Blog Giveaway!

Hey guys just wanted to let you know, if you blog and follow The Tale of the Southern Belle, she is giving away the cutest Shabby Apple dress on her blog!

Go check her out.
http://southernbellejm.blogspot.com/2011/03/shabby-apple-dress-giveaway.html

PS. Her blog is pretty great too! When I started reading it I couldn't stop and went back and read the whole thing. She is so witty!

*Informative Pearl*

A happy post

So as I looked over my blog the other night I noticed a running theme... negativity. I will be the first one to admit that I am a highly negative person. I am not sure why I have become such a negative person, when in High School I would shot flowers and rainbows up anyones butt that would listen. Maybe it is the world around me.

Maybe it is just me.
ANYWHO.

Today I am not going to be negative. I am going to be positive. I am positively going to tell you things that make me HAPPY!

This guy right here makes me VERY happy... and tired. He is the greatest thing to happen to me and I am so lucky to be his Mommy.

This guy and this picture make me happy. I just love my husband. I love the new turn we have made in our marriage (We made a pact to talk only sweet to each other. Which is hard being Italian/Irish (him) and Irish/Japanese (me) but we are doing it), and I love to love him.

(Wink Wink) :)

This picture above of the crazy (drunk) college aged girl (My SIL and BFF Jill) in the ladybug custome (Halloween: Reason to look slutty) tearing up the dancefloor (in her livingroom) having the time of her life, it makes me happy. She makes me happy. Actually this pictures makes me laugh histerically and want to keep it to show her children (I plan on it)... and miss her and being in college (what I remember of it).

This is the Pioneer woman and her blog makes me happy. It is my newfound addiction. I totally put the wrong link on here Monday (sue me) so here is the right one. http://www.thepioneerwoman.com/

Oh my Lawd! This show make me happy. I love it to death.

The fact that this show comes back on next week makes me want to jump up and do the splits, I am so happy.

What was that? I am a teenager in a late-twenty year olds body that likes to watch shows about teenagers, whats it to ya? I like toddlers in tiaras too. Gotta problem? Didn't think so.

Um Yum. My new drink of choice (of the non-adult type). It is soooooooo super duper cherry on top delicious and it makes me happy.

Lastly, this is my cousin TAD. He makes me VERY VERY VERY happy. He was born a tad bit slower than most, with a bigger heart than most and the loudest vocal cords on the planet BUT he is amazing. He is having back surgery today and I am a freakin' nervous wreck. Pray for him. Pray for the Surgeons. Pray that I do not pull all of my long luscious brown curly locks out of my head worrying about him. I love you TAD.

*Worried Sick Pearl*

Saw It. Loved It. Posted It.

I am proud to be from the South: where tea is sweet and accents are sweeter; summer starts in April; front porches are wide and words are long; macaroni and cheese is a vegetable; pecan pie is a staple; Y’all is the only proper pronoun; chicken is fried and biscuits come w/ gravy; everything is darlin and someone is always getting their heart blessed. Have a good day y'all!

This was on a friend's facebook status today and I love it!

Sometimes being married to an Italian/Irish from New Jersey, who has a very opinionated Yankee family, who decided to let this southern girl in, I do not get to express my LOVE for all things south of the mason dixon line very often.

I know my family in Cali does not understand and nor do I expect them to. They were not raised here. They do not get it.

So to my Italian In-laws and my So Cal Aunts, I say,

I love you and...

Bless your hearts.

*Sweet as the ice tea Pearl*

Things I miss about Coastal Town

I am having a small withdrawl for Coastal Town.

Coastal town is the town The Dad and I got married in and raised Doodle for the first 4.5 years of his life. It is where The Dad's family is. It is where our best friends are. It is where a piece of our hearts still are. I have been pining for some Coastal town lately.

1. I miss getting together at the MIL's for late dinners at least once a week with the WHOLE Italian family.

2. I miss knowing everyone by name. Swear I knew 89.7% of the town.

3. I miss homecoming in fall with the small town parade and bon fire.

4. I miss driving over the via duct and seeing the big American flag.

5. I miss not having to worry about what we were doing on the weekend bc we would either be at Uncle Mc's house or they would be at ours.

6. I miss the coastal breeze.

7. I miss El Potros.

8. I miss having 2 main streets.

9. I miss my favorite Scotish Pub and their steak and Guinness stew (with mashed potatoes)

10. I miss bar hopping in the hill.

11. I miss sleep overs with my SIL.

12. I miss Doodle getting to see his GiGi on a regular basis, which meant me eating pepporoni out of her fridge.

13. I miss being 10 minutes from my BFFFFFFFFL.

14. I miss not having to facebook stalk bc everyone knew everything about everyone...

ok maybe not so much this one.

15. I miss the river and a certain seafood place on the river.

AND

I miss Coastal Town.

I know that moving away was right for us at the time. I love it here in Golf Town with our new house and with being close to my Nanny. It was the best decision The Dad and I have made. Not only has it been a good financial one but our relationship is much stronger now. I have met 2 ladies that I will be best friends with forever and I have gotten to spend a lot of time with my sisters but still...

I miss Coastal Town.

I will be back there one day. No worries Coastal Town. I know you miss me too!

*Pearl*

Pioneer Girl Night and Doodleisms

Soooooo.... I had an amazingly crappy week last week. I pouted and whined my way through it. I got bad news after bad news and just felt down right sad. I didn't blog because I did not feel like it. I didn't do a lot of anything, although I have 3 events next month that are quickly approaching.

I decided to just enjoy my weekend without any outside distractions and it worked wonders for my soul!

On Friday night, I entertained my Aunt and Uncle, whom I have not seen in ages, as well as, my Nanny and her husband. The Dad had to work, of course, but we still had a blast.

I practically lived with these people when I was younger. Both of my parents worked and they kept me a lot of the time so Friday night was full of childhood stories and photos and A LOT of laughter. I made homemade Stromboli for the first time and it was DELICIOUS!! I also made Strawberry Shortcake, my fav!

The only off part of the night was that is made me miss my grandfather. He and my Uncle were best friends and a lot of my childhood memories that included my aunt and uncle also included my grandfather. He was the most amazing man I ever met. I miss him.

After, dinner I took The Dad a stromboli up to the FD. The guys were mucho impressed and I couldn't help but soak up their compliments. I have learn a lot about Italian cooking from the MIL, I think she was proud when I called her that night!

Saturday, we were lazy. I made green pancakes with sprinkles cooked into them. I topped mine with the left over strawberries and whipped cream from the shortcake the night before and

OH LAWDY BE they were AWESOME!

Saturday night, Southern Fried Mama and I went to meet the Pioneer Women, Ree Drummand. We love her and were super excited to meet her!

She was amazing, of course. Real and funny just like her blog. I bought her book "Black Heels and Tractor Wheels" and she signed it.

After the book signing, Southern Fried Mama introduced me to Tapas. We ordered Martini's and tons of food and it was delicious! We definitely enjoyed our "girl date". Best part of the night was as we were leaving the tapas restuarant I said, "Southern Fried Mama, the best part of our girl date was your tuna." I was speaking of the Tuna Capacio that she has ordered but of course being the boy brained girls we are, we laughed HARD.

Nothing like an accidental lesbian joke to end a good girl date!

That night I got home and cuddled up with The Dad and started reading the book I had purchased and before I knew it, it was 2am and I was entralled in this book. Ya'll it was that good! (I think a lot of it had to do with my following her blog so I felt like I knew her. So I would strongly suggest checking out her blog http://www.thepioneerwife.com/ before you read it)

Sunday morning, I woke up and all I wanted to do was read. So I did... ALL DAY with the occasional breaks to feed my kid and wash the paint out of my table cloth :)

I finished the book. The whole book. In a day.

There are a couple doodleism I have to blog about from Sunday. This boy makes my heart blurt with joy. I love him soooo much.

Mom- What are you doing?

Dood- Jumping on your bed.

Mom- UMM... WHY?

Dood- because it's fun.

Mom- Well stop.

Dood- You are couponing because you think it's fun. I didn't tell you to stop.

Mom- Touche'

Later Sunday night, while giving Dood his bath

Dood- Mom, where did I come from?

Mom- You came from inside Mommy's tummy, remember the pictures.

Dood- I know how I got there.

Mom- Oh do you?

Dood- Yeah, You ate too much and your tummy grew bigger and bigger so you went to the hospital and the Dr. pushed on your tummy and BOOM (splashes water all over the bathroom) there I was.

I had to laugh... and think the Good Lord Almighty that he "knew" how he got in there and did not ask me how :)

Well that was my weekend.

It is Monday and I have already had a small work crisis and a run in my hose. Awesome.

Can I go back to yesterday?

*Pearl*

WTF Wednesday

That is what I am calling this disastrous day.

I am definitely not wordless and I am not even sure what I would love if I were thinking clearly.

I got a call this morning and it pissed me off, made me sad, confused me and then pissed me off a little more.

Ugh.

I am not going into details, let just say, I don't think my son will ever get to enjoy my father, and that makes me very sad. My dad missed out on a lot of my childhood and now he is missing out on my child's and apparently, he is now going to have even less time. Just seems selfish to me.

The End and eff this day.

*Putting it out there Pearl*

March Goals--- February Misses.

Ok so here were my goals for February... It's official, I sucked in February!

Work on my fitness

1. Start P90x on Monday with the hubs. Even if I can only do 3 push ups. (yep... I got sick the first week of February and never looked back.)

2. Drink 64 oz of water a day and NO SODAS! (I have actually done well with this. I have only had MAYBE 3 sodas this month.)

3. Do not skip meals but eat several small meals a day and keep them in a food diary. Hubs swears up and down that this will make you lose weight faster than the no eating thing. (yeah... no.)

Style

1. Get a haircut with (Done and I love it!)

2. Wash face every morning and night. I know I should do this but I am always super tired at night. (kind of done. I have been washing my face in the shower in the am but not at night. have to work harder at this!)

3. Keep my nails manicured (Done! Even bought 2 new polishes yesterday but I need to work on my cuticles and moisturizing hands)

4. Jeans only Friday-Sunday (I have been MUCH better at this. I have only worn jeans 3 times during the week! I think that is MUCH improved!)

Organization (TOTALLY sucked at this one btw)

1. Make a weekly schedule. I have seen people do this and it helps them get more accomplished. (Nope, still need to do this)

2. Organize my filing cabinet (Nope)

3. Finish my coupon database (Done for the majority, just have to make the month end conversion)

Work

1. No facebook at work. THIS IS GOING TO BE SUPER DUPER HARD but I need to get more stuff done. (bahahahahahahahaha yeah ok)

2. Make at least 5 sales calls a week (Not So Much)

3. Purge old files and make 2011 files (Nope)

Financial

1. Keep a bank transaction list (Nope and my Bestie got onto me about this.)

2. Do not eat out while at work during the week. Take lunch (Have been doing great at this!)

3. Get taxes done son! (Why have we not done this yet???)

Personal

1. Make more time to call friends and keep up with what is going on with them. (February's main focus is Nancer) (I did call Nance twice but wasn't able to talk to her much :( )

2. Wake up at 6 am... no snooze, no turning off the alarm, no excuses. (I have been getting up mostly at 6:30, I will work on 6 in March)

3. Go to bed earlier, no later than 11. I know that does not sound early but for me it is! (I did ok with this when the hubs is at work but when he was home it was a different story.

Ok so we all see that I FAILED at February's Goals, so heres to hoping I do better in March.

Work on my fitness
1. P90x may be a little much for me, I am going to start by walking in my neighborhood at least 3 nights per week.

2. Continue to Drink 64 oz of water a day and NO SODAS OR TEA!
3. Eat 5 small meals a day and keep them in a food diary. Get my metabolism moving again.

Style
1. Do my make up every day. This is a challenge bc some mornings, I just don't feel like putting on makeup.

2. Wash face every morning and night, especially at night where I have been slacking.
3. Keep my nails manicured and work on cuticles

4. Keep up with no jeans during the week... after today. I woke up late... sue me.

Organization

1. Make a weekly schedule. I have seen people do this and it helps them get more accomplished. DO THIS TOMORROW AND POST THURSDAY
2. Organize my filing cabinet
3. Finish my coupon database and maintain weekly

Work
1. I am changing it to minimize time on Facebook at work. That seems much more attainable.
2. Make at least 5 sales calls a week, try to get in with the base here
3. Purge old files and make 2011 files

4. Also, thinking of starting a new business, find out information on that.

Financial
1. Keep a bank transaction list, NEED TO DO!

2. Continue to not eat out while at work during the week, especially breakfast
3. Get taxes done son! Seriously

Personal
1. Make more time to call friends and keep up with what is going on with them, I think my goal will be to visit ML and BG this month, if gas prices do not strangle my attempts.
2. Wake up at 6 am... no snooze, no turning off the alarm, no excuses. Lord help me.
3. Go to bed earlier, no later than 11.

Ok... lets see if I can work these and hopefully have a better month that February!

*Pearl*