Monday Ramblings

Morning ladies!

Guess what?! {chicken butt}

It's only 10am and the morning has already started out with some ups and downs...

fist pump!

First off... last night big blue made it to the superbowl! now i'm a Jets fan by proxy (aka married to a the biggest die hard Jets fan) but the rest of my family roots for the G-men... especially my brother. So i'm glad he has a smile on his face today! Along with almost all of my other FB friends that have been posting incessantly about football. I know... GASP, i'm kind of ready for football to end. then again when the ONLY channel we watch in our house is the NFL network 24/7, come on, you feel my pain, a little right?

Second, SIGH. I have the world's most high maintenance expensive dogs. Dropped Mr. Scoo-face off at the vet today for his teeth cleaning... only to find out their estimate to do it is.... $383!!! {Insert minor heart attack here}. Coupled with the groomer who's scheduled for later this week - another $90 and the fact that they told me that the allergy meds Scooter's on shouldn't be the generic one, it has to be name brand (apparently the name brand is 30% more effective?) so that's going to be at least ANOTHER $100 (and then will be that monthly... i swear, these dogs cost me more than human kids.

But when I walked into work (late) today, i got an e-mail that put a SMILE on my face! i've been nominated for an award! YAY! How exciting right? I mean, listen, i write this blog for me, as a creative outlet, a place to vent, and a place to share my experiences with others. But still, its nice to get some love and know that people like what you have to say.

Liebster in German means dearest, beloved, or favorite,
and it is for bloggers with under 200 followers.

The gorgeous Shannon over at Page Twenty-Two nominated me for this award... if you aren't following her blog, go check it out! She's a celtics fan (holla!), a soon-to-be beautiful bride, and she has a great link up that i like to participate in, Fun Photo Fridays...

The rules to the award are: 

1. Thank your Liebster Blog Award presenter on your blog.

2. Link back to the blogger who awarded you.

3. Copy & paste the blog award on your blog.

4. Reveal your 5 blog picks.

5. Let them know you chose them by leaving a comment on their blog.

SO without further ado, here are my 5 blog picks! Go check them out, you won't be sorry!

The Land of Sunshine

Seoul Fresh

The Life of David, Elizabeth, & Peyton

Eat, Shop & Be Married

Going the Distance

These are all great blogs from great ladies so add them to your reading list!

Fun Photo Fridays... Pup Edition

Linking up again this week with my girl Shannon over at Page Twenty-Two for Fun Photo Fridays. And THANK God Its FRIIIIIIIDAY!!! Even though this week was "short" it seemed way long. Agree?

Anyway, today i'm going back in time to the day i got my first precious little pup scooter. why, yes, i have an unhealthy obsession with my fur children. i may or may not cuddle them like babies, talk to them constantly and treat them like humans. But what can i say... how could you not be in love with this little face?

please ignore the "stoned" look in my eyes... i had just gotten home from a business trip and was exhausted... isn't he such a cute little pip squeaker!!!

we had just given him a bath since he arrived stinking to high hell...

yes we got him from a breeder in missouri, so he had arrived safe and sound at newark airport and we picked him up there... poor little guy was practically comatose from being hypoglycemic.

i immediately gave him some special sugar aka "yum yums" and he perked right up!

he's big enough now that i don't have to do that, but still gets excited when he hears the words yum yums. LOL

love my little boy!

link up and show me your favorite photo memories!

tonight we have dinner in staten italy island for my mother in laws 80th!

tomorrow we're off to visit G's friends and their kids and then to hang with my college bestie and her fam for HER bday... cross your fingers that the snow holds out for us!

also, need lots of prayers that G lands the dream job he applied for last week!

have a great weekend!

I've hit 100K...

Noooo sillies, not followers! Though, i wish! 

Mileage...

my car, Salti (aka Shay's Altima)... to be more exact.

this is not her, just a wanna be...

4 years and 1 month later...

(yup, you heard right, i drive A LOT.)

i took this at a stop light... i swear!

She has been pretty good to me.

No major accidents...

just one teeny tiny little skid on some ice and bounced off a curb.

and possibly a few small bumps while trying to paralell park.

oopsy.

i still have 12 more payments on that bish.

sad i know... i iz poor.

but by the end of the year she will officially be mine

and then it'll be time for a new car!

nissans are known to be pretty good cars, 

so here's to another 100K Salti!

Fun Photo Friday

Linking up today with Page Twenty-two (love her blog by the way) for

Here's my pick for the week!

this was taken in August of 2003. 

on a cruise with my cousins and family...

Yes almost TEN years ago... 

i was TWENTY-TWO (how appropriate for this link up!)...

and no im not wasted, i just look severely asian.

oh wait, i AM asian. duh.

Look at me... tan, skinny, YOUNG!

i look like such a hot slore... (thats slut/whore in kardashian speak)

and i mean that in the most complimentary way possible.

ha!

ready to go out dancing, drinking,

and having the time of my life!

I would definitely go back in time to this age forever.

• the age where i didn't have to worry about my eggs rotting because according to my mother, my "clock is ticking"
• the age where my bank account existed solely to fund my trips to the mall - why oh why did they not have f21 back then!
• the age where i had all this time to figure out who what i wanted to do in life...
• the age where i had few responsibilities other than figuring out what bar i was dancing on hitting that night...

yup. bring me back there...

well only for a night or two. 

{sadly, i probably couldn't handle much more}

but, we'll always have the memories...

ahhhhhh...

happy friday!

You put your arms around me and I'm HOME.

Every once in a while a song comes along that the lyrics and the tune just capture me... when this happens, the song goes on repeat about a bazillion times... Not only do I love Christina Perri's entire album LOVESTRONG, but this song in particular. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

"Arms" as written by David Hodges, Christina Perri
Lyrics © EMI Music Publishing

I never thought that
You would be the one to hold my heart
But you came around
And you knocked me off the ground from the start

You put your arms around me
And I believe that it's easier for you to let me go
You put your arms around me and I'm home

How many times will let you me change my mind and turn around
I can't decide if I'll let you save my life or if I'll drown

I hope that you see right through my walls
I hope that you catch me, 'cause I'm already falling
I'll never let a love get so close
You put your arms around me and I'm home

The world is coming down on me
And I can't find a reason to be loved
I never wanna leave you
But I can't make you bleed if I'm alone

You put your arms around me
And I believe that it's easier for you to let me go

I hope that you see right through my walls
I hope that you catch me, 'cause I'm already falling
I'll never let a love get so close
You put your arms around me and I'm home

I tried my best to never let you in to see the truth
And I've never opened up
I've never truly loved 'till you put your arms around me
And I believe that it's easier for you to let me go

I hope that you see right through my walls
I hope that you catch me, 'cause I'm already falling
I'll never let a love get so close
You put your arms around me and I'm home

You put your arms around me and I'm home.

What songs capture you? Any all-time favorites?

Please share!

Pintervention

Guys, i need a pintervention. i'm out of control... pin after pin after pin. its addicting. i feel like a crack addict. i cant get enough!!!!

ok... anyway, might as well link up if im going to be so obsessed... so what better way to show ma love for pinterest than pinning about pinterest! hahaha.

link up here y'all. you won't regret it.

and off we go!

i'm telling G this the next time he asks me "what is that website you're always on"

you know you do too!

wouldn't that be HEAVEN?!

i would be so freaking rich... that would be my dream job.

i really think i need one... like seriously. pinterest = crack.

not that i ever did crack. but you get what i'm trying to say RIGHT?

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6

ok ONE more. i leave you with this.

sophia from the golden girls...

bahahahahahaha... how funny is that. i die.

happy wednesday!

Stop and Smell the Roses

Some of you may have seen me share this on my facebook page this morning... but, if not... i figured i'd share it here... just an interesting experiment done by the Washington Post on the things we miss as we rush through life... and taking time to "stop and smell the roses" so to speak might not be such a bad thing! :)

"In Washington DC , at a Metro Station, on a cold January morning in 2007, a man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, approximately 2000 people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.

After about four minutes, a middle-aged man noticed that there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds, and then he hurried on to meet his schedule.

About four minutes later, the violinist received his first dollar. A woman threw money in the hat and, without stopping, continued to walk.

At six minutes, a young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again.

At ten minutes, a three-year old boy stopped, but his mother tugged him along hurriedly. The kid stopped to look at the violinist again, but the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head the whole time. This action was repeated by several other children, but every parent - without exception - forced their children to move on quickly.

At forty-five minutes: The musician played continuously. Only six people stopped and listened for a short while. About twenty gave money but continued to walk at their normal pace. The man collected a total of $32.

After one hour: He finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed and no one applauded. There was no recognition at all.

No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the greatest musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. Two days before, Joshua Bell sold-out a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100 each to sit and listen to him play the same music.

This is a true story. Joshua Bell, playing incognito in the D.C. Metro Station, was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people’s priorities.

This experiment raised several questions:

In a common-place environment, at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty?

If so, do we stop to appreciate it?

Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?

One possible conclusion reached from this experiment could be this:
If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world, playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments ever made…

How many other things are we missing as we rush through life?"

Video : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myq8upzJDJc

Click "like" at : http://www.facebook.com/WeddingLiveBandTheRawNote

What's your take on this? Would you have stopped to listen or recognized this extraordinary talent?

Happy Tuesday loves! 

Book Review: Spying in High Heels

Hey Gals!
Over the Christmas break, i had some free time (G spent Christmas Eve at the Jets game with my brother) so i decided to break out the old kindle and buy a new book! As I browsed through the Kindle Store's $3.99 and under list, I found this:

get it here!

Here's the synopsis from Amazon:

L.A. shoe designer, Maddie Springer, lives her life by three rules: Fashion. Fashion. Fashion. But when she stumbles upon the work of a brutal killer, her life takes an unexpected turn from Manolos to murder. And things only get worse when her boyfriend disappears - along with $20 million in embezzled funds - and her every move is suddenly under scrutiny by the LAPD's sexiest cop. With the help of her post-menopausal bridezilla of a mother, a 300 pound psychic and one seriously oversexed best friend, Maddie finds herself stepping out of her stilettos and onto the trail of a murderer. But can she catch a killer before the killer catches up to her...

 My take on this book? Two very enthusiastic THUMBS UP! I loved every minute of this book. Some parts even had me laughing out loud! Maddie Springer was a totally likable, hilarious girl... one I would totally be BFF with in real life, if she were real. This book sort of reminded me of my other favorite author Ms. Janet Evanovich and her infamous bond enforcement agent Stephanie Plum...  and like Stephanie's hot cop men, Spying in Heels has a sizzling hot (i picture Dwayne Johnson aka the Rock) latin cop who Maddie is seeeriously crushin on. All I can say is love, love, love. And what i love even more? It's a series! So of course, this is currently on my kindle...

you're gonna wanna read it!

So, if you're looking to add to your book reading list, definitely try these out! (i think there's 3 or 4 more after these two)... and let me know if you like them as much as i did!

Oh and PS. Who else is as excited as this girl about seeing Stephanie Plum (played by Katherine Heigl) on the big screen in about 3 weeks! Woot woot! If you're not familiar, check out the trailer below!

Happy Thursday! Tonight is a little "hot" yoga with my cuzzo... pray for me. seriously. i'm gonna need it.

Happy Blogiversary to ME!

Wow.... its been a year since i started this here lil' ol' blog of mine...

137 posts, 33 followers, and a partridge in a pear tree!

thank YOU for reading, commenting & following!

i may not be the best blogger out there...

but i am thankful i have a place to vent, complain, celebrate, share...

and i have all of you following along with me 

in this thing called life!

and i'm happy i get to do the same for so many of you!

Here are some blog highlights from the past year...

January - my very first post...

March - my first weekend recap here

April - i shook my hair feathers 

May - i apparently did a lot of shopping!

and we got some sweet bikes (that we've ridden exactly TWO times since buying them)

June - Birthday VACATION to Myrtle Beach, SC

July - ENGAGEMENT!

September - Our Wedding

October - Honeymoon

December - our first real Christmas tree

Here's too looking forward to another great year with lots of new & exciting adventures!

Bling Bling...

Linking up today with CMae to show off my left hand bling!

G did an amazing job picking out my engagement ring
and an even better job surprising me by proposing that rainy night back in July.

Read here if you missed it.

My uncle is a jeweler and designed my wedding band to fit perfectly around the bezel of my engagement ring. It is also an eternity band for the rare days I decide to skip both rings (which has yet to happen).

Here's a few more close up details...

Like i said, i only take my rings off to shower, clean, or sleep... 

when they're off they sit in a cute little bird jewelry holder that's on my night table.

I know I should really get another holder for the kitchen and bathroom...

I'm living on the edge by leaving them on counter tops, i know!

Good thing these puppies are insured!

I'll be back tomorrow with a recap of 2011 as well as some thoughts for the new year.

I've been slacking in blog land lately...