Another one bites the dust: part I

Glasses, that is.

I have been wearing glasses since I was 4, I need them to see. 

I can't see past my hand otherwise. 

When I moved to Illinois I needed a new pair of glasses. 

It was the first time I had to go buy them on my own and I didn't have insurance .

I went to a local retailer that advertises good deals a lot and ended up spending a lot more money than intended. The glasses I did buy also gave me a head ache if I wore them for too long.

After many adjustments I was told there was nothing they could do, really?

Well, come to find out they adjusted the glasses so many times improperly they cracked the frame.

So one day while at work my glasses broke. 

I had to go to home, unsafely to put on my contacts. 

I have learned my lesson on where to buy glasses and the importance of insurance. 

Part II coming soon.

The birthday party: 2013

 If you remember from last year I was burnt out and overdone with holidays, by the time my birthday came around I through this pitty party

So, this year was different. I wanted a BIG party.

I knew I wanted red and teal as colors

These were the invitation I made using an embossing pin to write out you are invited, my little cricket for the cupcake teal washi tape and red polka dot vellum for the flag. I used flat scalloped red cards from paper source in teal envelopes.

I

I really like the way it came out.  

I found some inspiration on pinterest, of course. 

1. I love the fad  of the DIY food stations

this is an ice cream/ hot chocolate bar

(source) 

2. I love this wine and cheese pairing

(source)

3. Love the instructions on kraft paper

(source)

This was my rendition:

(sorry I have no pictures of the actual party) 

Wine pairings table

This was the hot chocolate and ice cream station

Both were a hit. 

We also had cupcakes from a local bakery, that did our wedding cake, that I absolutely love

Onto decorations:

The kitchen, I made red and teal tissue paper pom poms 

In the dinning room there were pom poms and these vellum hanging mobiles

 next to our themed window

What was your last party theme? Try anything new? What do you think?

This post will be linking up here

Another year

Today, I passed my yearly skills test.

I guess its another year of derby for me!

Woo hoo! 

Very excited to grow this min-season and kick some butt.

The dying art of hand written cards

Happy friday guts, i hope you had a great week.
Wow! I am on a roll this week of personal information.

**I would like to start by saying if you don't write thank you cards this is isn't aimed at you, don't be offended**

I was born in a home where my mom will get her calendar at the beginning of the year and start by putting in every birthday, anniversary, and death (with anniversary date). We are not talking about just 10 dates here the whole calendar is full of names dates, ages, etc. Every time there is a reason to send a card whether it is a get well soon, thank you, birthday, sympathy, it is being sent.
This stems from her 90 year old mother who does the same. Her mother, my grandmother, knows (without looking) the birthdays of her 50 grandchildren and great grandchildren, 14 children and there spouses. Pretty impressive, right? And you guessed it, she also sends a card to all of these people too.

So, my mom insisted we do the same. There are times where she will call, at least me, to remind me to send this or that card. I try to do the same, but I am not very good, especially when it comes to birthday cards. It is so easy to write happy birthday on facebook these days and call it quits.  Thank you cards, however have a special meaning to me.

The one thing i have learned over the years (especially when you make things) is that there is nothing better than receiving a thank you card. It just makes the effort, the thought and time that went into thatvitem worth it. My mom, who also crochets, has discussed this with me. She makes a blanket for every new baby born into the family and than some of my sisters friends as well. That is a lot of blankets. The numbers above are just for her side of the family FYI. So to her (even though she is retired) all she wants is a thank you card and that makes it all worth it.

After my lack of christmas cards this year and then later followed by no thank you cards, I did some research and found this  article talking about the dying art of writing. The article talks about the dying art and why hand written thank you card just mean more. The article also has a section about the do's and don'ts of writing.

Do you write handwritten thank you's? 

Dear hubby

Dear hubby,
Today is your birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY P! You have become quite the gentleman, even though you do not own a tuxedo, yet! You still look dapper in your mustache and tie. You are currently doing/ training to do what you love and it is so exciting to see you so happy.
It is only appropriate to write you this letter, to think that 6 years ago tomorrow we went out on our first date. To think back that far, I never thought we would be here. Our lives have definitely changed as we decided to slowly grow up.
I wanted to let you know that I appreciate you being there for me and supporting me, especially as of late. I really appreciate all the love and support you show me. I know you are not around physically all the time, I know that I can trust you.
Dear hubby, thanks for being you.

Let's get real: disappointment

Let me preface this post with this: 

I am not writing this post for your sympathy, hymns or ha's. 

I am writing this post to get it off my chest.

If you have any of the above to say, please keep it to yourself. 

I don't want to hear it, thanks.

Warning: This is a big long rant. So if you don't want to hear it, don't read it. 

So anyways, back to disappointment. 

I would say I have been in a funk, easily since thanksgiving if not before. 

I wouldn't say I am depressed, I would say that I have been disappointed. 

See the above quote, it is a perfect representation of how I feel.

In my adult life, especially in Illinois, it has been very difficult to make good adult friends that I can call my own. This has been a big struggle for me and has been a big part of why I think I got as home sick as  I did. 

Well, lately it just feels like the friends/family I do have, have been bailing on me. I am sure they don't realize how much it hurts me or what it means to me because I don't have the guts to tell them. 

I keep all of those wonderful emotions inside to fester until it eats me from the inside out. 

I don't enjoy this feeling and so here it is out and proud. 

At halloween, when you say you will make an appearance I expect an appearance. I don't expect you to rub another party in my face or say it was the best party ever. That hurts. 

I grew up celebrating christmas with family, it was a big deal. It was a family holiday, it was about being together. So when you don't show up because of some excuse it feels like I don't matter. 

When I was younger, my sister and I had a joint  birthday party. It was pouring rain, a bunch of kids were suppose to come. We put on our best party dresses, they were matching white dresses with black polka dots with big black bows. We hung things on the wall and got ready. Only 2 people showed up, my parents friends Bob and Kathy. They played pin and tail on the donkey with us and ate cake. It was fun, but when you go back to school and have to tell the kids at school you had a birthday party in which they were suppose to attend, it sucks. 

Well, this year I had a birthday party and from all the people who bailed on me, it felt like that. I understand that  unforeseeable things happen, and they did, people died and mourning is a big deal. I also understand when other plans were made and responded accordingly. I understand having to be there, but when other plans are made after the fact or something gets chosen over you, it hurts.  I am not going to go into details or singling out specific circumstances. Thats all I am going to say about that.

As for the people that showed up to the parties I have thrown a great big thank you for showing up is in order but that is coming at a later more private date, so hang on to your shorts.

Things are very different when you are an adult. We are suppose to forget about being hurt or forgotten and keep going. I don't work that way. 

Even though I am getting this out there, it is in no way a forgiveness of you and your choices. 

I feel like this is the basis of where my disappointment is stemming from at this time. 

I know this sounds a bit harsh, but please I just need to say it and be done with it. 

Thanks for listening/reading.

It's not to late to share

about CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS!!

I know I am behind on what feels like everything in life including but not limited to blogging 

So, here it goes..

The sign in the living room I made out of red scrapbook paper and glittery letters

The top of our bookcase aka "our mantle"

filled with various trees and a nutcracker

Our christmas tree

Walking into the dinning room with dollar store snowflakes

Dinning room tablescape (aka my husbands homework area)

Wall of cards in the dinning room

The infamous window in the dinning room

and the kitchen chalkboard

and kitchen tablescape.

What do you think?

A new ornament

This year has been a world wind of excitement

For our ornament this year I wanted to do something related to that of P getting a real flying job

(to learn about our little christmas tradition go here)

So we looked at different stores for a pre-made ornament and were not to happy from the selection so we decided to go diy.

We went to a hobby store and found a model propeller for $1.50 

and painted it and made a hanger for it

This is what we came up with

We painted the tips silver

and P added the "company name" and year to make it look more authentic

Do you make your own ornaments? Are they sentimental?

A little christmas tradition

In 2009, we bought our house here in Central IL and we also wanted to make our own little christmas tradition. We get a real tree every year because its just so fun to go pick one out together, but we decided that we were only going to get one ornament a year.

I know, I know, what your thinking, but its our tradition. 

So, instead of covering our tree with cheap ornaments that have little to no meaning and can add up, we spend our money on ONE ornament and have it mean something or reflect our year, etc. 

The first two years we choose because they are pretty and unique looking and just go together. The third is this glass ornament I made. It says just married and has a paper flower that was used in the wedding. 

Yes, we will only have 4 ornaments on our tree this year. 

Do you have any christmas traditions?

Stay tuned for this years ornament. 

A new year and another recap

Last year I wrote a vague recap here

On New years day 2011, we had a date as seen here

In Jan of 2010, I wrote this recall of 2009

Well, this year started off with a bang. 

This was new years eve 2012

I became a derby girl this year playing for our local team on a home team called "The 'Paign"

We went to mexico in March for P's brothers wedding

We went to california for my best friends wedding

I did the crazy K mud run with these lovely ladies from my old job.

I got a new job at a local hospital.

P started flying for a career again

and we ended our year with out ugly sweater party.

This year was good to us and I enjoyed it very much. 

I am planning on running more, eating better, spending more time with P, and just enjoying life. 

What are you resolutions?