Living a Brighter Life

Adventures in Brussels Sprouts!

2012-01-05T07:47:00.001-08:00

I'm a new found Brussels Sprouts fan and over the past month or so, I've tried three different ways of preparing them!

Check out my new blog over at wordpress to see which was my favorite!

Adventures in the Kitchen - Brussels Sprouts Mania!!

Don't forget to follow me over there as well! :-)

Movin' On Up!

2012-01-04T06:00:00.000-08:00

I know I mentioned this on a previous post, but here is the official announcement!

I've finally decided to "move on up" from a Blogger based blog to a Wordpress based blog!

It was relatively smooth transition, but I'm really happy with the outcome! I'm really excited about some of the features Wordpress offers that Blogger does not, including replying to comments.

I hope that every single one of you (Google followers and Google Readers) to come on over and check out the new digs! Oh and don't forget to subscribe! I don't want to lose a single one of you! Let me know if you find any bugs or anything on any of the pages, cause it is definitely somewhat of a work in progress. Can't wait for you all to see it!

Here's the new address:

http://livingabrighterlife.wordpress.com

See you on the flip side!

Kindle Reads - The 5 Love Languages: The Secret to Love that Lasts

2012-01-03T06:00:00.000-08:00

Image Source: 5 Love Languages

I'm a new subscriber to the awesomeness that is Amazon Prime and one of the perks of the service (along with free 2 day shipping) is access to a large Kindle library online.Although it is in the early stages and is a bit hard to search through, I came across the book The 5 Love Languages: The Secret to Love that Lasts by Gary D. Chapman.

The book was an extremely easy read and quite interesting. It explained the five love languages in detail and how you can tell which one is yours and your spouse's. It discussed how we need to speak in the proper language that makes our significant other feel love and fill their "love tank". You may be expressing love in a way in which you partner really doesn't understand which can cause distance and dissension in a marriage.

At first, I couldn't tell which was my primary love language as I thought that multiple love languages applied to me, so I took the test in the back of the book. It turns out that I was right. My primary love language is "Words of Affection", while I am bilingual in my secondary love languages of "Quality Time" and "Acts of Service". These second two were a close second which is why I included them.

The Hubs's love language is Acts of Service, followed by Physical Touch. I'm going to try to be more diligent in trying to show my love in his language. This could include spontaenously making a dinner I know he loves, helping him with projects outside (I'm adverse to getting dirty and bugs, so this would definitely show him love!), or giving him a back rub without being asked.

The Hubs and I have a happy marriage, but I think that armed with this information we can make it even better. I know that if we both make the effort to speak in the other's love language that we will both so appreciate it and get the little butterfly feeling of first love for years down the road!

I would definitely recommend this book to others. It's an easy read with lots of good information for couples and singles alike!

Have you read The Five Love Languages? If so, did you find it helpful?

What is your love language and that of your spouse?

Starting 2012 Off Right!

2012-01-01T08:56:00.000-08:00


Image Source: kabun

Hope everyone had an amazing New Years! Ours was extremely low key...dinner with the family and then home to watch The Change Up (hilarious!) and New Years' Rockin' Eve. New Years Day was spent cleaning up the holiday decorations and drowning myself a bit in computer time.

But on with my goals for 2012! Last year was the first year I consciously made an effort to make goals and put them out into the Universe (i.e. this blog) and it worked! I accomplished almost everything I set out to do!

So without further ado, here are my goals for an AWESOME 2012!

1.) Practice Yoga Regularly
I started to do this more regularly during the second half of this year and it has felt wonderful! The tricks to accomplish this goal include being willing to go to different gym locations in order to attend yoga classes, starting an at home practice, and/or investing in some sort of membership to a yoga studio.

I'm going to try to keep a note on my calendar of the days that I make it so I can track my progress.
2.) Read More
You can see on my Kindle Reads page that I read 15 books last year. I would like to try to read at least 20 books in 2012. On my must read list include:


Image Source: Amazon

Image Source: Amazon

3.) Unplug
This goal is for me as much as The Hubs. I'm going to commit to not checking my phone while talking to The Hubs. This has been one of my worst habits since getting a Smartphone. I'm constantly checking Twitter or my Google Reader or Facebook and I get distracted from whatever he is saying. It really annoys him!

One of my goals is blog related (see #4), so I'm not going to be able to unplug completely. My plan is to set aside an hour a day to do anything computer related. I'll discuss with The Hubs ahead of time so that perhaps he can pursue his own hobby (running or watching a horror movie on Netflix).

This is going to be one of the most difficult goals for me to tackle!

4.) Finish Projects
There are two projects that need to be finished in 2012 (at least for now...)!

The first is to make both sets of parents wedding albums. Two years and two months later and I still haven't done it! I need to make this a priority this year.

I've heard awesome things about Blurb, so I think I'm going to use that site to create my books.

Photo take by Peters Photography

The second project also involves wedding pictures. We have ZERO up in our house, ZERO printed out.
When I saw this small hallway picture project Katie over at Bower Power did, I just knew I needed to duplicate it!

Source: bowerpowerblog.com via Jen on Pinterest

So far I have one frame that's got nada in it. At least it's a start though!

5.) Blog

I have a couple of goals for this blog this year.

First, I'm in the process of transitioning over to Wordpress . The switch has been recommended by many and after seeing the smooth transition Amy over at Dandelion Paperweight had, I figured I would give it a shot. I'm still working on making the blog look the way I want it and adding a few things and I'll make sure to let you know when the move is complete, but you can already go ahead and update your Readers now since I plan on posting in both places during the transition. I hope you all will follow me over there as I think Wordpress will allow me to connect better with each and every one of you through easy comment replies!

Second, I'd like to put myself out there with the posts I write. I have about 7 posts regarding my journey so far in trying to conceive, but I just haven't hit publish yet. Perhaps I'll put myself out there even more and apply to be a recurring blogger on popular blog. Or maybe just a guest post here or there.

This blog has been such a wonderful outlet that I want to do my best to keep up with it the whole of 2012!

6.) Travel

This goal worked out for me last year with our trip to Seattle, so I hope it works again in 2012!

We already have trips planed to Vegas for Garth Brooks and San Luis Obisipo for my sister's graduation.

Image Source: disneybrent

If we can swing it though, I'd like to take one more trip, perhaps to Chicago! I've been wanting to go to Chicago forever to visit a friend from grad school. It looks like a beautiful city and I've heard wonderful things about it!

Image Source: jarek69 & evelyn

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I'm sure these goals may change and evolve as the year progresses (I may even get ambitious and make some new ones!), but for now this is a good start!

What are your goals for 2012??

2011 Goal Recap!

2011-12-31T06:00:00.000-08:00

With the beginning of this blog, came the start of me consciously setting goals for myself for the year and attempting to actually follow through with them. You see, I've always set New Years Resolutions...in my head anyways, but by the time February or March rolls around, I'm one of those people who loses all motivation and lets the resolutions fall by the wayside.

So I dedicated a whole blog post to the goals I would like to accomplish for an AMAZING 2011. And let me tell you, I think that laying out these specific goals for myself (as well as another set of goals for work) and putting the intention of accomplishing them out into the Universe helped me to accomplish almost all of them!

Here's a recap of how I did!

1.) Hire a Personal Trainer - ACCOMPLISHED!!

I cheated a bit with this one, as The Hubs helped me out by getting me 8 sessions last Christmas. I really loved personal training. I totally got my butt kicked and found that my trainer worked me out WAY harder than I would have done by myself. I became frienemies with the foam roller and kettle bell workouts. But at the end of my 8 sessions, I ended up opting to not spend the significant amount of money that was required to keep up with it. At the time we were just starting our TTC journey and I didn't want heavy workouts to influence anything (little did I know we'd still be on that journey a year later...). Maybe some day I'll hire a trainer again, but for now I'm going to save the money and continue workouts on my own.

2.) Take a Trip - ACCOMPLISHED!!

So proud of myself for actually following through with this one. It was my intention to take a trip and my BIG idea was to go to Seattle (obviously as I used a picture of the Space Needle to highlight this goal!). I overcame my fear of flying and actually traveled to Seattle where The Hubs and I had an amazing time and were able to take ACTUAL pictures of the Space Needle!

3.) Find 3 Mentors - A bit of a miss...

This was the one goal that I didn't accomplish as much as I would have liked to. I had good intentions of contacting a former coworker to discuss work/life balance, but didn't really make the effort even though it would have been pretty easy, what with being Facebook friends and everything. I found a few blogs online where I connected with other female engineers including Tessa at Diary of a Working Mother who've I really enjoyed following and connecting with online (she's a fellow SWEster too which makes it even better!). I think this is a goal that I need to carry into 2012 and really really try to follow through with!

4.) Take a Class - ACCOMPLISHED

Right at the beginning of the year, I took a meditation class which was TOTALLY out of my comfort zone, but SO worth it. I then began to explore the mindfulness/body connection by taking yoga classes more regularly, including a Yoga for Fertility workshop. I've really fallen in love with Yoga and think that it has been the one thing that really helped bring about somewhat more calm in my life.

5.) Buy Stuff - ACCOMPLISHED

I'm really proud of myself for this one. The one big thing I wanted to buy this year was a new TV console (again evidence of the picture in my original goal post!) and buy a new media stand we did! The Hubs and I absolutely LOVE it!

We bought a new shower head, which was a long time coming, and something The Hubs and I are enjoying immensely! (Can I say twice a day showers when there is time?? Not exactly environmentally friendly, but oh so relaxing!)

I bought a new glider for the front porch.

And we started the process of making new curtains... Key word is started... That is a project we NEED to finish in 2012!

Whew... I accomplished a lot in 2011 (which is why it was my "word" of 2011!) and I have SO much to show for it! It makes me SO proud of myself!

I can't wait to see what next year holds!

Did you set goals for 2011?

How'd you do in accomplishing them??

#Weverb11 - Day 30 - Meditate & Day 31: Foresee

2011-12-30T06:00:00.000-08:00

Day 30: Meditate

Were you happy with who you were in 2011? Who do you want to be in 2012 and beyond?

Contributed by Kimberly Michelle [kimberlymichelle.com]

For the first time in a long time, I can actually say that I was happy with who I was in 2011. Just the other night, I was watching TV with The Hubs and sort of spaced out and thought to myself "Life is pretty good."

It's not like I have a perfect life or have everything that I could possible want or need, but in 2011 I felt fulfilled. Both at work (which hasn't happened in a LONG time) and at home.

In 2012, I want to continue to be happy. I want to accept the things that I can't control and choose to behave in positive ways in every situation. I want to be nicer and do more good for others.

Day 31: Foresee

Where do you hope to be on January 1, 2013

Contributed by Kaileen Elise [kaileenelise.com]

On January 1, 2013, I hope to be more well traveled, calmer/less anxious, and hopefully... hopefully on the road to parenthood. I know that that last thing is not something that I can control particularly, but I hope that I am able to accept whatever situation we are in and take whatever steps The Hubs and I feel comfortable with making in 2012 in order to make that dream come true.

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**Stay tuned for tomorrow, when I hope to share what I've accomplished in 2011 and Sunday for a new set of goals for 2012!**

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#Weverb11 Participants! If you've been participating in #Weverb11 and have enjoyed it as much as I have, please consider donating to the cause so we can have a #Weverb12 and beyond!

Donate here!

#Weverb11 - Day 28 - Pay it Forward & Day 29 - Gush

2011-12-29T06:00:00.000-08:00

Day 28: Pay it Forward

Describe a random act of kindness you benefited from in 2011. How will you pay it forward in 2012?

Contributed by Bella [bellaonthebeach.wordpress.com]

Is it sorta sad that I can't think of a specific random act of kindness...

I mean people have done plenty of nice things for me, but nothing totally random (like Bebe having water left out for her at a random house along her running route!).

So instead here are a few things people have done that I can think of...

Having Starbucks randomly brought to me at work by my bestie.
Having someone complement me on my writing and training at work.
Whenever The Hubs cleaned something up or did something that he knew I would really appreciate without me having to ask.

Next year, I would like to perform more random acts of kindness. Perhaps pay the toll on the bridge for the car behind me or get the coffee for the person behind me.

Day 29: Gush

Begin to create a plan for "My friends day out 2012" - tell us what you envision.

Contributed by Julie Jordan Scott [fivepassions.com]

I love my friends and would love to have a Girl's Day Out in 2012! Except for the fact that most of my friends will be very pregnant or with little ones for 2012...

But if I could do anything for a girl's day out, we would start out by hitting up Starbucks and getting a nice warm delicious coffee and pastry. Next we would head to the spa -preferably the Claremont Hotel and Spa in Berkeley. I had a Girl's Day Out in 2008 with a friend from grad school where we both ditched work and headed to the Claremont.

Image Source: Critical Thinking Community

It was AHH-mazing! The Claremont is beautiful and makes you feel really rich just being there. I got an hour long massage and an hour long oxygenated facial - both which were heavenly! Then we got to hang out in the spa all day and sit in the deluge (which makes your hair smell heavenly!).

After hanging out at the spa for most of the day, we'd go to my favorite sushi restaurant, Amakara, for a delicious early dinner. Their sushi rolls, especially the one they call Klondike Express is to DIE for!

The day would end at a wine bar, perhaps Residual Sugar or any other wine bar for that matter! It would be the opportunity to sit with a glass of wine and chat about our lives in lounge-like comfort.

Just writing about this wonderful day, is making me long for it! :-)

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#Weverb11 Participants! If you've been participating in #Weverb11 and have enjoyed it as much as I have, please consider donating to the cause so we can have a #Weverb12 and beyond!

Donate here!

#Weverb11 - Day 27: Spend

2011-12-28T06:00:00.000-08:00

Day 27: Spend

Where did your money go this year? Where do you want it to go in 2012?

Contributed by Kimberly Michelle [kimberlymichelle.com]

Both The Hubs and I are pretty good about saving money. We don't go on extravagant vacations or buy extravagant things. I think that a lot of our money goes to eating out or groceries, since we aren't very good about meal planning.

Our biggest purchases of the 2011 included our trip to Seattle and buying tickets for our trip to Vegas in 2012. The Vegas trip was especially expensive since the Garth Brooks tickets are $250 a pop! I'm sure it will be well worth it though!

We also purchased our TV console, which wasn't expensive, but still something we considered a "major" purchase.

Next year, I hope to spend money on one other vacation (I'm thinking maybe Chicago or Hawaii...). And if a bun finally inhabits my oven, I would like to invest in a new car, one where The Pup can be kept in the way back away from all passengers. My current crush is on the Toyota Highlander...

Image Source: Toyota

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Are you participating in #WEverb11? If not, go here for more info! It's an awesome way to reflect on last year and you'll meet tons of new people in the process! :-)

#Weverb11 - Day 26: Revive

2011-12-27T09:34:00.000-08:00

Day 26: Revive

Share a favorite photo from the past year. What was happening behind the scenes? What were you thinking or feeling? What could you smell, taste, see, hear at that moment?

Contributed by Tara [twowishes.com]

This is one of my favorite pictures of the year. I call it "Sparkling Seattle".

The Hubs and I were on a tour of the city as viewed from Elliott Bay/Puget Sound. It was an amazing way to experience this beautiful city that both The Hubs and I had been wanting to visit for over three years.

The air was crisp and smelled like vacation. (Vacation to me smells like fresh pine trees and although I don't specifically recall smelling that while on the cruise, I do recall smelling it as we drove through the outskirts of Seattle. That's something you don't get in California unless you head to Lake Tahoe or up north to Mendocino or Humboldt County, well outside the city limits!)

I was feeling exciting and energized. I had just flown the furthest from home I had ever been. I was experiencing a new city with The Hubs. There's something wonderful about experiencing something for the first time with your spouse.

I could taste freedom.

The whole trip made me realize how limiting I was making my life by allowing fear to get the best of me. Fear of flying, fear of the unknown, fear of spending too much money...

All I have to do is look at this picture and know that I want to experience more new things with The Hubs. Hopefully 2012 will bring many more new adventures!

#Weverb11 - Day 24: Control & Day 25: Celebrate

2011-12-26T06:00:00.000-08:00

Day 24: Control

What did you finally let go of in 2011? What will you let go of in 2012?

Contributed by Julie Jordan Scott [fivepassions.com]

This year I finally let go of the work fiasco that happened last year and really feel like I was able to establish myself in my new position. It was one of the goals I had for 2011 and I think that I pretty much accomplished it.

Next year, I'm going to try to let go of constantly worrying about what the future will hold and to focus on the present and acceptance. I can only control my actions and attitudes to situations that arise. As far as I know, I am not psychic and can't predict the future, so why continue worrying. This is going to be especially difficult for me, but it's a work in process!

Day 25: Celebrate

What did you celebrate in 2011? Are you looking forward to any celebrations in 2012?

Contributed by Kaileen Elise [kaileenelise.com]

My favorite celebrations of 2011 were mostly of birthday milestones:

My Grandpa's 90th Birthday

My Sister's 21st Birthday

The Hubs's 30th Birthday

Rowan's First Birthday

Next year, I'm looking forward to celebrating my two best friends having babies. And I'm trying to look forward to my 30th birthday, although right now it just makes me feel old!

Happy Holidays!

2011-12-24T06:00:00.000-08:00

Hope you all have a fabulous holiday weekend! We'll be spending Christmas Eve with my family and Christmas Day with The Hubs's family, which is each families tradition. (Works out great for splitting time!)

I'll be around next week with some catch up #Weverb11 posts and maybe a few other things. Most bloggers are taking next week off, but I'm hoping to use the week to do MORE blogging! hehe :-) Plus I know some of you will be like me and by dying with all your favorite bloggers taking a hiatus!

See you next week! :-)

#Weverb11 - Day 22: Accomplish & Day 23: Grasp

2011-12-23T15:16:00.000-08:00

Day 22: Accomplish

What is one thing you want to do before you bid adieu to 2011? How will you make it happen?

Contributed by Bella [bellaonthebeach.wordpress.com]

In this last week of 2011 that I thankfully have off from work, the one thing I want to accomplish is to finish watching the Oprah's Life Classes that I have saved on the DVR. I watched the first couple of weeks when they first came out and actively watched the show including taking notes! I'm all about learning and the life lessons Oprah is teaching ar every important to remember. I hope to then wrote blog posts like the one I wrote on Ego so that I can come fully circle and teach what I learned. It will be a great collection of thoughts and ideas that I will easily be able to go back to.

To make this happen, I plan on using the four days I will be home by myself to take some quiet time to watch and then reflect. It is going to be GLORIOUS! :-)

Day 23: Grasp

Describe something you actively engaged in learning this year.

Contributed by Katie [latteloveblog.com]

This year, I actively engaged in learning more about yoga and meditation. Early in the year, I stepped out of my comfort zone and took a meditation class where I explored what I might want to do in my career in the future. Then I began taking yoga classes more often, including the Yoga for Fertility class. I had done a ton of research regarding yoga previously, but it wasn't until this year where I really actively began learning and practicing.

#Weverb11 - Day 21: Ripple

2011-12-23T06:00:00.000-08:00

Day 21: Ripple

The butterfly effect posits that a small change can ripple across whole ecosystems. Who do you credit for the small action that made all the difference in your life this year?

Contributed by Zak [andrea-zak.com]

I think that having one of my best friends start working at my company really made all of the difference in my mood and attitude this year, both at work and at home. I'm no longer miserable at work, which translates into me being less moody at home.

Having someone to vent with, bounce ideas off of, get advice from has been so helpful. I think it has made me realize that I really wasn't alone in all the things I was feeling on the job and made me more confident in the decisions I make while at work. I was this.close. to finding something else, but now I seem to find more value in what I do and even though there are bad days, the lows aren't quite as low.

It's amazing what a friend can do!

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Are you participating in #WEverb11? If not, go here for more info! It's an awesome way to reflect on last year and you'll meet tons of new people in the process! :-)

Thankful Thursday - FINALLY Finished Gratitude Photo Challenge!

2011-12-22T06:00:00.000-08:00

I know this is a bit late in coming, but I really wanted to finish the Gratitude Photo Challenge I started in November. I got a bit sidetracked with all the Weverb11 posts, so this project took a back seat.

But without further ado...

Day 25: Artwork

Saw these at Crate and Barrel and really liked them. I'm not much into abstract art, but I really like these different patterns. Wish they were smaller so I could put them in the bathroom. Guess I could always try to DIY it!

Day 26: Transportation

I had to use The Hubs car for the last two weeks while mine was in the shop. While I was very grateful to have it, I'm happy that today I finally got to pick my car up!

Day 27: Daily Routine

My daily morning routine once consists of catching up on blogs from the day before with a bowl of dry cereal and either tea or coffee. Probably one of my favorite parts of the day.

Days 28 & 29: Nighttime and Light

I combined these two because I really wanted to share a picture of how cute our house looks at night with all of the holiday lights on it! The Hubs did an awesome job of decorating the outside! Love him

Day 30: Self Portrait

I'm cheating here.... This isn't really self portrait, but it was a spontaenous picture that The Hubs took of me at a friend's 30th birthday at Campo di Bocce. I was quite surprise with how good it came out and it has some artistic flare! :-)

#Weverb11 - Day 19: Laugh & Day 20: Plug/Unplug

2011-12-21T06:00:00.000-08:00

Day 19: Laugh

Tell us about your biggest belly laugh in 2011?

Contributed by Julie Jordan Scott [fivepassions.com]

Although I can't think of a specific big belly laugh of 2011, there have been plenty of times filled with laughter in our house.

Some of my favorites are times when The Hubs and I are being silly, often time just before we go to bed at night. My husband is a pretty funny guy!

Or times when The Pup insists on taking MY spot on the bed. It is hilarious when I tell him to get off, he goes in his crate, I turn off the light about ready to hop into bed and there he is again in my spot! He thinks he is so sly! Guess that's what we get for snuggling up with him when he was an 8lb puppy!

Day 20: Plug/Unplug

How has technology affected your life (positively or negatively) in 2011? Do you want this to continue for 2012?

Contributed by Nodakademic [nodakademic.com]

Technology has both positively and negatively affect my life in 2011. Late last year is when I really got into blog and decided to start blogging myself. Finding time to blog is not easy, but I love the sense of accomplishment I feel when I hit Publish on a post I'm especially proud of. Between the blog and getting more involved with Twitter, I have found a lot of online friends who I can relate to and enjoy "spending my day" with.

I got my first Smartphone in May and since then I have been more connected then ever. I love being able to have an infinite amount of information at my finger tips and have the ability to talk to almost anyone I want at any time.

The negative of all this technology is that it is definitely becoming an addiciton. I can't go too long without checking Twitter or my Google Reader and there is a certain sunshiny feeling I get when I have a new mention or comment. The problem with this is that I find myself scanning my phone while trying to have a conversation with The Hubs, which annoys him (and rightfully so!).

I think for 2012, even though I want to continue to stay connected, I have to figure out when are the best times to plug in and tweet, blog, connect AND times to unplug and leave the phone in my purse untouched!

Favorite Holiday Ornaments

2011-12-20T06:00:00.000-08:00

I thought it would be fun to share a few of my favorite holiday ornaments that adorn our tree.

The Hubs was very methodical in the ornaments he chose to put on the tree this year. He wanted the majority of them to have some meaning to us and our nuclear family. This meant as few hand me down ornaments as possible.

Here are a few of my favorites that made the cut!

Our Wedding Favor Ornaments

The Hubs made over a hundred of these ornaments in the weeks before our wedding so that we could hand them out at as favors. They turned out soooo cute and were a real hit with our guests. It is so fun to go to friends' and families' house and see our ornament on their tree. Every Christmas, they remember us while they are decorating! It was an awesome idea! :-) And two years later, they still look great!

Favorite Childhood Ornament

I LOVED this ornament when I was a kid. Not sure why. It was just one my parents got for me, but I always remember it being one of the most special. I think it may have been because it was sparkly, but who knows.

As The Hubs was putting the ornaments on the tree, he noticed that we both had bear ornaments from 1988. He decided to put them together on the tree! Aren't they cute!

Favorite Vacation Spot Ornament

We have a tradition of buying at least one ornament while we are traveling to remember the various vacation spots we have gone on. We have quite a few from Monterey, since we go there on vacation quite a bit, but this sparkly sand dollar one is my favorite! When it catches the light, it is sooo pretty!

Favorite Nostalgic Ornament

I bought this Cal Poly Alumni ornament when I graduated from Cal Poly in 2004. It became even more special when I reconnected with The Hubs, who also graduated from Cal Poly. Now it reminds us both of our college days and the place where in the end we found each other again!

What are your favorite holiday ornaments? Do you only put ornaments on your tree that are especially meaningful?

#Weverb11 - Day 17 - Discover & Day 18 - Teach

2011-12-19T14:00:00.000-08:00

Image Source: We Heart It

Day 17: Discover

What did you discover (big or small) in 2011?

Contributed by Kaileen Elise [kaileenelise.com]

I discovered that having a friend at work every single day makes going to work so much more enjoyable. Penelope Trunk said this was the case, but now I know for sure.

It is so nice to have someone to commiserate with, complain with, eat lunch with, work out with, gossip with. It is awesome. Previously I used to only go out with a friend once a week and I would look forward to that day every week. Now I can look forward to every day! Well at least until she goes on maternity leave in May! I'll continue to enjoy it while I can!

Day 18: Teach

What lesson or advice were you able to pass on to others this year? Why was it important to share this information? (Or… what lesson would you like to pass on to others that read this?)

Contributed by Christy [macswain.tumblr.com]

The lesson I would like to pass on to others that read this is that if you aren't fulfilled in your current line of work that is no excuse to not TRY and find what you are passionate about. It is something I've read on many a personal development blog, but never truly put into practice.

In the beginning of this year, I was not happy with my current position at work. I didn't feel a sense of accomplishment or love of what I do. I was about ready to quit. So in order to have something to look forward to, I volunteered for events at the local high schools and community college where I spoke to students about the very job that I hated. It was AMAZING how excited I could get about something that on a daily basis made me annoyed, frustrated, and angry. I was passionate about talking to these students and helping them navigate the crazy world that is deciding what they want to actually be when they grow up. Telling them about my college experiences and all the things they have to look forward to.

So I took to heart all of what I was telling these students about the cool things I was doing and the things I was accomplishing and realized that what I'm doing isn't so bad. I am actually making a difference that I notice (even if no one else does.)

I will be continuing to mentor students in 2012 and already have a bunch of Outreach events planned for the beginning of the year that I am SUPER excited about.

Finding my passion outside of work, helped my find my passion at work. Everyone should find their passion! :-)

The Randomizer!

2011-12-19T06:00:00.000-08:00

It's no secret I loved Weddingbee when I was planning my wedding and since I wasn't blogging while I was planning, I thought it would be fun to revisit it and share our special day with my new blog friends on our second anniversary.

Instead, of traditional recap posts, I decided to participate in Weddingbee's new Photo Randomizer Series. Basically, you pick 10 random numbers and associate them with 10 wedding photos, ones I may never have thought of sharing before. Then share a bit about what's shown in the photo.

Prior to our wedding, I spent a lot of time scrapbooking "The History of Us". I was really proud of the results so I wanted to display it at our wedding, so our guests could share in the fun. I also included the first picture of the two of us, back in 1999 and another of us during our engagement shoot in 2009, almost exactly 10 years later!

I can't even remember when I bought this "Sexy Little Bride" jacket from Victoria Secret. I may have even bought it before I was engaged so my friend Sarah could use it, but all the while secretly wanted to use it whenever it was my turn to get married. It was a fun addition to the day!

This is me putting on my super cute purple shoes that I had to have. My mom really didn't understand why I wanted to wear colored shoes on my wedding day. She thought traditional champagne colored would have been much more acceptable. She was not in the know of the new trends, which luckily I learned all about from Weddingbee!

Me and my Dad, taken in my parents' backyard!

Me and My Girls! :-)

This is one of The Hubs's mom putting on his boutonniere.

Here's us during our ceremony. If you look close enough you can see the result of a prank my dear husband's family played on him. Take a look at his shoes... they have "Send Help" written on them. Apparently, my husband's father had this happen to him, so it was somewhat of a tradition.... It was the cause of some snickering in the church and I must admit I was a bit annoyed about it, but in the end it became just another fun story to tell!

This is US with my sister, Kristina (Maid of Honor),best friend Sarah (Matron of Honor) and The Hubs's bro (Best Man).

One of the more interesting poses our photographers put us in...

Us listening to the Best Man's speech. It was pretty funny. Let's just say that he said we were meant for each other not because of our history, but because we both are not so good with cars. We both have an extensive history involving car accidents! hehe :-)

This was such a fun series to participate in! I kinda want to do it again!! Maybe next year! :-)

I think that you all should participate too. Find all the instructions here. Oh and post a comment if you do participate so that I can see your Wedding Randomized! :-)

#Weverb11 Day 16: Persevere

2011-12-16T20:58:00.001-08:00

Day 16: Persevere

Describe something that disappointed you this year and how you perservered.

I think I was most disappointed about not getting pregnant this year. I mean, I knew it might be difficult, but didn't realize it would be so stressful (on both me and The Hubs). It's been especially disappointing when I'm surrounded by the cutest little ones or pregnant friends. Some times I have a good cry about it, but other times I persevere by telling myself my time will come.

It's sorta of reminding me of how I felt when it seemed like I was one of the last ones of my friends to get engaged or married. I never thought it would be my turn, but soon enough it was. I'm hoping it is the same way with a baby.

There was something my yoga teacher said during my last Yoga for Fertility practice. She said that there is a baby out there waiting for the perfect time to come to us. To use this time in my life to make parts of it better and ready for another to become part of our lives. I've been using this to persevere through every cycle of disappointment. To enjoy the life we have now.

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Are you participating in #WEverb11? If not, go here for more info! It's an awesome way to reflect on last year and you'll meet tons of new people in the process! :-)

#Weverb11 - Day 13: Read and Day 15: Surprise

2011-12-15T10:48:00.000-08:00

Day 13: Read

What article or book changed outlook on an issue or life in 2011?

Contributed by Melinda [palindromeathome.com]

I've read a ton of blogs this year, but I think those who talked about their struggles with infertility helped me most this year. At some point I'll compile a list I can share... Knowing that I wasn't alone in the struggle is very comforting. I also relished in every infertility blog that turned into a baby blog because it gave me hope...

Day 15: Surprise

What event in 2011 affected you in an unexpected way?

Contributed by Kimberly Michelle [kimberlymichelle.com]

I think what surprised me most this year was my resolve to spontaneously (as much as I could possible do..which about a month is as spontaneous as it gets) planning vacations for The Hubs and I, even if it requires us flying somewhere. We obviously went to Seattle in September and just yesterday I made all the final plan for us to fly to Vegas in January. And if you know me, buying flights is one of my LEAST favorite things to do. Just pushing the submit button to purchase the flights makes my anxiety soar! Crazy town, I know!

#Weverb11 - Day 12: Thrive & Day 14: Breathe

2011-12-13T06:00:00.000-08:00

Day 12: Thrive

What was your healthiest habit in 2011? What would you like to change or do differently in 2012?

Contributed by Tonya [life-accomplished.com]

Day 14: Breathe

How did you make space + peace for yourself in 2011?

Contributed by Megan [everlastingpresent.com]

I decided to combine these two prompts because they both have the same answer.

YOGA.

I've done Yoga off an on for a few years by taking classes at my local 24 Hour Fitness. I have to say that even though I really enjoyed doing it, I was never very regular about it. I'd do it every once and awhile, when I thought about it.

This year (well the second half of this year), I was able to find a class in a time slot that works that I can make on a regular basis. When I first started going to this class, the teacher was just ok, so I wasn't that committed to it. Starting in the late summer/fall though, a new teacher started and she is AMAZING. Knowing she is going to be the teacher makes me want to go. It is awesome.

I also stepped out of my comfort zone and attended a Yoga for Fertility class (twice). The teacher here is wonderful as well. She's planning on having a weekly practice next year for fertility that I'm willing to spend the extra money on. And when I do get pregnant, I'm definitely signing up for her prenatal classes.

Now I not a yogi, but with the extra practice I've been doing I can feel my body changing. Not in a losing weight kind of way, but in how I hold myself and straighten my body during everyday activities. I am more aware. I adjust when needed. I focus on breathing...

Practicing yoga allows me the time and space to just be and breathe, which is something I definitely need to continue working on.

I've started making the decision to incorporate yoga into my daily life so that I continue to have this time for myself in 2012. I'm hoping that I can start a home practice so I don't have to always head out to a class to actually practice. I think this will help me to do yoga more regularly in 2012.
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Are you participating in #WEverb11? If not, go here for more info! It's an awesome way to reflect on last year and you'll meet tons of new people in the process! :-)

#WEverb11 - Day 11: Try

2011-12-11T11:49:00.001-08:00

Day 11: Try

What 12 new things do you want to do/accomplish in 2012?
Contributed by Kimba [ultratrailgoddess.com]

I love lists like this. Simple, but so great for deciding what I want to focus on for the coming year. Last year, it was eleven things. I kept up with some of the eleven throughout the year, but failed with others. I may keep both that list and this list and use them as guides for what I want to do in 2012.

1.) Read more books and possibly join a book club. - For this one I was inspired by both Bella and Caitlin. I love to read books, but this year with the internet and my blog addiction, reading has kinda fallen by the way side. It might have been that I just haven't found the right books, but I don't think I have been making it a priority. I think find a book club would be a great way to meet new people and read awesome books.

2.) Practice yoga more regularly either in formal classes or at home.

3.) Take more pictures. - I know a lot of people are trying to take less pictures since they feel like it cuts into their actual living of life, but I would like to have one or two pictures from each event we go to. Just for memories sake.

4.) Bake more often. - This isn't necessarily good for the waist line, but there is something meditative about putting together just the right amount of ingredients and make something delicious. I can also share goodies with coworkers to share in the yummy goodness so that it isn't just The Hubs and I packing on the pounds.

5.) Make parent wedding albums. Two years late, but better late than never.

6.) Take a cooking class.

7.) Participate in more STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) Outreach events.

8.) To be more loving. - I get grumpy very easily and usually my poor husband takes the brunt of it.

9.) Take The Pup on more walks.

10.) Finish hallway picture project with Wedding Pictures - ala Bower Power

11.) Clean out garage (for reals this time.) - I will need some support from The Hubs on this.

12.) To stay calm. - This is an ongoing thing I'd like to accomplish that thus far I have not been to successful at. I typically go from happy to crying in 10 seconds flat if something around me goes not as I expected. I talk to myself and work myself up into a frenzy.

#WEverb11 - Day 9: Appreciate & Day 10: Create

2011-12-11T11:12:00.001-08:00

I've been thinking about both of these prompts for days... You wouldn't think they would be that hard, but alas they are....

Day 9: Appreciate

In which moment did you find yourself flooded with gratitude? How will you rally around gratitude in 2012?

Contributed by Megan [everlastingpresent.com]

I am most appreciative of The Hubs, my family and friends. Although I can't think of a specific moment where because of them I was flooded with gratitude, it is more of an underlying feeling that I have every day. I notice it most when I'm acting crazy or emotional and I can't see how anyone can even love me with the way I'm acting and yet they still do.

The latter part of this year, I started making a point of weekly coming up with five things that I was grateful for and posting it on "Thankful Thursday". This really helped me to focus on what I had and not on what I don't have. I hope to continue this in 2012 as my way of rallying around gratitude. I hope that this practice will become so natural that I will become more appreciative in my daily life...even for the little things.

Day 10: Create

Share a creative project you undertook this year (art, writing, DIY, cooking, home decoration, crafts, photography … whatever comes to mind). How do you use your creativity to express yourself?

Contributed by Tara [twowishe.com]

So I feel like I haven't really been that creative this year. I stopped scrapbooking because I could never find the space or time to focus on it. I didn't even take many photos to scrapbook if I did find the time (something I wish I would do more of...). I did try a few new recipes that actually worked out for once, although I didn't really create them from scratch so I don't feel like they count. I did continue with this blog and although some creativeness comes into it, mostly it is just me putting down my thoughts. I've tried to be creative in the layout of the blog and such, but not knowing much about html, I can never figure out how to get things to look they way I want!

The one thing that I think I did create this year is moments. I'm the designated family planner, so typically it's up to me to decide on places to go and invite all of my family to come with us. Although it can sometimes be stressful (the people-pleaser in me wants EVERYONE to be happy), I know that everyone appreciates it. This year, the family (both mine and The Hubs's) went to see Keith Urban again for the 3rd time. Tonight we are all heading on our 2nd annual trip to ride the Train of Lights in Sunol/Niles. And in January, we are all going to see Cal take on Stanford in the basketball.

I hope that next year I can find the time to participate in more creative outlets.

#WEverb11 - Day 8: Choose

2011-12-08T09:40:00.001-08:00

So I know I need to finish up my Gratitude Photo Challenge from November, along with a Thankful Thursday post, and I do plan on doing that, but I don't want to get too far behind on #WEverb11 or I'll have trouble catching up! :-) (Says girl who is already way behind with the photo challenge!)

Day 8: Choose

What was the biggest choice you made in 2011? What caused you to choose what you chose?

Contributed by Melissa [53blonde.com]

So there are some really obvious big choices we made this year, including our week-long trip to Seattle and officially getting help to TTC, but since I've sorta used those for basically every #WEverb11 post thus far, I'm going to go a different route. Instead, I'm going to do something similar to Hemborgwife and write about of few smaller decisions I made throughout the year that came to the forefront of my mind when I saw this prompt, and thus MUST have made an impression on my this year.

This year I chose to...

1.) Continue Blogging. I made the decision end of last year to start blogging and this year I made the decision to CONTINUE blogging. I must say that even though I LOVE doing it, it is NOT easy (as evidence of the lack of posting during the summer months). But it is so rewarding to be able to record what I'm feeling with even the remote possibility of me connecting with others regarding what I'm writing.

2.) Set specific goals. - Funny that I've never actually explicitly done this in the past before, but participating in #Reverb10 last year and watching others blog about their goals for the year made me want to do the same. And to be honest, it was INCREDIBLY successful! Most of my major goals I was able to accomplish in one form or another. The ones I fell off the wagon with were the ones that I didn't regularly blog my progress on. So next year, I'll be making the decision to try to do monthly updates on where I am with my goals. I tried to do that this year, but again didn't make it a priority. Seeing how well it worked this year though, encourages me to do it next year!

3.) Make our house a home (after two years!). - Even though I'm not much of a decorator, I made a point of buying some pieces for the various rooms of our house in order to make them feel more complete, warm and cozy It's made such a difference.

Here are some shots from living room and the porch...

Before


After

Before


After

I'm sure I've made a million more decisions this year, but this is all for now!

#WEverb11 - Day 7: Travel

2011-12-07T06:00:00.000-08:00

Day 7: Travel

Where did you travel this year? What was your favorite part? If you didn’t get to travel, where do you want to go next year?
Contributed by Allison [hisbirdiesnest.blogspot.com]

This year we went on a couple of weekend getaways to Monterey to see Jerry Seinfeld for The Hubs's 30th birthday and San Luis Obispo just because it is the Happiest City in the America (and our former college town and where my sister goes to school). These were great trips because they weren't too far away and in the case of the latter, totally spontaneous.

Our main trip was to Seattle, which was by far the best of the year and which I have recapped to death on the blog, so I won't bore you with those details again. We LOVED it! Enough said!

As for 2012, we don't yet have a major vacation planned, but we are in the midst of planning a quick weekend jaunt to Vegas for The Hubs to something off his bucket list.

So we are heading here...

Image Source: Vegas Bottle

To see him...

Image Source: Graphics Hunt

And because it works out, this guy too!

Image Source: Paisley On the Web

I'm pretty excited about it, although I'm not looking forward to the flight in and out of Vegas which I'm sure you all know is QUITE bumpy. Not good for this shaky flier!

I'm still looking forward to it though!

#WEverb11 - Day 6: Favorite

2011-12-06T06:00:00.000-08:00

Day 6: Favorite

What was your favorite month of 2011? Why did it beat out all 11 other months?

My favorite month was not an actual named month, but still a 30/31 day period from Mid-August to Mid-September.

At the beginning of this time period is when I decided to finally bite the bullet and plan a week long vacation to Seattle. The Hubs and I had been talking about it FOREVER, but between saving vacation (to extend a maternity leave for a pregnancy that was not reality yet), saving money (which we had plenty of to take the trip), and being afraid to fly, I'd really been lagging on it. Work had been stressful for both of us though, so I figured a week long vacation was in finally order.

We had an absolutely wonderful time (recaps can be found here)! It was so great to REALLY get away...to relax and reconnect. It was so much more relaxing than our typical weekend away trips! We got to do all of the things we had been wanting to do in Seattle for the past two years.

The day after we arrived home from Seattle, I found out that my two best friends were pregnant! And due within a month of each other! I was really excited, but also a little down on myself. The Hubs and I were about to start our first round of "easy" fertility treatments (i.e. oral drugs) and although I was looking forward to this big step forward, I was sad that it couldn't just come easy. It would have been so fun to be pregnant with my besties, but after listening to music all that evening, all of my sadness turned to great joy, excitement and anticipation for the journey The Hubs and I were about to embark on.

So between an AWESOME trip to Seattle, great news from two best friends, and the hard core beginning of our TTC journey, this time period was pretty pivotal in our lives. It was the one "month" that really stood out to me when I first saw this prompt!

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Are you participating in #WEverb11? If not, go here for more info! It's an awesome way to reflect on last year and you'll meet tons of new people in the process! :-)

Improvisational Mexican Cornbread

2011-12-05T14:00:00.000-08:00

I'm always looking for quick and tasty recipes (although I'm not sure that I can actually call this a recipe...) to prepare for weekday meals with things we have on hand.

Lucky for me, my friend Bret, came up with this Mexican Cornbread that you can basically make however you want! It's AWESOME!

First, you start with your base... some Trader Joe's Cornbread. In a large bowl mix together the ingredients on the box.

Then the improvisation comes into play. You basically just throw whatever you want into the cornbread mix. We threw some Rosis's Organic Precooked Chicken (an awesome buy from Costco that makes meals go SO much faster), diced green chiles, and drained/rinsed black beans. You can also add canned corn (although there already is some corn kernals in the cornbread), cheese, and really anything else you can think of that goes good with the ingredients you have already added.

Then you grease a Pyrex dish, pour the mixture in and bake per the instruction on the cornbread box.

And voila!!

A sweet and savory improvisational meal in 35 minutes!

Do you have any quick and easy meals that you make on a weeknight? If so, please share!

#WEverb11 - Day 5: Befriend

2011-12-05T06:00:00.000-08:00

Day 5: Befriend

Did you meet any new friends this year? How did they impact your 2011?

I'd have to say that the new friends I've met this year haven't been in real life, but in this wonderful online community. It was a goal of mine last year to really connect with the bloggers I had been stalking for over a year. I created this blog and my own Twitter handle and begin putting myself out there. I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to keep up with either social outlet, but a year later I think I can say that I have accomplished that.

I've connected with these friends over earthquakes and The Bachelor, college football (Pac-12 & the Golden Bears), a love of Giants baseball, a common city we've lived in, engineering outreach, trying to conceive AND SO MUCH MORE. (Click each link to meet my friends yourself!) Many of them encouraged me to keep up with blogging and helped me along the way. Quickly connecting with many of them on Twitter makes my day so much more interesting and fun! I can't imagine NOT being online friends with them and hopefully sometime in the near future I can meet those who live near by IN REAL LIFE! :-)

I hope to connect with even more of you in 2012! I'm already meeting so many people through this years #WEverb11. I don't know about you, but I feel like I'm connecting so much more with the #WEverb11 community this year than the #Reverb10 community last year! :-)

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Are you participating in #WEverb11? If not, go here for more info! It's an awesome way to reflect on last year and you'll meet tons of new people in the process! :-)

#WEverb11 - Day 4: Haiku

2011-12-02T16:33:00.001-08:00

Let me just say that I was pretty intimidated with the Day 4 prompt. I don't think I have written a haiku since grade school, but I was totally up for the challenge.

I came up with a portion of the haiku below while I was in the shower and I kept repeating it over and over so I wouldn't forget when I got out.:-)

Day 4:Haiku

Sum up your year, via haiku.

Find pride in myself

Power through disappointment
Love BIG, Laugh Often

#WEverb11 - Day 3: Learn

2011-12-02T08:56:00.001-08:00

Day 3: Learn

What lesson did you learn in 2011 from “The School of Life” rather than a classroom?

"The School of Life" has taught me much this year, but one of the most important things I learned is that it is ok to be disappointed. To be disappointed in the new role I was put in at work. To be disappointed that I wasn't able to conceive as fast as I would have liked. To be disappointed in how I reacted (or more accurately overreacted) to situations this year, continually letting the stress get to me.

However from this disappointment I was able to...

Work hard in my new role at work. Find my place there and accomplish more than I thought I ever could.

Enjoy this time with my husband while we don't have children. Spontaneously take a trip to Seattle. Have a glass of wine together and watch a movie.

Recognize and learn from my overreactions. Notice when I am getting stressed out and then choose consciously to react in a different way. I've found that yoga has really been helping me in this area, a practice I want to continue to learn from and use to further center myself in 2012.

Life is always going to have its ups and downs, its triumphs and disappointments, but it's still a life that I am privileged to have.

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Are you participating in #WEverb11? If not, go here for more info! It's an awesome way to reflect on last year and you'll meet tons of new people in the process! :-)

#WEverb11 - Day 2:Listen

2011-12-02T08:52:00.001-08:00

Day 2: Listen

What song did you listen to in 2011 to completely change your mood? Think about ways you can you add more music to your life in 2012.

The two songs I listened to in 2011 that really seemed to change my mood were part of a country playlist that I listened to at a couple of pivotal times this year.

Barefoot Blue Jean Night - Jake Owen (I also got to see him LIVE this year!)

God Gave Me You - Blake Shelton

Blake Shelton - God Gave Me You (2011)

The first time I listened to these songs was on the plane ride to and from Seattle. It's no secret I'm afraid to fly and since we were flying Southwest, I didn't have anything else to distract myself. So after take off, I put in my earbuds and BLASTED the music. I felt empowered that I was traveling the furthest from home I'd ever been and that we were about to embark on an adventure!

The second time the songs really changed my mood was after I found out my two best friends were pregnant (see Day 6 for more on that!). I swear I listened to those songs on repeat for hours that night, trying to tell myself our time for baby would come. I can still see myself sitting at the table shredding a bunch of documents and listening to these songs (and a few others) on repeat over and over again. It's a wonder what music can do, because it really made me feel a lot better.

For 2012, I think that I need to incorporate music more in my commuting life. Currently I listen to talk radio because I like the soothing tone of the voices, but often times all of the bad news or the mention of impending terrible traffic on my route is too much. Do I really need to be exposed to that for my hour commute to and from work.?? I don't think so. I think I would be much better off blasting some country tunes! :-)

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Are you participating in #WEverb11? If not, go here for more info! It's an awesome way to reflect on last year and you'll meet tons of new people in the process! :-)

Holiday Stress

2011-12-02T06:00:00.000-08:00

Image Source: Carolyn Anderson, MD

It's no secret that the holidays are one of the most stressful times of the year. And as much as I love them, the stress can be a bit much for me.

There are two areas I've been finding especially stressful thinking about...

First, figuring out how to deal with gift giving. I love my entire family to death and I love giving and receiving presents, but as I've gotten older, I really would like a more structured way to exchange presents (i.e. single gift exchange, spending limit, etc.) I know a lot of large large families do this already, but since ours isn't super large nothing like that has been implemented yet. One family only gives a couple of gifts per family member, typically under $100 in total gift spending each (Family Size = 4 not including us). The other family goes all out and gives TONS of gifts. This makes The Hubs and I feel like we need to get an equivalent amount of gifts for them as well, typically at least $100 in spending each (Family Size = 3). I guess when you bring family size into the equation it all somewhat equals out, but the feeling that we aren't treating everyone equally is still there. The second family requires the making of Christmas Lists as well. That's fine as it makes it easier to buy gifts, but its intimidating when you see all the things that each person wants. My list was relatively short, as I try to only ask for things that I REALLY need. I still don't want anyone to feel obligated to give me any of these things since really I feel like the stress placed on giving gifts to adults is overrated. If we had kids it would be a totally different story as the focus would be on them and not us. My friends and I have already decided that now that everyone is starting to have kids, we would forgo presents for each other (for b-days and X-mas) and focus on the kids. Make things so much easier! I know I've talked about this issue before, but it was really bothering me again this holiday season so I had to get it off my chest!

The second area is the planning of activities (holiday or not). For whatever reason, that responsibility has fallen squarely on my shoulders. I need to coordinate with everyone to figure out who wants to go, figure out all of the details of getting there/dinner/snacks, buy the tickets, get reimbursed and make sure that in the end everyone is happy. Typically everyone helps out once I give instructions on what we should do, but coming up with all of the details all the time is exhausting. Lately it has gotten even more complicated as both my family and The Hubs's family want to be involved, but within that some want to participate and some don't, parents want kids who don't want to come to come, etc. Ahhh! It get's SOO complicated! It's a lot to take on, especially when I feel like I'm trying to please everyone. These activities are supposed to be fun, but they end up being so much work! I wish for once I could just attend an activity and not have to think about one single thing except showing up at a designated time and place and not worry about pleasing anyone...

Do you have similar holiday stresses?
How do you deal with them?

#WEverb11 has BEGUN! - Day 1 ~ One Word

2011-12-01T08:25:00.001-08:00

A new community has begun! As I mentioned earlier this week, my friend Kim decided to get a bunch of her blogging friends (and friends of friends) together to create a new month long blogging reflection in the spirit of #Reverb10, but something all our own!

You can find out more about #WEverb11 at its website or by following along on Twitter @WEverb11. There you will find the prompts and connect with others who are participating. We really wanted to make it individualized to fit in with your life, so answer the prompts that speak to you in whatever time frame you feel is right. This is all about US and our reflections on the past year and what we want for the coming year. I promise you won't regret participating, even a little bit!

A now for the first prompt...

Choose one word.

Encapsulate the year 2011 in one word. Explain why. Imagine it’s one year from today, what would you like the word to be that captures 2012 for you?

In the spirit of where this all started… this is the same first prompt from 2010.

2011 - ACCOMPLISHED

In order to come up with the word that best described my 2011, I subconsciously thought about it all last night and the word ACCOMPLISHED just popped into my head. When I went back and looked at my #Reverb10 - Day One, to see what I expected for 2011, I got really really excited. Although the words didn't match up exactly (I chose GROWTH), they definitely complement each other. And after the CHANGE I experienced in 2010, 2011 actually turned out to be an AWESOME year!

I won't go into all of the things I accomplished this year (I'm sure there will be another prompt to reflect on that), but suffice it to say I accomplished pretty much all of the goals I set out for myself in 2011.

Professionally, I had some goals that I set out for myself within my new role and I was able to accomplish most of those as well.

I'm pretty proud of myself for that, a feeling I normally don't let myself feel or acknowledge. I think this also means I grew in some way, thus bringing me full circle back to December 1, 2010!

Oh and The Universe totally agrees with my word choice as well. This is what showed up in my inbox this morning! :-)

If you only gave yourself credit, Jennifer, for all the things you do that you do not give yourself credit for, you'd be astonished to learn how much you really do accomplish in a single day. Every single day.

That's okay though, because I'm still "counting" all of it.

The Universe

2012 - ACCEPTANCE

As for 2012, I'd like to focus on ACCEPTANCE in all its forms.

Acceptance in what life brings whatever it may be, good or bad. To look for the silver lining in all challenges.

Acceptance of where our TTC journey bring us. And then to surrender and try my hardest to enjoy the time with The Hubs as a two-some.

Acceptance of myself just the way I am.

I know this will take a bit of work on my part since the perfectionist and planner in my always wants things to be "just so", but I think that I would be a whole lot happier if I just accepted the way things are and moved on from there!

Are you participating in #WEverb11?

Let me know so I can follow along with your reflection journey as well! :-)

Thankful Thursday - Photo Challenge Catch Up! :-)

2011-12-01T06:00:00.000-08:00

Even more behind in the Gratitude Photo Challenge. I think I may have to finish up next week! :-)

Day 18: Something New

I know you already saw this in a previous post this week, but I still am in LOVE with it so you get to see it again! I'm thankful that we had the means and willpower to actually bite the bullet and buy it (not to mention the fact that both The Hubs and I agreed on it!)! :-)

Day 19: Best Friends

I have three best friends who I couldn't live without. The first two are best friends too, so we're a best friend trio! I don't see my bestie Sarah as much as I would like too. She's the mommy of an almost one year old (my how time flies...) and with another one on the way, she is more than busy! I do get to see my bestie Lisa every.single.day! She started work at my company in May and it is amazing how much better work is with her here. She's also expecting so I only have a few more months before I have to suffer through her maternity leave without her at work! I love them both lots!

My sister is also my best friend. Even though she is 8 years younger than me, we've gotten a lot closer as we've gotten older. It's amazing how that happens! She's the nicer of the two of us, but we both have our quirky anxiety ridden issues.

Day 20: Seasonal


The Tree! (fake, but still pretty!)

My new little snow village! The Hubs made "snow" (aka glitter on white paper!)

Improvising!

Again another creation of The Hubs! First time we've done this!

I LOVE Christmas and all the decorations that go with it. The Hubs and I got all of our decorations together over the weekend so the Christmas spirit is in full swing (for the most part - see tomorrow's post for more!). These are a couple of pictures of our fun holiday spread!

Day 21: Where you Sleep

This is a lie of a picture. I made the bed just to snap this shot, but on a regular basis I'm not good about keeping up with it. It was totally one of the things that I was going to try to get better about this year and I did really well for awhile, but then I got lazy... Maybe this will jump start my motivation again!

Day 22:Clothing

My favorite outfit of all time??? Yoga pants and a Cal or Cal Poly shirt (alma mater PRIDE!). In fact, I'm going to take a piece from Michelle's book at See Michelle Blog and sleep in this tonight as I plan on waking up early and doing my new Yoga for Fertility DVD that I borrowed from a friend.

Day 23: In Your Closet

Well, here's a picture of my closet. There in the middle are the four sweaters I wear MOST of the time. I'm thankful that I typically don't have to "dress up" for work much, so it is perfectly acceptable to rotate these sweaters and a couple of pairs of jeans throughout the week. It's no secret I hate shopping, so I'm also grateful for a small closet that is already full!

Day 24: Gratitude

Alas, I know I'm cheating here, but here are two pictures featuring most of The Hubs and I's close family and friends at our wedding. HAPPINESS! So grateful for all of them!

I'll finish up this photo challenge in next week's Thankful Thursday post! :-)

Are you participating in the Gratitude Photo Challenge? Are you all caught up??

Holiday Card Dilemma

2011-11-30T06:00:00.000-08:00

So there have been tons of blog posts floating around the internet where you can win prints from Shutterfly or Tiny Prints. There are SOOO many cute ones to choose from!

Image Source: Shutterfly

Image Source: Tiny Prints

Unfortunately I haven't won any of these said contests, so I haven't been forced to actually purchase holiday cards.

For the last couple of years, The Hubs and I have done photo cards that we purchase at Costco. Here's a refresher from our holiday card last year!We had just gotten The Pup, so this was the opportunity to show him off. The year before, we used a wedding picture.

This year, I'm sorta at a loss of what to do. I'm not sure that our family really wants to see pictures of our lovely mugs again this year. If we had a child or were announcing a pregnancy, neither of which apply to us, it would be much easier to figure out what to do (as evidence of almost ALL of the example cards on the web). I've also always wanted to do a family news update, but since nothing of exceptional importance happened to us this year, I wouldn't have much to say. That seems to be something that more people do when they have children to brag about (and although Rusty is our child, there's not much to say there, except he's maybe just a little less mischievous than he was last year, sometimes!).

So right now, I'm just thinking of sending out some normal (aka boring) holiday cards, unless I get inspired or get some great ideas from one of you! So bring them on!!

What are you doing for your holiday cards this year (especially those of you sans children)?

Do you send photo or traditional cards?

Calling all #Reverb10'ers!

2011-11-29T16:39:00.001-08:00

Any #Reverb10 participants out there?

We just found out that there won't be an official #Reverb11 this year. I'm a little bummed as that really got me into a blogging groove! I also have recently been rereading some of my posts and was quite amazed at some of my insights. The Reverb organizers are encouraging us to create our own, but I'm really not that great at organizing things like that. Plus I don't have THAT many blog friends yet...

But... the AMAZING Kim over at Kimberly Michelle is trying to gather people up to brainstorm a brand spankin' new Reverb that is all our own!!

So what are you waiting for??? Head over there right now and help us create something BIG!! :-)

BRAINSTORM SESSION for OUR OWN REVERB!!

Look Ma, No Cords!

2011-11-29T06:00:00.000-08:00

So Saturday afternoon, we decided to head over to Target hoping the crazy Black Friday crowds had subsided, so we could get some extra plastic tubs for all of the Fall Holiday Stuff that needed to be put away. Thankfully, we found a parking spot relatively quick and the store wasn't too packed!

Although our main purpose was for plastic tubs and a couple of fabric bins for organizing a new closet shelf, The Hubs and I decided to all seriously look for a media console table for the TV in our living room. I always sort just look, but never can officially decide on what I want.

Target didn't seem to have anything that struck a cord with us, so we headed to Walmart (also not too crowded, lucky us!). Again, not much to choose from and the options we did have seemed kinda expensive by Walmart standards.

The Hubs was really into finding something, so he suggested that we try Ikea. Now I'm all for modern decor, but sometimes it can be a too avant-garde for my taste. In any case, we headed down to the Emeryville Ikea (which was a little out of our way) and explored all that Ikea (aka adult Disneyland) had to offer.

At first we noticed that Ikea didn't seem to have a lot to choose from. The few media centers that were there all looked the same and didn't really match our tastes. We were looking for something with a few shelves and glass doors that weren't too modern looking. It took us a few minutes to realize the ingeniousness of Ikea...

Everything we were seeing was MODULAR! You could pick your shelf size, add drawers or doors, glass solid wood doors, glass doors with a thick or thin border, brown/black wood, light brown wood, or white wood. You also got to pick the type of hardware you wanted for a handle (or not! Your choice!) SOO COOL. The line was called Besta and apparently you can even go online and play with different combinations.

We ended up finding a couple of the example combos we liked, mixed and matched and for just under $200 came up with this!

We absolutely LOVE it! At first, we thought the TV was a little high (we previously had it place on a short table), but now we can't imagine it ever being any lower! It's so awesome not seeing all the cords and junk that you could previously seen under that table (I so wish I had taken a before picture!)

Now we have THREE full shelves for storage! I plan on getting some cute fabric baskets to house all of our gaming equipment and DVD's.

This has been something that was on my goals list for 2011 and I'm glad to have checked it off the list!

Definitely almost completes the living room! Only thing left is to maybe get some more art for the wall!

Back to reality...

2011-11-28T08:31:00.001-08:00

Hope every had a Happy Thanksgiving! I know I did and the couple of days away from work were delightful. I even unplugged completely for two whole days, much to The Hubs's delight!

However, now it's back to reality and if the traffic in to work this morning didn't give it away, the long list of things I have to do at work that I didn't get done during the short week will. It does seem that things are off to a slow start though. I'm thinking maybe some people decided to stretch out the Thanksgiving Holiday just a bit more!

In any case, we've had an eventful week that I was away.

Last Saturday, we headed to Monterey for my company's 20th Anniversary Party.

The company rented out the Monterey Bay Aquarium for the weekend and it was beyond awesome! There were little cocktail tables set up throughout the aquarium for us to sit and enjoy dinner while watching the fish (or jellyfish as we our location choice!).

It was seriously so cool to have uninhibited access to all of the aquarium attractions sans strollers and little kids running around. Not to mention, we got to imbibe in delicious wine and cocktails while we explored! AWESOME! I would highly recommend a party their for any large group, if you can afford it!

Sunday we headed back from Monterey and I was not home longer than an hour before I headed to Berkeley to participate in a SWE Mixer with some collegiates. It's no secret that I love participating in Outreach activities and this was no exception.

The short work week was hard to get through, but it made the two days off worth it. We had a great Thanksgiving at my parents house, where both my family and The Hubs's family celebrated together. I don't have any pictures (bad blogger!), but know that the food was delicious and the wine was yummo!

Black Friday found us sleeping in and NOT venturing out to the stores to hit up the supposed greatest deals. I loathe shopping and waiting in traffic, finding a parking spot and waiting in long lines were not worth the deals I might have gotten. Instead, The Hubs and I signed up for an Amazon Prime account and began marking the things we would be buying our families for Christmas. WAY EASIER!

Then we went out and saw The Muppets movie with my bro and his girlfriend. I don't totally remember The Muppet Show (I think I was pretty little when it was on...), but once I heard some of the songs it jogged my memory. I definitely remember The Muppets though (Fozzie Bear was my favorite!), so it was fun to see them on the big screen. I LOVED the reaction of the kids watching it with us! Their excitement was infectious!

Image Source: Daemons Movies

Saturday and Sunday were spent Christmas decorating! I love the holidays and our house always looks so cute! I can't wait to show off all of my decorations at the SWE Holiday party coming up next week! The Hubs was a BIG help with the decorating! He put up the tree and decorated it making it the best I think it has ever looked! He also put up all the outside lights and garland!

We did one other thing this weekend that was shopping related, but I think I share that tomorrow! The Hubs and I were pretty excited about our purchase! :-)

For now, I'm going to try to make it through the day... keeping my eye first on lunchtime (when I plan to get my oil changed) and then 4:30 (when I plan on leaving for yoga)!

Have a great first day back to work everyone! Only a few more weeks till the next holiday! I LOVE THIS SEASON! :-)

On Self Acceptance...

2011-11-18T06:00:00.000-08:00

I was reading a post written by A Long Far View the other day about Being Yourself and it really got me thinking.

Am I ok with just being myself?

If you had asked me last week, I might have said mostly yes. Work was going really well. I was checking thing off of my yearly goals list and really feeling like I was accomplishing things and making a difference. I also had the opportunity to talk to a group of high school girls and their parents about my career at an orientation for a program that gets girls excited about careers in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math). I LOVE LOVE LOVE doing things like this and both the girls and their parents seemed to enjoy my presentation. I think I may have even convinced a few that Materials Engineering might be in their future! Home life was also great! The Hubs and I had the opportunity to hang out with great friends who I've known since college and who will definitely be friends for life. It felt great just being with people we love being around!

Now, fast forward to last night... If you had asked me then if I was ok with being myself, it would have been a resounding "NO!". I had an especially bad self esteem evening as I was trying on a dress I've worn over the past couple of years to multiple weddings. Since we have a work party this weekend, I thought it would be a good time to figure out if these dresses still fit. (Nothing like waiting to the last minute, eh?) Well, the dresses ended up fitting, but they felt much tighter than I remember and I felt like I looked especially bad in it. I knew I'd gained a little weight and this was evidence. A little too many treats and not enough working out will do that to you. But then I really started getting down on myself... comparing myself to my friends who are pregnant and weigh the same as me. That escalated to the inaccurate perception that I'm broken since I can't get pregnant. That let to me just getting in bed at 8:00pm by myself throwing myself a pity party while The Hubs was watching TV in the other room.

So moral of the story.. I guess I haven't fully figured out how to accept myself as I am, even at 29.

I definitely don't feel the need to doll myself up like I used to in college, but I still do the evil thing of comparing myself to others. I need to continually remind myself that people love me and want to be friends with me just the way I am. Doesn't matter my size or shape or my crazy Type A anxious personality (although it does leave me wide open for teasing!).

Guess I need to catch up on the 17 Oprah's Life Classes I have on my DVR. Maybe I'll learn a little more about self-acceptance from her!

Are you ok with just being yourself or do you still struggle with it?

How have you been able to let go of all of your self-criticisms?

Thankful Thursday - Gratitude Photo Challenge Edition Part Deux

2011-11-17T06:00:00.000-08:00

Still behind in the Gratitude Photo Challenge, and still catching up!

Day 10: Nature

This is the avocado tree The Hubs bought a few months back. He thought it would be a great idea to have avocados at the ready since we go through them so fast. Well apparently, it takes a few months for the tree to mature, so for now, it's sitting in a pot on our porch. We haven't killed it yet! So far so good!

Day 11: Something Old

I have two something olds that I'm grateful for since both are sentimental items associated with The Hubs and I's courtship. On top, is a picture of the ticket stub from our first date (look how cheap! $7)! Kinda crazy, but I found it in a stack of old letters that I had stashed away in a box. Little did I know at the time, that the boy I went on my first real date with would be my husband 11 years later! On the bottom, is a picture of the garter The Hubs got me for Junior Prom. It ended up also being my "Something Old" at our wedding!

Day 12: Hands

This is a picture of my hands (or one hand) that I'm definitely grateful for, but I really wanted to take picture of The Hubs's hand. This week The Hubs had a Jeremy Affeldt moment (for those of you non-SF Giants fans, you can click the link to find out what he did!). While I was at the gym, he was trying to speed up the thawing of some ground beef by cutting the frozen meat into smaller pieces. In the process, he cut his thumb. Apparently, it was bad enough for him to feel the need to drive himself to the doctor to check it out. It ended up being minor, even though there was a lot of blood. I'm grateful though that all five of his fingers are still in tact and that I wasn't there when it happened (This girl would have freaked out!).

Day 13: Written Words

I LOVE written lists. I love physically checking each item off the list as I complete them. I don't get the same satisfaction from checking things off a digital list. Here is my latest list of things I need to remember to do now that the Internet is back on!

Day 14: Movement

I wasn't really sure how to take a picture of movement, but after a little bit of a downer evening, a nice warm shower was in order. The movement of the warm water from our NEW shower head was so relaxing and actually made me feel a little better.

Day 15: Technology

We've been without the internet at work all week and although I have my handy Smartphone, it still isn't the same as typing out an email on the computer or checking a coworkers schedule. I've never been SO HAPPY to see the Google page as when I took this picture! Being without technology for a week made me appreciate it that much more. I don't know how people got any work done before the internet!

Day 16: Animals

We've only got one and he is very rambunctious! This is a picture of Rusty completing his latest trick - "Bang! Bang!". It's the more fun way of teaching him the old play dead trick!

Day 17: Memories

This is the scrapbook I kept of The Hubs and I pre-marriage days. I just looked through it for the first time in awhile and WOW what great memories! I was so good about keeping up with the scrapbook until the wedding, when wedding planning took over. I never really got back into it. I guess you could say this blog is a bit of a digital scrapbook, but it's not quite the same. Maybe sometimes I'll start up again. I still have a TON of supplies around!

Are you participating in the Gratitude Photo Challenge? Are you all caught up??

Yoga for Fertility

2011-11-15T06:00:00.000-08:00

Image Source: Love to Know Yoga

I haven’t talked much about fertility or trying to conceive on the blog yet. I’ve got a few posts in draft form that I’ve used sort of been using like a diary, but I just can’t seem to hit publish. I don’t know if I’m afraid of jinxing the current cycle (or in my case non-existent cycle) or if I’m afraid that I’m not ” infertile enough” to begin sharing my journey. It’s probably more of the latter…

But this weekend, I attended a workshop where I thought sharing my experience far outweighed any shyness I may have talking about the subject on this large platform.

I had read a couple of Babble posts (here and here) a few months ago about how certain Yoga poses can be beneficial to fertility. Now I am by no means a Yogi… I practice every once in awhile at a 24 Hour Fitness Yoga class (which some may argue isn’t even real yoga!). I would attend because I found it to be a great way to center my mind and body after a busy day. I can’t always do all the poses, but just focusing on my breath and the sensations in my body always seem to put me at peace.

In any case, I began doing some research into Yoga for Fertility, to see if there were any classes on it in my area. Lucky for me, I live in a very culturally diverse area where yoga and meditation classes abound. I found Kat Atkinson, a prenatal and postnatal yoga teacher, who also just so happens to offer a monthly Yoga for Fertility practice in Berkeley.

Now, attending something like this definitely puts me out of my comfort zone (similar to the meditation class I attended earlier this year). So it took me a couple of months of just looking at the enrollment screen before I actually paid the $25 fee and reserved my spot. I kept thinking that maybe I would be pregnant and wouldn’t need it!

So yesterday, I put on my comfy new yoga pants and long sleeve yoga shirt (I wanted to look the part! Hehe) and I drove to the Yoga Tree (formerly Yoga Mandala) in Berkeley. I got their a little early since I didn’t want the anxiety of rushing and trying to find parking over excite me. Being the first one there, I entered the studio and looked at the myriad of yoga dvds, books, and clothes being sold. A few more women trickled in and finally the doors to the inner studio where we would be practicing opened.

I entered the studio, still a little anxious about the whole process. The studio provided blankets, blocks and straps that I picked up with the rest of the women (eight in all). I was hoping that I wasn’t in for some sort of hard core yoga class, because these were all tools that I was NOT used to using!

Kat started the class by explaining a little about how yoga can help fertility and what we would be doing in the class. We started with a restorative pose where we did the butterfly and then laid back (see below). We held it for quite awhile so we could center ourselves and create an intention for the practice. Now I’m not overly spiritual on a daily basis and I don’t meditate as often as I probably should, but I wanted to be fully present for the class so that I could retain any possible benefit from it.

Image Source: Yoga Journal

After gently coming out of the pose, Kat invited us all to sit and introduce ourselves in this comforting and accepting space. She told us of her own struggles with infertility and how she felt many of the same things that we are also feeling. She reiterated the fact that it is important to be happy with ourselves as we are, whether or not we have a child. That we are whole women, regardless. She said that even though her yoga practice didn’t in the end result in a second child for her, the emotional benefits she has gained were SO worth it. Everyone else introduced themselves in turn – one about to do her first round of IVF, two who just completed their second rounds of Clomid without success (just like me!), three or four who had miscarried - some multiple times, and one women who want to try a holistic and clean approach to fertility after all the drugs.

I must tell you how comforting this part of the workshop was. To be around people who understand what I am going through. To be told it’s ok to cry and release those feelings even if I’m just starting my journey. To be told its ok to have feelings of sadness and jealousy when others around you get pregnant. A few of the girls were part of a support group at Kaiser, something I think I need to look into within my own medical group. Although sometimes it’s scary to see how long some of these women have been trying without success, again the benefit of being in a group of people who understand far outweighed the fear.

The rest of the practice continued much like a normal yoga class, but the meditations and poses were all for those who are trying to conceive or are in early pregnancy (lots of opening the hips and pelvic floor!). I’m a bit bummed that I can’t remember them all off the top of my head, but Kat is supposed to send out an email with info on how to create your own “Home Practice”. She offers personal sessions with people, but she stressed that she does it only to ensure that the student can become self sufficient in creating their own home practice. She also said she is recording something for download in the New Year so that students can have a guided session at home (much easier in my opinion then doing it on your own!).

I will definitely be going back next month, regardless of where I am in the trying to conceive process and I would recommend it to others. Kat, the instructor, was awesome!

The whole afternoon reiterated the fact that it is so important to seek out others who are going through similar struggles for support and friendship. WE ARE NOT ALONE!

Have any of you hears of or tried practicing Yoga for Fertility?

P.S. - If anyone in the Bay Area is interested, the next monthly practice is December 4th and you can already sign up if you go here.

"Anniversary Week" - The Proposal!

2011-11-14T12:00:00.000-08:00

**Hopefully most of you figured out that my original feed moved. Google Reader notified me, so I hope it notified you too. I think it has to do with deleting my Feedburner feed to help with the No Reply issue (which it didn't..lovely.)**

After four years of dating, I was obviously getting a bit antsy to take our relationship to the next level...

February 13, 2009 started out like any other day, but ended more incredibly than I could have imagined.
I was having a busy day at work and was so glad that it was Friday! I was excited for the weekend because Kris, my sister, and I planned to head to Tahoe the next morning to go snowboarding and take advantage of the fresh powder.

That afternoon, before I left work and headed home, I called Kris to see if he wanted to go with my family to The Cheesecake Factory for dinner. Since my sister, Kristina, was coming home from Cal Poly it would have been a family affair. Kris really didn't seem into the idea so typical me got a little annoyed and told him he could decide what we were doing for dinner instead. He said for me to just come home first and we'd figure it out then. On my way home, I called my best friend Sarah to tell her about the incident and also how I was sure nothing special was going to happen for Valentine's Day weekend since we had planned our snow trip.

I was chatting on the phone all the way to Kris's apartment door. Normally, I would knock once and then use my key to get in. This particular afternoon I was a little more stubborn. When I got off the phone I knocked a few times expecting Kris to come and open the door. He didn't come, so I persisted to knock again and again. Finally, the door opened quickly a crack and he ran back into the apartment.

At that moment, I pushed the door open and couldn't believe my eyes. There was over a hundred tea lights in various glasses lit all around the living room. There was a red table cloth, a beautiful bouquet of flowers, and even more tea lights on the kitchen table. A bottle of champagne was on ice behind it. And standing there in front all decked out, on a white sheet, with scattered rose petals around him (Bachelor style...for all of you who love that show as much as I do :-) ), was my handsome boyfriend.

I walked toward him and all I could say was "Oh my God! Oh my God Oh my God! Is this really happening???". Kris got down on one knee and told me that I was the love of his life and that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me. Then he pulled out a black box, opened it, and asked me if I would marry him. Of course I instantly said yes! The ring was absolutely gorgeous and I couldn't stop staring at it and smiling!

That was when the phone calls began, telling our family and friends the exciting news! I also continued saying "Oh my God!" a hundred more times that night and not a single thing could wipe the smile off my face all weekend!

February 13 was one of the happiest days of my life, but I look forward to many more "happiest days of our lives" to come!

So that's the story of our courtship. Stayed tuned for Wedding Fun in the week or whenever I get around to writing them! :-)

Catching Up:

Anniversary Week: Where it All Began...
Anniversary Week: The Re-Introduction
Anniversary Week: Seven Years Later the Story Continues

"Anniversary Week" - Seven Years Later the Story Continues!

2011-11-11T06:00:00.000-08:00

One weekend in October 2005, Jen decided to take a trip to Cal Poly to visit her best friend Sarah. She had been out of a relationship for about a year and was ready to "hit the scene" again. When she got to San Luis, Sarah and Jen decided to go out with Jen's fellow Materials Engineers (MatEs) Amanda and Rodger. They first went to happy hour at the Cliffs in Pismo and then decided to go out to the Mission (Mission Grill..not the actual Mission) for drinks and dancing. While they were there, Amanda and Rodger suggested calling Kris to hang out since he was also still in SLO going to school. They sort of slyly were trying to hook Jen and Kris up cause they thought they would be good for each other..considering their history. They called him, he showed up, and after a few drinks, Jen and Kris started dancing and having a great time! It felt so right for both of them. By the end of the night, Jen had her second first kiss with Kris and it was SOOOOO much better than the first one! :-) The picture below was from that exact night! Kris said he would call her the next day to hang out a little more and so they did.

The next weekend, he came home from school and they went on their second official first date...to the movies. This time Kris made sure Jen KNEW it was a date! They made their relationship official shortly after that and the rest is history!

And based on their history, Jen and Kris are definitely MEANT TO BE!!!

Catching up??

"Anniversary Week" - Where it all began...
"Anniversary Week" - The Re-Introduction

Thankful Thursday - Gratitude Photo Challenge Edition

2011-11-10T06:00:00.000-08:00

I'm a bit behind in my Gratitude Photo Challenge, what with Anniversary Week in full swing, so I thought I would take this week's Thankful Thursday to catch up a bit!

Day 4: Leaves

In California, not all of the trees' leaves change to pretty fall reds, oranges and yellow, but I set out to find some anyways. Leaves changing color are one of my favorite parts of fall, so I definitely appreciate it when I see them.

Day 5: Morning Sky

Now that the days are lighter earlier, I was able to snap this dawn photo. If this had been last week, I would have been either driving or inside my cubical dungeon and wouldn't have been able to see this lovely sight. I try to take time to look at the sky every morning now as we're leaving the house (since I won't be able to appreciate the light in the evening when I get home!).

Day 6: Books

So I LOVE reading and I LOVE reading on my Kindle, but I also sometimes like to read actual books. I found the book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barabara Kingsolver in our work library and read the first few pages while I was waiting for my food to warm. I was instantly drawn in. So starting last night, I'm trying to set aside 15-20 minutes of SSR (sustained silent reading - did anybody else have to do this in elementary school after recess to calm us down?? I LOVED SSR! :-) ) every night before bed.

Day 7: Something Funny

I think that The Hubs is pretty funny (most of the time...sometimes he means to be funny and I get annoyed!). I took a couple of these pictures and told him that it was because he was funny. He says he's not funny and proceeded to give me a few unintentional funny faces!

Day 8: Favorite Color

My favorite color has been and I think will always be purple. My dorm room was covered in it in college. I don't have it around the house as much anymore (The Hubs wouldn't appreciate it like I do!), but I do have a few pieces of purple clothing, including this fun scarf that has purple glitter thread running through it!

Day 9: Inspiring Person

This obviously isn't a photo that I took, but I think that Oprah's teachings are pretty inspiring. As I've said before, I've been enjoying her Life Class and think that a lot of what she is teaching based on her own experiences are important lessons to remember. I'm A LOT of episodes behind, but I want to make sure I make time to watch them and fully engage in what I'm watching, so I've been putting it off! I need to find some time to catch up on that too!

"Anniversary Week" - The Re-introduction

2011-11-09T06:00:00.000-08:00

Senior Year, Jen and Kris had another math class together and although they talked and Kris still teased Jen, they didn't hang out outside of school at all. They hung out a bit at our Senior Grad Night and have the picture above to prove it! After graduation, both went their separate ways...Jen to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and Kris to the local JC. They lost touch for the next few years and other than one brief encounter at the JC when Jen was picking up her brother, they never saw each other.

That was until the spring of 2003, when Jen was working at the Materials Engineering Open House, showing the prospective students around. As she was giving the tour, she thought she noticed someone she recognized. Low and behold, there was Kris with his mom checking out HER department at Cal Poly. Now Materials Engineering is a small major so this was quite a shock. She quickly told all her friends that the guy who she had her first kiss with EVER was here! Soon enough, Kris earned the nickname, JFK, Jen's First Kiss! EVERYONE including the teachers knew Jen and Kris's history (it was a VERY small major!)

The next year, Kris started school, and although they were in the same major, Jen and Kris had all different classes. Jen was dating someone else at the time and didn't think much of Kris being around. Kris, however, being a social and fun loving type of guy, resumed his old ways of teasing Jen whenever he could. One time in particular, Jen was moving out of her Mustang Village apartment and was stressing out over the whole ordeal. Kris lived nearby, happened to drive by, saw a stressed out Jen and her mom standing outside and yelled, "Don't stress! It'll all work out!"

Jen graduated in 2004 and since she still had friends in the major they would periodically update her on the happenings in the department and often Kris was mentioned. However, she really didn't keep in touch with him personally.

How did Jen & Kris finally reconnect?? Stay tuned!!

Catching up??

Anniversary Week - Where It All Began...

Rant

2011-11-08T09:11:00.000-08:00

Image Source: Babble

I couldn't go without commenting on the fact that Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar have just announed that they are having their 20th child. 20th!

I must admit that I do watch The Duggars on occasion. I'm a reality show junkie, so this just falls into that category. I just really can't believe after everything they went through with their last child (where both Michelle and the baby almost died), that they would want to take the risk. They already have 19 healthy children! To me, it's crazy. To them, it's God's will.

I guess the green giant of envy is rearing its ugly head in me. We (and tons of other couples) are having trouble just having one baby and they have 20! It's hard for me to even grasp the fact that she has been pregnant most of her life.

Seriously. Crazy.

End of rant. Now back to your regularly scheduled "Anniversary Week" Blogging.

"Anniversary Week" - Where it all began...

2011-11-08T06:00:00.000-08:00

Junior year at Foothill High School started off like any other year. Jen was anxious to start school and get going on what some say is the hardest and most important year of high school. She had scheduled herself with some very difficult classes including Honors English, AP US History, and Algebra 2. Algebra 2 ended up being one of her most interesting classes...and it wasn't just because math was one of her favorite subjects.

As Jen entered Mr. Sullivan's Algebra 2 class, she realized that he was assigning alphabetical order seating. She wandered to the left side of the classroom and ended up sitting right behind a boy named Kristopher D. Kris was a cute guy and was always ready to provide a good laugh. As he got to know Jen better, he would tease her endlessly about stressing out all the time over homework, tests, and school in general (...some things never change!).

Early in the month of December 1998, Jen was getting ready to leave with her family to go take pictures with her younger brother and sister. As they were about to leave, the phone rang. It was Kris! Jen was very surprised, but talked to him for a little while. He asked if she would like to go to the movies and thinking that she was just going out with a guy FRIEND, she said Yes. One night in mid-Dec, Jen's mom drove her to the Galaxy 8 theater to meet Kris. (She didn't exactly trust "some random guy" to drive her daughter all the way from CV to P-town at night!) Kris picked Elizabeth as the movie they were going to see. He thought it would be perfect! Jen, on the other hand, was somewhat shocked when the opening scene of the movie showed people being burned at the stake! Kris tried to hold Jen's hand a couple of times, but Jen just kept her hands on her lap not really thinking much of it. She wasn't much experienced in the boy department! All in all though, both Jen and Kris had a great time and they planned to hang out again.

For the next 6 months, they continued to "hang out as friends" according to Jen and "date" according to Kris. They went to the movies, went bowling, and hung out at Jen's house. Kris would even help Jen's younger siblings make lanyards! They would hug on occasion, but Jen wasn't really comfortable with the touchy feely stuff. Often times, Kris and Jen would be sitting on the couch and Kris would scoot a little closer to her and Jen would move a little further away. This would continue until she was out of room on the couch to move! Regardless, Kris and Jen still had fun together!

In April of 1999, Jen came home to find a big container of M&Ms sitting on her porch. She opened the container and found a little note that said "Will you go to Junior Prom with me? Page me YES or NO." She recognized the pager number as Kris's. She was excited to be asked to go, so she paged him back YES.

To make a long story short, they went to Junior Prom together and danced the night away. At the end of the night, they climbed into Kris's Blazer and started the long drive home from the dance. Kris and Jen didn't talk much in the car, but Jen noticed Kris popping Altoids the whole way home. At this point she had finally figured out that Kris really liked her and that he wanted to try to kiss her by night's end. Since she had never kissed anybody before, she was quite nervous. As they pulled into her driveway, Kris didn't waste any time planting a wet one on her...LITERALLY! Once it was over, Jen said thank you and goodbye, entered her house and proclaimed to her mom "He slobbered all over me!!!"

Jen & Kris at Junior Prom. Sorry for the blurriness. This was before digital photos!!

About a week later, Kris showed up at Jen's door with a single red rose and asked her to be his girlfriend. Jen had never had a boyfriend before and wasn't sure she was ready for that, with the stress of school and everything. So she tried to gently let him down. It was a REALLY hard and horrible thing to do, but it seemed like the right thing for her at the time. Kris was upset, but bounced backed fast and everyone moved on...

To be continued... :-)

Happy Anniversary To US!

2011-11-07T06:00:00.000-08:00

I can't believe it has been two years since our wedding! Time sure flies when you are having fun!

Thank you to The Hubs for always making me smile and keeping me grounded when I get kinda crazy (which is quite often!). I don't know what I'd do without him!

I'm so excited to see what the future holds for us, but wherever we go and whatever we do, I want to do it TOGETHER! Love you!

All photos courtesy of Peters Photography & Video

Tomorrow, I'll start telling the "Story of Us". It's fun!! So stayed tuned! :-)

Anniversary Week & Gratitude Photo Challenge Day 3!!

2011-11-04T08:14:00.000-07:00

Since The Hubs and my two year anniversary is on Monday, I thought it might be fun to do a week's worth (or more!) of posts filling you all in on our courtship and wedding! I know Katie over at Bower Power and Sherry over at Young House Love have both been known to do this in the past, so I thought I'd follow in their footsteps!

Our story is quite fun to tell, as I have alluded to in the About Me section, and since I know I have at least a few of you out there who are lovers of all things weddings, I plan on writing a few wedding recaps (ala Weddingbee!)

I think it will be a fun process, as two years in I've sorta forgotten some of the things I loved best about our wedding! It will be nice to take a trip down memory lane with you all!

The fun will start next week! Hope you enjoy it! :-)

And for Day 3 of my Gratitude Photo Challenge...

Day 3: Happiness

A lot have people have been Twittering about how happy they are that the "Red Cups" are back! The "Red Cups" make me happy because I know that the holidays aren't far away and that means less time at work and more time spent with family and friends!

Have a great weekend! Don't forget to "Fall Back" and enjoy the extra hour of sleep!!

Thankful Thursday & Gratitude Photo Challenge Day 2

2011-11-03T06:00:00.000-07:00

This week I'm thankful for,

1.) Being able to spend time with friends, enjoying delicious food and good conversation.

2.) That colder weather is a comin'. (I'm looking forward to sweaters and snuggling.)

3.) Exciting sports events that gets me excited! (Go Cardinals! Both St. Louis and Stanford! Even though Stanford is a mortal enemy, I still like them better than USC!)

4.) For a stable job that I've enjoyed more than normal (could be because I have a friend at work now!)

5.) My favorite little one's smile (even if it is a bit blurry). Can anyone resist it??

Day Two: Smile

Gratitude Photo Challenge!

2011-11-02T07:48:00.000-07:00

Image Source: Postively Present

There have been so many photo challenges going around in the blogosphere lately! I've been reluctant to commit to one because I wasn't sure if I could hack it (i.e. actually take a photo everyday worth having others look at...)

But then I came across Postively Present's 30 Day Photo Challenge: Gratitude. (If you haven't ever been over to Dani's blog, it is so much great information on how she has incorporated positivity into her life!) It's no secret that being grateful is the start of being more present and happier. I've been trying to incorporate this weekly by my "Thankful Thursday" posts. But I thought, what better month than November to really recognize things that I should be grateful for that I don't even think about!

I haven't decided whether I'll post pictures daily or compile them in a few single posts, but you'll be sure to see most of them all throughout November!

On a side note, I have some other fun posts in the works that I'm sure many of my Weddingbee friends will appreciate! More on that in a couple of days! ;-)

But now, on to the challenge!

Day One: Favorite Food

This was a hard one as I have so many favorite foods. Do I go with a dessert (mint chip ice cream with syrup)? Or my "I must have with every meal." favorite food, BREAD! ?

Instead, I decided to go with something that I am especially grateful for because apparently if I lived anywhere else other than California, they'd be hard to come by!

Avocado!!

Do you plan to participate in any photo challenges this month??

Halloween Festivities

2011-11-01T08:04:00.000-07:00

This Halloween, instead of staying home and handing out candy, we decided to head over to our friends' Bret and Lisa's for a festive fall dinner.

Lisa and I both dressed for the occasion. She was Minnie Mouse, I was a Cal football player (albeit a sad golden bear after our very embarassing loss to UCLA this weekend!).

We set the table with some fall decorations and served up a Southwester Pumpkin Soup in seasonal pumpkin bowls with a side of cornbread. Delish!

Minnie Mouse revealing our dinner!

The doorbell rang continuously, as little ones came to get their fare. At one point there were so many Trick or Treaters that candy had to be rationed! hehe :-)

But our favorite Trick or Treater of all??

Little Link (from the Zelda cartoon)!

He also showed off some super new skills!

I love this little one! :-)

The Hubs and I both thought it was an especially fun Halloween even if we weren't out partying like crazy!

How was your Halloween??

A Cooking Extravaganza of a Sunday

2011-10-30T20:06:00.000-07:00

This Sunday, while The Hubs was off helping his bro pour concrete, I decided that I would spend the afternoon cooking some fall, festive food. (Say that three times fast.)

I started out by making the 3 ingredient pumpkin bread (Spice Cake Mix, small can pumpkin puree & 1/2 tsp of pumpkin pie spice) that apparently has been all the rage on Pinterest. (I am not a Pinner...don't need another computer time suck!) I found it over at Bower Power and then ended up doing a bit more Googling till I got the actual recipe which I ended up finding here.

The final product...

And the verdict??? YUM-O! The Hubs and I have both made duds of pumpkin bread recipes, so it was great to find one that actually works! Even though it is more of a cake than a bread, it still satisfies a pumpkin craving!

Then I went on to make some festive Halloween cupcakes for work tomorrow and for our evening out with friends tomorrow night. I found the inspiration for the decoration over at Gina's Skinny Recipes (what the heck did people do for inspiration before blogs and the internet??), even though the actual cupcakes aren't skinny!

Oh well.. They turned out super cute!!!

And finally... I decided to try a Paleo (well it wasn't fully Paleo as it had some pumpkin ale in it, but we weren't picky!) Pumpkin Chili over Spaghetti Squash that our friends Teresa and Elliott said was delicious. It made the kitchen smell so fall-like as it was cooking! I love seasonal foods!
It was REALLY delicious and healthy!! I loved the lingering pumpkin, nutmeg and cinnamon flavor!

Now, I have to go get all the pieces of my somewhat unoriginal costume together for tomorrow! I'll try to post a picture of it sometime tomorrow, but if not then, definitely Tuesday!

Until then...I hope you all have a very HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Adventures in the Kitchen - Spiced Pork Chops with Apple Chutney

2011-10-28T12:42:00.000-07:00

So it has been awhile since I've graced you all with an "Adventures in the Kitchen" post. The Hubs and I just have been that adventurous lately. We've also been lazy. and out of sync when it comes to planning.

The Hubs doesn't like to plan ahead, he likes to wing it. I, on the other hand, like to pick recipes, make a list, grocery shop and cook. Last week, after a bit of heated discussion about what to do for dinners for the week, we decided to go to the store with the cookbook and randomly pick two recipes based on what we saw. Although this method induced some anxiety in me, it ended up working out and we picked two recipes that we both liked fairly well. I was also impressed that neither one had any carbs in them, which is something for this bread loving girl. Our Paleo friend would be proud!! :-)

The first recipe we tried was Spiced Pork Chops with Apple Chutney. The recipe came from Cooking Light Way to Cook, a great recipe book with step by step instructions for the novice cook (like me!) and LOTS of pictures for those who don't like to read (like The Hubs!).

Image Source: Amazon

Ingredients

Chutney

1 tablespoon butter
5 cups (1/4 inch) cubed peeled apple (about 3 apples) ** This was a TON of apples. Probably could have done with 1/2 to 3/4 of the amount.**
1/4 cup dried cranberries
3 tablespoons brown sugar
3 tablespoons cider vinegar
2 teaspoons minced peeled fresh ginger ** I substituted 1 teaspoon of ground ginger and it worked fine. **
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon dry mustard
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

Pork

3/4 teaspoon ground chipotle chile pepper **Since we didn't have exactly this, I had The Hubs ground up red pepper flakes as a substitute. **'
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 (4-ounce) bonless center-cut pork loin chops, trimmed
Cooking Spray

First up was to prepare the Chutney. I was so excited to use my new Le Creuset Dutch Oven that I used it to do my Chutney preparation. It worked great and after using it for the last few things we've made, I'm in love!

Combine all of the spices and put aside in a separate container.

Then, melt the butter in a nonstick pan of your choosing over medium-high heat. Add apples and saute for 4 minutes until lightly browned.

Add cranberries, spices and cider vinegar and bring to a boil. Note this will be a small boil since there isn't a whole lot of liquid going on.

Reduce heat and simmer 8 minutes or until apples are tender, stirring occasionally.

For the pork, clean and pat dry the chops.

Combine all of the spices in a separate container and the sprinkle over the pork.

Coat a grill pan with cooking spray and add pork to pan.

The recipe says to cook for 4 minutes on each side or until done. We did some research and found out that we were supposed to cook to 150-155°C and then letting it sit for 5-10 minute to let it reach the USDA recommended 160°C. Well, it ended up being more than 4 minutes on each side and since we are conservative, we probably cooked it longer than we had to, but we were having trouble getting it to the right temperature.

I also made string beans as a side (since it was suggested with the recipe). For these, I cooked the string beans in olive oil for a few minutes, stirring occasionally. Then I stirred in 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/8 teaspoon black pepper, and 2 thinly sliced garlic cloves. I continued cook for 5 minutes until the garlic was lightly browned.

Finally, everything was plated and a beautiful, healthy (and yummy!) meal was created!

This ended up being The Hubs's favorite dish of the two we made last week. The pork was nicely spiced and had a good contrasting flavor with the slightly sweet and tangy apple chutney. I also really like the flavor of the string beans. It was nice to veer from the traditionally steamed beans we usually eat! It really felt like a gourmet meal, especially since pork is not something we normally cook.

You all will have to let me know how you like this recipe if you do try it out (and if you substituted anything that made it even better!)!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Thankful Thursday

2011-10-27T06:00:00.000-07:00

Image Source: We Heart It

Gratitude is the best attitude. ~Author Unknown

This week I'm thankful for...

1.) Oprah's Lifeclass. I'm learning so much and need to work hard to apply what I am learning to my every day life.

2.) Friends who I can talk to about anything.

3.) Weekends with no official plans.

4.) A good book..

5.) Trying out and cooking new recipes with The Hubs. (Blog posts to come on Pork Loin and Apple Chutney and Shrimp and Asparagus Gremolata we tried!)

Weekend Shenanigans

2011-10-26T08:23:00.000-07:00

This post is coming a few days late as I've been having trouble finding time to blog.

It seems when I don't try to catch up on posts on the weekend, that I can never recover to post daily during the week. When I first started this blog, I'd write posts at work during some down time or at lunch. Now, work has been busier and with one of my best friends working here now, lunchtime is occupied every day! During the evening, The Hubs wants me to watch TV with him and hang out and he sometimes gets a bit annoyed when I have the computer open and am typing away.

In any case, this weekend The Hubs and I did some fun things.

Saturday we had a Cal game at AT&T park at 4:00 pm, so we decided to head into the city early to hang out. We took Bart up to Union Square where we did a little window shopping and then ended up walking the couple of miles to the ball park.

We usually hang out at Public House prior to the game, but this week we decided to try some new places. First we hit up Pete's Tavern for lunch and a few drinks, then MoMo's for a few more drinks. At MoMo's, I had a Pink Lemonade and a Humm Baby shot which were both yummy in their fruity deliciousness. I don't have any pictures cause well, there were tons of people crammed into a small area, reminiscent of our college days.

The late afternoon at the ballpark was great. The weather was warm enough to be without a jacket and the Bears FINALLY won!

Sunday morning I caught up on some Oprah's Lifeclasses (I'm hoping to write up some blog posts on some of these episodes this weekend. I've been finding them quite enriching in reminding me on how to live my best life.)

In the afternoon, we had the opportunity to meet Teresa and Elliott's new edition Mackenzie.

She is such a cutie, as evidence of these pictures!

It was so nice to see the whole family and I was able to get my baby fix, at least for a little while!

I'm so glad that today is already hump day and next weekend is already in sight. We don't have anything officially planned for the weekend so I'm looking forward to just relaxing!

And now for a reader poll...

When do you all compose your blog posts?

Have a great rest of the week!

The Dreaded "noreply@blogger.com"

2011-10-21T06:00:00.000-07:00

I thought I had fixed the dreaded noreply@blogger.com (Jen) issue I encountered awhile back when I first started my blog. I swear I had looked at my feed and thought that it said "By Jen" just below the title of the blog post.

Then I noticed that the pictures on my blog aren't showing up in my Dashboard of "Blogs I'm Following". (Yes, I shamefully am following my own blog, but mostly to catch issues like these!)

So I did some Googling and found out that first I should make sure my email address is listed and is able to be publically accessed. Everything seemed to check out find on this front.

Then I started digging a little deeper...

Some people said that I need to delete my FeedBurner account. To be honest, I never really look at the FeedBurner stats. When I started blogging, I thought maybe I would want to track stats and things, but since I'm not really that famliar with most of the stats FeedBurner provides it has been pretty worthless to me. I was about to delete it to see if that would correct the problem, but wasn't sure how many people that would screw up. I figured if I hit delete and it was the wrong thing to do, I might piss people off! :-)

So a couple of questions for my techy friends....

Any one else have a similar issue and how did you fix it?

How will deleting my FeedBurner feed affect how people are connected to my blog?

Will it delete the feed from Google Reader?

Any help would be greatly appreciated! I want to be a good blogger and not be the annoying girl who has "noreply@blogger.com" as the default email address.

Thankful Thursday

2011-10-20T06:00:00.000-07:00

Image Source: We Heart It

For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food, for love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

This week I'm thankful for...

1.) Having one of my best friends work with me. Makes the day SO much more tolerable!

2.) That my friend Teresa had a perfectly beautiful and healthy baby girl.

3.) My mom whose been so understanding during some fits of crying I've had lately.

4.) A wonderfully refreshing lunchtime work out.

5.) The Hubs.

What are you thankful for this week??

Happy Birthday!

2011-10-19T06:00:00.001-07:00

Isn't he cute?? :-)

Happy Birthday to The Hubs who turns 30 years young today!

Thanks for putting up with my crap and loving me anyways.

Here's to many more wonderfully happy birthdays! :-)

(Sorry that this showed up in Google Reader yesterday!)

Mistakes and My Ego

2011-10-18T06:00:00.000-07:00

Image Source: myLot

I'm not very good at making mistakes.

The other day at work, I sent a coworker some calculations that I worked on for a couple hours the night before. I had worked really hard and did the best I could to make sure that the answers made sense before I sent it to her. It was SOO hard for me to hit the send button because of my uncertainty and confidence about the correctness of my answers. But after checking through them again, I sent it off.

Well, turns out I did the calculations wrong. Chemistry calculations that should have been simple (at least in my head should have been simple) I got WRONG.

That alone created a downward spiral of thoughts in my head...

"You thought you were so good at chemisty...well obviously not..."
"How could you think you could become a chemistry teacher when you can't even do simple problems!"
"You should have known better."
"People are right to think you don't know what you are talking about."
Etc. Etc. Etc.

This is the way I've always been...or should I say... the way my EGO has always been.

My Ego has been flaring its ugly head lately. I don't think that this is necessarily unusual, I just think that I am more aware of it after watching Oprah's first Lifeclass last week.

It showed up again over the weekend, when I didn't get the expected reaction from The Hubs after his surprise weekend. I mean, the surprise wasn't for me, so why should I get so incredibly upset when things didn't work out exactly like I had planned.

So yesterday, I decided to rewatch Oprah's Lifeclass on The Power of the Ego so that I could take some notes and really learn how to keep my Ego in check.

Here were some of my favorite quotes from the class. Things to remember and to know when my Ego is flaring up..

"I don't think it's possible anymore for others to hurt me. They are are just giving their observations. I am giving them meaning." - Wow. When I heard this, it totally made sense to me. Something I need to remember!

"Know the truth of yourself to disconnect from Ego." - I sometimes think that I really do need to learn more about myself. I think most of the time I'm probably identfing with my Ego and not my true authentic self.

"The Ego feeds itself in wanting."

"Ego shows up when someone disagrees with you. It's your defense." - I've seen this happen in my own life. Probably more times than I can count. It comes with being a perfectionist and people-pleaser.

"I am worthy!"

I'm going to try again and read some of Eckhart Tolle's A New Earth. I've tried in the past, but got bogged down with the philosophy of it all. Oprah said Chapters 3 and 4 really resonated with her so I figured maybe I would start in small steps there.

I think I'll do some individual posts on additional Lifeclasses that resonate with me. This way I can go back and remember all the wonderful things I learn without hogging DVR space! :-)

Do you ever recognize your Ego flaring up? How do you deal with it?
Are you taking Oprah's Lifeclass? What do you think so far?

Weekend Surprises

2011-10-17T06:00:00.000-07:00

This weekend was full of surprises for The Hubs's 30th birthday which is coming up on Wednesday. I was so proud of myself that I was able to keep all the activities I planned for the weekend a secret, since I usually have an extremely big mouth.

I decided that I wouldn't tell him anything and then give him clues along the way. I also tried to mislead him a bit in hopes that it would lead him off course making the surprise even more exciting!

We started off by heading south to Gilroy to stop at the outlets for The Hubs to get some new jeans. I wasn't too worried about him knowing we were going south since there are SO many places that we could head from that direction - L.A., San Luis Obispo, Monterey, Santa Barbara. While at the outlets, I ended up getting myself some fun things as well.

A new Coach purse and wallet in my favorite colors and perfect for fall!

And my first Le Creuset Dutch Oven in Carribbean blue! I can't wait to use it to make some fun one pot meals!

I gave The Hubs his first clue which was a California Sea Otter. At first he had NO IDEA what it meant, even though I thought it was pretty obvious. Finally after a little bit of leading him along the right path he guessed Monterey. We stopped at our hotel, checked into our room and then I gave him his second clue for our next activity. This one was a wine glass, so it was fairly easy for him to figure out we were going wine tasting.

We headed to Cannery Row so that we could enjoy the Monterey Bay and do some wine tasting at one of the many tasting rooms there. Although we thought the weather might be cold and gloomy in ended up being a gorgeous day!

We stopped at the Bargetto and Schied Tasting Room and enjoyed quite a few delicious wines. We ended up buying a red wine at each.

We also bought a couple of fun ornaments. We love buying unique ornaments at the places we visit. We've been trying to accumulate our own ornaments since a lot of the ones on our tree belong to our parents! I chose a Starfish Santa, while The Hubs picked a Coca Cola bottle cap. He LOVES his Coke!

Next on the agenda was dinner reservations at Monterey Fish House. I had never been here before, but it came with good recommendations. We got there a bit early and there was already a line out the door waiting to be seated! I was so glad I made a reservation, as we were able to sit right down. I forgot to take pictures of our meals, but I had oak grilled salmon, while The Hubs had oak grilled swordfish. Both were delicious and we were extremely full by the end of the meal!

I was so excited because it was almost time for the main event. The Hubs was excited too as he had some ideas in his head and wanted to see if he was right. I gave him the last clue.

He looked at the clue and said "Seinfeld?".

I smiled excitedly and said "So you know what we are doing???""

"Seeing Jerry Seinfeld stand up on a boat." - I had sorta lead him along a boat route thinking maybe we were going to do a cruise or something. Ended up not being such a good idea since he seemed pretty exciting about the boat...

"Well, yes, but not on a boat!! Are you so excited??"

He replied... "Sure!"

"Isn't it great that you get to see him live for the first time???"

"Well, I've already seen him."

Cue Jen's Ego deflating... (I should have watch Oprah's Lifeclass earlier in the week to learn more about defeating the ego so I could have avoided getting upset. More on that later this week...)

"Oh.... I didn't realize." I replied. Then proceeded to get upset that the surprise was a big let down.

The Hubs said it wasn't, but I could still see that he expected something different after I built up the surprise so much.

We went to the show, which was at the Golden State Theater. It provided an awesome ambiance for the show. We ended up laughing the whole time! Seinfeld was hilarious and the show obviously wasn't the same as the one The Hubs had seen years before, but in the end I still felt a little bad. I kept thinking about all the things I should have done instead. Maybe I should have gotten him Garth Brooks tickets since he's never seen him and it's on his bucket list. I should have saved the money and done that instead. I should have known that he had already seen Seinfeld, of course... Nothing like the ego to kick me repeatedly in my own butt while I'm down!

I know I probably overreacted, but I really wanted to do something BIG for his 30th birthday and since he'd already done this activity before, it wasn't exactly the reaction I expected.

After the show we went to get sundaes at Ghirardelli, which was yummy deliciousness. Then we headed back to the hotel for the night.

Although things didn't turn out exactly as planned, I think I would still consider the weekend a success. We had a great time shopping, wine tasting, enjoying the show and each others company. I need to remember that we have the rest of our lives to experience fun and exciting things together and I can try to pull off a different big surprise hopefully in the coming years!

Have you ever tried to pull off a big surprise that didn't turn out as expected?

Happy Friday!

2011-10-14T13:00:00.000-07:00

I'm so excited it's Friday!

I have a fun surprise weekend planned for The Hubs! I'll fill you in on everything Monday, but here are a few clues about where we are going and what we are doing! :-)

Image Source: Here

Image Source: Flickr

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Thankful Thursday

2011-10-13T06:00:00.000-07:00

“If the only prayer you say in your life is thank you, that would suffice.” — Meister Eckhart

This week, I'm thankful for...

1.) Finding time to go to a yoga class (even if it was just at 24 Hour). Reminds me how much I enjoy it.

2.) A new shower head that provides a heavenly shower!

3.) A husband who forgives me when I throw temper tantrums.

4.) Being born into the life I have surrounded by awesome family and friends.

5.) A beautiful sunset over the Bay that I saw on the way home from the gym.

Working to Gain Confidence

2011-10-12T16:42:00.000-07:00

I've been at my company for over 8 years. I interned here, did my senior project here, worked in various places in the organization, etc.

But still I feel like I'm invisible. It could have to do with my personality. I must admit I'm a bit of a Negative Nancy, but I always thought my smarts and good work made up for it. The benefit of being negative is that I'm conservative and take a lot of pains to ensure that if something is done, it is done right. However, perhaps it makes it seem like I don't have enough confidence in myself, which is something I do sometimes have an issue with.

I'm also not the type to go bragging about the things I've accomplished. I mean I tell my boss during one on one sessions about what I've been up to, but he's not much of the verbal type to share it with others.

I try to build my confidence by listing the things I've accomplished. However when I'm not EVER recognized by managers or peers for knowing what I know, I get frustrated and end up second guessing everything I thought I knew about myself.

Take for example ...

My company has been putting together a series of internal classes to teach the engineers about the basics of our technology. I've gone through trainings like this before (too many to count), but it is no secret that I LOVE to learn and LOVE anything that is school related. A month or so back, I even offered to one of the upper management engineers who was going to plan these classes that I would love to help out in learning about and then teaching one of the modules. I feel like I have the capacity to do this and to do it well.

Recently, I heard that an email went around polling people who were interested in taking these new classes. And lo and behold, my name along with a couple of other engineers (no rhyme or reason so it seems) wasn't even on the distribution list. Now maybe it could have been an honest mistake and it just slipped their mind to include me (although this isn't the first time something like this has happened.) And obviously my interest in helping out was ignored since the planning of the classes is going on without my knowledge and with one of the organizing engineers having less experience then me. It could be possible that they think I'm too busy, but still what would be the harm in asking...

I feel like work is a lot like school. If you aren't in the "in" crowd, well sorry, tough luck. You can stay out there and look at us make ourselves look good and you can just look like an outsider. Seems real mature, eh?

It's not that I'm looking to move up in the company to extraordinary proportions or anything. The Hubs and I are in the process of trying to grow our family, so added work stress and responsiblity is not what I'm looking for. I also don't really want to look for a new job because I don't want to start at a new company from scratch with regards to benefits.

So it seems I need to find another way to build my confidence in the workforce and I need to prevent events like this from setting me back.

Have you ever dealt with self-confidence issues at work?
Do you have any tips on how to gain self-confidence without outside influences?

Heavenly Shower

2011-10-11T07:00:00.000-07:00

The Hubs and I have been living with the shower head that originally came with the house. The bathroom had been redone, so we figured it would be fine to use what was there.

It worked fine for awhile, but lately, there was this one rogue shoot of water that always hit in just the wrong spot or would be coming out so hard it would hurt. I would try to change the setting, but the shower head was SO hard to turn! Not exactly a relaxing shower!

So over the weekend, we headed out to Home Depot and were overwhelmed by the shower head choices. Should we get a whole new set or just a shower head? Should we stick with the color we have (brushed nickel) or pick something else? We were so overwhelmed, we almost didn't pick one!

But thankfully, The Hubs picked this one up and decided we were going to get it to at least try it out.

Waterpik - PowerSpray + Shower Head - 7 Spray Settings

Ahhhhhh! The shower gods are now raining down on us! This new shower head is heavenly! With seven settings to choose from, there is definitely one to suit your needs or mood.

The Hubs loves the misty rain one (soft spray), while I like the good ol' normal spray (full body). My first time in the shower though, I took advantage of every.single.setting and probably will do the same for the next month! I have a feeling our water bill might be a little higher this month...

Is your shower heavenly?

Disclaimer: I wasn't compensated in any way to give this review, other than the heavenly shower I am provided nightly! :-)

Becca's Closet

2011-10-10T07:00:00.000-07:00

While I was cleaning the closet yesterday, I found a few things from my past that have been in the closet gathering dust.

Prom Dresses!

There were five dresses in the hallway closet still in their garment bags. Two I kept...one that I could possibly wear again (what can I say, I was a prude in high school so that dress is still age appropriate!) and the other held sentimental value since I wore it to Junior Prom - the dance I went to with The Hubs. The third looked a little old, so I put in the give away pile.

The other two, however, I thought looked in good condition, so I started researching the possibility of donating them to an organization that gives prom dresses to girls who can't afford them.

I headed over to Donate My Dress (link found in Better Homes and Garden) and found an organization fairly close by that takes dresses.

The organization is Becca's Closet and they have a high school in Tracy and one in Modesto that will take dresses. Only problem is, they say the dresses need to be from 2005 to present so that they are "current styles". (Ugh! Makes me feel SO OLD!)

Anyways, I looked at the dresses I again and I really don't think they look that out of date!

See for yourself...

Blue shimmer dress I wore to Senior Ball - 2000

Detail at the top and better idea of color. It's like a shimmer blue/black.

Black strapless dress with flower detail. Can't even remember what I wore it to!

I really hope these are donation worthy! I'd love to make a difference in the life of teenager by giving them a fun dress to wear to Homecoming or a Prom!

What do you think?

Do you think these dresses are donation worthy?

Drawer and Closet Intervention

2011-10-09T18:02:00.000-07:00

After lazing around pretty much all day yesterday and all morning today, I figured it would be a good idea to do something productive this weekend.

So while The Hubs was outside working in the yard, I decided to go through our closets and drawers to see what things we could part with and give away.

Both the bedroom closet, hallway closet and dresser drawers were stuffed to the brim with both my clothes and The Hubs's clothes. The drawers were also extremely disorganized and made finding anything extremely hard! Here's some evidence:


Drawer Disaster! Clothes thrown and stuffed in the drawer.

Closet stuff to the brim with clothes and a mess of hangers

I think the last time I went through my side of the closet was a few months ago and at the time there were some pieces of clothing that I wasn't ready to part with... But today I held no mercy! If it hadn't been worn for months, was slightly faded or if it looked like something a teenager would wear... to the give away/trash pile it went! For The Hubs, I held things up and gave him two seconds to decide whether to keep or give away. I thought it was a fun game, but I think he was having some trouble parting with stuff as well.

In the end, I was left with three bags of clothes...

And clean drawers,

Organized tank top drawer!

And a closet where I can actually move the hangers to look through the closets.

May not look that different, but things are definitely easier to find!

It feels great to have cleaned stuff out. Now I just need to take the clothes bags to a give away drop off or Goodwill or else it will sit in the garage for ages!

Have you gone through your closets and drawers lately?
Do you have trouble giving old clothes away even if you have not worn them in ages?

Spaghetti Squash Spaghetti with a Squash Medley

2011-10-08T20:28:00.000-07:00

The Hubs and I love squash and zucchini. They are staple veggies at our house that we cut up and saute because it is quick, easy and tasty.

So of course, when I first learned about spaghetti squash (which I have to admit, wasn't that long ago...), I knew I wanted to try to it out. I picked up a squash last week at TJ's and decided today would be the day to try it out.

I had cut out a small article in Better Homes and Garden about how to cook spaghetti squash and decided to use that as the method of cooking.

I washed the squash and then began to attempt (keyword is attempt) to cut the squash in half like the instructions said. Holy moly was this thing hard to cut! I ended up having to call in the reserves (aka The Hubs) to help! (I found out later from Katie at She Likes Ruffles, He Likes Truffles on Twitter that I could have just put the whole thing in the oven and it would have been much easier. She also recommended a great recipe she's made).

After a slight struggle, The Hubs was able to cut it. Then I removed the seeds from the inside of both halves.

And placed the cut sides down in roasting pan. I added 1/2 a cup of water to the pan, covered with foil, and baked at 350°F for 1 hour

For a side, I decided to make a squash medley recipe that I found in the August issue of Family Circle. The only ingredients needed I had on hand.

I cut up the squash and zucchini into 1/4 inch coins and the red bell pepper into chunks. Everything went on a cookie sheet where I tossed with EVOO.

At this point, the spaghetti squash was ready to come out to cool, so out came the spaghetti squash and in went the squash medley. The squash medley had to cook at 350°F for 15 minutes.

Once I was able to handle the spaghetti squash, I used a fork to spaghettify (a technical term) the squash.

And because I am a master chef (NOT!), I timed things such that once I was done spaghetifying, the squash medley was ready to come out. And voila!

I really enjoyed the meal and have a ton of leftovers that I can hopefully finish this week. I love that the entire meal had pretty much zero carbs (except for whatever was in the sauce). So healthy! The Hubs wasn't as enthralled with the meal, but it figures since he avoids any foods that are healthy (no matter how hard I try!)

Anyone else have any yummy spaghetti squash recipes I can try this week?
Do you have a spouse that avoids healthy foods? Any tips on turning their tastes??

TGIF

2011-10-07T08:00:00.000-07:00

Image Source: We Heart It

Wahoo! Thank God it's Friday!

I feel like the last two weeks have dragged on. Must be the post-vacation slump. (Has it already been a month since Seattle??) I'm already ready for my next vacation day. Unfortunately, neither The Hubs and I have this Monday off for Columbus Day. :-(

The Hubs and I don't have any special plans this weekend, although the weather in the Bay is supposed to be really nice. After a week of rain, it might be nice to get a little bit of sun!

Fleet Week is coming to the city, so if we have enough energy to brave the crowds, maybe we'll head there. Or else we'll just hang out around the house doing errands and maybe go out to the movies to see Moneyball. I hope to spend a little time drafting some blog posts for next week as well!

Anyone have any fun plans for the weekend or are you content just hanging around the house?

Are any of you lucky enough to have Columbus Day off?

Thankful Thursday

2011-10-06T06:30:00.000-07:00

Image Source: We Heart It

"The single greatest thing you can do to change your life today would be to start being grateful for what you have right now. And the more grateful you are, the more you get." — Oprah

I've decided to start a weekly ritual similar to the Five for Friday series that a few of my fellow bloggers participate in ( Ali @ His Birdies Nest and Monica @ C'set Law Vie to name a couple).

I'm calling it Thankful Thursday.

In the past, especially when I've been in a rut or feeling sorry for myself, I've tried to keep a daily gratitude journal. I always last for a couple of days and then sort of let the practice fall by the way side. Sometimes I would even have trouble coming up with a short list, even though I know I have TONS to be grateful for! With this weekly installment, I hope to make a habit of coming up with five things a week I'm thankful for and then just maybe, someday, I will be able to make it a daily practice.

So without further ado, the first installment of Thankful Thursday:

"I'm thankful for..

1.) A warm shower, warm PJ's, and a cuddle partner at the end of a cold, rainy day.

2.) The good health of me, my husband, family, and friends.

3.) The ability to buy The Hubs some great gifts for his birthday (hopefully one of those being a creation of Steve Jobs's, but shhhh, that's a secret!)

4.) A fun step class to go to every Tuesday and Thursday.

5.) The vision, person, and icon that was Steve Jobs. The technology we use everyday would not BE if it were not for him. RIP Steve Jobs.

And to further pay tribute to Steve Jobs... just few of his most memorable quotes:

“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.”

"Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything -- all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart. ... Stay hungry. Stay foolish."

"Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."

All quotes from -- Stanford University commencement address, June 2005.

What are you thankful for today??

Doing Things for Myself

2011-10-05T06:15:00.000-07:00

I've been following Gretchen Rubin's - The Happiness Project blog for some time. There was awhile there where I was reading books all about happiness (including The How of Happiness and Happier: Learn the Secrets to Daily Joy and Lasting Fulfillment), trying to figure out ways where I could make my life happier. At the time, work was really crappy and the unhappiness of it seemed to leak into every portion of my life.

That was before her book The Happiness Project came out and although I haven't yet read the book (I figured I would get most of the info in it on her blog), I've been filing away little tidbits of what she's learned into my daily life.

The latest thing I'm trying to incorporate to make my life (and marriage) happier was found on Tip Wednesday a couple of weeks ago.

Gretchen wrote an article about the 5 mistakes she continues to make in her marriage and even though I could identify with Every.Single.One of them, I worked on just the first one over the weekend.

I always want to be recognized for what I do around the house, something Gretchen calls "Demanding Gold Stars". Like her husband, mine is also not very good about handing them out. He normally doesn't care if the house is super tidy or that the sink is free of dirty dishes. Those are things I appreciate. So instead of getting annoyed when he doesn't do something, I've been just trying to do things for myself that I know will make me happy. For instance, this weekend The Hubs washed his car and then took it out for a drive and didn't wash mine at the same time. So while he was out, I went ahead and washed my car myself. I felt such a sense of accomplishment and it made me happy that I had a nice, sparkly car (that got rained on today!) It's the little things people! :-)

From now on I'm going to try to give myself gold stars both at home and work when I check something off a To-Do list or accomplish something I think is significant!

Image Source: The Happiness Project

The next mistake I definitely need to work on is Number 4 - Scorekeeping. I'm always keeping a tally of all the thing I'm doing around the house and I'm oblivious to the things The Hubs IS doing around the house. He gets annoyed that I only see what I do and that I don't see what he does. Anyone else have this problem?? I think if I followed the rule above about doing things for MYSELF, we'd BOTH be happier!

Are any of you guilty of one of Gretchen's "Marriage Mistakes"??

Have any of you read The Happiness Project? Is it worth reading even if you follow her blog?

Get To Know Me Better - 5 Things

2011-10-04T06:30:00.000-07:00

Here's another great "Get to Know Me" exercise that my new blogging friend Shayla posted about.

Feel free to re-post so I can get to know more about you as well! :-)

Last five people I talked to on the phone:
1. Coworker and one of my best friends about a work thing
2. The Hubs - I needed him to take ground turkey out of the freezer for dinner! See below!
3. The Hubs
4. My sister
5. My mom

Last five meals I ate:
1. Last night's dessert: A piece of spice cake (not a meal, but close enough)
2. Last night's dinner: Ground turkey tacos with a corn tortilla
3. Yesterday's lunch: Lentil chili leftovers (recipe courtesy of Brittany at A Healthy Slice of Life) and fruit
4. Yesterday's breakfast: A bowl of Organic Dark Chocolate Almond Granola Cereal and a glass of milk
5. Sunday Dinner: Sweet Tomatoes - salad, chicken noodle soup and chocolate lava cake with soft serve

Last five places I’ve traveled (or fun places I've gone!):
1. Keith Urban concert last night!
2. Cal Football game at AT&T Park
3. Seattle at the beginning of September
4. Backstreet Boys/NKOTB concert in July
5. San Luis Obispo for a spontaneous weekend away in January

Next five places I will go that I know of right now and not counting work (I added some details to make this one more interesting!):
1. 24 Hour for my FAVORITE step class
2. Grocery Store - I'm hoping I can find a Spaghetti Squash as I've been wanting to make one for awhile.
3. AT&T Park for Cal v. USC football game
4. Monterey for a Comedy Show (This is still up in the air... It would be part of The Hubs 30th B-day celebration)
5. SWE Professional Development Event

Last five workouts:
1. 30 min stationary bike (today at lunch)
2. Cleaning the house and doing laundry, which I consider a work out! hehe :-) (Saturday)
3. 1 hour step class at 24 hour fitness (Thursday)
4. 30 minutes of running on treadmill, 10 minutes of stair climber, sit-ups (Wednesday)
5. 1 hour step class at 24 hour fitness (Tuesday)

Five things making me happy right now:
1. That the weather is gloomy and getting cooler, perfect for snuggling with the Hubs and wearing warm, comforting clothes.
2. The smell of pumpkin and cinnamon (from baked goods and candles)
3. The secret I'm keeping about what I'm getting the Hubs for his 30th birthday! ;-)
4. That my BBT is FINALLY tracking like a "normal" woman.
5. That I seem to be getting back in the blogging groove and I'm connecting with even more online friends!

Sunny Seattle - Day 5 - Alki Beach & Headed Home

2011-10-03T19:50:00.000-07:00

I'm sure you're all sick of my Sunny Seattle updates, so lucky for you, we've reached the last day of our trip!

The day of our departure turned out to be the cloudiest day of the whole week. After checking out of our hotel, we only had one last place that I wanted to explore. So we got in our rental car and headed toward West Seattle, where we drove along the waterfront to Alki Beach.

There was sandy beach...

And rocky beach...

And somewhat hazy views of the Seattle skyline, but pretty none the less.

Although we had an amazing time in Seattle, once we were back in Cali, we realized we didn't really have to travel all the way to Washington for some beautiful views.

Home Sweet Home!!

** Want to see the rest of our trip Sunny Seattle??**

Sunny Seattle - Day 1 - Pioneer Square
Sunny Seattle - Day 2 - Boeing and Snoqualmie Falls
Sunny Seattle - Day 2 (Evening) - Sunset Cruise
Sunny Seattle - Day 3 - EMP, Savor Seattle & Space Needle
Sunny Seattle - Day 4 - Aquarium, Pike's Place & The Locks

Sunny Seattle - Day 4 - Aquarium, Pike's Place & The Locks

2011-10-02T13:19:00.000-07:00

We were over half way down with our trip to Seattle, but that didn't mean we weren't going to make use of our last full day.

The planner in me knew there were a couple of other attractions that we NEEDED to get to in order to make our trip to Seattle complete.

First up, was a trip to the Seattle Aquarium.

This activity was mostly for The Hubs as he LOVES fish and aquariums. We did have a great time though, learning about the fish and wildlife native to the Pacific Northwest. I must say though... for someone who has baby fever...an aquarium is NOT the place to go. So many cute kids playing in the touch pool and ooohing and ahhhing with wonder at all the new things they are experiencing! Definitely made my ovaries ache a little. hehe :-)

We then explored our way through Pike's Place Market.

WOW! So many beautiful flowers that were SOOO cheap and lots of different fruits, vegetables and of course seafood to choose from. It was a quite eclectic place with a wide variety of stores from magic shops to truffle shops to candy shops.

It was also where we peeked inside the original Starbucks. (The workers there were a bit Nazi-ish, as they wouldn't let us linger unless we were buying a drink. The line wasn't worth it so upon many people's recommendation we got our coffee at another Starbucks a block away!)

In the afternoon, we headed back to the Space Needle in order to catch the views during the day, which were also very impressive. It made me realize again how much I love all of the trees and bodies of water in Washington. Totally a place I could seem myself moving!

Our final activity for the evening, we headed back to the Locks that we had first seen from the water on our Sunset Cruise, to explore by foot. From this vantage point, we could really see what the difference in the water level was before and after the water was pumped into the Lock.

We also went to the visitor center so that we could see the salmon swimming through the fish ladder in the underground windows.

As Day 4 of our vacation came to an end, we only had a few more hours of exploring time before we had to head back to good ol' Cali...

** Need to catch up on our trip to Sunny Seattle??**

Sunny Seattle - Day 1 - Pioneer Square
Sunny Seattle - Day 2 - Boeing and Snoqualmie Falls
Sunny Seattle - Day 2 (Evening) - Sunset Cruise
Sunny Seattle - Day 3 - EMP, Savor Seattle & Space Needle