Work. Tired. Exhaustion. Master's. Tired. Puppy. Tired.

I feel like this is my first ever blog post. Can I just say that I absolutely despise not having the time to be with my blog family anymore? Things are kind of insane here on my end!

I'm working now. Like every weekend. Like every day. Bedtime has its perks, I tell ya. Not mine, of course, but all of my crazy kids. Only 90 more hours of work to go. Unfortunately, I say that on a consistent basis, with no end in sight. Working this much and getting my Master's is no fun at all. But hey: I'm married. To the most wonderful man in the world, at that.

Lots of new things: my dad is semi-walking (!), we have a new puppy (please see the end of the most previous post for a laugh), and we're getting ready to move into a new apartment (hopefully the last apartment before house...and baby!).

I'd write more, but my ability to focus on things for an extended period of time has certainly dwindled. One free second and my eyes are convinced it's sleep time.

Until next time!

xoxoxox

Procrastination.

I'm blogging instead of doing homework. How...expected. I'm recovering from 5 days of gross, leaky, mucus-y sickness; enjoying my last three days of my "5 day weekend" week. I have to say that I really do enjoy only working two days out of the seven. It makes working two, back to back 16 hour shifts totally worth it!

Today I've managed to wake up before noon, hygiene, wash the dishes, clean the house, and write about 20 words of my discussion post for coursework. Which is more than I can say for the last two days I've been home. The past two days mostly consisted of waking up, brushing my teeth, and then going back to bed. But now I'm watching Pitbulls and Parolees on mute. Fully awake. Fully dressed. I'm not sure why I leave the Animal Planet on all day. Or why I waste electricity by keeping the TV on mute for hours. In fact, I don't even like this show. It's like the bumpkin version of Animal Cops, except all of the employees are ex-cons. But I feel better, so I deserve quiet TV. Oh the benefits of the Hubs finally having a legit job. No more Sports Center loops!

If you hadn't heard, David passed his life insurance license exam. Earlier this week, he signed all of his contracts and so on and so forth. Today was his first "real" day of OTJ training with his new company. I'm definitely thankful to have some peace and quiet around the house!

Oh, and I did this:

By "did this", I mean I spent $3.99 on a cinnamon broom (that I've been searching everywhere for) and dug out some light-up pumpkin decorations from the bottom of my Christmas tote. Now we can enjoy Halloween properly. The only thing left to do is get some candy for trick-or-treaters. Last time I invested in candy, not ONE child came to my door. And I was heartbroken!! This year, I'm hoping that none show up so that I have an excuse for buying a ridiculous amount of chocolate and "having" to eat it all. What can you do, right? The good news is that it smells like cinnamon in the house.

Other than that, no new news to share. My job is great, but stressful. Especially while  sick. I'm excited for the autumn weather, and even more excited for the upcoming holidays. (Is Black Friday a holiday?) I'll leave you with this:

The view from my porch. Happy fall, tree.

Happy fall, friends.

Scoute Route Scavenger Race

On Friday night, David, Amanda, and I headed downtown to collect our race packets from Fitzgerald's Irish Pub. Good thing packet pickup was at a pub because after the day we had, Amanda and I were in serious need of a good drink and filling food. We managed to get our packets, but we're lousy alcoholics and the food was much like cafeteria food. Needless to say, we probably won't be eating there again. All the let-down-ness was quickly forgotten, however, after the excitement for the following day's scavenger hunt.

Last week, I mentioned that I bought tickets. David and I were one team, cleverly renamed "Wild Things". Hooray for finally having a legitimate use for buying matching shirts.

I know you can barely see it, but my hair was a FRO of teased and tangled hair; spray dyed a tealish blue. David's was just dyed. Men have it so easy! I was able to spray David's hair in under five minutes. Thankfully, he also agreed to help me with mine. I would tease it, and he would dye it. Layer. By. Freaking. Layer. I was already dreading the clean up. But when we got to the judges, we got the full 3 points for creativity and costume effort. Amanda and our other friend from work, Jamie, were also a coed team; vying for the first place, "cruise-to-Belize" prize. They both happened to wear grey shirts, and renamed their team on the spot to "50 Shades of Grey". They got one point for spontaneous creativity. Hey, it was something!

We got our map with the addresses of the challenges and tried to figure out the best way of covering all of the 10 challenges efficiently. The only thing we didn't know prior to race day was what each challenge consisted of, or how many points we could make at each, or how long the line would be.

The only modes of transportation we could use were the light rail and the city bus. We got day passes, knowing there was no way we could run around the entire downtown in three hours. Talk about huge. It'd be like having a race that covered the entire city of Tallahassee. There was just no way to run it all. And (!) I had completely forgotten my inhaler. I was one stressed out mess, however smiley I was trying to be for David. First team back to the finish line with 100 points in under 3 hours wins!

The scavenger hunt was less scavenger and more Amazing Race. At every checkpoint, there was a challenge you had to complete that you received  points for based on your performance. The only one we did terrible at was the bowling challenge. After running for 45 minutes already, we had to run up to this bowling alley and we each had a chance to throw a ball down the lane for points. One ball, one throw, per teammate. If the first person threw under 10, the second would have to knock down the remaining pins. If the first person threw a strike, the second person could have their own chance at 10 new pins. Shakey and sweaty, we both rolled gutter balls. So 15 minutes wasted at this checkpoint for a grand total of 0 points. But all we could do was move onto the next one. What I did enjoy, though, was how at every checkpoint that required team work to complete the challenge, we did great on. We got a lot of "best so far" or "excellent"s. The challenges that were one person, then the other, we didn't do so hot at.

But! We made it through 8 of the 10 challenges with a half an hour left, knowing relatively nothing of the city or places we were in. With the finally two challenges being too far from the finish line to make it before the course closed, we headed back to the finish line with 73 points. Not bad for a 0 pointer and skipping two challenges.

At the end of the day, we had managed to run a large portion of the race and finished in the top 20. I used Google Maps to figure out how far we ended up traveling (with the closest matching route we took) and it totaled up to 8 miles!

Can I just say--I am one lucky girl. I would say "in the world", but I feel like this feeling rings true for every woman who finds their "other". From start to finish, and everywhere in between, David was strong for us and worked with me. He helped with the costumes at 6am, helped strategize throughout the day, held my hand for the entire race (we must have looked so silly holding hands while running!), washed all of the dye out of my hair, and then helped me wash and dry Leo before we fell asleep on the couch. I can definitely say that it was one of the best bonding experiences I've ever shared with him, and one of the most exciting days we've had (second only to our spontaneous trip to Harry Potter world).

I don't know if Jamie and Amanda has as good of a time, but I'm glad we all got to participate. After this experience, David and I are definitely going to do it again next year. I hear people train and strategize all year for this race. I suppose a cruise could be worth it. Day 1 after race day, though....it doesn't feel worth it. I'm in pain, I tell ya! 

Much better than the half gallon plastic tank we had him in. No more hard plastic palm tree. Now he has a heating rock, and some Roman memorabilia. Oh, and a filter. So no more changing his water daily. $300 later, Rocky (aka Franklin) is a happy turtle. We aim to please.

Only a few more weeks until Lauren and Tyler get here. I'm anxious to finally get some quality girl time in. Shopping. Movies. Gossip (you know, about our men). It's all very thrilling.

Thanks for keeping up, guys!

Next week probably won't be as exciting, but I'll do my best to keep you updated. 

xoxo

My life is full of crazy eyes.

As my Facebook friends might well know, I've been on a crazy cooking spree. I cook everything these days. Well, except for this weekend. I really just wanted to eat out as much as possible. No tedious labor for me, thanks! Right now, I'm waiting for my homemade potato salad to cool and the dryer to ding. Soon, David will start on the sloppy joes and we'll be enjoy yet another delicious meal. Yay teamwork. Here's some of the latest:

Filet mignon, potatoes, and onions

Bowties, broccoli, garlic, red pepper, parmesan cheese

Tomato, watermelon, mint, and feta cheese salad

Black beans, mango salsa, tuna steaks, avocado, and avocado vinaigrette tostadas

Paella (chorizo, chicken, shrimp, peppers, peas, and rice)

Pork chops and string beans, corn, squash, zucchini medley cooked in red wine

Yum, right? Feel free to take a "fat" break.

Having met few people in our area yet, I've been hard pressed to stay distracted from my long work week and the unavoidable exhaustion. So, I planned an awesome weekend for the two of us; beginning and ending with food. We managed to tear ourselves from food long enough to see a comedy show, the new Batman movie (epic--go see it), and shop til I got blisters on my feet. I'd say it was probably best weekend we've had since we've been here.

Andy and Sharon (David's dad and step-mom) will be here next week, and Kathy (David's mom) the week after. Just in time for all the birthdays coming up. David's rounding the big 2-7 (onward toward 30)! Mom and Crazy Eyes (see below) will be visiting in three weeks, too. We should have all of our furniture by then, so I'm pretty excited. We've finally picked out our sets, so stick around for those updates. It should be pretty awesome. No more lawn chairs in the living room!

He's never looking directly at you. Creepy.

Aside from that, I'm so ready to get everything settled so that we can get into an exercise routine. We've be able to do some things here and there, like racquetball tonight. It's falling into place, dears. Soon, our house will be furnished. Soon, we'll be on top of our healthy-life journey. It's all so exciting!

As always, thanks for reading.

xoxo

100th Post Time

Happy almost 4th of July!!

Happy 100th post day!!

It's crazy that there's been so much time between my most recent posts. I seriously have no time (or energy) to do anything anymore. I'd forced myself to finish my coursework, under great duress, but that's pretty much it. I've checked my facebook while waiting for things, and I've used instagram to document our lives in pictures, but I really hadn't dug up my laptop until now.

I wish I had something more exciting to update about for this 100th post, but alas, my life has fallen into a satisfyingly monotonous routine. I get up, go to work, come home, and then {this is the best part} I get to choose whether I'm going to make dinner, go out to dinner, or skip dinner and head straight for bed. Exciting, I know. Soon, though. We're really not that boring. Just tired. I either need to start drinking more coffee or settle for exhaustion. We'll see. Plus, we're on a tight budget until we can get ahead of ourselves. Then we can start saving for things like vacations and cruises and weddings. Whoops! I mean....not weddings. Or maybe I just mean wedding, singular. Never mind.

We've also mapped out our budget and set up a joint account for bills. The good news is that saving up for a couch and dining room set and a new car(!) won't be as difficult as I thought it would be; even with the ridiculous (I say that because I'm yet to realize that we're finally--really--adults) amount of bills we have now. We should have all of our (Ikea!) furniture by the end of July (just in time for his dad's visit), and a car within the next few months. Pretty exciting. It'll be nice to be able to have people over without having to offer them a camping chair and a tray table.

We're torn between these two couches:

This one is super comfortable. You really sink into it. But it's smaller. But...cheaper.

This one, on the other hand, is my favorite. And it opens up from the bottom into this:

You can see our dilemma. Comfort, cheaper, but small...or expensive and awesome and et cetera. Stupid cool things. Gets me every time.

The new church is great, for all who were wondering. We've made a bunch of friends that have definitely exceeded my expectations. We were expecting a little bit of judgment and reservation, given our not-really-a-situation situation, but we've certainly been welcomed with open arms here. It's a drive to get there, but it's nice. A perfect fit. And lots of married couples. There's much less pressure about sex and relationships when nearly everyone is married.

Speaking of which, David and I are doing wonderfully! "Playing house", as some would have it, has served us well. We're still staying true to our virtues, despite the close proximity, and maintaining a healthy, blessed relationship. The only thing that's changed is that we work more and spend less, and sleep more and exercise less. Tonight, he's enjoying a night out with our friends while I finish some domestic duties; a courtesy I rarely get to extend, but enjoy. My 50 hour a week job has made it impossible for me to clean on the daily. Time away from David helps me refocus to tackle things like laundry and vacuuming that I'd rather not do after working 12 hours. But! Things are getting done. There's nothing I like better (well, not many things anyway) than a clean house.

Still no fitness update at this point. I was hoping to get in my first official run in Charlotte tonight, but the 104 degree weather that didn't cool down much even after sundown was a little discouraging. So, not today. But, also soon.

There have been a lot of "soons", lately.
Thanks for being a reader. YOU are great.

xoxo

Oh, and as a last minute side note, say hello to the girl who misses two weeks of school, and a combined total of four 10-page essays, and still makes the Dean's List. Recognize.

New beginnings.

Whew! So...my last week's freakout has not been lost on me. I'd like to blame it on my very carefully hidden Puerto-Rican-ness, but it was all me. Too real. A perfect representation of how passionate I am about what I believe in. After last week, I'll be lucky to get one or two readers from now on. But in all reality, I'm sure the haters will still read: that's just human nature.

Plenty of good news. A pinch of bad news. But mostly just good news. 

I'm currently scheduled to pick up two jobs. One of which I start tomorrow. I've still been applying for a bunch, trying to find the best fit for our budget. David is busy busy busy applying for the "thousands" of jobs here in banking city. So that's exciting. Prayers greatly appreciated.

Our home! It's wonderful! It's a 2/1 in an awesome, beautiful, friendly community. it's got plenty of space for all of our stuff, an awesome fireplace, a walk-in closet, and a balcony. Leo loves it. Especially all the food and shopping around us. Having limited funds does not help me (or Leo) here.

David's car, on the other hand, is somewhere in Georgia at the moment. No thanks to the u-haul man, we're now a car short. The entire trip up here ended up being a 17 hour ordeal after being stranded in B.F.E. for 7 hours. That's really the only bad news. Oh, and the fact that someone labeled one of the boxes Pots and Pans, only to discover that there were not actually pots and pans in said box. That and we don't have a microwave. So we're eating fruit snacks and cereal. Yay!

Only 6ish days until my 22nd birthday. Man I'm getting old! (David will resent that.) We anticipated company this weekend, but it looks like money is tight for everyone. So family time instead.

Loving Charlotte!

Pictures soon.

xoxo

Not a song link-up

Hello, no-longer-link-up-Thursday. What a beautiful sunshiney day.

Seriously though.

I'm sitting at my desk contemplating why I still work here. And how much longer. Let's analyze:

• Yay! I have a job.
• Yay! Ability to pay bills.
• Yay! No credit cards = no credit card debt.
• Yay! Fun trips with the beau.
• Yay! Leo doesn't starve.
• Yay! I don't starve.
• Yay! New things to feed my shopping addiction.

Why is money an essential part of my life??? I should have married rich. That's what my momma always told me to do. Sadness. Instead, I'm fending for myself and David on a meager $12/hour paycheck. Pretty good compared to other recent graduates, but I desperately need want something new before I jump out the window of the fourth floor of this stupid building. I wouldn't even die. I might just break a leg or two...if I'm lucky. If I could even break the window. I think we have that thick, bullet proof glass. It's a pipe dream, really.

That awkward moment when:

Everyone understands that you hate your job.

You hear that your "friend" is not really your friend, but secretly bitter that you undermine their authority by sticking up for yourself.
You understand all the horrible things people said about working for the state.

You feel guilty because you should appreciate the things you have.

You fail at being grateful, so you go back to hating it.

That's enough for now. Enjoy this song.

xoxo

South Florida Wedding Adventures

WOW!

It's so good to be home. 

Seriously. 

I don't think I've ever been this happy to just....do nothing.
And by do nothing I mean I'm back at work.
Man that sounds bitter.

Did I mention that I hate my job?
I suppose I'm lucky to have one.

 

First of all, the week leading up to the wedding was insane. Talk about exhaustion and deliriousness.

I think I spent 60% of my trip shopping. Which would normally be great, but no one likes to pressure-shop. I vaguely remember screaming at David to hurry the f* up...in my head...quite frequently. Sigh. Men don't understand urgency. We managed to get in some great quality togetherness, despite all the weddingness. 

I love these hats. I have about 8,234,238,765 pictures like this one. Just different hats. One day, I will collage them all for you.

Beachy! Sorry about forgetting to put sunblock on your other shoulder, baby.

My cutie and I waiting at the drive-in! This is when having a convertible works wonders.

Cabin in the Woods....eh. At least it was on a huge screen.

We love us some water parks! I got slashed on one of them, though. I'm likely to have contracted the HIV.

 We ate a LOT of food, but only ran one time over the course of 10 days. 

Neither of which was a good idea. Dammit. Yolo, right?

Yay, for FINALLY finishing the C25K. Now it's just maintenance. INSANITY starts May 1st! I'm sure I gained some weight back on the trip. I'll do a fitness update with details soon.

My absolute South Florida favorite! Havana's Cuban cuisine :D

California Pizza Kitchen: lettuce wraps, dynamite shrimp, and delicious pizza creations.

Dada's: amazinnnnnng rehearsal dinner. Baked brie is so wonderful.

While I'm not a fan of Mediterranean food, this arrangement made it look quite enticing. Not that I tried any of it...

This pizza (and three others) was delivered to us like this. Was it in your briefcase, delivery-man-sir? I got white-girl cray cray (more like Jersey girl crazy) and got us four FREE new pizzas.

Preparation for the wedding was ridiculous, if I do say so myself. So much to do in so little time!! We were working ourselves to death, but the wedding, itself, was beautiful. Everyone's hard work was definitely worth it. 

Midnight cake ball prep for the bridal shower.

The bridal shower Bunco was a hit! It was definitely one of my favorite nights of the week. Well, except for a bachelor party (ahem) mishap. The consensus is that men are generally stupid and inconsiderate.

Flower selection was a tedious (cold!) job. But we wound up having beautiful arrangements thanks to Donna (the groom's mother) and yours truly.

Check out these nails! We looked so hot after waxing (my first Brazilian!!), manis, and pedis. Being a woman is hard (expensive) work.

David, Me, Connor (Laur's brother), Lauren, and Tyler at the rehearsal dinner.

It was a great week for pictures. We got a new Panasonic Lumix for an awesome shelf deal!! Much more convenient than carrying around my huge Canon. 

11 years of awesomeness. And I finally found a coverlett for my dress that I loved!

We're seriously adorable. I love this man. Never in my life have I been so grateful.  

Wedding day prep! Lauren got all the girls customized hangers, bags, and robes. I can't wait to see the bridesmaids' photo shoot. Only slightly provocative and risque.

Damnnnnn, I looked good. Kristen (makeup) and Amanda (hair) were stellar. I actually ended up wearing a pair of the photographer's throw away contacts because Lauren decided she wanted me sans-glasses. I guess it worked out. I looked hot. :P

Forgive the boob grab picture. We were getting her into her dress. She looked great!

I love this picture. While it looks like Sky is getting ready to hit me, we were actually showcasing our dance moves for the bridal party.

What an awesome bridal party: Nick, Me, Connor, Lauren, Ty, Sky, Lopez, Amanda, Kyle

A balancing act: this is what happens when the bride is super short. Thank God for parking garages and car stops.

Yay! Post "I do" pictures.

Decorating this gymnasium (which also doubled as my high school IB testing site) only took about 5 hours. I wish I had gotten a picture after all the flowers and centerpieces were out, but it still looks awesome in this pic! Great work, decorating team!

Sweaty dance faces. What a trooper.

My other David.

A hilarious rendition of the garter find. The flower girl thought it was a cute game and wanted in.

He totally showed me up on the dance floor, which doesn't surprise me. I tried though, I really did.

"Now all that's left is yours!" I can't begin to tell you how many times I've heard that lately. Jesus, people. I'm trying to get my life on track here! Stop pushing me! It did, however, redefine the reasons I'm in love with him. Weddings and stress always do that. I'm a lucky girl. Without him, I would have been an anxious, crazy mess.

The last exciting adventure happened just when we thought we were in the clear. The exhaust manifold in my car completely cracked, leaving my car sounding much like a run-down, old, crappy motorcycle. If it's not one thing, it's another with this stupid car. The repair barely burned a hole in my wallet, but the mustang sounds better than ever. All that's left now is unpacking, organizing, and getting back on schedule by eating properly and exercising regularly. Oh yeah, and catching up on the 70-some-odd blogs that I read. Hello!

xoxo

Missed you guys!

Bye Bye, Birdies.

I briefly mentioned here that David and I had registered for a 5k here in Tallahassee. If you have a chance, please read this article about fallen detective, David White. The David White Memorial 5k will be held on Saturday, May 19th at 9:00 at Tallahassee Community College campus. All proceeds and donations will be donated to the detective's family. If you're interested in walking or running, visit this site to register. It's cheap, it'll be a good time, and it's for a great cause. If you're in the area, please come out and support us!

Though I'm committed to being frugal {let's get real, I've never been frugal in my life...except when I have no money.}, I know that my weight loss journey demands appropriate gear. In this post, I talked about some of the stuff I want to help me get my butt in shape for up and coming 5k-ness.

I was able to get these from here. Vanessa from Ruffles With Love (an etsy shop) was absolutely awesome! On Monday, we talked about the possibility of her making the shirts and then getting them here before I left on Friday, and she was all for it! I checked my email Tuesday morning and I already had a tracking number waiting for me. That's some serious production power. Thanks, Vanessa!!

Also, I headed over to Target and picked up my first pair of compression shorts and four new {neon!} C9 sports bras: yellow, blue, pink, and lime. Perfect in time for summer.

Face it, I look fab. {lol.} But seriously. I'm feeling super good about my weightloss. I'm down 13 lbs since February. Sometimes I look in the mirror and don't feel like I've made any progress, but when I can fit into pants that I haven't worn in about two years....it's hard to deny.

A slight change of plans is allowing David to leave town with me on Friday. While I was anticipating spending five days away from him, it looks like I'll just have to be forced into his company. {Please.} It doesn't count that the real reason he wants to come with me is not because he'll miss me, but because he doesn't want to miss out on epic waterpark-ness going down on Tuesday. What a guy.

Anywho, I'm not sure how often I'll be blogging from South Florida, but I'll only be away from you fine readers until the 23rd. Look for my Thursday and Friday link-ups before I head out of town. Happy week, darlings!