Miss Daria

We just got out this new swing for Daria, and it's the best thing ever because she just loves it! She's so happy and content in there and she just stares up at the mobile and smiles or it rocks her right to sleep. Where would we be without these awesome modern conveniences?

I just love my happy happy baby!! :)

All Things Free and Beautiful

If you are familiar with my first blog http://chatswithchicky.blogspot.com/ you would know that I am a sucker for everything that is free. It's kind of like a weird obsession/addiction for me I guess, Not that I go dumpster diving or picking up things on the side of the road or anything,  (it hasn't reached that point yet...)

 And it's not like I am super poor and wanting handouts, or that I can't afford to buy most the reasonable things I want.  It's just there is a huge satisfaction factor to getting something and not paying for it. Which is why my amazing husband got me a Costco membership...So I can go there on Saturdays and get a whole meal of delicious free samples without paying a penny. (I also buy diapers and some other things there so the membership pays for itself. ;))

Or the simple pleasure when I have nothing better to do of going through a drive thru and getting a cup of ice, going to my bank and getting free coffee and then going to the gas station and finishing it off with creamer. Viola free iced coffee. ;) It's the best if it's free, but I am also always on the lookout for deals like $.25 slurpee Fridays at the gas station or buy get one free Frappes at Mcdonald's or half off Frappucino's at Starbucks. It totally makes my day and I seriously just can't pass it up.

 So where I'm going with this you might ask? Well, I found this amazing site the other day that has all of these awesome deals for things you can get for free.  A lot of them are places that give you free things on your birthday.  (My birthday is next week...) Sooo, I will be going to Denny's for my free breakfast,  Jersey Mike's for lunch, Baskin Robbin's for dessert and Red Robin or Olive Garden for dinner.  Ok, I might not do all of those, but I COULD! Plus dress up like a pirate and get a dozen free donuts day is coming up at Krispy Kreme!

Without further ado, I am sharing with you my incredible discovery http://offbeat.topix.com/slideshow/15874/slide16# 
If you enjoy free stuff as much as I do, or if your birthday is coming up, you are going to thank me! ;)

Ode to a Fly

Unfortunately, fly season is here.  It's not so much that there are flies swarming around everywhere all the time, but there always seems to be at least one or two trying to destroy your sanity whenever you sit down. I don't think there is anything much more annoying than a stupid fly landing on you every five seconds. Actually, I can think of one thing that is more annoying; a stupid fly landing on a baby that you just got to sleep and said fly waking said baby up. Yeah, I really almost lose it completely when that happens.  However, out of my desperation, I was inspired to write a poem, so I suppose something good can come from even the most annoying thing ever.

Here it goes.

Ode to a Fly

(Inspired by a true story)

I sit on the floor and gaze at the beautiful sky.

Thoughts flow 'til I shiver

Which makes my pen quiver

As the clouds in the Heavens roll by.

My pen hits my paper, and I let out a sigh.

My sonnet awaits,

But alas my fate

Was decidedly doomed by a fly.

He lands on my arm and I let out a cry.

I right then decided

He must be smited

And his decided doom was to die.

I planned my strategy, but this fiend was sly.

I tried slapping my arm

Which caused him no harm

And he flew somewhere out of my sight. 

 But he returned soon; my victory seemed nigh.

I swatted and flailed

But that again failed.

All my plans seemed to be going awry. 

Thrice is the charm, I'd give one more try,

But he flew to freedom

I couldn't impede him

So I bowed my head starting to cry.

The fly had bested me, I can not tell a lie.

I just couldn't stay 

So I went far away

Somewhere that insects were slightly more shy.

Now I sit on the floor by a beautiful tree.

Thoughts flow 'til I shiver

Which makes my pen quiver

Until lo and behold...a bee.

*Unfortunately no animals were harmed in the writing of this poem,

Gettin' Crafty

So, I have always liked doing craft type stuff and trying to be creative. With the help of Pinterest I can feel pretty crafty and creative and come up with some cute stuff sometimes.  (Pinterest helps a lot!!) I decided to start trying to sell some things I've been making on Etsy. I'm still in the learning process of how it all works, but here's the link to my "market"  https://www.etsy.com/shop/MissMichellesMarket?ref=hdr_shop_menu

Hopefully I'll be able to put more stuff up soon, but for now it's just these. :)

If I can sell some things, it'll be nice to have a little extra income to spend on stuff I want but probably don't really need. (After all it's extremely hard to pass up cute clothes for Daria...or for myself for that matter.) So, if you're interested or have any requests hit me up. :)

One Year and Counting part II

We had a pretty epic first anniversary celebration.  I decided to surprise Ben with a candle light, rose petal dinner. (We didn't eat the rose petals by the way, they were strewn on the floor and table..;) I Instead made chicken gyros with homemade pita bread.  http://www.lecremedelacrumb.com/2014/09/easy-chicken-gyros-tzatziki-sauce.html

They actually turned out really good, but be warned, it makes a lot of tzatzki sauce. I'm gonna be looking up ways to use the rest of that for weeks.  Also be warned, your breath may not smell the greatest after eating these...Otherwise, it was really good and pretty easy.  Definitely something different if you wanna spice things up a little bit. I wanna try making some with lamb next time. 

The roses were from our own rose bush, candle holders, 4 for $1.99 at Good Will, and candles $2 at Wal-mart. 

Romantic dinner with the love of my life...priceless. ;)

Daria looking dramatically off into the distance. I think she was bored.

It was pretty easy knowing what to get him which was nice.  For two years or three years  he's been a Pittsburgh Penguins fan. He started liking them when they were one of the worst teams, and amazingly, this year they won the Stanley Cup.  Needless to say, he was pretty excited.  He was also pretty excited with what I got him and said "It was the best present ever! He's pretty easy to please. :)

That was just the beginning of the celebration. On Sunday we woke up early and went to Church in Santa Clarita about an hour drive from where we live, then we drove down to my Grandparent's 

house in Laguna Woods.  Their 56th anniversary was that day, so it was really neat to be able to celebrate it with them. They are definitely great roll models for a happy and long lasting marriage. 

Daria with her Great-Grandma.  She totally  loved her and was just cooing and smiling like crazy! 

That night Ben and I went to dinner at an awesome restaurant called the Melting Pot.  It's this really cool fondue place where they serve amazing melted cheese and chocolate and you actually get to cook your own meat in boiling oil for the main course.  It's a little pricey, but I highly recommend it for special occasions. 

Then on Monday, which was our actual anniversary we hung out at the San Clemente beach with my Grandparents, which is the same beach Ben and I used to go to all the time when we were dating and I was living with my brother and his family in San Clemente. So it was pretty special and sentimental to go back, (Even though it hasn't really been that long. ;)

The Fisherman. Awesome seafood restaurant right on the pier. Tried real clams and mussels for the first time.

We were really lucky that Daria let us enjoy our mini vacation and was a little angel.  She pretty much slept most the time we were gone. She's making up for lost time now and has hardly slept at all today, but I am not complaining. I'd way rather her show off and be the perfect little girl in public than at home. (And for the most part she really is a very good baby at home and in public.)

And so concludes our anniversary. Definitely the most memorable one I've ever had. ;)  I can't wait for all the awesome years and anniversaries still to come, and I'm so happy I can share them all with my best friend. 

One Year and Counting

Two days from now marks our one year anniversary, and what an awesome one year it's been.  Ben and I were just talking yesterday about how much has happened in that year. We got married, bought a house, got a new car, went to the Bahamas, had a baby. It's been a busy and crazy year of firsts for us, and I've loved every minute of it. (Except for the minutes I was annoyed or mad about something, which luckily hasn't been too often...But this year we also had a rat infestation, got our window shattered from the wind, and dented our brand new car) Overall though, it really has been an amazing year, I'd even say the best year of my life...And it all started on the best day of my life.

Posing for one of the last times as a single lady

With my beautiful Mom :)

All the single ladies

I don't know...

I really don't know...

Almost ready to walk

The vows. So lucky to have my two younger brothers and amazing family friends on the altar, and to have my sisters and closest friends right beside me. Also for my older brothers to be usher, DJ, organist and choir director.

For better or worse, richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, till death do we part

Man and Wife

The whole group...We've got big families as you can tell

My family

Me and the boys

Me and my man

Making it official

No turning back now. :)

There were so many blessings that day and awesome people who made everything the best it could possible be. We were lucky enough to share it with my Grandparents who had their 55th anniversary the day before, and with all mine and Ben's family.  Thanks to having talented friends and family, we didn't have to pay for a florist (Thanks to my Mom) A DJ (Thanks to my brother, Kevin) A limo (Thanks to my brother, Paul) A photographer (Thanks to my cousin, Wendy) An epic slideshow (Thanks to my Dad)  and an open bar, reception hall and countless other things from my Grandparents. 

Plus thanks to so many other people who traveled from California, Florida, Canada and beyond to make it for my unforgettable day. Especially though, thanks to my amazing husband for putting up with me through all the pre-wedding blues and for all the time and effort he put in from the moment he asked me to be his wife. Not to mention all the time and effort he put in since he asked me to be his girlfriend, and the whole year up until now since I've been his wife. Needless to say, he has put in a lot of time and effort for me. ;) 

I am just so in love and couldn't possibly be happier with anyone else, and I am so looking forward to the many awesome years to come. :)

By Popular Demand

Six weeks ago my husband and I were blessed with the best gift we could ever receive.  Daria Philomena came into our lives at 8 lbs, 20 inches long, and absolutely perfect. It may sound cliche, but having a baby truly did change our lives, and now that she's here I could not imagine it without her.  She is all the cuteness and sweetness and little babyness I've always ever wanted!

Since I know she is going to wake up soon and she's going to be starving when she does, I won't go into detail about my little angel... (because I could go on and on.) Plus, as they say, a picture speaks a thousand words, so I'll just do a picture dump. Just be prepared for cuteness overload! ;)

Hanging out after our hard work

 

With Daddy right after her grand entrance. I love how happy he looks. :)

Great Grandma and Grandpa came to visit.

We won a photography session at a Lamaze class and here are the results. She's such a little model! 

Choose from the following

I just want to start off by asking you to please bare with me as this is my first blog post and my writing skills are not as refined as they were when I was in school.  It's been like four years since then, so please cut me some slack.  Hopefully it will improve as I go along. ;) So without further ado...

You've probably heard it been said before that life is kind of like a test, (and it has been like four years since I've been in school, so luckily I haven't had to deal with those for a while...) But as I was saying, we are always being put to the test by the little and big choices we have to make in our lives on a daily basis. Some of those choices we make don't really have a right and wrong answer and we won't necessarily be graded on them, but most of our decisions do have a right and wrong answer and consequences will follow depending on what option we choose.

A lot of times we are given "choose from the following" questions.  Actually every single morning we are faced with one of those questions. We can choose to:

• A. Stay in bed and ignore reality 
• B. Get out of bed and wish you could ignore reality
• C. Get out of bed and choose to be happy 

(Usually my choice is actually D. which is "Get out of bed and drag myself to the Keurig, and after a cup of coffee then decide to be happy. ;)

What you end up deciding can determine the rest of your day, or even the rest of your week or month or year. The nice thing about it is that the choice is always up to you. And happiness is always an option, no matter what's going on in your life or how hard and inconvenient it may seem at the time. What you have to remember is that your choice can effect your attitude about situations, and your attitude can really effect everything.

Your success in life and ultimately the final goal of getting to Heaven is all about your attitude.  When something goes wrong in your life, and the shit hits the fan, you are always gonna have the "choose from the following" question and after that you can make any situation better, and get through it with your head held high, if you have a good attitude.  

Even if you are born a "glass half empty" type person, you can choose to fill your glass until it's all the way full, and just keep the attitude that it's gonna remain that way.  And then make it remain that way, no matter how hard people try to spill it or knock it over. 

It really isn't as hard as it seems. The best part about our "life test" is that we don't have to take it alone.  It's always open book, and we always have the best teacher right beside us, which is God. Even if you can't hear his answers right away, He is always there.

To end this soliloquy...(This is probably the most I've written in like four years by the way, and it's a good thing I'm not getting graded on it. ;)) When life gives you a "choose from the following," make sure you choose happiness and also that God is involved in all your choices, because He's the only one who knows all the answers, and He is the best one to help you pass the test.