A meme. At 11:46 pm.

I'm waiting until midnight so I can register for my nursing classes for next semester because if I go to sleep and wait until tomorrow morning every class I want will be full and I'll have to take the leftovers. And I soooooooooo don't want to go to class on a Friday afternoon, ya know? So...I make myself stay up the night of registration so I can actually get the good classes. ;)

So, to kill time here are my answers to a meme posted on the scrapbook board I frequent daily. They're pretty cool questions so if you want to snag the list and do it yourself feel free! But make sure you link me to your blog so I can see your list! :)

1. I am blessed, loved, exhausted.
2. Dave knows me best.
3. I feel anxious, stressed, sleepy.
4. The most important thing in my life is my family. Always.
5. I always carry my purse (original, huh?)
6. I think therefore my brain is jampacked. ;)
7. I’m at my happiest when my son is laughing, the sun is shining and I'm spending some much needed downtime with my sweet hubby and baby boy (who is technically no longer a baby, but I'm his mom and if I wanna call him that, I will...so pssshhhh).
8. On a Monday morning, you can find me clutching my blankets, trying my damndest to convince my son through two bedroom doors and a hallway that he has plenty of toys in his room to play with and that I'll be in his room in a minute (or 5, or 10, or an hour...whatever).
9. My favorite food ingredient is garlic.
10. My eyes are hazel.
11. My favorite material possession is a letter that Dave wrote me when I was in labor with our B.
12. To relax, I like to hang out with my fellas, scrap, read, sleep.
13. The town I live in is not where I want to live for the rest of my life.
14. My worst habit is binging.
15. My guilty pleasure is Starbucks.
16. When I look at someone, the first thing I see is their eyes or smile.
17. I think that this is a repeat...hmmmm.
18. I can live without gossip.
19. I wish I had more time.
20. My life is crazy wonderful.

So go ahead. Fill this out for yourself. Reflect. And then share with me! :)

Are YOU wearing the wrong sized bra?

I have NO doubt that I probably am. Heh. So...do you wanna find out? Go here.

Total random blog post, no doubt, but it's a helpful one! ;)

5:55 pm

Make a wish! ;) I love doing that. Heh.

Anyway. So, yesterday my sister, Mike, Dave, and I all dropped the kids off at my Mom's house so that we could go see a movie. Dave and I had gone to see Talladega Nights (GREAT movie, by the way) awhile back and had seen previews for this movie called Borat. The few snipets from the movie that they showed during the previews were frickin' hysterical! I mean, the preview itself is only what...maybe 3 minutes? And Dave and I were cracking up and had decided that we needed to see this movie. So when Mike mentioned that they wanted to go see it we were all over it. ;)

So we get to the theatre, buy our tickets (Mike thought they were going to be sold out and there were like MAYBE 10 people in the theatre...lol) and sit down. Once the movie started I could pretty much tell it was going to be one of those movies. Ya know the one where there are parts SO funny that you can't breathe because you're laughing so hard? The beginning was awesome. Memorable quotes, funny scenes, the works. Then about halfway into it things started getting weird. Seriously, I have an awesome sense of humor. I can laugh at the stupidest stuff for hours on end. Really. And I, shamefully, like a good stupid, uncomfortable, morally-questionable joke just as much as the next guy, but whoa. Without spoiling it for those of you who still want to see this movie, I was pretty much shocked, offended, annoyed, and laughing all at the same time. I mean, some parts were funny to the point of gut-busting, but others you could hear the whole audience gasp in that "I cannot believe they just played that" way that you would had we been at a dinner party and someone told a bad joke, ya know? Gah.

So pretty much, I'm going on the premise that about 10% of this movie was actually really funny and about 90% of it was so stupid, lame, crude, and disgusting that it wasn't even in the same category as funny. And seriously, I like lame, crude, disgusting movies, but this one didn't even compare. Meh. So anyway...take my opinion for what you will. And then decide if you want to spend the $36 that theatres are now charging for a regular priced ticket to go see it. ;)

Now, the one GOOD redeeming quality the movie had was Sacha Baron Cohen, the main character, Borat. The guy is a friggin' comedic genius. Seriously. If you haven't seen Talladega Nights, I am BEGGING you to go rent it. lol The guy is frickin' hysterical and even though Borat fell short of what I wanted it to, it would've been off-the-radar bad had Sacha not been the main actor. ;)

Blogger loser.

That's me! Man...I'm gonna sing the same old tune I usually do, but I have been SO beyond busy. I barely have time to see my family let alone post something on my blog. But, I've been neglectful and that's not really fair to you (the reader...the SOLE reader) of this here, my blog. ;) Heh. Jokes aside, here's an update.

I've taken two tests so far in nursing and gotten A's on both. :) I missed one on the first one and two on the second. I'm pretty dang proud of myself considering the intensity of this program. It also reminds me of how insanely lucky I am to have such fantastic in-laws that provide me with the ability to even be able to go back to school, so thank you to them both!

This weekend I have quite a bit to do. I have a mid-term to study for, a group project to start, and 3 (yes, 3) papers to write. So I better get crackin', but I wanted to post a few new pics of B so you can see how insanely big he's getting! He'll be 3 in 3 weeks! Can you believe that?! Man...I feel like it was just a few weeks ago that we brought him home from the hospital. *sigh* Anyway...enjoy!

Alphabet URL

I totally stole this from a blog I frequent [thanks, Chris;)] 'cause I thought it was pretty cool! The idea is to go to the URL bar in your browser and, one at a time, type each letter of the alphabet and see what address comes up for auto-completion (p.s. cool word, btw!). So here is my list:

A - abc.go.com (Grey's Anatomy link)
B - babiesnbellies.com
C - cafepress.com
D - davenporthouse.com
E - ebay.com
F - fairfaxcounty.gov/library
G - gap.com
H - health.discovery.com
I - ikea.com
J - jaimewarren.typepad.com
K - kaitlynspromise.com (I respectfully request that you visit this site. There is some very pertinent information regarding drug use if you have children that you NEED to know. Thank you.)
L - learn.vccs.edu
M - macharlaz.blogspot.com
N - nationalalertregistry.com
O - obgyn.net
P - pagemaps.com
Q - qbaroo.com
R - radiology.rsnajnls.org
S - samsspotontheweb.blogspot.com
T - target.com
U - us.pampers.com
V - vaccineinformation.org
W - wbshop.com
X - Nothin'!
Y - www.yahoomail.com
Z - Nothin'!

That was fun! Cool to see what pages pop up...now you go!

Litterbug.

Dave, Bradley, Uncle Chris, and Samantha all went to the park near our new house yesterday so the Mommies could get some studying done. Check out the cool litterbug sign that Uncle Chris stumbled upon...
















Isn't that the coolest sign you've ever seen!? Heh. :)

Cassie.

Cassie is gone. She had been deteriorating so quickly over the last few months and my mom decided it was time to put her down. As difficult as it was for me, I agreed with her. Our poor puppy had been suffering so badly lately. She could barely walk, my mom had to carry her outside just so she could go to the bathroom, she would fall immediately upon standing up and she wasn't steady on her feet so when she walked anywhere she would fall. :( It was gut-wrenching to watch.

It's so difficult to make a decision like this. I can only imagine how difficult it was for my mom. We got Cassie when I was twelve. When my parents got divorced shortly after that Cassie was my mom's rock. She lived with her and followed her around everywhere! Dogs KNOW when their owner isn't happy. Cassie was like that with my mom. She would snuggle up with her, sleep on her bed at night, cuddle with her on the couch...anywhere my mom was, Cassie was. She was an awesome, awesome dog. She will be greatly missed. Love you, Cass!

....

Do you ever have one of those days where you just don't know how to respond about anything. It just seems like all in one day people come up with stuff that kind of baffles you and you're not real sure what to say or even if you should say anything?

Cryptic, yes. But so true! So I usually just keep quiet. For my sake and theirs. ;)

My wish

So I'm sitting here at my desk thinking about when B was little. I mean really little. A baby who didn't walk, didn't talk, who needed me and depended on me for everything. To an extent he still does, but lately he's become this big ol' ball of independence. He even wants to dress himself lately. He wants to put his own shoes on and other little things that I would've done for him less than a year ago.

It's awesome. It really is. Watching him grow into a little guy who wants "privacy" and who is trying to learn to write and who wants to do "homework" just like Mommy. It's just so fun! I love this stage! But I also miss the baby stage. I soooo miss snuggling up with him as he falls asleep. Now he won't sit with me for more than 2 seconds before he wants to get up and play. Or do something. Anything but sit still! And all of this got me thinking...there are so many things I wish and hope for for this little guy. And really...as sappy and lame as it sounds, I couldn't put it in any better words than Rascal Flatts. ;) So I'll let them do the talking. If you can find a link online to listen to this song (and yes it's country, but it's awesome) do it! It's so heartwarming and totally makes me tear up everytime I hear it.

For you, B. I love you.


Artist/Band: Rascal Flatts
Song: My Wish
Album: Me & My Gang

I hope that days come easy and moments pass slow,and each road leads you where you want to go,and if you're faced with a choice, and you have to choose,I hope you choose the one that means the most to you.and if one door opens to another door closed,I hope you keep on walkin' till you find the window,if it's cold outside, show the world the warmth of your smile,more then anything, more then anything,

My wish, for you, is that this life becomes all that you want it,to your dreams stay big, and your worries stay small,You never need to carry more then you can hold,and while you're out there getting where you're getting to,I hope you know somebody loves you, and wants the same things too,Yeah, this, is my wish.

I hope you never look back, but ya never forget,all the ones who love you, in the place you left,I hope you always forgive, and you never regret, and you help somebody every chance you get,Oh, you find God's grace, in every mistake,and you always give more then you take.Oh More then anything, Yeah, and more then anything,

My wish, for you, is that this life becomes all that you want it,to your dreams stay big, and your worries stay small,You never need to carry more then you can hold,and while you're out there getting where you're getting to,I hope you know somebody loves you, and wants the same things too,Yeah, this, is my wish.

Message in a bottle...yea.

Check this out! Leave it to 2peas to get me addicted to something else...yet again.

This is one of the coolest little websites I've come across. And one of the most addicting...Oceangram.

*sigh*

I am so tired! We are finally moved in (with the exception of a few little things at the old place that my sweet husband is picking up today) and can start unpacking! I hate the packing/unpacking process but at least with unpacking you're not on a deadline. So seriously, if I don't ever want to unpack, I don't have to. ;)

I'm also BEYOND excited about having an actual "scrap area." No more scrapping in the dining room for me! ;) I've come up with so many ideas that I want to try out to make my area more efficient, this being one of them. How friggin' cute is that?? Leave it to Pottery Barn to make me want to empty my already empty wallet. ;)

I'm thinkin' if I'm really nice to him, I can ask D to build one for me. :) So there's so much stuff I want to do I have no idea where to start. But I *love* collecting ideas. It's what I do best. Heh. Implementing those ideas, though...yea, notsomuch.

Anyway. Homework is killing me. Nursing school starts in 17 days, and I am freaking out. I feel like I'm drowning in homework! I can't wait until my last day of work so I can just stay home and study all the time! lol Seriously, as crazy as that sounds, that's all I want to do. Well, that and scrap, but I have no time! So yea, I just want to be at home right now studying and reading since classes start in less than 3 weeks. OMG. *sigh*

Wish me luck!

Ten people I'd like to meet

So I was reading a blog I frequent every now and then and his entry for today was the top ten people he would like to meet. Since my brain is pretty fried right now I'll just tell you about one of my top ten today. Maybe after nursing school I'll tell you about the rest. ;)

Alton Brown. He is one of the most clever, fun, interesting, informative people to listen to. He is a culinary genius and just an all around smart guy. He's so fun to watch and you can find him on the Food Network. One of my favorite things about him is that he can make ANYTHING interesting. His show, Good Eats, on the Food Network delves into a specific food on each episode. Last week: water. Yes, water. He had an entire 30 minute show on water. I missed it, but it was only part 1 of a 2 part show. On water. So I'll watch the second part this Wednesday. It's gotta be good if it's 2 parts! :)

He's also got a new show coming out: Feasting on Asphalt. The name alone should tell you this guy is cool. He travels through 19 states dining at little eateries, talking to strangers, and enjoying the hospitality of the "little guy." Basically he vists towns in which a Wal-Mart would look out of place. Gotta love that!

Now, on to the sad thing about Alton Brown. He will be in D.C. on July 24 and his show...yea...it's friggin' SOLD OUT!!!! :( He'll be doing a book signing and an illustrated lecture about his travels recording Feasting on Asphalt. I had no idea he was going to be here and now that I know he will be, I can't get tickets! :( So, I'm thinking MAYBE the online tickts are sold out and I can go buy some at the door. ;) Or at least get a glimpse. I have a list. Of 100 things I want to do before I die. Meeting Alton Brown is on it and by golly that *will* be crossed off my list. Wish me luck!

Oh, and check out Alty (my nickname for him). ;) You won't regret it!

Time.

Ok, so it's been what...weeks since I last posted, right? Ugh. I've been soooo insanely busy! The homebuying process blows! There is so much paperwork and so much jargon and not enough time and too much money and not enough patience and on and on and on. I can't stand it! I just want it to be over and I want to be moved in. Really, at one point I was ready to just friggin' quit and stay in my tiny little apartment forever. I mean really, who cares? We don't pay for gas we don't pay for water or trash removal or anything. Just electric. I'm cool with that. It's better on my end. But then B won't have a yard to play in and we won't have anything to call our own and we won't have any walls to paint and let me tell you I am TIRED of white walls. Everything in my new place will be painted! Bright, colorful, cheery colors! Our living room will be red and the kitchen will be orange for starters. ;)

So enough of the house. Great news for my girl Jaime Warren! I am so so so happy for you, sweetness!!! :) Congratulations a million times over! She hasn't been on 2peas lately and I miss her, but I just wanted to let her know how happy I was for her.

So nursing school starts in about a month and a half and I'm nervous. WAY nervous, actually. I have to have 200+ pages read by the first day of class and I'm already taking 2 classes right now. Thankfully I will have gone to part time by the time nursing school actually starts so that won't be too much of a concern, but I'm drained. I wish I could spend one day NOT doing homework. ;) But I know that won't happen until I've graduated, so for now I'm just going to study until I pass out. Heh. Wish me luck!

Whew.

Seriously, I think this is the busiest I have *ever* been in my life! I haven't blogged in ages and so many things are going on I'm surprised I've even found time to sleep let alone post!

So, what's going on...it's probably easier for me to make a list:

1. I got into nursing school!! YAY ME! I'm nervous and excited and blown away! Classes start August 21 so wish me luck...I'm going to need it. ;)

2. We bought a house! FINALLY! It'll be so nice to get out of tiny apartments once and for all! I'll have pics up soon once I can get back over there. I believe we'll be closing near the end of this month, so keep your fingers crossed!

3. Dave has joined the gym with me. :) We *are* going to get healthy...as a family...together. That's what needs to happen. I've come to the realization (finally) that I can't do this on my own.

4. My homework is bogging me down. It's interesting stuff, but MAN is it intense. I've almost cracked a few times.

5. Packing, packing, packing. *sigh*

6. TRYING desperately to find time to scrap. I need to keep my creative outlet alive lest my homework bury me to the point of no return.

7. I finally quit my job. Well, I gave notice anyway. The nursing program doesn't want us working anymore than 20 hours/week, so I put in my 2 months notice. My last day will be August 15. I can finally breathe! :)

8. But now I have to find a part time job. :( Any ideas?

9. Trying to pick out cheap, fun decorating stuffs for the new place. If you have any cool ideas, PLEASE let me know!

10. Started a family-type book club thingy. There was a list posted on 2peas (1001 books to read before you die) that I'd love to try and get through and a few of the girls in my fam have agreed to join the challenge with me! :)

Ok, for now this is a good list. I have to go fill my prescription for the valium I'm to take before I get my wisdom teeth pulled tomorrow. *gulp* Wish me luck!

Aaaaaaaand it's official.

We're looking at houses!! :) With a very sweet hook-up from one of the clients I work for we'll be able to afford a house, so Dave and I have started looking! We took home three binders yesterday which had tons of pics of three little houses in our area. Of course I put them on my computer and forgot to upload them to Shutterfly so I don't have any pics to post. Yea, I suck. I'll get them up though, I swear.

Anyway. We're both beyond excited but freaking out at the possibility of home ownership. There is SO much that goes into this process and it's overwhelming. Especially considering that we've been paying rent for 6+ years. It'll be so awesome to actually OWN something though, ya know?

Ok, so since I know squat about houses I need to know stories. Bad stories, good stories, tips, ideas, decorating ideas ('cause God knows I'll need it), etc. So get to talking people. Tell me anything I need to know about houses. :)

Oh, p.s. I *still* haven't gotten a letter from NOVA about the freakin' nursing program. Have I told you I'm the antsiest (is that a word?) person alive! This is KILLING me!!! Ugh.

Ugh.

Yea, so I don't know what to blog about today. heh. :) I mean, I do, but I can't reveal it yet. ;) I'm just so...stressed, I guess. I'm at a point in my life where I'm being pulled in more than one direction and I don't really know which way is the right way. Or if there even IS a right way, ya know? I'm totally going to ramble in this post, so be prepared...

I have SO many options on what I can do with my life right now. So many paths I can take, and yet I am so TORN on what to do. Which path? When is the right time? Which do I do first? *sigh* I know I sound confusing and that's probably because I, myself, am full-on confused. I wish I had one of those cool wheel thingys that you spin (kinda like on Wheel of Fortune) and it just chooses a path for you. I am NOT a good decision maker. I hate having to put pieces together to make a whole. I just want the answer and I want it now. I'm VERY impatient. I'm also very unreasonable. I want both. I want it all. But I don't think I can. As an adult, a mother, a wife, a HUMAN, I don't know if I can have it all. At least right now. :( And that kinda pisses me off. It goes back to the whole "I'm impatient and unreasonable" thing I was talking about.

*sigh* So here I sit...torn in my decision on what to do. What paths to take. When to take them. Who to tell. It's kind of annoying, honestly. I just wish my brain would go "oh hey, Steph, by the way...here's what we're going to do." But that isn't going to be the case...obviously.

So for the meantime I'll wait. And see what happens. And talk to my husband. And hopefully, HOPEFULLY, be able to work out the angst in my mind on what I should do.

Thanks for listening to me ramble. ;)

Love, love, love!

I LOVE my son. LOVE him. To itty bitty bits and sometimes it knocks the breath out of me. Had the coolest conversation with him this morning on the way to school (i.e. daycare):

Bradley: (giggling) Mommy, do you know why I'm happy?
Me: No, Bradley...why are you happy?
Bradley: Because I'm happy and silly and I mixed them together!

Ok, seriously, when he said that I think my heart exploded a little. CUTEST thing ever! And some days he can do no wrong and he's the cutest thing ever! LOVE this little guy!!

TV

Today on 2peas, Sophia issued a blog challenge: name your top 10 all time favorite TV shows, the top 10 shows you've never really cared for, and any other thoughts on TV that you might have. So I'm dedicating today's entry to Stevie the TV. ;)

Here goes:

Top ten favorite shows (in no particular order):
1. Grey's Anatomy
2. ER
3. Friends
4. Good Eats
5. Iron Chef
6. Scrubs
7. Desperate Housewives
8. Law & Order: SVU
9. Babies: Special Delivery
10. Everyday Italian

Ten shows that do NOTHING for me (again, in no particular order):
1. Everybody Loves Raymond
2. The Wiggles (*shiver*)
3. 7th Heaven
4. Charmed
5. The George Lopez Show
6. The Andy Milonakis (or however the heck you spell it) Show
7. The Man Show
8. Six Feet Under
9. Alias
10. Survivor

I'm sure there are tons more on both lists, but my brain is fried and she specified 10, so I'm sticking with that.

As far as my thoughts on TV go...I like TV. I do. There are TONS of great shows on (see first list above), the TV is a great source of information (i.e. CNN, the news, etc.), you can even come up with funky names for your TV (ours is Stevie...c/o Joey from Friends). However...the TV can also be a bad thing. It can be just another addition to the big ol' melting pot that *is* addiction. You watch too much, you stop spending as much time with your 3dimensional friends and family as you do with Stevie and at some point you even get that groove in your couch from too much watching i.e. Homer Simpson. It can get bad.

So...as much as I like TV it's good to turn it off every once and awhile and do something to interact with the outside world. Read (*gasp*), spend time with your friends and family, get some exercise, study, scrap...whatever. But don't make TV your life. ;)

p.s. My sister will be appearing on the show Close to Home as Kayla Philby on CBS this friday at 9. Don't miss it!!! How's that for irony? ;) Pot, meet kettle.

Ok, enough about TV. Now I wanna talk about living. Where you live...where you don't ever want to live...where you think you'd like to live... I'm not usually a blog stalker (except for Miss Sara W. I seriously hope I don't scare her off) but I checked out Heidi Swapp's blog the other day and she had gotten some fantastic family photos near her home in what looks like Arizona, and it got me thinking. I would really LOVE to visit Arizona. Love it. And Texas! I hate Virginia. Well, I hate Northern Virginia. It's so damn stuffy and expensive here and I'm tired of it. I want to be somewhere with some cool history. Not saying VA doesn't have that, but I would love to go to Texas or Arizona and just be, ya know? Tumbleweeds (heh), BBQ, heat, those cool roofs (ya know..the clay ones that are like pink or turquoise and stuff)...it just seems like they're both such interesting places to be!! Maybe I'll visit first...I'm pretty sure some people wouldn't like it if we just up and left, ya know? heh. ;)

So hey...if you live in Arizona or Texas, tell me about it...what's it like?? And if you have pictures, even better!! Share with me!

Ok. I'm nervous.

Wow. I don't know what it was about today, but it just hit me: I'm going to be a nurse!

If all goes well and I get accepted into the nursing program in the fall, I start classes in August. *AUGUST*. That's 3 months away. That means in 3 months, when I start clinicals that I'll be semi-responsible for someone elses life. A lot of someone elses lives. Yikes.

What if I don't remember what I learned in A&P? What if I screw up? What if? What if? What if? ACK! Ok, well I'm just going to stop thinking about it 'cause I haven't even gotten an acceptance letter yet. lol. I have to chill. ;)

Changing the subject... I got my new scrapologie kit a few days ago and have been picking it apart and playing with it. I seriously love that kit club! One of the coolest things about it is that Sara Winnick is a DT member over there. She is so insanely talented and knows her way around some scrapping supplies, let me tell ya. ;) Her photography is amazing, her personality is amazing, her kids are amazing, her house is amazing (I'm not a stalker, I swear...she had pics of her house on her blog. Scouts honor). She's the scrapper you admire and wish you could emulate when it comes time for you to scrap. The one where you sit down, look at your pics and supplies and go "ok, now how would Sara Winnick approach this?" heh. I wonder if she'd let me call her so I can ask her the next time that I scrap if she wouldn't mind helping me with a layout. ;) What'd ya think?

And now...for a few fun pictures...just 'cause. ;) Aren't these action shots cool? I'm trying to learn more about my camera so I can actually learn to take decent pics a la Sara W. ;) heh.

My sister's famous!

Yay! Yay! Yay! OMG I am phlipping out! My sweet little baby (20 year-old) sister is going to be on TV! :) There's a show on CBS called "Close to Home" and she's gonna be on it!

Linkage

If you look near the bottom of the list for the name "Kayla Philby" you'll see it. That's her! :) Well, Haley Webb is "her" but she'll be playing Kayla Philby. I am so incredibly excited for her! This is her dream. This is what she wants to do and it's playing out for her! I could NOT be more thrilled! (Thus the increase in !'s throughout my post...meh.)

YAY for you Haley!! I love you so much! Congratulations, girl! :) I miss and love you oodles! xoxo