Returning Soon …

I'm really going to make an effort to get back to blogging regularly. 

I will post an update within the next week.

Hope everyone's been doing well!

Let's Try This Again …

I've been meaning to get back to blogging for so long, but I just keep putting it off. There was so much that I wanted to update on and it just seemed overwhelming, so I'm approaching it in a different way. I'm going to set realistic expectations for blogging - starting out with trying to do at least one post per week. Then I won't feel bad if I don't do more. 

I hope everyone enjoyed their summer. Mine was pretty good: mainly working and school and a few fun things to liven up the regular schedule. I went to the Secret Classic in July which I do most years. This year, however, I went down the day before and attended the HOPES meet and stayed overnight. I met almost every senior gymnast and some juniors at the meet and the hotel. Also the day of the meet I got to meet two of my favorite gymnasts ever - Shawn Johnson and Alicia Sacramone! It was amazing!

In August I went to go see Idina's World Tour! It was super incredible, I'm so so grateful I got to go!

I'm so super excited that my favorite season in the whole world is in full swing!!! I love love love Fall so much and honestly it passes so quickly each year! Today the weather was so amazing and I had all my windows open and lots of fall scents burning. I'm determined to get professional photos of D and I taken this fall. One of my co-workers does photography on the side and I've already talked with her about it. I'm thinking sometime in October. 

With fall comes fall TV premieres! I feel like I don't have as many shows to watch this year since Glee and Revenge are both over :( Here are the ones I'm still looking forward to.

Work has been going great, I really love my night shift girls and we work together wonderfully. Night hours are getting kind of hard though with school, but I'm still loving every minute of it. I'm taking 2 classes again this semester. One is already half over and its going really well. I can't believe how fast time is flying right now. It's just crazy. 

That's all for now! Hope you all have been doing great! 

Back to Blogging

I'm back!! The last few months have been crazy busy with moving added into my already busy school and work routine. Here's some pictures of our first home!!

Living room -- we have to work on decor next! Everything is bare!

Living room -- our coffee table is on backorder.

Master bath -- love how it turned out.

Master bath.

Kitchen.

Kitchen.

Main bathroom.

Dining room.

Master bedroom.

Master bedroom. I got a purple room! :D

Spare bedroom. 

A definite work in progress but we've come a long way! We had to buy all of our furniture and bedroom/bathroom sets new because we didn't have much before and wanted it to be nice. We also painted the entire inside, every room, ourselves. I love the way everything turned out! We also have a third bedroom/possible future nursery but for now it is a dumping and unpacking room so I'll take a picture of it later. We are so blessed to have found the house of our dreams!

This summer I am taking two GER classes that I need for my Bachelor's curriculum: Basic Nutritional Science and Introduction to Ethics. Both are fine so far but definitely keeping me busy. I ended the Spring semester with a 4.0 GPA, which I was very happy with! Assuming I pass everything I should graduate with my Bachelors in Nursing in May of 2017. 

Work is going well. I have actually been a RN for a year tomorrow! In some ways I feel like the time has flown, in other ways I feel like it has gone slow. I definitely have learned so much in my first year and I'm looking forward to learning just as much in the years to come. 

I got some bad news at the doctor the other day. Apparently they missed some of the bad cervical cells so I have to have another LEEP procedure. Not sure when, I have to go for an appointment on June 26th, ironically the same day that I'm having surgery on my arm. I had an abnormal mole and have to have an excision done. I've had one on my back before and it's not too bad but I will have quite a large scar. Family and friends have been so supportive with prayers. 

I am starting another weight loss journey, so I will be updating on that as well!

I hope to keep up with this blog better!! Hope everyone's been well! 

Cruise Days 3, 4, and 5

Day Three

Most of day three we spent hanging by the pool and more exploring of the ship. Donaldo got to do the surfing that he wanted (the Flow Rider) and I enjoyed reading a book for fun, which I hadn't done in a very long time!! We got drinks and went to an ice show before dinner that was amazing!

Day Four

On day four we docked at the port in Cozumel, Mexico! I had previously been to Cozumel and Playa del Carmen when I was 17 and I was so happy to be back! It is totally and completely beautiful. For our excursion we chose to swim and snorkel on a beach in Playa del Carmen called Akumal. The snorkeling was amazing and we saw many sea turtles! After snorkeling, they took us to a private beach where we relaxed and had lunch. It was incredible. The only part of the day that wasn't fun was that I got seasick on the ferry ride to Playa along with most of the rest of the ship. The seas were really rough that day and I've NEVER been motion or seasick in my life so I thought I'd be fine. Not so much. 

Luckily by the time we got back to the ship and relaxed a bit I was okay. When we got back we went to a bar called Olive and Twist on Deck 15 of the ship. It is the highest deck so you can see everything. It was so pretty! Then we went to dinner and hit more bars and activities around the ship. We ate at one of the two of the more fancy restaurants on this night and it was the most amazing food I have EVER had. It was an Italian restaurant called Portofino's.

Day Five

For our last day on the ship, we mainly hung out by the pool all day again and relaxed. We ate at this burger place on the ship for lunch. We got ready for dinner and then after dinner we hit some 80's music trivia and then karaoke. Karaoke was SO MUCH FUN and so hilarious!! 

I decided to combine our last 3 days of the cruise since we are moving to our new house soon and I'm going to definitely want to do lots of posts about the progress with it. We decided to paint the entire inside so we didn't move in on our closing date, which was April 3rd. Last weekend we went and bought all of our furniture, bedding, and bathroom sets. It was super fun! I can't wait to see how everything comes together!! 

Being A Part of Something Special Makes You Special

This post is a week late but I couldn't let the ending of Glee pass without a tribute post. 

Glee has meant so much to me. Growing up in a family where I was the only person I knew involved in singing and interested in Broadway and such, this show was near and dear to my heart from the very first episode. There was nothing anywhere on television, radio, or otherwise at that time that spoke to my passion for singing the way Glee did.

One major part of Glee for me that has inspired me so much is Lea Michele. She is such an incredible person. Her emotion and love for singing and music reminds me each time I watch her why music and singing are also my passion. She is by far my favorite part of the entire show and why I kept watching through some of Glee's slumps like Seasons 4 and 5 when the original characters went off to college and the new Glee club was formed at McKinley. If she wouldn't have stayed on the show I would have stopped watching, but I had to watch any opportunity I had to see Lea. She is not only super talented, but also an amazing person in real life. She has gone through so much throughout the course of the show's run and has remained so strong throughout all of it. I will follow her career forever!

I also identified so much with her character Rachel Berry. One of my co-workers even said I reminded them of her (personality wise) once. It was like the best compliment ever, haha.  

Another one of my favorite things about Glee was Rachel and Finn's relationship. I rejoiced with the other Gleeks when finding out that Lea and Cory were dating in real life as well. I think that everything that went on with Cory's passing connected the fans of this show so much more strongly to the cast because of the fact that we all mourned the loss together. It's a unique situation and I think it just made the fans of the show love the cast even more and vice versa. I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when I heard the news and I was very emotional about it. I cried a lot over it, and I still do when I watch Glee even now. I cry for Cory and Lea and the cast of the show and for us fans who miss his presence on the show and in life so much. 

Obviously the music was my other favorite part of the show. This show covered so many of the artists and the Broadway musicals that I love! Here are my favorite performances of each season! They're not ranked in any order because that would take a ridiculous amount of time.

Season 1

Don't Stop Believin' (from the Pilot)

Push It

I Wanna Sex You Up

Somebody to Love

It's My Life/Confessions Part II

Keep Holdin' On

Don't Rain On My Parade

I Dreamed A Dream

Faithfully

Season 2

Empire State of Mind

Toxic

The Only Exception

One of Us

Get Happy/Happy Days Are Here Again

Just the Way You Are

Bills, Bills, Bills

Take Me or Leave Me

Sing

Get It Right

Loser Like Me

Somewhere Only We Know

My Man

For Good

Pretending

Season 3

Somewhere

Fix You

I Can't Go For That/You Make My Dreams

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

We Are Young

Sexy and I Know It

Stereo Hearts

Fly/I Believe I Can Fly

Here's To Us

My Love Is Your Love

It's All Coming Back To Me Now

We Are the Champions

Roots Before Branches

Season 4

Americano/Dance Again

New York State of Mind

Oops … I Did It Again

Give Your Heart A Break

Don't Speak

The Scientist

Homeward Bound/Home

Don't Dream It's Over

Love Song

Bye Bye Bye/I Want It That Way

Next to Me

Don't Stop Believin'

To Love You More

Hall of Fame

Season 5

Yesterday

Here Comes the Sun

Seasons of Love

Make You Feel My Love

Applause

Roar

Just the Way You Are

Brave

Gloria

Hold On

I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For

Just Give Me A Reason

Downtown

Lovefool

Pumpin Blood

Take Me Home Tonight

Pompeii

Season 6

Uninvited

Let It Go

Take On Me

Problem

A Thousand Miles

Uptown Funk

Listen to Your Heart

Take Me to Church

Chandelier 

Popular

Don't Stop Believin'

This Time

I Lived

I have over 320 Glee Cast songs in my iTunes and I hope one day I will have them all. I also own all the DVDs which I am currently re-watching. I am so happy to have these to keep Glee alive always! Thank you so much to the cast, crew, and creators for six wonderful seasons!