I'm such a slacker

I have been absolutely terrible at updating lately, especially with the outfit posts which was one of the main reasons I wanted to do this blog. Now this the semester from hell at school is finally over, I feel like I can finally concentrate on doing more things for me, this blog being one of those things.


I had my graduation a week and a half ago and I'm so excited to have completed another goal of mine. My parents, my sister with my niece and nephew, and some of my in laws were able to attend the ceremony which I was happy about considering it was kind of a strange time to have it (it was on a Thursday at 2:00 in the afternoon which made it difficult for people to get off of work early.) Overall the weather was gorgeous and I'm  glad that I got to be a part of it. I'm still working on figuring out the whole transferring situation but for now I am just going to take things one day at a time. 

(Clearly I need to tan my legs)

(Love this little girl with all my heart)

(My mother in law, husband, baby girl and myself)

(My two biggest fans and my greatest support system)

(My sister in laws, husband, baby girl and myself again)

I'm so excited to move on to the next chapter in my life, once I completely figure out what it is. 

On another note, we will be leaving in just 17 days to visit some of my family in Chicago! I'm super excited because I have had a bad case of wanderlust lately and this should help fix that. One thing that I would have changed about my childhood was how much I actually traveled. Every summer my parents would take me and my sisters to spend a week in sunny Santa Cruz, and while I loved this trip every year I do wish that we had gone to new and different places. I have every intention of taking my daughter (and future children) to as many places that we can possibly go because I feel like it is one of the most important things you can do in life. 

Now, I have never been on a plane with a toddler before and I have definitely heard my fair share of horror stories. Both of our flights are nonstop each way so I'm hoping that she will do okay and wont have a crazy tantrum to the point where they kick us off the plane or something. I plan on bringing a bunch of toys and will have the iPad loaded with episodes of Caillou and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Other than that I am just hoping for the best. I will definitely have to update once the trip is over on how she did. 

Goal #30: Fly in a helicopter

At some point I still need to put my entire bucket list on here, yet for some reason it keeps slipping my mind. I'm always on a mission to accomplish as many of my goals as I can and luckily for me I have an awesome husband who helped me out with this one =)


Goal #30 was to fly in a helicopter and this can prove to be a bit of an expensive goal. Now let's backtrack to this past Christmas of 2011. When the husband and I were exchanging gifts he handed me an odd shaped package that I had absolutely no clue to what it was. When I opened it I found a photo album that had a map on the cover, and he told me that the real presents were inside. Instead of getting me the normal gifts (diamonds, clothing, a pony, etc...) he decided to surprise me with things we could do together. He had been looking out for deals on different websites like Groupon and Living Social to find different deals on activities that I might want to try, or ones that he knew for sure were on my bucket list. Boy did I get lucky because one of the deals he found was for a helicopter tour over Sonoma County and lunch for 2. It was still a bit pricey but not anywhere close to the original cost. It expired this month so I made sure to make a reservation ahead of time so we were sure to have a babysitter for that date. A toddler in a helicopter? I think not. Luckily my mother in law lives on the way to where we were going so we dropped off the munchkin and away we went! 


The drive to Sonoma is absolutely beautiful and if you are ever in Northern California I highly recommend making a stop there and visit some of the amazing wineries. The place who was offering the deal was called Heloventure and they were as nice as can be. When we got there a woman instructed us on what we were to do once we actually got in the helicopter and just some basic safety precautions. Our flight was scheduled to go at noon and we were able to get on pretty close to that. Our pilot was awesome and he pointed out specific things to look at throughout the flight, which lasted probably around 45 minutes. They also gave us a voucher for $25 towards the restaurant next door!

(Our transportation for the day. So fancy!)

(Cute husband before liftoff)

(We're ready for liftoff!)

(The best view in the house)

(Infineon Raceway)

One of the spots we flew over was Infineon Raceway where they do all kinds of car and motorcycle races. We were lucky enough that the day we chose to do our flight, they had motorcycles out doing races on the tracks. They looked so tiny from where we were!

(Some pretty cool looking lakes)

(Pretty, pretty, pretty)

(The cute little diner next door. Loved the decor!)

Overall it was such an awesome experience and it was nice to have a little "baby free date." And I was able to cross off another goal on my list! Hopefully there will be many more in the future that I get done as well ;)

A bit of catching up to do.

It's been awhile since I actually posted anything because I have been super duper swamped with finishing up this semester at school, taming one very active 19 month old little girl, and all those wonderful duties that stay at home moms/wives have. Not that I am complaining. I know many women would love to be in my shoes and be able to stay home and raise their own children instead of having to work all the time and put the kids in daycare. 


School is over at the end of May, and because I only need one more class in order to get my AA degree I am actually going to be walking at graduation with my class. I'm actually looking forward to it quite a bit and seeing what the future holds for me after leaving this school. I'm still looking into transferring but that is still up for debate. I guess it all depends on if I find a job first.


The next few months are going to be ridiculously busy and I honestly cannot wait! This weekend we are going to a BBQ for a friend of mine, and even though she has no idea there is quite a big surprise waiting for her ;)


The following weekend I will be helping and attending my best friend's baby shower to help with the arrival of her baby boy Kayden. I can't believe how fast his due date seems to be coming up and I'm anxious to meet the little guy...probably not as anxious as her and her husband! I will post tons of pictures of both the shower and the BBQ because they are both going to be tons of fun. 

My cute pregnant best friend on the left and myself =)

Other things in store for us the next few months:

My graduation.

A lovely helicopter ride above San Francisco that my husband got me as a gift for Christmas. (I should note that he did not actually BUY me a helicopter but he got us passes for a flight and a lunch special. A helicopter would be awesome but we already have no space at our house, so keeping it would be a bit of a problem.)

Chicago trip! 

My aunt and uncle live close to Chicago and are being oh so wonderful and letting us stay with them for a week. We already have some flight credit towards Southwest so we wont have to pay that much more for the trip. And we get to stay for free! I'm so excited it's crazy. I have hardly been out of state and am very travel deprived. Hopefully this is the start of many more adventures!

On another fun note, we did do a spontaneous trip down to San Diego this past weekend. My sister in law lives there and it's kind of hard for her to travel up this way because she is busy with work and school and whatnot. So since the husband didn't have any jobs planned, we thought why the heck not? We left Friday night at almost midnight and stayed there the next two nights. 

Family time at the San Diego Zoo

Someone wasn't a happy camper!

Phil's BBQ. A definite must if you are ever in the area. The line is always CRAZY long. Luckily we were smart and called in our order ahead of time so we were able to walk right in and grab our food.

Chillen with the peeps of Sesame Street

Hi, friend!

My other half

Storage Wars! On the way back up we made a pit stop at Now & Then Thrift which happens to be the store owned by Jarrod and Brandi on the show Storage Wars. I was hoping to get a chance to meet them but they were in Long Beach for the day. Boo. I did however buy a tshirt that I have every intention of getting signed on the next trip down.

Museum of Death in Hollywood was also a must for us to stop at, and is also one of the things on my long bucket list that I can finally check off! (At some point I will post the entire bucket list along with which ones I have actually accomplished.) If you can handle blood and gore then this place is a really cool place to visit. There are so many unique and one of a kind things to look at, and it is definitely one of the most interesting yet creepiest places I have ever been to. Certain areas are dedicated to specific people or events such as Charles Manson and the Black Dahlia. Other rooms have artwork done by serial killers and items that have been in funeral homes. I would totally go back again just because I am so sure that I missed a bunch of things.

Dear Zachary...

I have been hearing a lot lately about a documentary called "Dear Zachary" and how it is a must see film that everyone needs to see. Luckily for me it is on Netflix so when I had some free time yesterday the husband and I saw down and watched it.

I have never had a movie take me to such an emotional state as this one did. Maybe because it's a true story? Maybe because of everything the movie entails? Everything about the film just hit me. Without going in to too much detail and giving away anything about the film, one thing you find out early on is that a guy is filming this documentary to give to a boy named Zachary to tell him about the life of Zachary's father who had been murdered. He interviewed family, friends, classmates...anyone he could get in touch with who had known Zachary's father, Andrew Bagby. The filmmaker himself was one of Andrew's childhood friends and it was absolutely amazing to hear what everyone had to say about him. Not one bad word was spoken and you could tell that Andrew had touched so many people's lives. It was unbelievable. I can only hope that one day when I am gone that a quarter of the people that talked about Andrew have nice things to say about me. 

If you are going to watch this film I have a few pieces of advice for you: 

1. Make sure you have tissues nearby

&

2. Do not google anything about the film or Andrew Bagby. You really just need to watch the film to understand.

A beautiful day for a wedding

This past weekend I got to attend the wedding of a guy named Steven that I have known since I was 13. Considering we have not seen much of each other since we graduated high school I felt honored that he included me on his guest list. We have kept in touch through Facebook and even though the first time I met his wife was at the wedding, I felt like I had known her for years since I have seen so many photos of the two of them. They are quite an adorable couple and it makes me happy that they have found such love in one another.


The ceremony was one of the longer ones I have been too and I enjoyed every second of it. One of my favorite parts was when the doors opened and she walked down the aisle with her dad to the song "At Last" by Etta James. She looked like a beautiful classic bride so the song fit very well.

(His letter to her)

(Her letter to him)

(You may now kiss your bride!)

(My lovely husband and I before the reception)

(My very cute and pregnant best friend and I)

(Obviously the husbands enjoyed the free happy hour!)

(The beautiful bride and groom)

And lucky for us they had a photobooth!

Am I a lucky girl or what to be able to call that sexy man my husband?

Fill in the blank Friday

1.   If money wasn't an issue, the first thing I'd cross of my life list is: Buy a bunch of properties for me and the husband to fix up. And to make sure that whatever place we were living in had a huge walk in closet for me! 

2.  Lox (salmon) on my bagels :are something I like that other people think is weird.

3.  If my life were a movie right now, the title would be: The life of a shopaholic mom with a shoe addiction. 

4.  Three things I am looking forward to this month are: Valentines day and all that fun stuff, shopping for and attending a few fun events like weddings and baby showers, and spending some quality family time together with my husband and daughter.

5.  My favorite song to sing in the shower is: Pocketful of sunshine. Clearly I have seen "Easy A" too many times.

6.  If I found out that the production of   diapers   was ending this month, I'd go out and buy as much as I could tomorrow.

7.  One thing I'll never grow tired of is  seeing my daughter smile.

My hunt for Missoni

Even though the Missoni for Target line was released awhile back, I never actually got the chance to purchase any of the wonderful items. I was eyeing a few different items but by the time I got to my closest Target it was all sold out, except for a few children's items. And let's be honest, I don't think the kids clothing would look that fabulous on me. And then one day I decided to browse Pinterest and came across this lovely little outfit inspiration.

(Link to pin on my Pinterest)

So I went on the hunt to find this beautiful sweater. I checked my store and had no luck there, and when I asked one of the associates they looked at me like I was nuts. So I went to Target's website and found the sweater...only to find out it was completely sold out in pretty much every size. So what's a girl to do?

Go to Ebay!

So I type in Missoni sweater in my size and low and behold, there it is! It cost a little more than what it did in the store but I decided it was worth it. I read that a lot of people went to Target when Missoni launched and just grabbed as many items as they could, so they could resell it on places like Craigslist and Ebay for twice as much. Luckily for me, the sweater was only marked up an additional $10 over the normal cost. I bought it and a few days later this beauty came in the mail!

And of course my little lovebug is quite the camera lover so she had to be in a few photos...

Gotta love her little teeth =)

Breakdown!

Missoni sweater:   Ebay - $65.00 (after shipping)

Black tank top:   Love Culture -  $5.00

Stone Mountain purse:   Marshalls - $15.00

Skinny jeans:   Forever 21 - $10.50

Tan boots:   Cathy Jean - Can't remember the price. Whoops!

Total cost: $95.50

Not including the boots because I cannot remember for the life of me how much they cost.

Have you ever seen a piece of clothing that you absolutely could not live without, and you had to hunt to find it? I would love to hear your stories! I hope I'm not the only one who gets obsessed with certain items =)