... JUST JERI

Five things that bug me

2012-02-29T14:30:00.000-08:00

- phone conversations

- my short fingernails

- the candy bowl that begs me to munch on all of it's contents on a DAILY basis

- people who call me and ask "who is this"?

- loud noises, but really! I have SUPER sensitive ears

4 things I shouldn't say but I'm gonna

2012-02-29T11:12:00.001-08:00

* i think blonde girls are generally prettier too, but i think natural blonde is the prettiest!

* i cannot believe my ex boyfriend dates a chick who is 10+ years older than him, the only reason i feel it's ok to say this on the world wide web is because i've said it to him personally already. i don't think it's bad, i just think it's weird. my ex is a close friend of mine, i've only known him for fifteen years so i pretty much can say whatever i want, whenever i want, he knows this. deal with it!

* to the girl i went to high school with, you know who you are, my name seems to resurface in your mouth. i.e. "jeri kaye is just a hater, she doesn't like me for any reason at all"... FALSE-O. I've told you (personally) before that i don't have a problem with you and honestly i don't, but i'm not going to go out of my way to befriend you 10 years after we graduated. i do think you were really heartless in high school, especially after my mom died and you decided to make fun of me for being bulimic and call me every name in the book because well, who knows why? i think you were upset i was friends with your boyfriend, who knows? if only you had understood how much i could've used a friend at that time. you haven't lost your mother yet, and i think if you had by now, you might swallow your pity party and stop letting my name come up so often. i understand people change and so i don't hold your brat high school self against you, i kept my mouth shut and moved on then, i had bigger things going on in my life, as i do now.

* to the boy who continues to be selfish to a girl i know. i really believe that you intentionally mess things up because you are scared of commitment. i think you need to figure out what you really want before you break another perfect girls heart. i like you, i think you're awesome, for the most part, but come on' now...

- when ~~you~~ i feel crappy due to a bug, i tend to vent or say things i shouldn't... this blog proves that fact!

Thunder Up, Bridey & Running

2012-02-27T14:52:00.001-08:00

All day Thursday I was so excited & ready to leave work to go to the Thunder game. On my lunch break I ran over to Metro Shoe and got me some Thunderwear, who doesn't want a new Thunder shirt? Once 5:15 hit, I asked my boss if it was ok that I leave. He agreed to let me, I mean it was the end of the day and no one had intentions of coming into the shop. I got out of the office, went and got some gas and ran a couple of quick errands. I painted my nails Thunder blue, so tacky today, but perfect for last night. I went to eat at Chellinos, but who are we kidding, I really went for a large marg. Have I mentioned to you that I haven't drank in a while... I will drink a glass of wine with a book but nothing more than a glass as of late. After my large margarita (should've went with the small) I was a little tipsy. It took me a little bit to even finish that baby. After that I headed over to the basketball game. Got there in time for the Thunder to run out and get some peanuts, I attempted to have a beer but that didn't work out well. Lakers vs. Okc was pretty awesome. Everyone hates Kobe including Harden!

Thunder Blue nails heyyyy!

My game day dinner

Friday night, I didn't do much! Fridays are my Mondays at work, so I'm generally worn out. I considered working out at the gym but settled on a big fat no, and stayed in. I rented The Rum Diary , but what a waste of $4.99 I'll never get back, because I was out in a matter of minutes.

Saturday morning I got up about an hour later than I had hoped. I've been reading a book and I was on chapter 10 or something and I was just locked in my comfy bed with a good book so I couldn't have pryed myself from the comfortable bedding even if I had wanted. So I read another chapter and then got up and around. Made my way to the gym and ran a few miles on the treadmill. After that I met up at KC's house with Tosha & KC and we went to bricktown for a bridal fair. On the way to bricktown, which was only a 10 minute drive (at most) I got car sick. Kill me! I was even sitting in the front seat, fail! So as soon as I got out, I tossed my cookies. Bummer! Once we got to Zio's and had lunch I felt better! So yum! We made our way over to the bridal show and got ideas for different things to do that are wedding related. We also watched a new york style bridal runway show... I'm gonna leave it at that, although, I'm pretty sure it was more Oklahoma style. We made our way back to Moore around 5 and went to see the location of the wedding so that we could see what we were workin' with. It was a fun day! Missed a Candice Hudson though :(.

That night, I went to eat at BJ's, and that was a terrible idea. I thought going to eat at a later time, would save on wait time. WRONG! I waited for 35-40 minutes on a table. Why you ask? Because it was my 3rd place to venture to after driving to 2 other hot spots in Norman ;) that were equally as busy. They gave me a slice of pizza while I waited though, score! Once I was seated and still on my margarita kick, I ordered two throughout my meal, and once again, they hit me hard. I was more tired than tired once I was home and I was out in a matter of minutes. I don't know if it was from my busy day of playing bridesmaid or from a full belly and a buzzed mindset. Either way I was out for the night!

Sunday morning came around and I forced myself to sleep in! I stayed in bed until 11 a.m. Crazy! Never do that. I would wake up, read a little, sip on my water bottle and then drift back to sleep. Finally got up and had a wholesome breakfast with a tasty coffee and more water. I drank a lot of water to try and prepare myself for the 5.5 mile run later that evening. Later on, I got myself motivated enough to go get my run on. While running I watched some of the Oscar's, I don't know much of what was said because I had my running play list blaring in my eardrums. But for the most part I got this: J. Lo did have a nip slip, because I'm pretty sure I was running and thinking "is that her nipple? no it's not, wait yeah it is" .. and now with all the press today, I'm guessing I'm not the only one who thought that way!

I just love Cameron's figure, she is so fit, look at those arms! I'd take her body any day!

And this... hmmm, what to say. I'm thinking eat!!!! - I'll quit there!

The run was definitely disappointing. I finished, I didn't quit, but it was not a good run. My calf muscles cramped for the first two miles. Very painful. I slowed down the pace but it didn't get better until about mile 4. I stuck it out and then stretched for 20 minutes after the run. I took smoke, my car, to get a shower. You know because it's going to rain tonight and it seemed like a perfect idea?!?

Break it down meow

2012-02-26T16:30:00.000-08:00

Four More things...

2012-02-25T11:15:00.000-08:00

in case you were wondering... (which I know you were)
Four jobs I’ve had: Office Manager, Bank teller, Event coordinator at a Fine Chocolate shop, Snowcone Maker

Four childhood memories: Mary Poppins, Circus Circus in Las Vegas, Teddy Ruxspin, Mom's homemade biscuits

Four things I used to think I couldn't live without: Giga Pet, Doc Martens, Tommy girl perfume, highlights

Four songs I never change the radio station on : Selena "Dreaming of You", Brooks & Dunn "Neon Moon", Sheryl Crow " All I wanna do" , Led Zeppelin "Kashmir", i'd like to throw in a number 5 on this one, "Love Shack" B-52's reminds me of when I thought I wanted to be a professional ice skater and I'd go to the roller skating rink all decked out in my skate suit, oh yeah I had one of those, and this song ALWAYS came on, and I loved it!!!

Four places I've been on holiday: Branson, New Mexico, Colorado & Vegas!

Four of my favorite celebrities: Jennifer Aniston, Vince Vaughn, Eva Mendes & Ashton Kutcher

Four routines I do daily: Check my email, Brush my teeth, Eat Breakfast, Drink Coffee

Four places I’d rather be right now: The Mont patio (lush), Spa, Beach, Cruise ship

Happy Humpday!!!

Sorry Katy...

2012-02-23T14:25:00.000-08:00

But I really like this version best!

5 good things

2012-02-22T14:22:00.000-08:00

- Snail Mail

- Tights, for they allow me to stay comfortable, but I only like black tights!

- Disposable razors, because if everyone else who shaved that I lived with used my good expensive razors, I'd kill them! I have made it a rule to not get a good razor until I live by myself.

- Fish tacos, mmmmm

- Sunshine, I'm done with this random wake up in the morning because you just had a nice weather day and then walk out the door to cold/winterlike weather, I'm ready for sunshine ALWAYS

Week Tres

2012-02-21T11:01:00.000-08:00

Well, here I am, stumbling into week 3 of my training schedule. I'm impressing myself on the long run days, which is great, I'm actually pushing myself to run a little over the amount I'm supposed to run which is cool too. I'm finally back to my old self, the girl who need to run 5-6 days a week because it's a "feel good " thing. I don't dread going to the gym or running, now I may put it off for an hour or four but I know that it is on my to-do list and it must be done. It's back to being my therapy. Slowly, I'm getting more and more consumed with running and it's ok with me. BUT (yes there's a but) on the regular days where I'm just running 3- 3.5 miles for 3 days straight I'm ready for change. By Thursday, I'm ready for Friday and the change up. I'm also ready for Mondays and what the training says to do...

Mondays are my stretch & strengthen day! I have a love/hate relationship with my Mondays. The gym is too packed! It sometimes makes me bitter (like yesterday evening). I don't like when girls are literally just standing on the treadmill and socializing. And if you can read a magazine while you are on the treadmill or stationery bike, let's be honest, you aren't working hard enough! On Monday evenings there is nowhere to park, every treadmill is taken, the free weights are all being used and it's a mad house. But Mondays are also my stretch &strengthen day, which is where the love part plays in. It's like a freestyle of what you decide to do. The rule is just don't over do it! I usually do arms, Zumba and lots of stretching. Let me just say that the following picture describes me in Zumba to the T:

But after we get our zumba on, then comes the stretching. I love stretching. I used to HATE doing it. Now, with age, I realize the importance in it. Yesterday a song came on while I was stretching that I'd never heard. Well, I've heard it, just not this version. It was so relaxing and such a pretty cover. What do you think?

Obviously, I'd still let Caleb serenade me with the legit version if he twisted my arm a little bit ;)

Freakin' Weekend

2012-02-20T11:41:00.000-08:00

This weekend was pretty low key. In fact, I'm a little fuzzy on what I even did. I went to dinner at Cheddars on Friday, then came home and read the rest of my book. Then bought another book and I'm almost finished with that. Slow down on the reading right? haha.

Saturday, went to breakfast at Ihop (shocker?) and then went to the gym later that afternoon. Saturday night, I met up with my pops & his gf Marge at the University and we watched 1964:The Tribute , which was fun. They were really good! My dad pulled a quick one on me and lead me to believe that the show started at 6, when it really started at 7:30. I told him that I could'a sworn that the website said 7:30 and he convinced me otherwise, wiseguy. He had originally asked me to meet them at 5:30, but I was there around 6:15. He told me it started at 6 so that I would be there by 7:30. Are you kidding? He knows about that indian time though. So even though I was still later than 6, I was definitely there by 7:30. The downside was that I had rushed out of the gym to get ready and hadn't eaten before. So I was starbin'.. I had to find the vending machine and get me some pretzels to hold me over. After the show, they headed back south, and I went to Fuzzy's to eat. Ummmm when did I turn 80? All the college kids in there made me feel hella old. They all were so young and wasted face. Either today's average college student comes with a babyface or they really do in fact look super young compared to me. After I left I was home and in bed by 11:45!

Sunday morning I met my brother for breakfast at Ihop (again) I'm really all about a big breakfast on the weekends. It pretty much holds me over the entire day. I got to go to the Crest market for the first time to do my grocery shopping. I pretty much love it. I had my long run of the week, which went really well. I watched the thunder and closed in the night with a bubble bath and my book!

I thought that this little soda set up inside Crest was cool!

Very relaxing weekend! What did you do? It's just another manic Monday :)

These are the books I finished up this weekend:

- had to get the real scoop on the reality stars ;)

p.s. I didn't really take a bunch of pictures over the weekend, seeing that I have a stye eye. Sick! I wore my eyeglasses all weekend and was unable to wear any eye makeup, meaning i looked like i was sleep walking! meh! I'm happy to report that the stye is gone! I feel like I got it from the gym, so remember people, wipe down those treadmills with the spray and papertowels, that is why it's there!!!!

To-do's before I'm 27

2012-02-18T11:00:00.000-08:00

Holy Shhhh I'm going to be 27 this year. SO weird.

Here are a couple of things I'd like to get done before May 29, 2012

Skydive!!!

Take a train somewhere!

Get a hair cut (one that's noticeable - I like these three, although they all seem like the same)

Run a Half Marathon

Get some abs definition.. I'm afraid that requires little chocolate eating as well as stuffed french toast. dang it!
I mean lets be serious for a second.. I know I won't look like this but I'd just like to tighten the loose skin on my belly!

Lovely little Friday

2012-02-17T10:46:00.000-08:00

1.The love of my life is the man upstairs! His love is unconditional and unforunately I take that for granted at times, but I am beyond blessed!

2. Falling in love is an amazing experience(s) I’ve done it 3 times. That’s weird to me. Because I thought at one point I’d only love one person only. But each time it just happened, beyond my control. I was so inexperienced, learn something new everyday :) .

3. Marriage is something to consider, but not on my to-do list right now.

4. The longest relationship I've ever had was 10 years back & forth and it was an emotional roller coaster, sometimes great sometimes very hurtful, but very real and it just started out so young so it was so hard to grow up from the old ways .

5. The key to a good relationship is compromise, communication, respect, HONESTY, laughter and lots of kisses behind closed doors .

6. I feel loved when someone does a simple gesture, can be words of affirmation, acts of kindness, public display of affection at its simplest, quality time, I’ve got all those 5 love languages needs, I'm sure any guy I've dated love that I'm so needy ;)

7. My favorite quote about love is "Choose love & love your choice" or “all you need is love” touché .

5x5

2012-02-15T12:03:00.000-08:00

Five things I've bought in the last week
Breakfast sammiches
Heartshaped box full of chocolates
Brown Boots
Press on nails (yes, I'm serious)
Self Tanning Spray

Five things I've read in the last week
All of the Whitney Houston death coverage :(
A sweet valentines day card
My Week with Marilyn
InStyle Magazine
Text messages

Five tasks I accomplished in the last week
The first week of my 12 week training schedule
Paying them bills
Enjoying the best of wine
Getting up early enough to put on makeup
Driving to work in the worst fog and not wrecking or going off road

Five things I have eaten in the last week
3 spoonfuls of chocolate icing (my lunch today- real healthy)
Shrimp cocktail
Blueberry stuffed french toast (again with the being overly healthy)
Salmon
Sh*t.. when I fell down the patio due to the black ice that had graced me with it's presence on the one step : / ouch!

Five things I still need to get done
Purchase of tickets for this weekend's show
Get my hair did
More mileage in the running department
My (presson)nails - most likely just a waste of my cvs money
Grocery Shopping

Only day its ok to show PDA

2012-02-14T07:07:00.000-08:00

(look at those smooshed little indian noseys)

I'm really not big on public display of affection... But I do think it's ok to be all affectionate on Balentine's day! I love LOVE. It's so fun to have someone you can call yours. It's crazy how at first you are so guarded with your heart (well some of us) and so we hesitate and then when we fall, we fall hard and then it's like you are dating your best friend. For me anyway. I'm so lucky, I've always said that. But who are we kidding? So is he ;)

Last night I spent the evening celebrating the day of love a little early. My balentine surprised me with a nice dinner at The Whispering Pines Inn. Their reviews were awesome and his goal was to take me somewhere different and romantic. I know what you're thinking, romantic- Jeri Kaye whaaaa? Because that's how I think too. But their food & set up, I die! We started off with shrimp cocktail mmmmm. I had the Salmon and he had filet mignon. We shared a bottle of Chardonnay that was delicious! We are a lil rusty on our table etiquette, we didn't know which forks to use and all that stuff. But we laughed about it and so did our nice waiter. It was nice to have an intimate experience where we just talked and enjoyed each other. No worrying about cell phones just focused on us. The only time I got my cell phone out was when I had to take pictures, but then that baby was right back in my purse. It was just nice! There were only two other couples there, and by the end of the evening it was just us, the chef & our waiter. The lighting was perfect, the night was perfect! Successful balentine dinner!

Check out that rose made from a potato, so fancy :)

W's yummy food

My handsome

Went with a Purple dress :)

Complimentary Wine given to us from the owner

This morning I overslept a bit! eek! I was running late, but my boyfriend apparently got up early and was sneaky. I finally got around to starting my car and having to get the keys off the bar. And I got a surprise! I have had such an amazing love evening & day this year! Feelin' very lucky! Tonight we are going to have a date at the gym while all the other people in the world are out enjoying their wine & dinner! Hope you're feeling loved today! And if you haven't found your valentine yet, no worries, one day you'll get him/her, when you least expect it, it seems to work out that way!

And got the sweetest card with this "nicely" wrapped gift ;)

Surprise!!!! Can't wait to play with it when I get home tonight!

Chocolate & Wine for dinner

2012-02-13T08:46:00.000-08:00

This weekend I was a little bit of a mess, very moody :/ oops. Friday, Bobby & Alana came over. After Will & I got home from the gym we picked up Target sushi & headed home to watch a movie with our company. We watched Our Idiot Brother. Movie on me, due to the fact that I waited 3 weeks to take the movie back and the day I did, redbox had already charged my account. Bummer! After the movie was over, I wasn't too upset I bought the movie. It's just about a guy who is just an "easy going likes to see the best in others" type with 3 typical crazy sisters.

Saturday, W & I got up and munched down on some Ihop. (our new favorite place) We had a few errands to run around Norman and do so we got those done early. We decided to go to the mall and do a little indoor shopping due to the cold weather. I ended up buying W some cuff links & a tie. Lookin' so fresh ;) I scored some boots (shocker) from Dillards. I thought they were going to cost me $65 but I got to the register and they were $37, originally $100. Go me! We took a winter nap after our 4 hour shopping trip. We went to the gym, then rented a movie and then I had a box of chocolates and a glass of wine for dinner. Totally defeats the purpose of going to the gym but I didn't even care. I don't know if I told you guys, but I made these do-it-yourself wine glasses for gifts around Christmas time. We kept the messups. You just dip the glasses in chalkboard paint and just use chalk to write whatever you want on them when you are enjoying a glass of wine! (See below)

W didn't think I knew how to tie a tie but duhhh!

-ps this is NOT the tie I got him, this is the tie that made me want to buy him a NEW tie though!

Girls, you get it!

Poor Will, this was his glass haha!

Sunday, we had lunch with W's grandma & tom. We met up at the Cracker Barrel. Yum, good country cookin! Then gym'd it up yesterday evening after cleaning the house! Very relaxing weekend for this cranky girl!

But I woke up to Oklahoma's first snow of the year this morning! Yay!!!!!

Look at my balls

2012-02-09T07:45:00.000-08:00

..cake balls that is!

My sister got me a little cake ball book for Christmas and she just gave it to me a couple of weekends ago. I don't know if you love cake balls like me, or if anyone does? I love LOVE them. However, I could use some tips on the decorating part. This book is really helpful for that. My papas birthday was yesterday! Yay!!!! He's the cutest, sweetest, BESTest old fella ever. I think it's ok to say he's old now. Young at heart though! I baked a chocolate cake on Tuesday night and decorated some mini birthday cake balls too. Maybe the best way to phrase that last sentence is attempted to decorate some mini birthday cake balls, regardless... Here's how the sweets turned out!?!

.. something tells me you are supposed to take the photo before the cake has been cut.

Honestly, they were a little disastrous.. the cute idea I was going for, just didn't happen. I didn't put enough time into decorating them like I had originally planned. I made the cake ball guts (the inside batter) on Monday night and kept them in the freezer overnight. I ended up rolling the balls/patties on my lunch break Tuesday. Tuesday night I had dinner with KC and after that I went to work out and then I was plum worn out when it came to the decorating part. I had the post running shakes as I tried to dress up and shape the cake balls to look like mini birthday cakes. epic fail. Oh well, there's always next time right? My sister, Brentli, W, papa & I met up at the chinese restaurant in Sulphur last night. Papa eats at the chinese restaurant on the daily. Something tells me he never learned to cook. My grandma took care of that man! He was talking about her last night. (he loved her so much) The funniest thing he said was, " I wasn't old enough to get my marriage license, but I was old enough to whoop up on the Germans, so I married after I got back from the service when I was 21." I love my papa. Here's to 87 more years ;)

Handsome papa Harber back in the day!

Baby B loves her papa Harber

Weekending

2012-02-06T13:28:00.000-08:00

Friday after work, the boyfriend and I loaded up in the G6 and headed to my bosses casa. Jeffrey & Kelly rode with us to go watch the Barons game. This was my first hockey game in a long time. Maybe 5 years. Did you know there are Barons girls? (Kelly & I will probably try out and make it next year.. I just need to touch up my ice skating skills) I had my usual beer & peanuts, gameday dinner. I didn't google the facts on hockey games so after the 3rd period I was confused as to why everyone was getting up. Little did my dumbass know, the game was over. Since it rained on Friday, I had taken in my leopard print umbrella in case it was raining when we got out, well, I left it in the Cox center :( .

.. boys taking another picture for their man caves

Saturday, I got up early & made a starbucks run. I then went into Rue 21 just to pass time while waiting on W to meet me at Academy. We both got peacoats for only $9. What a steal! Mine is navy blue & his is a heather grey color. We made our way over to Academy to stock up on workout gear. After academy we went and got some breakfast, mmmm. There was some house cleaning and lounging done for a few hours. We headed to the gym that afternoon! Weekends are the best time to go to the gym, no one ever wants to go to the gym on the weekend! (including us, but we make ourselves) After we gym'd it up, we went to Petco and debated on getting a ginny pig... I'm still undecided if I want a hairy ratster (rat+hamster). A bunny rabbit is what we I really want, but no one seems to sell them around here. We ended up getting Buddy some dog treats. That night W went to a birthday party, that I had NO desire to attend. I know what you're thinking.. "that sounds rude." But my mom always told me the truth hurts sometimes. Some people who don't have the best interest for me or the people I love, are the types of people I prefer to avoid. So instead, I went to a couple of bookstores and then settled in with a glass of wine and caught up on my Kardashian secrets.

Sunday morning started out rough. I finally got up and went and had breakfast. The bad/unhealthy kind. Sometimes it's good to let yourself do that. I had blueberry stuffed french toast and a caramel latte from ihop. It was delicious! After that I went and got a couple of gifts. One of them was for a bride to be and one of them was for a mommy to be. About an hour before superbowl kickoff I went to the gym. I didn't really watch the superbowl, I watched the replays though. I also watched Madonna do her thing. I've always like Madonna, she did good, but I'm not the biggest fan of her newest song. Mostly I drank wine, talked to Amanda and ate queso. After the superbowl we watched The Voice. I really liked it. It was my first time to watch it, my brother likes it a lot. (I'm sure secretly he wishes he was on it... and no not a judge, you know he thinks his karaoke skills would land him on a good team!!!)

And now here we are, at the beginning of our work week and at it again. Hope Monday takes it easy on ya and doesn't get too overwhelming! Have a great week friends!

The Help

2012-02-04T10:00:00.000-08:00

.. First off, I do realize I'm about a year late (maybe more) on reading The Help, however, I thought I'd throw in my two cents. Or is it ten cents? meh, who cares. - anyway, I start re-reading the book about 2 weeks ago. Sometimes I'll just start a book, and it's good, I just get tired or busy and don't finish it. So I restarted it & this time I was consumed in it. It was such a good book. There were times I'd laugh out loud and then there were times that I cried like a baby. There were even unreadable parts that I had to get through, not gonna lie, haha, I have a really weak stomach :( . But I got finished with the book this last week. If you haven't read it, I highly recommend it. It's crazy how time changes things. This book made me feel really proud about being raised by a sweet & loving mother, appreciative of anyone who has ever helped me and thankful that there are more equal rights between different races these days. It was really tough for me to pick out my favorite charachter in this book too. Abileen was such a sweet woman, and Minny was hilarious. Skeeter was so unique & quirky. Those three were all so brave. The other charachters were all brats.

Of course, once you read the book, the reward is the movie. So Thursday night after I got home from babysitting, I cuddled up on the couch, and rented the movie. The movie was good too. There are always differences between the book & movies. I was surprised at how I was able to pick out all the differences. There were some parts of the book that I think would have been funny in the movie if they had made the cut. If you don't read the book, watch the movie. It's that kind of story that is good for your heart.

Hello Mr. Friday

2012-02-03T06:59:00.000-08:00

1. If money wasn't an issue, the first thing I'd cross of my life list is traveling the entire world, I mean shoot, that would be amazing.

2. Spoonful(s) of crunchy peanut butter and basically anything with peanut butter is something I like that other people think is weird.

3. If my life were a movie right now, the title would be "Takin’ it easy” .

4. Three things I am looking forward to this month are Balentines Day, surprising my chosen person of the month and starting some training.

5. My favorite song to sing in the shower is the other day I’m pretty sure I was singing a Selena song, but it varies I sang I’ll fly away the other evening, I love singing, since I’m so talented and all ;).

6. If I found out that the production of Lubriderm Intense Skin Repair Cream was ending this month, I'd go out and buy as much as I could tomorrow.

7. One thing I'll never grow tired of is shopping… I have a blackbelt in shopping.

It cannot be that easy..

2012-02-02T07:39:00.001-08:00

I'm just gonna jump right in on what I'm referencing my title of this blog to. LYING.

I am HANDS DOWN, the worst liar there is. Ask any of my friends. Ask my boss. Ask my family members. And I don't know why. I mean I do .. see there's me not letting me write a lie. I was raised where lying was frowned upon. Meaning it was hurtful, it was viewed as a disappointment, it just wasn't right. With that being said, even if I'm telling a joke, I'm still so obvious about the punch line, generally making the joke not as funny or the person I'm telling the joke to laugh at me rather than the joke because they already knew what I was going to say. Either way it's still funny.

But what is not funny is a lying individual. Everywhere around me it seems like people are just lying all over the place. In the workplace, in relationships, in friendships, about big things about small things, just lies lies lies. Whats up with that? Do people not understand that lies do in fact affect the person they are lying to? Do people have no respect for their friends/families/boyfriends/girlfriends so they choose to lie instead of base a relationship on honesty and good well being? I don't understand. My heart aches for the people who are dealing with the liar. Situations involving dishonesty never turn out good. I think it's human nature to try and see the good in people, and I think a lot of us want to believe that people are truthful. But I feel like at the same time, we have to remember not to be naive and think like this all of the time. I have some friends who have been lied to multiple times by the same person, yet they stay hopeful that it will never happen again. I wish that were true and that when a person lied to someone that they would have some sense of guilt and not want to do it ever again.

So people stop your lying and get to tryin' to make things easier on your co workers, your family, and your loved ones. It makes a world of difference and puts you in a better place!

That's all!

the internet is scary...

2012-02-01T11:27:00.000-08:00

So lately, I've been upping the cardio trying to get ready to start training for some races coming up in a few months. The pre training runs have been good, I'm not over doing anything, I'm going at nice pace not working too hard. Buttttt, my knee has been giving me problems (again) :(.. makes me sad. I've practiced the RICE method and I even fell asleep with frozen peas on my knee last night. - guess those peas won't be eaten. Do you like peas? I love peas! Although, they do remind me of Fran Drummond Daycare, I'm almost positive I was the only kid in that place that liked the peas. - annnnnnyway. So after much elevating, eating ibuprofen and ice packs, I decided to webmd my symptoms this morning. And Lorrrrrrd, that wasn't fun!Where I don't think it would be considered anything that would require surgery, did you realize there are a bajillion different knee injuries? Oh and all of the symptoms are almost identical. Scary crap! I don't know that I want to go to the doctor, because I'm afraid of what he/she may tell me, the last thing I want to hear right now is "you shouldn't run". I just want to get a few more races out of this old knee cap. But at the same time I don't want to be trotting along on the dang treadmill and have a blowout... I do that enough without an aching knee. So we'll see if I go get it checked out... my wishful thinking mind is telling me to hold off 'cause we'll get better, me & my knee.

oh and another thing... happy tax season woo! Got my tax return today, all I want to do with it is buy those pair of Frye Boots, but what I need to do is stay on the Jeri Kaye saving plan I set up for myself. Maybe the boyfriend will decide I deserve them for Balentines day.... ahhh there goes my wishful thinking again... but just in case EIGHT & 1/2!

Happy Hump Day Boys & Girls, we're closer to FRYEday, I mean Friday ;)

Amazing Weekend

2012-01-30T19:40:00.000-08:00

Friday night, W & I went to the gym around 7 pm. After the gym, we stopped by Dandads (W's grandpa) house and picked up a couple of guns and visited. Before too long we had to be at the train station to pick up my sister & Brentli. They took the train from Ardmore to Norman. They said that the train ride was fun and Brentli did really good on it. She's just a good baby. We made a Walmart run to pick up some fresh avocado to make some guacamole. My sister makes the best guacamole, so yummmm. Alana & Bobby came to the house to meet Brentli and they fell in love... most people do ;). We stayed up late that night.

eek... too many guns in my bubble

yes, it's a real gun, so little!

Saturday morning, I woke up around 6:30 and went to go hang out with my neice. She is such a morning person, she was just grinning and cooing all over the place. Finally Chandra & W got up and around and we met the flamingo (brother Sammy) at the Waffle House for breakfast. W went and shot his guns with my two bosses. Chandra, Brentli & I made a Target run. B got some new sunnys and I found some new dark brown boots, you know I just had to have them. Buzz made his way to Norman and we all got ready to go to Hank's graduation party. We are all so proud of Hanky and how he's changed his life around. Jack hung out with us the entire time. The cake was yummy, I had chocolate & vanilla, mmmm. After we got back home, everyone was hungry for real food so I cooked dinner for all of us. I really like to cook. Wills helped me out in the kitchen with dishes, sweet man. Sadly, after dinner, they family had to leave us and head back for Kingston. W & I just stayed in and watched Cajun Pawn Stars and then I read The Help. I've restarted it, I had only read a few chapters in the past so I'm 1/2 way finished now, and it's getting really good. When there are movies based off books, I tell myself that I can't watch the movie until I read the book, how's that for motivation? I just got to a really good part of the book that I had been curious about lately as I have been turning the pages. I plan to be finished after tonight, and then watch the movie some time this week. CANNOT WAIT!(nerd alert!)

Brentli likes big shades like Nicole Richie ;)

New boots... bad picture trying to show new boots :(

Hanky and me, love him!

Little happy Brentli Bear

Sunday morning, we slept in a little bit, well at least until 9. I woke up and read until 11 when W woke up. Not gonna lie, I'm a slow reader, but I love reading. Once we got up, boyfriend took me to eat at Pei Wei and we weren't ready to just go back home. It was a pretty day, a little windy, but beautiful out. We decided to go to Old Paris Flea Market. We like to go and look at all the stuff and people watch. I didn't come out with any treasures, but Will found a pretty cool model motorcycle. We headed back to Norman for Dylan's 1st birthday party. Dylan is my bosses grand daughter, she is a cutie! The party was circus themed and it was so darn cute.

Biker dude and dog dude

I decided to get creative with my wrapping :)

Dylan 1 water bottles :)

The decorations were so cute, this picture doesn't do much justice

They had a photo booth set up... unfortunately, W is terrible about doing the 1-2-3 Cheese number :(

Picture with Birthday girl Dylan & Kayla

I've really enjoyed this no winter lately and I feel like us oklahomans are being spoiled by mother nature. Today was the perfect day to read my book on the porch on my lunch break... so I did just that. What books are you reading? Here are few on my to-read list:

Favorite Friday of the week :)

2012-01-27T06:18:00.000-08:00

1. My favorite place i've ever traveled to is (this one is tough), I fall in love with any place new .

2. Europe is somewhere I'd love to go someday.

3. I pass the time on a plane (or bus, or car ride or train) by listening to my ipod and my plane magazine is always the rolling stone, read it cover to cover .

4. My three must-haves when I travel are iPhone , trash mags and sunglasses (mainly to people watch/stare and not get caught).

5. My favorite travel companion is my ipod… I usually travel by myself to be honest .

6. The craziest thing that ever happened to me while traveling is I had to throw out my dry shampoo and they threatened my wine cork opener but I got to keep it, wait no one else carries a wine opener in their purse?!? That’s just weird.

7. The most exotic food I've ever tried while traveling is … I’m not really big on trying exotic foods, mainly because I don’t do well with different types of meats, my stomach thanks me for not trying new foods.

8. If I could live anywhere else, I'd live in Colorado or around Lake Tahoe would be great, but I do love Oklahoma too, it’s home, it's where family and friends are and everybody knows my name, it's my cheers!

9. I have been to thirteen states in the U.S.

..speaking of traveling, my sister and my neice are coming to visit tonight and I'm going to pick them up from the train station at 9:05 pm, they are so darn cute, can't wait to see those travelin' girls!!! Happy Weekend Friends!

Oh Canada...

2012-01-26T13:18:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday night, I met up with my friend Melissa. Meliss & I met while I was working as a teller at OU Federal Credit Union when I was 22 years old. We worked together about a year and then we both got separate jobs. Working together was a lot of fun. She is by far one of the funniest people I know and we both have the same type of humor so I'm sure that helps. We also have the same views on our beliefs in God and we have gone on church dates together. We both love food too so we had plenty of catchup dates over yummy dinner. She has seen me at my highest of highs and lowest of lows. And every time I get together with her, it's like we don't skip a beat. She has a beautiful heart. She is someone I look at and think "wow, you are one brave girl".. I say this because when Melissa met the man of her dreams from Norman, Oklahoma she moved from Canada to be with him. She left a very loving & fun family as well as some of her best friends behind to take a chance and let love have its way. But now it's time for her to move back to be back with her family and friends. It's never easy to say goodbye, and it's never easy when you know that person is not just a few miles away, so I really don't like that she is going, but of course I understand. I'm definitely going to miss her, but I'm hoping that some day I'll make it to Canada to visit my favorite Canadian girl and her fun family :)

no better time..

2012-01-24T12:15:00.000-08:00

"For a long time it seemed to me that life was about to begin - real
life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time to still be served, a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life. This perspective has helped me to see that there is no way to happiness. Happiness is the way. So, treasure every moment that you have. And treasure it more because you shared it with someone special, special enough to spend your time and remember that time waits for no one...

So stop waiting until you finish school, until you go back to school, until you lose ten pounds, until you gain ten pounds, until you have kids, until your kids leave the house, until you start work, until you retire, until you get married, until you get divorced, until Friday night, until Sunday morning, until you get a new car or home, until your car or home is paid off, until spring, until summer, until fall, until winter, until you are off welfare, until the first or fifteenth, until your song comes on, until you've had a drink, until you've sobered up, until you die, until you are born again to decide that there is no better time than right now to be happy. Happiness is a journey, not a destination."
-Alfred D. Souza

.. Ran across this today while I was reading and I just had to share, it's a good one :)

Checking In

2012-01-22T17:14:00.000-08:00

Hey guys, just thought I'd check in and let you guys know what I've been up to lately. Mostly, I've been laying low with my guy. We have been cooking a lot of yummy dinner, doing a bunch of house projects and watching movies. I have been getting on pinterest before I go to bed at night, and then the next day, I'm all about getting supplies to do my next do it yourself project.

I've been trying to get W's extra room a little more company-friendly. I had been keeping my eyes open at different department stores for simple and affordable ideas. I just thought, "when I go visit someone, I'd much prefer sleeping on a bed then a couch".. so I moved an extra bed I had over to W's house. I found a cheap crisp white quilt at TJ Maxx. It was a king size, which the bed isn't a king it's a queen, but I figure it will be used in the future when I get me a king size bed, still hoping for a california king though ;). I google'd cheap do it yourself headboards and got different ideas of what could be used as a headboard since I didn't have one for the bed.

I really wanted to do the whole paint an old door idea but really didn't come across any old doors.

Then I wanted to do the wooden pallet headboard and had planned on getting some wood when I went down to see my sister and Buzz, they had some extra wood lying around. Buttttt then I got impatient and the next time I'd be seeing them, they were coming to stay at W's house. So, then I really tried to figure out what I was going to do with the extra room.

I preferred to do something with stuff I already had, but let's be honest, I didn't have any oversized wall art or cool things that would work. So I saw on my google search another idea. Taking one of those wire thingys and making a headboard from that. So another shopping trip at TJ Maxx and I found a wire thing for $25, holla!

I had been also eyeing another do it yourself chevron rug project I saw somewhere on the world wide web for a couple of weeks. Then I found a rug at Big Lots for $19 and I just bought it and tried my hand at my own chevron rug. So here is the room that I have created for anyone who comes and stays the night at W's place. I actually wanted to sleep in it the night it was all finished but I didn't. Hopefully Brentli, Buzz & Chandra will like it. I probably spent under $150 to make the room a little more company friendly. I also have more storage for my clothes so I'm not stuffing them all in ONE drawer when I stay over at W's.

Other than little room projects and polishing not just one but two lemon cakes in the past 2 weeks, W & I have decided we are about to get back on the gym rat train. He's going to hit the weights like crazy, and I'm about to start upping the cardio. I've been doing a lot of classes at the gym that I really enjoy and are pretty hard, but it's time to start getting in better running shape. I'm excited about running more, basically because I love it, and I've given my body enough of a break from it. He said he wanted to start eating healthier with me too. I've been eating only white meats for the past oh 14 years now, I'm all about him eating healthier too. I mean, maybe I'll sneak him a steak every once in a while, but hope he isn't planning on me incorporating steak into my diet, ha. Ahh, that sounded mean, but really my guy is like a garbage disposal, he's not picky about what he eats. But we are going to turn him into a healthy eating garbage disposal. In fact, I've already pretty much prepared most of this weeks meals and um it's Sunday... crazy!

Next weekend, my sister & Brentli are getting on a train and heading to Norman. I'm so excited, I've really been missing my neice. And W & I cannot wait to see her, and Buzz & Chandra too. My nephew Hank is also having his graduation party next Saturday, so proud of him and excited to see both of my nephews as well. Then I have a birthday party to go to Sunday, I'm really looking forward to it, it's supposed to be circus themed so there will be games, face painting and cake, yum!

love this song...

2012-01-17T11:18:00.000-08:00

Curve Balls...

2012-01-16T07:09:00.000-08:00

Oh life. You are good at throwing curve balls sometimes when I'm least likely to expect them aren't you? This weekend was one of the most miserable weekends in a long time. Yet, I'm thankful. Thankful for being able to wake up in the morning, thankful for understanding friends, thankful for Paris and Kinzi and how going to dinner with them just to get out of the house helped my attitude enormously. Thankful for a job that I can work at that I love and that I looked forward to coming to this morning. I'm thankful for unconditional love.

This weekend was very trying on the Jeri Kaye positive train that I've been living on... yet I realize things could be worse. Things can always be worse. Next weekend I had planned on paying a visit to see Lil C, however, last night I had to call and let her & La know that this was not going to be able to happen. It wasn't the funnest conversation(s) I've had. But the great part is that I have friends who understand that things happen.

This week my goal is to stay positive. Curve balls are just a part of life, and I just feel like it's really how you react to what is thrown your way. Where as some people probably prefer to get down on theirselves in certain situations, I'm going to try to move on so that I can continue to appreciate and count my blessings.

In my dreams...

2012-01-12T17:46:00.001-08:00

...

Have you ever had one of those dreams that are so real you wake up the next morning and get a little upset it isn't? I had one of those last night. Except this time I didn't wake up in a pissy mood that it wasn't. I know it may sound weird but sometimes I pray and ask God for certain favors, actually I do that more than I should. Sometimes I get a no but I prayed on Sunday night that when I fell asleep that I could see my mom. Everytime I pray, I always ask God to tell my mom hi and that I love her. I wonder sometimes if he let's her hear that part of my prayer... Anyway Sunday night I didn't have dreams :( but last night I did. I dreamed that I got to go to lunch and go shopping with my mom. You know ordinary things other girls do with their mothers as adults or daughters.

When I was 16 and my mom just passed away, I had dreams all the time about my mom. But in those dreams they were never good. My doctor even put me on sleeping medication to avoid them. They always ended with the same outcome, her being very ill and ultimately in a funeral home.

But last nights was different. It started off with me answering my door and my mom telling me to get ready because we were going to have a girls day. It was almost like we didn't live in the same town and she just surprised me with a visit. We went to brunch at a small bakery and we set and talked for a couple of hours and I caught her up on my worklife, my lovelife and my plans for the future. She just smiled and listened and not so much talked but just expressed herself with her facial expressions. And she was happy, so happy. we then went shopping for my niece Brentli, we looked at lots of dresses, all of the stores we went in had white fresh looking ensembles and we picked out white cotton dresses for Brentli. It was crazy. Crazy because obviously my niece will never have the opportunity to meet her grandma. But it was almost in that moment that everything felt perfect. Perfect because mom knew Brentli. My sister and I always say " I wish mom could know her", but it's almost like now I have a feeling that she does know her.

After we shopped we just drove home and I talked to her the entire way. I got to give her a big hug and then she was on her way to wherever she was headed. I do remember leaving Brentli's dress with mom because she was going to take it her. My only guess is that my mom was on her way to go see little B.

I woke up thanking God for that dream. I got a chance to feel like all those mom & daughters get to feel on a regular basis. Very neat. Miss that woman more than anything but I know she's happy and she's watching over us kids.

Weekend By Photos

2012-01-09T13:40:00.000-08:00

Friday

Date night with the sweet boyfriend at Charleston's, enjoying a perfect margarita!

Saturday

The coolest kid I "big kid" sit had his birthday party on Saturday, so W & I attended :)

Jax watching the excitement from outside, cute pup

The birthday boy with all of his presents, just as happy as can be.

a very worn out Jax from all of the birthday party festivities

Luke debuting his new ninja suit that he got for his birthday

Date night on W, he took me ice skating, I had only been once..

Devon ice skating

Scary shoes

the Pro

the amateur... he pulled me around the rink, that part was fun, until we fell :(

Sunday

H&H Gun Range, another first for me, shot my first gun!

He's good at shooting, kind of scary.

I mean... ouch... hey we're first timers ;)

My boss & his wife went with us, we had a lot of fun!

... After shooting, I took W to get his belly full at his favorite place, Red Lobster. I got a gift card to that place and it's not my favorite but it's his, so I decided to be nice... weird. Then we went to the Thunder game last night, thanks to my pops! We enjoyed watching the spurs go down! :) Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Weekend Aftermath

2012-01-03T15:14:00.000-08:00

What a good little weekend! This weekend was very productive for W and I. We have been out of town a bunch lately. Friday, W got back from his ski trip. I missed him a little.. But when he got back I had favors to ask of him. I came up with this idea last Wednesday about making a scarf rack. I had seen a lot on the internet but I wanted a cute scarf rack. So I went to Hobby Lobby, bought a piece of wood and some dresser knobs. But I needed my handy man to do the drilling. So Friday, much to my surprise, he was game for wine & project time. He put together my scarf rack and I love it. We also set up my new wine fridge, it's my other favorite thing lately. I mentioned that I had some other projects up my sleeve for the weekend so to be ready.

Saturday, we got up and around and went to breakfast at Jimmy's Egg. It wasn't crazy cold so we went and got the motorcycle out of storage and took it to breakfast. After breakfast, we ran around Norman in search of project stuff. I wanted to get a trunk/ottoman/oversized storage bin to keep at the end of my bed for extra blankets and pillows. We went to an antique store and I found an aged white wooden trunk. I relined the inside and it works perfect for what I wanted to use it for. W also bought an antique rod iron sewing machine with a marble table top to place my wine fridge on. We were pretty excited about our purchases. I also decorated the countertop with wine bottles. Later that evening, we got dressed up and ready for the new years eve festivities. First, we stopped by Sean & Misty's to give Carter his Christmas present. That kid is adorable, such a happy little boy. He's really into to dinosaurs right now, so I got him some dinosaur books, a hooded blanket, some pjs and some navy blue toms. We hung out for an hour or so and let Carter entertain us with his goofiness. After that, we met up with Travis, Anna, Caitlin, KC, Chad, Travis F & Courtney to go to the Embassy Suites party. We had a big group and seeing that we got there a little later, there was little food left and we were scrunched in seating. But I know I enjoyed just being with my friends & co workers listening to music and counting down the last minutes of 2011. We had our champagne toast to the new year, our smooches and we danced a little bit to start off the new year.

Blurry but hot mamas ;)

I wore Red lipstick!

Love those kisses

Love this family, great people!

Me & my gym buddy, she obviously goes a little more than me ;) Hot lady!

Sunday, I started to feel a little under the weather. I slept a lot on Sunday as well as coughed a lot too. :( Not the funnest day, but I had my cuddle buddy with me so it made me feel a little better.

Monday, started out like Sunday. Still feeling under the weather, I didn't get too much done. W did build my other project for me. He built me a clothes rack that I had thought up. It's perfect. So glad he got power tools for Christmas. We watched the Thunder game and I went to bed pretty early. And now it's Tuesday and I'm so happy that we have a short work week. I don't have too much planned this week, and I kind of like it that way.

New Clothes rack made by W, so thankful!

Happy 2012 Friends

2012-01-01T07:00:00.000-08:00

Well guys, 2012 is just around the corner! Have you made any of your new years resolutions? I’ve been thinking about them a little here and there lately. Let’s look back to last year's resolutions- as you can see I succeeded at 2 of them for sure, but only half of the first one. I do believe I’ve been a little less worried about the negative things in my life in 2011. Actually, I’m sure that I’ve been a little too positive, which means I was a little careless.. I’ll admit it. I did rid myself of some people who were trying to bring me down with their negative nancy attitudes. You know just people who don’t really have my best interest at heart and don’t want to see me do good, those people I haven’t talked to in months. I wish them well though. I really do. I will say that the last resolution I had was a bit ridiculous, are you kidding? 2-3 lbs a month? Yeah right! I totally didn’t work on that the least bit. But you know what’s crazy? That’s the first time I’ve made a resolution about weight, and epic fail my friends. In fact, I’m almost positive I gained 2-3 per month… oh well. I can lose weight, some people can’t lose ugly. Whaaaaat? – I said that once when I was in the 6th grade to a boy and that was a “good comeback” moment for me, so it’s always stuck. – Josh Burris was the boy I said it to, not that I think he’s ugly and he’s totally fine by me then & now but I mean a girl has to stand up for herself ya know?!?! Also on the half marathon, that idea wasn’t ridiculous, but I did have a bit of a knee injury last year which had me off on my running, and I ended up running the 7 mile leg in the marathon relay so I’m not really mad at myself about that one. There are plenty of half marathon races to run out there.

So here are my resolutions for 2012…

Go on a vacation to Colorado. I’ve always wanted to go in the summer. I want to hike, I want to white water raft, I want to camp & go venture around that state. Before I moved to Houston, I really wanted to move to Colorado…buttttt I didn’t. And I don’t regret it but I do love Colorado so I definitely want to visit during the summer of 2012. – wow, seems like forever away.

Take off all of my makeup before going to bed. Seems like the duh thing to do, but I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had a little too many cocktails and just fallen asleep with makeup on. The other night after I got finished cleaning my closet, I had a glass of wine & reese’s peanut butter cups for dinner and I was so full I fell asleep with makeup on. That’s like the worst excuse ever but it was just an example of my carelessness.

Save more cash money. I need to get a good little savings account built up. I have some expectations for myself by the end of the year of 2012. So I need to do a little more saving.

Surprise someone, whether it be a friend, family member or admirer at least once a month. I think this one will be fun. I already have the month of January done. So now I only have 11 more months to send a surprise to someone. My surprises aren’t going to be super fancy, but I just want to take out a little time to show someone that I’m thinking about them.

Volunteer. I wrote about this in my last fill in the blank Friday of 2011. Over the Christmas holiday, I heard a lot of stories of families that were less fortunate then I am. It broke my heart. I really would like to find some way to help out. I went to a feed the homeless function once and it really made me feel like I was doing something that meant something. I also visited people in the nursing home once and that was fun to just see people’s faces light up from simple conversation. Things like this, I just want to figure out a way to give back and be less self-absorbed. I’d really like to do something with the children’s hospital too. I think helping out is good for the mind & soul.

Let things fall into place like they are supposed to. I think this one is pretty self-explanatory. Less stress, less planning BIG expectations of myself, not saying I won’t have goals for myself, but just on certain matters, less over analyzing and more going with the flow of life.

- So here's to the new year, hoping yours is full of happiness!

Last Fill in the Blank Friday for 2011

2011-12-30T06:05:00.000-08:00

1. New Years is a great excuse for a clean slate. Start things over, be a better person at a specific thing, whether that be weight managment, saving funds or be more forgiving of your own past.

2. One of my New Year's resolutions will be to be more organized, I've been working on that this week, and I realize how much less stressful things are when you know where everything is. However, I will not turn ocd.

3. A New Year's resolution I've made in the past was to run a marathon, which I was actually successful at. I talk about that marathon all the time, and I’m sure it gets annoying but I think until you really do one, you might not be able to grasp how crazy it is .

4. The most time consuming resolution I ever made was running the marathon. Training 6 days a week gets a little too much at times, but well worth it .

5. This year I will be spending New Year's Eve with really good friends & also some co workers at the embassy suite New Years celebration! So excited to ring in the new year with some of my besties!

6. If I could wish one thing for my new year it would be to volunteer more, not necessarily just to the town or community, but to my family, friends, etc. I feel like sometimes I get a little selfish and I’d like to be a little more helpful and selfless in 2012 .

7. 2012 is going to be great, I think I will enjoy it, I'm very optimistic about it!

Celebrating Christmas 2011

2011-12-29T08:11:00.000-08:00

Sorry I haven't updated everyone on whats been going on in Jeri Kaye land lately. I've been super busy with Christmas and end of the year paperwork at the job place. I had such a good Christmas! I hope everyone else did as well.

After work on Friday, I headed over to my bosses house for his Christmas party. That was super fun! There was lots of yummy food, games and gifts. I was in good company and I made some new friends. I won a really pretty scarf playing dirty Santa, which I am wearing today :) After the party, I went home and went straight to bed.

Saturday morning, I woke up around 8. I find with age, it's harder and harder to sleep in. Now I know what grandparents wake up at the crack of dawn, because they are ollllld. Oh well, I like being up early, feels like I don't waste my day away with sleep. I did a little last minute shopping around Norman. I baked a cookie/brownie dessert before I headed south, which turned out good in the middle but bad on the edges. I loaded up my car with gifts around 3 in the afternoon and headed home. Once I was in Madill, I stopped by dad's house and he had me cooking up a storm. We made it to Wal Mart (lucky?) before they closed and we were runnin' around like chickens with our heads cut off. If we weren't so blind/dumb, we would've seen that every item we went into Wally world for was actually in the middle walkway. Yet we ran around to many different aisles like dummies. After we paid up, we got home and started baking. I had a lot of fun. Just me and my dad. He taught me how to make peanut brittle in ten minutes. I also think it's funny that he uses shot glasses as measuring cups.

Christmas morning was filled with snuggling with Chaos. I went over to W's for his family Christmas celebration. There were a ton of gifts! We started out with the big gifts that were unwrappable, or that we were too lazy to wrap ha. Therefore, guess who got to go first? ME!!!! I uncovered the big box and found that I got an 18 Bottle, touch screen Wine fridge. Go me! I was super happy. I also got wine gadgets, which are fun! We opened our gifts one by one, which made for a long gift opening party, hours even. It was really fun watching everyone open their gifts and getting surprised. Before long, I was off to my house to see the Ahtone family. Dad didn't have a tree :( or any Christmas lights up, scrooge. But once we were all there we ate food and watched the kids open gifts. I love giving gifts but it does make me sad to see that some of my nephews aren't as appreciative as they should be. I can only hope that one day that they will come back to real life and realize that things aren't that bad. It breaks my heart to see a teenager who cannot understand the concept of being thankful. Like I said, one of these days... All in all, I feel very fortunate & lucky to have had such a good Christmas day. My day was filled with friends, family, food & un-needed but much appreciated gifts. I still have a couple of little guys I need to deliver Christmas gifts to. I always find myself getting emotional around the holidays because I miss my mom and things are just not like they used to be. But also I cry happy tears because there are so many other people out in this world who don't have what I have. And that is good company, smiles, a warm home to eat a good Christmas dinner in and a little pocket change to surprise others with gifts. I feel so lucky to have those things.

This was an idea I got from pinterest & made as a gift!

Miss Johnna surprised me by shipping me a gift, love her, and HAVE to go see her SOON!

(typical Christmas couple pic)

Brother went to the Thunder game on Christmas night dressed as Santa :)

After we left dad's house, Jack & I drove W home. W was leaving to go on a snowboarding trip the next morning. We said our bye byes and Jack & I headed to my sister's house. That night I slept with baby Brentli until 3:30 in the morning.

Monday, I was fortunate to have the day off to spend another day back home. I pretty much just hung out with my sister & her family the entire day. We ordered pizza & just hung out. I didn't want to leave my niece, so I ended up leaving Monday night later than I had thought I would leave. I can't help it, I just get in the Brentli zone and holding her makes my whole world feel worry free & perfect.

Me: Brentli, lets do a funny pic

B: ok, look to the right

Her onesie says it all :)

This week has been pretty good so far! I've been so busy yet relaxed at the same time. Work is busy, but in the evenings I've just been working on small projects at the house. So while W is blowing me kisses from ski lifts I work... ya jerk ;)

I'm really excited about the New Year! 2012 is going to be a good year, I just have this feeling. :)

Holly Jolly Friday

2011-12-23T13:27:00.000-08:00

1. The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear, haven't you seen ELF! Duh!

2. The thing I love most about Christmas is spending time with others, and really just recognizing how lucky I really have it. I always feel so bad for those out there who don't have family, friends or a home to spend the holidays.

3. The holiday season is a time for spending time with people your love and care about. I'm really lucky to have my small little Ahtone family. It's never going to be the same without my mom but my family is really great and fun to be around. With Ahtone's, we are always laughing!

4. My favorite thing to eat on the holidays is a bajillion cookies, anything sweet. I love icing.. like by itself.

5. I will be spending Christmas with my family. I'm excited to see my nieces and nephews.

6. Tis better to (give or receive?) give. I love gift giving and finding the perfect gift for someone. I love spoiling people with gifts, food, and my christmas carol singing abilities.

7. I'm dreaming of a relaxing, Brentli snuggle filled Christmas.

Proverbs 4:23

2011-12-13T06:18:00.000-08:00

Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.

- I needed to hear this today.

.. kind of have been dealing with some changes lately. Those aren't always fun. But I'm thankful for friends, family, and being healthy. Those things keep me happy, also my bosses wife sent him with a cake pop for me this morning, that put me in a good mood! Love cake pops!

Love this time of the year

2011-12-12T07:55:00.000-08:00

... I feel like I keep saying that I love this time of the year, but the thing is I REALLY do. I love the chilly weather, lets not get that confused with freezing cold weather. Chilly I can do. I love all the Christmas lights, holiday music, holiday movies & holiday parties.

Speaking of parties. Man, was my weekend filled with celebrating. Friday night after work, I hopped into the g6 and headed down to see my niece. I missed her all week so that was my first to do on my weekend list. I got snuggle time Friday night and Saturday morning.

Love these little hands

Saturday was crazy busy. But I loved it. First I headed to Durant to celebrate Alana graduating from South Eastern. She looked so pretty and I was very proud of her. Anyone who graduates I'm very proud of. School was hard for me so anyone that sticks with it, I believe it to be such an accomplishment. Luckily for me, I have a wonderful job that pays well and keeps me loving what I do. Not everyone gets that if they don't graduate from College. - Back to my story -

My new favorite color to wear :)

except when I you look like a blueberry, oh well, i love blueberries ;)

After the graduation, I headed back to cuddle with Brentli. I got lucky, I also got to see my niece Sadie and nephew Wesley.

Once I got back into Norman, it was go time. I rushed to get dressed to head with Paris to her annual work Chrismas party. Love going to it with her. After an hour of getting lost and almost rammed into by another truck we made it with ornaments to exchange in hand. Her work family is so much fun. It reminds me of the guys I work with... only older. A couple of glasses of wine and one sweet ipod ornament later, we were off to celebrate Misty's 30th birthday. God I love that girl. She looked amazing as always. Sean left to go pick up Carter and a few of the other people left, and then it was just a group of us girls. We had more cocktails and talked about kids, life & boys some. After tabbing out at Louies West side, I jumped in the car with Meredith & Misty, and we headed to the corner. We made an appearance at O'Connells & Logans. It was getting late, I was getting a little tired, but then I ran into Amanda & Christa. And I decided I would hang out with them a while longer. We all went to Amanda & Kevin's house. It was fun. I don't know if you have heard of whipped lightning or not, but apparently its the newest hit because there were two cans of that going around. It was awful. I ended up staying the night and then we went to lunch yesterday afternoon at Jimmy's Egg. I love that place. Yum!

holiday cocktails

Typical Jeri Kaye/ Paris combo. love this girl

Have you ever seen 30 look this good?

Misty & I were the only ones who got the memo we were doing funny!

The guys, it was Cody's birthday too. ( I've never seen so many made up handshakes in my life)

Last night I was just in the mood to go see a movie. I never go to the movies anymore.. So I just went. It's funny to see how people look at you with sadness in their eyes when you are only buying a movie ticket for one. It probably didn't help when I was walking around with chef boyardee ravoli sauce on my shirt in two separate places. ( didn't notice that until I got home last night wow haha). I chose to see the New Year's Eve Movie which was basically like the Valentine's Day Movie. It was cheesy cute. Made me really think about what things I want when the New Year comes. I think there are some changes that are going to happen, and definitely starting some things new. Oh and it also made me want to go kiss someone at Times Square.

these are tasty

LOVE fridays

2011-12-09T08:36:00.000-08:00

1. Love is amazing. simple yet complicated. sometimes ugly but more beautiful, and is something that can't happen without LAUGHTER (and kisses).

2. Being in love feels like an anxiety attack, but a good kind, one that is full of happiness :) it's like you're nervous, you're happy, you have trouble concentrating, you're restless because you are only thinking about that one person, you have a pounding heart, you have a fluttery tummy, you are fatigued because you are waiting on him/her to call, basically you're a hot mess. It's so much fun at the beginning, the key is to find ways to remember that feeling and make sure you both still feel that way after the new wears off a little.

3. My favorite quote about love is " choose love, love your choice" & " rich in love"..
'Cause every mile, that we walk down brings me closer to the truth
and the truth is I've always loved you and I always will
And every valley, that we walk down if we hang on to each other
We're gonna make it baby, to the top of the hill, I've always loved you and I always will - it's a song and I love when Mike McClure plays it :)

4. The most important thing in a relationship is friendship and communication. Friendship allows you to trust, laugh and have fun together and communication helps you speak from your heart, sometimes its not what anyone wants to hear, sometimes it's the best news in the world, but if two people can't communicate in a relationship, emotions build up and the shit hits the fan.

5. A "deal breaker" for me in a relationship is someone unwilling to put in effort to the relationship, selfish partners hurt the relationship more than they realize.

6. The way I show love in my relationships is by writing little love notes, sending the rando i love you text, and bunches & gobs of bear hugs.

7. I love sleep, and 80's live bands.

fuzzy blissfulness

2011-12-07T14:15:00.000-08:00

Lately I've been living my life in the fog of what's going on around me. There's been so many blessings and some of those are blessings are in disguise. Regardless, my eyes are just opening and seeing everything in a different light. It's so nice to sit back and just be observant sometimes. I think it just allows you to realize all the good things happening.

I have a busy weekend coming up. Full of many events. First I'm going to a graduation Saturday morning, then I'm going to a Christmas party with Paris and then I'm going to celebrate Misty's 30th birthday. And in between all of that, I'll be squeezing in Baby Brentli time. I love my friends and family so much!

Last night, I went to dinner at Victoria's Pasta Shop with the beautiful KC. We played ketchup and it was so much fun. I'm really just so happy for her, she & Chad have really found a spark in each other and it's very obvious. She beams with happiness when she talks about him. They are very lucky in finding each other (thanks to me...ha) and I couldn't be happier to see that they are just beginning to make plans for their future together. I love seeing my friends succeed in things they are passionate about.

p.s. Misty, could you seriously stop looking so amazing? you are making us 26 year olds look like poop! Can't wait to celebrate with you!

oh & look what Pinterest taught me, to incorporate a maxi skirt into winter wear, but in this Oklahoma weather make sure you wear those tights or you will be a chilly lil bear :)

I also worked on another project this week. I made B some headbands. Out of pantyhose and fabric. And a hot glue gun. I'm gonna need to get a sewing machine soon :)

Brentli: Seriously Aunt Teetay why do you make my mom send you a bajillion pictures a day?

I'm dreaming of a wiiiiiiiiine Christmas :)

2011-12-06T13:21:00.000-08:00

Look what my best friend Paris gave me today!?!? I love her. We both have this obsession with Christmas music and the movie Elf (and I make her my wine buddy a bunch too). So this wine glass and woozie is very fitting. We met and had lunch at Cheddars this afternoon. It's so nice to just catch up every once in a while since we have both been staying busy with life. She was telling me all kinds of K stories. Kinzi is her 1 year old daughter who is friggin' adorable. I've got to go see K soon!

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas...

2011-12-05T14:37:00.000-08:00

This morning at the office, I put up the Christmas Tree & Garland. (while listening to Christmas tunes and sipping on hot cocoa) I'm on a hot chocolate kick lately. I get so happy around the holidays. I love all the Christmas movies that are continuously playing on tv channels. The different versions of Christmas songs.. ya know Jessica Simpson, Britney Spears and Mariah Carey. I love seeing Christmas lights on my way to and from work. I love everything about the holiday season!

Here are a couple of my favorite Christmas movie Scenes

Aunt Paparazzi

2011-12-04T19:50:00.000-08:00

This weekend was amazing. I'm so exhausted, happy, fufilled, complete, thankful, blessed, emotional and in love... and I'm not even Brentli's mom. ha. My niece is so great. Makes me want to live closer. I love her so much. Her parents are so good with her. My sister is so patient and I am just so amazed by her mom skills. I don't know how moms do it. Seeing everything so up close and being in the know of how motherhood works makes me realize how much time & effort is needed to have a healthy and happy little one. I say to all moms who do what my sister is doing, kudos to you.

But mama couldn't do it without Daddy. And what a good daddy Brent is. Brentli is truly blessed with some amazing parents. She loves when her daddy holds her.

I cannot express enough how blessed and amazing this entire experience has been and Baby B is only six days old. It's only the beginning and it just warms my heart. I'm just so in love with her & her parents. And her crazy aunt Jill is pretty great too. And all the others aunts.

We have a little thumb sucker on our hands. It was inevitable though, her mom sucked her thumb until the 5th grade. YES 5th grade. Hilarious. But I can't hate, I sucked mine until the 3rd grade. Maybe Brentli will stop at 1st?!?!

Anyway, she's perfect. Here are a few photos.

Playing Dress up! Isn't she fabulous?

umm... look how sweet my brother in law & sister are... (sorry to text creep cha, but adorable)

Sooner born & Sooner bred

Hanging out with her boyfriend Landon

Hudson brought the dr. pepper for the baby party

Starting the sun tanning early ;)

Tired Aunt & Brentli

We attempted to do our first funny picture, and then I accidentally licked her head, oopsy!

You just sit there and be cute, and I'll smile :)

oh hey

2011-12-03T08:00:00.000-08:00

This weekend I'll be spending time with my niece. Brenli Kayte was born on Tuesday. I came to work on Wednesday. I only got to hold her for maybe 5 minutes Tuesday night, because I had to share. But those 5 minutes were beautiful.

We are going to do girl stuff. Like rock in her chair, enjoy the colors & lights in her bedroom and hopefully allow mama & daddy to rest. We are just gonna hang out! I cannot wait!

I wish her grandma & great grandma could have met her. But for now, her mama and aunt tee tay (Chandra that was something only you and Sam and Hank will understand) will have to do. We are all so lucky for such a precious baby girl.

Hope everyone has an amazing weekend, I know I will!!!!

Holiday Friday Fun

2011-12-02T10:29:00.000-08:00

1. The holiday season is going to be so much better now that my sister had her little one, new family member to add to the Ahtone crew .

2. Snow makes me think of bad drivers, which link to car repairs, which link to job security. Hey, if it don’t make money it don’t make sense (cents) ;) .

3. The best comfort food to eat when it's cold out is cookie dough? Preferrably in your sweats while watching reality tv shows.That’s usually my answer to all food questions .

4. Winter is the best time for watching movies, enjoying a glass of wine and tanning .

5. I can hardly wait for tonight, I get to see my niece .

6. When it comes to holiday gifts I prefer to give them! I like getting gifts ok, but I think it’s really awkward to open a gifts in front of others, like you are in the spotlight, I feel like my reaction would tell all. I like to spoil other people more!

7. If I were to rate my excitement about the holiday season on a scale from 1-10, I would say I am at about a 8 or 9. Definitely up THERE. I love spending time with my family. Last year we had such a good time at my sister and brother in laws watching my niece and nephews open their gifts while we sipped on boxed wine and just laughed. I come from a VERY funny family, so when we all get together I love it, because we literally laugh the entire time, laughing is so good for you! Never take anything too seriously, takes all the fun out of things!

Big Pimpin'

2011-12-01T12:49:00.000-08:00

As expected, all that I can think about is what that baby is doing. And I text my sister constantly asking. If she doesn't answer I text my brother in law. My cart in etsy.com is full of little girl things for miss priss. My pinterest browsing that once was adult things like recipes, home projects and big girl clothes, is now spent browsing cutesy wootsy stuff.

Where I used to get off work and go home and just watch tv. I now go home, creep my sisters friends photos to see if my little Brentli has grown any since the last picture.

Today the picture of the day is Brentli bigggggg pimpin' and spinnin' g's

gah, love her!

Sweet Baby

2011-11-29T20:00:00.000-08:00

You should probably just go ahead and push play, it totally goes along with this post, it also reminds me of my sister. We just think this song is so sweet.

Remember when I told you about the night of the shower when my sister and I put together baby's hospital diaper bag? Well I think I forgot to mention an extremely important part about what was in that bag. Amongst the boy and girl outfits, we had a couple of diapees (not a typo), wipes, and a very special handmade blanket. On the day of the shower, my sister got a bajillion baby blankets. However, she got one that my grandma Harber had been saving to give her. As you know, my grandma passed away almost a while back and we miss her dearly. She holds such a special place in all of our hearts. Papa showed up at Chandra's shower and he gave her baby's gifts. They were the blankets grandma had put back. My sister chose one of the blankets that grandma made to wrap up baby in.

For so long, I've been calling this baby BABY. And now I can finally write that we now have a sweet baby girl!

Today I witnessed a miracle happen. A miracle because a few months ago my sister got in a wreck. Scared the crap out of me. My sister and baby were lucky that things didn't turn out worse. They lived through a wreck. A wreck that totaled a big Dodge truck. A wreck that threw them out of a front windshield. A wreck that had them airlifted to Texas. I witnessed a miracle of a baby coming into the world today. I witnessed a very precious being give birth to another precious human being today. What a blessing!

Happy Mother's Day Chandra

Happy Father's Day Buzz
Happy Birthday Sweet Little Brentli Kayte

Meet Brentli Kayte Arnold

She weighed 7 lbs 12 ounces

19 1/2 Inches long

and every bit of cute :)

Happy Holidays

2011-11-28T07:52:00.000-08:00

Hope everyone had a great thanksgiving! I know I did. And I only ate thanksgiving meal once. weird, I usually eat like 3 times on Thanksgiving.

After my Thanksgiving meal, we went over to W's house to relax (and play foosball). Bobby & Alana came over and played us, they are pretty good. Paula made her way over shortly. We set and debated for hours if we were going to shop at midnight or not. We didn't end up doing so though. We decided to call it a night.

But morning came early on Black Friday. We got up around 7 and headed to Starbucks. We ended up going to Penn Square. My nephews and niece are in the name brand stage so it's relevant that I find their name brand stuff on sale. W helped me out when we got to Hollister, he's so hip for a 27 year old. (haha)

We went by the Coach store, man oh man Coach bags are fancy! We also went to the gadgets store, I like gadget stores around Christmas time, they are fun! I spent a bunch of time roaming the boot selection of different stores, however, didn't get any boots. I had a blow out in my boots a couple of weekends ago so now I'm stuck without a good pair of brown tall boots. So help me out in picking which boot to go with. I couldn't decide on my own.

Ok the one on the right are my old boots which I obvs loved, but I like the buckle on the left boot

These are pretty simple, but I like simple

These are bucklicious.. cute but I don't know if the 800 buckles are too much, W liked these best

Oh but good news, after many weeks of looking and also having friends look, I found a leopard print scarf :)

Paris also sent me a text msg saying she found me one online, but located in Hong Kong, no wonder I couldn't find one anywhere, they aren't even in America!!!! :)

Let me remind you about the most special part of my week. Tomorrow morning I'll be in a hospital room waiting on my neice or nephew to make an appearance! I can hardly wait! What an exciting day tomorrow will be! I'm going to experience first hand the giving birth process, I'm nervous & anxious all at the same time. What a special experience! Please keep my sister & baby in your prayers, we are praying for a healthy baby and easy labor process! Yay for little ones... p.s. I still think it will be a little boy, we'll see :)

Gobble Gobble

2011-11-24T10:56:00.000-08:00

So last week I got this "wonderful" idea to do a Turkey Trot run. W & I have been trying to get back into shape to win the most amazing bodies on Lake Texoma in year 2012... (only kidding) Basically we just let ourselves get comfy with putting on a few pounds and damn he looks good with a lil tummy even. jerk?!?! But anyway, so I begged, begged and begged a bit more for him to do a turkey trot with me this year. I mean we are trying to get in shape right? And I knew we I would devour the turkey and desserts later on in the day. With no surprise, W replied with a big fat NO. And that made me ~~pissed off like a crazy selfish~~ sad little indian. Sometimes I just want so bad for someone to like running as much as I do. (and believe me, I realize there are some out there, just they don't seem to be my friends haha) I know it seems insane for me to want to get up on a perfectly sleep in-able morning when you have the day off, the day off to be thankful for the day off, the day to be thankful for the fact that you can indulge in grandma cookin' and the day off to be thankful about any and every thing. But I chose to be thankful for my legs and how they allow me to run races on Thanksgiving.

I also decided to make a turkey tshirt to sport on raceday.

It was cold.

My time was terrible and I looked as though I had just finished a marathon when I got the finish line. (remember the part about letting myself gain lbs)...

But before I let myself talk me out of not doing the race, I just clicked register and before I knew it I was running like a cold turkey on Thanksgiving morning!

Happy Thanksgiving, be thankful and eat lots of pumpkin pie, I know I'm gonna :)

Christmas BOOT Wish List... ha

2011-11-23T06:05:00.000-08:00

Leopard Sperry

Wish Neckalace

Frye Boots

Cupcake Mittens

Calendar

Booky Book

Smell Goods

Wine Fridge

Wine Bottle Opener

More Boots

Boots?

~~Leopard Scarf~~
Bears Wine Glass Set
Leopard Print Luggage
Gold Watch
Makeup (neutrals only)
Tanning Lotion
Bootcamp
~~Good Straightner~~ actually NO, don't get me that, who am I kidding? I only ~~sometimes~~ never wear my hair down.

andddddd thats all. lol!

What a weekend...

2011-11-21T06:36:00.000-08:00

W and I decided it would be a good weekend to go back home. Lately, I can't get enough "back home" time. Doctor ordered my sister to bed rest. Doctor also said it's time to deliver the baby. So within the next 2 weeks I will have a sweet little baby in my arms.

Friday night we headed down after I went to the gym for a quick run. Fridays are my absolute favorite day to go to the gym in the evenings. I think a bunch of people don't like to workout on a Friday, not that I do... but I do like a less crowded gym when I do. Once we got into to town, we met up with Adam, Bryan, Gabe and John. Once Trav & Court got into the creek, we headed to the garden. We were pretty much the only ones out there. Of course since I've been on a foosball kick, we went back to Al's to play and listen to tunes.

Waiting on the lil runts Court & Trav

Countin' coin to put in the jukebox

best friend.

LOVE her hat

Saturday morning, we were awake by ten and ready to head to Chandra's house. We got their house baby ready. We did lots of deep cleaning. W & Buzz put a door on baby's room and paneling up in the bathroom. I like their home, it's cute. After hours of house work, we made our way to Betty's house to get grub. Bryan was cooking burgers. Waylon, Amanda, Maddie & Bryan and everyone else in Enos were at the house. I love the country, every time I go back, makes me reminisce about the old days. It also reminds me that we are all getting old too :) We got back to the creek, and ended up cuddling up so we could get some shut eye.

Sunday morning, I woke up to the Chaos kitty cat then we got up and went to have breakfast at Country Kitchen. Mmmmm so yum. We got back to W's moms house and got started on her yard. I think W was impressed by the fact that I actually knew how to work in the yard. He clearly doesn't realize that I used to be Robert King's slave back in the day. ha. I raked, shoveled, swept and started burning leaves and sticks. I think he didn't think I knew how to start a fire. What in the world? He underestimates me sometimes. I don't love yardwork, but I do understand the concept of it. We got done around five and we headed to Simple Simon's to shut up our taste buds. As we were almost back to Norman I was riding along typing this blog and I hear a big bang. I thought it was a huge rock, but then, we started shakin' on the road. We had a blow out :( it was also raining. What a bummer. After changing the tire, we drove the rest of the way home in the chilly sprinkling rainy weather, thawing out with the truck heater and smelling like campfire babies. Needless to say, once I got home I made a bubble bath and got in the comfy bed and got my sleep on.

Now I'm just ready for a short work week and maybe I'll make a couple of things to eat on Thanksgiving. I think we are going to try and find some live music around mid week. Have a good week friends!

tGiF

2011-11-18T06:28:00.000-08:00

1. A nervous habit I have is messing with my hair and placing it above my top lip so that it looks like i have a mustache, i do it a lot, it looks rediculous but for some reason i just do it.

2. Something that makes me sad is when people judge people based off of something they hear rather than experience, i just think thats mean. I try my hardest not to do that.

3. Today I am thankful for my warm jacket, brrrrr it's cold in Oklahoma this morning.

4. My favorite room in my house is tba :) .

5. I can't stand people who slurp or smack while eating and drinking. I would prefer going deaf when this goes on around me.

6. If I had an extra $100 to spend on whatever I wanted today I would go buy some more Christmas gifts, I'd like to have that all finished up by the week before Christmas!

7. The last person I hung out with was Luke Hamilton Wells, coolest little boy I know. He is SO funny! He had me in tears from laughing so much last night!

Baby Baby Baby

2011-11-15T12:52:00.000-08:00

All I can think about is my baby nephew or niece lately.

I dream about this baby.

Will baby be a boy or a girl?

Will baby have brown skin like mama and blue eyes like daddy?

Will baby cry when it's my turn to hold baby?

Will baby be a chunk or will baby be tall and skinny?

Will baby have the Ahtone nose or will baby get lucky and get a different nose?

Will baby even be able to fit into the newborn sized diapees?

Will baby ever know how much I love him or her?

Dear baby nephew or niece,

I love you so much and you aren't even here yet. You are so blessed, never ever forget that. You have amazing parents. Your mom has an amazing heart. Your dad is going to be your best friend. Your uncles are hilarious. Your papa Sam has a hard shell on the outside, but I'm sure once you come into the world, you will melt his heart. Your aunt, that's me, is a crazy person. But she is going to spoil the crap out of you. You don't worry about that. When you get mad at your mom and dad about not giving you your way, you just give me a call and I will make it happen. It's what we aunt's do! I wish you were here now, but I know you are still growing in your mom's belly (which is still a weird thing to me). Not that you are weird, but that my sister's belly is your home and has been for the last 8 months, she'll probably start charging you rent soon if you don't hurry and get out into this world. God is keeping you in there for now, to make sure you come out healthy, with all fingers and toes, oh how I can't wait to tickle those little toes. I wonder about you all of the time. I can't wait to meet you. What a blessing you already are.

Hope to meet you soon,
Aunt Jeri Kaye

p.s. don't worry if you get the Ahtone nose, we all have it, and apparently it's the cool thing to have!

Chain of Events

2011-11-14T11:49:00.000-08:00

Oh lord! Where do I begin?

In the past two weeks, I have been running around like a chicken with my head cut off! (Thank you Coach Taylor for teaching me that metaphor) There has been some practicing in baking going on in the kitchen. Lots of losses in foosball, one day... one day W!

There was a huge Kingston (beer garden type) group at Henry Hudsons on Friday the 4th. Along with some wildcats. Which by the way, not that I need to remind you Sammy, but the Madill people were a little outnumbered and probably wouldn't have had as much fun with out us Redskins.
Madill People < Kingston People...

We celebrated Trav's (W's little brother) birthday on the 5th & 6th. We went to Concho Casino and watched the Stone Temple Pilots play on Saturday night. They were SO good. I was actually a little impressed with their performance. Not because I thought they were going to suck ass, but because they were an hour late to their show and I just figured they were f'd up. (half empty thought I know) However, there was rumor they were just late because Scott Weiland (lead singer) is a huge fan of football so he had to finish up the OSU game! They sounded really good live.

On Sunday, we went to the Mont to have birthday drinks with Trav & Court. We ended up talking Kevo & Amanda into coming up too. That was a fun night. Not really the funnest Monday at work ever, but completely worth the laughs & good company.

The days in between then and now, were spent baking, shopping, experiencing earthquakes & tornado warnings etc.

One day I dressed like a 13 year skateboarder

One day I was under the weather

One day I bought the wrong size of wagon

But W put it together for me anyway.

One day I ate a pickle and drank all the juice for breakfast. So weird!

This was last week before I was finished shopping for baby.

I'm under the impression, that baby will be spoiled (a little bit)

On baby's shower day, I was a mess. Stress to the max. There is some type of added pressure to be the little sister trying to help out and plan something yet not really having a mom or grandma to ask questions to. And then the fact, it's a semi surprise to the person the shower is being thrown for, so you can't really ask questions a lot there either. Honestly, I knew very little about shower etiquette. I can't tell you how many shower questions I googled. I looked at the Martha Stewart Living website for inspiration. I went to Hobby Lobby for crafty ideas. And I asked many mom questions to my best girlfriends who are moms. I was in charge of the cake. I also had to make a super long drive. Can I tell you how scary of an idea & plan that was. A cake is like THE THING at the shower. And boy oh boy I felt the pressure. However, my man, is the shit. THE SHIT. (sidenote: sometimes) Seriously, I be crazy in this whole process, and he'd just bring me a glass of wine and help with whatever I needed. I also made cake balls, mini fruit pizzas and cheesecake filled strawberries. Needless to say, W & I gained a little lbs around the waste line. I'm getting so excited about baby coming into this world, I can hardly hold in my excitement!

The Cute Shower Banner

The Cake turned out really cute but extra YUM!

Finally had time to wrap everything! - yes that is a customized "aunt jeri kaye loves me" onesie

All the guys nappin' because they were worn out!

The shower was perfect! Not gonna lie, probably the most fun I've had at a shower, was at this shower. Probably because I was throwing it with my sister's evil best friend from forever ;) and another really good friend of hers. I think we just all wanted it to go good and we each had a specific thing so it just worked so well. Didn't have much time to snap pictures! :(

After we loaded a gazillion gifts into Chandra & Buzz's ride, we were set to go back and help unload and figure out where everything would go in the room. That was fun! It was a little sister-sister time, where we just laughed and ooo'd and awwwe'd at cute clothes and itsy bitsy socks and diapees. I put together one thing, and discovered I'm really stubborn when it comes to directions or helpful people. I'd just much prefer doing it myself so I can feel like I accomplished something in my life. ( because clearly assembling a safari bouncer fulfills that sense of accomplishment)

Yesterday was r&r for this girl. I got home cleaned up the messy kitchen, vacuumed and swept. Travis' also had his 3rd bday celebration was going on at W's mama's house. But then spent quality couch & remote time. I watched two movies. Moulin Rouge and Slumdog Millionaire. Both were really good! One more predictable than the other though!

Anyway, weekend was perfect! Shower was fun! Life is GOOD!

11/11 Make a wish Friday

2011-11-11T06:29:00.000-08:00

1. My favorite new blog of the moment is Eat Pray Run.

2. Something I am thankful for is my helpful boyfriend, I have been so stressed lately and last night he made a late night run because I needed mini cupcake cups and almond bark, and I know he didn't want to, he was already in his comfys.

3. Something that made me laugh this week was when the wrong item came in the mail and was tiny, you can read about that in my post after my sister's shower.

4. An item that is currently on my wish list is a pair of Frye Boots and new luggage.

5. I am excited about having a babyshower this weekend, but I never imagined being so stressed with making cake balls!

6. If I were a color I would be green. such a pretty, fresh, amazin' color :) .

7. My favorite way to spend a chilly fall day is by enjoying a seasonal brew (coffee or beer) by a bonfire with hometown friends laughin' my butt off.

habits revealed

2011-11-10T16:00:00.000-08:00

sipping on the same cup of coffee throughout the day, most people think this is disgusting, but turns out i enjoy hot & cold coffee so it works for me

biting my fingernails, good thing the whole "all natural" nails came back, because i was not down on sporting acrylic nails

taking a photo of myself EVERY time i try something on and sending it to one of the following people: Lil C, Paris or my sister, I need their confirmation on this type of stuff

never being able to drink an entire soda, i don't drink it often, so once I decide i really need one, i only take a few sips and toss it because it actually hurts my throat because it's too sweet

sitting on the floor, it's weird because my mom used to do it ALL the time and I would make fun of her, but now that i'm older I like to sit on the floor, while eating, watching tv, hanging out with friends, etc.

brushing my teeth in the shower, my old roommate used to do this, but she really is the only other person I know that does this

and lately, my habit has been BEGGING W to play me in foosball. Unfortunately I lose :( but I HATE losing so bad that I actually have cried out of anger. It's not like he skunks me, I lose by only 1 point, and those losses are the WORST!

13 things I did today

2011-11-04T10:55:00.001-07:00

1. Hit snooze

2. Drank Coffee (and lots of it)

3. Started reading a new magazine

4. Looked at dream houses via internet

5. Considered painting my nails

6. Wore non matching socks

7. Went for a drive on empty (guess just hoping I ran out of gas?)

8. Ordered another Christmas gift

9. Watched a candle burn for at least 60 seconds before realizing it

10. Ate lunch without the tv

11. Text msg’d an old friend

12. Talked baking

13. Found my glasses

Lovin' that it's Friday

2011-11-04T05:49:00.000-07:00

1. My favorite thing about this week was/is the boxed sangria wine in my fridge, it was a long day/week !

2. Colder weather makes me complain, a bunch!

3. Three things that make me terribly happy as of late are my paycheck, coffee and funny emails .

4. If I could only wear one kind of shoe for the rest of my life, I'd wear boots…duh .

5. My personality type is I am a total extrovert, ask anyone who knows me.

6. I have a serious problem resisting sweets of any kind, and chips and salsa (LOVE) .

7. My favorite color to wear is dark green, it is my favorite!

Dear 16 yr old JK

2011-11-03T17:30:00.000-07:00

Dear 16 Year Old Jeri Kaye,

What can I tell you that you don’t think you already know?

Because you’re almost positive that you already know everything.

But there is a bunch I wish you actually knew...

There is so much you haven't learned.

life.

relationships.

loss.

patience.

guys.

loyalty.

trust.

friendship.

responsibility.

faith.

If you knew more about these types of things, it may have given you some perspective on what is about to happen in your life, just to help prepare you.

I remember you at this age vaguely.
You live your day to day through memories.
You are going through a really hard time.
There is something about you that is different,some part of you that doesn’t fit with what people see on the outside.

Everything that was once all so familiar has been taken from you.

Other girls your age are really catty towards you.
You could care less, and they don't understand that.
They want a reaction from you.

All you know to do is smile, momma gave you a pretty smile so you just keep smiling.

And running. You run a bunch. You find a friend in running, a release, therapy and you even gain some realistic types of friendships throughout investing time in running.

The songs you hear on the radio, are constantly on repeat/shuffle.
there's lots of George Straight, Avril Lavigne, Garth Brooks, Pat Green, Green Day, Dixie Chicks, Backstreet Boys and much more.

You’re a hopeless romantic,

but you don’t guard your heart like you need to.

And I wish I could go back in time and change that about you.

But you will understand that later

when your heart starts to ache.

And boy does it ever.

But don’t worry,

because you’ll end up dating that boy again, and again, and again...

In so many ways you are a “typical” teenage girl,you play sports, you wear hollister/abercrombie clothing, you have a car, you have a job, you have the popular boyfriend. You don't really party, and boy do you get judged on that note. But don't worry about those judgemental girls, they grow up too fast due to having kids too soon anyways, and then they later tell you they wish they had slowed their life down a little when they were younger.

For you, high school isn't awful, it isn't fantastic, but it's a part of life.

You don’t cuss. You will later, but you don't at your age, and I like that about you.

Pay attention in class

Call your brother & sister more, you need them, and they probably need you.

Volunteer.

Don’t be afraid to dance.

Talk to the friends you do have about what's going on, just FEEL.

I wish I could tell you that this would change as you get older, but it doesn’t.

In your future, you’ll spend a lot of time looking back,

and realize you turned out ok, you realize it helps you to be a better

friend in your friendships, even if it is just a listening ear.

When you’re older, you’ll still remember the way you felt

the day you watched the Twin Towers collapse in Mr. McDougal's

Chemistry class.

When you’re older, you’ll still remember the day that changed your life forever.

The day you learned that your mom wasn't going to come home from work anymore.

The day you started to search for faith, along with that came a lot of

anger, confusion, and emptiness.

You were so heart broken. I wish I could just hug the 16 year old you.

You STAY busy. You run a lot, you don't have a healthy diet, in fact, you don't have a diet.

You have a boyfriend, you have one best friend, and you have memories.

Everything else that is currently surrounding you has something to do with sports. The people you play sports with are the only other friendships you know. You don't really have a lot of friends, but a bunch of people think you do. You are popular, but later in life, you'll still try to figure out how you were, apparently you are good at acting.

You can't cook. And neither can your new roommate (that would be your dad).

So, you eat cereal sometimes, but then you make a trip to the bathroom and puke. This is because you have a disease that you are completely in denial about, it's called bulimia. You are fat, well at least that's how you see yourself in the mirror.

When really, you are just a girl longing for love, love that you can't just get from a friend, boyfriend,
roommate, but from an incredibly loving mom you once had.

You’ll remember the late night talks,

You'll remember going to her office during your lunch hour,

You'll remember her handwriting, her voice on the phone and her smile.

Sometimes I wonder how different things would have been for you, if you had known then what you know now.

If only you had known that your family was willing to talk about things that were happening.

If only you had known that your boyfriend that you will be crazy about in 10 years is actually the boy who had been trying to date you since the 5th grade.

If only you had known that you would find the most happiness in the simple things like sunshine, summer BBQ’s, red wine, dinner with girlfriends and cuddling on the couch.

If only you had known that you would realize the man of your dreams is the nice guy who will try to hang out with you for the next 9 years of your life, and he's not the guy you think he is going to be & nothing like you had always imagined him to be.

(btw: He’s more than you ever hoped for, I promise.)

I wish I could tell you to be a better example,

to do certain things differently,

to change some parts of who you were.

But that would be asking you to re-write your history.

A history that has resulted in the life you have today,

a life that makes you happy.

And all I want is for you to be happy.

So I guess the best advice I can give you is:

the best version of YOU

and stay true to YOU

even in the face of criticism,

because not everyone will support you,

but that’s just fine.

People who don't support you or what you have going on, really don't

know the real you, because if they did they wouldn't even bother,

they'd just smile & say "she's doin' just fine".

lylas, (- since we are talking in 16 year old lingo)

26 year old Jeri Kaye

Checking In

2011-11-01T20:01:00.000-07:00

Hey guys! I'm definitely slacking on my grace in small things project I started :( I just wanted to let y'all know that I have some things that I will be busy with the next couple of weeks, so I won't be blogging as much!

My sisters baby shower is coming up next weekend so I'm staying busy with planning and baking in the meantime. W is going to be my test dummy, he's not complaining! As I am typing this, I'm actually attempting to bake my first batch of cake balls. Red velvet mmmm :) I'll let you guys know how they turn out! I'm going to be taking the guys at work some goodies too. Just trying to find out what's edible and tasty to everyone else. I will also be busy trying to find gifts for baby Arnold too. I'm definitely getting anxious for baby to be here. So exciting!

I have some blogs that are scheduled that I started writing a few months ago and I figured this would be a good time to post them since I'm not finding time to blog. Hope everyone has a good next couple of weeks!

Happy Halloween

2011-10-31T08:25:00.000-07:00

What a fun weekend!

Friday, I met up with KC and we had chit chat time with eachother at Coachs. Our knights in shining armour came up and had a couple of beers with us before we all decided to meet up with Amanda & Kevo. After that W & I ended up heading over to Kevin & Amandas to play foosball. We played til the wee hours of the morning, and then ended up having a slumber party. We got up and had Jimmys Egg the next morning!

Saturday, after breakfast, we took a motorcycle ride out to see Sammy Flamingo at Sonic. His basketball team were having a fundraiser where they working. It was a bit of a cold ride out there so I decided to get some warm headgear for the ride home. Needless to say it was a fun ride home!

That evening, Court, Trav, Alana & Bobby, met up with us to go to my bosses annual Halloween party. I opted to not wear a "sexy" (skanky) costume, it's just not my personality. Remember when halloween was more about showing off the costume and not cleavage!?!? I found out I'm really not bad at doing makeup for scary costumes, so if you know any goblins or zombies out there needing a personal makeup artist, give em' my number. I did W's and Travs. Anyway, I took some pictures, I wasn't camera happy like usual :( but here are some of us playing dress up!

Jellyfish (my costume glowed, but you can't really tell in the pictures)

Excellent make up job on my part (honk honk)

My boss Jimi Hendrix

Freddy, Amy Winehouse, and Motorcyle Accident

Drop it like it's hot!!!

Avatar, Allan, G.I. Joe

Midget costume!

Court was gothic, so funny since she is a blonde bombshell in real life lol!

Sunday, W talked me into a scary movie. We went to watch Paranormal Activity 3... let's just say I walked out with a left hand that had fallen asleep from holding W's so tight throughout the entire movie and begged W not to leave this morning while I was getting ready for work because I was scared something creepy was going to happen. I also prayed the entire I was getting ready, here's my prayer pretty much: Dear God, please let me just think happy thoughts, please just help me out here, I'm scared of ghosts... haha. But it did help! Tonights agenda may have some more pumpkin carving and handing out candy :) Happy Halloween :)

Happy Friday

2011-10-28T06:30:00.000-07:00

1. When I was a kid I wanted to be an OU cheerleader when I grew up. (clearly big goals back then ha)

2. As an adult, my dream job would be a full-time traveler, I would love to travel the world! oh and be a trophy wife ;), lots of gtl involved in that job tho.

3. W hen I was younger I wanted to be just like my mom (still do) and my sister (still do) .

4. The childhood Halloween costume that I remember most was when I was a cheerleader (because I was one every year for at least 4 years in a row) it's kind of hard to forget a costume you wore for 4 years, on another note, that means i was able to fit in the same clothes for 4 years...go me!

5. My favorite childhood toy was (it's a tie) roller-skates (quad wheeled of course, I have little balance) and I really liked skipper (ya know barbie's BFF or cousin or sister, whatevs)

6. The time I got into the biggest amount of trouble when I was a kid was when I was 5... I said the phrase "what the hell is that guy doing", my dad didn't really get upset but my sister made a point to wait 5 hours later to wait and tell my mom as soon as we got back from my dads house..oh yeah, she's nice until you're her lil sister ;)

7. I get daily inspiration from writers, outdoor scenery, mothers, healthy relationships, hard workers, marathoners- a lot of stuff inspires me .

30/365

2011-10-28T06:21:00.000-07:00

mmm mmm good, perfect weather to break out the campbells

- dinner with my brother Sammy
- sweatpants
- gym night off (gotta treat like a job ha)
- christmas shopping for the family :))

29/365

2011-10-26T13:01:00.000-07:00

- Chewing OU gum... gum of champions (p.s. not my only pack have like 2 10 more)

- Getting to snuggle a little longer with my little cocoon this morning, since he took today off

- Learning all baby necessities from my helpful friends who are already moms

- Getting excited about my gym session tonight...this NEVER happens, something about treadmills that don't appeal to me... could be the monster I'm sippin' on

- W letting me literally cry on his shoulder last night, because I had a "i just miss my mom " moment, I was hiding in the bedroom acting busy, but he came in to see what I was doing (maybe he realizes that I like to stay busy when I'm bothered... he's onto me ha) and just hugged me while I burst into tears, it was sweet to see that he cared.

28/365

2011-10-25T14:52:00.000-07:00

- Buying myself a 'D' initial necklace today, D is for Donna (that's my momma, ya heard? proud daughter)

- Planning Christmas Gifts

- Stocking up on black stockings, seeing that they are on sale due to the upcoming holiday

- Gettin' a lil somethin' somethin' for baby Arnold, that lil stinker is hard to buy for, not knowing the sex makes it hard, but SUPER excited to see that healthy baby

- Making my first crockpot dinner tonight... I really can't believe you let something cook for 7 hours straight that' s an entire working day haha!

Make 7...Up Yours :)

2011-10-25T08:19:00.000-07:00

I just tried my hand in making a sweet treat for my sweet tooth. It was basically the most simple thing EVER.

Lemon Cake mix ( I used sugar free)

20 oz of Diet 7 up

Cool Whip (used lite cool whip)

Mix both of those ingredients, leave out the eggs and oil. Bake at 325 degrees for 30 minutes. If you leave the middle a little gooey, it's pretty tasty. Let the cake cool off, top with cool whip and eat up! The whole pan consists of only 125 calories, somethin' crazy! So it's a guiltless indulging session :)

Weekend Happenins

2011-10-24T08:52:00.000-07:00

Friday night, W & I met up for appetizers and drinks with Sean & Misty. The plan was to have a few sips on liquid courage before braving the ghost stories about OU campus. I had been reading ghost stories on the internet all day on Friday so by the time we met up with them by that evening, I was a little spooked out already. We made our way over to campus and listened to a guy who looked a lot like Harry Potter tell us all the facts. The tour was pretty neat, just learning the stories, however, it would have been cooler if we were able to walk through the halls of the buildings.

I'm sure you can learn more about the stories somewhere on the internet. But I'll give you a little run down of some of the stories. There was one story about a girl named Nancy who dated this boy (can't remember his name), one night after a night of arguing at the bar, they each went their separate ways, guy went to his frat house, well, drunk Nancy decided to go talk to guy. Drunk boyfriend had already passed out in his room with door locked, well, Nancy, is drunk and cwazy, pounds on boyfriend's bedroom door, "let me in this room"... drunk boyfriend is passed out smooth. Nancy keeps hollerin' but she gets nothin'. Finally, she gets in drunk CRAZIER mode and starts to make threats, we all know this girl, (meaning we've probably all came across a nut job like Nancy) she starts saying "if you don't answer the door, I'm going to jump out the window".... well long story short she does, and now she forever haunts the halls of that building. She jacks with dresser drawers and doors. She's a little wench. ;)

I think these two are SO cute!

Don't know if you can see Jimi Hendrix's face in this or not, but it's there!

- As the link above tells, there are obviously more stories, and I could go in detail on all of them, but this post would be SUPER long.

After that, we went back to Louie's and set on the patio and chit chatted about oh everything. Then we ended up meeting up with our friends Kevin, Amanda, Mike & Rachel. I did see Jackie & Sheryl and got to play ketchup with those two sweet girls too. I definitely enjoyed my chardonnay Friday night.

Saturday, we slept in. Once we did get up, we were hunnnnnngry indians. Since it was a pretty day, W suggested we go have a sonic date. We set outside on the picnic tables. He enjoyed his burger and I ate my pickle-o's. After indulging in good (yet fatty) food, we decided to go to the gym and work on our fitness. After that, we rode the motorcycle to go tailgate. As you probably know, it rained bad that night. That was a fun experience though. I realize now that my girlfriend is afraid of rain. ;) Something about melting... Anyway, we rualked (run/walked) back to the Rachel's house to watch the game and munch on tailgate food.

Gameday, this lady was legit!

Bet you can't guess which case is mine?!?!

Kevo & W keeping an eye out for Tech fans....

Sunday, we were pretty productive. We got all of our grocery shopping out of the way, then we cleaned W's house and I caught up on Bravo TV while W did some work on his computer. Other than buying a crockpot (which was the highlight of my Sunday, don't laugh Amanda) Sunday wasn't all that exciting!

It's been a while since we stocked up on groceries!

25.26.27/365

2011-10-24T07:08:00.000-07:00

Wine

Spooky Stories

Caramel Vanilla Coffee

Gamedays

Sleeping in

Fall Office Decor

Coffee Station in my office! mmmm

Bravo tv on Sunday nights

Seeing friends I haven't seen in forever over the weekends

New Candles in my office mmmmm smells so good up in here

24/365

2011-10-21T14:08:00.000-07:00

- Seeing my unborn baby niece/nephew (we are waiting until little baby gets here to know the sex) on a 4D ultrasound screen.

Probs gonna have the Ahtone nose :)

- The fact that my sister has another human being in her tummy, such a beautiful thing

- Buying lunch for my sister and her not knowing, then getting a nice thankyou text message

- My brother in law, he's seriously just a good guy, and he's funny and he's perfect for my sister

- Getting a coffee station in my office, can't wait!

Just look at this lil outfit

Fallin' for Friday

2011-10-21T06:28:00.000-07:00

1. Nothing says fall like a good boot and a scarf .

2. My favorite autumnal tradition is carving pumpkins and drinking a pumpkin ale .

3. My favorite fall treat is pumpkin ANYTHING! Lattes, bread, pie, scented candles, I love it all.

4. Fall makes me think of orange colors because I associate it with falling leaves and beautiful trees .

5. Autumn free form word association, go! Halloween costumes, jack o lanterns, tights, boots, darker hair colors, bleh bleh bleh .

6. My go-to outfit in the fall is my favorite steve madden boots with oh uh anything! .

7. My favorite fall holiday is (Halloween or Thanksgiving) HALLOWEENY. I love dressing up goofy. I have this weird thing with painting my face, just ask my friends .

23/365

2011-10-20T14:15:00.000-07:00

- The instant smile that crossed my face plus an additional excited feeling within when I clicked the purchase button and got myself a date with Southwest Airlines (holy run on statement)

- The Runners World Website , all the information you'd ever want/need/have to know about running! I love the route finder section of the website.

- Meeting a lil chocolate puppy on my lunch break

Little guy thinking my feets are a jungle gym

annnnd Jeri Kaye falling for hims

- wanting the itsy bitsy-est tiny-est tattoo outline of a buffalo and getting excited that one day I'll get it, not knowing when, or where, but I'm gonna. Papa chief will be proud of his girl!

- Thinking about how cool & convenient it would be to have heely shoes in my work environment. And the thought of that idea literally making me LOL while sitting at my desk by myself. If you know me, you understand my clumsiness. Just imagine how many times I would fall a day. Basically, I would be just like the following video, but on the daily!

From Summer to Fall

2011-10-20T07:44:00.000-07:00

I got this idea from Pinterest the other day, which, if you haven't discovered Pinterest well go getcha some! Welcome to a whole new world (insert angelic singing voices)... where you been.. surriously?

Anyway, this chick had taken a summer dress, added tights, boots and a cardigan and waalaa fall wear.

What do you think?

Little black sun dress

White tank top

Add your favorite boot and I added a matching belt

This picture its hard to determine the skirt and tights, but I liked the idea!

Oh hey, look at my new necklace! Purchased from Stella & Dot at a jewelry party a few Sundays ago!

Happy Thursday Ladies & Gents!

22/365

2011-10-19T18:54:00.000-07:00

-The fact that it's Wednesday woo!

- Planning a trip, damn gypsy.

- Cooking Salmon, it's like my favorite

- Making plans to get in the spooky spirit of the Halloween season for Friday night with Miss Misty

- The Sauna at my gym ahhhh relaxation

Not Bad...

2011-10-19T06:22:00.000-07:00

For a Turkey Burgy

Last night, I made my very first turkey burger. I'll be using this recipe again, it was scrumptious! Thanks C for helping me out on what to make, glad we picked this one :)

1 1/2 lb ground Turkey

1 (1 ounce) pkg of dry onion soup mix

1/2 tsp of ground pepper

1/2 tsp of garlic powder

1 tbsp of soy sauce

(makes about 6 patties)

Also, I used the lower sodium soy sauce, fact is, it's healthier.

I also used a little under 1 pkg of dry onion soup mix, but I figured an ounce was the closest measurement!

YUM!

21/365

2011-10-18T15:11:00.000-07:00

- Listening to Best of 80's Reloaded Radio on Pandora, so GOOD! Reminds me of Paris!

- Getting the book I have been waiting weeks for in the mail today on my lunch break, just waitin' on the doorstep

- The people who sent me the book also sent me additional men's health magazine information, why else?.. because my name is Jeri... ahhhh thanks Mom! ;)

- Preparing dinner ingredientses (just a little shout out to Teresa's new word from the real housewives of NJ, I like it haha) while on my lunch break

- Cooler Fall Weather

17-20/365

2011-10-17T11:17:00.000-07:00

(i'm slacking on the daily posting, but I've just been a little busy doing absolutely NOTHING over the weekend so here goes nothin')

- Cookie dough

- Water with a bajillion lemon slices

- Getting to spend time with Paris over the weekend

- Sleeping in (or all day) yesterday

- Running (i say it a lot, i know)

- Making W put on another halloween wig that I have for another costume and realizing he looks exactly like his dad

- Buying beer as a smurfette

- Grilling chicken YUM!

- Oatmeal reminding me of problem child... my mind wonders

- Stressing and then suddenly coming across a paper in my car with "Jeremiah 29:11" written on it, calmed down after that.

- My sister texting me that she made my pumpkin fluff recipe and enjoying it

- AMP energy drinks

- Carrot juice is pretty yummy too

- Planning a haunted house outing soon

- Explaining blue hands to a target associate

- Searching for flights to Ohio, I really need to see me some Johnna Perry, miss her VERY much, and getting excited about how much fun it will be.

- Starting something new today and being really happy and anxious about it, because it's new, and I like NEW!

- and this cute lil video

Paris Weekend Love

2011-10-17T06:48:00.000-07:00

This weekend was great! I got to get me some Paris time in! ... and I loved it! Friday I got home, ran, and then decided to make the dreaded trip to Wal-Mart. I needed to get a few extra things for the halloween party that I had committed myself to. I found everything except blue tights/hose/ leggings... what a pain that was! After getting home, I pretty much just hung out, but then Paris called me up and she came over. We headed out to the dub to watch all the payday spenders play slots, drink cocktails and dance their butts off. After about an hour and a half, we left, and I slept like a baby after catching up on my Jerseylicious in my comfy sweats.

Saturday, I got up with intentions to try an early run. I woke up at 7:23 a.m. I downed some carrot juice. I'm still not how I got sidetracked. All I really did was go to another halloween store, eat lunch, and watch more tv. I don't think I was mentally ready to run. Big surprise?!? Not really, it's always never been my favorite to run in the mornings! After honyockin' around, I finally got up and went on my run. I'm glad I waited it. The temperature was just right and the scenery was great. I went to a place I used to run a bunch, but I got burnt out on quick. But it was nice to go back, they have the trail cleared out a lot better than they used to back in the day. Oh yeah, I convinced W to run with me, what a sport!

We sat and rested after the run

Everyone seemed to be taking picture at the running trails, so I opted to do the same

Could've just stopped here and been a member of the blue man group

But I didn't...

Pre white eyebrows... we're blue da ba do blue

Papa & his creepy white eye brows

Topgun & Smurfette

After my run, and getting showered up, I started getting ready for my first halloween party of the year. I didn't think ahead very thoroughly. I forgot to get gas before I headed to the party. I knew I'd have enough gas to make it to the party, but it was bound to happen, I was going to have to go inside to pay, I only had cash on me.... So I opted to go straight to the party, and then get gas on my way home... doomed! I ended up going to get a beer or 2 at the 7/11, that's fun, going in somewhere and having to show your id, knowing that it doesn't look like you. I still got the beer and gas along with more than enough laughs.

Sunday, I slept a lot. I had marshallow on a stick for breakfast and had cookie dough for dinner. Other than that, I watched the finale of Jerseylicious and got to bed early!

Sushi & Singin'

2011-10-14T06:27:00.000-07:00

Last night was pretty alright! I got my sushi, I got my wine and I got my karaoke fix.

Wino

What I shouldn't do, but eh it happens!

My girl :)

Full Moon

ahhhh Friday :)

2011-10-14T06:11:00.000-07:00

1. The most selfless thing I've ever done is... stay tuned :)

2. When it comes to working out I am not the biggest fan, I could run all day every day, but working out with weights means sore muscles so at first it's not my favorite but after I'm in a groove it gets addicting.

3. A woman should always think before speaking, have class, smile and follow her heart.

4. I wish I could be "that girl" that can make 4 different outfits out of 3 items of clothing and then I wouldn't have to do laundry as much, less clothes items, less laundry, win win!

5. A best friend is one of the only people who can judge you and still love you even though they may not think you are in the right, and who you can also call up when you're sad and say, wanna order a LARGE pizza and eat like we're pregnant!

6. I can't get enough of scarves, minor addiction to purchasing them! (or a good hat, i love hats!)

7. This weekend I am going to be a biker babe, going to a biker rally and going to my first halloweeny party, can't wait to dress up! Oh and I think I'll try a new wine!

16/365

2011-10-13T22:00:00.000-07:00

- the moment where you look over at the person beside you at the stop light, and they did the same thing, so you look quickly away and then the light seems to take hours to turn green, yeah stuff like that make my day because i just start laughing

- sushi dinner compliments of someone else

- changing running shoes and it making your entire run seem SO much different (in a good way)

- singing at the top of my lungs at that "sky full of lighters" song, but not really knowing who or what it even means, but the chorus is singalongable

- the saying "what my baby wants my baby gets" when it actually sticks :) buttttt baby wanted 12 lemons.

October Lovin'

2011-10-13T05:53:00.000-07:00

Last night was SO good! After work I stopped by the local liquor store and picked up some Blue Moon Harvest Pumpkin Ale as well as Sam Adams Octoberfest. After that I swung by the grocery store and purchased the biggest pumpkins that they had. (note: should've went to the pumpkin patch)
I ended going on a 3 mile run, which I was just in a really good mood, so the run went well. Once I got finished with that I headed over to W's house to let the festivities begin. I decided to cook him a good meal. (lucky him, doesn't happen too often) We had Italian chicken, asparagus & smashed potatoes. Don't mean to toot my own horn (again) but HONK HONK 'cause girrrrrl (and boy?) it was bomb.

After dinner, we put on some classic rock and opted to begin the pumpkin carving process. He cleaned, I drank :).. (typical) By the way, I love both beers. Travis, W's little brother, stopped by to have a beer and watch the artist at work. (the artist are us, duhh!) He also played photographer to us and our pumpkins. Thanks Trav!

W is really serious when it comes to carving. I would have video taped him but he's picked up on the fact that I've been doing that lately. (Bummer!!)

We were impressed with our ability to carve! Look at these punkins (see below)... Meanwhile, I had pumpkin seeds roasting in the oven, apparently I can't multitask as much as I would like to think, 'cause they came out burnt, fail!

Such a great night, I'm looking forward to many more of these nights with friends and family during the holidays!

Yes I made purple mashed potatoes :)

He cleaned out the pumpkins

Oops!

Vewwy Scawwy!

P.S. do you like my over usage of parentheses?!?! (you do or you don't? ...)

Running Regimen

2011-10-12T18:00:00.000-07:00

Lately my running way of life is all kinds of jacked up. Running on Mondays appears to be out of the question.. I get home and I enjoy cooking on Mondays. I like to catch up on any trashy tv there is out there. Tuesdays seem to be my "almost motivated enough" days, I get out of work and instead of just going home, I do something, whether it be run errands around town or piddle, I'm moving until at least 7:30 in the evening. I'm usually in bed by 8:45 (oh yeah, you heard that right) indulging in a book or beauty rest.

But then...

Wednesday mornings, I wake up in a good mood, it's almost annoying, you know the perma-smile I have on throughout the morning. I sip on my coffee, I get all things cleaned & organized around the office, and get things ready for the next week at work. Instead of relaxing on my lunch break, I clean up around the house or prepare dinner for the evening. After work, I get changed (sometimes I just change at work) into my running gear, and drive to a local park or trail and get my run on. Then Thursday & Friday are a repeat routine of Wednesday. I don't mind the routine and I am getting my 3 days a week of exercise in but I wish I was a little more motivated at the beginning of the week. Because lately it seems that it's harder to make the runs on the weekends, I still suck it up and do it but my thought process tells me it would be much more simple to just do the evening routine during the week nights. But on the weekend mornings it's like do I want to run or do I want to go shopping? I end up fitting in the running part but how much more nice would it be to just shop and not have to shower before I'm seen in public all runner'd looking out? But then I go back on those thoughts and I think to myself, the scenery on my weekend runs is generally so much better. Lakes, ducks, falling leaves, people waving, other runners ahead to push me, not being hungover because I stayed in so that I could enjoy my run, all these things just factor in and it reminds me of why I love to run.

I really plan to start taking more pictures of my runs and the scenery to share with you guys why I enjoy the outdoors so much, but of course, trying to juggle an iPod, phone camera as well as having an app keeping track of time, pace and mileage, it all just becomes complicated for a clumsy person like myself.

I guess we will see if the schedule changes up but if not I'll take it the way it is for now!

14&15/365

2011-10-12T12:08:00.000-07:00

Rolling Stones on Pandora throughout my workday

Text msg from my bestie Kalhor

G chatting with Lil C

Taking a break from my work to catch up on my trash mags

Forgetting how much I liked Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, and then hearing them and it instantly putting a smile on my face

Emailing Paris throughout the day

Being super productive on my lunch break by marinading chicken.

One of the guys at work making a run to seven eleven since I can't leave this office, if you have a job that you get to go to and from places, ENJOY it :)

Looking at the clouds and trying to make imaginary animals with the shapes

Reading ghost stories... you know REAL ones online, and knowing the reason I'm not freaking out is because it's light outside, but also knowing that if it were dark I would be going to each room in my house turning all the lights!

Yumalicious

2011-10-11T07:19:00.000-07:00

Last night, I decided it was time to cook a good meal, and a little dessert! My cousin Shellie gave me her recipe for Cajun Chicken Pasta, so I decided I'd give it a shot. Let me just say that I'll be using this recipe more often. It was so good! For dessert, I went with a pumpkin fluff with Graham crackers. Every time I eat Graham crackers it takes me back to daycare, seriously, seems like that was the only dessert they knew of. I know the pumpkin fluff looks like orange mashed potatoes but I promise it was so good and it looks like that because I was lacking patience because it was yummy! Between the bears game and Mike & Molly I was a happy camper!

1 Chicken Breast

Cajun Seasoning

Just season the Chicken breast to your liking

...

In the mean time, Boil your pasta noodles and heat your alfredo sauce

...

Once the chicken has cooked for 30 minutes at 350 degrees

Let it cool off then slice it up

Once the noodles are ready, mix the alfredo sauce in and add seasoned chicken

Pumpkin Fluff

1 can of Pumpkin

1 box of Sugar-free vanilla pudding

1 (8 ounce) Container of Cool Whip

...

Mix together all the ingredients together and dip your graham cracker in :)

This morning, however, I'm gettin' all juiced up :)

What this yummy mixture contains is:

1 apple

1/2 banana

1/2 kiwi

1/3 mango

broccoli

spinach

garlic

barley

wheat grass

ginger

parsley

chlorella

Not going to lie, if you can ignore the looks, it's pretty good! I also added a few ice cubes and blended it to make it more of a juicy smoothie :)

p.s. In other news... my jacket sleeve smells like pancake syrup...mmmm pancakes haha

13/365

2011-10-10T13:24:00.000-07:00

Stealing the last Coca Cola from the Fridge... no worries, I'll regret it later, my body doesn't like soda when I start to run!

Figuring out what I am going to be for halloween... that's right I'm not too old to dress up, not yet anyway!

Being excited to go purchase a juicer after work... yes my life is THAT exciting.

The fact that as soon as I took some advil earlier my charlie horse simmered down a bit.

Considering whippin' up some yummy pumpkin dessert tonight before I start juicing... I think I have just the recipe in mind!

Blow out aka OU/TX

2011-10-09T14:29:00.000-07:00

Friday night, I ended up staying in the house, it was so nice! I had Thai food and a Tsingtao. After I got back to the house I attempted to cut a tshirt, not gonna lie, I'm not going to say I have a career in cutting tshirts that's for sure.

Saturday morning, I woke up around 5:00 and visited the treadmill. The gym was so creepy, I was there with only one other person, however, I never did see that person. I got showered up and headed down to Texas to meet and hang out with Will and Steven.

Once we all met up we jumped in the truck and headed to the fair. We may have had a few beers on the way.. I opted to throw down for parking, can you believe it was $20? That's crazy! Once we got into the fair, we started chuggin' more beers. Must I remind you that these beers were 6 point? Perhaps I should've reminded myself while in the drinking process, mehh! We met up with James & Amanda too, great couple!

I'm sure everyone saw the result of the game, Boomer Sooner!

Sunday, it was time to get back to Oklahoma. But not without stopping and getting a strawberry mimosa.

Great weekend hanging with friends!

Hope everyone had a good weekend!

1100 lb pig

Footsie Wootsie

Poor little girl didn't get to choose her clothes

Me & Amanda

This kid knows whats UP

My dad's status on facebook hahaha

First time to be here EVER

mmmmm, so yum!

12/365

2011-10-09T10:00:00.000-07:00

Rainy Days like today, where I'm lying on my couch, catching up my nerdy fix of reading blogs and enjoying a girly movie, todays girly feature was "Something Borrowed"

Brunch

Stretching and how it's necessary and feels good

Benadryl and it's ability to make me act loopy

How this song makes me smile :)

11/365

2011-10-08T17:30:00.000-07:00

Green Tea with Honey

Morning Runs (well sometimes, just depending on my ability to wake up)

Fresh Flowers

Coconut Water

Laughing at people who cringe when I pop knuckles, it's ok, I don't care if I get arthritis so you shouldn't either.

One Word

2011-10-08T12:00:00.000-07:00

1. Clothes: my jeans tucked into my fall boots
2. Furniture: patio, tis the season
3. Sweet: Raw cookie dough... eat it to the point ya wanna barfola
4. City: Boomer Sooner
5. Drink: Wine
6. Music: Citizen Cope (today at least)
7. TV Series: How I met your mother
8. Film: No strings attached (watched it the other month and it was cute, it's not like MY FAVE it was just the last one I've seen, i don't watch many movies)
9. Workout: No thanks!
10. Pastries: so bad, but so good
11. Coffee: I CANNOT express how ready I am for peppermint mocha season at Starbucks

10/365

2011-10-07T14:10:00.000-07:00

The thought of new running shoes and perhaps getting a pair this weekend

Purposely planning nothing for this weekend, this to me, means that my possibilities are endless and I haven't committed to something I may decide last minute that I don't want to do.

New multi colored sharpies at work

Sugarfree Redbull

Sushi for lunch today

Get my filling in..

2011-10-07T06:25:00.000-07:00

1. Something popular that I can't stand/just don't "get" is the whole public display of affection, and NO I'm not just talking holding hands down a sidewalk or a peck on the cheek, I'm talking making out in a restaurant, whats up with that?

2. Something unpopular that I secretly love is jumping rope, it’s so good for you, if my boobs didn’t feel as though they were going to flop away (and YES I wear a heavy duty sports bra, they are just that big) I’d probably do it more, but I try to only do it in a secret room in the gym ha .

3. When I've had a bad day I do one of two things, go for a nice long run, or just go straight to bed .

4. I'd prefer a night in with wine and a movie to a night out of “clubbing” any day.

5. Something that makes me nervous is emailing in front of my boss.. isn’t that dumb ha? He emails in front of me all the time, but I’m always afraid he’s going to make fun of my grammar or something, so stupid .

6. Something worth fighting for is urrr your life?… I know you’re thinking wth? But I heard a story the other day, about a man and a woman getting married suddenly because the dr gave the woman 1 month to live and they were talking like oh by next month she’ll be gone, after seeing what my mom went thru, it just makes you think, there was not one time my mom said oh cancer has beat me even in her last days, so stick with the positive attitude folks!

7. When people think of me, I hope they think “she’s a fun person, she is funny and she always makes the best of whatever situation she is in” .

9/365

2011-10-06T17:44:00.000-07:00

Man hugs... I know it's a serious deal, but I still laugh when I see two guys hugging mainly because I don't see it everyday

Buying the person in the drive thru behind me their starbucks, hey, you never know when you can make someone's day with the simple things. Just knowing I probably made someone else smile, makes me smile. Pay it forward baby :)

Getting text msgs from my brother in law. Love him, he was a good addition to the family!

Unwrapping a package of computer paper and it reminding me of Christmas time.

How this part of 500 days of Summer puts me in a good mood, and don't kid yourself I've memorized this dance

Starting Fresh

2011-10-06T08:40:00.000-07:00

... After yesterday's weird post , I've decided that I would try and throw some positive thoughts in todays post. Yes, it's true the last few weeks have been a little out of routine for me, but the truth is I really have a whole lot to be thankful for. Last night, I went home, I attempted to catch up on my "real" housewives, but instead settled for a rerun episodes of 16 & pregnant (the original crew) and it made me thankful to know that I had never been in their situations, that would have been hard. Then instead of attempting to try out a new recipe, I thought to myself " i have all my life to cook and i'm tired", so I settled for 50 cent wings from Pizza Hut. And instead of finishing the episode of criminal minds, I went to bed at 9. Seriously, think about it, it's the smallest things that can make you realize that your life isn't as bad as you think. So I say, indulge in a night of eating badly every once in a while, catch up on your beauty sleep and wake up thinking that it's a fresh start and never stop counting your blessings!

8/365

2011-10-05T14:27:00.000-07:00

The weather is so calm today, the leaves are slightly blowing in the wind and it's a little cloudy, makes for a relaxing(ish) day in the office, meaning I'm so thankful, I can sit in my office with the door open and not have to use the loud air conditioner

Wearing my hair down to work, first time in a loonnnnnnng time, please excuse the no makeup, i was vewwy sweepy this morning! And then looking at this picture after I took it and thinking "wow, i do look like my mom"..

Yankees getting a W last night

Eating a bowl of Black Beans for my lunch today, I kind of love them.

and...

This video that I thought was adorable...

weird places are weird

2011-10-05T08:17:00.000-07:00

I'm in a weird place right now in my life. Something that I once put a lot of effort into has suddenly become something I doubt on the daily. It's like the flip of the light switch. Everything is just weird right now. I'm trying to adapt to some changes but I don't like how things are going. I don't know if it's me personally or what?!? All in all I'm in a weird state of mind. No I'm not crazy, I just have some things I'm dealing with. I'm actually really happy about most things going on around me but there's this one thing that just really keeps eating at me. I'm trying to stick to the positive factors and invest more time in the things that make me happy as an individual. I realize this is just a part of life.

But earlier while I was just playing around on the internet and still having thoughts go thru my head a mile a minute I saw this picture and it just reminded me of what I really need to do about what is bothering me right now. Plus it's like the sweetest picture in the whole wide world so thought I would share it with you guys.

7/365

2011-10-04T14:57:00.000-07:00

Waking up to a really funny dream about me & a friend taking a last minute cruise to Italy and that the dream being so realistic, it's ridiculous, well all except the fact that we were going to hang out with Amanda Knox!

Seeing Chunk (a local squirrel) on my lunch break, I usually only see him on Sundays.

This Song - puts me in a happy mood

Dinner date with my older brother

An Amanda Knox lifetime movie that will be coming on tonight... ( i know there's a bunch of Knox talk going on but I'm just interested in this story, hoping she writes a book)