Friday, October 30, 2015

My Five!!


 I am joining in on all of the Friday Favorite blog roundups!!! This is an easy one for me today! My favorite 5 are these adorable children in Ohio! These are my nieces and nephews from Ohio (there are three more in PA) and I am spending the weekend with them! They are definitely a great cure for a broken heart! We trick or treated last night and here is a group shot!


I will be going to school for lunches with each one of them today! I am so excited to be each ones lunch buddy!!!

Tomorrow is the big family ziplining excursion! I will be posting an update and pictures!

Thanks to everyone for reaching out and offering words of encouragement! It really has been so sweet of each one of you! I am still hanging in and trudging on!

I hope everyone out there in blog land has an amazing weekend!!!


Thursday, October 29, 2015

Out of Tears and Words

I am so out of tears and words...it feels like it is getting harder not easier! I have not talked to or heard from him since we said good bye on Sunday night.


Eventually I know it will get easier and easier but right now, it is so hard not to pick up the phone or text him. I have to keep reminding myself that I was not getting anything out of the relationship anymore.

Uggghhh...oh well, I gave the ultimatum that I knew I needed to and he made his choice (I knew in my heart what he would choose but that does not make it any easier)!

I KNOW I HAD to walk away to protect and honor myself....not only as a person in recovery but as a women in general...but that does not make it better :-(

I will be spending the weekend with my family and that will also help make it better and get my mind of of things I cannot control.

I am not going to write a long, sad and drawn out post today as I do not want to bring everyone down or put unhappiness out there...so, I will leave you with some things I pinned this morning...





Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Wednesday Hodgepodge




I am joining in on Wednesday Hodgepodge with From This Side of the Pond

1. Are you comfortable with silence? If you're home alone, do you like silence or do you need regular background noise? Do you seek out times and places to be silent? What's your favorite place to find silence/be silent? I used to be okay with silence but I think, for now, it makes me uncomfortable and I start thinking...HA! Thinking is not want I want to do right now as I fear it will drive me to sad text which is EXACTLY what I am trying to avoid right now! So the TV or iTunes it is for now!!!!
2. October 28th is National Chocolate Day. Can't let that go by without a mention now, can we? Will you celebrate? How? Let's say you can have one of the following right this very minute... a cup of hot chocolate, a strawberry dipped in chocolate, a bowl of plain chocolate ice cream, or a slice of chocolate pie...what's your pleasure? Seriously?!?! What a great day! I will definitely celebrate!! Give me dark or milk...I have no preference! I LOVE Chocolate and am so happy it has its own day! HA
3. How do you feel about blue jeans? Favorite thing in the world to wear or nope, don't own a single pair? How often do you wear blue jeans in a typical week? Do you own a blue jean jacket? I am a huge fan of jean leggings! I love stretchy jeans and my nieces have okay ed them for me. They said if you are over 40 with no kids its fine..LOL!
4. Are you superstitious? If so, in what way? Not at all!.
5. If you had to come up with a costume using only things you have on hand right now, what could you come up with? I am at work so I could be a corporate employee - HA HA
6. What scares you a little? What do you do when you feel scared? I hate supernatural things...ghosts, spirits, etc. SCARRRRRRY! I have not felt scared in a long time I am happy to say. The last time would be about three years ago some friends and I went to a real haunted house and I TRULY did not sleep for weeks!
7. Perhaps today will be the day I ______________________________. stop  being sad about my last lost love.... :-(
8.  Insert your own random thought here. I cannot stop thinking about Chocolate day! This make my week and I will be headed out at lunch to celebrate!!! Happy week everyone!

Be kind!


Monday, October 26, 2015

Men Suck AGAIN

I am REALLY bummed to be writing this but the proverbial "writing on the wall" has been there and I am finally cutting my loses and running. One Sunday I broke up with the recent guy...we made about ten months and I am truly sad and heartbroken!




There are a few "deal breakers" for me in relationships (I have had a list for years of what I will not tolerate in a relationship since being in recovery) and let's just say one or two of these came into play.


This really pains me as I am truly in love with this man and he was, I thought, everything I was waiting for in a guy.
I know I will be okay...time heals all wounds, but I am sure I will be sad for a while...
Anyone else unlucky in love?!?!
Ugh...here we go again...
Internet hugs welcome!
Happy Monday all! 

Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Homecoming 2015

This happened while I was in Harrisburg! I was treated to a party of 30 kids and their parents taking pictures at my sisters house! HA - what chaos! LOL



Isn't he handsome? My adorable nephew!!



Made him get a picture with me! LOL



And I made a collage for FB of course!



My niece and I kept each other company while my sister entertained everyone. We actually spent a few hours commenting on how freekin' short the dress are for girls at Homecoming now days...wowsa! Do not bend over! LOL - but, no seriously!


I hope you all had a great hump day today!!!

Any of you see the dresses lately? Any of you have young girls? If so, you are in my prayers (actually the Dad's are in my prayers) HA







Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Want Hair That Moves!?

I have been an Influenster since 2012! I love every second of it! If you do now know what that is - go here and sign up! You can use my referral code HERE! You will love being a part of it!!!

One of the perks is getting to evaluate products for companies! Last week I received this little doozy in my mailbox...I am one lucky girl! 

SCORE: I think I have found my new daily hair care products!

I have to disclose that I received these products complimentary for testing purposes. My opinion of them is my own...they are AWESOME! I have long considered my hair my best asset. It is thick and very manageable so I have definitely been blessed in the hair area - but these products take my hair OVER THE TOP! Seriously! I love them all! 




I received the Youth Renewal line due to the fact that at 47 I am aging and need renewal. Ha!  It came with the three items pictured below; the shampoo, conditioner and the elixir.



I was excited to try the shampoo and conditioner because, up to now, I have no loyalty to any brand...I just of kind of felt like "they are all the same". As soon as I used it the first time I knew I was hooked! They smell amazing and create this really thick later that feels amazing when you scrub your scalp! AHHHHHHH...so great! The conditioner leaves my hair silky feeling but also feels completely rinsed out with no residue (if you know what I mean). They were awesome and I will be buying them from now on!
 


The elixir is another story! I was not too keen on trying it. I use Frizz Ease and it is my go to product for manageability of my frizzy hair. I first tried the elixir with the Frizz Ease and my hair looked good. Still them same frizz manageability as before so I decided to try the elixir alone. It was still awesome...maybe even more awesome! I love it so much-my hair is so shiny without even using shine spray! Also, the movement and bounce in my hair now is amazing! I feel like a hair model!! The shampoo, conditioner and elixir are all over the top amazing in my book!!!




Here is the finished product...do not mind the corny look on my face!



Seriously, can you tell from the smile, I love all of these new products and they are now a MUST HAVE for my daily routine?!! Do yourself a favor and go check out the new Nexxus Line of hair care products! I promise you will totally love them!! #hairthatmoves


 Happy Tuesday all!



Monday, October 19, 2015

Hershey Half Marathon 2015

This is a post I have been training to write since the beginning of July 2015. I have been struggling for a few months now with a knee injury so I was not even sure that this race was going to happen - I almost quit so many times during training and in the beginning of the race...RECAP time!

Just to set the stage...about two months ago my knee started popping. It is something popping behind my knee when I move it a certain way and it is excruciating when it happens. It has limited my training so much but by the time it happened I was two months into training and I did not want to quit. So I kept pushing. This race has confirmed for me that I truly can DO ANYTHING that I set my mind to.

I ran the Hershy Half Marathon yesterday in Hershey, PA!! This was our pre-race photo...it was 40 degrees out and so cold! The temp was great for running but felt horribly freezing before we got going!!! My knee was hurting, I was tired and was really just NOT feeling like running AT ALL!!! Have you guys ever felt like this? Seriously, I did not even want to start - I told my sister that I should not even race and just ask to pass out medals to finishers. I was NOT feeling this race at all!

So, this is my sister (in the middle) and her friend Dianne (on the left) and me (on the right). Funny story - I got our "throw away" sweatshirts from Goodwill and they only ones they had were Aeropostle (EXPENSIVE and fancy throw away...LOL)!




This is the start...




Here is the interesting part of this race story ...
My knee was hurting so bad so between the last picture and this 2 mile flag, I stepped to the side of the course and I called my mom. I told her I wanted to quit and not run the race at all. She told me run the first mile and then decide. I hung up and ran. After the first mile my knee started feeling a little better and I was so happy I did not quit! By the time I hit the two marker I was feeling really good and I ditched the "throw away" sweatshirt on this fence.



Mile 8 is where I started to feel crappy again. But I kept telling myself that I ran that far why quit now?!?!?




Then nine...




Mile 11...2.1 to go!!!!!




I loved the course at Hershey! The whole course had mile markers at every tenth mile. It was great at the end when I had 2.1 left I just counted down the last 21 cones I had to pass! I loved these!!




Needed to grab my breath so I got a selfie with this guy. Good thing I did...I was expecting a BUNCH of chocolate at the end! No such luck! Got a few kisses at Chocolate Mile (mile 12 station) and then a bite size Hershey bar at the end?!?!? Seriously, I thought we would at least get a one pounder!!




And the finish photo!! Thanks to these wonderful girls (Dianne and Kerry) for waiting around for me...they finished way before me and FROZE waiting for me since they were wet. Thanks for waiting!




Finishers medal!!! Cutest medal ever!!! Totally worth it and I am SO GLAD I DID NOT QUIT! Anyone else ever do this?!?!

















Here are my final times...so happy I finished!!



And the final tally for the day!!!!! WOWSA!!!!
 



Thursday, October 15, 2015

Long Time...No Update

I cannot believe how fast time has flow this year already! I just realized that I have not posted in over a month!

WOWSA!

I have been keeping up with all of your blogs just not my own - LOL!!! I am getting older and time is spinning ahead so fast!

Last month (September) was a whirlwind of activities and it was crazy both in my personal life and my business life! I am going to give you a high level overview of the past few weeks in pictures to very quickly catch you up.  I am also promising that I will not go MIA like that anytime soon.

It really just got crazy busy and I could not keep up! I am not complaining believe me...I enjoy being busy but September was just CRAZZZZZYYYYYY!

Here we go!!!.....

First part of September...I had to put one of my older cats to sleep and her brother was getting lonely being home alone so I got him some friends!  Meet Nermal and Trouble. As you can see, they are already great friends and Kidrock likes them too! I am head over heals in love with them both!




Sept 5th weekend was my adorable boyfriends birthday! It was his 60th so I planned a party with his sisters family, his brother and his kids at his favorite place...the bowling alley. We rented a few lanes and had cake and pizza! The owners at AMF Mt. Lebanon Lanes were terrific with helping me plan and I highly recommend them if you are looking to plan a bowling party for adults or kids in the South Hills of PA!  I think he had a great time?! This is him blowing out his candles...



And the obligatory picture of the cake...




Then after the party I spent the rest of the weekend and Monday (Labor Day) at my parents house at Lake Mohawk. We all enjoyed a final weekend of boating, skiing, tubing and relaxing before fall and winter set in here in PA! This is two of my nephews tubing together...



And two of my nieces...




My Mom's birthday is the September 8th and my sister-in-laws is the 7th so we also celebrated their birthdays over the holiday weekend! Mommy is on the left and Sara on the right below...



The next weekend, the boyfriend and I left for New Smyrna Beach, FL. It is his favorite vacation spot and he wanted to take me there to enjoy it so we planned about ten days together for a trip! We came close to killing each other a few times but we made it through (just kidding...well, kind of). It is a long time to spend with someone...LOL! This is a view from our patio in the condo we rented.



And a view down the beach...what a great place to run!! Flat flat flat flat flat!!! I am used to hills in PA so this was heavenly!!!



I had a girls night out planned for the week we got home and spent the evening with these lovely ladies at Painting with a Twist.  It also allowed me to add to my Fall artwork collection :-)  HA!



The next weekend in September was the Great Race in Pittsburgh. My sisters, mother and I run this together every year. We LOVE it! Here is the starting line...



Every year the Eat N Park cookie is at the top of the longest hill (about a mile before the end of the race) and I stop to get a picture every year!!! YEA! My sister on the right was also happy to oblige me when I requested stopping! Thanks Susie!



That same weekend every member of my direct family came into town. All my siblings, their spouses and kids and my parents. My parents celebrated 50 years of marriage on Sept 18th and we wanted to make sure we had pictures and a family party to mark the occasion. We had a family dinner at Benihana! Here they are with all of their grand kids!!



And the whole family!!!!!!!! I love this picture! No one is missing!! We also celebrated my Dad's birthday this weekend and I did not get a picture of the cake prior to consumption!



The final weekend of September I had Jackson's Mill weekend! I go three times a year and meet up with all my Friends of Bill and it is truly my refresh weekend!!! I love these two people below with all my heart!!! They are two of my very best buddies on the planet!




And the theme for the weekend...says it all!!



And finally, last weekend was the Halloween work charity party! We do this ever year for Variety Charity and it gets better each year!

Here is the pumpkin I carved...it was Lego themed and I got the idea from Pinterest!!!




Here is a shot of one section of the decorations...




Another area of the building we decorated...



And finally, our costumes! I made these from ideas from Pinterest and they turned out perfect! On the left was Gail the Construction Worker (Kathy from work) and on the right was me in my Swamp Thing lego costume.



What a great month!!! As you can see, I had JUST a little activity going on but I promise to keep you posted along the way from this point forward and not save it up a month at a time! LOL!

I hope you all had as much fun as me. Hopefully there will be much more to come with the whirlwind of the holidays around the corner! 

Happy Fall yinz all!!!

How was your September? Ever get too busy to blog, I would live to hear about what you did to budget you time?!

ICU Nurse it is

 Hi everyone!! I am just here checking in quickly. I almost feel bad checking in as it has been an eternity since I posted!!! UGH! Life has ...