Poofs and salads

As of late, I’ve been a busy little bee. no.pun.intended.. ok, maybe a small one. Which by the way, the bees are gone. When I got to work in the morning (I’m always the first person at the office), I saw that about half the beehives were gone and all the bees had disappeared.

By lunch there was a slow growing number of bees flying around, but by the time I left the office, all the beehives were gone and not a bee was in sight. I still have yet to demand my honey!

Some other note worthy happenings are my food and my hair.

Let’s face it. I know 2 hair styles. Wavy (with my flat iron) and board straight (also with my flat iron). Never really an in between, a fun way, or anything fancy happenings. Its down in either of the two ways or in a ponytail because its “wash day” and I don’t want to fiddle with it.

I’ve attempted to do other styles, watch hair tutorials and attempt to branch out but darn if my arms start to fall asleep within 20 seconds of having them up playing with my hair, then I can’t handle the lack of circulation any longer, and drop them while walking out the bathroom.

I admit, there have been times I’ve only half brushed my hair (from the previous day’s do) and walked out the door. Coincidentally, I got a few compliments that day.

But yesterday, while sipping my coffee I watched a very easy hair tutorial. I thought surely I’ll be able to do this and even achieve the dreaded poof in the hair that’s always eluded me. So I gave myself my normal 8 minute window to do my hair (plenty of time every morning) and set out for something new. I’m still quite scared of the poof in the back, so I went small but I’m still quite impressed by the end result (for me).

To me that’s a BIG poof. I’m used to flat flat flat. I can’t even tell you how nice it was not to have my hair in my face all day.

Then there’s food. I’m a eat the same thing day in and day out kinda gal, and I know not everyone is. Its just too easy to do, so literally, I’ll eat the same thing.

breakfast – steel cut oats
mid morning snack – apple slices and peanut butter (every day for over a year)
lunch – tuna sandwich (this actually proved hard to eat every day) or chicken leftovers
dinner – salmon or chicken

I’m wild and crazy, people!

The past two nights I decided to make chicken salads. Only difference was the cheese. I did a sprinkle of monterey the first night and feta the second. The feta won out. Hands down the winner of the two.

I’d actually recreate this for lunch if the rest of my spinach hadn’t gone bad. I like to live on the edge.

Can you eat the same thing every day?

Are you a “poof” expert?

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You’re the bee’s knees

A little something crazy happened yesterday. Something that completely altered the normal “Monday” making it a little bit more exciting than it should have been.

We had a run in with some bees. Ok, I wouldn’t exactly say “some”, rather hundreds upon hundreds actually.

I remember walking into work through our back door (where the parking lot is) and seeing a bee flying close by. Half of my brain didn’t think much of it, but the other half thought it was strange to have a bee around when in the past year of being there, they never flew around the door.

Fast forward 3 hours later and my co worker quickly comes in the front door telling me I need to call the city because there’s swarms of bees in the parking lot. I’m a believe it when I see it girl and ran to the back door, only to find 4 other co workers pressed against the window staring out. I felt like we were in a movie as I saw hundreds of angry bees flying frantically around our door and the entire parking lot.

They completely took over the whole area and no one knew how they got there!

I call number after number for the city and can’t get through to anyone and finally a co worker walks to the pet store 2 doors down (that sells local honey) and asks if they can call someone. They said the bee guy was already on his way. By the time I got to the back window again, the bees had migrated toward the pet store. Still swarming but half of them were gone.

It was weird. and creepy. By 1pm, I walked out to my car (to take my lunch, as I do) and looked over to where the bees had been drawn to and that’s when I saw the boxes of beehives. Stacked on top of each other with hundreds of these bees on them. 

If you look closely, you can see the bees flying around.I couldn’t believe it. This pet store owner actually brought beehives to our place of business. We share the lot with them and one other business (who thankfully was closed that day) but the risk they put everyone in, is pretty astounding. To put into perspective just how close they are to us, my co worker walked over to get a closer photo than what I was willing (I only went to half way of the tailgate), but imagine from her to where I’m standing, completely covered in angry bees.


They stayed there all day long, and I imagine they’ll be there in the morning when I show up, but I don’t know how this is possibly allowed.

I have half a mind to walk over to that pet store tomorrow and demand some free honey for all of this! Pin It Now!

Mexico part 4

and the last of my little Mexico series.. I’m pretty sure. Nope just kidding, I have one more post for you.

The 2nd night we were there, lia sophia hosted a reception. Over 700 lia sophia advisors who had earned the trip, were there and it was so exciting being among them. We went up the 2nd floor where the reception was being held and were immediately greeted by waiters with drinks for us. Then there were tables on each end full of appetizers.

The place was jam packed with people mingling and G-man and I walked around until we found a quiet area to snack on the food and have our drinks. There were a few who were there that had been enjoying their drinks for a long time before we arrived and while I was playing with my camera, one of them insisted she take a photo of us. For being as ‘enjoyable’ aka drunk as she was she took a pretty good photo of us.

Just imagine you see a cute one below of G-man and I..

I met up with my long time friend and we waited to go inside. We’ve been friends for almost 19 years. That’s crazy to think about. As I like to tell the story, and it’s a true story at that, we’re only friend’s because she was dating the boy I had a major crush on in the 7th grade and I wanted to get the ‘in’ on him, so I befriended her even though I pretty much hated her.

And I may or may not have laughed when I watched him break up with her down the hall.. 7th grade, people.. I was in the 7th grade.. Through it and so much more, we’ve remained best closest life long friends. (that’s all for you, Jos.)

We hadn’t planned out matching, but I think it just goes to show how much style we have that we wore very similar dresses. I get so much use out of this maxi dress, I just love it!

We finally were able to go inside for a big buffet waiting for us and a show.

This was probably one of the few times it was lacking. The food… it just wasn’t good at all. And the show… if you’ve been to a Hawaiian luau, well, nothing will compare to the extravagance of their shows. We weren’t entirely feeling the Mayan/Mexican version so we ended up leaving early and called it a night.

After having a welcome breakfast, enjoying a couples relaxing massage and the reception dinner, we agreed it was the perfect start to our vacation.

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Xplor - Mexico {part 3}

Tuesday in Mexico was incredibly fun. When we went to Chichen Itza the day before, we met 2 girls that were on the same tour and we all became fast friends! They ended up going on the Xplor excursion too and we ended up having such a blast together.

We were told it was a big huge park that had 14 zip lines. Some having you fly high above the trees. And others that have you landing in the water. I brought my bathing suit, but figured I would start out doing the dry zip lines and then change into my wet shoes and wear only my bathing suit, and then go do the wet zip lines. That was my plan..

They also had a 4 wheeling adventure as well as paddle “boating” through the caves full of stalagmites and stalactites. It was so neat to see. What was so fun about the whole park was they told us if you ever get lost, just follow the sound of the heart. They had this big giant heart in the center of the entire park that beat just like a heart would. So you could hear it from far away and follow it to get back to where you needed to go.

I forgot to ask for the girl’s ok to post their faces, so they join G-man in the blurred group.

We all got in line to begin the zip lines. As we waited to get our harnesses on, we would watch everyone coming back completely soaked. I declared to our group that I would prefer doing the dry first then changing and doing the wet (as I said above) and they all agreed that would be ok.

We do our first one and it takes us to the next zip line. I had fun, promise.

What was so neat was they had cameras set up everywhere so you didn’t have to bother lugging your camera around. You could take as many as you wanted and later pay for the thumb drive. It’s a lot.. don’t get me wrong, but it was nice not having to ‘get the shot’. I could just be silly. -Please notice my full attire-

As we zip from one to the next, we see they’re all connected. There’s no ‘getting off this ride’. You zip from one to the next to the next with pretty much little choice in the matter, but we didn’t mind because (for me) they were all the dry, up high zip lines, so I was happy.

And then, we follow the path that takes us down the spiral staircase to the next open door and as I round the curve I see the worker standing there waiting… at the top of the water slide.

The only way down is the water slide. I just started laughing. She asked if I was ready and I said no! I didn’t plan to get wet yet! But I had no choice, so I crawled under the bar and down I went.

Ah, my poor clothes and shoes. Naturally what’s at the end of the water slide but a huge body of water. I was soaked from head to toe. As G-man picked up the rear, we were laughing at the unexpected surprise.

What followed that were many more unexpected {for me} zip lines into the water.


We were starving afterward and took a break for lunch and sunbathed in the sun while we dried off and rested, while our food went down. Our next stop were the paddle boats through the caves!
yes, I have the dreaded ‘wet spots’.

Notice how our paddles are on our hands. That was a new experience for us that left our shoulders burning.

We only had a short time left, so we rushed over to the 4 wheeling adventure and hopped in. It’s obvious I only know one expression…at least I’m not alone with it.

I promise, I’m a grown adult.

By the end, we were so far behind time, G-man and I ended up running all the way back to the bus in hopes they wouldn’t leave us. That’s running through caves, up hills, around bends and out to the parking lot. It has to be a good 1/4 mile. Thankfully we made it. All of us fell asleep on the long drive back completely wiped out, but we had such a great time.

I definitely recommend making a day of Xplor. I’m pretty sure you’ll have just a great a time as we did. Pin It Now!

The life of my

Happy day today!

Let’s recap my week and subsequent weekend in bullets and pictures:

* I made 3 batches of peanut butter cookies for the potluck at work on Friday. I don’t have my hand mixer (its in HI) so since I didn’t feel like killing my shoulder, I made 1 batch at a time, thus taking 3 times as long. C’est la vie.
The first batch, I took out of the oven too early and they were way too chewy.
The second batch, after taking the last sheet of cookies out of the oven to cool, I realized I forgot to add the egg. They’re very.very.dense.
The third batch…just like Goldie Locks, is juuuust right and are absolutely perfect.

I’ll let you figure out which batch I kept at home for myself. *cough* 3rd batch *cough cough*

(and wouldn’t you know, I still got rave reviews on the other batches)

* here’s a taste of how G-man and I text… I’ll see if you can figure it out.
* I did some spring cleaning over the weekend. Tackling the 2nd bedroom real good like, not to mention it’s closet. I feel accomplished.

* I rearranged all my décor in my dining and living room to give it a fresher look…but really, it all still looks the same.

* Thanks to my amazing mom for giving me the best tip to get stains out of my counter tops. Baking soda + water = paste. Best creation ever. I took it one step further and tested it out on the burnt burner I have and oh my goodness, it got it all out.

What’s even better than me getting the burn mark off the stove, is telling G-man and him using it on his burn mark on his stove and “wowing” over and over at its wonder.

* I made some really really good food.

* As if my cherry blossom pictures aren’t evidence enough, Spring is definitely here and its pretty.

* Bloglovin’.. we’re all aware of what’s going on so I’m on the bloglovin’ bandwagon..officially..for good. I’m sure they’re loving all this new traffic to their site. Any way, from here on out, its how I’ll be following/reading blogs, so if you’ve jumped {reader’s} ship, you can follow me here w/Bloglovin'.

* God has given me some mighty good friends. New and old, and they mean a whole bunch to me. Knowing they’re there for me when I need them. Those who will pray and encourage and send me scripture. And those who give me the ear I need.

Last week was a mentally rough week. A lot was going on inside that was leaving me broken and feeling worthless, but God was watching over me. Not only did He give me just what I needed through a very dear friend, He made G-man available to me when otherwise he wouldn’t have been, Friday. In the middle of the day, I was able to share my struggles and pain and it led to a long conversation later that night that left me with so much peace. All of what I had throughout the week evaporated and I thank God for His blessings.

I realize no one knew this was going on. Some knew I was quite cranky last week but I keep rather guarded and hopefully I’m not hurting anyone personally for ultimately keeping it to myself.

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I’d love to hear how your weekends went. Have you started your Spring cleaning yet? Have you used the baking soda/water trick before?

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Baby feet

Adorable, aren’t they?

The day after I got back from Mexico, I took the long (and I mean long…7 hours long) drive to see my sister and her newest baby. She’s a peanut, this one. A cuddler and a newest lover of the binky.


This peanut is their fourth and their last. I think she’ll fit right into their fun and energetic family. Speaking from a fourth and last child’s perspective.. she’ll no doubt have the best childhood growing up. Us babies of the family have it best, no question about it. She’ll see soon enough.

She’s already pretty loved

I would have willingly driven the whole 7 hours in snow if it meant getting to see my newest and last {since all my siblings are done having kids} niece. Crazy to think they’re all done. 11, I suppose is a good number to stop on.

Have a warm weekend. Its in the 80’s here, so I might just soak it up a little bit. That or stay indoors, in my pj’s on my couch. We’ll see.

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Giveaway winner announced!

…and the winner is:

pretty photo for your viewing pleasure first…

…and another.


{{chosen by random.org}}

Yay, you won! Check your email, you’ll have 48 hours to get back with me to claim your prize, otherwise another will be chosen.

Congratulations!

Thank you everyone for entering. I didn’t realize how much I wished I could give everyone a gift card!

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The night I almost died

Have you ever had those moments where you’re doing something normal, something routine and in the blink of an eye your normal and routine almost change for the rest of your life? Where you narrowly escape an accident?

That was me on my way to Los Angeles last Friday. Every event leading up was completely normal. I left home a little later then I intended. Stopped at the outlet mall to exchange a handbag, went to a Subway for dinner but their toaster was broken, so I drove to another Subway a mile down the road and got my sub. {it has to be toasted}

Got back on the freeway, its completely dark at this point, and eat my sub. Drop a piece of lettuce in my lap.. completely normal. Fish it out, ball up my wrapper and toss it on the floor on the passenger side. I called my mom up (don’t worry, I have a bluetooth) and we chatted for a few minutes about nothing.

And then I just drove. I didn’t feel like messing with music, I didn’t know the stations in the area I was driving through any way, so I left it off and stared straight ahead in silence as I drove 75mph in the fast lane.

I see something odd in the median way up ahead. I can’t quite make it out, its so dark, but I see what looks like the outline of a person. I couldn’t quite understand if what I was seeing was right, but as I got closer and closer, I saw a movement and realized it was in fact a person, dressed in all black.

Not just one person but 4. And they were starting to move very fast.

Reaction time is funny. I’m sure it was a fraction of a second from the time I gasped, realizing what they were doing, to the time I slammed on my brakes and laid on my horn, but it happened as if it were a movie, in slow motion.

The first 3 run as fast as their legs could take them across my lane and into the other two as they sprint across the freeway. But the 4th. The 4th didn’t clear the wall as fast as they did, and as I’m still slamming on my brakes to keep from killing the first 3, the 4th realizes he won’t make it, and jumps back behind the yellow line just in time coming within inches of my front bumper as I fly past him.

I can still see him jumping back from my SUV. Just as if the camera was on his feet, jumping behind the yellow line, its that clear to me just how close he came to getting killed… to killing me. After I passed, he took off running across the freeway to catch up with the other 3. I’m sure they thought it was the thrill of a lifetime. Running in dark clothes, on a dark night, in front of a bunch of speeding cars who are none the wiser.

But they put my life at risk. For a stupid thrill. My life!

What if I hadn’t given up texting while driving, and decided to text at that moment?
What if I was still eating my sub and that lettuce dropped in my lap and I went looking for it at that moment?
What if I was still talking to my mom distracted, or decided to search for a radio station at that moment?

The first 3 would have been dead instantly. I wouldn’t have slammed on my brakes and I wouldn’t have given them enough time to get out of the way of my speeding car, and most likely I would be dead because of the impact and no doubt losing control of the car after that.

I know I can play the ‘what if’ game all day long, but I’ve never in my wildest imagination (and its pretty wild the things I conjure up), think 4 stupid teenage boys would dare run in front of me at night, going 75mph.

I’m so eternally grateful, I had 100% of my attention on my driving and nothing else. God certainly, without a doubt, had His hand in that night and for my safety. It took about a mile before I began thinking normally and called the cops to report the boys. I doubted they’d hover where they did it, but I called any way in case they dared to do it again to other cars.

That night could have ended so differently for me.

If you’re driving, really think hard about those distractions. The text, phone call, food, music, and think if they’re really worth the risk. I hope no one else is stupid enough to risk running in front of you, but before Friday, I never thought it was a possibility.

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Chichen Itza or chicken pizza {part 2}

That’s how our tour guide kept saying it. Easy to remember, if you think about it. Our tour guide was great. He’s actually Mayan. ..did you know there were Mayans still roaming around?

Is that a dumb question?

When you hear your whole life the Mayans were completely wiped out, it makes you scratch your head when you stand in front of someone who says they’re from Mayan decent. He even speaks Mayan. I thought it was interesting how he said the generation of today, are refusing to learn Mayan. They only want to speak Spanish and English because that’s where the money is. Makes me think of those I know who’s parents refused to speak their native language to their kids because they thought it was beneath them.

Regardless, our tour guide, Raul, was sad that its becoming a dying language.

It took 1 1/2 hours to get to the Yucatan. It was long. Especially in a van where everyone didn’t talk. Strangers and all, but thankfully, Raul dropped his front seat, flipped around and talked to us all about the Mayan history.

Driving through the little village was honestly just what I expected a Mexican town to look like. Trash, skinny dogs everywhere and run down everything. What I wasn’t expecting were the Police with automatic weapons and oozies standing all around in the streets.

One truck drove by us with the police and their uzi's standing in the back of the truck, leaning over the cabin. Just about everyone’s eyes bulged as it drove by, with a ‘we aren’t in Kansas anymore’ look.

The ruins were amazing to see. Knowing it was all built so so very long ago and still standing, amazes me.
For whatever reason, the iguanas there were captivating. I’ve seen iguanas before..but on a Mayan ruin?? I couldn’t stop staring.

The sky was incredibly blue. No haze, no smog, no pollutants, just beautiful deep clear blue without a cloud in the sky.



{{love a good photo bomb-she was a part of our group}}

I wish I could convey to you how short this woman was. Maybe 4ft. So very very tiny.

Did you know all the ruins used to be painted? They were in reds and greens and blues. Everything was all covered in color. We found this fascinating.

On our way back to the hotel, we stopped for some delicious food where we all sat around the table (we were a small group of 8) and really got to know each other. We all became fast friends and even though I’m sure we all would have loved to talk the entire way back, every single one of us fell asleep. Walking around for 6 hours in the hot sun with no shade can wipe a group out fast. Even the tour guide was asleep.

The only thing I really wanted to do but couldn’t was walk up the pyramid and tour the inside of all the ruins. They stopped doing this in 2007 or 2008 due to vandalism and it was really disappointing to hear we wouldn’t get that opportunity. Regardless, I highly recommend this tour if you’re ever in the Cancun area. I think you’ll enjoy it as much as we did. Pin It Now!

Mexico {part 1}

Hi friends, I’m back!

Mexico was so great, I can’t wait to tell you all about it. Free food, drinks and nightly delivery of gifts? How can it not be great!?

To ease the minds of those who were concerned (thank you by the way) I miraculously was almost 100% better the day before flying out. It was amazing how quickly it went away. That Thursday night, I drug myself at 11pm to the grocery store to get the stuff to make “magic mouthwash”, only I was so out of it, I ended up standing there for 10 minutes in a daze, unable to figure out what to get. I grabbed 2 things that I don’t necessarily think were supposed to be what I needed to get, but I mixed them together, gargled and went to bed.

The next morning, my friend dropped off coconut oil for me to gargle, which I did and voila, by mid day, I was almost completely better. After work, I gargled again, drove all the way to L.A (where I have a very scary story to tell later) and crashed in my hotel room at 12am, ready to wake up by 4:30.

I gave myself plenty of time to drop my car off at the parking lot, get on the shuttle to the airport and squeeze in breakfast… until I couldn’t find the parking lot and drove up and down the street for 15-20 minutes looking for it. I finally called them and the guy informed me it was directly across the street from my hotel. Directly. across the street. from my hotel.

I felt like an idiot.

The rest of the day was uneventful and I was happy to arrive at my hotel with G-man ready to greet me.
Here’s a peek at the hotel..

the view from our balcony.

Somebunny was glad to see us..


looking down at the lobby.

I hope everyone had a great week while I was gone. Even though they had wi-fi, I maybe checked my email 3 times the whole week, and never bothered with my phone, and I have to be honest, it was the most wonderful thing. I’m reluctant to jump back into twitter and any other social media since its so nice not being weighed down by it all.

If you’ve taken a break from everything, did you have a hard time getting back into it? Or were you eager to catch up on everyone and everything?

{{and don’t forget! My Target giveaway ends tomorrow! if you haven’t entered yet.}}

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