RAIN, RAIN

I had BIG plans this weekend. I was looking forward to C cleaning out our garage so I could find a few things. I was looking forward to painting and reupholstering a chair I bought. I was also looking forward to planting my purple tulips I bought at lowes more then 3 weeks ago.

But did I get to do ANY of those things? nope. And you know why? RAIN.

I live in the land of rain, where it rains 75% of the year. But you think for one single weekend that I have allocated to staying home and getting stuff done it would give me a break? I mean, the weather forecast said it was going to be partly cloudy. But never did they say it was going to rain. I've been jipped I tell you, absolutely jipped.

So instead, I went on a date with my best boy. We had big plans of cheesecake factory, but after being told we had at least an 80 minutes wait ( holy shiznet!!) we were too hungry to deal with that. So we headed out the door, and guess what? I found $20.00 bucks laying on the ground in the parking lot. SCORE!

We decided to head to Sushi. Then we headed to borders and read all my favorite magazines, and decided it was time for a movie.
We saw She's Out Of My League. We both thought it was comical and cute. Certainly following in the steps of Nepolian Dynamite, but a bit better.

On Saturday we went to home depot to have some paint made, so we can start painting my grandma house.
( more on the later!)  We made a few visits to some of our favorite store, before heading to the grocery store to pick up dinner stuff.

On Sunday we cleaned. Just like we do almost every Sunday. now I'm enjoying my fabulous clean house, my freshly bathed dog, and I'm getting ready to deep condition my hair and paint my nails.

So while my weekend didn't go as planned, we still made the most of it, and had some fun :)


I hope everyone had a great weekend!

AND THE WINNER GOES TO..

ME!! for being the worst blogger the last 2 weeks. But I've had good reason right? Right, okay moving on...



C and I have been busy doing a whole lot of nothing!

This week we finally splurged and bought our selves a new gas grill for the patio. At our last house, our grill was built in, and next to the pool, so we never actually owned one. When we moved into our town house, we figured we would be traveling most of the summer anyway, so it was useless.After going an entire spring and summer season with no BBQ, was horrible. So we splurged. And we've already grilled fillet mignon which was freaking amazing!. 

Remember the golf cart we bought? We got it home and had used it for a few days but it kept dying. We tried everything to get it to work, but alas we found out the batteries which were only 2 years old hadn't been taken care of so we had to buy new ones. At $750.00 for all 6 I wasn't looking forward to it. I'm pretty sure C got some evil looks in there. But the smart guy he is, sold our used batteries on craigslist for $200 bucks. Which meant these batteries were $200 cheaper. While still expensive, at least they weren't as expensive.

Have you ever heard of Groupon.com? It's my new love. I seriously have scored some awesome deals. There is a Chicago style hot dog shop in downtown Portland I've been wanting to try. I logged onto to groupon and what do ya know? Hot dog shop offering $8 worth of food for $4 bucks. I bought two of those!

My second purchase was for a hair salon. I've been lucky enough to be in California every 6-8 weeks so I could stick with my lady. Since my hair is getting longer, it needs to be maintained a bit more, so I knew I needed to find someone here. I really love the bumble and bumble product, although expensive, I can totally justify the price after I blow dry my hair and feel how soft and healthy it is. Anyhow, a bumble and bumble salon offered $110 worth of service for $55. You can't beat that!

If you haven't been to the site check it out. I know they offer it in quite a few cities.


Yesterday this family had an off day. :( Spencer woke up with a swollen, puffy, red eye with gunk coming out of it. I had a mini heart attack as my pirate dog looked at me and it just made me sad. We made him a vet appointment, and then proceeded to look on google. We found that if we cleaned out his eye with distilled water, and wiped down the goopies every few hours with a warm towel we could possible fix the problem. So we gave it a ago. And watched it over night. This morning he is doing much better! The swelling is gone, the redness is gone, and just a little bit of wetness.

In the meantime, C woke up with a horrible migraine that kept him in bed all day. I felt so bad that I couldnt do anything for him, so I just made sure the room was cool and dark and that there was little noise. He finally felt better around 8pm.

I on the other hand woke up with the worst stomach pain. About 6 months ago I've starting taking out dairy. I was getting stomach aches after drinking milk and associated it with dairy. After switching to soy, limiting cheese, sour cream, etc I've been much better. Less bloat, less gas, all around happy. But the night before we decided to get some pizza. I hadn't had any in a few months and was craving it.  I paid the price though. I couldnt even button my pants or put pressure on my stomach because it hurt so bad.  :(  i'm sad to see the pizza go.

I'm going to try making it at home next week and try it with less cheese and see how that does. I can still eat some cheese just not as much as I would like.


That's pretty much what's going on around here. No big plans for the weekend. I have a chair I'm going to paint and reupholster. I'll try and get some pictures taken in the next day or two.

Have a great weekend!

UNFORTUNATE CIRCUMSTANCES

I wasn't sure I'd ever share this on my blog, or with anybody that wasn't close to us, but I feel it's such a touchy subject and so many people have gone through what I have that it's worth it to open up about it.


Please, I'm not looking for sympathy nor am I looking for advice on how to get through it. Everyday is a struggle, but everyday gets a little better. Time will heal all, and I firmly believe that.



On January 6th 2010 C and I found out we were expecting our first child.

I need to stop right there and do some explaining before I go on, so hopefully this will make sense.There will be some graphic detail in here so if you're not a fan and don't want to hear about sex, babies, blood and guts then don't read any further.

I always knew it would be hard for me to get pregnant. I have had abnormal periods since I first started, and was told at age 16 I had a mild case of Endometriosis. Of course when you're 16 you don't think anything about it, but let me just tell you. Those 7 days ( sometimes 10 days) when you can't get out of bed because it feels like your uterus is being ripped in two, you can't help but not think about it.

When I met C I told him from the very beginning I wasn't sure I could have kids, and might possibly need fertility treatment at the very least. We obviously had many talks about it and were both comfortable with the situation and agreed to talk to a fertility specialist when the time was right.

I have been with C for 8 1/2 years and we have never used any kind of birth control. We have never even charted and obviously nothing happened. I was used to it, sometimes I had those bad months where I hated my body, because any sane women would at least want to know they had a chance at having kids, but my body? wasn't gonna give.

Fast forward to October. C and I went through a pretty rough time in our relationship. I guess it happens to the best of us and when you work together, live together and never have anytime to yourself it's bound to happen. We just were loosing track of who we were and what we wanted which set us back. WAY back. We even canceled our wedding 5 days before it happened because we were absolutely miserable. I knew I loved him with my whole heart and he was my best friend, but I started building up resentment, and hatred because he stopped doing the little things, and started taking what he had for granted. That's not to say I didn't do the same. I stopped putting effort into my appearance and started holding all communication in. I finally reached a breaking point sometime in October.

I don't need to go into all the details of what happened, but we ran our business together and that was about it. We weren't talking to one another, let alone loving one another. I think after weeks of non stop fighting, we both finally got our heads on straight and sat down to figure things out. Obviously we're back together, and doing well, but it took a lot of time, a lot of tears and a lot of love to get us to where we are now.

After a 3 month hiatus, we had a "moment" in there where we decided we were okay enough to be physical.


We went on a mini vacation in January, and while I was blow drying my hair one morning, I got really dizzy and nauseous. My gut instinct was telling me there was NO way I could be pregnant, but my period was almost two months late. Once we got home 2 days later I ran to the drug store and bought a test. 

The test came back positive. I told C and made him drive me back to the drug store so I could buy a digital test. I wanted and needed to see that "pregnant" ticker to pop up, in order to really believe it. And of course, within 2 minutes it popped up pregnant. loud and clear!

I was excited and scared. I had no idea how this happened ( well obviously I knew) but it was a freaking miracle!

That night I went to bed, and just couldn't wrap my brain around what was happening. I felt like it was all just so unreal and that I was in a horrible nightmare and the baby goddess was about to laugh in my face.

I guess what they say is true, when you have a gut instinct about something, chances are it's right.

The next morning I woke up with spotting. Quite a bit of spotting. Of course I panicked and called the Dr to make an appointment.

They got me in within 2 hours, made me fill out way too much paperwork and took me back to take a look. We got our first ultra sound and was told everything looked perfect. We were 6 weeks 1 day and due September 1st 2010.

I left feeling so relieved, but still a little jaded about what was going on.

The second day we got home the spotting didnt stop, but the DR said it was normal for first time pregnancies, especially for people with ovarian cysts.

I let my body takes it course, but on the 3rd day I was having a full blown period, the worst one I've ever experienced in my life. I couldn't move, or breathe. Heating pads, ibuprofen or caffeine weren't working. After dealing with this for 2 hours, It got worse. SO worse. I was having full on contractions 2-3 minutes apart and I couldn't help but scream and cry through each one of them. I had C locating the nearest hospital to take me to while I tried my hardest to breathe through them. I knew something was going terribly wrong, but I couldn't focus on anything but just getting through them. It took me something like 35 minutes to put pants on and get in the car. I'm pretty I scared some drivers, as I had my head hanging out with window so I wouldn't puke, and was screaming through each contraction. By the time we made it to the hospital I was in so much pain, and was shaking so bad I couldn't walk. I had C run in and check me in and grab a wheel chair. before he even made it to the car I had found the courage and the last of my energy to run to the bathroom, where I thought I was going to puke, but instead, I ended up passing 4 golf ball size clots through my nether regions. I did this twice within a 30 minute window both times relieving the contraction and the pain. After the second time around I felt like a new women. I had no more pain ( other then sore abs and a sore throat from screaming) and told C we could go home. yeah right was he gonna allow that! We stayed 8 hours in the ER only to have the DR tell us everything looked good, I was still pregnant and that I just had a threatened miscarriage.

Talk about confusing!

2 days later I was sent to an obgyn specialist for an evaluation to see what had just happened. After some blood work was drawn I was called into the office with the news I had already known. We had indeed just miscarried our first baby. And we had indeed just went through a very intense labor, which apparently just is as painful as regular labor.

I was both horrified and relieved at the same time. Horrified for obvious reasons and relieved because that was the most awful pain I have ever been through.

I was able to pass everything on my own which is a god send. Most women have to go through a D & C
Which is a longer healing process.

So now that I'm 2 months past, I'm doing okay. I still have some hormone issues, but overall I'm in good spirits and good health.

it was all a really quick week during the whole process. We literally had 5 days of finding out we were pregnant to finding out we miscarried. There was no time to process, or get used to anything, which I think was almost better. We didnt tell anyone we were pregnant, but instead broke the news to close family that we had miscarried.

I know this was a huge wall of text and a lot of graphic details. But I think it will give other people going through the same thing a chance to know their not alone. And hopefully a look at a few symptoms that were eye opening for me to see a DR.

And just for future reference, if you have any questions about what I went through or if you'd like to share your story with me, feel free to drop me an email or a comment.

WHAT A WEEK!

Okay, so I know I've been MIA the last week but it was to your benefit that I was. You see, The night C left was the night my hormones decided to act out and I became the moodiest, unpleasant, and flat out bitchiest person around.

It's not as if I wanted to be that person, but I was stuck in our house, alone (well, with the pup) for 7 days. I couldnt sleep, I couldn't eat, I was crying, I was mad, I was just not good with life. There is an explanation for all of this, but really, I can't go into details right now.

Moving on, C is home and all is well in my world. I lost 11 lbs in 7 days (go me?!) and I'm finally sleeping again.

Today was amazing. The weather topped out at 75 degrees, and we got up early and spent every minute we could outside.

In Portland they are pretty well known for a "Saturday Market". They have it every single Saturday and I guess they added Sundays too. Basically, it's crafts, food, games and live music. Much like a festival. We had never been so decided to check it out. Can I just say; I've never seen so many hippies in my life. Portland is pretty know for their weird folk ( not kidding!) and certainly have a huge hippy following. But when it's the norm to just casually ask if I have a joint, or feel out of place because I don't have dreads or birkenstocks on, I'm immediately questioning our decision to go.



None the less, we had fun people watching, and enjoying the sunshine. Will we go again? Probably not unless we decide to smoke the green stuff or buy into blown glass.( which kind of go hand in hand, LOL!)



You see the brick building that says VooDoo Doughnuts? This is Portland's claim to fame. This place seriously has a line of 25 people (if not more) at all times. They have the famous bacon maple donut. We tried it last yearwhen we first moved here and found it to be too sweet and not our style but apparently all the stoner's   locals love them.


There was seriously SO many people there. It was hard to walk side by side and most of time I was holding on to C's back pocket for life so we wouldn't loose one another.


And just because I think he's cute....




And notice his black jacket? I seriously have NO idea why he had that on. He is the one that likes to sleep with the window open and the fan on in 30 plus degree weather, but yet he was sporting a jacket in 75 degrees. I digress....



So overall we had a great Saturday. Tomorrow we'll be spending some time at home, cleaning, doing some laundry, hanging out and hoping the rain stays away ( although word is, we'll be back to showers. booo!)

HOME ALONE!... AHHHHH!

Remember in my last post I said we had a little business trip and you probably wouldn't hear from me until Monday? Yeah. Turns out my business trip was to stay home and C's business trip was to head to California to close a few deals and attend jury duty.

Unfortunately it was very last minute, and we have packages coming in the mail, we were right in the middle of spring cleaning, and a million other projects going on at home. So I decided to stay home. Which really is for the best. But I miss him. A LOT. We're very close, and in the last 6 years of living with one another we've spent very little time apart.

So I'm finding things to distract myself, and to distract the dog who has been moping around here for the last 3 days. We're pathetic!

I did venture out to ikea today to pick up a new duvet. Since the dog has taken Cs place on the bed, it also means he's left all his fur all over my blue down comforter. I hate to keep washing that thin since I know it ruins it, so I caved and bought one! It's in the wash right now, but once I get it all set up I'll take pictures.

Another perk to C being gone? ( although I would rather have him here!) I lost 4 lbs. Seriously. I've had zero appetite, and cooking dinner for 1 just isn't appealing, so dinners have been pretty darn simple.


I'm hoping to book C and I a weekend getaway for when he returns, because lord knows I need it. But hmmm...where to go...

RANDOMS

I value the friendships I have with the people in my life so much. I really feel without these people I would be an empty soul.

That being said, I only have a handful of friends, and they all live in another state, 1 even in another country.

I'm starting to get some-what lonely here in Oregon. I love being close to my family and having C but we haven't met one single group of people we can actually grab a drink with or have fun with.

Unfortunately, because we only live here 7 months out of the year, and we're self employed it doesn't leave a lot of room to meet people.

I'm hoping since we're opening our second location for our business up here this year, that will be a great resource, but until then?

What would you do? How would go about meeting people, other couples, etc?




In other news.

This weekend I got a bunch of spring cleaning done. I only took a day to do the down stairs,but decided I needed 1 more full day to do the upstairs. Once I've completed everything i'll make a detailed list and pass it on to my fellow bloggers.

On Friday while C and I were out running a few errands, Spencer found a bag of goodies. In it, were a brand new box of raisnets, mini  m&ms and some gummy bears. He ate every last bit of it and proceeded to puke for 2 days straight. It was nasty and very frustrating. Thank the lord he is feeling better today.

We're almost finished booking our trip to Disneyland at the end of April. We go every year, and almost decided not to go this year. However, a good friend of ours who worked for the company for 25 years is coming along with us, and will be giving us a behind the scenes tour. It's a chance of a life time for us Disney lovers and we wouldn't pass it up for nothing.

C bought a golf cart over the weekend. And no, we don't golf! Our building for our business is around 60k sq ft which is a bear to walk back and fourth grabbing tools, heavy carts, etc. He decided a golf cart would solve the problem ( which it will) however I was too cheap to invest. He finally convinced me over the weekend, and found a great deal, so alas I gave in. We've been playing in it non stop and found that it's a great dog exerciser, since Spencer will run full force to catch up with it. You know what they say, a tired puppy is a good puppy :)

That about sums up our weekend. We have a small business trip tomorrow through the weekend and C has jury duty on Monday. You may or may not hear from me until then.

I'VE DONE SOME SHOPPING!

I haven't bought much this year, and truth be told I haven't really wanted to buy anything. C and I have been working really hard on saving our money so we can hopefully start the process of purchasing 20 acres next year.

I decided enough was enough, and I got the itch. I've been in some what of a winter funk lately and decided a few spring purchases would cheer me right up and guess what? They did!

My purchases:
A cute yellow, very spring dress





I love it's simplicity and that I can play up with some cute jewelry, but what you don't see is that in the back it has a crisscross strap



I am in dire need of new flats and found these ones to be perfect!



I love the ruffle!


Heading more into summer gear, I bought myself a new swim suit. I'm sort of in between sizes right now, So I have 2 swim suits that are a bit snug and 1 swimsuit that's falling off. While I hope by the summer I can fit into my snug ones, I needed one to get by with for the next few months.




And last but not least, moving in the opposite direction, I caved and bought myself a pair of Ugg boots.



I've never been one to pop down more then $100 for shoes, and especially for boots that I will only wear so often. But this year I absolutely wanted a pair of these in the frigid temperatures but could not bring myself to pay $198.00. Cue Ebay. I've been on the look out for a brand new pair, brown, tall boots for under $100.00
Ridiculous? yes. Impossible, no! I had my eye on this pair for the last 5 days, starting bid .99 I knew they would go up, so I set my max at $100.00 and didn't even think about it until yesterday. I saw another pair ended just hours before at 137.00. Still not bad but more then I wanted to spend. I sort of lost hope until I got the email. I won! $91.99 and $11.00 for shipping.


And so my friends, that concludes my shopping. I can't wait for everything to arrive in the mail!



Now I'm off to fix sparky and I dinner, and play a little wii!

JAZZING UP THE LIVING ROOM

Remember a few posts back I said I was working on decorating the living room? Well, I'm still workin' on it!


I have a few pieces completed, but not quite everything! I'm still looking for a few more pillows to add to my collection, but can't make up my mind!

Now,  a few things you should know. My walls are not quite white, they have more of a beige color, and we have 2 walls that are an eggplant purple. We love the colors, but sometimes it seems too dark. So we decided to add white window treatments to help lighten the place up and then add a few neutral, and a few colorful pillows to go on the couch.


I've been going back and fourth on how I could possibly mix patterns, colors etc.

A few inspirations pictures



I'm completely in love with all the pillows on the couch, and the different pops of color. I don't love the stripped wall. I'm more shabby chic style, this is more retro modern style.



This one makes me melt. I can see myself a single women living in the city, who's just graduated school of interior design. I love the color of the walls, the amazing pillows and all those pops of pink. C would not approve of it, so at last, I can just dream. Do you see that sweet birdcage in the corner? I'm drooling.


And something a little more realistic



It's very bright, and looks so comfy to be in. We spend a lot of time in our living room, so it has to be livable. We have a big TV and that oh so comfy couch. I like that this couch has a white slip cover, which means it's probably easy to wash. Holly just had a slip cover made for her sofa and now I'm looking to do the same.





This one has that white couch again ( see where I'm going with this?) I love the rustic furniture and the pop of colors made by the green apples on the coffee table. I wish I had enough room for a wing back chair. I'm already struggling trying to get rid of one piece of my extra large furniture.


I'm browsing through etsy day and night looking for the perfect pillows to complete my set, but I haven't found them just yet. I'm hoping by the end of the weekend I should have a good idea of what I need to finish
(can you ever really finish decorating?)


I'm also doing quite a bit of spring cleaning this weekend with C. It's suppose to be nice outside, and we're taking full advantage of cleaning out the garage and airing out the house. Hopefully this will snap me out of the funk I've been in for the last week.

I hope you all have a great weekend!

99 THINGS I SHOULD OF DONE

99 Things I Ought to Have Done
I got this from Heather over at Heather Drive. Since I've been in somewhat of a anti blogging mood, I figured this would be a great way to hop back in. I have a few other posts making their way this week, so stay tuned!

Instructions:
Copy the list, bold the ones you've done (with explanations if needed), share with friends.

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars (Every single Birthday Party I had growing up, we slept in tents in my back yard)
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii (twice, once in 2002 for a graduation gift from my parents and once to help out a family and their kids in 2008)
5. Watched a meteor shower (The first time C and I told each other we loved one another was during a date to watch a meteor shower)
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland (Once or twice a year!)
8. Climbed a mountain ( love hiking!)
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo ( I was in Choir and Drama and did quite a few performances where I did solos)
11. Bungee jumped (Never have, Never will)
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a thunder and lightning storm ( I do live in Oregon after all. City of rain!)
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch (photography! and Painting)
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning ( worse experience of my life!)
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables ( I'm in the process of that as we speak!)
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train ( My dad was a big train lover, So I've been on quite a few overnight trips)
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill (I'm sure everyone has done this at some point)
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied ( although we always wish there was more, I'm truly happy with where we are financially)
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant ( my mom owned a restaurant, and we would get homeless people in there from time to time. I hated to see them hungry)
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling (snorkeling)
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud (We used to play tackle or flag football in the mud all the time!)
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business (Halloween company, Nanny Company &Photography)
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies (I was never in girl scouts but I use to sell them for friends, so technically, yes!)
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma

65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check (happens to the best of us)
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy ( It's not really a toy, but a blanket my great, great grandmother made for me)

70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten caviar ( it was on Sushi!)

72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job ( it happens, but it was mutual!)
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone (Wrist and Toe)
78. Been a passenger on a motorcycle (my dad used to have one)
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car (The only brand spanking new car I've owned was our Diesel truck bought in 2006)
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Kissed a stranger at midnight on New Year’s Eve
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous ( Quite a few people!)
92. Joined a book club
93. Got a tattoo ( lower back)
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person (Spring 2009)
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit (related to the dog attack incident)
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee (it was bound to happen.Grew up having a pool and was a total fish in the water!)

It's quite interesting seeing some of the things I've done, some of the things I want to do and some of the things that will just never happen.