Last Day of 2011!

Wow. I can't believe 2011 has come and gone so fast.

It's been one crazy year. Good crazy - bad crazy - you name it.

But you know what? The past few days I've been having some sort of allergic reaction to a new face moisturizer I've been using. My eyes have been swollen, pink, puffy, dry...horrible. I was at work just feeling kind of miserable. Then a guy around my age came in who just had his first round of chemo treatment on Tuesday. Suddenly my problems seemed so small. We had some friendly chit chat - where we exchanged some smiles and laughs. 

Through this exchange, I was reinforced that our problems are all relative. Obviously there are people out there who have problems greater than all of us - even all of us put together.

It is a reminder that we all have our own set of feelings and emotions that are certainly valid. But we should not take for granted how completely blessed we are. Yes, at one time or another, we will have the dark of a storm but there is always sunshine on the other end.

The fact that a man of only 26 can share some smiles with me or even an 88 year old man who walks with a hunch back always brings sunshine with him, wherever he goes - makes me step back in place.


The world is ours for the taking. We can choose to be miserable and sulk in our "problems" - or we can laugh at the problems we face because we know that we are blessed beyond measure and we can count on God to help guide us through our storm.


Make 2012 great. Learn to laugh at issues you might have instead of letting them take away your joy. Your joy is magical and no one has the right to it. Share your joy with others.

Have a blessed, safe, and fun New Year - however you are celebrating it.

And remember - I am thankful for you!

 

Hitchhikers

What do you think about hitchhikers? If you see them on the side of the road, do you help or just keep going? Or does it depend on their presence?

Before V, I had never picked up a hitchhiker. I've done it fairly often since meeting V. Just the other day, we had a delicious breakfast and wasn't sure what we were going to do with the rest of our day. We started driving north. We saw a guy walking with a suitcase, that we had seen when we first pulled up to eat breakfast. We drove past him and then turned around to pick him up. He was heading to Jacksonville, V decide to drive up about half way - to St. Augustine.

Apparently this guy had a fight with his girlfriend - it got physical - she beat him up pretty good. He showed us his "battle wounds."

After we left this gentleman, we were talking about picking up hitchhikers. (Btw- he always asks me if he should do it and if it's okay with me before he does it.) He said that he wants to just lend a helping hand, as he always does.

God is our protector - so we have faith that He will protect us when we do something as this. Even if Satan comes in and something bad would happen - at least it would be because we were doing something good...hopefully changing someone's life just a little bit.

This was the conclusion of that conversation V and I had.

Just the other day, I was telling a friend about how V and I do this from time to time. He freaked out. As a man, V should do everything to protect me and not put me in potentially bad situations.

Where do you stand?

Thankful Thursday 12.29.11

I am thankful for...

-the fact that it is finally chilly outside. YAY! Hopefully it'll last a few days. :)
-my new layout. It's almost complete - I think? Any thoughts about it?
-a wonderful holiday with my family. <3
-having Saturday AND Sunday off. Two days off in a row - two weeks in a row. Woohoo!
-Oh wait...I also have Monday off! A college friend is coming to visit me on Monday - I cannot wait! We haven't hung out in a good three years or so. I'm excited. Not sure yet what we're going to do...but either way, it'll be fun.
-My first crock pot recipe being a success - yummy!

-V enjoying my crock pot and wanting to do more!
-playing Mario on the Wii with my sister - and now she has it...now I want to play it! :(
-I'm on book 2 of Hunger Games!
-HUGS :)
-my warm fuzzy socks my mom put in as a stocking stuffer...so comfy!
-homemade cookies members at work keep bringing in for me!
-all the wonderful gifts and cards my clients at work brought me for Christmas <3
-I am so blessed!  

          

Wordless Wednesday, 12.28.11

Time to share Christmas photos! Some of them anyway! :)

Yours truly!

Sister, mom, me!

Family!

Me & preggers cousin :)

Me & god-daughter

FAMILY <3

Hope you all had a blessed holiday!

OH & what do you think of the new layout?! Feedback please :)

Tasty Tuesday - Mediterranean Chicken and Wild Rice

I am so excited - I got a crock pot for Christmas!! That means, I'm going to share with you a crock pot recipe. (Which I'm making on Tuesday, so I'll let you know how it comes out!)

Mediterranean Chicken and Wild Rice

 

Ingredients:  

-1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts

-salt & pepper to taste

-1 cup of wild-rice blend

-10 cloves of garlic, smashed

-1/2 cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes

-1/2 cup capers, drainer

-2 cups water

-1/2 cup fresh-squeezed lemon juice

-1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Directions:
1) Place chicken breasts in crockpot; salt and pepper to taste.
2) Add rice, garlic, tomatoes and capers.
3) Cover with seasoning mix from long-grain rice.
4) Combine lemon juice, water, and oil in separate bowl; pour over chicken.
5) Turn to coat all ingredients.
6) Cook on low 8 hours. 

Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays!

Hope you all had a blessed, amazing, fun, memory making Christmas! 

I will share with you more details in another post - but for now - just wanted to make sure you know how much I care about each one of you and how happy you make me - your e-mails, comments, tweets, follows! You all are so special to me. :) 

Happy Holidays!

Sister & I!

Christmas Traditions?

When did your family Christmas traditions shifts a little?

Traditions as far as when did you start sleeping in a little later and opening gifts later than the crack of dawn? Traditions such as those?

As I age and life moves on, it's a little tough to have these same holiday traditions. You want to start creating your own traditions.

Right now, I don't have to travel far to be home for the holidays. I live only about 15 minutes away from my parent's house. But I have a life - I work until 8pm at night. My mother, who has to be up by 5:30am for work, doesn't particularly want to bake for Christmas at 8:30pm at night.

So...it's Christmas Eve night. What am I supposed to do? Stay there all night and spend the night. Or can I go home, sleep there, and then come back Christmas morning?

This is where things get hairy. I know what my parents want. (They want me to stay at their house - always!) I know they will be upset if I don't. And it's not that I don't want to. 

But when is it socially acceptable to go home? When I have my own kids?

Hmm...

 

Thankful Thursday, 12.22.11

I am thankful for...
-the fact that "Hunger Games" has sucked me in. It's so fantastic! I highly recommend it. I want to finish it! :)
-that I was able to complete Christmas shopping pretty easily. My bank account now hates me...but, that's what Christmas is all about, right?
-all of the wonderful cookies, cards, gift cards my members at work are bringing in. I am so blessed!
-having a man that gives the best foot and back massages!
-extra white teeth! I've been using the 3-d teeth whitening strips - they're working like a charm!
-you all. You all are just SO amazing. I'm so thankful for each and every one of you. I'm looking forward to reading about your holidays. :)
-being made breakfast the past couple of days. I'm blessed with a wonderful man! 
-finding some extra cool shells on my daily beach walk!
-one day I only had a cup of soup and slice of bread for dinner at work - I was too lazy to make something - and a couple of my members asked if I wanted them to bring me something more substantial...how nice is that?!
-Christmas cards! I love receiving "snail mail!" Always makes my day!
-my January 2 visit from a wonderful friend I haven't seen in at least two years and actually hung out with at least three! I'm so excited!
-Michael Buble Christmas songs! (Well, any Christmas songs really!)

Love you!

             

Sears Saga Continues

So, I thought my saga with Sears would be over. (If you missed out on this juice - catch up with it here.)

I tweeted my story back on December 12 and tagged Sears in it. (Of course.)

I get a direct message from @SearsCare that says this -

Eight days later, you would have thought I would have heard back from someone regarding this issue...right? (Me, too!)

This is what I get in my e-mail this morning -

Well gosh. Thanks for the great communication during this whole situation. (Might I add that I did the original order on November 17.)

Oh - and my account has certainly not been credited.

In case you forget - since Sears told me to contact the seller directly on December 8 (thanks, Sears for the great customer service) the seller's (Busted Tees) customer service informed me right away that the item would be shipped out and they were sorry for the issues...and has kept me up to date on everything! Busted Tee's rocks my socks!

So - Sears is going to allegedly credit me since the item is "no longer available" when Busted Tee's is telling me they are shipping my item?! (I think this credit is deserved as compensation for this month long of waiting, horrible customer service interaction, and the fact that my birthday gift to a friend is now incredibly late.) Sears should be aware of what is going on and give me accurate information.


Sears is absolutely facing an uncertain future in 2012. I can't ever imagine why.

Weekend, 12.19.11

What a wonderful weekend.

Saturday - I didn't have work! We would up spending the day in St. Augustine, doing some Christmas shopping, walking around, but most of all, I got to enjoy some great quality time with Vin. :)

Sunday - football Sunday! So happy the Pats won! A fun day with some fantastic friends.

Are you ready for Christmas? I still have a lot to get. It's bad. :/ Well, not too much...but enough to not know when I'll find the time to do so.

Hope you all had a great weekend. I'll share some photos with you of mine...

Breakfast on the beach...yum!

Great view. Great food. Great company. :)

Wind...hair...lovely

Later on we indulged in some cupcakes!

Peanut butter cupcake. (Mine!)

Carrot cupcake!

DELICIOUS.

Relaxing at the fort in St. Augustine

So pretty. (The view...haha!)

Next stop...the beach! :)

Feeding the Birds

I know quite a few people who actually have a fear of birds.

For a while, I didn't understand why people are scared of them.

Now I know.

V and I decided to feed some extra bread to the seagulls outside...bad idea...

Birds everywhere!!

SO CLOSE!

"Whatcha got?!"

Crazy, right??!


Happy Friday, all!! Any fun exciting plans? I have the whole weekend off - yay! Very unusual for me. I'd like to go to Disney or go see ICE at the Gaylord Palms - not sure if either will happen...send out some positive vibes for me. ;)


Love you all! :)

Thankful Thursday, 12.15.11

Today's Thankful Thursday is so important - the war in Iraq is OVER after nine long years!

V writes much more eloquently than me. I am going to share something amazing with you that he wrote - it is written on behalf of his company, Baby Pickel.

THIS ONE IS FOR YOU -

For you who served our Country STRONG and right.
For you who dedicated all that you are to one sole purpose - FREEDOM
Over the past 9 years you have lost 4,500 of your brothers and sisters.
... Whether you believed in it or not - you were called and you answered.
You paid the price in more ways then we could ever pay you back.

This if for YOU - for no celebrity, sport star, or lime light drunk will ever be able to weigh as heavy and important as you do in my heart.

This is for YOU - the ones that have put their life on the line more times than I could ever count - so that I may be able to write this very script.

Pay attention people to those who defend you without you asking. The ones you will never meet face to face - BUT adhere to those you DO know.

Though they dress in CAMO does not MEAN they want to be hidden by THOSE in which they fight for.

STOP them, BEG of them to thank them for what they DO and will always do.

May God bless you Soldiers for the past 9 years you have been at war as many of us have worried about growing rich - and adding bells and whistles to our lives - MANY of my greatest friends and family have had no other objective but to MAKE it home alive.

I am here for you sir - I am here to give all that I am for a safe and constructive building process as you return home to the soil in which you were bore on and fight for.

Sir/Mam - my duty is to make sure you are appreciated.

Thank YOU Jesus for the WAR in Iraq is over!

THIS ONE IS FOR YOU SIR/MAM - FOR YOU HAVE MADE MY AMERICA AS GREAT AS WE SAY IT IS!

TO ALL THOSE IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ARMED FORCES -

I DEDICATE MY COMPANY AS AN OFFICIAL BLOOD LINE OF HOMAGE TO YOU AND YOUR FAMILY

- Vincenzo D.
BabyPickel.com

*Between your Christmas shopping, eating, and gloating - Let us be sure to give THANKS where it matters most.

Wordless Wednesday, 12.14.11

Yes, it really is my Charlie Brown wreath. :(

I've never made a wreath before - was excited to do so. Obviously, I failed miserably. I need more branches. I need a trimmer.

Oh well.

I tried.

If you want to make your own wreath - make sure you have tree trimmers or something to cut the branches so it doesn't look ridiculous (like mine) and make sure you have enough branches (obviously mine doesn't.)

Sigh.

 

Tasty Tuesday - Holiday Treats

Have I told you ladies yet that I've joined Pinterest? Yup. It's wildly addicting. 

This week's Tasty Tuesday will be a Pinterest rendition. (Come join in on the fun!)

Source: buddingbaketress.blogspot.com via Cami on Pinterest

Source: daisyt13.wordpress.com via Cami on Pinterest

Source: pleasant-home.com via Cami on Pinterest

Source: thetichenorfamily.com via Keri on Pinterest

Source: bettycrocker.com via Cami on Pinterest

Source: chef-n-training.blogspot.com via Cami on Pinterest

Which one should I make for football Sunday with friends?

Oh, and I apologize that I'm so behind in e-mails and comments back. I'll catch up super soon! <3 

 

Online Ordering at Sears - DON'T DO IT

I'm not telling you what to do -

But I had a horrible experience ordering a mere t-shirt online from Sears.

I ordered a mere t-shirt online. A t-shirt. How easy of an order is that? On November 17. I was supposed to receive an e-mail when it was shipped - come December 7, I sent an e-mail to find out what's going on. (21 days later!)

The following day, I receive an e-mail back, saying I need to contact the actual seller of the shirt. (I guess sears bought the shirt from another company.)

Please contact 'BustedTees' directly for assistance with your purchase. For your convenience, we have provided a link to email the merchant directly in your Order History on sears.com, in your Order Confirmation email and also in your Shipping Confirmation email. 

Thanks, Sears, for making me to do the dirty work. I thought that's why I purchased it from YOU? Guess not.

So, I send an e-mail to the seller and receive a speedy response back. The lady I spoke with, Robin, at Busted Tee's was a gem. A complete gem.

She apologized profusely and let me know what the status was. (Apparently, Sears is known for doing this.) A few days later, I received another e-mail from Sears asking them for five business days to find out from Busted Tee's. (Not sure why - I was told to e-mail the seller directly. Odd.)

Well, thanks a lot, Sears. But I don't need you.

Only three days from my original e-mail to the seller, I have a UPS tracking number. I am still waiting to hear anything productive from Sears.

Never again will I purchase online from Sears. Just want to warn you guys, incase you are looking for Christmas gifts for loved ones online. Bad idea!