Finally. A breather to update.

I really need to get better at updating this blog. I still have been working on my list...just haven't updated this. Eep.

I'll just jump right into it. I started 30 Day Shred...well, sorta. I got it, and J and I did it the first day - but that was three days ago. It was a great workout, and I plan on sticking with it...we just haven't had the time or energy with little man being sick. Just after the first workout, I already felt great - and my knees don't creak as much. I had my MCL repaired in my left knee in 2003, and my right knee's always had issues [but no surgeries]. To feel a difference in my weak knees after the first 20-minute workout on level one was amazing. I love that DVD.

I added another dinner date to no. 28 - my best friend and I had dinner on Friday night when I got back into town. We just sat there for an hour and a half and just talked. It was SO awesome - I missed her! I already changed this on my list, but no. 29 has been started...I paid off our Kay card on the 1st! That card was what we used to buy our watched for Mother's Day/Father's Day last year, and we had set payments. I was able to pay it off early, and I'm glad it's finally done. Just three more to go...hopefully, another can be paid off by June, with the others coming along as they are at the moment.

Yesterday was the start of no. 60, which is to read 25 books. The bookstore on campus was having a half-off sale, so I went in on a whim and found an interesting book. The book was so interesting, I've already finished it - and I bought it Friday during my lunch break. It's call "Once Upon a Day" by Lisa Tucker. The book was absolutely fascinating...it's about this Hollywood power couple broken up by violence, the obsession to protect and the need to be free. A director falls in love with this struggling, innocent actress, and both are very successful. They wind up married with two children, but it all falls apart one day after two men rob their home and brutally attack the woman, almost killing her. Their daughter is locked in a closet for two hours while the men attack her mother, and the son finds her body - stabbed 17 times and burned, left for dead. The woman self-destructs over the course of two years, and the man has enough and moves his children to a secluded town in New Mexico while the wife is out of town shooting a movie, never leaving a trace of where they went. The children are homeschooled, never allowed to do anything dangerous, are never exposed to TV or the modern world...it's like they live in the 1950s and time has frozen around them. Nineteen years later, the son leaves The Sanctuary, the father gets very sick, and the daughter leaves to bring him home. The book follows the kids' journey towards discovering who they really are, who their mother really is [they'd been told she was dead] and how the outside world functions. I really, really liked it and am considering reading some of her other books. It feels good to read again.

I hadn't realized it, but I did watch two movies off the IMDB's list of 250 top movies [no. 63] - Monsters Inc. I watched it a few weekends ago. Of course, I've seen that movie a million times, but it never gets old. I also watched Ratatouille, one of my absolute fave animated movies. The first time I watched it, I didn't like it...but the second time, I fell in love. I really don't know why I love that movie so much...maybe it's the cooking or the French backdrop or Ratatouille himself - but that movie is one of my faves. Ever.

I started no. 71 on Friday, which is to donate $100 to ACS in honors of J's late dad. Relay for Life was at OSU this past weekend, and one of our student workers was participating...so I donated $10 towards the cause. I almost bought a luminaria, but I didn't have cash or my checkbook on me to do it. April 8 made three years since we lost J's dad to pancreatic cancer, and it still breaks my heart to think about him and how we lost him. His dad was such an amazing man with incredible drive and strength. I think his dad would be proud to see the man, the father and the future serviceman J has become. It makes me smile to think about it.

I have no idea what day I'm on with Project 365, but I've been keeping up with it. It's been fun to try and come up with something to take a picture of for the day that actually means something. It hasn't been that hard...and I hope it stays that way. I've also been adding grains of rice to my freerice.com count as I can...I just do it randomly. I thought about becoming a life member of the OSU Alumni Association this year, but they gave me a free year of membership, so I'll just wait until next year, I think. Doing it now will be pretty beneficial since, Lord willing, I'll be around long enough that the cost of becoming a life member will be cheaper than paying the yearly dues.

That's all I've got for the list for now. I'm going to do a separate blog entry with my other thoughts...I'm wide awake still, so might as well!

Viva Las Vegas!

So, I haven't updated in awhile because...well, nothing's happened. The past nine days have been full of work, last-minute planning for our Vegas trip and cleaning. Well now, that's all in the past, and I'm blogging from Vegas!

But first, let me backtrack. I've been able to add some checkmarks to my 101 in 1001 list..the first being a huge update. My best friend and I got tickets to the Lady Gaga concert on July 20 in OKC! This starts no. 67, which was to go to three concerts. I'm still beside myself right now, but there's still a lot of time between now and July. As it gets closer, I'll definitely get more anxious and excited about it. For now, I'll just blast Gaga songs from my CD player and count the days until I can attend the biggest concert event of the year.

I also added another one to no. 28, which was to have dinner with friends eight different times. My best friend, her husband, J and I went out to dinner on our anniversary. Dinner was so fun. My best friend and I haven't been able to hang out a lot because of our separate lives in separate cities, but we've had more time to see each other lately - which has been great. We went to a Mexican restaurant back home, and I was successful in freaking some people out at a table behind us. The day we went was the same day Kansas lost and busted my brakcet [big time]. I yelled in despair, which freaked out the people behind us. Baha.

Project 365 is going pretty well. I've done really good with taking pictures - either with my regular camera or my camera phone - and it's been fun. My Project 365 blog is updated quite a bit with pics...I may not post all the time, but I DO take a pic every day and post with the date I took it and a caption. It's been super easy to do that in Vegas. :)

Yes yes. Our trip has finally arrived - J and I are in Vegas. We left for our vacation on my birthday, which was awesome. I wore a tiara to celebrate the occasion:

But I must remember not to stay up until 2am when we have to leave at 5am to catch an 8am flight. I was dead all day. Good thing about that was I could sleep on the plane...I never sleep on airplanes, but I did this time. We had a four-hour layover in Salt Lake City, but they had free WiFi, so we were able to stay occupied and walk the airport a bit.  Around 2 that afternoon, we were finally in Vegas!

After what felt like forever to get our luggage [well, my luggage - J got his right after we got to the baggage claim], stand in line for the shuttle and get our rental car [thank goodness i booked ahead of time, because there were no cars to be found], we were on our way to our hotel - MGM Grand. We've had a blast the past couple of days we've been here, walking the Strip and exploring the city. I've been able to add to my new restaurant count here - ate at two new ones in a single day!

The first place we went to was House of Blues for lunch. I've really been wanting to eat here, but we're never near the one in Dallas when we go down there. I found a coupon for $25 off on Restaurant.com, so I got it and was determined to use it. We walked down the Strip yesterday and made it to the restaurant, which is in Mandalay Bay [not luxor...note for next time].

I had the bacon cheeseburger with the sweet potato fries. I also had key lime pie, but I forgot to take a pic of that one. Both of them were SO good - the sweet potato fries were absolutely amazing. I was so stuffed after we ate here, but we found enough room for dinner last night at a new place.

I have been DYING to eat here. I got a coupon for a free appetizer from MGM Grand Dining's FB page, so I printed it off, made reservations and went hungry. The atmosphere there was so chill and classy...I loved it. Our waiter was funny, too.

We had SO much food. Our appetizer was this BBQ pork, shoyu chicken and roasted duck platter - that was SO good. J doesn't like the taste of duck, but I love it. I ate most of that platter by myself. :P Then, I had the almond-crusted lemon chicken, J had the sweet and sour chicken, and we split the garden fried rice. OMG - the chicken was SO good. I was in heaven eating that. I wish I had gone with a more empty stomach, because I just wanted to devour everything. Good thing our room has a fridge so we could bring home leftovers!

This trip has been so fun, and we still have a couple of days of exploring to go. At first, I was disappointed in it because it just didn't feel the same, but as we started exploring and doing our own things, it started to become a blast. Tonight, we're going to a Cirque show, eating at ESPNZone and maybe going GoKarting. Can't wait!

And now...to start project 365...

My engagement ring and wedding ring - a year ago today, they were combined. Happy Anniversary babe.

Where has this month gone?!

Well, it's already February 18th. Which means, thanks to it being February, there are only 10 days left in the month. Sheesh. I can't believe we're almost into March...but I can't wait for March. It's our one-year anniversary, J's birthday and my birthday in March. :)

I haven't been feeling great the past few days...actually, I felt absolutely horrendous yesterday and Monday. It was weird...but luckily, I'm feeling much better and just about back to my normal self. I figured my eating habits were getting the best of me, so I've made a really strong effort to eat healthier and drink more water. I trick myself into drinking more water by pouring my bottles of water into an actual water bottle and drinking from that. I drank nearly 1 1/2 bottles of water [16.9oz bottles] at work today that way. Weird, but it works! I can already feel the difference and see a difference in my skin, which is great.

This past weekend was Valentine's Day. I'm really not a big fan of it, but it's always a nice holiday when you have someone special to share it with. J and I were supposed to go to Red Lobster for lunch on Sunday, but I felt like trash that day, so we didn't go. I hope we get to go this weekend and have our own celebration. He did, however, get me these:

Aren't they beautiful?! I really wanted flowers this year, but I didn't want red roses - and J caught onto that! The card he gave me was so super sweet...I started crying while reading it. I'm not sure if I was crying because what was inside was sweet or because the outside said "To my Wife." Even after almost 11 months, I'm still having a hard time believing I'm his wife.

Anyway. Our Valentine's Day - because I was sick - was pretty low-key. I spent the day on the couch; he spent the day with JJ. In the end, it all worked out. We also had Orange Tree for the first time, which was pretty tasty. I won't count it as one of my restaurants since I only had yogurt there, but it was definitely worth it. I'll go back when I'm feeling better. :) I slept the afternoon away since I felt trashy, then we watched the NBA All-Star game [which ended up being really good] and cuddled the night away. It was a nice, sweet Valentine's Day - our first as Mr. and Mrs.

I haven't made much progress on the list because...well, various reasons that all sound like excuses. But I've decided that I'm doing Project 365 starting on our one-year anniversary and going to our two-year anniversary. That year will capture when H leaves for the AF/graduates, JJ turning two, our vacation to Vegas, Homecoming...it'll be a great time to do it. I'm excited about it...AND, it'll force me to post my pictures every day and update this blog more often.

That's all I've got for now - oh, and I got a blogger award! I'll blog about that one later tonight. And a new craft challenge - I'll blog about that tonight, too. :) Loves!