Vegas Pics

{Bellagio, Light show}

"Dancing in the Rain"

{Gondola Ride}

{Mr. Tony Bennett, outside Tao}

{The pool}

{Cornish Hen-- meal at Tournament of Kings, did I mention there were NO utencils?}

{inside the Paris}

{Paris, was my favorite!}

{Excalibur-- Our Castle.. lol }

Vegas+feet= REALLY bad

I realized that my last post really didn't get to the point... about Vegas hating feet. I did mention that I managed to injure my foot in some way. Separately from the non-injury/pain there was the standard aching from the excessive walking that took place while wearing shit-shoes! I also saw MANY blisters. There was even one girl with sandals on, band aids on both heels, and (yucky) blood dripping from the left heel.

Vegas HATES feet and wants them to DIE!

Believe it or not, I actually did enjoy my first one-on-one vacation with my hubby and also first trip to Vegas. My favorite hotel was Paris. I loved all of the theme hotels; Luxor, Venetian, Excalibur (where we stayed)... ect and so forth but the Paris was hands down my favorite. I found it hilarious that they had CORNY pick-up lines playing over the speakers in the bathroom! Ahhh... too funny.

We had a great time, although we didn't hit any jackpots. We stayed within our budget for gambling money. We saw the Bellagio light/water show and took a gondola ride at the Venetian. We also saw the Tournament of Kings in the Excalibur; it was so much fun :)! The only other "show" we went to was the Live, Price is Right. We didn't win anything or even get called up to participate. :( it was still fun though. Do you remember the guy who hosted Supermarket Sweep? Well, he was the host for this Live show!

All in all, it was a lot of fun. Don't worry, I'll post pictures tomorrow. I just wanted to drop a line, since I've been rather MIA for two weeks. I fear that I wont be around too much in the near future, either. I'll be finding a job by the end of the week, at all costs. Deployment money has officially stopped... my working is no longer avoidable. It's time to humble myself no matter what it takes. I'll be taking huge steps backwards (from where I thought I was in life) in order to pay bills. Some people say it's honorable to step up... somehow I feel far less than honorable; feels more along the lines of failure.

That's what I'll be up to. Standby for pictures! :)

Vegas HATES feet

Ok, so I survived my very first trip to Vegas relatively unscaved. I think I sprained/strained or otherwise injured my left foot! Tuesday it all began, when we arrived in Vegas, got in line for our shuttle (nightmare-ish experience), then finally arrived at Excalibur. We checked-in, got semi-settled in the room then set out to explore the hotel a bit. While I did enjoy the castle theme of the hotel, I felt the castle staff was far less than helpful and friendly. :(

So we're settling in right? We journied through the Excalibur, Luxor and Mandalay Bay. We walked through the Shark Reef (in Mandalay Bay), and had dinner at The Cathouse (in the Luxor). I adore this place! Neither one of us were that hungry so we shared an order of spaghetti and meatballs. We finished the meal with Red Velvet cupcakes! OMG - they were/are AMAZING; Truly devine. The Marscapone icing was piled high, which was a little bit too much at times, but definitely could be overlooked. These amazing little treats was garnished with honeycomb pieces and powered sugar! Yummm.

I'll have to leave you all with just a Tuesday wrap up. I'm blogging from my phone and have to board the shuttle to the airport. I cannot wait to be home! Ahhhhhhhhh... ;)

Portland: Part 2

As previously reported, we made it out to Multnomah Falls. It was gorgeous! Just amazing to be near something so amazing. We could feel the mist on our faces; it was amazing and so beautiful!

The rest of the trip was great.

I was finally given the opportunity to meet more of Kevin's family, on his mother's side. There are quite a few of them. But, everyone was so nice! It was really something special to get to meet all of them. :)

*~~~*

In other, much more sad news my grandfather had a heart attack last Tuesday. It was the day Kevin and I left for Oregon. My mom kept me in the loop on his condition but really didn't let me know the severity; she didn't want to ruin my vacation. Well, he is sadly, still in the hospital. He's been on a respirator, and is now developing some pneumonia. All of this is after surgery to place a stint in his artery. Geeze, I hope I'm explaining all of this ok.
what's really kind of ironic/sad, is that he was in the hospital over my grandma's actual birthday.

:(

*~~~*

Today I have to prepare to leave (on another) vacation! I'm excited but also exhausted.

Being away from home, eating out, living out of a suitcase has a way of taking a lot out of you!

But, tomorrow will be fun; it's my first time in Vegas and mine and Kevin's first REAL vacation (not with family)! I'm excited, yet tired.

Now, I must get my day started-- more packing ahead! haHhaaHA

While I was away

My bud, Jenn over at Crazy Shenanigans tagged me for the Kreativ Blogger Award.

I love her blog; she's the best!! I am very glad to be able to call her a friend, and that I was given the opportunity to get to know her better! Thanks for the love.

I love awards!

Here's what I gotta do:

1. Thank the person who nominated you for this award. {DONE}

2. Copy the logo and place it on your blog. {DONE}

3. Link to the person who nominated you for this award. {DONE}

4. Name 7 things about yourself that people might not know.

5. Nominate 7 Kreativ Bloggers.

6. Post links to the 7 blogs you nominate.

7. Leave a comment on each of the blogs letting them know they have been nominated.

Onto the things you may or may not know bout lil' ol' me!

(1) I make lists, ALL. THE. TIME. Just to ensure that I'm organized and don't forget to do anything.

(2) LOVE General Hospital. It's the one day-time soap that I have to watch. I was sucked into the nonsense thankss to my mother!! At least, I didn't get hooked on the other 2 ABC soaps.

(3) I believe that when times get tough that people have to dig down deep, suck it up and drive on. When you think that you are breaking and have nothing left to give; there is ALWAYS more. You cannot allow yourself to break or give up you MUST not give yourself another option -- just do it (like Nike says).

You and I, alike have more strength than we/you know.

(4) Christmas is my favorite time of the year. I much prefer to be cold over hot! I feel you can always cuddle up in a blanket but it isn't as easy to just strip down and remove layers.

(5) I always thought of myself as an independent kind of gal. That I didn't need a man or anyone else to take care of me. Well, when I left my job almost a year ago (Oct 08) my feelings on the subject have changed. When I couldn't find a job I began to question myself. Then I realized that was SILLY! I am still independent and secure in myself. None of that has to change, simply because I don't have a job. A source of income. While making money is necessary for life's basic needs, I refuse to define myself based on how much money I make; or don't make.

I have discovered that I enjoy being at home. Taking care of all the mundane goings-ons. I found peace in taking care of my hubs, the house, the bills, ect.

(6) Although now isn't the time for babies I've sort of all ready named them. :) lol

Girl: Isabella Brooke

[I'm on the fense about this. While the names work well together, our last name starts with an "S". That would make her initials: IBS = Irrital Bowel Syndrome. NO THANKS!]

Boy: Kellan

something else...

My familia has told me they don't like this name. That it's too feminat. That it sounds like "Kelly" or "Helen" which also happens to be my grandmother's name.

I like it... But all of the family's bad-mouthing of this name has put a bad taste in my mouth about it. So now I'm torn, and semi coming up with something else. :)

(7) Coming up with these 7 things has been kinda difficult for me. Maybe it's because I'm focused on posting more pictures from my vacation!

~~~

Now, I have to tag 7 other bloggers! :)

1} LOLA

2} JLC

3} Lauren

4} Hilary

5} MY HUBBY! -- linked to the left

6} Becca

7} My SIS -- linked to the left

Portland: Part 1

Hey everyone. I knew you'd be missing me so I decided to give you a little sneak peak on what I've been up to! ;)

Tuesday:

Kevin and I flew into Portland.

Kevin {just} cannot drive a Pontiac G6 (the rental from Avis) and, sadly they offer no free upgrades to military, so we pay to upgrade to a much nicer, more luxurious, completely unnecessary Cadillac STS.

Kevin is a happy man.

*~~~*

After lunch with my FIL at the Olive Garden,where my bro-in-law happens to work we head south to my FIL's beach house. Have I mentioned I L.O.V.E. this house/Salishan, Oregon? It's amazing and beautiful! Pictures to come.

Wednesday:

After morning coffee Kevin and decide to head back to Portland a day early because it was raining. :( BOOO! What a bust!

Back in Portland, things were eventful, dinner, basketball games and quality time with family!

Today, Kevin is fixing the breaks on his brother's truck so I'll be chilling for most of the day.... Until tonight, the entire family is getting together for dinner. :)

Tomorrow the hubs and I should be headed here:

Multnomah Falls.

Look familiar to anyone???? Guess where you've seen this before? Tee hee :)

Can't wait. Pictures will be up in a few days! :)

I'm a dork!

I can't believe I forgot to mention this... maybe that's what being up shortly after 5 AM does to a girl!

I'm a loser. I've admitted this before. All the same, I'm sure I'm not the only one who got entirely {for a grown-up} too excited for/about/over the New Moon trailer! Yeah, my husband has always known I was a dork, but now he has the proof! :)

November can't come fast enough.

HA HA, Hee HAAAA!

Weekend in Review

Saturday:

Kevin and I took the old-yucky-cafeteria-style light. Sadly there was a pretty descent sized hole underneath it. BOO, for ugly style lights! :( So Kevin went to work {attempting} to patch it. 9 hours later, Kevin was back at Lowes purchasing a patch-kit-thingy. This worked but took the remainder of the night to dry.

I spent the morning putting together homemade soup! It was another gloomy-guss kind of day! Soup of was perfect! My sis and Nephew came over to hang out. After the soup was "thrown together" and getting all yummy in the crock pot we headed out to the mall -- leaving Kev at home to hang shelves (which went fairly smoothly, and look fantastic) and the new light fixture (didn't go so well)!

Later, we sat down to my YUMMY soup. I was so happy that it turned out so good. It was the first time that I'd made it from scratch all. by. my. self! Since we were waiting for the ceiling in the kitchen to dry Kevin and I went to the mall for pedicures! Both of our feet were in desperate need of some attention. You see, I claim to be a good wife but even after a year in the desert in stinky combat boots I refuse (yes, I said "refuse) to rub my husband's feet! That's where I draw my line; foot massages. Yuck. I do, on the other hand, enjoy a good foot rub from my hubs. Yes- I'm hypocritical and unfair, get over it. I like my feet rubbed like every other broad on the planet! Moving on, Pedi's were great!

Sunday:

The ceiling was dry. Light-hanging commenced. At this point we were both exhausted and pissed off. Kevin had spent the majority of Saturday on a latter, and I was being overrun by OCD and desperately wanted my house/kitchen back!!!! Anyway we were finally successful and we now have a new-more-prettier light in our kitchen! Yeay! :)

With the light hung in the kitchen, I spent a good chuck of the morning cleaning like a crazy person! This brings me a ton of happiness! Later in the afternoon Kevin and I went to a friend's daughter's ice skating competition where she took 3rd!! She's adorable.

After all of that excitement we journeyed up to Target and picked up a few things: (!!!)

{Sunbeam- We love your affordability and that you're black, which means you match my appliances}

{Something about cupcakes makes me happy!}

{FINALLY! Target, you had my organizer! I got TWO!}

All of this means, my husband is AMAZING! The mixer and cookbook are my anniversary presents! Some may think that's sexist or something, but really it's what I wanted (obviously, see last week's I Want it Wednesday!), so I'm a happy girl! Speaking of anniversary-- our two year is TOMORROW! I can't believe it. It just feels like it's been 5 minutes since we got married instead of two YEARS!

With one vacation down (NJ), we're headed to Oregon tomorrow! Can't wait to get away! Wooo

What's up??

Last night Kevin and I were planning on having a date/movie night. The cutest part: It was going to be Christmas themed!! :) I caught the spirit.. Anyway, here we are pizza, popcorn, pepsi (3 P's), Picnic in the living room; blankets on the floor and tons of pillows! So we turn on The Santa Claus, and the scene is set! It was gonna be fantastic!

Have I mentioned Kevin was up at 2 AM for a Division run? Yeah... he was EXTRA sleepy. About 22 mins into the movie he was completely OUT -- down. for. the. count. So we just called it a night and I'll be taking a rain check, hopefully we'll be re-scheduling Christmas Movie Night, for tonight!

~***~

Yesterday AM (after formation) Kevin and I ventured over to Lowes -- always a dangerous endeavor for home owners huh? All the same we picked up 2 lil' household/kitchen project for less than $150!! Woo... I'm super excited about it. We have this 20" open space/cut out/storage type space in our kitchen. It's not right in the middle it's off in a corner so it's not completely ridiculous. :) Anyway, we do have an descent sized kitchen but I never seem to have enough cabinet space (who does right?). So we bought shelving to hang in there so I can store crap over there! lol... "crap". I'm funny.

Our other upgrade/project is removing the yucky cafeteria style light from our kitchen and replacing it with:

I Want It Wednesday...

It's official, I want:

{so go over to Life of a Busy Wife}

and... Put the two together.. and I think you know where I'm going with this!

Yummy in the tummy!

Jersey Pics

{Gramma & Grandpa}

{Gramma -- SURPRISE!!}

{She loves my hubby}

{La Familia - Seaside}

{Great- Aunt Dolly -- LOVE her}

{Aunt Marie, Aunt Kathy, Ma}

{Gramma & Aunt Dolly}

{Me & Sister}

So there's some more pictures from Granny's! :)

Stay tuned for "I Want it Wednesday."

Shout Outs!!!:

My husband ROCKS! So this past weekend my husband saw firsthand my affection for a well made cannoli! Today he wanted to do something special for me. He made a few stops after work and picked up the following goodies for me:


Moscato (if you like a sweet white wine, or aren't much of a wine drinker at all you'll enjoy this inexpensive bottle!)

Flowers (awww)

Two Cannoli's, two Tiramisu and two Cheesecake 'domes'! The Cannoli's weren't much compared to the ones in Jersey, the shells weren't crunchy and the ricotta wasn't up to par! however the cheesecake domes were amazing! Yumm.! I still haven't gotten to the tiramisu -- I've only had this one other time and I wasn't a huge fan. But I know my tastes have changed, so maybe I'll be more partial to it now!



All the same my hubs is the BEST! :) <3 <3 <3


~***~


Next, we have Kaitlin, from Life of a Busy Wife (a non-milspouse) blog which I love! She is currently celebrating her 300th post with a give-a-way!!! And I want it! Please go check her out! PS: We love her Puggle! :)

Jersey Food

As previously reported Kevin and I spent this past weekend in New Jersey with my family. The purpose of this trip was my Grandmothers 75th Birthday. My aunt's and mother have been planning a surprise birthday party for her for months. Fortunately, Kevin and I were able to be there as well. It was touching go last Thursday. But we know how the Army can be... everything is last minute.

All the same, we made it! :) We flew into Philly, since it's closer to where Gramma lives. Aunt Kathy picked up Kevin and I from the airport and we headed to the hotel to pick up Katie and Nathan. Mom, Gramma, my great-Aunt Dolly, and Aunt Marie were all in Atlantic City and were supposed to be meeting us at Seaside Heights {picture above; driving into Seaside}.

Well, I should start by telling everyone my family loves the food in Jersey more than any other aspect of the east coast. So we knew when we started this journey, that food was going to be a huge participant. This was Kevin's first ever visit to Jersey. I know that for some of you this will also be your first trip "down the shore"... brace yourself:

{Nathan loves himself some Kohr's}

{One-of-a-kind: both the SLICE and my hubs}

OK, so we went straight to Seaside... Gramma and everyone else arrived shortly after we did. She was totally surprised to see Kevin and I! It was great. We hung out on the boardwalk for awhile. Can you guess what we did? I had vinegar fries (yummM), some of the family had sausage and pepper sandwiches, the hubs had pizza (obviously), we also consumed copious amounts of ice cream! Sadly no Zeppoles were had! :( That was one things I was excited for Kevin to try that we didn't get around to! Oh well, there's always next time!!!

Good news is that my "other" Aunt Marie (Long story there; but basically she's a friend of the family) brought some of the WORLDS BEST Cannoli's to my Gramma's surprise birthday party!!

~***~

So far we've ingested ice cream, vinegar fries and pizza on the infamous Jersey shore: Seaside Heights. That's not all that was had though. I swear I put on 10 lbs... I feel so weighed down. I digress. Aside from the boardwalk I also introduced Kevin to Jersey bagels (plus) pork roll (equals) YUMMiNessS!!

I think my favorite treat from this trip was Gramma's homemade/handmade pasta! Can I just say OMG!! It was delicious. The food from the surprise party was also amazing. Hmmm, I think that's where I'll stop! I can't post about everything all in one post, of course.

More pictures and stories from Jersey to come. :) Hope everyone had a great weekend!!

~***~

Maybe I'm still on east coast time or maybe it's these strangely vivid dreams I've been having I'm not sure; either way it all comes to the same place I was up at 3 AM. :( I apologize now if this post was incoherent! Kevin is up getting ready for work now. I suppose its time for me to attempt to shut my eyes. I'll never last the rest of the day! :(

Off we go

Sitting in the Denver Airport. Waiting to board the plane to NJ.

Extremely tired. Awake at 450 AM. Late night.

Battery on Laptop about to die. Write more later. :)

Ni Ni!

I Want It... Wednesday!

Morning, and Happy Hump Day to all the workin' folk!

I Want It... Wednesday!

I want... for it to be Friday already!

{Jersey here we come}

I want... for the Denver International Airport to magically just be down the road versus an hour and 20 mins away; considering that our flight leaves at 0715 AM and I'm too cheap to book a room for Thursday night when my husband says that he'll get up and make the drive there (while I sleep) at 4 AM.

{I adore sleep}

I want... people to stop taking advantage of my honesty; ie. I demand that people stop questioning the strength of my marriage because we both admitted to not having the smoothest of transitional periods. Just because this time is supposed to be all love-making and crapping rainbows {gag} doesn't mean if you aren't this deliriously happy that you're also doomed to failure.

I mean, seriously how can "I'm worried about you." or "I'm worried about you and Kevin." be helpful or supportive. What is the goal? What is the purpose in these statements? How about we try something along the lines of: "I am so proud of you guys for sticking it out during this rough time." or "I'm sorry it isn't picturesque right now, but I know that you guys love each other and you will be fine!" Just a few thoughts for moving forward.

I want... to sell our house; home ownership is overrated.

I want... to win the lotto amongst other things. Maybe money doesn't buy happiness but it sure does help pay those bills.

I want... wait I am in desperate need of a JOB!!! It's pushing a year people. This is not a good thing. I have become accustomed to being home at this point, too bad a job is less then optional. :(

I want.... to lose another 20 lbs. :( I wish I could get motivated to eat better again. I'm still doing... egh, ok! But I am not a person who can actively lose weight just eating "ok". I have to watch EVERYTHING. Count and track the calories, drink copious amounts of water (which I am still doing), exercise (which I haven't stopped doing, just haven't been doing enough of since Kevin returned home) and any other common dieting tricks of the trade that are necessary I also must do! :( it sucks. A girl gets hungry! And that's my problem, I believe in eating when you're hungry. I don't generally eat complete CRAP either. I just get hungry A LOT! :( booo...

~~~~

I gotta get ready for my day:

First: I have to drop Nathan and sister at the airport

Second: Hit up the gym (wooooo)

Third: Contact the Education office for details -- someone told me that while attending they will pay you (literally) for your living expenses at an E5 level. I have heard contradictory information on this. Hence the phone call. Stay tune peoples!

Fourth: Drop a package off at FedEx.

Fifth: Finish up laundry so that I can successfully pack for our journey to Jersey (at the ass-crack of dawn) on Friday! :)

Brace yourself Granny...

My babies....

.... might be BLOND!

this is a shocking and humbling realization!

You see my sister and I are brunette:

My sister's child; my nephew is brunette:

My husband is blond, well dirty blond at this stage of his life. As a very young child; in the early stages of his life he was BRIGHT blond! Most of my nieces and nephews (from my husband's side of the family) are blond... even though their other (non-blood-related) parent is also brunette.

My babies could be, might be blond!

Shocking!

~~~~

PS: Lifetime sucks! We're officially broken up. They have pushed me too far. First the Nanny, then Golden Girls, this morning it was an AM programing change and now I find out the PM programming has been changed as well. Lifetime, we're OVER!

Forget you. I'm moving on!

Tootles!

Dear Lifetime:

I have never been the girliest of girls... I'm pretty positive I was born without the Lifetime-movie-loving-gene and I'm ok with that because I've never enjoyed the quirkiness, unrealistic nature, poor acting and generally poorly made movies made specifically for your network.

Over the course of the last few years you've went from back-to-back crap movies to some enjoyable programming. Will & Grace. Frasier. Golden Girls. The Nanny. Last year when you removed The Nanny and replaced it with something else I stuck by you. When you ditched the Golden Girls, I hung with you still. This most recent change may be just too much!! This morning I come downstairs to start some coffee for the hubs and myself. Meanwhile the TV is on it's way to waking up (as well). After the coffee is started I switch to Channel 252 (Lifetime --DirecTV). What did I find? I'll tell ya: it wasn't an hour's worth of Frasier. NOoooo. It was REBA. Come again..?! "REBA? -- you must be joking!" Well, obviously not. The 8 o'clock hour has been switched from Frasier to Reba, as well as the 9 o'clock hour being switched from Will & Grace to Reba. Ugh! I'm highly disappointed by this.

In closing, Lifetime TV, I fear our relationship may be ending. You can only stretching something like this so far before it breaks! :(

I'll miss your comedic programming.

Sincerely,

Samantha