No Exciting Changes Here

Hi everyone!

I hope you are all having an awesome Thursday!

Remember that exciting news I thought I would have soon?!?!?!

Well, I just found out that exciting change that I was looking forward to is not happening! Bummer!

All good...I guess it was not meant to be.

I will follow God's direction even if I think it should go differently. LOL

Time to move on and pray for God's will...

OR NOT...

Just for today...I am NOT a happy camper!!!

 

 Maybe I will feel better tomorrow?!

TGI almost Friday!

Weekend of Personal Accomplishment

Hi all my lovely friends!  I hope everyone had a great weekend! I had a truly awesome weekend!

I got so much done for MYSELF for a change. Now that I am single again - I am focused on me and my home and it is so clean and so pretty! This, in turn, means I am so happy! I truly am! 

I did not realize how much I was ignoring my welfare to "take care" of someone else! WOWSA!

I feel so free and I truly realize that I cannot save that other person! No one is going to change bad habits for someone else and I cant expect that! Anyway...here is my list of accomplishments on my first weekend home being single!!!

1.  wash and scrub fish tanks

2.  change fish tank water and filter

3.  wash and scrub litter boxes

4.  download new recommended iTunes

5.  wash summer cloths and winter clothes

6.  switch out summer for winter clothes in closet

7.  catch up on Survivor, Teen Mom 2, Grimm, Mom and Amazing race episodes

8.  wash windows and sliding glass door

9.  wash car

10. vacuum inside car

11. plant plants and herbs on patio

Along the lines of number 11...here is my patio in all it's glory this year!!!! I bought out Home Depot and Portmann's! But I cannot wait to chill out this whole summer on my patio!!!

First this lovely plant!!!

Got this beauty at Portmann's...and hung up the hummingbird feeders....have not seen one yet though...they should be here soon!

 A pot of flowers on the corner...

Another beautiful hanging pot!

And my favorite....fresia!!!

 Another corner pot of flowers!

And herbs!!! parsley, thyme, oregano and dill

A columbine flower in yellow and rosemary!

This is the panoramic view. If you are in the area, stop by and we can sit and have tea on my patio! I love company!

I hope everyone has a great week! Take care of yourself and others!  Happy Tuesday!

 

My Favorite Etsy Shop

Personalized Jewelry - including swivel bars

I would love to introduce you all to my new etsy store!!

My favorite Etsy shop is my own of course! I am making hand-stamped jewelry and it is very affordable but still high quality!

Please come check it out at http://www.etsy.com/shop/annsterw if you are looking for high quality, personalized jewelry...I promise you will be %100 satisfied!!! Plus, you know where to find me if not! HA!

Here is an example of my "down by the sea" necklace. This comes with either the silver chain or black rope chain and you can pick any crystal you want or an initial(s) charm also.

Here is my "beach girl" necklace...this is one of my favs!!! I can do any initial you want on this or change the wording to "beach bum" or "sun worshipper", etc.

Here is my serenity wing necklace...I can stamp anything you want on this if you would prefer something other than "serenity". Also comes with either the silver or black rope chain and you could select to have initials instead of the word joy also.

Another of my favorites is this mother, grandma or aunt necklace. This is a four-sided swivel bar that I can stamp up to four names on and also included is the crystals for each childs birthstone...great gift for any mother or grandmother or aunt!

 This is one of my newest designs. I made it for my niece on her first holy communion. It has the name and date of your event.   It is also great for baptism or confirmation.

Anything in the store can be stamped on Nickle Silver or Brass.

Enjoy and I PROMISE...100% satisfaction!

Guess What? It's Finally Friday!

Hi everyone! I hope everyone is happy and healthy on this awesome FRIDAY!

I am joining in all the friday fun (Friday Favorites, Five on Friday, Oh Hey Friday) with the TOP five things I plan to do this weekend!

First, let me start off by saying they are not fun things to most people but I am SO looking forward to them! I have been dating someone for about a year and a half and that is over.I own a condo and I have spent most of my time at his house over the past year. We have done all kinds of projects on his house, his yard, his furniture and I have done nothing at my own house.  So i am way excited to have an entire weekend to MYSELF and my own house!

ONE:  I will begin with switching from winter clothes to spring and summer!! Yippee!!! No more boots for a LONG time! Flip flops here I come!

TWO:  I need to wash and vacuum my car - desperately! I am totally looking forward to this one! I keep my car very clean but right now it needs vacuumed inside really bad!

THREE: I am going to wash my windows and sliding glass doors. I have a condo and I just get new windows and doors and it will be so nice to wash them and have them be sparkling clean! Yea me!

FOUR:  Cleaning the fish tank! My poor fish have been begging for this! It's time I took care of the living things that depend on me and give them a little fresh water. I will drain about 1/4 and give them new, fresh water!!! They will be so happy!

FIVE:  Planting flowers!!! I am going to start planting! I know, I live in Pittsburgh and it's too early! I hear this every year - from EVERYONE - I just don't care! I am planting! My patio fun will begin! YIPPEE! I will drag everything in if it gets too cold...I do it every year! LOL!

For the bonus...I am binge watching Amazing Race, Survivor, Nashville, Grimm, Modern Family. Mom and Teen Mom 2 whenever possible! I have to catch up on ALL my favorite TV too!

Double bonus...I will be reading all my magazines as time allows too! I am so excited to get caught up with my life!

It's sad how much I did not do in my own life to make time to spend with the BF at HIS house. I am nuts...or...I was nuts!

Truly loving my life right now and truly grateful for EXACTLY where I am now! 

What does your life look like for the weekend? Are you happy with were you are right now?

I hope you all have a great weekend! XO

Ch Ch Ch Ch Changes...

Hi everyone! I hope everyone had a better weekend then me! Wowsa! 

Actually that is not exactly accurate...

I had a great weekend if I focus on the positives and that is PRECISELY what I plan to do from now on! I have always been a happy and cheerful person and lately I am kind of crotchety and grouchy and not as pleasant. I decided that some serious life changes needed ot happen and now they have...well, at least they are starting.

I can only share one aspect so far but here it is. Me and the BF are DONE! Enough is enough. All I am going to say is that when I evaluated the relationship, there was NOTHING in it for me. I was getting absolutely NOTHING from the relationship at all! SERIOUSLY!  I am not exaggerating at all by this. I am still baffled that it took me so long to bail but I honestly thought he was trying to change and I really felt bad after he had a family tragedy at the beginning of the year. Again, ENOUGH is ENOUGH! When I can feel myself becoming unhappy, it is time to run so I am long over due for running away! LOL!

So I am single! YIPPEE....MAYBE...LOL! So that is change one and there are more to come that I hope I can share SOON!!!!


So that is the crappy part of the weekend....which, if you think about it really is not that crappy. Time to open new doors. 

The rest of my weekend rocked!!! My little sister came into town and it was an awesome visit! We spent the day together shopping and making some necklaces for my nieces friends that are making their First Holy Communion. Here is what we made...
 

They are available to purchase and personalize in my Etsy shop HERE if you are interested.

After a fun Saturday of shopping and jewelry making, we went to a reunion for our Twirling Corps. I twirled from about 6 years old all the way through high school. We were members of the Modernettes and we were the Grand World National Champions every year!

Here are some photos from the night...

This is our amazing dance teacher that started it all! She is and always was CLASSY!

Here is a shot of the group I hung out with a lot! These are some of my favorite faces EVER!!! I literally grew up with these girls!

Of course there was a photo booth and, of course, I completely monopolized it!

Love this chick! We still hang out often these days!

And the group shot! This was such a great night! I hope they do another one next year!

Wish me luck on my new life!!! More changes and announcements to come......

Just in case no one told you they love you today, I love you!

Happy Monday!

Wednesday Hodgepodge

Wednesday Hodgepodge

1. What does retirement mean to you? Are you planning for it, not thinking about it, looking forward to it, or dreading it?

I am absolutely living for the day I can retire!  I almost feel like i am not enjoying today because I am planning so much for it!  I am planning for it and, God willing if I live that long, I will be living better then than I am now! YIPPEE!! If I die, then my nieces and nephews can all buy houses with my money! HEE!

2. It's International Guitar Month...do you play? Does anyone in your family play? What's a song you especially like to hear played on the guitar or a favorite song featuring the guitar?

I do not play. I have tried and my fingers do not work that way.  I have a friend Michael that plays and I loved hearing him play Kumbaya by the firepit.

3. What's your comfort food?

Chocolate and/or peanut butter - always my go to! I cant even keep them in the house!

4. What's one activity or area of your life where you absolutely never procrastinate?

Balancing my checkbook and finances. I check my finances EVERYDAY!!!

5. Who does the grocery shopping in your house? Does your local store bag the groceries for you or is it a do-it-yourself kind of place? Do you like someone packing your groceries?

I shop myself and I use the self scan isle and bag them myself. I need to make sure my stuff is packed well and not too much in each bag, etc. HA! When I go with my BF, we use the checkout and they bag them. He buys WAYYYY more than me! HA

6. What's the coolest thing you've seen in nature?

I love it all! I honestly cant pick one thing. I love running on trails here at home because it is all amazing to me! The little streams and waterfalls, to snakes and frogs and bunnies! I love it all!

7. Share a favorite quote about home.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

I am waiting to hear some important news and it is killing me!!!! Again, rushing through time and wasting today...

Hershey 10K April 2016

Hi everyone! I cannot wait to give you the recap from my Hershey Park 10K this past weekend! I went to run with my sister in Harrisburg and it was a great weekend and a great race!
I drove in Friday night and goit to hang out with my sister and her husband and my nephew, My nieces were at school and work so I did not get to see them at all this visit :-(

We went to dinner at Carrabba's when I got there....it was awesome! 

After dinner we went home to get some sleep for the race. We planned to get up at 5 to leave by 6 and then race started at 7:30.

here we are in the car race morning! I had soooo many issues race morning! Sore throat and cramps (thanks to the baby making parts - TMI I know!) and even more that I will not go into. Lets just say I thought it was going to be a horrible morning - LOL!

Here we are at race start! Can you see the Start?!?!? I started to feel a little better....thank you Midol!

And here is 1K...legs felt very tight...kinda wanted to sit down and quit! LOL

I saw the 2K flag and actually felt great! My legs were very limber and I ran up two small hills so far (I walk hills a lot normally)! 

Once I hit the 3K flag I really was feeling amazing! Not sure why but I felt so good...breathing was on point and my legs felt loose and ready to keep going forever!

4K - little zoomed in I know but I did not want to stop to focus better - ha! I was on a roll!

 There's the 5K flag - this is a long slow incline and I ran the ENTIRE thing!!!

 And we then hit the 6K flag right near the Hershey Outlet Stores...

And finally the 7K and the fun part of the race...now it is into the Park!!!

I passed my sister here in the park...she was ahead of me by about 1/2 mile at this point. That is her with both her hands up!

Passed the 8K inside the park!

And that's all she wrote :-(

Literally!

I never saw the 9K flag and my iPhone locked as I was coming into the stadium so I could not get a picture crossing the finish! I was so bummed! It rained the entire race so I think the rain on my Lifeproof case was messing up my being able to enter my password at the end. Oh well, I tried to get the whole race but fell short a little.

But, here's our finisher medals!!! AWESOME!!!

And here is a close up! The inside spins! It is my favorite medal so far! LOVE IT! We got this little Hershey bar in our bags too - LOL! You would think Hershey could at least give us a normal size bar? I guess they are trying to keep up healthy, hugh? It is a good thing that I run for the bling (medals) and not for the food! HA

We went shopping a little after the race and then I got to enjoy the rest of the day with my sister and brother-in-law watching my nephew play basketball! I never saw him play so it was awesome! And really fun to watch!!! He did great and scored lots of points!   That's him - number 12!!! WHOOP! Such a proud Aunt!!!

I hope everyone had an awesome weekend too!!!

Do you race? What was your last race? or favorite medal? Do you race for bling or to be able to eat? HA! I am bling and my sister is food! HA

Any ideas for a great Caribbean vacation spot? Need to plan vacation with the BF!

Happy Monday!