Sometimes blessings come and slap us in the face

Today while at work I was sitting in a send off meeting for people going to a training course that everyone in the room had already been to. This course is not your typical corporate training course. It's about building you and making you the best you can be, not what you can learn to do to make your company better. Anyway, after I gave my little speech to the 3 people we were sending off I realized some really important things.... I have always been grateful that I went through this course, but it wasn't until today (3 1/2 years after the first course) that I realized how truly grateful I really am.

I am a firm believer that EVERYTHING happens for a reason, and the past couple years have definitely been proof that God only gives you as much as you can handle. I became a single mother by my 3rd month of pregnancy and life has been a roller coaster ever since. Being a single mother is never an easy thing, but if I had become a mother before I had gone through this training course I can't say that I would have been as strong as I have been. I've always considered myself to be a very strong person (I have been through many things in my life that has made me this way) but it wasn't until this course that I realized how strong I can be.

So today I thank God for person he's made me become. The path he's laid out for me has not been an easy one, and I'm sure I have many more battles and hills ahead of me. Looking back on everthing that has happend though I can truly say that I wouldn't change anything for the world. I'm proud of the strength I've been given, proud of the beautiful son I have today, proud of the person my son has helped make me and proud of the things I have accomplished. I hope that I can teach my son the strenth I know and teach him to be a better person than I am and to lead a better life than I have. He's given me the greatest gift of all by simply being here, and I will spend my entire life working to pay him back for it.

Today blessings have truly come up and slapped me in the face :-D

iTunes

Going through my iTunes music I realized that I have a ridiculous amount of breakup type music. I don't date much (right now...not at all) and what relationships I've had have all lasted for decent amounts of time, so it's not like I go through breakups all the time and need this kind of music. Apparently though, I'm a sucker for anything romantic or things that like to torture the heart and make you think about the past.

Reviewing all these songs though I noticed that I had some perfect songs for different situations. Let the awards begin....

Award for Best "About To Breakup" song
Slow Dancing In A Burning Room-John Mayer
This song is the best song I've found that describes those crappy final moments with someone when you know that you are coming to an end but neither one wants to admit it.

Award for Best "You Know They're Wrong For You But Still Desperate" song
Desperation-Miranda Lambert
This song is best right after the breakup when you still love that person but know they are wrong for you. That crappy moment when you might questioning your decision and relationship status.

Award for Best "Friends Just Don't Understand" song
They Weren't There-Missy Higgins
This song is for the moments when you're friends have one view of the person you were dating and it doesn't match the true view of the person you were with.

Award for Best "Don't Want To Crawl Out Of Bed" song
One Of Those Days-Joshua Radin
Perfect for those days of depression when you know no matter what you do it's going to be "one of those days".

Award for Best "Lonely And Damaged" song
Easy From Now On-Miranda Lambert
"It's gonna be easy to fill the heart of a thirsty woman and harder to kill the ghost of a no good man" Easy to feel special when your lonely and someone pays attention to you, but hard to start a relationship because you're still so damaged from the last.

Award for Best "Just Ran Into My Ex" song
Over You-Reba McEntire
This song is great when you run into an ex that you're still not over. That very awkward hello and sick feeling you get in your stomach during the whole process.

Award for Best "Giving All You Have, But Knowing It's Still Going To End" song
When You Love Someone Like That-Reba McEntire & Leann Rimes
Explains perfectly giving your everything but the relationship ends anyway, then a best friend comes along and reminds you not to blame yourself.

Award for Best "Admitting They Might Not Love You" song
Consider Me Gone-Reba McEntire
"If I'm not the one thing you can't stand to lose, If I'm not the heir to the heart of you, If you don't get drunk on my kiss, If you think you can do better than this, Than I guess we're done, Let's drag this on. Consider Me Gone" Lyrics explain it all.

Award for Best "Need" song
Need You Now-Lady Antebellum
This song explains perfectly that "need" feeling you get in the middle of the night when you are lonely and missing someone. So you break down and reach out to them knowing you probably shouldn't.

Award for Best "Cheater" song
Shattered Glass-Britney Spears
"Was it really worth it, was she everything that you were looking for, feel like a man, I hope you know you can't come back because what we had is broken like shattered glass, You're gonna see me in your dreams tonight, my face is gonna haunt you all the time, I promise you're gonna want me back when your world falls apart like shattered glass" This song makes you feel better. It's one of those slap someone in the face kind of songs that say "ha you screwed up and you're going to regret it".

Award for Best "Jealousy" song
Crazy Ex Girlfriend-Miranda Lambert
There will always come a time when you find out about your ex seeing someone else and jealousy takes over.

Award for Best "Girls Night Only" song
Knock 'Em Out-Lily Allen
This song is just plain funny! After the breakup there is usually a girl's night (usually out to the bar)and you want nothing to do with guys. Especially the really annoying ones with crappy pick up lines.

Facebook...It's a love/hate thing

Dear Facebook,

We have been together for quite some time now and I find myself confused as to how I feel about our relationship. There are times I hate you and others in which you are my best friend. Let me really elaborate and explain to you what our issues are.

Moments in which I hate you...
I hate you when I'm casually scanning the feeds and come across a picture of an ex with some size 2, who probably is just "perfect". FYI this sucks. I hate you because it's moments like these that make me have a moment of temporary insanity in thinking that I'm not good enough because I'm not Ms. Perfect Size 2. Don't worry this is definitely only a moment of temporary insanity and I come back to reality knowing that I'm not Quasimodo and I do look good regardless of my jean size.

I also hate you for causing so much unnecessary drama. You know what I'm talking about, but I will explain further so there is no confusion. It's those moments in which someone has posted a rant about an ex/friend/family member/loved one/whoever and is spilling all of their dirty little details for the whole world to see! You then place this on the feed knowing I will come across it. Being that I like to avoid drama, I choose to ignore this status and pretend as if I didn't see it. This never truly works....inevitably this status update always gets back to the person it was about and that said person (who lives like a caveman/cave woman and doesn't have facebook) feels the need to be indignant with you asking, "did you know about this". Of course I deny so I can avoid the drama, but this lie is not believed and that person is mad. Great! 1. I wasn't the one who posted trash on facebook 2. Maybe if you didn't live like a caveman and had a facebook you would have seen it & 3. I have no control on what people post so why should I be in the drama?

Moments in which I love you...
I love you when I log on and find that I have a message in my inbox from a long lost friend that I have seen in years. Catching up with these people about their lives/families/jobs is great. It's moments like these that remind me as to why I have a facebook at all. To keep in touch with those around me.

And let's be real honest here, I love you for allowing me to be able to facebook stalk someone. (Don't judge we all do it) Moments in which you can't help yourself and really want to know what someone has been up to, or my personal fav...finding out before hand a glimpse of what someone is like before you have to meet them. You or a friend have a blind date...look them up on facebook before hand and find out what you want to know. Slightly wrong...maybe, but at least you or your friend know what your getting into before hand.

So you see, my relationship with you is a love/hate. Do I delete you or keep you, that is the question...

love/hate you
XOXO

NEW MOON NIGHT WITH THE GIRLS

The wait is now over and I have seen NEW MOON! Let me just say that I LOVED it, but there were definitely some cheesy parts.

(if you haven't seen it, read no further if you don't want something to be spoiled for you)

First super cheesy part was the kiss between Edward and Bella while standing next to her truck after the birthday party....all I can say is really?!? During this kiss both Edward and Bella have this heavy breathing/moaning thing going on. In my book it was definitely TOO much! I've read the books, so I understand that Edward is in pain every time he kisses her...I get it. But Bella? Yes, she is excited to be kissing Edward but let's not act like they are doing more than just kissing here ok! I literally laughed out loud in the theater during this scene.

Second cheesy part was the scene with Alice and the Volturri when she is showing them the future proving that Bella would one day be turned into a vampire. The glimpse shows Edward and Bella running through the forest wearing out dated clothing, in slow motion no less. That's about as bad if they had filmed the scene with them running towards each other with arms opened wide in a meadow full of flowers! I definitely think that the scene could have been better! (again I laughed out loud)

I know there is another part that I laughed at but I can't think of it at the moment...
Even with all of the cheesy moments, I still really loved the movie! I was completely enthralled with the books and was so excited to see them come to life on the big screen! They've done an extremely good job so far staying true to the books.

But now that my small little review is out of the way, let me share the pictures that were taken of our LARGE group (there were probably about 25 of us).

Pictures of us with our tickets...

Me
Brittany
Leanna
Ashley
Jenna and Brittany
Tiffany

Holly
0/New+Moon+024.jpg" border=0>Shamsey
Cheryl
Belinda
Deb
Group Shot waiting in line (arrived about 5 and the movie didn't start until 7:15)
Jenna in Forks :)
Scary Jenna...
Excited faces
More excited faces!

Right before the movie
Now that the movie has really introduced Jacob's character, are you still Team Edward or have you switched? :)

The day is finally here!!!!!

You might be thinking what day is that?....Brittany's wedding day we've heard you talk so much about?.....Answer: Nope not that day....The Miranda Lambert Concert you've talked about?.....Answer: Nope not that day either! So what day is it?......Answer: NEW MOON IS IN THEATERS!!!!!!!!!!!

The glorious day has arrived that I will get to sit in the movie theater tonight with my best girlfriends and drool over the sexy men of New Moon. *ahhh I will be in heaven* I mean who wouldn't be in heaven when staring at this

This....

This....

This....

Or This....

Very excited about the new movie and time with the girlies....but the ridiculous crowd that will be there for the very same reason I will be....not so much! Not letting the crowds stress me out though because tonight will be great!

I am woman hear me roar....

So over the weekend I decided I was going to tackle something new. New craft?.....no. New recipe?.....no. New parenting technique?.....no. I decided to tackle changing my oil on my car! Growing up I've always watched my dad work on our vehicles. I've never taken my car into the shop for anything unless it was a major job that my dad might not have the tools for. My dad at one point in his life (early twenties) worked as a mechanic so there was never a need to take my car to anyone, when all I had to do was say were my famous last words of "Daddy fix it". For those that might not know...my daddy truly is Mr. Fix It. He fixes EVERYTHING, thus the reason I'm so famous for saying "Daddy Fix It!", but that could be whole blog in itself. Back to the story....So I've been driving my car with the check engine light on for a couple weeks knowing that I needed to change my oil. Saturday I decided it was the day to do it and I went to walmart to buy the stuff. And because it's me, even after my Dad told me what kind to get (10W40 if I remember correctly), I had to phone him while at walmart to ask what kind of 10W40 I needed (he wasn't specific). There was High Mileage and a list of others, but he told me it wouldn't make that big of a difference as long as I got the correct type and brand. I ended up buying the High Mileage. Once I was home with my goods, I informed dad and my brother that I was going to be the one to do it so that I would be able to do it next time. So with my ball cap, hair pulled up, crappy old t-shirt and gloves I was ready to get dirty! I crawled onto the creeper and wheeled myself under my car with my brother. Let me just say this was the easiest thing ever! I unscrewed the cap on the oil tank (If I'm not using the correct technical terms I'm sorry, I know how to do it. Doesn't mean I'm a mechanic ha), drained the oil and then unscrewed the oil filter and replaced it with a new one. That's it...I was done! Super easy and it will save my dad or brother from having to do it. They also reminded me I needed to check and top off all of my fluids in the car. Anyway, story is I learned something new that will be saving someone else trouble in the future. GOOD JOB ME :)

Drained oil and old filter
Checked fluids
Forgot to have a picture taken of me under the car, so we did a posed cheesy one of me next to it :)

Also while my brother was teaching me to change my oil, Dad was letting Cohen play in his truck. After I was done I got this cute video of Cohen talking about "his" truck and changing the oil-la :)

Thanksgiving...I'm already thinking about Christmas!

So I have started the Christmas shopping already! I like to have things done way before Christmas so I'm not freaking out a week before and spending a fortune in the process. Luckily for me my family doesn't buy gifts for the adults only the children, and my friends and I no longer share gifts either. This is also partly because most of them all have children as well. So only buying for the children in my life greatly cuts things down for me! I have already started on Cohen's gifts and I've come up with a genius idea for Keegan and Audrey. Since this year has been a little rough on them with their parents divorce and all, I've decided I'm going to do a one on one day with each. Audrey is definitely my little princess and loves all things girlie! So for her day I'm planning a morning trip to get our toes and nails painted, then an afternoon of what else...SHOPPING! Every little girl's favorite word! Now for Keegan doing a day of shopping wouldn't be as fun for him, so I've thought long and hard about this one and I've decided that I'm going to take him to a local bowling alley for some bowling, laser tag, games and possibly go carts (I have to check with them on age and height limitations). Oh and don't worry Cohen won't be left out, he'll get a personal day too :)

Back to gifts though, I'm very excited about some of the gifts I've already bought for Cohen. First things first, I've designed (by design I mean I found pictures and uploaded them into the website I'm buying from) and purchased guitar T-shirts! He has one guitar t-shirt, which is the shirt I designed (I actually did completely design this one) for his birthday. He practically wants to live in this shirt and it's already kind of worn out. So new guitar shirts are on the way! I'm very excited for them to arrive because I KNOW that Cohen will LOVE them!

I've also purchased a Personalized Elmo CD of Elmo singing songs to Cohen, Two Elmo movies, a monster truck movie, Fisher Price Smart Fit game set and a school bus monster truck. It's nice to have the ball rolling on Christmas :)