Nothing special, but its definitely one of my favorite things to do on a Sunny Sunday!!

From there, I went to the grocery store. I had to pick up two items and while going past the medicine section, I stopped to check out Stop Smoking aids. I was just doing some research and checking out the price options for the patch vs. gum. Gum is way cheaper...but from what I hear, disgusting. I continue to the check-out sans anything for anti-smoking. Half way to the check out lane, I double back. I was thinking, "if I'm going to be starting boot camp again, that will probably help with any weight gain that I will have and it will just make boot camp easier if I'm not smoking". So I did it. I got the patch. Totally impromptu! I feel good about the decision, as I've been wanting to quit for awhile....but we're talking years and years of smoking!! I don't know if you have seen those commericals for quitting smoking, but I literally won't know what to do in the car or right after I eat! I'm so scared that I will mess up and let people down! (as I just got an email from Andrea saying that her friend from work will give me a prize if I quit for 6 months!) Ack!

Today was the start of boot camp again. Ashley, my trainer, is so very hardcore. She just got done running a 200 mile run relay in the Cities area this weekend. (WHAT!!!!????) But anyway, I don't remember the first day of boot camp being this hard last time. I suppose we are all, but one, return boot campers. I think she figures since we've done it before, we can do it again...but harder. We did our introductions like we did last time (Name and our boot camp goal), but Ashely made me tell everyone that I quit smoking so that they would give me support!! I thought that was so awesome!!! Its hard (as I want one right now...) but this too shall pass.

Well, that's all for now. Doctors appointment on Wednesday (ack!!!). Nervous about that, but will post how that goes.

Hope everyone enjoys the rest of their ~~fall~~ summer!!

And the recipes:

Recipes to Help You Build Muscle and
Burn Fat!

Naomi’s Chicken Piccatta

Ingredients:

3-4 oz. of boneless chicken breasts, thinly sliced or pounded down
1/8 cup of ground almond meal (other nut meal may be substituted)
Salt to taste
1 tbsp Italian seasonings
Non-stick cooking spray
1 fresh lemon or 3 tbsp of pure lemon juice
1 cup of white cooking wine
2 tbsp of jarred capers with juice
3 sprigs of parsley
Optional: Pat of butter or 2 tsp of heavy whipping cream for more texture

Directions:

Line a baking sheet with non-stick spray and preheat the oven at 325 degrees.
Take ground almond meal, salt, and Italian seasonings, and blend together with
fingers in a flat plate. Using a fork, pick up a piece of chicken and lay one side at
a time on top of the almond meal mixture, until it is mostly covered. Place the
chicken onto the baking sheet and repeat until all your chicken is coated. Place
baking sheet in the oven.

Note: Instead of baking, you can use a small amount of olive oil or olive oil spray
to coat a pan and pan-fry the cutlets. Only add small amounts of oil if the pan
dries. Just make sure the heat is just below medium. This ensures that the
chicken cooks through without burning the breading.

For the sauce, place small pan over medium heat. Once the pan is hot, spoon
the capers making sure to use as much of the juice as possible. Place them into
the pan. Pour the white wine into the pan and stir. Finally cut the lemon in half,
pit it, and squeeze one half of the lemon into the mixture or pour the 3 tbsp of
pure lemon juice. Stir until little bubbles form and then place on very low heat to
keep warm.
Once the chicken is golden on one side, flip it over and let the other side cook for
an additional 5 minutes or until the other side has browned. Remove the chicken
from the oven or pan and place into the sauce. Serve by placing the chicken on a
plate and pouring the remaining sauce on top. For an extra kick, you can grate
and sprinkle a little lemon zest and parsley on top of the dish. You may garnish
by slicing the other lemon half and/or by using a few sprigs of parsley.

Garlicky Asparagus

Ingredients:

About 10 fresh asparagus stalks, hard bottoms cut off
2-3 Cloves of crushed garlic
2 tsp of extra virgin olive oil
Salt to taste

Directions:

Heat olive oil in a pan over medium or medium-high heat. Once oil is warm (you
can tell when the consistency is much more fluid) add the garlic. Let the garlic
brown and crackle. You will smell the aroma and see a golden brown color when
the garlic is ready. Make sure not to burn the garlic or the asparagus will taste
very smoky.

Throw in the asparagus and cook for just a few minutes until it is warm and the
green color begins to pop. Sprinkle with a little salt to taste and serve with the
Chicken Picatta.

Pamela’s Version of Florio’s Salmon

Florios is a famous Italian Restaurant in Little Italy, NYC. BJ and I went with
some friends and we unanimously agreed that they had the best salmon around.
Our friend, Pamela put this together:

Ingredients:

12 ripe Roma Tomatos or 1 Jar of No Sugar Added Tomato Sauce
1 bag of frozen chopped Spinach
1 cup pitted Kalamata Olives
Capers to taste
2-3 Cloves of Garlic
Olive Oil

4-8 oz. of Salmon Filets

Directions:

Boil the Roma Tomatoes, just as the water starts to roll, drain and let them cool
a little bit. Peel the skin off the tomatoes. Dice half of the tomatoes, quarter the
other half, disguard the the stem part. Place in frying pan on low heat, lightly
drizzle with olive oil. Add Kalamata Olives, garlic and Capers. Let simmer for
about 2-3 hours, stir occasionally.

For those who want to cut down the cooking time significantly, you may use a
no-sugar added tomato sauce and add the olives and capers to it. Allow that
mixture to simmer for about 10 minutes.

While the sauce is simmering, you can throw the frozen spinach in a fry pan over
medium heat and allow it to thaw and cook. Once the spinach is cooked, transfer
¾ of the contents of the sauce into the pan of spinach. Place the heat on low
and allow it to simmer.

For 4-6oz Salmon fillets...

Lightly coat the pan with olive oil or non-stick cooking spray. Cook for about 4-5
minutes on each side in frying pan on medium heat or until the outside is a nice
golden brown and the salmon has a nice flaky texture.

Once cooked remove from the pan, cover the salmon in the remaining tomato
sauce. Serve spinach on the side.

Naomi’s Yummy Thin Crust Pizza

Ingredients:

2 tortillas (Aim for one with 4 or more grams of fiber per tortilla)
Cherry tomatoes OR marinara sauce
Diced grilled chicken
Oregano, salt, black pepper, Italian spices
Mozzarella cheese
¼ cup Diced peppers and onions
1 cup of spinach

Directions:

Preheat oven on broil to 375 degrees. Dice raw chicken into small pieces
about 1-1 ½ inches in length. Heat a skillet at medium heat and line with fat free
non-stick spray. While the chicken is grilling add salt, oregano, black pepper and
Italian spices to taste.

While the chicken is grilling line the tortillas with spray butter and 2-3 T of
sauce. (If you are using the cherry tomatoes, roast those lightly for a few
minutes until they brown and then add to the pizza) Keep the layer thin so the
pizza will not get soggy. Divide the spinach evenly between the tortillas.

While the chicken is finishing up, add the peppers and onions and mix a
few times for the next 2-3 minutes. Next, divide the chicken evenly on each of
the tortillas, and top evenly with the cheese.

Place in the oven on a baking sheet or pizza pan and broil until brown and
curled on the edges. Enjoy! Feel free to experiment with other types of cheese
and veggies.

Plugged

2009-08-21T10:06:00.001-05:00

Naperville tonight!

IBS

2009-08-13T18:53:00.002-05:00

IBS. Really? I have IBS?! I guess that makes sense? The Doctor said I have classic signs. I will be starting a medication tomorrow and, hopefully, that will do the trick. I will go back and see her in a month to see how its working. I really like the ProHealth system here in Waukesha. They are very prompt. I finally don't feel like I'm getting pushed around and I feel like they are actually listening to me. Phew!

Another update with the health issue. I received a call yesterday about the results of my pap smear last week. Apparently I had an abnormal pap. (That has never happened before!) I'm a bit scared, but I can imagine that most every woman has had an abnormal pap smear before....right? So, they will be putting vinegar in my hoo-haa and taking a microscope to it...blah blah blah. I really kind of stopped listening to what she was saying as I was thinking, " Vinegar, eh? Will this be Apple Cider Vinegar? Can I then cook with my hoo-haa? I like Apple Cider. Apples. Fall is coming. I love the fall. Fall is my favorite because its the season of jackets and boots and finally getting....." Then she asked me if August 26th would be ok for this procedure. Yes. Yes it would be. What are you going to be doing again?

Currently have a chest cold. Not fun. Its knocked me out for the past two days. I've gone to work and everything, but I get home and go straight to bed. I didn't sleep well last night, either. Woke up about every two hours. Annoying.

Let's see....what else is new? Actually, I think that might be it for now.

*sneeze* Frick!

Me love you long time...

2009-08-07T12:39:00.003-05:00

Whoops!! Totally forgot I had a blog!! I was thinking last night, " There is something missing from my general "rounds" on the Internet. " It was the blog section of my routine that had gone missing. I feel bad like I've let someone down, but really, I don't think anyone cares. Ha!

Well, let's see. Seemingly lots to update about. Lets start with less fun stuff and go into a bit more exciting things. (And by exciting, I mean that I may or may not have found a quarter the other morning.)

Health update: MRI was clear (Woohoo!!). I don't think I had posted that, but it was tumor-free! The next step my doctor wanted me to do was to get a urinary test done. They literally stuck a catheter in me and filled my bladder with two different solutions. One of them is a placebo, and the other one is laced with some kind of protein. If I had anything wrong with my bladder, that protein would react with my bladder and sting horribly. Thank GOODNESS I didn't have anything wrong there. Phew. But lets step it back a couple steps for a minute. The nurse couldn't get the catheter in me right away. So I was literally being poked and felt up by the nurse for 10 minutes. Finally she called another Nurse into the room and used a different catheter. Leaving the office that day, I thanked them both for going to fourth base with me. Oy.

Since nothing was wrong with my bladder, I am now going to see a GI doctor on Thursday. Not quite sure what test they are going to do just yet. It will either be a colonoscopy or the test where they go down the throat. Gross. Knock me out for whichever one she chooses!!

Moving on....I think I am going to be changing my diet. While I am on low-carb, I seem to regulate and have about half the pain I normally do. I'm curious with the connection between the two. I've spoken with my doctor about the connection but really can't remember her answer (go figure). Anyway, I am meeting with my bosses wife downtown Milwaukee today, as she works for Whole Foods Market and is in charge of the Gluten Free section. She will be letting me know more about where to start, what to get, how she lives (as she has Celiacs Disease...intolerant to Gluten and Wheat). So I'm pretty excited about that today!

I just realized I have to get going!!!! I need to meet Autumn in about a half hour! Whoops! More later!

Hills

2009-07-09T10:40:00.003-05:00

Today's boot camp was.......HARD. Thursdays are field trip days so we went to Nagawaukee park (those of you who read this, and were at our rehearsal dinner, may remember this park). We sprinted up hills today, did lunges up hills, did crab walks up hills... You name it, we did it. It was definitely hard today! But tomorrow is our last day and I am both sad and happy. The only reason I want to celebrate being done with it is for the simple fact of sleeping in! This chica doesn't do well getting up at 7:30am. But, I think another lady and I are going to meet and still work out when boot camp is over. So I've got that to look forward to!

Today is the day for the MRI. I am a bit nervous. I really don't know what to expect, as I've never had one. I am meeting over at Kathie's and she will drive me over there. Strangely enough, the place where I am getting my MRI is in a strip mall. What the!? Is this a shady operation? Should I be scared if there are 15 white vans lined up outside with men trying to sell candy out of their vans? Meh, we'll see.

Anyhoodle, I have to get ready now. And tend to my (I think) sick cat. =( I just don't think she's feeling well lately. =( =( =(

Let's see...

2009-07-02T13:57:00.002-05:00

Just heard back from the doctor. Oi. My prolactin levels were down, but still really high. My doctor wants me to go in for an MRI. What they'd be looking for is a tumor on my pituitary gland. I'm not sure exactly what will be done if they do find one, but here's hoping there isn't one!!

I'm a tad scared.

Still waiting...

2009-07-01T16:00:00.001-05:00

No word yet from the Doctor on my test results. I called this morning and the nurse said she would let her know that I was waiting!

Grr...

Eek!

2009-06-29T21:57:00.002-05:00

No boot camp for me today. I was seriously drained from a long weekend of drinking and golfing. There was a mini family reunion mixed in there as we all met in Portage to see my Uncle's Band play! It was a really great time seeing everyone and listening to the band!

Golfing on Sunday was brutal. Waking up after only four hours of sleep and going golfing in the hot sun took a toll on me. We went with a co-worker of mine and his girlfriend. I played awfully (hole numbers 2-14). I was getting super frustrated and just needed to concentrate on my swing and trying to not miss the ball! Ugh. It was bad. But hopefully we can go again and straigthen that out!

The doctors office called back on Friday. I was unable to return their call until today. Everything was fine with my ultra sound and pap smear, but they are concerned about my Prolactin levels in my blood. She said they were very high and tomorrow morning I am going in to get another blood test done with that.

Apparently prolactin is a hormone produced by the pituitary gland. Mostly women who are breast feeding produce this, which is why women cannot get pregnant who are breast feeding because it stops ovulation. (or something like that). And since I am not pregnant and have not been, it generally causes lack of period and infertility. Ugh. I read something somewhere about women with high prolactin levels generally have a small (benign) tumor(s) on their pituitary gland. Double ugh. There are some drugs out there to take to shrink it or resume it back to normal function, but those have awful side effects.

Anyhoodle, I will (I think) know tomorrow about my levels as I am getting them tested again. From there, they can tell me what needs to be done so that I can resume to normalcy.

YAY! Something is being done!!!! 6 years!

Sweaty eyes

2009-06-24T10:51:00.004-05:00

HOLY MOSTACOLLI! Its a HOT one out there. Today was a brutal day. We stayed as much as we could in the shade, but sometimes, it just wasn't possible.

We started off by doing circuits around the parking lot. We ran around the parking lot and once we got to a certain tree, we had to do curb push ups, or tricep dips. This took up about 15 minutes (which doesn't seem long until you're doing it). From there, we went to the trees. From here, we each had a partner and while one of us was doing tree sits (wall sits), the other would have to run to a picnic table and do some various (hard!) workout there. Once they were done they would run back to us and we would have to go do the same thing. We did this about 6 times. LOTS of leg work. Lots. The tree sits got harder and harder as we went on, too. First it was just a normal tree
sit. Then, we would do curls with our weights while sitting there. Then Ashley told us to hold our weights out in front of us while sitting. Ugh. Meanwhile, I don't think I've sweat so much in my life. It was literally dripping into my eyes! It was pretty awesome.

We finished with our usual ab work out. The work outs have been getting seemingly shorter, but I think its because I am enjoying it more and more. Ashley will all of a sudden say, " Come on, girls! We only have 10 minutes left!" I am amazed every time she says that!

I weighed myself today. I have gained 5 pounds. Five!!! I thought the old saying of, " Muscle weighs more than fat " was debunked. Perhaps it isn't. I know I shouldn't worry about what the scale says or anything, but when you have a goal weight in mind, its heartbreaking to know you're going the opposite way on the scale. Question to all you workout buffs: Does this happen? Will I just continue to gain weight while losing fat? Or will I eventually be 145lbs and lean?

For now, I am going to try and get ahold of my friend Nick to go hit some golf balls. I don't like coming home and sitting around. That should get me out (in the HOT HOT HOT sun!) but somewhat active.

Chicago and Week Two, Day One

2009-06-22T10:51:00.008-05:00

This weekend was a blast! Becky and Tivis wanted to go to Chicago to spend the weekend there for their anniversary weekend. They asked us if we wanted to come and it was totes obvi that we did! (haha!)

Andrea, Aaron and myself caught the 5:45 train out of Milwaukee. We should have gotten to Chicago around 7:15 but that wasn't the case. We were stuck in delays from almost the moment we got on there. First it was a signal out which was most likely from all the storms happening around us. Then there was a tree on the tracks. And finally, there was flooding. So we didn't get into Chicago until around 8:30. We met Scott there and he took us to the bar there as Aaron and I waited to catch another train to Oak Lawn, which was where our hotel was.

Friday night we just hung out at the hotel bar, grabbed some pizza, and headed upstairs to bed. It was a long day and could barely keep my eyes open!!

Onto Saturday. Saturday was SO.MUCH.FUN. I was in a bit of a funk for awhile there....Not quite sure if it was the traffic from Oak Lawn to Chicago or if it was the simple fact that I had not eaten breakfast that was making my head foggy. I just hate being late and when traveling with other people, it's hard to keep them on track.

We arrived to Union Station where Lori (YAY!) and Andrea were waiting for us...patiently (or maybe not so). We were all pretty hangry at that point and decided to get some food. ASAP. We ate at Elephant and Castle which was very tasty!

From there, Becky and Tivis went to the Shedd Aquarium and etc...while Andrea, Aaron and I walk to Millennium Park with Lori. We just walked around there for awhile, sat in the shade, and watched as one hundred, or so, people dressed as Pokemon characters filed to the Bean. Interesting.

From there, we dropped Andrea off at Union Station and off Lori, Aaron and I went to Printers Row to sit outside and drink some cheap beers. It was a fantastic afternoon of just sitting outside, talking, catching up...etc....Awesome.

Slowly, our group of three turned into 8 people by the end of the night. Should have been 9 (Tim), but whatevski. And 7 hours later (perhaps more?) we were done drinking and needed to head home. The sun and beer and walking around REALLY takes a lot out of a person! Wowsa!

Sunday was the basic travel day. Nothing major. Came home, took a quick nap, got some food and pretty much went to bed! Great way to unwind from a great weekend!

BOOT CAMP Update:

Today was pretty brutal. The sun was out and beating down on us. We did, again, a lot of running so trying to stay dry is never really an option. Ashley set up a cone way off into a soccer field that after we were done doing works outs that targeted certain areas, we had to run out to and back. But, on the way back, there were also other cones set up that we had to stop at and do the exercises printed on them. 50 jumping jacks, 30 Nordic Track Moves, 20 Jump and Squats. So. hot. I've been done for an hour with boot camp and my shirt is STILL wet!!!

I can already tell I am much stronger. I know I'm working out harder already, but it just doesn't feel as tough as it did on Monday. All of a sudden during our workout she yells out, " Alright...we have ten minutes left...really push it! " ....WHAT!? Just ten minutes left? I was thinking we were about 1/4 done with the work out! Perhaps I'm just enjoying it more?

Ashley handed out registration forms for a 5k on July 11Th. You can just volunteer or actually run it. Not sure what I'm going to be doing just yet....but if anyone who reads this is interested in doing it with me, let me know. Its a $25 registration fee. Of course you get a t-shirt at the end ....but there is also food! YAY!

Well, that's all she wrote for now. I need to get some laundry in before work tonight. Busy, busy week ahead. From Wednesday through the end of the weekend, we are booked at the hotel. It'll be busy, but hopefully worth it ($$$$).

More on Wednesday! Taking tomorrow off!

Testing

2009-06-19T10:44:00.003-05:00

The rain held off for the class this morning! It was, and still is, pretty muggy. Last nights' storms left a lot of people, including us, without power. I was pretty nervous that my phone would die and I wouldn't hear my alarm. Good thing I can no longer sleep past 7am.......!!

Today was the mile run, push ups, and sit up test. I wasn't good, I wasn't bad. I was pretty much right down the middle. I ran the mile in 11:40 (Awful time!) and did 25 sit ups and 19 push ups in a minute. Ashley swears that we will not have the same times at the end of the four weeks. I believe her. I am already feeling stronger!

After the tests we did a lot of work outs with our weights. She took us over to picnic tables where we proceeded to get our butts kicked. Stepping up on the seats with weights, push ups off of the bench parts. It was killer!

We did more with lunges and modifying how we use the weights. We are incorporating a lot of movements we were taught earlier this week with weights....which is making it harder and harder.

I guess from there we went into ab work outs and we were pretty much done. Doing the testing took up a half the work out so it felt a little short! But I'm ready for a day off and Monday to come again!

Ashley told us they have bundles we can buy. You get $50 off your package if you buy the boot camps in bundles. So if I buy a 3 month membership to the boot camp, it's at a discount rate. There are two weeks in between boot camps and one of those weeks you'd also, because you bought the package, get one-on-one training with Doug (the owner of Peak Performance) for a week. Almost seems worth it. I'll simmer on that for awhile.

Anyhoodle, off to Chicago for the weekend! I'm SO HUNGRY for crepes! I've been talking them up to Aaron so its a must!

Also, I go in for an ultra sound of my pelvic area today (not for babies, Andrea.) I'm trying to get to the bottom of my pelvic pain and I found a doctor who is going to do whatever it takes. AMEN!!

*hears thunder again* Ack!

Field Trip Day

2009-06-18T10:53:00.001-05:00

Today we had a smaller class. Boot campers can pick either 3, 4, or 5 days. I picked 4 (always average, I am) so majority of the girls were not there, as most picked 3 days. It was really nice having that small of a class. Apparently the night class has 40 women in it!!!!!! 40!!!! I couldn't imagine that!

Today was pretty rough. Thursdays are field trip days so we met at a park in Hartland. Nice park. Easy to get to. It was cloudy and it looked like it was on the verge of raining as we all arrived ....but BAM! Sunny. Beautiful. HOT...right as we started our workout. We started today doing walking lunges, kick lunges, and any other kind of lunge you can think of. We also had to do a work out called "Suicide". That right there should have clued me in. It involved sprinting one at a time to 5 different sets of cones spaced apart from each other vertically (all out sprint..not a faster jog) and then jogging back. Never stopping, we were instructed to do 25 sit ups after each jog back....or 25 push ups, or walking lunges. Crazy!!!! We did that twice.

We were near a baseball field so we had to jog over to the dug out area and do triceps dips on the benches as well as push ups off of them....meanwhile, the sun is BEATING down on us. I've never, EVER, sweat so much. It was AWESOME. Anyhoodle, we then were instructed to sprint to first base, do a set of squats....side shuffle to second and do push ups there....side shuffle to third base and then monster walk home with our elbows on our knees. HARD. Hard hard hard!

After that, we went back to our mats to "cool" down in the shade with v-sit ups and bicycle crunches. Once those were completed, it was off to the trail. There was a little bridge that we had to do more triceps dips on, hop across as if both feet were tied together, and on the other side do 25 jumping jacks. After that was completed, it was time for a run in the woods. It was actually a really nice run because the ground was real soft. But of course, it wasn't just a walk in the park! She had us running backwards at one point and at the end of the trail there was a hill. It was pretty steep and of course, she said, "Once you get to the top, 25 push ups! " Ugh. By this time I was actually feeling dizzy.

We make it back to the bridge and she has us do the same routine again on the bridge. We finish there and it was back to our mats in the shade to do more ab work. Once we finished with that, it was a quick jog over to a different baseball diamond where she has us do wall sits against the fence. Another base to base circuit and we are off to run around the entire area of the field!!

By this time we are all pooped!! We jog over to our mats and we are in the home stretch! Its a bit more ab work outs and stretching and we're done!

While today was hard and during the workouts I have to continually tell myself, " You signed up for this. This is what you want. This is what you NEED. You love this! " I actually really do enjoy it. There are some fantastic women in the group who are funny (one who thinks I'm a hoot...so that always draws out more lolz from me) and are very encouraging. Its going to be a fun three weeks ahead!

Tomorrow is the mile run test and sit up and push up tests. Wish me luck!!

Boot Camp

2009-06-17T11:23:00.003-05:00

We did it!! We got married! I'm sure everyone who reads this blog already knows that .... but its still fun to say we're married! Doesn't feel any differently than dating. Aaron just wears a wedding ring now. But, according to Waukesha County, we are legally bound! Yahooo!!!!

I wouldn't have changed a single thing about that day; The weather, the people....nothing. It was the most amazing 12 second day of my life (or so it felt like that, anyway)!

But on to new things. I was sitting here at the computer about a week ago thinking, " Alright....I'm married now. That doesn't mean I get to "relax" and get fat. " So I was just looking online for any kind of "Boot Camp" that I could find that was in the area. I ran across a Hartland Boot Camp. I was looking up all the info on the page and, what I thought, was just requesting more information. Turns out, I registered myself. It was the best mistake I've made! All of a sudden I'm doing it. I'm really registered for class....and I'm doing it by myself, FOR myself.

The class started on Monday. I didn't really know what I was in for. I showed up late (!!!!!!) because I couldn't find the school. Thank GOD I have Andrea at my disposal because she looked up the number to call so I could get there. But I show up and they are under way. There are about 15 of us in the class (all women). Some have done it before, mostly we're all new. We started off the day taking turns doing the obstacle course (think stations). And while that one person is doing the stations of jumping jacks, jumping over things, etc....the rest of us are doing lunges, ab work, arm workouts. We all took turns and we each did the little course twice. There isn't a time where we are standing still!!

I woke up yesterday and I couldn't walk. I am still not able to really sit down on the toilet without some assistance of something near me. But the work out today (which involved a lot more running) didn't make my legs hurt. They were sore when I got there today and when I left...but during was no problem! Weird how that turns out. But today consisted of more circuit training. It involved more running, more movement all over. We still worked on our legs and upper body, though. Its only an hour long class (4 days a week!) but I have a feeling I'm going to see some awesome results!

Tomorrow I go in for a weigh-in and get measured before class. They want to get our numbers this week so that by the end of the 4th week they can chart our results! I'm not so nervous to weigh in ...but the measuring its going to make me want to throw up, I think! *crosses fingers*

Well, I must shower. I haven't showered yet and I'm pretty stinky. I was drenched in sweat today and am smelling a bit epic.

Will write more on this as I go!!

Less than a week!!!

2009-05-17T11:31:00.002-05:00

OH MY!!!!!!!! Less than a week!!! (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

SO MUCH TO DO!

SO MUCH TO DO!

NO TIME FOR PLAY!

SO MUCH TO DO!

Blue

2009-04-09T10:22:00.004-05:00

Ugh.

Sometimes I just don't know what to do. If I could step back and say to her, " That's ok...you keep your money. You don't have to pay for the wedding anymore. Thank you for the offer. " I would TOTALLY do that just so I/Andrea do not have to hear about "problems" anymore. If I want to have cheddar whipped mashed potatoes at my wedding, for f**k's sake, I'm having cheddar whipped potatoes. She has an awful way of turning things into HUGE ordeals and I start stressing about it. For example:

I sent out invitations to make cakes. They went to people who I really care about and its just a really neat idea. Well, I sent one to my Aunt Diane. Kathie was over doing Yoga at Aunt Di's and one thing lead to another and they were talking about the cakes. Aunt Di had just said casually, " I am not going to be creative with it....its not going to be fancy. " Which, coming from Aunt Di, I expect. She once tried to make a chocolate cake and used Miracle Whip....I wish I was kidding. But anyhoodle, so Kathie tells Andrea later that day, " Diane is just very upset that she has to make a cake. She can't handle the pressure and doesn't want to make one. Tianna should have ran things by me first before she sent out invitations. She should have told people that she was doing this. " So of course, I freak out. I don't want Aunt Di (or anyone) to feel pressured to do this. Why would I want that? I called and left a message for Aunt Di saying, "you don't have to make one if you don't want to, don't worry about it, I'm sorry to have caused so much pressure. Kathie was talking with Andrea today about it and it didn't sound like you wanted to do one..." I was basically apologizing for asking her. About 4 hours later I get an email saying something like, " What a minute, what did Kathie tell you? I am fine with making a cake...its just not going to be creative. What flavor do you and Aaron like? "

My jaw drops. So it wasn't even like that, eh? This is definitely not the first time this sort of situation has come up where Kathie makes out the other person to be bad, when really, she is the manipulative one. Don't get me wrong, I love Kathie to death and would do anything for her . . . but I just can't trust her not to talk badly about me behind my back (or sometimes just whispering to others AS I'm talking).

It is just so incredibly frustrating to be with two totally different types of adults. Take my parents, for instance. I don't think I heard bad things about anyone come out of my parents mouth once. That's just not what they did. But with Kathie, she will bad talk ANYONE in front of ANYONE. Where is the respect? How am I suppose to respect you when you are talking badly to me about MY sister? Some of the things she's said made me embarrassed to be related to her. (that's how awful they were).

Sigh. I need to win the lottery of small fortunes by May 22nd. I could hook on the corner!! Am I worth $5,000? Probably not.

Oh, and sorry for semi saying the "F" word. I hate that word. Love it when others use it, but it sounds foreign coming out of my mouth.

Aaron's loaf

2009-03-29T09:19:00.005-05:00

I received an invite in the mail yesterday. It's an invite to my shower!! What the!? It's real! It's really real!! I am getting married! I am beyond excited!

Its been a lazy weekend so far. We haven't really done a whole lot of anything, really. Yesterday I slept in until 11:30...Aaron until Noon. (He didn't get home from Men's Leadership until 4am. He had an excuse......I did not.) We kind of sat around until 3PM where we decided to get up and go to the grocery store for dinner. We got the fixings so that Aaron could make his Meatloaf. I.LOVE.HIS.MEATLOAF! (that's what she said) I don't even like Meatloaf...but his is fantastic. Its so moist .... I think we need to have a dinner party and Aaron can make his loaf. *drool*.

Later on we decided wording on an invite we still need to send out. Its a super cool idea and I hope people say yes to it. We're sending out invitations to people in our lives that we have a special little place for. What they're (hopefully) going to do is make a cake for us. That cake, will then be the centerpiece of the tables at the Wedding. So, each table will have a cake in the middle. Centerpiece? Check! Cake? Check! It will also be kind of a fun table project. Each table will be cutting their own cake! We'll (maybe) have instructions on the "proper" way to cut a cake so that its kind of a conversation piece.

It's snowing right now. Less than 4 days away from April, and it's snowing. Ugh. I'm tired of cold weather. I know it won't last long (blah blah blah) but I'm just antsy. I shouldn't wish everything away like I do!

Right now I am just making some breakfast and waiting to leave to go to Yoga. I figure that I can have a cinnamon roll if I'm going to go do Yoga.....right? Right?

Well, I think this is it. Rolls are almost done. I hope everyone has a fantastic week!!

"That's ok"

2009-03-18T12:35:00.002-05:00

Had court today....again. Same reason. Plates. I've got 60 days to figure out whatever it is that I need to figure out. I'm so frustrated by all of this I just want to scream. (Or take a nap....whatever comes first. I'm thinking the latter option).

Have you ever encountered a person who just doesn't seem to listen? Its almost as if you aren't even there? I have a person in my life like that. They shall remain nameless. (probation..blah blah blah...jk.) Anyhoodle. Its very frustrating. I could be having a conversation with them and when I try bring up a point to further the conversation, it just goes back into more of what they are talking about (which is their own self.) I've learned to just shut up and listen ... but then I find myself day dreaming since I cannot be apart of the conversation, and that's not right either. How do you deal with people like that? Am I one of those people?

Another thing that bothers me is when telling a story, someone replies back with, " That's OK, I . . . " and then they proceed to something that "tops" your story? Last night at the bar, someone was asking about my tattoo and it got to my parents and such. I told them that they have both passed away and she goes, " That's OK, I lost my parents last year " .....What is that suppose to mean? That's OK.... I'm so confused by that. Its like when talking to people like that, they are constantly thinking of how to one-up you. They're one-uppers. And it just goes in one ear, out the other. I don't even like talking to others about my parents passing away because its such a long, boring and sad story that I just try to avoid it. But to just skim over it all by saying, " That's OK .... " No, no its not. How about, " I'm so sorry to hear that. I can understand where you are coming from as I just lost my parents ...blah blah blah ". There....we don't have to go into detail about my parents while you're still acknowledging what I just said, and we get to move on and talk about you. It's that simple.

Ugh.

Sorry for such drab posts. I'm not normally this Debbie Downer"ish"......Oh! Another thing: People who constantly update negative things. Try updating postive things in your life and suddenly you're life doesn't seem to drab anymore. Negativity is such an ugly thing. (I know I am ugly of such a thing) Let's all be beautiful!

That's it!!!

2009-03-14T19:17:00.003-05:00

That doesn't look very attractive, does it? I don't think so and I am a smoker...but not for long. With the prices going up so much, its hard to continue to be a smoker. I heard today that someone bought a pack of Marb Lights for $7.00!! And the only thing I could think of when I heard that was, " Thank GOD! " I don't like smoking. I really don't. Its just a habit now. But I think its time to bite the bullet and stop. I have one pack left and I think I am done after that. I am scared to go buy the patch because of the price, though. Weird to think that $20 to stop smoking is holding me back when I spend that in cigarettes in about 3 1/2 days. Ugh. Its time, though.

Its time.

CHI Town weekend

2009-02-23T12:07:00.004-06:00

We had a great weekend! It started off with going to Chicago on Friday. It was a long day from the start, but it was fantastic. I had a meeting at the hotel at 1:30 that lasted until 3PM, so I drove Andrea to work (6:30am!!!! And I went to bed at 2am!!), came home, got my hair cut, worked out, got ready for a meeting at work, and then picked her up at 2:30PM. We drove home and while she was doing her workout, I got ready. We were planning on taking the 5:51PM train out of Kenosha to Chicago, but we missed the train by literally 2 minutes. Who knew the train was on time? We were pretty defeated at this point. Thank GOD Andrea called Lori/Tim to see where the next train stop was to see if we were able to catch another train. ("You do have the Internet, don't you?" Hahaha!). We were able to catch another train about 30 minutes away in Waukegan, IL...but we got lost trying to find it and barely made it. We sat down on the train about about a minute and a half later we were moving. Phew. I did not want to have to keep on chasing trains (literally...we ran to both trains).

We got in and Lori and Tim picked us up. We headed to Tim's place where we ordered in food (best chicken Alfredo I've ever had!!) and we headed to Frank's to finish off the evening with some beverages. It was such a fun night and I cannot wait to head back down there. The neighborhood where Tim lives is SO.CUTE. I love it!!!

We awoke the next morning around 9am and sat around watching TV and chatting. We were pretty hungry so Lori and Tim took Andrea and I to a Crepes place, again, not too far from Tim's place. IT.WAS.DELICIOUS. I had a Kiwi and Strawberry Crepe lined with Nutella and I am actually salivating thinking about it!! YUM!!!

After brunch, Lori and Tim drop us off at the train station. I must say, it was perfect timing, too. We didn't have to wait more than 5 minutes for the train to be in motion. We got home around 4PM and relaxed pretty much the rest of the night. Aaron and I made some Beef Stronganoff (It was so good!) and we were in bed by 10PM. I was pretty pooped from the previous day.

Yesterday was the usual. Andrea and I do yoga at our Aunt Diane's place at 10:30. After that, we come home and do our Sunday cleaning and chilled out until it was Oscar time. Diane invited us back over to her house to watch the Oscars. We had a great time as Aunt Di is probably one of the funniest people I know!

That pretty much sums up the weekend in a nutshell! Had a great time and I can't wait to do it again!!!

Happy VD......er, wait....

2009-02-14T12:12:00.001-06:00

Happy Valentines Day!

Blah!

2009-02-10T22:26:00.003-06:00

Here we go.

Aaron and I pick up Andrea from work today around 3:30. As we were going to go meet with the lawyer, Andrea starts a fire "somewhere" on her...she wasn't quite sure what happened...but it was pretty funny. " It's burning!!! It's HOT!! " I could not help but laugh. This is the second time she's burned herself in the car and had to pull over.

ANYHOODLE......

We go into The Center of Peace (in the GHETTO!). We sign up to meet with the lawyer, as it is a first come, first serve basis. We waited about an hour or so to talk to "him" (I forget his name...Actually, I don't think he really even said it.). We get in there and we are accompanied by two Law students from Marquette. After a couple questions, I explain my problem. The lawyer pompously says, " What you need to do is just have GMAC sign the back of your title to transfer it over to you. ".......FOR.EFFING.REAL!?!?! That is ALL I need to do?

So I've spent the better part of a year trying to register my plates....sending papers in, calling everyone I can think of, when all I needed was to have them sign the back of the title transferring it to me? I feel ashamed, actually. But if this is all I needed to do, why did GMAC never....EVER...say anything about this? I am going to call them tomorrow to see if this is what they need. If it is, they are going to hear it from me. I have raised my voice to them in the past, and I will do it again.

Ok. Perhaps I didn't raise my voice. But I did have a customer service agent flat out lie to me and I called him on it. It was pretty victorious for me.

But, on a lighter note, I did get my rings back from Ultra today so I am currently wearing my wedding bands....tee-hee. I know I shouldn't wear them until "the day", but they're so pretty!! I have a lot of sparkles on my finger and I like it! (I sound like a child...."sparkles")

***And I just want to point out the main picture on my blog right now is how I feel towards GMAC right now. I will use that picture for motivation while calling them tomorrow.

Tomorrow

2009-02-09T23:25:00.002-06:00

Tomorrow is the big day. I am seeking out a lawyer. I cannot afford any more tickets. I keep on getting them and I'm done with it. Something needs to be done!!

I found a place where you can do a 30 minute consultation with a lawyer. Who knows what they'll say can be done....but atleast I will have an option. One place I talked to today said they needed $1,000 down and then its $100-200/hour after that. (WHAT!!!!!!??????) Where I would even come up with that money is beyond me ...but whatever. This consultation is free and I need some advice on what to do.

I talked to both the DMV and GMAC today. The DMV said that GMAC has MY car in their name and has to release the title back into my name. Great. I call GMAC to tell them that and Connie (I can give you her extension and phone number if you'd like) says, " Oh, I sent all this information to Barbara a couple of weeks ago and she was suppose to fix it for you. Did she not do that? " Umm....NO. How am I suppose to know that you did that? You don't tell me things like this. You don't even know how to say my name! Grr!!

I just don't think I should have to pay for all of the renewals that will need to be paid for. Something happened where they switched over the title to my car into their name when they weren't suppose to. I am paying on a car that isn't even in my name. Does that seem strange to anyone else?

Gah!!!!!!

Daily Dose of Yummy!

2009-02-06T08:10:00.003-06:00

Citizen Cope. Check out the music. It's pretty funky and fun. Definitely something I would want to have in my car on a trip.

But anyhoodle, this is the singer.
Yum.

sniffle

2009-02-03T10:40:00.002-06:00

The house is gone. Someone bought it. =( It was such a lovely house. I am very saddened by this. It went quickly, though. But still, I never got to say goodbye.

Dome

2009-02-01T10:45:00.003-06:00

What a fun weekend!! The past two days have been incredibly awesome! On Friday, Aaron and I were lazy butts in the morning. Just taking our time getting ready for the day. Aaron found an indoor driving range in Milwaukee, so we decided to go hit some golf balls. Man....I am STILL sore and its two days later!!! Aaron kicked butt, as always. I am still in the learning phase. I need to stop standing up when I come back around and perhaps then I will be able to hit the ball. Hahaha!

After golfing, Aaron and I met Beaky at the Deuce Tree. We wanted to go out downtown so I had Beaky park at the Deuce (free) and we cabbed it downtown. We just ended up going to Mcgillicuddy's since Beaky has never gone out downtown Milwaukee before. Sat there and chit chatted before going to Qdoba for some grub. Mmmmm.....I love their Chicken Queso Naked Burrito. *drools* After the Doba, we drove home.

Saturday we slept until 10:30 and were almost immediately in the shower getting ready to meet Nick and Ana out at the Waterfront Bar here in Pewaukee. Aaron and I got there first and when we walked into the bar, it was packed. It was packed with Ice Fishermen. They were having a raffle in the bar.....of meat. You should have seen the pork loins that they were holding up. They were HUGE! 36inches long......10inches thick!! It was hilarious, actually. The announcer dude was the best....I think he came from the most Northern part in Wisconsin. His accent was straight out of a movie. Made us laugh every time he said "tick-et"!

We left the bar and went to Nick and Ana's house. We played some Wii there. Apparently Mario cart is very hard with the Wii. They have all the little toys that go with it, so I was able to use a steering wheel but that didn't help. Aaron and Nick played Tiger Woods and, not surprised, Aaron got a hole in one!!

They have a dog, too. Her name is Brandi. Such a cute cute cute golden retriever!! But wow, does she think she is smaller than she really is. She was up in our laps, tag wagging in our faces! Super cute. It still grosses me out when dogs hand you a ball that they have been slobbering on for the past 30 minutes. Perhaps when we get our own dog, I won't mind so much. Maybe its like kids in that sense. I'm sure I won't think my child's poop is gold....but I doubt I will be grossed out too much by it.

I was super hungry so we decided to go to The Waterstreet Brewery in Delafield. We get there (not before I spray perfume in my right eye. Oi.) and there is a 35 minute wait. D'oh! But, about 3 minutes later our little buzzer goes off and we were seated. Now, it did take the waiter about 10 minutes to get to our table (I think he was new?), but I was SO.GLAD. we didn't have to wait longer.

We finished up our food, had some good conversation, and went home. I was so tired from the past two days that I think I fell asleep on the couch at 10PM. I couldn't keep my eyes open. I just don't have it in me to drink two days in a rowe. (Get it? Rowe?)

So that brings me to present time. Its 11:05am on Sunday....Superbowl Sunday! I'm not that excited, actually. We may or may not watch the game. I think I'm more into watching the commercials than anything. =) Hopefully it will be a good game, though. Its always great to watch good football!

Well, that's it for now. Going to run to the grocery store here and get a couple things for the week ahead. Hope everyone is well!

Lazy weekend

2009-01-25T19:13:00.004-06:00

What a lazy weekend!!!!

I have done nothing. Well, we did go do our tasting for the wedding...but that was an hour long. Then to go fill up time, the two A's and I went to Target to register. Let me tell you, its SUPER hard to register for gifts. It seems so.......greedy. If my sister hadn't been there, I don't think Aaron and I would have registered for more than 10things. We were very shy about asking for something that was over $50!! I smell greedy. She was SUPER helpful in givings us ideas as to what to register for. I wish my A and I could register for a house. Wouldn't that be cool?

"Um, yeah, we went ahead and got you a house for your wedding. I hope you don't mind? " (notice the link. SUPER cute house. We love it. Overpriced? No....not for this area. Its way super expensive down here. Oi.)

Today the Sister and I did Yoga with our Aunt Di. That was super fun and I know I'm going to be hurtin' tomorrow. Of course, I had to buy some Yoga pants today to be completely Yogafied. Its so relaxing and quite honestly, I didn't know my muscles needed that much stretching. WOW my hamstrings are TIGHT! I highly suggest Yoga to anyone!!

Other than that, things are chugging right along. Diet is going extremely well. I've lost 10lbs since the beginning of the month! Wedding planning is moving along. It seems SO far away, but in actual reality, it's literally right around the corner. I cannot wait! I just hope everyone has a kick-ass time!

Oh, that brings me to an open wound. So, Aaron and I really want to have some beverages hosted by us for the wedding. Kathie, for some reason, is completely against it. She is VERY palpable about not having anything hosted. She thinks it will be a rerun of Kara's wedding (which I can say that we all had a KICK ASS time! Sure, most of us had too much to drink, but it was super fun!) And coming from an ex alcoholic, you would think she would understand.Its been weighing so heavily on my mind. I don't want her to "leave" (because she said she would if people get drunk), but its also our wedding. We want to do this for our friends/family. But, I think Aaron and I are going to somehow pick up that tab....somehow...someway. Lottery tickets, prostitution, whatever!

Well, that will end my blogging for this fine, cold evening. Hope everyone has a great week!

Aw.

2009-01-21T11:01:00.002-06:00

I can't help but get all emotional watching Barack and Michelle with their litttle family!!!! From swearing in to their first dance....I just kind of want to cry for them.

I wonder if they just cry and shout out, " Look what we did!! We did it!! "

G-MAC

2009-01-17T19:40:00.004-06:00

Its been a year. A YEAR! I've been trying to register the plates on my car for a year now with no success. There was a circumstance well over a year now that has since been cleared up . . . but I cannot register my plates. I've been pulled over twice (It should be more than that, though.) and I actually went to court for it to plea my case in September. It went something like this:

Judge: Non registration of auto?
Me: Yes. Its not for lack of trying. Its on GMAC's end.
Judge: Can you get it fixed in 60 days?
Me: Hopefully.
Judge then gets rid of the ticket. Phew.

But I get pulled over again. Same problem. Cops come up to me rudely at first (as the probably should). " Do you know your plates aren't registered to your car? " YES! YES I DO! HELP!!! I don't understand why I can't register my plates. I can not call GMAC without wanting to strangle them. Conversations normally go as follows:

Me: I want to register my car. You guys are on the title of my car and I can't get you off of it.
GMAC: You have to pay off your car so you can register it and get your name as the owner.
Me: No, I do not. 99% of the population do not pay off their car's to renew their plates.
GMAC: But you want your name as the owner on the title.
Me: I just want my name on there period!! My name is nowhere on my Title.
GMAC: I will send you a sheet that gives you permission to register the car in your name.
Me: That does not help. My name is nowhere on the title, therefore making impossible to register it to me.

It then goes into, " Its your DMV that's not letting you then. " So I go to the DMV and they say its GMAC that isn't letting me. Its a HUGE mess and I'm thinking about getting a lawyer involved. Now that I am OVER a year unregistered on my car and that's, I'm sure, some hefty late fees. Something went wrong and its not my fault. I just want to register my car so I can drive on the road without dodging cops.....which I'm getting really good at. I've gone into some pretty strange neighborhoods to avoid a cop. le sigh.

I'm sick of dealing with GMAC and this stupid situation.

The one

2009-01-11T20:54:00.003-06:00

I did it!! I found it!!!

On Saturday, Andrea and I met with Beaky so that she could look at the bridesmaid dress which looked awesome on Beaky. While we were there, I also tried on some dresses. . . . . just to see. I picked out a few from the book and Linda (who I will name my first child after) was gathering them for me while Andrea and Beaky helped me put them on. The ones I picked out only looked "ok" on me so Linda started gathering dresses that fit what I had been trying on. She brings this dress in and looking at it on the hanger, it wasn't going to be one that I would like. She then laced me up in it and BAM! There it is!!! Tears were falling everywhere!!

Linda then comes in with some veils and I try those on.....they don't go with the dress. She has this flower in her hand to put in my hair and Beaky and I said out loud, " Oh, I don't think a flower in my hair will look good at all with this dress. " I proceed to put it on ......BAM!!!!! There it is AGAIN!!! So I then start thinking, " Oh no...this is the dress I want ...its going to cost big scrilla. " I look at the price tag and it reads $765. I start getting bummed out thinking of how I can come up with the cash to get this dress. Linda then comes in and says, " I think this dress is actually 50% off." So thanks to Linda, (Kays Bridal on 72nd and North in Milwaukee, WI) I found my dress and head piece and ANOTHER incredible cost!!! I couldn't be happier with my dress!!! Finally!!!

I'm uber excited!!

A tree.

2009-01-08T12:50:00.000-06:00

Ima-gunna say it. I don't like my dress. I liked the way it fit, but I don't like the actual dress itself. It was for an awesome deal (Seriously. Marked from $675 down to $175). But I think I was just trying to please others when getting it. Like I said before, it fit awesomely . . . but that's about as far as it goes with that dress. I'm constantly daydreaming of a new dress. Perhaps I am more into the dress than I once thought.

I cannot afford a new dress, though. I will try to sell my dress on Craigslist . . . but that is no guarantee. I am so upset at myself for letting me get into this. Now I don't have a budget for a new dress and I could very well be stuck with a wedding dress that has a tree on it. Yes, a tree!

Here's hoping for a miracle.

A daily dose of yummy!

2009-01-08T11:09:00.002-06:00

My new boyfriend. He just happens to be the lead singer to Incubus. His name is Brandon. Brandon Boyd.

Pandora

2009-01-06T12:11:00.002-06:00

Oh, and I created a John Mayer station today on Pandora. LOVES IT!!! I haven't had to skip a song yet. It's filled with Dave Matthews Band, Coldplay, Jason Mraz, and of course, John Mayer. Its the most fantastic station!!!!

A Challenge

2009-01-06T11:33:00.002-06:00

I started a Weightloss Challenge with my family yesterday. It goes for 8 weeks and whoever has the biggest percentage of weight loss, will get a grand prize of over $500. It was $40 to start and there are over 15 people involved now. I am so excited. This is exactly what I needed right now! (Plus, $500 can go a long way for the wedding!)

I hope to become one with running. I don't mind running ...but I don't crave it. I want to crave running. You always hear about this "high" that runners get. I want to know that feeling. (And not the, " Oh My God...I can't breathe!! " feeling.) I also really like Yoga. Andrea has started doing Yoga and it just seems peaceful and centering!

Now I just have to get back on Mona-Vie for joints. Whenever I start working out I tend to get knee pain and knee grinding. For about 2 years now my knees have been bothering me quite a bit. I was a bit hesitant to start doing Mona-Vie but since taking it, I don't have to walk slowly to the bathroom every morning (seriously...how old am I?) Plus it just gives me energy and its a fantastic mood lifter!!!

So here I am .....hoping that everyone involved will have a fantastic journey to where they want to be ...but most importantly, hoping that I win. Hahaha!

Wow

2009-01-04T11:54:00.002-06:00

Christmas has come and gone. New Years has come and gone. It felt like the shortest Holiday Season ever. Time has a way of flying by when you don't exactly want it to.

So I am not going to do a recap of my boring Holiday season . . . I'm sure nobody wants to hear about what I got for Christmas (Do people, outside of grade schoolers, still anxiously ask what you got for Christmas?? Can't people be more excited about what they gave to others? I think so.) So I am going to do my New Years Resolution now.

As I searched "New Years Resolution" on Google, I came across a site that listed the Top 10 New Years Resolutions. I am going to list them here:

1. Spend More Time with Family and Friends
2. Fit in Fitness
3. Tame the Bulge
4. Quit Smoking
5. Enjoy Life More
6. Quit Drinking
7. Get out of Debt
8. Learn Something New
9. Help Others
10. Get Organized

I am going to agree with it all. But I am going to add a number on there.

11. All of the above

Even if I do just a bit of all of the resolutions, I'd feel much better about myself. If I upped my fitness routine from 0 to 2, that would be substantially better. If I payed an extra $5 on a bill, that is better than the current. So while I may not master all of them, I am going to tackle each one of them in some way.

Happy New Year!!

4th Annual Friendsgiving weekend

2008-11-17T11:53:00.005-06:00

I just want to extend a big THANK YOU for everyone who attended our party this weekend!! It was SUCH a good time and it was awesome seeing everyone! It was our best party yet and we can't wait for next year!!!

That out of the way, I will start a recap.

Friday was a fun day. Andrea called into work that day so we could really get things situated around the apartment and such. We started the day off by running to the bank and getting her car registered. (She, too, had an expired tag. Luckily for her, she was able to just pay and be on her way. Not so easy for me.) Anyhoodle, as we were going to pick up lunch, we saw our Aunt Diane. She just happened to be in the area so we invited her over to our apartment. She stayed for about an hour and a half and it was just really nice to see her. She's so fun its great having her around!!

After Aunt Di left, we prepared ourselves for the invitation lady to come. We had met her at the Bridal Expo show last weekend and said she would come out to my apartment and go over invitations with us. What an awesome time that was. She had so many to pick from!! She was able to help us with color combinations and cut of the invitation. I really hope she comes back with a great quote on them. I should hear back from her this week! *crosses fingers*

Later that night, Andrea and I decided to run some more errands. We ended up going to Home Depot, Wal-Mart, and Kohl's. (At Kohl's she had a 15% off coupon). While at Kohl's, we ended up finding wedding jewelry for an incredible price!!! Walked out of there feeling on top of the world!!

We settled back in at home and waited for Mikey and Per to arrive. They arrived pretty late ...and with Mishka in hand. Mishka is the tiniest little dog ever. It was SO SO SO cute. Makes me want a dog!!! Anyhoodle....we settled them in, played some cribbage, drank some wine, and it was time for bed.

Now onto Saturday. Saturday was such a fab day. Kathie was cooking the turkey in three different places!!! She had it down, though. We would see her every hour while tending to the turkeys. While she was doing that, we were greeting guests that had arrived earlier (Lori, Tim, Becky, Ryan) and were hanging out with them. There was laughter all over the place (Earmuffs, Lori) as well as a lot of cooking. Perhaps my green bean casserole wasn't as time consuming as the potatoes Andrea was doing.....but I'm sure Andrea wouldn't want it any different. She's the queen at potatoes and thankfully, we had enough this year.

We headed over to the party room shortly before 4PM to greet guests as they came. No one really showed up until 5:15"ish" which was fine by me. We stood around talking, drinking, and taking down most of the appetizers!!

After a comical run to CVS made by Lori, Kary and myself, the party was underway. The food was SO GOOD and we didn't run out of anything. We had just enough food for everyone and even had an extra turkey. Who woulda thunk? But I am just super glad everyone had a great time and left full!!!!

After the party, a bunch of us went out to the local watering hole in Pewaukee. We met Nick (co-worker) and his girlfriend Anna out. We had so much fun there. We played, probably, the longest game of darts in history of the game. Ah, oh well. It was tons of fun!

After bar time we then headed to Nick and Anna's house for an after bar. It was tons of fun over there playing with their dog, Brandi ....but Per wasn't feeling to well. So we all stayed for about a drinks worth of time, and headed home where we all pretty much passed out right away.

Sunday was breakfast at the Deuce Tree. Lots of laughs, again. Oh, and I just want to point out something HILARIOUS that happened. Kathie, my aunt, was handing our waiter (or so she thought) her bill. Turns out it was Ron, the busser. All of a sudden, out of nowhere, Ron queened out.

"Oh, nuh-uh...I aint no waiter. You can just, uh, go ahead and, uh, give it to that guy right up there, ok?? "

I remember looking around the table thinking, " Does anyone else think this is funny? "

After saying our goodbyes to everyone, the weekend was STILL not over. It was time for Bridesmaid shopping. We headed over to David's Bridal and met Becky, Aunt Kathie, and Aunt Diane there. What a fun group....to be at such a crappy place. David's Bridal is in the middle of construction and it was MAD chaos in there. Apparently everyone and their dog wanted to go dress shopping that day. Not to mention the ladies there were kind of rude. Needless to say, I didn't want to be there. But, we did find *one* dress that was "ok".

From there we went to the mall to try Boston Store and JCP. Nothing too great was found. By this time I was pretty tired and just wanted to go home and take a nap. But after leaving there, we went to Applebee's for dinner. Kathie wanted to treat us to dinner, so who could say no to that? Not I.......not I.

Anyhoodle.....we came home and we all pretty much passed out. I think I was in bed by 9:30 that night!! It was an incredibly long weekend ...but I had SO.MUCH.FUN and would do it again in a minute!! I wish I could see all those people every weekend. *insert frowning face here*

Phew. Ok, that is a long enough post and I am sick of typing.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!!!

Loves!!

P.S.

2008-11-11T01:47:00.003-06:00

I really still do love David Gray. Whenever I hear certain songs off of his album White Ladder, I takes be make to my first year of college and oddly enough, Lori and her ex-boyfriend to be exact. (If you could clear that up why I think of you and Kaz...that would be great.) But everything was so new then. Carefree and fab.

Wishful thinking

2008-11-11T01:10:00.004-06:00

I wish that smoking was illegal. I wish that somehow it really hit home what it does to me. Perhaps if my parents had died of lung cancer, I would feel a lot differently towards smoking. My Daddio died of skin cancer and I haven't seen the sun in over four years. Why can't I do that with smoking? Why can't I see what it does?

I remember when I really started smoking. It was College. Jamie Bauer and I would just sit outside our dorm room and smoke. It was social then. I made so many friends that year, most likely, through smoking. The second day I was at college I went outside to smoke (a pack that was probably half done from the entire summer itself) and I had lots of students (ok, ok...they were male) come up to me and introduce themselves. Perhaps I didn't realize the correlation between the two until now....but it really helped me meet people.

I am at the age now where I don't meet as many people. Friends are set in stone. The chances of meeting someone while out smoking has diminished dramatically. Smoking is becoming more and more of a habit and not as seen as something "cool". And as I'm older, I am thinking more and more about health issues. I want to be a runner. I want to be in the best shape of my life. But smoking does not fit into those categories. At.all.

Both my parents were smokers at one point. I only remember my Dad smoking and it was while we were in Kinderseley. He was sitting at the kitchen table with his leg crossed and smoking. But that's it. I don't ever recall any other time. Apparently my Mom (who was, in her prime, quite motivated and a fantastic runner), had quit cold turkey without telling my Dad. I remember him saying he was upset that she didn't tell him. But, that made him quit, too. My Mom and Dad were quite active and here I am...smoking. Its almost the least I can for them.

Openly smoking in front of my parents was really never an option. My sister and I may have "stepped outside", but never while we were visible to them. They knew.....we knew they knew....but nothing was really ever said about it. But honestly, we were of age, what could they do but say, " That's bad. " I just remember the only we had a conversation about it was when I was home from college and I hadn't smoked a cigarette all day and I told my Dad that and he looked so happy. That was probably the first time that we both acknowledged out loud what I do. (.....I left that night to go back to LaCrosse and smoked a bunch to "make-up" for what I didn't smoke that day.)

I suppose I need to treat this like it's an addiction. Because it is. At the moment, its a drug to me. I need to treat it like one. I want to be healthy so that one day, when I do decide to have a baby, my body is a healthy home for it.

Oi. I know its just a matter of making a decision to quit but it feels soooooo much deeper than that. As I'm sure it is, I want to somehow find the strengh the beat it.

Here's hoping.

Obama, YAY!

2008-11-05T01:25:00.003-06:00

I just want to say that I am very proud to be an American right now. I think America did the right thing. We needed change and I believe we will get it. Such a great time in history and I'm glad to be alive for this!

Secondly, but not most importantly, I want to make a soundtrack to a movie. I have so many songs swirling around in my head that I want to put to a story!!!

Like this song.

le sigh.

*****Why do people put good songs to weird Anime movies? I just don't get it. Shield your eyes while listening.

HB, A

2008-10-31T10:47:00.003-05:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AARON!

And as Aaron texted me today," Happy Hollowedo! " to everyone!

Oh and...

2008-10-30T01:53:00.002-05:00

I cannot help but just browse the internet and add things to my Amazon.com Wishlist. Its addicting. I think its mainly books....but I want them all! (and a photographer....is that too much to ask? Me thinks so.)

4 years. WOW.

2008-10-29T23:43:00.004-05:00

The day is 17 minutes away from ending. It was a good day. I wasn't too sullen and the thought of him wasn't constantly on my mind. It feels good that I wasn't weepy and disgustingly crying all over myself with snot bubbles forming at the nose. Yay for small victories!

If you have sound (or, I guess, are able to listen while reading) click here. Its kind of my song for the moment and I bet my Daddio would like this.

Oh, ok....one "wah" moment: I wish I could sit and talk music with my Dad. I wish I could call him up and say, " I heard this really great song! " or " Play this for Pep band! "

But that is all.

Everyone else is sick...

2008-10-23T12:42:00.002-05:00

....and now I am sick. Not the best timing in the world, but then again, when is it? I don't suppose people walk around thinking, " Man....this week would be fab to get a nasty cold! "

Anyhoodle, not a lot has been going on. Lots of things coming up, though. Sometime between now and Saturday I have to come up with a costume. Every year at the Deuce we host a BIG Gay Halloween Bash. I didn't work it last year (bummer!) so I am made sure I am this year. 'a lot of money for 5 hours of working and I can only imagine that its going to be one-hell-of-a-good time!

Tomorrow night Andrea and I are (assuming I feel up to it) going to Chicago for a wedding. A friend of mine from Blue Stars is getting married. My head is swirling with weddings and babies lately!! I just can't keep up anymore! I know 4 or 5 people who are due between March and April...and one of them is having twins! Weddings and babies and TWINS....OH MY!!

Anyway...got off track there. Andrea and I were going to stay in Chicago tomorrow night, but I have to get home and get ready for the Halloween bash and the train schedules wouldn't have worked out in our favor. Too many hoping from one train to another.

But, I guess that's all that is really new with me. Busy weekend ahead ....and I just hope this cold goes away before I have to serve drinks with drops of snot in them. I guess that kind of goes along with scary, gross Halloween, eh?

Back to normal

2008-10-08T09:53:00.002-05:00

Phew. Now that's a long time in between posts!!

Let's see...where to start. Well, Andrea moved in with Aaron and I. Aaron and I were just going to get a one bedroom place, but for whatever reason, we all decided it would be cheaper in the long run to all live together.

Its been a long process of moving. Aaron and I got pretty much all of our stuff over two weeks ago (living at my Aunt Kathie's was a headache and a half. We wanted out of there ASAP so we decided to move in a week early and just pay the pro rated rent amount) I guess it was kind of nice to have some time to move in. There was no hurry involved in any of the moving. There were some hiccups along the way (no truck to move!), but we managed. The thing I like most about my family (Andrea and Aaron...haha), is that it takes a lot to shake us up. The fact that we didn't have a truck would have flipped someone else out, but we shrug it off and make due with what we have. I like that.

Anyhoodle, the only thing that I was worried about with Andrea moving in was her cats. I guess I wasn't worried so much about her cats, but my cat getting along with her cats. But Stewie has been great! She normally hisses and attacks all cats but hasn't done that yet. Well, there has been some hissing, but nothing major. Stewie actually plays with Andrea's kittens! Joy!

Wedding planning has been put on hold for the past month or so. With moving and the stress of living at Kathie's and not having any place to put things I may have gotten for the wedding, it was just really difficult to focus on it. But I'm ready to get back on track. I will most likely have to pick up a second job just so I can afford a wedding. No matter how cheap I do the wedding, its still a big sore in my pocket book and its frustrating. Kathie is helping out with the wedding site, which is awesome, and Aaron's Mom and Dad are picking up some major things, too (DJ, Photography, Rehearsal dinner, and alcohol), but its seriously the little things that will add up to a lot. I've been trying to get things as we go along so its not as bad. But wow. And its not like I have a credit card that I can charge things to and I can worry about later. Aaron doesn't either. So its been a little rough. I like not having a credit card because I don't buy things I can't afford, but for this situation it would be nice. Real nice.

What else...Oh! Aaron's car got broken into Sunday night/Monday morning. They stole his GPS. The car next to him got broken into as well. He was pretty upset for a minute there ....but he is like me in that kind of situation. What can you do? Nothing. So you clean it up, fork over $200 to get it fixed, and move on.

Its going to be a busy month for us. This weekend we are out of town in Louisville, KY. The weekend after that we're in Chicago for a wedding, and the following weekend is Aaron's Birthday (the 31st!) and a Halloween party. Then we are just two weeks away from the Thanksgiving party!!!!! Lots to do. So little time!

Well, I should probably get to cleaning up a bit more. I will check y'all later!

MaMa Mia

2008-09-12T10:22:00.005-05:00

Happy Birthday, Mom!

She would have been 52 years old today. Wow. Can you believe it? Its ridiculous how fast time actually goes when you're not paying attention.

I have to pick up Andrea at the airport at 2PM today, but after that we are going to spend the day together. We may, or may not, make a cake today. We haven't really decided on what we are going to do to "celebrate". Perhaps it will just be a movie. Who knows!

So I got pulled over last night. Second time in two weeks. Reason: My plates. Apparently they aren't registered to me. (!?!?!??!) I've been trying to register my car for MONTHS now but never could. A lot of phone conversations like;

GMAC -"No....Wisconsin residents hold the Title on the car"
Me- " I understand that, but the DMV is saying I can't register because you are withholding the title! "
GMAC - "Ma'am, we don't hold the Title"
Me- " I KNOW! ITS IN MY HAND! "
GMAC - " The DMV is lying to you "
Me - " GAAAAAAH!!! "

After many, many, MANY phone conversations like that, I found out that they just needed a Death Certificate for my Mom.

That's it?

I now have over $400 in tickets over a simple Death Certificate. Luckily, both cops said I could probably fit it in court. So I have my first court date (ever!) on Wednesday.

Grr.

Anyhoodle, I should probably probably get going now. Lots to do today! (I like how I make it sound like I am going to get up, walk away from the computer, and carry on with my day. When in actual reality, I am going to continue to sit here at the computer until my butt goes numb. How ever long that takes.)

Just one of those days

2008-09-02T20:18:00.004-05:00

Seriously one of those days.

I was driving to work today on the interstate. I was just minding my business merging over to the far right lane (I am not the speediest of drivers..moving over to the far right lane is a common thing I do) and all of a sudden I hear shattering.

WHAT THE!?

I look over and my right side passenger window is shattered. I don't know how it happened! I freaked out and pulled over to a gas station and called Andrea. She came to help me clean it up and get it to a window place....but seriously. What happened!?!?!?!?!

It just seems that when things are going well for awhile, all must come to a vicious end. I know its the circle of life and we ALL have to go through ups and downs. I get it. But stuff like this I cannot afford. I'm broke. I'm moving soon into an apartment and need to save all my earnings (who says earnings?) and now I have to pay $200 to get my window fixed. What the?

Perhaps this just means some really great days will be approaching!!! =)

Interesting...

2008-08-22T13:54:00.002-05:00

Hrm. New updates to Blogger. Hrmmmmm.....

.....wOOt!

2008-08-15T03:03:00.002-05:00

I hope I am not hyping this weekend up too much, but I think its going to be a fun one!!!!

Mercy Street

2008-07-31T02:09:00.000-05:00

Its amazing. Its amazing that people take things for granted. Stupid little everyday things. I'm just as guilty of it as the next person. But I am wondering....can we not take things for granted? Can we simply look at a situation and just .....just know what it means?

I was just reminded of a CD. (The power of music, I tell ya'!!) It was around, if not, the summer of 2003. This is when I started REALLY REALLY getting into Peter Gabriel.I had just gotten a CD in the mail from sublicon. I couldn't wait to open it up and play it.
And I did.
With my Dad.
Him and I sat there and listened to that CD from start to finish. I remember him conducting with his foot. " Hey, Tianna...can you name this time signature? ". At the time, all of this was so normal. So everyday. I didn't think that maybe one day in the near future, this would just be a memory.

I haven't cried over my parents for awhile. I guess its overdue. I miss them terribly. I miss home. Home!

I can't help but feel wronged for what happened to us. I want to push blame onto someone else. But I can't. I want to scream to everyone that I miss my Mom and I miss my Dad!!! But I can't. All I am left with is a saying that has always been true to me, but I still don't fully understand: Everything happens for a reason.

So does that mean that I am taking for granted this entire situation? Perhaps.. Maybe I am forgetting that it is okay to sit at the computer at 2:00am, by myself, and just sob. Its ok to cry over losing my parents. Its ok to want to go home. Its just....ok.

Is that what I'm taking for granted right now?

Time for a crabby post

2008-07-28T22:55:00.004-05:00

-Please, PLEASE, do not snap your fingers at me when you want my attention.
-If the bar is busy and I am the only bartender, please don't sit there and give me an evil eye when I am helping others who just arrived and haven't had a drink yet (while you're on your 5th drink...yeah, we keep count)
-And, when I DO get to you, please have your order ready. Don't make me sit there while you think aloud, "Let's see...." and then sit there and ponder what drink you want to have. Its a full bar.
-If you buy a drink, or have a man buy a drink for you, its yours. Its no longer my responsibility. Don't get up and leave it there and expect me to REPLACE your drink because you left it there unattended for 10 minutes. You will be charged for another drink. You don't get "replacement" drinks. And when my manager comes over and speaks with you about this and you get mad and say, " What kind of customer service is this? She just stood there and smiled at me! "realize that I was trying to stop myself from reaching over the bar and pulling out your weave.
-If you ring up a 450 dollar bill, YES, I do expect a tip.
-If you buy a Grey Goose and Cranberry and it has just a little too much cranberry in it...its still yours. You don't get a REPLACEMENT drink because it has too much cranberry. Specify what you would like BEFORE its made.

Ok. Done......for now.

I'M IT!

2008-07-21T00:16:00.004-05:00

......and here we go.

Ten years ago:
Ten years ago, during this time, I was in drumcorps. It was one of the most horrible summers ever for the Blue Stars....but yet one of the most memorable. I remember the corps director being a complete dumb-dumb and there were times where our corps would literally be living off of PB&J! But, I do remember finals week that summer. It was 95+ degrees in Florida and we were staying at a motel that, I think, was shut down. I don't believe there was anyone else staying in that motel. But to be able to stay at a hotel while being in drumcorps...Wow. No gym floors!! There was drinking involved finals week (did I take part? No. I was SUCH a loser.) and things happening in hotel rooms that probably shouldn't have been. Ah. Debauchery.

Five things on my on-going to-do list:

1. Call around for DJs
2. Call around for Photographers
3. Laundry
4. Make a new CD
5. Look into flowers for wedding

A snack I enjoy:
What don't I enjoy? Ha. A snack I really enjoy would have to be ice cream. Or custard. (6 of one...half a dozen of the other)

Things I would do if I were a millionaire:
Pay off debt that I have, have a kick ass wedding, buy a house, donated my time or money to a charity (perhaps both because I won't be working!)

Places I have lived:

Kindersley, SK Canada
Edgerton, WI
Durand, WI
Eau Claire, WI
La Crosse, WI
Lake Delton, WI
Pewaukee, WI
St. Paul, MN (Ha. Does a week count?)
Waukesha, WI

I stopped here because I didn't know if I had to go on and create sub-bulletins?

Well, I thought I would post some on here tonight. Its been awhile.....again. Oi.

Still living in Pewaukee right now. We are trying to find a duplex to move into. Aaron's boss, Ben, is looking to buy a duplex and rent the other side out to us. So we are living at my Aunt's house right now (rent free). Its great that we don't have to pay rent, but its very stressful to live in a room the size of my previous bathroom.

Today was an awesome day! My Aunt Kathie had found an ad in the Waukesha Freeman about a Bridal Blow-Out Sale at a church in Menomonee Falls, so we decided to go. We first walked in and didn't see a whole lot there. But through digging through the handful that were actually there, we found three or four dresses that were beautiful. Tried on a couple....didn't fit. I had no idea they ran that small. (At least that's what I'm telling myself.) But.....I found one. It fits me perfectly and its exactly what I wanted. Its simple...but that's what I like about it. What made me like it even more was the price tag on it: $175. It was originally $675. I still can't believe it.

So, that was a great chunk of my day. Andrea, myself, Kathie, and Aaron went out to dinner tonight at Pedro's. I've been there before but still don't know if I like it. Its average, at best, and I always leave there feeling full. While that's not a bad thing, its now 12:43am and I STILL feel full. We ate at 6:30. Gross.

We did a lot of wedding and budget talk today. I am so grateful that I have Kathie here to kind of take place of Mom and Dad. Quite honestly, I don't know how else I would get married. I wonder if I can get a sponsor? Ha!

Anyway...its going to put a strain on all of our finances ......so I hope things don't get carried away. I suppose I can settle for golf carts bringing the wedding party in and not a helicopter.

Anyhoo...It's late and I should get to bed. Lots to do tomorrow, as you read above.

Hope all is well!

Rush that mountain!

2008-06-14T18:21:00.003-05:00

South Dakota! Center of the Univer....no, not its not.

Wow. I can't believe I'm in South Dakota! Aaron's Mom bought us all (Jared, myself, Aaron and herself) tickets out here to visit family (or my soon-to-be family). We left on Friday morning at 6:20am from Milwaukee. That was pretty darn eerily for us. I don't normally get up until 10am everyday. Oi. We stayed at the Best Western across from the airport so that we wouldn't have to travel a lot in the morning to get there...but we didn't even use the hotel room! We ended up in the bar that night and doing a late night run to Denny's at 2:30am. Didn't get done there until around 3:30 and our shuttle left at 4:00 ...so we just ended up chilling out in the lobby until the shuttle came.

We left MKE and flew into MPS around 8am. We had an hour lay over there. Just enough time to run across the airport to go smoke, grab something to drink, and pass out on our 9:20 flight to Rapid City, SD. We were so.exhausted.

We arrived and was greeted by Aaron's Grandma and Grandpa. From there we went to the mall area and had lunch at Olive Garden. I didn't go with what I normally get (Fettuccine Alfredo) and I got the Chicken Scampi. I must say.....that was delicious!!! I've never really gone out of my comfort zone at Olive Garden, but I'm very happy that I did!!!

From there, we then traveled about 40miles until we reached G&G's house. We ended up taking a 2 hour nap (MUCH.NEEDED). I got up, hopped into the shower and then we had Aaron's Dad Keith pick us up and he took us out to dinner. First time meeting his Dad! We've talked on the phone, but it was nice to actually meet my future Father In-Law BEFORE the wedding. We drank a couple of beers, he showed us around his new house...It was just a really nice evening! Ended up getting home around 11PM and going straight to bed!

We arose today around 9am. Had some doughnuts (YESSSSSSSSS!) and then got ready to go see Mt.Rushmore. We stopped in a city just below Mt. Rushmore called Keystone. It actually kind of reminded me of the Dells a little bit. Discount shops everywhere, jewelry, taffy, and most importantly....fudge. Come to think of it, it kind of felt more like Mackinac Island! Anyhoo, had lunch there and then it was up to see the faces! Spent about an hour up there taking pictures, learning a bit more about the construction on if it all. (really interesting!) and now that brings us back here to where we are just lounging and watching golf.

Tonight for dinner we're having Bunya Couda. I have never had it ...or heard of it before...but it sounds delicious! I know it has peppers in it, garlic, mushrooms, cabbage, and anchovies. The anchovies make me a bit nervous, but hopefully that won't throw me off too much!

We hope to go mini golfing tonight as it is absolutely gorgeous out! Its probably mid seventies out right now with the sun showing its face! (Which is nice considering we haven't seen the sun in so long!!) Oh, and most importantly, there is no humidity!!!

But, I should get going for now. I will update when I get back! Computer is finally fixed but haven't gotten Internet just yet. So, until I meet up with a computer again......

Peace.

Mmmmm...

2008-05-16T12:27:00.002-05:00

There it is: Joy.

I was reading Andrea's blog today and I saw that she has a doughnut once a year and I was thinking to myself, " Once a year, huh? That seems about right. " And why just once a year? Most likely because they are really bad for you. That's why I don't eat them. But where is that willpower coming from? Why can't I look at ice cream and say, " That's really bad for me....I think I'll wait for a special occasion to have that."

My Dad always said not to drink Mountain Dew. Too much sugar (I'm assuming) for a youngin'. So I just figured I wouldn't like it. To this day I think I don't like Mountain Dew just because he said.

So what's the difference? In the first instance, you have a willpower to only have a doughnut once a year. And in the second instance, you have the willpower to think you will not like something because someone said no. I know they are two very difference situations, but I really think they are not too far off from each other.

Can I be told not to like something? Was it a form of hypnosis? Did my Dad wave a pendulum infront of my face saying, " You will not like Mountain Dew "? Probably not. But why have I carried the tiniest bit of willpower when it comes to a Mountain Dew and a doughnut?

Who knows. But that does sound like a breakfast of champions!

Its true!

2008-05-14T13:14:00.003-05:00

It's true. I am engaged!!!!! Sorry for the delay in postings. I seem to say this every time, and every time I mean it ....but I just wish we could get the computer fixed!! ( I tend to start going into rages about not having a computer! So I will stop that now)

*deep breath*

Ok. So yes. I am engaged. (Oh my!) It happened May 3rd while I was getting ready to go out for my birthday. I thought it was a joke so I just kept asking him if this was for real. Turns out, yes. Yes it was for real. I just got the ring back yesterday from getting it sized. It was way small for my sausage like fingers. (I hate myself a little bit).

Things with the wedding plans are going ok. We don't have a location yet, but we have a LOT of things figured out. We want the wedding to be May 22, 2009 (Friday). We want it outside, possibly on a lake, and under a tent. Not a 6 person tent....a 200 person tent. That is seemingly to be the most difficult part of the wedding planning. As it turns out, most people don't want to rent out their home to 200 strangers. Who woulda thunk?

I guess that is all for now. I will try to update more. Its seriously difficult to drive 15 min everyday to e-mail someone or check the weather online. (No cable at home). *getting worked up again* Grrr!!!!!

Ok, I'm out.

Preparing

2008-04-30T13:12:00.003-05:00

Lori is coming into town this weekend!!!!!!

Water that street

2008-04-05T21:19:00.003-05:00

What a GORGEOUS day it was!!!! Today is the first day I'm wearing flip flops! WOOOOOT!!!!

Tonight we are going out downtown for Beaky's birthday! I haven't been on Water street in....well, I don't know. I'm not quite sure what bars are on Water St (I have a feeling the last time I was there was with Lori). I'm looking forward to it as I am rarely ever going out downtown. Well, rarely ever going out period.

Tonight at work was a dud. I wouldn't have made any money but one of the bartenders came in tonight with a bachelor party. They ended up tipping me really well and I walked out of there with some serious scrilla!

Anyhoo, I know its not much of a post .... but atleast its something. I will probably update with pictures and a blog tomorrow. Hope everyone enjoyed the BEA-UTIFUL weater!!!!

Monday, rainy Monday

2008-03-31T16:47:00.002-05:00

Word.

Sorry for the delays in posts! Not that there are too many people out there that read this (2 at most?). But anyhoo.....

Not a whole lot is new with me. (I say that all the time and the minute I walk away from the computer, I think of things to update on.) But, Beaky is all moved out of the apartment. She picked up all the rest of her stuff yesterday with movers. So the apartment just seems super empty!! Most noticeably is the lack of furniture we have in the apartment now. We did, though, go grab Andrea's over sized love seat and bring it over so its not so empty in the living room.

Still having reoccurring dreams about planes crashing. They are getting more frequent. Its to the point that actually IN my dream I see a plane and say, " Oh, no. Not again. " And then BAM!!! It crashes. I can't seem to find anything on the internet about what that means ....so if anyone finds anything let me know!

So, um, that's about it for now. I seem to try to update my blog when everyone wants to talk to me. Grr. (still trying to save up $$ to get the computer fixed...but I am still supporting two people (I literally want to scream thinking about that)).

Quickly now....

2008-03-05T14:08:00.003-06:00

Shot out to my homie, Lori, for always making it a blast hanging out! Had an AWESOME time this weekend (from what I remember of the evening). Just a quick reminder for you kiddies out there: You DON'T need to catch up to someone who has been out for awhile. Your toilet will not appreciate it. Oi.

Over at Andrea's quickly checking my stuff online. Computer still not working and no funds to do so. I'm pretty much supporting two people right now and I am almost at the end of my rope with that situation. I finally got myself into a situation where I had money and now it just seems to slowly be disappearing. le sigh.

Anyhoo, I have to get ready for work right now and try to tear away a kitten from my book bag. (read: Cheddar digging in it).

So love, peace and afro grease.

Lo siento.

2008-02-09T12:21:00.000-06:00

Oi. I haven't posted in awhile since my computer is, well, not working. And I actually don't have time to post now. Double oi. But, I am going to be going to Best Buy tomorrowto get it looked at so hopefully I will be up and running again shortly!

YAY: Lori is back in the Midwest.
YAY: Diet is going well.
YAY: Andrea has the cutiest kittens in the world.
NAY: Its going to be cooooooooooooold outside tonight.

I want it all....

2008-01-23T12:40:00.000-06:00

List of things I have a huge distaste for at the moment:

1. Lump on breast that is turning black.

2. Waking up with my joints terribly sore (Knees, elbows, shoulders)

3. The drive to get fit

4. Lack of groceries in my apartment

5. The fact that whenever I turn on the computer at home, 5 minutes later it turns to a blue "error" screen.

6. Andrea being sick with MRSA still? Its deadly...lets get our act together, doctors!!!!!

7. Grinding teeth at night

8. The fact that as singles we get an extra $800 from taxes, but won't see that until May or June. Oh, and its costing the tax payers 40 million dollars to send that money out. Yay to more money in my pocket now (read: June)....Booooo to it costing 40 million dollars.

That is all.

....be gone!

2008-01-14T10:00:00.000-06:00

I am frustrated. Frustrated that stress happens. Holidays happen. LIFE happens. But more than anything, I am super frustrated that I happen.. I am frustrated in the fact that I can't seem to get a grip on this whole, " Be healthy! " phase I *want* to go through. I am constantly justifying everything in my head as I'm eating something bad. (Oh, Tianna...you can eat that. You haven't had pasta in 2 days!! People will like you fat or skinny)

While I know that's true, that doesn't help me when I've got a plate of pasta in front of me. I can't keep on telling myself that its ok to have pasta "just this once" "Its ok if I've over stuffed myself..."So needless to say, I'm fed up with myself.

The past few days I've been looking into NutriSystem. While I know it costs about $300 a month, I think that's pretty reasonable. I don't grocery shop, which forces me to grab a "quick" bite somewhere else, which adds up to probably be about the same. So I'm looking to start that up pretty soon here as summer is pretty much just around the corner!!!! No more sweatshirts in 90 degree weather!!

A couple of other things that are frustrating me lately: The lack of sound going in my right ear. For about 5 days now, my right ear has been "plugged". It feels like I have water in it but I can't seem to get anything out. I got some ear ache drops last night at Target, but that hasn't done anything to my ear yet. I wish I had health insurance for times like this. What if its an ear infection and it just gets worse and worse and worse?

Another health insurance issue: I have a lump on the side of my right breast. Its been there for about 2 1/2 months now. I'm not too worried that its anything serious because when it gets real big, I can generally squeeze stuff out of it.....But whatever it is, I want it gone. Like, 2 1/2 months ago.

And not to mention the pelvic pains I get. Not to gross out any guys that may stumble across this blog, but in 2007, I got my period a total of 3 times. February, August, and December. I must admit though, it has been nice not getting it.

Perhaps everything physically wrong with me all steams down to this: Eating right. Getting physical. Drinking more water. If that's true, I'm game. I'll get the NutriSystem and I'll get on the treadmill!!! But please let everything work out for the better!!!

Yellow Tail

2008-01-09T12:24:00.000-06:00

It's been too long since my last post. I need to get better at updating this. If I expect a new blog all the time from others, I have to do it as well. le sigh.

Things around here are actually pretty boring as of late. I am down to one job at the DeuceTree. National Premium was just a temporary job and that ended before Christmas. So now I have a lot of extra time on my hands and I don't know what to do. For the longest time I thought that's what I wanted, but as it turns out, I'm just really bored now. So I think I'll have to look for another part time job in the mornings. I kind of like the idea of "shopping" for a part time job. I get to pick where I want a discount (Do I want to work at QDoba? Music Store? Spa?) So that aspect is kind of fun!! I went through a temp agency last time, and I've notified them that I want another part time job, but all they keep on finding me are full time jobs! Argh!

But other than that, I'm serious when I say that nothing is really happening. Beaky is, I think, thinking about moving out. She would still be paying rent here, but she's always over at Ryan's (her boyfriends)....I was about to say that her moving out would change a lot around here, but it wouldn't. We barely see her anyway! Haha. I haven't talked to her in awhile....Perhaps I should do that, eh?

Well, that's going to be it for now. I really don't know how to stress it enough that my life is extremely boring so there isn't much to talk about!

Oh. I keep on having Drumcorps/High School dreams lately. It's really strange. Hrmm...

Anyhoo,

Love, Peace and Afro Grease!

Can't get enough of him!!

2007-12-31T09:16:00.001-06:00

New Phone

2007-12-29T20:55:00.000-06:00

And it's super cool!

sipping coffee

2007-12-29T09:59:00.000-06:00

What can I say? Christmas has already come and gone. I just can't believe it. I hate how fast time is going by!!!

Christmas this year seemed to be a lot more relaxing than past years. Perhaps it was the confidence I had in my gifts to others ....or just the time off from work. Whatever it was, I want to repeat that every year from now on.

Our Christmas adventures got cut short on the 23rd. We were set to go to our Third Annual KK (Kuzin Konnection) Christmas party, but the weather was not permitting. We saw too many people in the ditch! It was way too snowy and icy! We ended up turning around, stopping at Champs for dinner, and heading to Kathie's to play some Cribbage (LOVE IT!) and Poker.

Christmas Eve went off without a hitch! I woke up that morning and sang Happy Birthday to my Dad. He would have been 51 years old. 51!!! Crazy to think that. But Aaron and I had some last minute things to do before we headed over to Kathie's. We needed bruschetta for dinner so we decided to go to The Fresh Market. I loved every minute I was in there. I had gotten a $25 gift card to there from National Premium as a Christmas Gift. I find it a lot harder to pick out things when you are using a gift card. I never know what to get. Luckily we went in there with an idea of what we wanted to get, so it wasn't as hard.

We eventually ended up at Kathie's around 2:30PM. Just in time for some Cribbage!! Played several games of Cribbage and then it was time for dinner. Dinner consisted of Calzones (make your own) and salad. Doesn't sound like much, but the calzones always end up to be 75% of your plate. I don't believe anyone finished their Calzone!!

After that it was present opening time. Always fun. I hope everyone enjoyed what I got them!!

The next day, obviously, was Christmas Day. It was a lazy morning....until we realized we had to put the pedal to the metal so we could make it downtown in time!!! Its our new tradition where we go and volunteer at the Midwest Express Center for the Salvation Army. We serve dinner, hand out milk, clean up plates....its all really fun and I look forward to it every year!! But after that, we came back to Kathie's, played some Cribbage, and then had some dinner! Mmm....Fetticuine Alfredo. *drool*

Well, that's about all she wrote for today. I didn't plan on going into so much detail about everything, but there you have it. Nothing too exciting ever really happens anyway! Haha!!

PS. Am starting to really like coffee now. Ack!!

A-hahahahaha!

2007-12-21T13:47:00.000-06:00

Ok, ok. I finally found a silly picture of Andrea to "Elf". Here is the final product.

I know, I know

2007-12-20T15:06:00.000-06:00

I know we've seen this site around for awhile ....but its still funny, I think.

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1621412335

Just a dose of yummy!

2007-12-14T12:18:00.000-06:00

Quick post

2007-12-12T21:24:00.000-06:00

I thought I would just give a quick post!!

Not much new is going on here. Holiday season is here! That always brings a smile to my face. I love this time of year because people are just generally happier. Granted, this is the LONGEST holiday of them all ....but its also the most joyous.

I've managed to get some of Holiday shopping done already. I, at least, know what I am getting people for Christmas this year. Now I just have to go out and get it. There could be a few hiccups along the way in getting them (finding time), but should be pretty quick and painless.

I haven't worked very much in the past week at DeuceTree. One of the bartenders, Corey, had injured his knee about two weeks ago so he's been out for a good chunk of time. Which is bad for Corey, good for the other bartenders. I had found myself picking up extra shifts since he was out. But I think he's back and ready to serve (and needing hours) so that may explain the gap of work there.

I know I seem to only write about work lately, but that's all I really seem to do. BUT......that also gave me Employee of the Week at the DeuceTree!! Woot! (Woot is now in the dictionary....look it up!) We also had an inspection last week (I spent a lot of hours cleaning the bar for it) and the bar got a 100%....which has never happened. So I feel good about that right now.

But most importantly, and most exciting, is something that just happened within the past couple of days. I got contacted by a woman named Andrea for something amazing. I don't know a whole lot about what is going to happen or what exactly my role (or what I can do for this cause) will be ...but its for Animal Nation. Its a non-profit organization for animals who have been separated. Its almost like a YouTube for Animals. Its lead by PG (MY MAN!). I don't know much, like I said, but I will probably be posting a lot more on this within the next couple of months and letting you know what you can do to help. Seriously. Helping animals? Where do I sign?

Ice Day!!

2007-12-11T08:23:00.000-06:00

No work for me today due to the snow/ice storm. WOOT!

PG

2007-12-07T14:27:00.000-06:00

As Lori kindly commented before, I have not had an update in awhile. While I know that I need to post about whats going on in my life ....I will save that post for a later date. But for now . . .I am going to post about just one thing: My man, Peter Gabriel.

I am currently watching the Secret World Live DVD again. What I love about Peter Gabriel is the production of his concerts. Now, if I were to ever go see a PG concert, I wouldn't have a drop of alcohol just so I could soak all of it in. Whereas if I go see a Dave Matthews concert....apparently I'll drink until I can barely stand up. I love both equally (ok, PG more)....but since I've seen multiple Dave concerts and not one really sticks out in my mind...I think its a lack of production. Its like getting a steak on a piece of cardboard or a steak on a silver platter.

So I guess now its just getting tickets to go see him sometime when he's in the states. Which may be a long time away. But how ever much it costs...or however far I have to travel...I will see him. Who is in?

(Sorry, Lori, that it isn't a long post or much of anything other than my bizarre fascination with Peter Gabriel and his music)

Baby Its Cold Outside

2007-12-01T12:38:00.000-06:00

Its currently snowing. I love it. We live on a corner of a busy busy street and normally you can hear the sounds of the cars zooming by. Not today. Its peaceful out there. Cars are still going by, but there is a silence out there right now. If you've ever been around a real first snow, you know what I'm talking about.

Shhh....

Stupid Game Show Answers

2007-11-20T13:53:00.001-06:00

Hahaha!

OH.MY.GOD.

2007-11-18T22:12:00.000-06:00

The title/picture says it all. Tonight while working, a man came into the hotel with a hand grenade. He pulled the pin. And this is how it all went down:

So a couple of workers (who were not actually working, just visiting in the bar), and a couple of guests and I were just hanging out in the bar. We were laughing, joking around ..just having a good time! Things were running smoothly. Then from outside comes running in our manager, Mikki. She's screaming, " GET OUT!!! GET OUT NOW!! ". We are all pretty shocked so we stood there with a look on our faces like, " Are you for real? " She starts screaming, " A MAN HAS A GRENADE!! GET OUT NOW!!!!! THIS ISN'T A JOKE!!!" The next thing I remember is running down the hallway towards the front desk hearing Micki saying, " WRONG WAY TIANNA! HE'S RIGHT THERE! TURN AROUND!!! ". So I BOLT back the other way and run across the street. (while thinking that my smokes are inside. Great, Tianna. Way to have your head in the game.) After waiting for about five minutes and watching the man exit the building, we then walked to the valet area and saw all the cop cars swarming in and watched them pull their guns screaming, " Put your hands up!!! " He then went into the Hilton and I'm not quite sure what happened in there, but they got him.

Poor Micki. Apparently he had walked in to our front desk guy, Tim, and said, " Give me your money and nobody will get hurt. " Tim was confused and was like, " Wait, what? " He repeated it again and showed him the grenade. Tim said he couldn't get into the register without a manager and the man said he would wait while he called the manager. So Tim went into the back office and called the Restaurant and told Chris to call 911. Chris, a server, got the call and ran to get Micki. Mikki and Willie (a cook) then walked up to the front desk to see what was going on. At that point, when Mikki got up to the front desk, the man repeated what he had said and then pulled the pin from the grenade right in front of Mikki. (DEAR LORD!!!!!) She then bolts out the sliding doors and runs around to the other side of the hotel to come tell us to get out.

I'm still just in awe of what happened. We had detectives coming in and out, interviewing everyone. Apparently the man had gone to two other places and pulled the same thing. I'm just glad that everyone is ok. The front desk guy was pretty shaken up about it all. He couldn't stop crying...but who can blame him!?!? He just saw someone pull a hand grenade ....which you can only assume is live.

Wow.

Just.....wow.

Question

2007-11-14T08:04:00.001-06:00

So why is it that Britney Spears is always on the verge of a total breakdown? Seems to me that she's having it right now, right?

And yes, I did just do a post on Britney Spears.

IT'S HERE!! IT'S HERE!!!

2007-11-10T11:43:00.000-06:00

THE DAY HAS COME!!!

Blog, Blogger, Bloggest

Birthday/Fitness Countdown

Firework

A post in the key of V

Friday the 13th. Spoooooky.

Yikes!

Out with the old, in with the new

Er, umm.....uh.....

See!

Blarg, mate!

Faults

New

Wacky--This post is mainly for me. So its going to be awful.

What the!?

Celebrate!

Its been awhile....again

Sunday Funday!

The boy who lived before

Edward Cullen

Wowsa

Wanted

le sigh.

Cervical Dysplasia

Biopsies

Welcome back!

Plugged

IBS

Me love you long time...

Hills

Let's see...

Still waiting...

Eek!

Sweaty eyes

Chicago and Week Two, Day One

Testing

Field Trip Day

Boot Camp

Less than a week!!!

Blue

Aaron's loaf

"That's ok"

That's it!!!

CHI Town weekend

Happy VD......er, wait....

Blah!

Tomorrow

Daily Dose of Yummy!

*sniffle*

Dome

Lazy weekend

Aw.

G-MAC

The one

A tree.

A daily dose of yummy!

Pandora

A Challenge

Wow

4th Annual Friendsgiving weekend

P.S.

Wishful thinking

Obama, YAY!

HB, A

Oh and...

4 years. WOW.

Everyone else is sick...

Back to normal

MaMa Mia

Just one of those days

Interesting...

.....wOOt!

Mercy Street

Time for a crabby post

I'M IT!

Rush that mountain!

Mmmmm...

Its true!

Preparing

Water that street

Monday, rainy Monday

sniffle

sipping coffee