Awkward and Awesome Thursday

There's a new Doctor next door to us. They share a wall with us, a wall that I sit right next to that lets all sound through. They decided it would be best to put a patient room right there. Now, all day long, I hear machines whirling about and some alarm that goes off sporadically. It seriously sounds like the fire alarm and is that loud. I hear every conversation, every movement. There's thumping, and bumping into the wall. They have some machine that sounds like the spit catchy thing at the dentist, and it runs all. day. long. Between them and my annoying neighbors who have decided to play video games all day and night in their bedroom (that shares a wall with us) I am going crazy. Granted, it's not really my neighbors fault, or these new doctors, these blasted walls are just so thin that they block nothing. I just want to go hide somewhere that's quiet. Just to get a break from the noise.

Ok, whiny time is over, onto something much more fun...

Awkward:

• Every time we go grocery shopping at WalMart we see a painted van. Last time it was a big grey van with giant multi colored polka dots. Classy.
• Our girl animals like to pass gas, a lot. Penny is a real stinker. Rukia had us cracking up though because they are usually always silent, except last night. Last night it had some noise to it and scared her. She jumped up and flipped around to see what the heck that noise was by her bum. Little did she know it was just her.
• Again with WalMart, We saw an old man get out of his van with a giant furry hat on that had horns as well. To make that even better he was carrying a leopard purse with a chihuahua in it.
• Me trying to take a picture of crazy WalMart man and getting caught. "See that girl over there? She's taking a picture of me". I immediately put my phone down and ran away.
• Trying to bring dinner over or go grocery shopping for my grandparents. They refuse to let it happen. I was able to do their dishes last night while my grandma protested the whole time. I called immediately after work so I could bring them dinner (at 4). They told me they had some people over visiting and to just come over at 5 and we'd figure out dinner. By the time I got there, at 5, they were halfway through their soup. They couldn't wait any longer, "maybe if you could have come over sooner...". <Bangs head against table>

Awesome:

• Getting a Valentine's package in the mail from mom and dad.
• Going on walks with my grandma. We walk down by the river and always manage to come at the perfect time to see the herd of deer that live down there. Yesterday we saw close to 20, no biggie in Michigan, but exciting in the desert.
• Tracy's coming to Vegas next week!!!! We're stoked to be combing two of our favorites, Family and Vegas, Woot!
• Smashburgers Smash Fries. Holy goodness they are amazing.
• My manager at work showing me her kitchen design plans. Or showing me how to coupon online. Or talking to me endlessly. Anything to have a break from work ;)

Down-coaster

 If the last couple months are any sort of indication of how I'll be as a pregger, Chad is in for a real treat. My birth control prescription ran out and now that we have no insurance I trotted up to Planned Parenthood, thinking this would be easy and cheap.

Easy, yes.
Cheap, yes.
Makes me a crazed and depressed lunatic who really has no need of birth control, yes.

Chad would look at me wrong, I would cry. I would think about something slightly sad in the shower and bust out crying. Heaven forbid something was legitimately wrong. The whole first half of December you could find me sitting on the kitchen floor crying while Chad was in class. Yes it was a stressful couple weeks but pull yourself together lady! No need to feel bad for me, I was just a crazy, lunatic woman. And when I say was, I mean still am.

Then the anxiety came. I am still anxious over everything. Getting our registration renewed on our car. Talking to the doctor about changing my medication. Mondays. Yup, just sitting at work on a Monday doing nothing and feeling like I've got a ton of bricks on my chest. Good, c-r-a-z-y, times.

I told the Doctor I was on a emotional roller coaster. She corrected me, "No, you're on a emotional down-coaster. Let's fix this."

TMI? Yeah, probably. But I'm feeling like a legitimate crazy person and sometimes my crazy leaks through to the blog. So here's hoping that my sanity returns and I stop being a depressed, anxiety ridden crazy lady and can go back to just being my regular crazy self.

 

Surprise!

Is everyone tired of hearing about my birthday yet? I'm sure by now only my immediate family is reading anything related to this topic.... anywho, I promise to keep it short.... here we go!

Chad had been talking about my "Birthday Surprise" all last week. Saturday was the day and I was stoked!

We started the morning off with breakfast at Kneaders. Mmmmm. Best breakfast, ever. After that we went home and Chad told me to get ready. Without giving anything away he told me what to wear, and what to bring to change into.

Completely unrelated picture of my actual birthday

Soon enough we were heading south. Then we stopped at Walmart. I figured we would turn around from there and head back into town. But we started heading south again. I had no idea where we were going. I thought he was just going south to trick me. Because unless you are headed all the way down to Vegas, there's nothing south of us except desert.

Again, nothing to do with my story,  my super delicious cake that Chad made

Lucky me... I was going to Vegas! We shopped, wandered around, shopped some more and found these beauties. I am in love with my new boots! Chad also found something for him too :)

fancy suit, that we got a killer deal on, for our fancy date

I found two pair of boots I like and couldn't decided so we bought both, went out to the car, got my outfit, changed in the bathroom (difficult), then tried on both boots and pranced around a random store. As soon as I saw these I knew they had to be mine. So we returned the other pair and took these lovelies with us! Thanks Chad :)

Just ignore the fact that my face looks as yellow as my tights

We spent the rest of the evening dressed up and all of a sudden were treated much differently. Normally we are in sneakers and t-shirts because we are walking around a lot and have to drive an hour and a half. We were getting the up and down glances from everyone and people were much more helpful and friendly everywhere we went. Note to self/everyone: dress nice in Vegas, it's much more fun!

Normally in Vegas we eat at gas stations and WalGreens. And then we carry around our goodies in a shopping bag and eat while we wander. Classy people. What can I say, we're super cheap. This was a Birthday surprise though so we went to a fancy shmancy restaurant, inside the Wynn, instead. An added bonus, we sat along the wall that opened up to the casino, so we could still people watch.

After dinner we wandered around until the very wee hours of the morning. It's fun to shop during the day but you just can't beat people watching on a Saturday night/Sunday morning. I had a rockin' birthday, thanks honey! Let's do it again real soon ;)

Sunday Dress

Shirt, Skirt, Belt: Thrifted, Shoes: Charlotte Russe

 
Sometimes we stay up too late watching movies and eating ice cream.
Sometimes Chad decides to clean the whole house by himself.
Sometimes he then goes on to do all the laundry too.
Sometime we spend our whole Saturday night skyping with family.
Sometimes I wake up sandwiched between my hubby and my doggy.
Sometimes thrifting is just a nightmare with endless sloppy clothes that should be tossed.
Sometimes thrifting is a dream come true and I leave with gems like this skirt, belt and shirt.

Linking up with: All things Alisa, Your Whims Wednesday, Rae, What I Wore Wednesday, Sunday Style, Rubi , Transatlantic Blonde

Awkward and Awesome Thursday

Awkward:

• Chad dropping me off so I could find a potty as soon as we got into Vegas,while he went and parked the car. While doing the potty dance waiting in line I got a few looks from the other women. Whatevs, I had to go! My favorite though, as I sat on the bench waiting for Chad was another couple our age that came busting through the doors. The guy points to the restrooms and the girl does a fist pump in the air and exclaims, "yes!" as she ran for the bathroom. It's always nice to have a partner in crime in your awkwardness, even if the other person doesn't know it.
• Turning on my side to fall asleep only to realize that the side of my entire right thigh is numb. Completely numb. 2 days later it's finally all gone. If this is a sign of a stroke or paralysis or something please let me know *cough*Ashley*cough*, otherwise I'm just going to ignore it and hope for the best, because that's always the best way to handle these things.
• Still not used to how warm it is here in January. I'm waiting for the ice storms and snow days, bundling up for the day in gloves and my winter coat. When I left work Tuesday it was 60 out. Don't really need a coat for that.

Awesome:

• The group next to us eating dinner at Las Vegas bought dessert for us. Super nice and unexpected! And the dessert was out of this world delicious.
• The Spicy Shrimp Scampi Fritta at Olive Garden. OMG, so good.
• Mail from people who aren't looking for my money.
• While the rest of the world posted pictures of the -234482389 degree weather they were having this week, it was a pleasant 60 degrees here. St. George for the win! 
• Getting a pair of new shoes for our anniversary, Christmas, and birthday
• Using gift cards!
• Getting a reward check from Costco in the mail.

Happy Thursday!

Sunday Dress

Happy Monday! While the rest of the world is at home sleeping in, making pancakes, playing in the snow and napping, I am at work. To make matters worse the Dr. said if he knew how s-l-o-w of a day we had he would have just canceled and we all could have stayed home. Would-a, Should-a, Could-a. That of course made today even more unbearable, knowing I could have been home under my heated blanket snuggled up with the fur babies and Chad.
 

Sunday was a recovery day. Recovery from last week and recovery from my birthday surprise on Saturday. After church in the morning, lunch, and playing with the camera for a while we napped. And when I say napped, I mean slept. Because when you sleep from 4:30 to 9:30 you can't consider that a nap anymore. We had a glorious dinner of corn pops when we woke at 9:30, let the dog out and then headed up to bed to fall back asleep.

You would think after a million hours of sleep I would have been ready to go this morning. You of course would be wrong. I am tired and I am working... but I also have another gift certificate to a restaurant in my pocket and new birthday boots on my feet. So, really, I guess this Monday isn't that bad at all.

Shirt & Belt: Thrifted, Tights: Kohls, Skirt: TJMaxx, Boots: Ralph Lauren

Linking up with: All things Alisa, Your Whims Wednesday, Rae, What I Wore Wednesday, Sunday Style, Rubi , Transatlantic Blonde

Four {Confessions} Friday

1. Bunheads is awesome. And while it's no Gilmore Girls, it does help fill that void.

2. Ice Cream helps my upset stomach. It really does. Chad thinks I just want to eat ice cream, which, hello, I do. But it makes my tummy feel better when it's angry with me. Double win.

3. Does anyone else find it strange that The Biggest Loser is 2 freakin' hours long? They want me to watch, but then they yell at me for watching tv for hours. Um, anyone else confused? Regardless I'm addicted. Crossing my fingers that this season isn't a giant, disappointing, mess of a season like last year. At the very least at least I'll get to watch Jillian make grown men cry, and that my friends, is always a good time.

4. My dog follows me everywhere when I'm home. Seriously. Everywhere. She'll be sleeping and I'll walk the ten feet from my couch into the kitchen, all of a sudden she's there. She'll be sleeping and I'll try to sneak upstairs. Nope. She's only two steps behind me. She's also super jealous of the phone and anytime I use it she is all up in my face trying to get me to play with her. She may be crazy and super needy but she's an awesome pup and we love her!

 

 

Anyone brave enough to share some confessions of their own?

Awkward and Awesome Thursday

Awkward:

• Going to WalMart to buy compressed air. All we could find, back where it normally is, were 2 packs for more than double the price on one. So Chad set out to find someone to help us. He asked some young guy who then asked a woman who worked in the electronics department. Chad explained what we were looking for again and she brought him back to where we had already been and pointed out the 2 pack. So Chad explained again. She shrugged her shoulders and said well, all we have are 2 packs. We gave up and as we were leaving, at the end of the aisle we were on we found the above pic. An entire display of compressed air, in single cans. Chad almost fell over laughing.
• Chad reminding me of the days we were engaged and I would get dressed after coming home from work instead of changing into yoga pants and a sweatshirt.
• I always take off people's shoes and socks at the nursing homes. One older gentleman asked me if I was going to take everything off.... and then winked at me.
• Boxing up the rest of our food to take home from the restaurant on Monday and then leaving it on the table. We cannot every remember to take food with us. I've remembered before, been super proud of myself and then left it on top of the car. Fail.
• Actually remembering to bring Olive Garden home on Tuesday and then dropping Chad's all over the car. Whoops. Fail.

Awesome:

• Not cooking dinner yet this week!
• Chad likes my minestrone soup over Olive Gardens. I agree.
• There's a resident in one of the nursing homes that looks exactly like my Grandma Hoopes.
• Tying my birthday balloons to the animals and watching the freak outs. Penny ran for her life and hid under the Christmas tree while the balloon "followed"(yes our tree is still up, we got it late so it's staying up late because we love it!!). Rukia became paralyzed, then also took off running and then hid by the couch. Sunny just laid down and started eating the ribbon.
• Birthday surprises at work. Working on your birthday is the worst but birthday surprises at work make for a fabulous day!
• Birthday slide show made by the hubby.
• Week long Birthday celebrations!!! Are you sensing a theme here?

Hope you had a mostly Awesome Week! ;)

 

Linking up with Vintage Modern Wife

Birthday Madness

Between my Birthday fun (Happy Birthday to Me :) ) and work, it's been a crazy week. Today was the first day we ate at home this week, cereal counts as dinner right? Chad took me out to eat on Monday because it was the day before my birthday and then of course we went out last night because it was actually my birthday! We do week long birthday at our house ;)

There were flowers from my work

And a chocolate mousse bomb

Work has been crazy nuts-o and we've also been trying to help out the Grandparents when they need it as well. We've been busy and happy. Even happier because the birthday fun will last all the way through this weekend. You can't ask for much more than that.

Balloons brought to work by the hubby

More flowers and treats from the hubby brought to work. Caffeine was needed and appreciated!

The Brittany Saga Continues...

I really thought Brittany had pulled her act together. Silly me. I think she was just giving us a break before she attempted to flood our apartment.

Chad and I came home from work and school Tuesday night to find water in our downstairs half bath. We looked and couldn't quite figure out where it was coming from. Chad said it looked like it was coming from the wall. We called our landlord and the two guys my age came right over.

They looked around and came to the same conclusion, it was coming from the wall. Our wall we share with Miss Brittany. They explained that sometimes a nail or something can put a hole in a pipe and cause a leak. I laughed, they hadn't met Brittany yet. Homegirl was not hanging art in her bathroom, she was flying high trying to steal our internet. Anyways...

They go over to see if they can see what's going on. 15 minutes later they returned with wide eyes asking if I knew what was wrong with her. Uh, yeah... she's on drugs and is crazy.

Apparently Brittany had clogged her toilet and it was flooding everywhere. Instead of mopping up the water and plunging her toilet she made the executive decision to just do nothing. Yup, nothing. The water was flooding their entire first floor, no biggie.

So these two guys, who don't even rent to her and have nothing to do with letting her live there, went out and bought a plunger and fixed her toilet. They said she told them she would get some towels to mop up the mess. I told them I would call them if the water didn't go away. Because let's face it. She's not going to go out and buy towels.

You would think that in the 3 times she's been over this week she could have at least asked to borrow a plunger or something. Nope, your toilet overflowing everywhere isn't nearly as important as getting the internet.

Aparmtent life is the *best*. We had gone a whole year with realatively little mishaps, now we are paying the price. Anyone else have their own apartment horror stories to add?

Awkward and Awesome Thursday

Don't get too distracted by our awesome new hat not to notice Chad wearing my sparkly new shoes.

Awkward:

• She's baaaaack. Brittany in all her sobbing, life ending, drama is back. Her baby daddy left with all her things (in what world does this make sense, you need a better lie sweetie). Her child is constantly running around outside in nothing but her undies. She wasn't all wrapped up like a homeless person in 8 blankets last time she came over so Chad got a peek at the worst tattoo ever. Anyone surprised? I can't imagine home girl is capable of paying her rent since she couldn't get a job at Taco Bell, so maybe she won't be here in a few weeks. Want to know why she didn't ace that interview? No? I didn't either but she still told me so I'm telling you - she brought her daughter to the interview with her. If that doesn't scream "hire me!" I don't know what does. End Rant.
• Waking up for church bright and early Sunday morning at 8am only to remember that our start time had changed. The only question was to when....? This is when it would be nice to have friends in our ward. Unfortunately we are such hideous people that everyone avoids us like the plague. Luckily my visiting teacher has to at least pretend to like me and she texted me our new time ;) So happy for 11am church now!
• Eating brownie sundaes and drinking red bull while watching The Biggest Loser Monday night. Not the first time this happened and it wont be the last.
• Freaking out at work because I couldn't find my phone. Is it in the kitchen? No. Bathroom? No. Ok, ok, retrace your steps Danielle. After you left the bathroom you...? Came back to my desk and started playing a game on my... phone. I seriously started freaking out that I couldn't find my phone while I was ON my phone.

Awesome:

• Shopping in Vegas and being able to actually buy things (late Christmas presents and early Birthday presents for me!). It was nice to not window shop :)
• Comfy new shoes.
• Chad's new school/camera bag.
• Landlords that respond immediately.
• Financial Aid :)
• New Scrubs, that I didn't have to pay for!
• Watching my dog become completely paralyzed after putting a little doggy backpack on her.
• Texas Road House bringing us a box full of rolls into work. There were only 2 of us at work that day and we had 4 dozen rolls and a tub of cinnamon butter. Doesn't get much better than that on a Wednesday afternoon without any patients!

Boooooooo

I may not be back in school but Chad is and.... Boooooo!

Yes, I'm being a whiny baby. Yes, I am at work all day. And you know what I have to say about that?

Booooooo!

If anyone's figured out how both you and your husband can stay at home, sleep in every morning, eat brownies sundaes and redbulls everyday for lunch (without becoming obese), travel all over and then make it home in time to eat ridiculous amounts of mexican food, snuggle with a puppy and stay up until the wee hours of the morning talking and giggling, all without jobs of course, please let me know.

Until then, we'll keep working at attempting to be responsible adults during the week and acting like the above  on Friday and Saturday.

Ok, and most of Sunday too.

Wild, Wild West

I was a binkie girl when I was little. And while I don't actually remember my binkie I do remember my toy rifle. Confused yet? Stay with me... I was finally old enough to where my parents knew it was time that the binkie went away. In exchange for all the binkies, they took me to pick out any toy I wanted at the toy store. Out of all the dolls and barbies, stuffed animals and games.... I chose a toy rifle. And I loved that toy! I remember "loading" it with pea stones pretending to shoot all the bad guys. I was packing up my room at my parents house after getting married and my toy rifle was still there under my bed. Best. Trade. ever.

The rifle didn't make the cut to move and live across the country, unfortunately. It's still at my parents, or Chad was a sneak and got rid of it. Either way... I promise there's a point to this rambling. When Ash and Pat were here they were able to stay an extra afternoon after the parents and Tay left. So I took the afternoon off and we headed out into the desert... to shoot guns :)

Chad and Pat were the most excited to go and shoot, I was mostly excited to not be at work. I really didn't think I'd be able to hit anything.

Wrong.

When a pop can gave us trouble and no one couldn't manage to hit it, I did. After the boys failed attempted to hit anything with one of the guns, I was the only one able to hit a can. I was slightly excited, it was a good time.

By the time we were done, we were freezing and I was asking Chad when we could get one.

Sunday Dress

 Chad surprised me with these rockin' yellow tights in my stocking for Christmas! Yellow is my favorite color so I was stoked. Also super exciting? My new hat that was also part of my "stocking" presents from him.

Yesterday we headed down to Vegas. We weren't able to get each other Christmas presents before Christmas so we decided to go after! We spent the whole day shopping around the city and took advantage of all the post-Christmas sales. It worked out real well. I ended up with this lacy blue dress and another lovely shirt. Chad got an awesome new bag for school and for his camera, and a stylin' new pair of boots for only $20. Can't beat that my friends.

Dress: F21, Belt: DownEast Basics, Tights, Shoes, Hat: Target

Since my birthday is also coming up Chad bought my present for that as well! I may or may not have worn my birthday present around the rest of the night ;) I'll show you all my lovely gift when my b-day actually rolls around. Clearly we aren't very good at surprise gifts. For stockings this year we each headed into Target with a budget, went our separate ways, met at the front of the store and hid our purchases from each other all the way home. Then we immediately ran inside and showed each other what we had found! It's how we roll.

Linking up with: All things Alisa, Your Whims Wednesday, Rae, What I Wore Wednesday, Sunday Style, Rubi , Transatlantic Blonde

Awkward and Awesome Thursday

I'm not the only awkward one in this marriage.

Awkward:

• Almost running over an ax in the road. Why is there an ax in the middle of a 5 lane highway? We pulled over and Chad moved it.... to the back seat of our car, so it can impale us if we get in an accident of course.
• Remember how I ranted and raved all about the horrible drivers here in good ol' St George? I'm starting to understand why, in drivers ed they don't actually drive, they pretend to drive using simulators. Yeah, cause that's the same thing... The doctor's daughter keeps failing the simulator because she's too afraid to drive over 4 mph.
• Patients wandering around the office. We have a fake tree blocking the doorway to our front office from the back office. Some crazy lady tried to squeeze past the tree to where I was THREE TIMES the other day. I told her she couldn't be back here and she looked so confused. Then she tried 2 more times. Seriously lady, take a hint. A big tree sized hint.
• Patients showing up on the wrong day crying about whatever crazy is going on in their life and me being like "well.... I guess we'll see you next Tuesday then...."
• My grandma's reaction every time she remembers that Chad and I are vegetarian. It's seriously the most offensive thing we could have done to her. Her face is priceless every time.

Awesome:

• CHRISTMAS!!! Duh...
• Getting your financial aid adjustment to finally go through since you make a whole heck of a lot less now.
• Eating your weight in Christmas cookies
• Heating Pads
• Instant Dry nail polish
• The Next Iron Chef

I'm sure there were many more awkward moments over the Christmas break but frankly I was too excited to have everyone here and celebrate to even remember!

Any awkwardness over your holidays?

Christmas in the New Year

 We celebrated my dad's birthday on Thursday, I had to work.... boo. So after a strenuous day of chillin' at work answering a few phone calls my family picked me up and we headed out to eat. We decided to go where everyone could find something... Golden Corral! We had to accommodate 3 vegetarians, the grandparents and their meat loving tummys, and the rest of my family who is a little less particular :) A buffet was perfect!

We ate waaaay too much. And then we finished it off with cotton candy! Dad got sung to and then we headed back home to the grandparents.

Friday I only had to work half a day so we of course had to celebrate the birthday more with a second buffet! Chinese this time. It was a little bit of a drive to get there but it was my favorite. We ate soup and shrimp and noodles and loved every minute of it. This will have to be our dinner stop after Zion's National Park from now on!

Ash and Pat left us Friday afternoon. Jobs are the worst (ok, not really, but they are around the holidays). Then late Saturday night I got a phone call from Ashley.

"Are you alone"
"Uh, no"
"Ok, go into the bathroom so no one can hear!"
.....
"We are driving back down to St. George!!! BAH!!!"

Chad, Tay and Mom tried to get the secret out of me but I didn't tell! I'm a horrible liar though and couldn't stop smiling. They were convinced that she was pregnant. They got in around 2:30 Sunday morning. After church that morning all the kids headed over to the granparents. Everyone was very surprised to see Ash and Pat, we had just said goodbye!

The rest of the weekend we played cards until we couldn't play anymore! Mom and Dad took us grocery shopping, we almost had to get another cart! The boys played pool, grandpa whooped them all! Mom and I finished someone else's puzzle at the clubhouse in my grandparents neighborhood, and we swam soaked in the hot tub! We sneaked in a trip to Cafe Rio, bought goodies for half price at Kneaders and had the biggest shakes we could find! Happy Birthday and Merry Christmas to us!!!

Monday morning the parents and Tay headed back down to Vegas to catch their flight home. We said goodbye and did the ugly cry. It's always the worst to say goodbye. We had an awesome week with them and a great Christmas!