TIme to get Blingy

Happy Valentine's Day, all :)

Today is the kick-off of a very special little partnership between me and Amanda at It's Blogworthy. Amanda is hosting the first ever virtual lia sophia jewelry party, and the info is on her site. It's part of the 1st birthday celebration for her awesome Friday feature, Celebrity Roundup, for which I was the first ever guest poster back when Charlie Sheen went cuckoo for cocoa puffs. We're quite excited about this little endeavor, and I'm thrilled to have her as a hostess. So hop on over to her site to check it out and treat yourself to whatever you didn't get for Valentine's Day.

PJs at TJ's and Free Your Mind Monday

Morning, all! I'm a hot mess today. I forgot my phone and my badge to get into the office. I forgot to leave Dan my check for my car payment, and I'm sure I'll discover I forgot something else at some point today. It's a great start to Monday, eh? I had a really fun weekend, though. I went to PJs at TJ's, hosted by Temerity Jane, which means I got to cross off #34 on my 101 in 1001. I got to meet some wonderful fellow bloggers (and a couple of their super cute kiddos), relax, enjoy girl talk, and wear my pajamas for most of a day - let's not kid ourselves though. Me wearing pajamas for 24+ hours is not all that uncommon. All in all, it was really fun, and I highly recommend attending a blog gathering if you ever have the opportunity.

Last week, I started my Free Your Mind Monday, inspired by Shana. Today brings you the second installment of my 50 Questions to Free Your Mind:

6. If happiness was the national currency, what kind of work would make you rich? Baking and crafting – anything to be creative and gift people with things I put heart into. I'm most happy when I'm doing something that fulfills my urge to bring ideas to fruition with something tangible and hopefully fun.

7. Are you doing what you believe in, or are you settling for what you are doing? I think I’m doing what I believe in. Part of my growth in the last 5 years has been to do what makes me (and Dan) happy and make no apologies. You're never going to please everyone, but what's most important is that I go to bed at night knowing I'm happy and have nothing to regret.

8. If the average human life span was 40 years, how would you live your life differently? I’d spend more time on vacation, enjoying silence. I’d read more, laugh more, and cuddle more.

9. To what degree have you actually controlled the course your life has taken? A lot I think. I’ve made some tough decisions over the last ten years, and gotten myself out of some rough spots. There's a certain amount of life that one can't control, and I've tried to make the best possible decisions for the situation I was in. I haven't always done things the way I would now looking back with hindsight, but I own it and try to learn from it.

10. Are you more worried about doing things right, or doing the right things? Both. I don’t think anyone wants to do things wrong. However, I’m not willing to compromise my integrity just to get an answer “right.” Doing the right thing would win out over doing things right. I’m the only one who has to live with my actions.

It's getting mushy in here

Found this on The Blue Eyed Bride's site. I figured while I was eating my lunch (which my husband had simmering on the stove when I walked in last night - Dan for the win!) I'd get a little mushy. We're not big on Valentine's Day, but I do loves me some husband and I like talking about our relationship, so I'm going to get lovey dovey for a few.

1. How long have you and your significant other been together? We don't know the exact date of our first date, but it was late May, 2008. We started "goin' steady" at the end of July. It feels like much longer... in a good way. He looked so young!

2. How did you meet? We went to the baby shower of a mutual friend. I know... a guy at a baby shower? Yeah, well, Mom-to-be was clingy and would never let Dad-to-be off his leash, so she made him invite his friends and bribed them into coming with beer. I wooed Dan with my knowledge of celebrity babies, but just as he got the (liquid) courage to come say hi, I left for dinner plans. He asked our mutual friend for my info, we linked up on myspace and went on our first date a couple weeks later.

3. If married, how long have you been married? We got married (that's a lot of "married") on October, 16, 2009 (his 25th birthday), so we've been married 2 years, 3 months, 23 days and roughly 40 minutes. But who's counting?


4. If you are married.. okay, we've established I'm married... where did you get married? Big or small wedding? Our wedding and reception were at a Sheraton Hotel in Phoenix, near what is affectionately known as the Ghettro Center Mall. After the reception, we continued the party at Dave and Buster's. I believe our final guest count that day was 67, so it was small... and perfect.


5. Do you have any nicknames that you call each other? We both call each other "Buddy." He sometimes calls me "Lil Bud"

6. Name 3 things you love most about your honey. He's my rock, he's the most kind and sweet and generous man I know, and he's funny as hell.

7. Tell us how he proposed? In the living room in our pajamas after making dinner together on a Sunday evening. It was absolutely perfect.

8. Is he a flowers and teddy bear kind of guy for V-day, or strawberries, champagne, and rose petals? Neither. Our brand of romance isn't for everyone. Dan shows his love by washing my car and bathing the dogs. He does things to make my life easier. When he surprises me with gifts, it's with something I wouldn't buy myself or something I've been talking about, like with hiding my Kindle in his lunch box or surprising me with a new wallet. Plus, we don't give gifts on Valentine's Day. So the aforementioned sweetness is just his normal, everyday awesomeness.


9. Are you a sunset dinner on the beach kind of girl, or pop a movie in and relax on the couch? The fact that anyone is asking this is ridiculous. I'm a homebody, all the way. See, I like lounging even when I'm outside...


10. Tell us one thing you'd like to do with your significant other one day, if you could do anything? Go anywhere? There are many places I'd love to go with him - Ireland, Italy, France. And places in the US, too, like Seattle, Chicago, New York City. We haven't gotten to travel much in our time together, and I hope that we'll get to do that someday soon. As far as something I'd like to do... I guess it's hard to narrow it down. I think it would be awesome to own a business together. We love doing projects in our home. I'd love to take him skydiving and skiing and wine tasting.

11. Tell us what you plan on doing this Valentine's Day. Nothing, really. I'll work, come home, make dinner. We'll eat it, presumably. I'll kiss him goodnight and tell him I love him, like I do every day.

12. Are you asking for anything this Valentine's Day? Nope.

13. Give us one piece of advice to keep a relationship strong and full of love? You have to communicate and be on the same page, and put your marriage first. The last six months could have had a very different outcome had we not made such great efforts to take time to talk, listen, understand, and care. I wake up every morning thankful for him and his love, and I don't take what we have for granted. A relationship shouldn't be work, but you do have to make the effort to keep it healthy and prioritize it.


14. Show us a picture that means "love" to you. I love this one. It's one of my favorites from my wedding day and was taken by my mom. I think it has "Brooke and Dan" written all over it. He's got a huge smile, I'm smiling, we're just perfectly happy. This is how we strive to be, and it's how I feel about him inside, even if I don't look it.


Oh, and this one. I love how much he loves me.

Free Your Mind Monday

You know who has awesome ideas? Shana at Fumbling Towards Normalcy. She really does - she's linked up Random Musings Friday and has also been doing Free Your Mind Monday, where she shares about 5 of her answers on the "50 questions to free your mind" list. I have this list on my 101 in 1001, and I had answered them fairly early on, but hadn't figured out yet when/if to share them. Well, thanks to Shana, I feel inspired. I'm needing inspiration from people lately. I'm in a far better place emotionally than I was two months ago, but I feel like I'm at a stand still. Life has become about doing whatever it is that makes me happy and trying to push away the negativity. However, I feel like I need to let my guard down some. Not necessarily to unshield myself, but to open myself up to other happy things I've been shunning. So hopefully this will be a way to do that.

So, here we go. Opening myself up and freeing my mind, installment numero uno:

1. How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are? Probably 25 or so. Sometimes I still feel like I’m so young and still figuring things out. Other days, I feel like I've been aged so much by the last six months or so. There are days when I'm shocked that I own a house and am married and work at an adult job and all those other things. I think it all averages out to about 25.

2. Which is worse, failing or never trying? It depends. I think there are some things you don’t have to do and fail at to know it’s not worthwhile to try. I don't believe every battle has to be fought and sometimes self preservation is valued more than experience. I think our infertility is one of those things. I'm conscious of the fact that we chose not to try, but for us, the costs and risks outweighed trying. If we weren't so risk averse, it might have been a different decision, but as long as we're okay with the choice to not try, it doesn't hurt anyone else. With other things, you have to learn from failing to succeed next time, or to learn a lesson. I think part of really maturing is figuring out which is which.

3. If life is so short, why do we do so many things we don’t like and like so many things we don’t do? I have no idea. Because we feel we have to? Because we know they make other people happy? I’m trying harder to focus my time on the things that I love and eliminate the things that don’t make me happy. At the same time, there are people I really value in my life and they like things I don't. Sometimes sacrifices have to be made for the greater good, on both sides.

4. When it’s all said and done, will you have said more than you’ve done? Probably. Unfortunately, one thing I’m learning about myself when I’m truly honest is that I talk the talk and don’t always walk the walk. It’s a constant self-improvement action item for me. I'm trying to equal out the talk:walk ratio

5. What is the one thing you’d most like to change about the world? It may be because of where I am now, but it’s important to me to raise awareness about infertility. It shouldn’t be shameful, and people should know that it can happen to anyone, it’s sensitive to the people going through it, and there are just some things you don’t say out of common decency. I think traditional sexual health education has done a disservice to young women, and it's important to me to find a way to improve it for the next generation of women.


There, that wasn't so hard. See you next Monday for round two :)


Also, Amanda at It's Blogworthy is kicking off her Celebrity Weekly Round-up's birthday party with some truly awesome stuff and posts and treats by incredible ladies, including probably the first ever lia sophia virtual jewelry party. Pretty awesome. Check out her site all week to join in the fun.

Random Musings Friday

So, once again, I've managed to not blog for over a week. To be honest, my heart just isn't always in it. I feel like life is pretty steady and for the most part, relatively dull compared to some of you. My rants generally go on Facebook or Twitter. So in general, I don't find most of my thoughts, or even most of what happens in life, to be very blog-worthy. But I will dig up some thoughts.

- This whole Susan G. Komen vs. Planned Parenthood thing is interesting. While it's a disappointing choice from the women's health perspective, I also believe that organizations have a right to choose who and what to support. Just the same as you or I have a right to support one organization and not another. However, I think they lack integrity in their reason. If they're not going to fund PP because of "investigations," why are they giving $7.5M to Penn State, who also is? There's been no talk of pulling that grant. I'm fine with Komen instating a rule, but they need to be consistent. I'm not going to get all political about it because that's not my style, but it's hypocritical and I see right through you, Susan G. Komen.

- This past weekend, we went to Tucson for my dad's birthday. On Saturday night, we went to the casino and then came home and made s'mores. Sometime Sunday morning, 2 of the chocolate bars on the counter went missing and Clover was a likely culprit. We googled all sorts of stuff, and even though the maximum amount she could have eaten wasn't likely to be lethal for her body weight, we decided to induce vomitting with hydrogen peroxide to be on the safe side. Clo had enough to make a 100 pound dog puke and barely slowed down. She did finally get sick (in the car of course), but there was no evidence of chocolate. We don't know for sure that she actually got any, but I do know that my girl has an iron-clad stomach, unlike her sister.

- Last night, Dan wasn't feeling well and I wasn't very hungry. I had been hungry when I was driving home and had cheese and crackers for a snack, but when dinner rolled around, I was over it and content to have fruit or what little leftovers we had. Dan asked repeatedly what I wanted (steak was on the meal plan, but it was windy out - not good for grilling), so I said I was fine with just Wheat Thins or whatever, but we were actually out. Since I didn't come up with anything else, he decided Wheat Thins it was. After googling for a minute (during which time I assumed he was looking up some sort of Wheat Thin casserole), he went to the store and came home with this:


Size boxes of Wheat Thins, in every flavor. He was mighty proud and lined them up on the refrigerator, going through them saying, "Yummy, good, yummy, probably good, good, yummy." Lesson learned: ask and you shall receive

- My first lia sophia show is a week from yesterday and I'm getting so excited! I have a lot to do - in my mind at least - to get ready. I need to figure out some presentation stuff, figure out a cute display for earrings, and get a bigger table cloth for my display table. It doesn't seem like much, but this coming week is incredibly busy, and every free second is going to count. I can't wait to get through my first couple shows and find my groove.

- And speaking of next week, PJs at TJ's, a blog gathering hosted by Temerity Jane, begins a week from today! I'm really excited. There are a lot of really fun bloggers coming, and TJ herself - along with her daughter, Penny - is totally awesome. I have no idea what to expect, except for a good time and meeting some cool new people.

Alrighty, people. Enjoy your Friday and your weekend! Have fun watching the Super Bowl commercials, since no one anywhere seems very interested in seeing the game itself :)

YESiversary #3

Three years ago tonight, I said "yes" to Dan when he asked me to marry him. We made dinner together in our pajamas, drank wine and then he asked me to dance. He held me tight for a few minutes before nervously getting down on one knee and asking one of the most important and life-changing questions (the other being, "Do, you, Brooke, take Dan....?") a girl can be asked. There were no cameras, no spectators (besides Paisley), and no elaborate plans. Yet, it was perfectly private and special and US. I don't precisely remember everything he said to me, but it would stay between us forever anyway. I still get teary thinking about how incredible that moment was.

Tonight, we'll celebrate with a special dinner and a bottle of the same wine. I'll hug him a little tighter, snuggle in a little closer, and remember that on January 25, 2009, I told him I'd marry him, and I've been glad I said "yes" every day since.

Random Musings Friday

Hmmmm, it looks like I haven't done or thought about much since last week's post of the same title, but that's far from true. I promise. I've been busy.

• I am officially a (pending) lia sophia Independent Sales Advisor. What that means is that I now hawk jewelry. Mighty fine, fun, pretty jewelry with a lifetime guarantee, no less. I went to a party in November, then hosted my own in December. I thought it would be something fun and productive to do with my time and make some extra money for our home. Also, I've missed the fun aspect of work that I enjoyed working as a waitress pretty much since graduating from college. You'll be shocked to hear this, but being a tax analyst isn't usually very exciting. Basically, I'll be getting paid to shop, meet new people, and have fun. Couldn't really ask for better.
  



• I was driving to work this morning and saw a sign that said "Authotech's Direct." What's wrong with that? I'm like 99% sure they mean Autotechs and that apostrophe is superfluous. I see this everywhere. Apostrophes aren't that difficult to use properly. I find it astonishing that somewhere in the design, editing, manufacturing, and erecting of this sign, no one ever said, "hey, I think you have a grammar fail on your sign." I make mistakes, too. Even with reading and re-reading posts and emails, I will catch something and be all, "gah, Brooke! That was dumb." But this is a huge SIGN. Advertising your BUSINESS. Nothing elicits my confidence in an establishment less than the lack of awareness to display grammatically correct signage. It's no wonder to me that when the State Fair was going on, the parking lot that proudly displayed its "Fare Parking" signs was always empty. Those dopes only had to copy spelling on signs that were all over the place for miles around and they couldn't even do that. I wouldn't trust them to watch my car, either. Edit your advertising, people.
  



• My co-irker didn't review my account reconciliations in a timely manner, so the controller - who I don't in any way report to (my group supports his, but our reporting structure is technically in of a different part of the company) - reviewed them and found errors. He's intimidating and I'm going to have to sit down with him and go over them. I know it's a chance to shine and show initiative - since I eventually want a position on his team - but he's incredibly blunt and straight-forward and that style doesn't always go over well with me. Eeek!




• So Paula Deen has diabetes. Some people are seriously upset about it and saying she pushes unhealthy eating and now is advocating treating it with medicine rather than living a healthy lifestyle. Personally, I don't really see the big deal. Yeah, her food is generally rich and comfort-y. She considers butter its own food group. She isn't forcing anyone to make or eat it. And now she has diabetes, which may or may not be the result of her eating what she cooks. Some dope on Facebook actually said, "I have a pretty good idea of what she eats - I've seen her show." Moron. We have no idea what she eats on the regular. Her at-home eating style could be vastly different than her on-air eating. Assuming she eats gooey butter cookies and mac and cheese constantly is like assuming Candace Nelson eats only cupcakes - since that's all I've seen her eat on TV. Not to mention, not only unhealthy eating causes diabetes. Watch out, I'm going on an IF tangent: one of the major causes of infertility, PCOS, causes imbalances that lead to gaining/difficulty losing weight and insulin resistance. Ladies who eat perfectly by-the-book healthy and exercise as recommended may develop diabetes thanks to PCOS, no matter what they do. So seriously, just because someone eats 2 bites of crap on TV does not make them "deserving" of diabetes. And as far as her now selling diabetes medicine as a diabetic herself, ummmm... who else would be more appropriate? Someone without diabetes? Get real. I'm sure there are fails in my logic somewhere - there usually are. But the the moral of the story is that I have bigger stuff to worry about than who's the spokesperson for insulin. Someone has to take over the "diabeetus" when Wilford Brimly takes a dirt nap.

I'm linking up to Shana. Go see what is on some other ladies' minds. And have a great weekend :)

Random Musings Friday

I'm going to link up with the fabulous Shana this week and give you my random musings. Because if I didn't, I don't think I have anything that constitutes a blog post right now.

1. Dan and I have officially purchased our third vehicle in less than three years. There was my Murano in May 2009 when we were engaged, Dan's Lexus in October 2010 after the hail storm that turned Phoenix into an insurance claim nightmare, and now the new truck. It's pretty rad, I have to say. I'm not a Chevy girl normally (I love me my Nissans), but this 4-door Silverado is a sweet ride. It's roomy and hauly (is that a word?) and oh so pretty. Dan gave up his old 2-door Silverado to get my Murano (awwwww) (wait, I have a bigger awww: his project truck, a 70-something Chevy, was sold to buy my engagement ring. I didn't realize it at the time because we hadn't even talked marriage yet. But that's what it became) and has been talking about trading in his teensy car for a month or so. Seriously, you should have seen him in his IS300 - you'd have never guessed that someone who is 6'5" would be able to fold himself into it. But he did, and he loved it, but he was ready for a change.

2. There has been so much effing drama in our group of friends lately. There are a lot of hurt feelings and some damaged friendships. Dan and I have been unfairly accused of withholding information and it's been really hurtful. It royally sucks.

3. This weekend is going to be busy busy, buuuuusy. But in a good way. I have a meeting with some ladies to get my own lia sophia company started in the morning, then a tattoo session (are you freaking out, Mom?) at noon. Then in the evening, we want to go see the hot balloon glow in a downtown nearby. It's part of a long seasonal even with a lot of lights, but I've never seen this balloon glow finale, and I'm excited. And on Sunday, we're celebrating a friend's birthday with mini golf and giant beers. The two go well together.

4. I'm selling Girl Scout cookies for a friend's kid. I have an awesome sign outside my cube, and the fact that I don't have kids myself seems to be drawing extra attention which leads to extra sales. Cha-ching. I may or may not have told some people I'm the world's oldest Brownie.

5. I'm wicked excited - irrationally so - that my new 2012 planner came. I got it with Amazon gift cards from Christmas and it's very cute. And, it matches my red Kindle cover. I'm so coordinated. And organized.

I'm off to judge a chili contest. Have a fabulous weekend!

Guess who's FOUR?!

This little lady!


Today is my Paisley Poo's 4th birthday. She's still as sweet as ever and just as loved. She's the one who curls up by my side when I'm sad, and she makes the most noise when I come home. She's the first little furball I was ever responsible for, and she has a very special place in my heart.


How could you not love that baby?

Happy Birthday, Paisley!

It Begins: Project Craft Room

So I've been talking about this craft room a lot lately, but I have some exciting news! On NYE, I started my first project toward making it happen. Aside from pinning ideas for it, that is. Before I get into it, here's the run-down on what needs to be done:

• Clear room of "junk" and find storage solutions in either the closet, garage, or shed



• Paint walls in tone-on-tone light greyish-purple horizontal stripes - the paint has been chosen!



• Build desk and put up shelving



• Figure out what to do with Dan's giant ugly black dresser (this is called foreshadowing)



• Take closet doors off and replace with fun patterned curtains that coordinate with existing limey green block-out curtains on the windows. We're doing this because the storage we're keeping isn't really conducive to the range of the doors now - getting out my ribbons and cookie cutters is a pain. Not to mention, Dan's tattoo supplies will now live in the closet (climate control) and the cart won't fit in it with the doors. So, curtains it is.



• Make/buy fun pillows for futon



• Create functional storage for wrapping paper/gift bags, etc.



• Decorate!
  

Keep in mind that while on a day-to-day basis, the room will be for creativity. But it is also serving as our only guest room while we have a roommate, so the futon will be staying and serving as a couch for now. Once we no longer have a roommate, our queen bed will be moved to the 3rd room and we'll get a king. But this is all in the undetermined future.

So, back to the first project. I had gone shopping at Pier 1 on Saturday and used a gift card to buy what I like to call, "the most glorious pillow ever made." It's big and royal purple and ruffley and I love it. Dan might not call it that, but what does a boy know about pillows anyway. We were talking about the plans and paint colors for the craft room, and I dragged him in to visually show him my layout, and said, "but we have to do something about that!" and pointed to his big ugly black dresser. The thing is huge - it was at his parents' house when he was growing up, he probably painted it black at some point in his teen years, and it somehow became ours when he moved in. I don't do black furniture. It's harsh looking and doesn't go with anything that we have. So when I was threatening to have to do something about it, Dan was willing to compromise, considering it's still full of a lot of his stuff (stuff = papers, old wallets on chains, pictures, tiny Virgin Mary statues, etc.). The compromise: he could keep it in the room if I could paint it to go with my color scheme.

And so, the most awesome dresser in the universe came to be. Beeeehold!


Isn't it fabulous? I pretty much want to take it to dinner and then marry it in about 6 months. It's my soulmate. The color is actually going to appear much darker when it's in the room and not in direct sunlight. It's really very close to the color of the most glorious pillow ever made. And it's just the push we both needed to get started on the room transformation, which we're hoping to have done by about mid-March, budget allowing.

The best part is, I have Dan's full support and enthusiasm. He seems to get that I need this space for my sanity and well-being. I'm so thankful that he sees this as our project and is almost as excited as I am to make it just right. What a wonderful way to start the New Year - I really couldn't have hoped for better!

Edited to add: As requested by Allyson, I present to you, the "most glorious pillow ever made."

And yes, I named the jpeg file that.