Freshman Homecoming

Sorry it's been a couple of days.  I've actually been having a good few days.  Kate's freshman homecoming was on Saturday so I helped her get ready.  Here are some photos!

The Good Things that Happened Today

Yellow flowers usually make me smile

I have to admit, it's really difficult to write this right now but here I go.  I'm trying to remember to look at the bright side of things so I'm going to take a moment to write about my accomplishments for today - Thursday, October 6th.

• I asked someone for help
• I was "productive" instead of going back to bed this morning
• I did a good job at work today
• I made some plans for working towards my values
• I prepared a budget worksheet so I can get back on top of my finances
• I took a shower this morning
• I did my hair & makeup
• I felt pretty this morning
• I'm allowing myself to feel angry
• I made additions to my Guidance tattoo and have plans for the rest
• I forced myself to post something positive for you to read in the morning

What Makes You Happy?

Ok.  Since I have my blog designed to write about what I've done for the day even though you're reading it first thing in the morning so I'm going to talk about my day today.  This morning was rough for me.  Many of you are unaware of the struggles that I've been struggling with especially during these past 2-3 months. 

This morning, I was feeling extremely depressed.  I knew that there were many emotions whirling around up in my head but I was unable to identify them, the first time in more than two months.  It became completely overwhelming...

I have a list of things, they're called "coping skills".  I'm trying to find the healthy balance of using these coping skills to not only help me cope with an issue but to use these skills to help me allow my emotions to be felt while still allowing myself to work successfully throughout the day and through any problem that may arise.  Today, I needed to focus on using my coping skills to get away from the place I was and to come to an emotional place so that I could focus on and be successful at work.  I feel as though I was very successful and I had a really fun time with it too.  It's great to be doing something and to finally enjoy doing it! :)

Anyway, the skill I've been working on most often is sketching and drawing.  I'm trying to be positive about them and I'm going to share them with you.  Let me know what you think!  I hope they help brighten your day.

The cover (to be completed) of my positive affirmations to help remind me of what's important and remove the "black & white" thinking zone that I've been stuck in.

I am designing a tattoo around this bird symbolizing guidance.  I've kind of hit a "writer's block" but I'll update it as it comes along.

"Tree of Emotion"
One of my early ones (like these all aren't brand new....).  Different emotions are different colors and they all have their own impact on those around them.

Untitled
Any thoughts???

"You Make my Heart Dance"
Sometimes it feels as though Mike & his heart will remind me to get up and keep on loving and caring.

Staying Positive

I'm really struggling with writing this today. I am so sorry. Since I struggle the most with staying positive, I decided that it was a good idea to make my next post about it.

I started the day trying to be positive. I woke up, took a shower, did a little something with my hair, put on some makeup and wear something that's not completly sloppy.


Then I got to work, ate breakfast, chatted with a friend and found this on my desk when I got there.

Cute, right?! She also baked a cake! Well, technically, her daughter baked it for her but the cake & chocolate frosting was delicious!












Throughout the day I found myself touching my new pendant. Mike agreed that I could get it to help with my inspiration with my locket of loved ones and I felt great starting the day off with something tangible.

I'm dreaming up a new tattoo design... I'll be sketching it soon. Maybe tomorrow, I'll post the things I've been working on.

I hope you all have a wonderful day. It is so important to stay positive in your day and it's a really great thing for me to have the tangible item to remind me of the direction I want to go.

What Did You Do This Summer?

My husband and I decided to go up to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin for my birthday weekend this summer.  It was pretty great.  We met my family and got to spend a few days on their boat.  Here are a few photos of our vacation.

My sisters were tubing and this is right before the sister on our right flipped right out!

Mike chilling on the boat.

Someone's beautiful landscaping - WOW

There were many sailboats towards the evening

Sailboats on the water - so fun to photograph!

The sunset before heading back to dock for dinner.

I hope you enjoyed a little glimpse into my summer.  I'll post more tomorrow!

Second Attempt

I know that this blog is supposed to be every day but I've been going through some things lately that have been bringing me pretty down & unable to follow-through with things. I would like to try to start up again but I request some patience and support from my readers (that's you!).

Thank you all.

Kate Spins & Twirls!

So yesterday, October 2nd, I went shopping with my mom & 1 of my sisters to find a Freshman Homecoming dress for this upcoming Saturday. She tried on a few dresses and I brought my camera (2 weren't even photo worthy) just in case we needed to go to different stores & needed to refer back to some.

Overall, I think we all had a lot of fun. It was nice having a girl's day with my mom & one of my sisters and we had an opportunity to chat and eat an Auntie Anne's pretzel! YUM!!

This one was okay but not quite right.

I don't understand the zebra print but this one was not very good.

Runner up

The dress that looked great on the hanger but hung lifeless on someone with curves.

The PERFECT dress!

It was pretty fun! I tried to stay focused and grounded in the present and just be a little silly. It worked! I laughed and made my mom laugh and shake her head. 

I'll be sure and take some photos of the finished product (hair, makeup and everything else) on Homecoming night!  Kate has asked me to do her nails! :)

I hope you enjoyed this edition of Love Every Day.  I'm going to try and keep up with it.  Hopefully, it will help me out of this funk.

Siblings

I've finally gotten my 14 year-old sister's school photograph for this year.  She's in 8th grade & is smart, funny, kind and beautiful!  She's also kind of hormonal but we love her!!!  She enjoys movies and reading and has invited herself over for an extended sleepover this summer.

Kate - Spring 2011

I've had my 12 year-old sister's photo since the fall.  She's in 6th grade and loves music.  She sang "Baby" by Justin Bieber at karaoke and sang it really well!  She's got such a great voice & can play piano & guitar & even plays percussion at school.  She's also funny and pretty and has such a unique style. 

Rebecca - Fall 2010

Beyond the two of them, I have quite a few other siblings.

My step-brother Jeff & I don't talk much but have been getting along very well for years.  He just got a new job at a fire department & is very excited about his opportunity.

Of course, this is where you're expecting a photo of him & I cannot for the life of me find any photos...  Wait!  Here's one!!

Jeff 2007

Amy is 23 and has been with her boyfriend for a few years now.  She works hard and plays hard and helps the family a LOT.  We don't always get along (including right now) but I love her and always will.

Amy & Ben 2010 or 2011

Dani is my step-sister and is 21 years old. She & her boyfriend have also been together for quite a few years and have been living together for at least the last year & a half or so (probably longer). She is extremely unique and gifted and while she struggles with her complicated past, is working very hard to make a great future for herself. She is a nanny and is working on running her own business and may be attending school sometime soon.

Dani & Alex 2011

Daniel just turned 21 (see yesterday's post on my personal blog) and has a full-time job and a part-time job and is trying to finish school. He loves playing video games and hanging out doing nothing. With so many differences, I'm surprised when I find myself thinking about how alike we are.

Daniel 2010

Emily is a beautiful, funny, bright, fantastic young woman.  She's 19 and working her way through community college right now.  She's very mature and has a very promising future.

Emily 2009

I've already talked about Kate & Rebecca who are the next in the age sequence.  They live with my mother and are both doing VERY well in school!

Rebecca, Emily & Kate 2010

I also have a few siblings that I don't see much (well, at all, really) that live with my father.  Even though I don't spend time with them, I love them and am working with my father & step-mother to mend the past and have a future relationship for all of us.  Amanda, Shannon and James are much younger than my other siblings and when I see them it brings a smile to my face. It's really cool to see how much you can love your siblings even when you don't even know them.

Amanda, Emily, James & Shannon 2010

I hope you enjoyed this post! Share it with your friends and family and remember to tell your siblings that even when you're angry, you still love them. I need to do that too.

Coffee, Coffee, Coffee!

I apologize profusely everyone.  I know that I set out to post something every day but I have found myself slipping a little into a sad mood and this makes it very difficult to do much of anything.

Having said that, I would like to share something with you about yesterday.

There are some days when you're just completely exhausted.  Like yesterday.  I was completly obliterated.  I didn't sleep well Tuesday night at all (about an hour) and was hoping to get so much sleep that I skipped out on celebrating my baby brother's 21st birthday at midnight.  This happened to be about the time that I woke up to go to the bathroom & was never able to fall back asleep.

Anywho..  I decided that I would splurge.  I got a large Iced Mocha from McDonald's (not what I thought it was at all) but found it perfect for what I was needing.  It tasted more like coffee than mocha but picked me up for the morning.  I kind of feel like Lorelai from Gilmore Girls because she LOVES coffee and I think I'm beginning to like coffee too.

Lorelai Gilmore played by Lauren Graham

Concerned that I would crash when I still had 6 hours to go for the day, I began thinking about asking someone if they're going to be going to McDonald's for lunch & asking if they'd bring me back another coffee. 

There's one episode where she has broken up with Luke & she goes into Weston's Bakery and orders coffee.  Because she drinks a LOT of coffee, she says, "Coffee, coffee, coffee!" when ordering and the waitress provides her with 3 large cups of coffee!

"Coffee, coffee, coffee is a saying, like an exaggeration. It's a funny, desperate cry for caffeine."

It was about this time that I received a delivery from "Designs By Carol".  My husband, sweetheart that he is, decided that since I had gotten so little sleep & have been feeling so down lately that I needed a pick-me-up & had my favorite flowers (tulips) delivered to me at work!

They smell beautiful!

I hope I've brought a smile to your day.

So Sorry!!

I'm SO sorry I've been AWOL.  To make up for it, I'm going to share some gems from This awesome site.  Basically, you put in your Twitter name & it searches through your past Tweets & combines them to predict your next Tweet.  I hope these make you smile & laugh too!

• Scranton/WHAT is Canadian. He calls ham bacon which is at this time of judgement...
• You ok? I'm enjoying a fork... :/ I'm so much better! Good morning! Mmmmmm...
• Its interesting to see what you're feeling like to go away... Come join us for bed.
• Off to Starbucks to enjoy a month to fall back asleep. Good night Tweets! My dog cracks me up!!
• Some people take a sign saying, "I'm so loudly!" The early bird gets the end of a guy with Themeleon!
• Off to get a complete asshole & have come up with my food for a blast!!! Every person for it...
• Glad to do you last night Tweeters. Time to enjoy fancy yet probably cold dinner for bed.
• Late night Tweets! Happy birthday to start an AT&T bill when they ate watermelon, Can I kick it?
• Don't understand how to meet with the alarm & stress in the best wishes for it really need to make more.
• Mmmmmmm... Chipotle! For whatever reason I wish I love this day today. Like socks? HA!!!
• I found the cup of the blood work for Food Day - is at the lady falling into the better year.
• Ready for a complete success! Testing, 1, 2, 3... I'm stuffed!!
• Tweet, tweet.. Good morning Tweeties! Check out my dogs just finished a 10 digit account number!
• Oh my dogs are you had a great day? Ready for the best way to the Rebel Alliance & coxsackieviruses!
• It says the new phone since the fountain in my second thoughts but I love banana bread!
• "Congratulations on your eyes, you'll be interested! Had a great weekend!!" Some people need to hear that.
• Had a bladder infection & thought of you.  For a "way to go" & the realization that I'm eating lunch.
• The correct way please!!! My sister in Res! Best wishes for a long, hard time for you!!!!!!
• Me:  "I have tears filling my first break."  You:  "How's your day now?"  Me:  "......... So much better!"
• Woah... I was rooting for us out at work. It will go away... Come join us for the end of our relationship.
• Ready for the windows are you? It will talk soon.
• Good night everyone! Driving home from hell!

You know how when you're reading something & it doesn't really make sense & your mind will add or remove a word or letter or punctuation?  I have slightly modified these (removing a word or two, adding quotations...) to let you know how I read them.

I hope this finds you well.  Find something to enjoy today & share!!

 My favorite thing to photograph is nature.  I find that I'm especially drawn to trees - I'm not sure why.  Here are some of the ones that I've taken in the past year.

Schaumburg, April 9, 2010

In January, Mike and I needed to go empty out and release my car to the insurance company because it needed to be totalled due to an accident.  While Mike was at work, I had lunch at Panera and it started to snow.

Just starting to snow in Park Ridge, January 11, 2011

After looking out the window for a while, I decided to go for a little walk to the other shops - one of which was a chocolate shop!  YUM!!  I got some chocolate, candies and some special dog treats for our pups as well as a "cheesecake" caramel apple for my sister's birthday.

A Park Ridge tree-lined street, January 11, 2011

At the end of the day, we went to meet up with my mother and siblings to have a birthday dinner at Uncle Julio's in Oakbrook.  Dinner was great!  Ok..  So this blog wasn't just about my love for photography.  I love thinking back on the fun things in life and remembering them.

I hope you're all doing well and have a wonderful Friday!

Sending Love Your Way

Wednesday was kind of a downer of a day.  A customer called in to work and was upset about the emails that he received and was very cruel.  He was yelling at me for nothing and even though it was completly ridiculous it still bothered me.  He was very upset with me about something that I had no control over and we didn't even do anything wrong.  It kind of put a damper on my day even though I knew it was silly to let him bother me.

It's days like these that make it difficult for me to find something positive and I did struggle to write this one.  While thinking about the good thing to post about, I began thinking about the past.  I thought about how I called my husband right after dealing with this terrible customer and how great it was to speak to him.  He can be such a loving, supportive man.  I remember the day we got married...

Mike nervous before the ceremony.

I remember the love that we had for each other...  I remember the dedication that I felt to him on that day.  The vows that we said, the ones that I spent months putting together to describe the way we feel about each other, really moved through my heart.  I loved him so much.  I was SO nervous!

Me getting ready before the ceremony.

I remember our family being there to share our day.

Me with my sisters.

Us with our parents.

Us with my step aunt & her husband.

Us with Mike's aunts.



Us with my step-grandmother.



Mike with his grandparents.


So I think about this day in the past and I remember...  Then I realize that I love my husband more than I ever did.  He and I have grown so much closer together through the ups and downs of only four years of marriage that I cannot fathom how much more we'll grow in the next 40 years.  Thinking about our future together and the love that we share makes me happier than words can describe.

Sending some love your way...  Have a wonderful day. :)

The Men in my Life

Today, I'd like to take some time & show you the men in my life.

My loving husband, Michael.  We've been married for more than 4 years and knew within a month that we wanted to be together forever.  We moved in together after being in a relationship for just a few months and have experienced a lot of uphill battles together.  There has been a lot of growing up that we've done together.

Mike helps me with the daily chores.

I love it when he's happy with life.  He enjoys playing video games and drinking beer but always loves to watch movies with me.

Enjoying a Miller!

He even helps cook dinner sometime!  :)

We love Shells & Cheese with broccoli - YUM!

The other man in my life is my pup!  Chewy is a 3 year old basset hound mix.  We're pretty sure he's mixed with a german shepherd.




He's always so curious!

I love the men in my life.  They bring me stress but also a lot of joy & love.

I hope that you are able to experience the amazing amount of love in the little things the guys in your life.  One of my friends was just reminded of the greatness in the little things that her husband does for her.  The following was her Facebook status recently and is reprinted with her permission.

"Has the best husband ever... he is picking up subway for me and I forgot to write olives down but he remembered. It is the little things that matter"

Enjoy!!