Funny Saturday

This past Saturday we decided to have a lunch date at Chipotle then do some shopping. As we are sitting eating our lunch I look outside and see a guy blowing up an inflatable smoothie (there is a smoothie place right next to Chipotle) I then come to realize there is a PERSON inside the inflatable smoothie dancing on the street to attract people to Smoothie Cafe. Funny, all by itself. Then leave it to the interesting staff of Chipotle to wrap one of their workers in foil and send him outside to give the smoothie dude a run for his money. We had a good laugh.

Then we needed to go buy a baby shower gift for a friend of ours and we walk into Babies R Us and the 1st thing Josh says as we walk in the door...."It smells like poop in here" I just about died of laughter. Needless to say parenthood is quite far away for us, as the stories from that store could be a whole post by itself.

So that was my Saturday full of just random funniness. Hope you all had a great Monday!

30 before 30

I am so excited about this! Click on the button above and you can join in on the fun, no matter how young or old you are. So here is it, my 30 things to do before I turn 30 (in 4.5 years). Surprisingly this list was not nearly as easy as I thought it would be. They are not in any particular order and there's no rhyme or reason behind it, just a bunch of stuff I want to do, sooner or later, don't judge!

1. Be published (either for something in my profession or a personal writing)
2. Get married
3. Go to California
4. Swim in the Pacific Ocean
5. Own a good set of dishes that match
6. Go on a family vacation with all my little siblings (has never, ever been done)
7. Run in a charity race
8. Sponsor a child
9. Visit Washington D.C.
10. Learn how to make Buckeye Cookies like my Grandma (It's an Ohio thing)
11. Learn to bake Kolachi like my grandma and grandpa (it's a Polish thing)
12. Go back to school (either for my PhD or another Masters)
13. Go white water rafting
14. Take my mom on a cruise/vacation and be able to pay for it for her
15. Get a tattoo to represent my family
16. Go to a Ohio State game at the Shoe
17. Clean out my childhood bedroom at my mom's house
18. Catch a fish
19. Go camping
20. Go to a winery
21. Learn how to crochet from my step mom
22.Learn how to sew
23. Plant a garden
24. See a movie in 3-D
25. Make a Thanksgiving Dinner
26. Learn how to swim (I sorta know but would like to be able to save my own life if needed)
27. Have a fun getaway weekend/spa weekend some friends
28. Go to a water park ( I loved the one in the Bahamas and want to go to one for a whole day since we only had such a short time on the cruise)
29. Go to a movie alone
30. Spend a day being completely lazy and watch an entire season of a show (taking suggestions)


Hopefully I can complete all of these, some are a stretch and will take some money that I don't know if I will have but I think it will be fun to cross things off this list :)

Moments...part 2

This post has been in the makes for quite some time I just have not been able to process my thoughts, and I must admit it will probably take the rest of my life to really "understand" and "accept" it. This post will seem depressing but I just need to let it out, for once and for all and then start to move on.

My Mom and Dad got divorced when I was a year and a half, therefore, divorce has sort of defined my life. Because of divorce I really have no memories of my family, just the four of us at any event or any holiday. Honestly, it never really upset me, never really bothered me, it was just my life and I was OK with it. I didn't mind the rotating holidays or the weeks spent back and forth in the summer. I never knew anything different so I guess I didn't know what I was missing.

My mom remarried when I was a freshman in high school, my step dad and I always always had a difficult relationship, but I guess that comes with teenage angst. We spent the next 11 years riding a roller coaster fighting battles I never thought I would have to face and growing up.
Just this last Christmas my mom shared with us that her and my step dad would be getting a divorce, a divorce that became final last week.

Last week my car decided to act up and was shaking a lot while I was driving. I asked Josh to help me get it fixed and that was when I began to realize...I have no father figure in my life anymore.

I have a Dad, he lives in Cleveland but he has never been that guy that I ran to when something was broken or I needed that manly advice us women seem to sometimes need. So it was at that moment I realized I was kinda on my own from here on out when it came to that stuff. It's not that I can't do it myself, it's just that I really don't want to, as childish as that sounds.

I think every little girl needs her dad and I was fortunate to have two dad's for the majority of my life, so from now on divorce will continue to define my life, but only if I let it. I am ready to embrace the change and live the best life I know how.

Thanks for reading this ridiculously long, wordy, picture less post but it was important for me to get this out as part of my healing process and start to find a new way.

Wishful Wednesday..Lottery Winner

'I wish' .... I could win the lottery REAL soon, and I would hope to take the risk and start my own business!

Or possibly go back to school and still work at my current job, cause dang!, school is expensive and right now, that just ain't happening! Honestly, if I won the lottery I have no idea what I would do but I definitely would not stop working, I think I would go stir crazy with nothing to do all day. I get bored very easily!

To join in the Wishful Wednesday fun, stop by Kelsey's blog!

Show us your life: Favorite Charities

So this is my first Show us your Life post over at Kelly's Korner! I have wanted to join in for quite some time, so I thought this is a great chance to join the fun!





Since participating in Up til Dawn in graduate school I have begun a huge supporter of St. Jude Children's Hospital. They never turn patients and their families away even if they can not afford treatment. It makes my heart ache to think of all the sick children they are trying to save, and I know my money is going to a good place. We also participated in the Give thanks. Walk last year and this year I am serving on the planning committee and am so excited to help!




Another charity that is very special to me is the Painted Turtle. My sorority adopted this "Hole in the Wall Camp" as one of it's national philanthropy in 2006. The Painted Turtle's mission is to provide a year-round, life-changing environment and authentic camp experience for children with chronic and life-threatening illnesses. The Painted Turtle supports children's medical needs, inspires them to reach beyond their illnesses, and provides care, education, and respite for their families. The Painted Turtle has no billing department. All campers and families attend free of charge.


Thanks for stopping by! Have a great weekend!

Moments...part 1

Everyone has those moments...moments that seem so insignificant at first but slowly those moments begin to shape our lives and who we are becoming. I have been having several of those moments over the past few weeks and have had an interesting time dealing with them.

I have loved being a big sister... ever since the day Austin was born 15 years ago I was so excited to be some body's big sister and now have 4 little siblings looking up to me, but just the other day I realized the true meaning of being there and helping to take care of these kids. We have received some bad news about my step-mom's mom (so the little kids grandma) that she has stage 3 uterine cancer. Although doctor's seem optimistic the news hit us all very hard. So just like any other day around 10:00 p.m. I got ready for bed and was reading a book in bed and all of a sudden my phone rang and it was Austin's cell phone calling me. I immediately thought something bad was about to happen but all he could say was that he was pissed off at the world, life was unfair and that he didn't want bad things to keep happening to our family. At 1st I was so thrilled and honored and shocked that I was the person he called in his crisis moment, but then it occurred to me. I have no idea what to say to him to make him feel better.

I just started saying it's all gonna be ok, we will make it through this, we always make it through everything that is thrown our way as a family, no matter what. I tried to convince him that cancer is not a death sentence and to not give up hope.

That seemed to calm him and then he got off the phone. I then sat up in bed and just started to cry, cause I honestly have no idea if it's all gonna be ok, if we are gonna make it through this or what the outcome will be, but all I did know was at that moment I had suddenly been thrust into the world of adulthood, of taking care of another person and loving them as much as you could, even if it meant lying for the mere purpose of protecting them. I suddenly began to understood a lot more of the things that had been hidden from me as a child and young adult and as much as I hated it at the time, I am so happy my parents loved me enough to keep it from me and let me keep being a kid.

So here I am, being a big sister a job that I didn't necessarily sign up for but am so proud and so happy to do for the rest of my life.

Blog Parade fun!

Abigail Kraft is hosting a very fun Blog Parade this week and think that every one should join in the fun!

1. What's your favorite time of the day, and why? The evening after dinner, because most days that's when me and Josh are just hanging out watching tv, relaxing!

2. If health wasn't an issue, what food could you live off of? ummm this was hard but totally Kraft Macaroni and Cheese, love love it!

3. If you could have one wish granted (besides wishing for more wishes), what would it be? That me, my family and friends were all happy and healthy for a long long time


4. What's one thing that you get teased about a lot? Being short, but mostly only because I surroud myself with tall people

5. If you could choose one movie, book, or TV show to spend your life in, which would you pick? What type of character would you be? A theme the post couple of weeks has been the Notebook so I will stick with that. I want to be the character that is in love (hence being Ali in the Notebook)

6. If you could have one talent that you don't already have, what would it be? To be artistic in any and all way

7.If money were no object, where would you go on vacation? Austrailia

8. If you were an awesome singer, which genre would you sing? Country music, for sure!

9. If you could have a $10,000 shopping spree to one store, what would it be? Target

10. If you could live in any point in time, when would it be? The 50's..being my mother's daughter I would love to have poodle skirts and cute diner with waitresses in rollerskates, and because I loved the movie Grease as a kid

11. If every outfit in your wardrobe had to be one color, what would it be? Pink

12. If you were one of the seven dwarves, which one would you be?(Doc, Grumpy, Sneezy, Sleepy, Bashful, Happy, or Dopey) Busy...I love my life in chaos, I thrive being busy and having a million things going on around me

13. What's the last album you listened to? Lady Antebellum's new one "I need you now"

14. What's something we'd be surprised to know about you? I have no idea what I am doing with my life, and right when I begin to even think I do, it all changes!

Thanks for stopping by!