Kuddle Bug

My sweet little Kuddles is having surgery today. I couldn't take her (I would have never left her) so Garrett did, she was not happy about going in the car with just him and it didn't help that I was crying.

He called when he dropped her off and said she started shaking as soon as the walked in the door. Poor baby!

She has to spend the night and I assume she's going to be really pissed off at us when we get her in the morning, but it really is better for her in the long rung.

 I am pretty much a nervous wreck.

Happy Wednesday!

Do It Once, Do It Right, Get It Over With!

To say my weekends have become boring is a huge understatement.

All I do is study.

I know it's going to pay off eventually. I just get overwhelmed at the thought of everything there is to do and remember and learn.  Breath in, breath out.

Anyway so my best friends lately have been Tim and Pete (that's Tim below).

I've implement a new rule for myself, I must read for fun for 30 minutes before bed. I cannot have accounting stuff in my head 24 hours a day, the dreams are just out of control.

Honestly I'm really lucky that I have Garrett, since he's already done this whole thing when I wake up in a panic because it's going to be noisy in the room I have to take the test in, and I'll get be thirsty, and what if I have to go to the bathroom, he can calm my fears. mostly.

Hopefully it will all be over in six months and I can figure out how normal people live (it's been three long years since the last time I just had a job - with no school, oh who am I kidding I always over schedule myself)

Someone else is really over all of the studying too.

Poor little dog! Garrett's been working 12-14 hours a day including weekends (this is the life I have to look forward to). So the only hope she has for  attention is when I take a break, or more likely when she makes me take a break.

When I'm not studying or working (which let's be honest seems like a break lately) I've been making lists in my head of what I should buy myself when I pass the exams. This day has been a long time coming and I don't know what my present will be but I know it's going to be amazing. In between dreaming of shopping sprees and priceless jewelry I am planning vacations to celebrate the fact that I am free!

Do you buy yourself presents when you accomplish goals? The bigger the accomplishment the bigger the present I say!

High 5 For Friday!

Happy Friday! I am so ready for the weekend! This week I keep finding myself dreaming about a job that lets me work from home with flexible hours and a really high pay check. If you know of any shoot them my way!

1.Hands down the best part of my week was buying my plane ticket for my favorite baby girl's FIRST birthday party! I cannot wait! Her Mommy has been emailing me all kinds of ideas for the party and I know it's going to be so much fun!

2. Garrett packed my lunch today and got up early and took out the dog. I might be teetering on the edge of crazy with all this studying and the anxiety that's building up on sitting for the CPA exam. I have no doubt that I can get through it and he makes it so much easier. (I may need to make a better effort to let him know it's much appreciated.)

3. This dog, she is so sweet! Garrett put her kennel up on a table so she could be at the same height as me and watch me study. She sat like this looking at me forever. She's ready for me to be done studying too!

4.These shoes, may not be pretty shoes, but they are better than boot! I am so happy to be walking around like a mostly normal person these days! I also had very little pain this week!

5. Yay for necklaces that have my favorite colors! 

Have a great weekend! 

The bug

I love my small dog. She is annoying. She is moody. She is spoiled. She only likes me. She barks when people come to our house. She barks when Garrett looks at her. She snores like a 400 pound man. She takes up more than her fair share of the bed.

But she's just so dang cute with her big furry ears and her little Grinch toes. Her big personality and her unconditional love and need to protect me she's such a little snuggler she curls up next to me and I know she likes me best of all. I am her favorite.

None of that compares to her tongue though. Her cute little tongue that's always just barely sticking out of her mouth.

I love that little tongue!

Sweet little baby monkey dog.

One Week Meat Free

I haven't eaten meat in a week, and I can honestly say I don't miss it. Yet. 

Since my sister has been a vegetarian for the last 11 years I really understand the importance of making sure you are getting enough protein. I am being much more deliberate about what I'm eating and I think it's working! I still have lots of work to do but I am getting there! 

I'd be lying if I said that I didn't get a little bit sad when people talk about bacon, I love bacon. I mean who doesn't? 

When I decided to go a year without eating meat I knew that I could replicate anything I wanted except for pork, there is just no substitute for barbecue or bacon. Both of my favorite burger places make veggie burgers that are just as good as the beef and portobello mushrooms are super meaty. 

I'm sure the cravings will come but so far so good!

Lazy Weekend.

I wish the weekends didn't fly by so fast!!

This weekend was nice and full, but relaxing at the same time, my Favorite!

It started out with the Cotton Bowl, and that's all we are going to say about that.

I made these little pizzas using eggplant as the "crust". I love love love eggplant so I try to make as much as I can with it while it's in season. This is obviously a far cry from actual pizza but it was really good and I'll make it again for sure! yum!

I spent a lot of time cuddling with my little bug, her tongue just kills me! and studying, I may be done with school but I have a lot of studying left....boo!

I put on a real shoe for the first time in a couple of months and it felt so strange. I knew my ankle was still swollen but I didn't realize that my entire foot was swollen so much until I put it in a shoe! (No, I could not have picked uglier first shoes, but I have to wear tennis shoes and these are my biggest pair)

And lots of drinking my favorite new Starbucks drink, since I'm not supposed to drink "dark" liquids I've made the switch to a Green tea lemonade. It's pretty tasty!

That brings us to Monday, the first whole week I've worked since like October. I hope I make it! 

Tracking my Resolutions

I don't have the best track record with resolutions (or yearly goals). This year I came up with a new plan to keep track to make sure I have more successes than failures. That's my problem, by the time the second week of February comes around I have forgotten what I was supposed to be doing. Not this year.

This year I have made one of the these check lists and already placed it in my calendar for every week of the year...

I'm also going to keep track of the books I read at the front to make sure I hit the goal, plus I can go back and see when (and if) I've read certain books! (yes, I'm reading the Pretty Little Liar series. no, I'm not ashamed of this)

I also found this app that allows you to keep track of your "good habits" and how many days you've been doing them in a row. Maybe keeping track on paper and on my iphone will keep me accountable :)

Here is hoping I have a very successful 2013!

Happy 2013!

2012 was a really good year. 

I stayed super busy with school and work and managed to get all As, my best friend from high school had a baby and I got to go spend a week taking care of that sweet happy little girl! I got a new car. Spent a couple of fun weeks hanging out with my sister (including a birthday trip to Colorado, that we are already planning to repeat!), and lots of lunch times hanging out with my high school cousin who thinks I'm cool enough to hangout with. I turned 30 (eek!) and even though in the last two months of the year I had a kidney stone (and surgery to remove it), broke my ankle, and the flu and strep throat (at the same time) we also went on an amazing trip to Hawaii!

2013 plans to be just as great if not better! I am going to be studying hard for the CPA exam and hopefully I'll end up with a shiny new job that rewards all my efforts of the last three years! (I will miss this job but I think they pay increase will be worth it!) I already have two visits scheduled to see that sweet happy baby girl one of them will be her first birthday! I am so excited! A double date trip to Colorado with my sister, and I'm sure there will be a trip to somewhere fun thrown in there some where! 

I'm planning for a fun, healthy, productive year! 

So here are my goals/resolutions for the year:

 

Don't eat meat in 2013 - inspired by a few documentaries on the health benefits and a few who did this one before me and as a result have drastically reduced their meat consumption, there is one exception to this I received a gift card to an amazing steak house for Christmas and we just couldn't make time for it before the end of the year, so for that one meal I do plan on eating meat. 

Journal Daily - two years in a row I bought the line a day journal 2011 I made it around April and 2012 I made it to around March, I did not buy the journal for the third time but I really really wanted to, so I'll just be doing it in a regular notebook and I'm hoping this year I can make it through the entire year!

Pass the CPA exam - I've reached the home stretch, but I won't have professors setting deadlines for me. I am on my own when it comes to studying for these last four tests. I have a goal and I cannot wait to get started (or more importantly finished!) 

Get a job - to go with my shiny new CPA credentials, this is what I've been working so hard for!!!

Lose weight - you know because it's not a New Year's resolution list without weight loss on it. I have more specific goals, the ankle means no high impact activities for 6 months so lots of nutrition focus is going on at my house. 

Develop a skin care routine - because I'm getting old and day dreaming about botox most days I really need to take better care of my skin. I really like being carded, I'd like to keep it up as long as possible!

Read 25 books - the number might be a little low, but I think it will be all the fun reading I can handle with all the cpa studying going on. 

Blog twice a week - because really I'm just a pretty bad blogger, twice a week won't make me awesome, but at least it's some consistency!

Take pictures, make a 2013 photo book - take pictures of people, and document the year. I'm pretty bad at taking pictures of people and quite frankly Garrett wears the same thing every day (white t-shirt and jeans) and he hates all the picture taking. But, I'm saying no more this year I will be documenting everything! Even if I only have a 12 page book because there are only enough pictures for one page a month :) 

Mail 52 snail mails - here is a goal I always strive for but never accomplish with Crystal  and Amanda taking on a 365 day challenge I figured I could do 52! (I thought about trying to do 365 but I can't help but wonder if my sister would get tired of receiving mail from me every other day, no but seriously I'm not sure I have enough people to make it for 365 days!)  

There we have it, my 2013 goals. Later in the week I'll let you know how I plan to keep better track of my goals throughout the year, so I end up with a better success rate than I had in 2012!

Hope you had a fun and safe new year's eve! Here is to a great year!