Poodle Day Parade + Happy marriage.

It's been like eons since we've had any sort of "family trip." By family trip, I mean the whole family--including the dog. In fact, this trip was based on our dog--sort of. See, I work in the pet field. My bosses groom all sort of furbabies and when my mini family and I were invited to join them for a few days in Monterey, we couldn't say no. So off we all went to the sweet and beautiful bay area called Monterey.

We drove Friday morning, albeit late morning, only to arrive mid-afternoon. This only gave us 2 hours to see all of the wonders that the Monterey Bay Aquarium had to hold. The drive to the aquarium from our hotel was just beautiful.

Cannery Row

This was his reaction to the water fall wall.

Reaction after.

Saturday was just amazing! It was time for Jambi, our Jack Russell-Yorkie Mix, to have some family fun. He saw oodles and oodles of Poodles everywhere. Hence the famous "Poodle Parade." You can see last year's gallery on the Poodle Parade website, but here are two snippets from our trip.

Sesame Street!

The Simpons!

Then it was off to the beach to hang out with. Obviously Michael + sand equals loads of fun as usual. Loads of fun!

This guy is silly. He would run up to meet the waves, but as soon as his little feet touched it, he would back away. lol

Sand + Michael= fun! 

What a great way to start our eighth year of marriage.

Love on Instagram

Yesterday after work, Stevan and I decided to just hang out on the couch. Random talks ensued, more specifically about our turning ten years this coming October. We turn ten, guys. Ten years together and eight out of those ten years we have been married.

One of those pictures that we took ended up on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr (all connected end via Instagram.) I received on of the most beautiful compliments ever.

Fab Fridays

Today I decided to link up with Laura over at The Every Day Joys and write about the fabulous things that are currently happening in our lives.

 

 

 

The fabulous things are...

1. Today I will become a Sponsor for my cousin who will be having her Confirmation. She is the youngest cousin of our huge (30 plus grandchildren) family. This makes me happy that she has chosen me to help guide her through life. Very exciting!
   
2. This weekend is my hubby Stevan's 30th birthday. He keeps walking around the house saying things like, "I'm turning old!!" Which is funny since I am the oldest of the two (2.5 years!)So if he is turning old, I must be ancient!
   
3. Just this past weekend, our friends had asked us to do a photoshoot for free! Yes! Free! Who can turn that down? She's trying to build her portfolio, so it's a win/win. Yes/Yes!! We never had an engagement shoot and so this was just like that for us. Plus after almost ten years together (in October,) I think it’s time for a little love photo shoot. No?
   Here’s a preview of what I have from her. So excited!
   
   

My marriage and Wizpert.

I love journaling. It’s always been a part of me since I was a kid. I was one of those kids who had a diary and started each and every entry with “Dear Diary.” After starting high school and then college, my journaling went from paper to “blogging.” Although the blogging was done privately (after figuring out that you can do that with certain websites like LiveJournal), I decided after 10 years to venture into public blogging. That’s where this blog comes n. Luckily, this hobby of mine also crept into my marriage.

My husband and I started this tradition when we were dating and it continued until a few years ago. Since the first year of our relationship we have kept a journal where we talk about everything. Sometimes we find it easier to open up via pen and paper when we are too shy (after so many years) to do so. This has helped keep our lines of communication open. Plus I love looking back through our old books (we are on book 5 since it’s been like 5 years since our last one!) and see how our relationship has grown. So much, I tell ya’! So much!

Which also leads me to tell you about Wizpert. What is Wizpert?

You can think of Wizpert as an IT help desk for life. The company recruits knowledgeable bloggers, which it calls “Wizperts,” across topics like exercise, health/wellness, and parenting. Advice seekers can connect to Wizperts via their blogs or the service’s website, and most importantly, they can begin a conservation within seconds.
Read more at http://venturebeat.com/2012/04/25/wizpert-expert-help-era-demo-day/#kkAZAyjU1lOdPZeR.99

Michael Weinberg, Ceo of Wizpert, contacted me earlier this week and asked if I wanted to join their network of online experts. Flattered I was and so I did join. Now if you want to talk, “face to face”, you can. Just email me and we can set up a time for when to do so via Skype, just click on the widget on the side bar. I figure we can give it a try since sometimes it’s easier to talk to someone you “don’t know” rather than those in your life. I’m a good listener, I promise.

My date night with my Valetines.

Friday evening, my husband decided to ask me out. He said, "Will you go out with me?" Normally I thought it was just him being sweet and I answered with, "Yes." Thinking it was just him playing around he said, "Seriously. I'm asking you out on a date. Will you?" Stunned, I said, "Um. Okay? I mean, we don't have a sitter lined up for anything and it's last minute for anything like that." He said he had it planned out and that we would go see The Vow. We did!!

He told me to pack up Michael's bag with toys and blankets. I did. I also packed up his bottles and some snacks. This was to entertain him while we watched the movie at the Drive-In. This made everything so much easier on us when it came to watching a  movie. Not only that, Michael slept the entire time we were there! How sweet of him to give us some Mommy & Daddy time at the movies.

That was my date night with my boys. The Vow was a sweet and cute movie. I won't get into what happens or a review since it just came out and well, I'd like for you to see if you are able to.

Happy Valentine's Day--with whomever you choose to spend it with--family or friends, or a loved one.

Second chances and blessings.

Since the beginning of 2010, our worlds have gone through some sort of spiral. We've had major ups and downs. One of those downs included our whole world just crumbling down, but it brought a silver lining--our son. Since then, everything has been sort of like that cliche quote, "Crazy." If there was one word to describe my past birth year, that would be the word I would use.

Now that 2011 is coming to a close in the next few months, everything is being brought back up to perspective. A ton of  "what if's" surge and many, "I'm so glad I did this ...." roll into my head. From the loss of an angel that I desired, to a second chance of holding another. I'm so blessed that I have my monkey with me as I turn another year older. It's beautiful. Not just that, but after today, our world is changing. Good news was brought to us for another second chance, and that in itself is another blessing.

Second chances and blessings seem like what the theme is for these past two years. I wonder what the next two will hold for us once again--from the looks of it, it seems as if we are getting more blessings and second chances once more.

Dating after baby.

It seems like it has been forever and a day since my husband and I have had some time alone. Obviously we aren't complaining much about it and are enjoying every moment with Michael. However, after reading The Idea's Room "Keep the Sparks Flying" it made me realize that my dear husband and I haven't set some time alone. This is indeed not a good thing. I will say this, we are in no way in imminent danger of having a failing marriage. We are far from that, but that still doesn't mean that we should neglect what has brought us together.

Here are a few of Heather's ideas for conversation starters for you. Hopefully it will help you as well to keep conversation going in your relationship as well.


WHILE YOU EAT YOUR APPETIZER
1. Name three countries you would like to visit.
2. Which celebrity annoys you the most?
3. How would you spend 10,000,000 dollars? (My husband loves this question.)
4. If you could try out any occupation for a year, what would it be?
5. On a scale of 1 to 10 how cool are you?
OVER THE MAIN COURSE
1. If you could rewind to any point in your past, what would you want to relive?
2. If you could take lessons to become an expert at anything, what would it be?
3. How would you spend a perfect day alone?
4. What would you want us to do together for the next ten years if you knew they were our last?
5. What’s the most honest thing you have ever done?
6. How would you like people to describe you at your funeral?

WHILE SHARING DESSERT, or eating your very own
1. Hollywood called, they want to make a movie about your life, who would play you?
2. Name something you love that no one seems to like. (Or name something that everyone seems to love except for you.)
3. What’s the one item you own that you know you should get rid of but never will?
4. Name one thing you miss about our dating years? (Then talk about how you can make it a part of your dating again.)
5. Last one, make it good! What’s something positive about me that you don’t say often enough? (Then decide to say it more.) 




Credit: The Idea Room