Fun and Smart Stuff

Positive Quote Of The Day:

"All of our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them"

- Mr. Walt Disney

School News:

This last week I have been super busy studying for midterm exams. The grades have been posted for two of my four exams and I managed to get A's on both. The third exam I was supposed to take got postponed because the teacher thought the exam would be to hard for us. I'm really quit irritated about this because the first exam we took in her class was so easy. The people that failed to actually read the instructions didn't do so well but that is their problem and not a problem with the exam. Spending a lot of time to prepare for this exam was a total waste of my time. So, I'm left waiting for my grades from my fourth exam.

In my positive psychology class, we have to give a presentation on some aspect of positive psychology for our final project. We were instructed that we had to make it personal to us. I have decided on my presentation topic and I'm so excited to start putting everything together. My topic is.... Learning Positive Psychology Through Lessons Taught By Disney. All Disney films have some sort of positive aspect so I will be sitting down in front of the tv and watching Disney movies over spring break. YAY!!!

Wedding News:

We ordered my wedding band about a week ago and the scheduled delivery date was yesterday. I stayed home all day waiting for the UPS man to come. Our house is a granny unit behind the main house and most delivery people can't figure out where our house is. This always ends up with one or both of us trying to track down the package and having to wait a few days to pick it up from the distribution center. I heard the UPS truck at 4:00pm and I booked it out side to catch him. When I opened the gate, my favorite UPS man from Blockbuster was standing there holding my package. It was great to see him and I was able to explain where our unit is. He said that he would make sure to drop off future packages to the right place.

ok on to the ring...
This is not the original ring we were going to go with. My engagement ring had a matching band to go with it but I found this ring and it is nicer than the matching one and quite a bit less expensive. You can't beat less expensive. This is what we went with...

If you look closely, the top row and the bottom row are separate pieces. I love this because I can have 5, 3, 2, or 1 depending on what I want to be wearing. I'm very happy with it except for the fact that I ordered it half a size too small. But that isn't a big deal.

Friend News:

Wednesday night my friend Robert called and asked if he could stay with us for a night on Thursday because he was passing through town on his way down to San Diego. So he got here around 9:15pm and we went out to dinner at Chili's. He slept on our tiny couch and Kinsey had to take the floor. She was not to happy about the arrangement. It was really nice to start off my spring break spending time with him.

Honeymoon News:

I was finally able to get all of our flight tickets for a really good deal. Spending hours watching the rates go up and down was not my idea of a good time but it was worth it. As of right now, it looks like we won't be able to book anything else until the first of August. That is when Disney puts out their 2011 rates. Besides Disney the only thing left to book are our shore excursions for the cruise. We looked through the current shore excursions and we have picked out two that we are interested in. I'm pretty sure we have to wait until August to book them but our travel agent will let us know when they become open for booking.

Food News:

Due to my crazy schedule this last week, I have not cooked anything. While I was waiting for the UPS man yesterday, I was watching The Martha Stewart Show and she had her personal financial guru on the show. They were talking about how much money you can save if you plan your menu for the week and make one trip the the grocery store. This cuts down time, gas, eating out, and impulse shopping. So yesterday I pulled out the weekly ad for Albertsons and clipped coupons as well as I was able to put together our menu using the items that are on sale for the week. Both of us are really excited that we don't have to sit and try to figure out what we want to eat and then make several trips to the store throughout the week. Our menu item for last night was Red Chile Chicken With Rice and Black Beans. I found the recipe on annieseats.com and as usual it was super simple to make. Both of us gave it two thumbs up.

This recipe was quick, simple, and healthy you just can't beat that!

For breakfast this morning I made cinnamon rolls. I made the dough and did all the prep-work after dinner last night. This morning all I had to do was pop them in the oven. I found the recipe on allrecipies.com and it was fairly simple but I want to use the recipe from annieseats.com and compare.

The whole house smells like cinnamon now and I love it!

From making the dough for the Cinnamon rolls I learned that I need to purchase a few tools before I make anything else that involves dough.




A pastry Brush

A timer

and most of all a rolling pin

These are things I don't think of needing until I'm in the middle of doing something. I think a trip to Bed Bath & Beyond is needed after we go to the dog park.

Have A Happy Day

-Free

Crazy Ideas And Goodies In The Mail

Quote Of The Day:

"If you believe in yourself, you are on the first step of success's stairs"

-Seema Bhatia

Look what came in the mail....

Yay!!! Both of us got our passports way before we expected to get them. Our cruise is in 29 days, Mexico here we come!

School News:

I'm doing really well in all five of my classes this semester. In two of my classes I haven't even opened the text books since they came in the mail. So when I got an email from school saying that it isn't to late to sign up for late start classes I came to the conclusion that I should add on another class for this semester. This will put me at 19 units which is nuts but I just want to get done with school as fast as possible. I figure it is only a month of hell and I can make it through a month. In preparation for adding on this class, I'm spending all weekend completing all of my big assignments for my current classes. The only part that sucks is the fact that it's so beautiful outside and I'm stuck inside instead of going to the beach with Kinsey.

Twilight News:

As you all know I'm a Twilight freak. Last night New Moon was released on DVD at midnight. Yes I was one of the many people waiting anxiously at Walmart in the middle of the night. I'm so glad I went but I couldn't wait until today to watch it so I'm exhausted today. It was way worth it. Go Team Jacob!

Wedding News:

The wedding plans have been at a stand still for quite awhile. We are waiting to hear back from our reception venue, ceremony venue, and the photographer. We did place our order with the bakery and we ordered our rings. Dan's ring came yesterday and we are both very happy with it. There was a lot of deliberation before we ordered it because Dan is always really rough on his hands. We were advised to go with tungsten for durability and most of the tungsten rings are pretty ugly. Once we came across this ring we were sold. Dan is really happy about the ring having a black design on it but a little less excited about how heavy it is. It weighs 18 grams! I'm glad I don't have to wear a ring that heavy. Well here it is...

Have A Happy Night

-Free

Busy Bee

Positive Quote Of The Day:

A man is the product of his thoughts, what he thinks he is.

-Ghandi

School News:

Wow this week was crazy! I have been going at warp speed all week and I got a lot of stuff done but, now I'm pooped. This semester I'm taking life management . My instructor told the class that this would be a semester of change and she wasn't kidding. She told us that a goal is not a goal unless you schedule daily tasks to make your goal a reality, its just a fantasy. We have been working on a goals project. This project made me write down my long term goals, my intermediate goals, and my daily tasks that will put things in action. I have been aware of my long term goals and my short term goals for quite awhile now but I haven't been doing anything to move forward with my goals. Since I could physically see what I want and what I need to do to get there I became really motivated. All though if you were to ask Dan right now he would say I'm way to motivated. I have been up until about 4am every night this week and since our shack is so tiny I have been disrupting his sleep. I feel bad but I can't help it.

So far this week I have gotten the following items done:

1. Organization- my filing system is updated, my calendar is updated, There are lists everywhere, and my desk has been rearranged to increase productivity.

2. I polished up my resume

3. I have made spreadsheets for everything ie. school assignments, degree requirements, travel, chores, and financial.

4. The dreaded credit report- I have been avoiding this task for a long time because I was of what I would find. I was pleasantly surprised YAY!!! I was really worried about my student loans but since I'm still a full time student they are deferred for quite awhile and not accumulating interest. Score! So now I have some light cleaning up to do and then my score should shoot up pretty quick.

I'm pretty excited about getting so much done. I'm planning on landing a job in the beginning of May because April is to hectic to start a new job. But the ball is rolling =)

Advisory Board News:

We had our March meeting yesterday and there was a lot of talk about budget cuts and whatnot. This is probably my least favorite part of being on the board because it is almost always bad news and the mood in the room tends to be pretty gloomy. On a positive note, when I got to the meeting my business cards were sitting there waiting for me. I know I'm a dork. The best part of the meting was a video we got to watch about teen drinking in our community. It was put together with students from San Luis Obispo County and it was really well done.

Cooking:

I found a recipe for oreo cupcakes on annieseats.com and I had to make them. They came out really good. Due to my current diet plan, I had to get them out of the house so I brought them to school. My classmates loved them and they were really happy to get cupcakes in class. YUMMY!

Have A Happy Night

-Free

Not Quite June Cleaver

Quote Of The Day:

"The shortest distance between two points is under construction"
-Noelie Altito

In School News:
This week my favorite teacher was out sick and we had a substitute teacher. Luckily our substitute was my second favorite teacher. He wanted to get to know us so, he went around the room and asked everybody, what do you want to be when you grow up and why are you here? When he got around to be I said that I wanted to be June Cleaver when I grow up and I'm in college as a backup plan. After class he told me that women have been fighting to get out of the kitchen and be powerful business women since the fifties and that wanting to be June Cleaver might be viewed as taking a step backwards. All I could say was, "Maybe if women got back into the business of running a household and raising children the younger generations might end up being productive members of society." All he had to say after that was, "maybe you have a point."

I'm not quite there yet...

In Crafting News:

I started a sewing project this afternoon around 2:00 it is now after 11:30 and it is not done yet. Nothing was going right from the start and it just kept rolling down hill. I threw in the towel over an hour ago but Dan is determined to show me up and make it work. As I am sitting here typing, he looks to be on the home stretch. Is there anything he is not good at???

In Movie News:

We went to see Alice In Wonderland 3D this morning. I hate Tim Burton so I went reluctantly. Pleasantly I was surprised! The Red Queen was awesome and the movie was beautiful. My only two complaints are, Dakota Fanning should have been casted as Alice and they should have included the singing flowers. Overall, I give the movie a B+

As for the theater...

$24.00 for two matinee tickets is crazy and $6.00 for a small bag of CRAPPY popcorn is robbery.

In Cooking News:

Tonight I made Herb-Rubbed Grilled Chicken with Creamy Orzo. I found this recipe on annieseats.com and it was quick, simple, and it was really yummy =)

Looking at this picture is making me hungry again.

Crafting Side Note:

Growing up I had one of those Martha Stewert loving mothers. There were countless hours of watching that show in our house. Martha had a small segment in each episode called "It's A Good Thing" and after awhile I wanted to tell Martha where she could stick that good thing. Ten plus years later... I'm recording and watching the show daily. There is definitely something wrong with me. LOL

I found this the other day. One day when we are living in a real house and not a shack, I want a crafting room just like this one but with more blue.

Have A Happy Night

-Free

Going Places And Learning New Things

Positive Quote Of The Day:

"Accept the challenges so that you can feel the exhilaration of victory"

-George S. Patton

School News:

Today was a long day of school. I accomplished a ton of work in my first two classes which is super. But my last class of the day gave me a huge challenge. I had to take a really hard exam and I have no idea how I did. But, Sharon said that she will have our grades posted before Monday. I'm crossing my fingers and toes! If I manage to get an A in her class this semester, I'll be on the dean's list.

Honeymoon News:
Dan and I found an awesome travel agent at AAA. Her name is Joie and she is helping us put together the best vacation ever! For those of you who don't know, Dan has never done any kind of traveling ie. no planes, no trains, no ships. The farthest he has traveled is to Las Vegas. This trip is going to be a lot of firsts for him so we are both super excited. The first part of our trip is going to be a western Caribbean cruise.

This is our cruise ship. She is Royal Caribbean's Navigator Of The Seas. There are endless amenities on this ship including, an ice rink and rock climbing wall. We will set sail January 15th from Fort Lauderdale Fl. Our first port of call is Cozumel Mexico and the second port of call is Grand Caymen. I can't wait to plan our shore excursions!

Yesterday I was watching flight prices on Priceline.com and I found the perfect flight for an amazing price. SFO to FLL for only $82.00! I called Joie and told her what I was seeing and she told be to purchase them right away because the flights she was able to find for us we much more expensive. It was just one of those times where I was in the right place at the right time. So now the first part of our honeymoon is all set.

In other news:
I have been trying to figure out how to make money at home so that I can finish up school without having to go back to work. Over the last week or so Dan and I have been talking about starting our own business from home. The idea is to make homemade items and sell them online. I have always wanted to learn how to sew and this idea is giving me a reason to take the time to learn. Saturday my friend Kristi is going to give me lessons. My first project is a purse.

This is the inspiration for my first piece. POLKA DOTS!!!! Any who... I want to learn new skills and build on the skills I already have and capitalize on these skills. My mom is one of those freakishly talented and crafty people so, I am hoping that the crafty gene got passed down to me. We shall see...

Have A Happy Night-

Free

Overview Of My New Blog

So far 2010 has gotten off to a great start! The next couple of years have so much to bring and I'm hoping that this blog will catalog all ups and downs, trials and tribulations, and the fun along the way.

Breakdown of 2010 Events:

1. Spring 2010 Semester- I started the semester earlier this month and I'm taking a huge load this semester. Over the next four months of the semester I'm sure I'll have moments of joy,anger, anxiety, laughter, and triumphant achievement. You can look forward to rants, raves, and stories of absolute ridiculousness.
2. Kinsey's First Birthday- This Sunday is my puppy's first birthday and Dan and I have a full day planned just for her.
3. Nick's Bachelor Party- One of my best friends is getting hitched to one of the most awesome chicks ever in April. For as long as I can remember Nick has looked down on "The M word". But he met that perfect girl for him and before he can say "I Do" we are throwing a bachelor party that will go down in history! I know girls at the bachelor party is a no no but as my guy friends like to put it... I'm not a girl, I'm just a guy with long hair.
4. Nick & Lisa's Wedding- This will surely be the best wedding I have ever been to. I'm super excited that they have decided that they want me in the wedding party. In the past I have dreaded being a bridesmaid but their wedding is super laid back (Hawaiian dress and sandals) and their is no way I could turn down this opportunity.
5. The Cruise After Party- A week after Nick and Lisa's wedding, some of us close friends are going to join them on a four day Baja Mexico cruise. It is going to be super fun and some people are going to lose liver function.
6. Summer Semester- I'll be nearing the home stretch and I'm predicting that there will be a lot of senioritis moments.
7. Fall Semester-I get to do a 400 hour internship. I'm hoping I can do my internship at San Luis Obispo Drug and Alcohol Services in the Department of Prevention.
8. Sunset Beach Camping Trip- My friend Robert has organized trips once or twice a year for quite awhile. The last few years busy schedules have gotten in the way of this fun event but Robert is back and I have a feeling that this will be the most fun trip we have ever had.
9. My Wedding!!!- Dan and I are going to get married October 15th 2010. We have a super super tight budget. I plan on blogging about DIY wedding stuff so it should be pretty fun. The only thing I'm dreading is dealing with my dress.
10. Christmas- In the last few weeks I have been bitten by the creativity bug. I'm planning on doing crafty projects for gifts this year so I hope you will get to laugh at me trying new things. I know I'm going to be pulling my hair out and laughing at myself a ton.
11. Our Honeymoon- On January 14th 2011 Dan and I will be leaving for our honeymoon. The first part of our honeymoon will be a Western Caribbean Cruise and then we will be hitting Disney World! The planning process should be interesting to say the least.

Other Topics You Will See In My Blog:

1. Cooking
2. Crafting
3. Positive Quotes
4. Diet & Exercise
5. Books
6. TV Shows
7. Rants & Raves

If you are reading this, Thanks for visiting!