Becoming the woman you were meant to be!

"You are becoming the woman you were meant to be."

My mom used to say this ALL.THE.TIME. She believed when you reached adulthood and started making decisions or changes it meant you were working toward becoming who you were always meant to be. I never really believed this or gave in to her wise words (sassy daughter, I know!).

However, these days I have been making some changes and bold moves in my life.  I feel as though I am actually becoming who I was always meant to be and wanted to be.  Instead of dreaming about the type of woman I want to be I am making it happen!

I am taking more risks. 

Discussing big life changes with my husband (not children). 

Defining my opinions and beliefs.

Started this blog. Attended a blogger Happy Hour and a blogger social event.

Taking a chance on friendships I have had differing opinions about.

Putting up with less nonsense.  

Standing up for myself. 

Discovering my voice.

For the first time in my entire life I finally am starting to feel like an adult!  I know, I have technically been an adult since turning eighteen, but I have never seen myself as one.  Just ask my husband...all throughout our dating relationship he was trying to convince me that I AM an adult.  This is a weird concept to me even though I have been making adult decisions and living an independent life for the past eight years.

I am finally at the point in my life where I feel accomplished, satisfied, and genuinely happy. This has been a process of growth and change, but I am learning to love every single thing about my life and change what I do not like.

Cheers to adulthood! 

Happy Birthday Harvie!

My adorable little puppy fur child tuns ONE today! I cannot believe how fast this year has gone and how much she has enriched our lives. It is impossible for me to imagine there was ever a time when I was hesitant and nervous about adding her to our family.  

Harvie, I love...

your scent

your breath on my arm

the way you climb up my body to lick my face

how you then lick my face nonstop

how you tilt your head when I talk to you

how you jump to get into my arms

how much your tail wags the closer I get to you

your huge brown eyes

your white belly

when your body turns to mush when you're exhausted

how much you love to cuddle

when you crawl under the covers in the middle of the night

your loud snores

your big sighs as though your life is tough

how excited you always are to see me

how you go crazy when I open the treat drawer

when you bring me your toy to play

and when i resist you put your toy on my hand

how much you shake your head during tug-of-war

when you paw at my hand to keep petting you
how you bury your toys under pillows

watching you grow! 

Happy First Birthday Harvie!

Blake Lively Is My Best Friend!

I absolutely adore Blake Lively. 

Via

In my opinion she is beautiful, classy, and embodies a real woman.  I have been in awe of her since the first time we saw her on Gossip Girl in the train station as Serena Van Der Woodsen. 

Via

I like to imagine that we would be best friends. We would shop together, text daily, and on weekends have dinner parties with our husbands.  She just so happens to be married to the most beautiful man (aside from my husband, of course) Ryan Reynolds. So, if he happens to be shirtless at our dinner parties I doubt anyone would complain. 

Via

While I know very little of her actual life I imagine it is fabulous! The woman is gorgeous, loves to cook, and is married to Ryan Reynolds. I don't think life can get much better than being Blake Lively.  

Perfection

Beautiful Couple!

Cheers to the fabulous life of Blake Lively!

San Diego County Fires

My hometown is on fire. Currently, there are 8 fires in the surrounding areas where I live. It seems so weird to me that life just goes on while homes, businesses, and fields burn down.  My heart breaks hearing about these stories and watching the news updates. I can't handle watching the news broadcast a home burning away. Home is where the heart is...this is someone's home, someone's heart. The memories, comfort, safety, and not to mention possessions are taken away by fire. Huge, hot, orange blazes just taking out someone's life. This may seem dramatic, but imagine for just a second that it is your house going up in flames. It's unbelievable! You feel so helpless, but there is nothing you can do.  Some people are able to grab a few things and evacuate whereas others are not so fortunate.

The brave firemen are working hard in the heat and police men are manning the streets for traffic and closures. Local businesses set up areas of refuge for families and their pets. But, how do you even decide what to take in the few moments you do have to gather items? I can't imagine leaving my house knowing it could all be gone by morning.

These homes are beautiful. Some are newly built custom homes. Someone recently reached their dream just to have it burned down to embers. Where do you even begin to go from here? How do you start over, rebuild, repurchase?

I feel incredibly fortunate that my home and my family member's homes are not in danger. Not yet anyway. But this is scary and shocking.

All photos taken from 10 news where you can see others and read about it

Cheers to praying for relief, safety, firefighters, and families! 

Lessons I've Learned on One Leg

After 6 days of nothing but laying with my foot up I am finally healing.  I am now slowly getting back into rock climbing...and by rock climbing, I mean walking up and down stairs. Definitely no more crutches for me and I am working at strengthening my ankle.

Seriously, it's tough not being mobile and able to take care of myself. I've been relying on my servant sweet and patient husband for many things this week. But it has only been one week and I am OVER having a hurt ankle.

However, I have learned a few valuable lessons from having one leg.

1. Mastery of the Flamingo
          I am really good at imitating a flamingo. No seriously, put me in all pink and I bet you can't pick me out of the flock.
2. A Weight Loss Solution 
          It is way too much of a challenge to hobble or crutch into the kitchen, so I just skip it all together. Besides, once I got there it's not like I would be able to stand to cook something anyway. Although, I may need to re-injure my ankle to finally reach my goal weight.
3. Mom vs. Husband
          When you hurt yourself your mom practically orders a helicopter ambulance to get you to the doctor to diagnose her precious baby immediately. Whereas, husbands reluctantly go to the doctor with you all the while trying to convince you you don't need medical attention and will be just fine.
4. People Stare
          While I would like to believe people are looking at my fabulous daily outfit...the three day old sweats and unwashed hair prove otherwise.
5. The Vow "in sickness and in health" has Meaning
          Now that the hubby is forced to cook, clean up, and listen to my every command (get me ice, grab my phone, throw Harvie's ball) he is VERY helpful and accommodating.  Again, I may need to consider hurting my ankle all over just to keep up this service!

Cheers to a week on one leg!

Curbs, Crutches, and Ankles...Oh My!

On Saturday night Chris and I went to dinner with my parents. We gifted them a staycation for their wedding anniversary and they graciously invited us to join them for dinner.  After dinner and checking out their hotel room we left. I walked out of the hotel feeling like a badass because I just covertly stole two free lollipops from the front desk.  I was so stealth I'm already being recruited for my next mission. Stay tuned for that ;).

Meanwhile, we went to the car and I stepped off the curb to get into the car only suddenly I was on the ground.  I had no idea what happened, but was surprised and quickly realized the ground was slanted not flat leading to my fall.  Chris picked me up and put me in the car where I immediately felt pain in my ankle. I made him take off my boot because I figured my ankle would swell and there would be no chance of getting my boot off later.

When we got home I put my foot up, added ice, and took some ibuprofen.  Sunday morning my ankle was huge, bruised, and I could not walk on it without pain. We I debated going to urgent care, but figured I would give it a day or two more and see. After Google searching and realizing my foot needed to be amputated immediately, I decided to go to urgent care first thing in the morning to have my ankle checked out.

Swollen ankle

Turns out it's just a sprain. I was given a brace and crutches and told to stay off of it and in about 6 weeks I should be healed.  Um, excuse me? 6 weeks?!  My life requires two legs and I have a trip planned in a week I CANNOT be out of commission for six long weeks.

At urgent care

My husband aka Dr. Chris claims he could have told me the same thing and saved us an expensive trip to the doctor, but I just wasn't satisfied with that option.  However, I have been following orders with keeping my leg elevated all day long and doing as little walking as possible.  Luckily, my work is flexible and has allowed me to work from home. The downside is that being in bed for five days straight is b o r i n g!! Hopefully, this won't actually last six weeks.

My home office for the week

Bright Side: a lot of time to paint my nails and tons of cuddles with Harvie 

Cheers to curbs and sprained ankles?!

Home Grown Country Music Girl

Growing up my parents listened to county music and since they employed the "my radio, my choice" rule in the car (seriously, who does that?!) I learned to like country music too.  Hearing some songs sends me right back to my childhood and the days of living in Long Beach. For a short period of time I hated that these feelings and memories came back...so much so I started to hate listening to country music.  It wasn't that I had a bad childhood or anything, but for some reason I didn't like the emotions that came over me.  Eventually, I got over that, thank you Lord, and now love love love country music.  

These two particular songs take me right back to being a little blonde haired eight year old playing with my sister in the yard on a warm summer day.  Instead of feeling sad, these days I savor the memories.  

Toby Keith- Should Have been a cowboy

Trisha Yearwood- XXX's and OOO's (An American Girl)

Cheers to childhood memories!