Tuesday Topics - 10 Things That Make You Happy

New link up.....well hello! I kept seeing the last one popping up all over my bloglovin' but I didn't want to just jump in the middle, so when I saw a new one was coming available I thought I would jump on the bandwagon with Lauren and Tiffany. Head on over to Tiffany's blog too and congratulate her on the birth of her son! She had him yesterday! Congrats to her! YAY!

This weeks topic is 10 things that make you happy! I could list so much more, but I figured I would keep the list to ten! 

#1. This handsome man!

#2 Our fur baby! Miss Shelbydoo

#3 All of these people!

Our adorable Goddaughter! Wish I could squeeze her more! Smooch!

#4 Playing music, listening to music.....anything involving music!

#5 Singing loudly for my hubby to hear!

#6 DANCING! YEA! I tend to turn and kick and shimmy all over our home!

#7 Pampering myself with a little pedicure!

#8 Any visit to the Happiest Place on Earth!

#9 A nice beverage and a relaxing vacation!

#10 The beach, anytime all the time!

Catalina Island

Half Moon Cay

Santa Barbara

Chevron Stripes with the Weekend Update

Wow.....this post is super late today! Eep! Sorry. It was a crazy busy weekend! First off, can I say that I really don't like the update to the blogger app for IPhone. Every time I use it, it makes the quality of my photo's really poor and it formats them weird and left justified! I can't seem to fix it! Any advice? I guess I will just have to do it the ole fashion way....on the computer! Gasp!

Friday we did squat! I actually did some squats; ie; my squat challenge....110 squats. Boom. Other than that we had dinner and some beverages in the form of Blue Moon and watched our DVR.

Saturday, the hubby worked and I got up early to wrap the gift for the bridal shower and get everything ready for the day. I made this cute envelope for the bride to keep all of her honeymoon cash in. Got dressed in my new outfit and made my way to the shower. I was tasked with helping with the games, so I did the purse game and the winner happened to win because she had two mini margarita's stashed in her bag! The other game was you couldn't say the groom's name or you lost your badge. (see photo below) He is a sheriff and the badges had photos when he was little glued to them!

Dress New York and Company; Necklace and earrings: Lia Sophia; Sandals: Hand-me-down; Nailpolish: Julep "Gunta"

After the bridal shower, I picked up the hubby and we made our way over to our good friends college graduation party. There was a taco cart, cookies, snacks and of course CAKE. We stuffed our faces and chatted the evening away and forgot to take photos! OOPS! We celebrate her success anyways! YAY! Miss S!

Afterwards, we made our way to Relay for Life, if you haven't heard of it....it's a wonderful charity fundraiser for all types of cancer. While it's still hard for me to get through the luminarie presentation, its a wonderful event to support people in their fight or success in the battle of cancer, and to remember those who have lost their battle. The hubbs work is a big sponsor so he stayed the night to help man the booth, while I came home and actually slept! Shelby was very happy to be in the bed!

Sunday I got up and did my Saturday cleaning that I couldn't do. Shelby hates cleaning day because I don't just stay in one room....I'm constantly back and forth; stripping the sheets, to the laundry, cleaning the bathroom, organizing the kitchen, dusting.....the whole shebang. She also really hates that loud thing that sucks....(vacuum) hence why she is hiding just out of sight in the doorway to our bedroom.

One eye and an ear! But she can see me!

After all the cleaning, I finished up a project for a guest post that will be up at the beginning of June! Stay tuned for that! It's really cute.

The hubby cooked some hamburgers and I made smoothies for dessert. He went to bed fairly early (as only getting two hours sleep) and I spent the night re-watching The Tudors on Netflix and surfing Pinterest! I hope you had a great weekend! Looking forward to NEXT! Memorial Day and three days off! Linking up with Sami's Shenanigans!

Cold Tuna Pasta Salad

You guys, I don't know about you, but when it's really hot outside I don't feel like cooking....or eating...or doing anything really. Hehe. So last night, after a 105° day in SoCal it was the battle of what to have for dinner. The hubby had the day off so he made one of our go to summer staples for dinner. Cold Tuna Pasta Salad. It's light and refreshing, and because we make it relatively dry (with regards to the mayo) not all that unhealthy. Simple ingredients, and you only have to turn on the stove to boil the water, you won't even break a sweat. This recipe makes a lot so you can have it as a side for a BBQ or just have tons of leftovers!

Cold Tuna Pasta Salad

Ingredients:
Shell Noodles (We usually use the whole bag)
(2) cans Tuna
Mayonnaise (To taste)
(1) can Corn
2-3 Stalks Celery (Finely Chopped)
2-3 Green Onions (Finely Chopped)
2 handfuls Shredded Carrots
Salt and Pepper (To Taste)

Directions:
Cook shell noodles according to package directions. Fold all ingredients together. Refrigerate until ready to eat. (Will taste better the colder the pasta is!)

Simple and quick. Perfect for those late nights, or lunches! As you can tell by my other recipes, we love simple! But of course delicious!

A look into my habits and all about the Mom's weekend!

So the girls behind Coffee and Conversations opened up the topics to all the readers to submit questions for the discussion. A while back I submitted three or four questions and this week they are featuring one of my questions for the discussion. Unfortunately, it was the one question that I was least prepared to answer! What's the habit your most proud of breaking? So, I have a bad habit (pun intended) of starting a goal and not always following it through, so I thought that I would put down a couple of my biggies in an attempt to start really focusing on them and working them through.

1. I want to cut the soda out of my life. Diet cola is so bad for you, but since I am not really a coffee drinker I get my caffeine jolt from my daily Diet Pepsi. This has been an especially hard thing for me. I have cut it way back and usually only have one in the morning to have my pick me up and have water the rest of the day. However, there are those weeks when I am out of the office all week, having to get take out for lunch and I fall back into the soda habit and the cycle continues. My hubby, who had a worse addiction to the stuff has almost entirely cut it out, with the exception of one 12oz can a day! That's something to be proud of and I really want to be right there with him! Working on it!

2. I am a face picker/toucher! It's awful and I always have breakouts because of it! Then I pick the scab and make the ugly blemish worse! I have tried desperately to keep my hands off of my face as of late and have seen an slight improvement in my skin, but when I am stressed I go right back to rubbing and picking! SLAP! Stop it!

3. I over analyze EVERY situation. Anything that I can stew over for months at a time I usually will. If it happened I am probably still harping over it! It is really bad and not good for my psyche! I also over analyze situations that haven't happened! I will stress out over something that I think might happen, that actually never does! Sigh. Why do I do this to myself?!!?? I know this has been an ongoing lesson to myself and a major thing that I need to work on. I continue to grow within this aspect, but I still need to continue to work on this aspect of my life, and probably will have to for the rest of my life. Another area, that is along the same lines is going above and beyond to make others happy. Sometimes I go overboard when trying to help someone that I get over-involved and am left feeling under appreciated. I don't do things to get recognition, but when I am left feeling used and abused it really hurts me. I have stopped doing things for people who don't appreciate what I have done for them and try to only do the things that I want and would make my life better and happier. I love helping people and it does make me happy when someone asks for my input, or assistance. I love to give, but have learned to not give so much that my happiness is taken away from me.

Well I hope that was a good response, because honestly I haven't "broken" any habits yet, but continue to grow with each one and take a step further in the right direction. Lauren and Kalyn have decided to make this link up every other week, so my next post won't be until May 27th and the question in the pipeline is: How would you describe modesty for the modern woman & why is (or isn't) it important in today's world? 

And NOW, a recap of the weekend! We all know it was Mother's Day yesterday. A couple of years ago I made this little triptych as a tribute to the three wonderful women I have the privilege of calling mom. My own mom on the left, my step mom in the middle and my M.I.L. on the right. All these women are great people to have in my life and are people that I can talk to when I need to vent, ask for advice or just want to spend time with!

Anyways, lets go in order.....Friday was our typical night to spend time with friends and just hang out. We went over to our friend's Mr. L's for a celebration that his roommate has tolerated the craziness for an entire year! Go S! We had a lot of laughs, some good food, drinks and conversation! Always a blast!

Saturday, I drug my slightly hungover bootay out of bed and met my wonderful mom in Palmdale to treat her to lunch and some shopping. We both got some great comfy summer dresses and I can't wait to wear mine next weekend to all the parties that are going on! Whoop! We had a nice lunch at the Olive Garden and then wandered around the mall for hours. It was good because we got an unusual heat wave this weekend and temps soared to over 100° and it was sweltering outside ! I re-found my favorite conditioner at one of the salons! Off to stock up! Once we said our goodbyes, and I got her part of our gift for the shower, I made my way back home cooked us up some dinner and we caught up on some Game of Thrones Ssn 2! Oh how I missed it!

Sunday I awoke really early, because it was just so hot. I got up and continued to work on an upcoming project! It's starting to look good! Stay tuned for that bad boy! Patriotic and glittery, can we say of course!! We called my step mom and chatted with her for a bit, then the hubby and I got cleaned up and made our way over to his parents to celebrate with his mom. He cooked up some mean steaks and corn on the cob, and I made the salad and the rest of the sides. We toasted a good glass of wine and ended the meal with strawberry shortcake. We had great conversation and a lovely time.

I hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day weekend! Linking up!

Camping at Piru Lake

When was the last time you went on a camping trip? For us it had been four years, when we went up to the mountains above the Kern river and the Redwoods. We always have a great time....except for the whole sleeping on the ground part. So when our neighbors asked us on Friday to take a spur of the moment trip to Lake Piru we of course said yes! We had our lists, threw all our camping gear into my Sunfire and was on our way.

We had a couple of brush fires in the area which made the setting sun look like a giant ball of fire. After an error on my part with regards to putting enough gas in my vehicle, making us have to take a trip back down the hill, we got to the campsite and set up our tent. That night we had a fox, two raccoons and a gopher in our site and pup was going mental trying to go "play" with them.

Our neighbors brought their cat, and I was hilarious to watch him on his leash with the dog harness. He really loved climbing up the trees and eating the sticks. Our pup decided that every little noise was cause for alarm and kept us up a majority of the night. So we awoke at 6am Saturday and started the day with a little breakfast. 

Around 11 we packed a picnic and went to the mud puddle lake and sat at the shore people watching. There was a pair of ducks that had Shelby very interested. Our neighbor fished a little, but only got one bite and it got away. They had a swim area set up, but the lake (being really low to a lack of rain) didnt look inviting for swimming so we packed up and went back to camp. 

We had some great conversations for the afternoon, played some cards and grilled up some burgers. We had a good size fire going that was so nice and warm to sit by as it got a little chilly once the sun went down. We roasted up some s'mores because that's just a given when you camp. Then we hit the hay at around 10. 

Sunday we awoke to overcast skies and drizzle at 6 when our pup again decided that it was growling and whining time. Since the ground was so unbelievably hard we just decided to pack up camp, get some donuts and head home to a shower and our nice mattress. We slept most of the late morning and early afternoon, but I am still feeling groggy and sleepy today! Obviously I can't do the no sleep thing anymore! Hope you guys had a great Cinco de Mayo!!!

Coffee n' Conversations #10 - Unforgettable

Again this week we come to Monday and I am exhausted! But there is a reasonable explanation for it! We went on a spur of the moment camping trip this weekend. Stay tuned for my weekend update post for all the details on that! But that doesn't mean I am going to miss out on on the conversation this week with Lauren and Kalyn.

This week's Coffee and Conversation is: Who is your most unforgettable character and why?

When I first read the question I immediately thought of a book character. I also read Kalyn's post where she spoke about a real life person, and in order for me to not sound redundant and talk about the same people over and over (which I could do, but honestly I can see your eyes glazing over into the future) so I think I am going to go with a book character.

As a child I loved The Little Women, and the character Jo. She had such spunk and charisma that I could read it over and over. Her relationship with her sisters always made me long to have siblings, because I am an only child. It's such a classic story and one that I hold near to my heart. However this was not the book that stuck in my head as much as that one. It was "One Fat Summer" by Robert Lipsyte.

"One Fat Summer takes you through a summer of change for Bobby Marks, an overweight 14-year-old boy who wishes he were thin. Faced with nothing to do for the summer, Bobby gets a job from a stingy estate owner, Dr. Kahn. Working for Dr. Kahn, Bobby learns about hard work, determination, and pride. The only thing that can stop Bobby's productive summer is Willie Rumson, the town bully who seems to have it out for Bobby. Throughout the story, Bobby learns things about himself that he never knew before, and his view of summer changes drastically."

I related to the character immensely. I was an overweight adolescent that longed to be accepted by my peers. I was incessantly made fun of because of my red-hair and freckles, but that didn't stop me from doing the things I love and doing them well. Knowing that a job well done can make you feel proud and overcoming obstacles to get where you want to be makes you feel on top of the world. I was extremely shy and that did not help my peers from understanding me, however I eventually found that core group that truly understood me and made me feel better about who I was....inside and out.

Reading this book made me realize that I wasn't alone in the world of bullying. Today's standards of bullying are vastly different then when I was a child. With online social network profiles and cell phones, kids today have it really hard. We need to empower our children to stand up to bullying and try to help put an end to it as adults to. I was not the child that stood up for myself, I stayed in the shadows and eventually figured out who I was with the help of some close friends. It took a long time to do so, but knowing that your not alone does help. Other books that hold true to the power of friendships, empowerment and love are definitely the Harry Potter series. Overcoming obstacles and learning to be your true self is something that I think is very important for today's youth.

It's a great day to celebrate SUCCESS!

You guys, I am totally ecstatic and proud to share this post today! Exactly one year ago, my parents kicked their habit! They have officially been non-smokers for one year! Woohoo! My mom has only faltered for one puff! And although she has complained about having gained a few pounds, I think the other benefits have far outweighed that fact! No more sinus issues, no more headaches, no more dry skin from over hand washing, no more teeth yellowing, no more stinky clothes and vehicle....the list goes on and on. She continues to say how hard it is, and it will be difficult for a while, but I must say that I am SO PROUD! I have been begging them for years to do it and they finally did! They will continue to lead healthier and longer lives. This is my way of saying CONGRATS and giving them a big virtual squeeze! This baby girl can say to them.....YOU DID IT! Now keep it up! Now I need to start my battle with diet soda. Ugh! It's gonna be hard, but I know it will be worth it!

Please help me in celebrating their victory! Woohoo!

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