Funny...

Okay so we are going to a church that is in a building that was formerly a gym. So I go to the bathroom today and was surprised to find showers!! I had a little chuckle then I hurried out to go continue in worship.

Quote Schmote

" Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they we're to success when they gave up."

I like this quote. Even if it is impossible to know how many of those people would have actually succeeded. I think its just making a point that many success stories had stories of failure before but they didn't give up. I look at the quote backwards and it makes sense to me :-)

Oatmeal

I am OBSESSED with having oatmeal in the mornings. Have you ever looked at the serving size?? 1/2 cup of oatmeal (I think 140 calories or 110) makes a HUGE amount once prepared. I love this. I love the warm feeling it gives me as it goes down my throat and I love that it keeps me full and satisfied.

Each morning I wake up...

I have never considered myself a coffee person. Sure, I can really enjoy a $3.50 warm espresso drink that has barely any coffee in it. But on a normal morning, I can absolutely do fine getting up and moving around with no coffee. Lately though, I have been enjoying my coffee in the mornings. Of course it has plenty of creamer and 1 splenda. And I request that Adam makes the coffee mild. But, nonetheless...I do wake up in the morning and think of my cup of coffee. We'll see how long this habit lasts...

That dirty scoundrel....

My sweet husband surprised me with an early birthday gift- he had gotten some people to go in on a pair of new ski boots for me since my old pair was really crummy last year. He figured he didn't want me suffering in those boots again. What a great idea, right? Well, I scurried around the week before our trip here and we bought a pair of boots from a ski specialty shop in Santa Monica (its been around for years...and seemed trustworthy etc etc.)
Now, fast forward to our first day of skiing...I am in pain. I took my boots off at the end of the day and had big sore red marks all around my ankle. By day 2 it was almost unskiable and I had to ditch everyone on the mountain for a couple hours to see if anyone at the base could make some boot adjustments. The boot guy was awesome and made some adjustments but he goes- this boot model hasn't been sold in years. Its at least 6 years old. (!?!??!?!). UGH.
SO ya, I am a bit frustrated and once again shocked at the dishonesty in society. This is ridiculous. And of course, the store offers store credit only (or so they say....Adam is going to have a "come to Jesus" moment with them when we get back). Talk about a disappointment and a hassle.

That being said- We have had some of the best days of skiing I have ever had in my life. The snow has been amazing (fresh powder every morning) and I am a happy girl...just don't like being taken advantage of.

Winter Olympics....

So, I love the Olympics. SO. MUCH. I get this crazy feeling inside + goose bumps + mental obsession. We are in Park City, UT right now and one of the cool things about this city (besides the picturesque scenery and skiing) is that it hosted the 2002 Winter Olympics. This isn't an over & done kind of deal. There are reminders of it all over the place. WE visited the Olympic Park and could see where many events took place. Still today at all the different ski resorts there are important competitions that will qualify athletes to participate in the Olympics this year. Its pretty cool. We are going to see the snowboarding competition that will be the finals for who gets to be on the Olympic team this year.
....Then, on top of that...Sundance is coming to town tomorrow. It sounds like fun but we aren't going to any of the movies this year. But it takes over the whole city practically.

"Cha cha cha CHANGES"

Well, I have some semi-big news to announce. After much thought and prayer etc etc....I have decided to take on a new position as a Home Health RN and leave my job at the hospital. There were so many things I liked about the hospital: working with pregnant women and babies, my co workers, my manager, the excitement of finally being a nurse...but as time went on I found myself dreading every single shift. Much of this was due to working night shift for 18 months. I am NOT a night person at all. But as I seriously thought about the changes that day shift would bring, there were just as many negatives as positives. I was starting to regret my choice to become a nurse and was feeling trapped in my career. I began wishing I could do other jobs and then finally realized that a home health nurse had a similar schedule to the other jobs that sounded interesting to me. There are almost assuredly going to be some negatives to this job as well that I will find out when I start working but for now, I am excited to do something TOTALLY different and utilize different nursing skills. I think it will make me a more well rounded nurse.
Anyway, I could go on and on..but basically I decided it was time for a change!
I put in my 2 weeks notice to work yesterday and my wonderful manager seemed sad but said that I was leaving on good terms and would be eligible for re-hire should that be something I desire in the future.
I'm excited and nervous to see what the future brings. WE SHALL SEE!!!

Discipline

I've been thinking about the word "discipline" for awhile. Sometimes I think I could use more discipline in many different areas of my life. When I listed them all off to Adam the other day (we were talking about New Years Resolutions" he said that I should probably just pick one or two and not EVERY single thing :-0. I have already been more disciplined at exercise and eating-check.

One thing that I absolutely STINK at is just tackling the dishes in the kitchen. I will let them pile up for a long time before I do them. It stresses me out and when I actually just go for it they don't take too long so I don't know what the huge mental block is.

I am not making one big grandiose resolution this year but I plan on making some changes- almost all of them revolving around the word discipline. I plan to focus on this word in different areas of my life as needed, and hopefully it will become more natural to me :-)

Step 1: For 1 month I am promising to myself to clean the kitchen of dishes/load dishwasher every night sometime before I go to bed. I'm hoping after 1 month of this it becomes an easy habit.

So that's it! Stay tuned for more updates....

Birthday Month

January is my birthday month. My favorite thing about this is all the things you get from various stores/restaurants that give you a discount or free-something during your birthday month. Sometimes when I am at stores I like and I see that sign-up card I think about forging my birthday to a closer month so that I can get a discount right away. (I don't).
Last year by far the best was a free day at Disneyland! Adam skipped work and we went together. It was so fun (and shocking) to see how many fellow Southern Californians shared my birthday! I love Disneyland and am sad that they did not continue this special offer for 2010...boo hoo!
PS- it took me a minute to realize that I was not making the "peace" sign in the picture above. I believe its "23" but it looks like "32" in the picture!

Still feeding the squirrels??

For Christmas my Dad's brother gave him a bird feeder that prevents squirrels from accessing the bird food. Later, he apparently asked my dad if he was still feeding the squirrels or not. My dad took this picture in his backyard and emailed it back as the answer to the question. It looks like the resident squirrels are doing JUST FINE!!! (it IS cold season you know, they need their vitamin C!!)...

Pssstt!!

I'll let you in on some Amy secrets once in awhile. Well, not really secrets...just random little things about me.
1. I do not like having 1 sock on, 1 sock off...or 1 sock 1/2 off....these things really aggravate me and must be remedied when they occur.
2. I shamelessly (okay, well maybe there is a little shame there) enjoy most reality tv. I am thankful for Tivo since now I can record random stupid reality T.V shows and then watch them commercial free while doing dirty housework (laundry, cooking, cleaning etc!). Even a couple weeks ago I watched my first Keeping up with the Kardashian episode...I must admit I think I like it since we live near Calabasas. I find it intriguing. Plus I like Bruce Jenner. I also have some compulsion to watch every single season of The Bachelor/Bachelorette. I will continue to do this until the show gets canceled. . .
3. I am not sure if cancelled is spelled canceled or cancelled....I thought it was the latter but it always gets spell checked.
4. I prefer carbs to sweets....but I will probably take either if they are offered.
5. I name all our blankets in the house and we ALWAYS refer to them that way: "whitey", "purple", "yellow"...they are almost my friends.

that's it for now! . . . stay tuned for more shocking, scandalous revelations!!!

a perfect day

I dont know when it started but every since we started dating we have always enjoyed car rides together. Maybe it was because our first date included a 40 minute car ride. Who knows. I love our talks on car rides. And our car rides always include listening to music. Good music- of all types. Country, smooth jazz, rock, worship, rap, hip hop, dance, classical....its all good and its all fair game in our car.
On Sunday morning on our early morning walk to Coffee Bean to get some coffee (yes, I'm addicted) Adam said "hey, do you want to drive to Big Bear today for a day trip?. The answer, of course, was yes! We had never been there together and it was an absolutely gorgeous day. We are talking bright blue skies with streaks of white clouds. We had some good music, a new car, and open minds so off on our way we went. *yes, we played hookie from church* The day was great. Big Bear was beautiful. But my favorite part??? You guessed it. The DRIVE :-)

Eggs

I love my husband very much. He knows this. But he especially knows it when I make him breakfast in the morning....a hot breakfast of scrambled eggs. You see, to me, scrambled eggs are a luxury; a saturday morning feast if you will. I usually have something small like yogurt, cottage cheese, pb on toast, or oatmeal, etc. Sometimes just a nonfat latte will do the trick. But Adam likes very few of these options (1/4 actually) and also requires something that "sticks to the bones" more. Eggs seem to do the trick. I don't know why I don't make them for him everyday...but I should start doing it more often than I do. Last week I got it all together and made him eggs I think every morning before work (thank goodness it was a short week). This week I am 0 for 2. Today I purchased more eggs and will get back to doing it for him. Because I love him and he works very hard for us. (Evidenced by the fact that he got up at 5am to do devotions and get to work, worked all day, drove 2 hours total, and came home to do graduate work.)Now he is asleep on the couch- I don't blame him, that financial text book he is reading is BOOOORRRRING. I will not wake him up quite yet...I think he needs the rest. Maybe if I'd have made him eggs this morning he would have more energy to stay awake. :-0

A-Musing

Well, I think I am back to the blogging world. I have always wondered if it was really lame to blog when you don't have a family to blog about...but hey, I like it! I love reading other people's blogs and I hope that at some point in my blogging career people like to read mine too! I have noticed other people in my same life-stage blogging too so I figure...why not! Even if no one reads mine I can imagine that they do...and it is like some sort of a journal.
Some people who blog are extremely open and make themselves vulnerable. I love reading those blogs but I am not sure that I am quite there yet... maybe in some ways but not others. I also am not very talented in the art of designing the blog...uploading pictures, fancy links, and backgrounds...I hope to get better at this too! Maybe with just a little more effort...

SO! here's to my 2nd (or 3rd....or something) attempt at being a "blogger"... we'll see!
-AMES