A Song for Sunday

I'm on a Country music kick lately...actually, just a new music kick in general; I feel like good music comes in waves? Weird.  Right now there are a lot of great songs; awesome workout tunes and some lyrics that just stop me in my tracks and make me realize how grateful I am for all that I have in my life.

If there was something I could give to everyone, especially to my daughter, it is the gift of true love.  I honestly wish that every person could feel the way that I do for my husband, and the way he feels for me.  We have our moments and have our fair share of disagreements, but at the end of the day, I go to bed with a happy heart and a peaceful mind. 

I'm by no means perfect, but I work really hard on our relationship, as does he; and to any of you single ladies out there, I waited and never settled for anything less than what I felt that I deserved.  I knew some day I would find him.  I have to say that the best thing about a good, solid, 'meant to be marriage' is one that you can truly be yourself, but most importantly one that you can just talk and talk and talk to your significant other about everything and anything.  I believe that communication is what makes Joe and I so strong.  I've never been one to bottle up my emotions, but not only does he listen to what I have to say, but he always responds.  Maybe not right away, sometimes he needs his space...which, I have had to learn to give, but talking is something that was there since the very beginning.  Our first few dates ended with us sitting in his car, talking until late into the night/early morning. 

We may not be up at 3am talking, but we still make sure to talk as much as our days allow.  I want our daughter growing up, knowing not only how much she is loved, but also how much her parents are in love. 

I do believe in happy endings and life may not be rainbows and butterflies all the time, but some days it feels like that. Tonight my heart is full; I give thanks for this deep, true, love that continues to grow within me. 

Perhaps it's because my husband is working 9am-10pm these last few days [and will be all of next week] and tonight he got to spend a little more time with us; I just hope he realizes how much I appreciate how hard he works for our little family.  It's what gives me the drive and determination to work hard on our home, our marriage, and now our child. 

Or maybe it's so many unhappy couples that I see around me.  I know all marriages have ups and downs, but if you're in the right one, you'll always have way more good days than bad.  It doesn't happen overnight, and you can't just flip a switch and make something work; you really do have to put in effort, as with anything else in live: you get out of it, what you put into it. 

Anyway, I could probably ramble on all night and I could listen to this song on repeat all the while.  I may have been doing that this entire post.

What song is speaking to you at the moment?

Girls' Night Re-cap

Soooo....Wednesday night was going to be our last "Girls' Night" but after we were all having such an awesome time, it was evident we need to squeeze just one more night, before Matty leaves, just us four.

Matty hosted and greeted us with Upside Down Pineapple cake Martinis.

Brooke's look: What are you lookin at B??

I made Chicken Wing Dip & Beer bread.  It's an oldie, but a goodie..and we ate every last bite!!

2 Chicken breasts--throw into boiling water, cook, cool, shred.
1 brick of cream cheese spread evenly on bottom of pie plate.
Ranch dressing/red hot sauce mixed to taste & stir in chicken
Bake at 350 until it bubbles/you smell chicken wings.

Serve with tortilla chips or beer bread.

Matty served Spring Rolls as the entree w/ spicy peanut sauce.

Kristin brought a spicy Watermelon/Cucumber salad.

Alison made homemade Strawberry Ice cream [strawberries, coconut cream & honey she claims!]

 

 She even brought along a dessert bar.

Brooke & I wore stripes.

We had so much fun talking, laughing, and listening to music.  We kept playing "Blurred Lines" and even the "Clouds" song by Zach Sobiech. 

I downloaded this song after I watched the video about him and his life...and I must say, it's the perfect reminder how how precious life is.  I was kind of grouchy on the way to girls' night on Wednesday, I'm not going to lie. I was overtired, as Brooke had not slept much the past few nights and I was exhausted. I almost didn't want to go, I was that tired.  But I didn't want to show up with a crappy attitude, so I played this song a few times on the way there, and really reflected on all the good in my life.

I shared it again, once we were there awhile and I was so happy to be there in that moment with such sweet friends.

Life is not always perfect and you can't always be super happy all of the time...but if you can focus on the good, and not on the bad, you can turn your mind around most of the times.  Zach made people happy; he made it very clear that that was really what life was all about.

creepy eyes haha

There will be one more Girls' Night July 2nd at my house!! I cannot wait...any dinner ideas?? I'm impressed with all the appetizer ideas you guys gave me!! Thanks for those.  I love these friends.

Last Day Vacay: Lake Placid

wrap up my vacation posts, with our final day at Lake Placid!!  It was super warm and humid, so I was happy I bought a pair of shorts from Guess.  Baby Girl was all decked out in her Gap Chambray...

We had a lovely little drive up to Lake Placid.  I had never been and it was really neat to see where the Olympics were held, and where the athletes can train etc.

 

Such a peaceful drive and little B slept the whole way!  She even continued to sleep as we took a little stroll along the small strip of stores.  Since there was a Starbucks, I just had to stop in...and I think the grinders woke her up! oops.

We stopped into a "Jerky" store and they had all different kinds of jerky.  We got Sweet and spicy beef, a turkey jerky, and even kangaroo. Yup, I said it.

 It was hot, humid and sunny...

My grande soy vanilla latte. #favorite

And then the clouds rolled in and we headed back to the truck.  It was lunch time for Brooke and we waited for the rain to stop, before grabbing a little lunch.

[and my camera card filled up and I was left with just our phones, sad face]

Daddy Kisses.

Silly little family.

It continued to rain back in Lake George but we still managed to sneak out for a nice little Italian Dinner.  I had Chicken French, basically, and it was good....buuuuuuuuuut no where near as good as my mother in law's.   Hands down, she should quit her job, open an Italian Lunch Eatery and serve it. That good.

Anyway, that concluded our little family vacation.  We took a scenic ride through the mountains the next day, so scenic in fact, I was getting car sick from the winding roads, we had to pull over so that I could drive!! I couldn't handle the turns, oy!!

While it was nice to sneak away for a bit, it was so nice to come home and relax having Joe home for three more days.  It's nice to not have to rush off to work right after a vacation.

Like I've said before, I know we will return to Lake George one day, but it will be AFTER the diaper duties have subsided and when our kids can run around and enjoy all that that silly little town has to offer. 

What was your first trip like with your first baby?

Weekly Menu & Vacation Day 3 Re-cap

Today I wanted to work on my goal of "Menu Planning" by linking up with Nichole!!  My mom comes into town Thursday, so who knows how accurate this will be, but at least it's an idea! She's gonna cook for us too next week; I can't wait.

Monday- Chicken Broccoli & Cheese w/ orzo

Tuesday- Turkey Beer Chili 

Wednesday- Girls' Night---I need an appetizer idea!!??

Thursday- Pineapple Chicken w/ Rice

Friday- Shrimp Scampi

And I want to keep sharing our first little family vacation...we spent Wednesday just hanging around Lake George and hit up the Outlet Mall. 

Cheesy selfie. Sidenote: LOVED that the hotel had Keurig machines--totally addicted to the Starbucks one right now.  

We scored some MAJOR Memorial Day Sales and with the perk of it being only Thursday, no crowds!! It was perfect.    Joe picked up some much needed work pants from Banana Republic, I got a few dresses/skirts from Guess, Banana, and The Gap.  And of course we got baby Brooke some cute fashion finds at Carter's.

I also was on a hunt for a cute wristlet--I get so disheveled from purse to diaper bag, I wanted a place to hold my credit cards, cash, phone and keys. DONE.  Love it!!

We had some down time to just relax and hang out which was so nice.

hotel view

Silly time with babes.

We then took Brooke SWIMMING!! OK, so it was more like dipping her in the water, but it was a first!

Of course she had to have this adorable cover-up.

She wasn't too sure about the whole thing.

She looked pretty darn cute in her swimsuit though! {Even though it's already tight?!}

We had the pool all to ourselves; it was perfect.

Oh yah, for dinner?  I went out and picked up BBQ. Shocking, right?!

June Goals

google images

With June upon us, and almost 5 whole months of being a mommy (whoa!) I am ready to really start setting goals for myself.  I know I've said it before, but the more I write it all down, the more focused I become and the better off I'll be!!

Looking back at these last few months, I am proud of how far I've come.  While Brooke has nestled into our family quite nicely, things still needed adjustments and figuring out how to manage everything is always a work in progress. While I know that I cannot do it "all" I do have some things floating around in my head that have been driving me a bit bonkers.  I could probably come up with a list of at least 20 goals, but to keep things attainable and somewhat realistic, I've narrowed it down to six:

1.  Menu Planning

2.  Move everyday {workout}

3.  Work on baby book(s)

4.  Get back on track with couponing

5.  Finish at least ONE book.

6.  Blog all about these goals!

Menu Planning: If you've followed me for awhile, you may remember when I was really good at planning out our menus...[you can find old plans here] well, part of that reason was I had little to fill my time with back then haha! Once I got pregnant, my desire to cook and even eat, went out the window!  My husband said something a few weeks ago to me, along the lines of, "It's been awhile since you've tried cooking something new."  I kind of stopped in my tracks; part of me got angry, he should be happy I cooked anything at all, this baby has been crying non stop, I barely slept, your clothes are clean, the dogs are fine, the house is semi-clean, what the heck?! But I chose not to respond...I let it sink in and thought about it for a bit.  He's right.  And no, he's not being a demanding husband who prefers the finest cuisines {ok, so at least not the demanding part!} but he knows how much I loved being in our kitchen, cooking up a fantastic, or even not so fantastic meal.  Plus now we have new granite counter tops I should be cooking up a storm! One reason I love being married to Joe is that he'll try anything; he's always up for tasting something new I've read about or watched on TV.  If he doesn't like it the first time, he'll usually even ask for it again so he can really tell if he dislikes it.  So far, the only food I made he really didn't care for were Rachel Ray's Moroccan beef patties and couscous.  I thought they were fine (and easy!) but over the years, I see that Joe really doesn't prefer Indian food.  That's fine.  He is also more of an actual pasta guy {Italian, duh!} so the couscous did nothing for him.  So, anyway, my hope this month is to try at least one new meal a week; something I've never made before!  I'll achieve that by planning out my meals!

Move Everyday {workout}: This is carrying on from last month (the goal in my head?) I think that it's working alright and I'd like to keep it going!  I am writing down my workouts/how I feel and even what I eat.  I'm still not being too strict with myself, but at the same time I enjoy working out.  I don't always want to in the beginning, but afterwards I always feel so much better. I really want to do some more Zumba classes too. I love it!

Baby Books: I have not finished my pregnancy journal (yikes!) and I haven't filled out one page in Brooke's baby book...bad mama! She's already going to be 5 months old and I have no official documentation! Oy.  I want to print the 3 parts of her birth story to put in there and really go back through her monthly updates.  I think it's important to hand write them, the old school teacher in me, and really stay organized.  I am so so so thankful for my mother-in-law who has printed off so many of our precious photos.  I need more albums to give all the photos a proper home!  I easily get overwhelmed, but if anything ever happened to this blog and I lost all of that, I'd be so very sad. Like devastated.  I need to get on this stat!

Couponing: While I was prego, I started my coupon binder. [previous posts here]  I also found a little excitement in seeing how much I could save at our weekly shopping trips/Target runs, etc.  I have played the 'busy with baby' excuse for a bit and while I try to remember to snag a coupon here or there, I'm not saving like I should be.  If you're not using coupons, you're literally throwing away money!  The more we save, the more we'll have in the long run.  It just takes a little time, patience, and organization.  No reason why I can't plan my lists/coupons out in advance.  Now that I've designated Tuesdays as my 'grocery store day' I feel better already!  I love stocking up at BJ's too, and you can combine coupons to save.

Finish a Book:  I am awful at finishing novels lately!! I just have the attention span of a gnat.  I blame instagram! No, I kid. Sort of.  I love reading and I think that the more you read, the better you write.  So, with that being said, I need to put down the cell phone, laptop, iPad--errrr, well, I use that NOOK app on it, but I have got to be more disciplined! I have started two books, and so let's see if I can review at least ONE of them by early July.  Seems do-able?!

Blog all about it: As I mentioned before, I miss blogging and I really want to get back into it.  I think if I keep up with my goals {or at least try} I can hopefully inspire some of you to keep up with your goals.

What are your goals?