flashback friday!

on halloween morning two years ago, eric and i decided a trip to the humane society was in order. we'd done this many, many times... just to volunteer. we always had such fun spending time with the dogs and puppies who would otherwise get no lovins. they let you walk them in the back, fenced in area, and play with them in little rooms. we'd done this probably a dozen times before this day, and never expected to find this:

there she was- all squishy and cute! and when eric walked past her cage she started looking at him and jumping on the cage door as if to say "hey! take me outta here! i wanna play!" he took her out and spent some time snugglin before calling me over and said "look!" my heart nearly melted into a puddle of goo right then and there. we took her in the private room and got to see a bit of her personality- she was fiesty and fun, and we liked that. 45 minutes later, i found myself holding her as eric paid the fee. she was $90, and that included all of her shots AND her spay surgery! she was just 8 weeks old and the employees were saying that she'd come into the place the day before, but had only been "on the floor" (out in her cage where the other dogs are) for 1 hour before we swooped her up. boy did we get lucky!

 i love this picture because of all the extra skin. is it any wonder we scooped this baby up and ran??

we knew she was really something. proud parents. lol.

it took a while to decide on a name- maybe even 2 hours! eric wasn't sure about bristol, but i knew it was rockstar from the get. (lol). my parents HATED that we named her bristol and decided (oddly enough) that she definitely looked more like a "trudy anne" than a "bristol." for the longest time, they would ONLY refer to her as trudy while talking on the phone. the idea of bristol had grown on eric by this point, especially when he had to face the possibiliy of naming her TRUDY! (it was never a real possibiliy actually, i had made up my mind early that bristol was IT!) anyway, in an effort to appease my parents (because although im 28, i DO still seem to care about keeping them happy) we decided "anne" would be her middle name... just as they'd suggested. so there ya have it! bristol anne adams has been an absolute joy since the day she unexpectedly chose us at the humane society!

if you want to get a dog, and you're not sure where to go or what to choose- go to the humane society! there are so many awesome babies out there who have no homes, no mommy and daddy, no "treaties" for podying outside. i had always been a "full blooded" kinda girl, but simply cant imagine my life without bristol! and if youre not in a place where you CAN get a dog, but find yourself with some extra time and want to volunteer- GO! they can ALWAYS use people to love on the dogs, and the dogs eat it up!

hope you enjoyed flashback friday as much as i did. be blessed. be thankful.

another list- because im not collected enough to post a blog on just one subject...

1) not sure if i ever made the announcement, but my little sophie lou WON the photo contest! thanks so much to all of you friends out there who took the time to vote. im pretty sure she won by a landslide, and that's because of YOU! her mom received the prints from the photo session, and omg- she's gorgeous. i love this girl so much! and ps- the canvas she won of that image we all voted on looks uh-maazing with a capital A. so thanks.

2) i had planned on making all kinds of festive valentine goodies but am reconsidering due to my new eating plan. i was planning on making these... (as well as a few adorable others)

aren't they just adorable!!!??? you can find the recipe and instructions on marthastewart.com (of course!). funny though- i typically bake tons of goodies and never actually end up eating any of it. i love to take it to my friends and loved ones- i feel like since it's made with love, there's no better way to say "hey you! i love you! i appreciate you! enjoy a cupcake a made with love." BUT given my new diet plan, i just don't want to put myself in a situation where im tempted and baking delicious goodies might just send me over the edge. we'll see...

3) i didn't ever actually catch the outcome of groundhog day, but didn't the groundhog stay out for a while? and i could be wrong, but doesn't that typically mean winter is coming to an end? that's what i thought, but honestly- i could be totally wrong. here's the reason i ask... it's cold! it's gray! it's gloomy and frigid, and my front steps have ice on them! the weather man is calling for more snow tomorrow. is it me or is this just plain obnoxious? and what was the groundhog thinking staying out and about like that anyway? doesn't he KNOW that my hopes and dreams for an early spring kind of depend on him? id gotten my hopes all up for nothing. thanks mr. groundhog, you suck.

4) the increase in water with this new eating plan im doing has got me pee-ing 86 times a day. i wish i could say that, that's a dramatic representation of the truth, but i can't. cause it's not. i have pee-ed more in the last 24 hours than i do in an average week combined.

5) i think a trip to colorado is in order. i would love the opportunity to go "home" and visit my brother craig and sister-in-law tara. they are such fun. and it'd be fun to try to catch some "old" friends who seem actually to be more concerned with me and my life these days than most.

6) every night (at least three times) bristol anne hops down off of the bed and stretches. im guessing what happens is that she gets too hot and needs to get some air. (she insists on barricading herself beneath our covers and in between eric's legs...) anyway- this is no big deal, right? wrong. and the reason is because when she wants to get back up, for some reason she is totally and completely unwilling to just jump back up as easily as she jumped down. or as any other dog in their right mind would do. instead, she stands on my side of the bed whining, using her front paws to hit me in whatever spot is most convenient for her to reach until i (and here's the kicker) lift all of the covers up for her, providing a perfect entrance right under the covers and invite her up. can someone say spoiled? and yes.... this DOES happen at least 3 times a night.

7) there are a lot of people pregnant right now. this means many things for me at this point in my life. but mostly it means that it's exciting and have got lots to look forward to in meeting like 8 new friends.

8) i think i may have been misunderstood yesterday regarding my christina post on facebook. im not saying it's okay that she messed up the words. im not saying that, that is ideal. what i AM saying and perhaps may not have communicated effectively is this: #1) if you yourself can't do it, than you have NO right to pick apart the person who does. #2) if you yourself haven't been in a situation where you're singing in a stadium like that, than that means you just don't realize how hard it is to hear yourself. the echo is so delayed that it can get tricky. #3) i just feel like it's sad how everyone seems to thrive on other people messing up. she didn't go flat, and she never went sharp- this was no 'roseanne bar' moment, so stop over-reacting. again- im not saying her mistake is ideal, but what i am saying is that if you've never been there you really can't be the judge. and don't choose to ignore all of the good parts she delivered and only focus on her one little mistake. that's all.

9) i keep thinking im getting some sort of a nasty cold, but really im just congested. ill take that. id rather be congested than have my head feel all fuzzy and a sore throat too.

10) i love eric andrew adams... like a minor loves gold. like johnny loved june. and like fat kids love cake.

that's it! there's my list for the day- a plethora of random goodness, floating around in my head 10 minutes ago, but not put out there for all the world to see. be blessed and be thankful.

17 day diet... you're killin me!

okay so ive decided some slimming down is in order.... better late than never, right? my madre has been doing this 17 day diet for about a month now, and has lost 20 pounds! it seems like every time i talk to her, and ask how it's going she says "oh, ive lost another 3 pounds..." so when faced with the decision of what exactly i wanted to do regarding weight loss, i chose this. today is day one. id love to tell you all about how im having the time of my life, and that this is painless and easy. but the truth? the truth is that this sucks! the truth is that im mad at myself for letting it get to this point to begin with- this point where i have NO choice but to sit miserably eating salad with no dressing, and wondering when my stomach will stop it's groaning long enough to just abandon the disgusting dressing-less salad and run. nobody likes a liar, right? so i figured i may as well just keep it real.

anyway- i thought it might be fun to post a weekly blog about my progress and how it's going. ideally i would love to loose about 45 - 50 lbs. not that, that would make me "skinny" but i think id feel more comfortable for sure. so here we go... today, monday, february 7th is day one of the 17 day diet for maryellen adams. maybe ill plan for monday's to be my day to share the status and progress, etc. here's hoping that next monday at this time, ill be blogging about how life feels just fabulous when you're 10 pounds lighter! :) (wouldn't that be lovely?)

so for those of you who aren't familiar with the diet and are kinda interested, here's the gist of it:

-you eat 2 pro-biotics a day (for me this is dannon activia lo-fat yogurt. i typically don't like yogurt, but i tried the vanilla today and it was pretty fab).
-you eat 2 pieces of fruit a day (this can be any kind of berry, as well as apples, oranges, red grapes, plums, and grapefruit).
-you must begin each day by drinking a warm cup of water with lemon juice (i believe this is said to jump start your metabolism).
-you must also drink a cup of warm green tea with each meal (BF/L/D). Sweeten only using truvia sweetener- all natural and totally delish. In fact- use this truvia to sweeten ANY of the items on the menu- as much as you'd like!
-you can only use up to 2TBSP/day of the "good fat" and in my case, this would be EVOO for cooking my meat and stuff like that.
-once you've done those things, you can pretty much do whatever when it comes to lean meats and veggies. you can enjoy unlimited boneless/skinless chicken breasts, fish, and lean turkey. there are some core veggies you also can get carried away with if you find yourself feeling frisky and wanting a snack- broccoli, carrots, asparagus, mushrooms, bell peppers (orange/red/yellow/green) and many, many more!

so! that pretty much sums it up for phase 1 of the 17 day diet. my understanding is that every 17 days you kinda switch things up a little to trick your body. right now i am ridding my body of the built up toxins, getting used to a much lower calorie diet, and burning fat. in phase 2 you add things like beef and oatmeal so that you keep your body guessing. right when it starts getting used to phase 1 and hitting that plateau we've all dealt with, you change it up and the weight loss continues. there are four phases in this diet, but im actually considering doing phase 1, phase 2, phase 1 again, phase 2 again, then phase 3, then 4. just to achieve optimal weight loss and success. we'll see though, right?? at the end of these first 17 days i might opt to slit my wrists and just end the misery all together, right??

anyway! leave me a comment if you have any questions or if you yourself are doing some sort of healthy eating routine. it's all about community when it comes to loosing weight, and i think it'd be great to find some motivated weight loss buddies to share war stories with throughout this dreadful process. :) at this moment i am raising my cup of warm green tea and toasting to a healthier and less hungry tomorrow, and a lifetime of skinny jeans and swim suits. be blessed and as always- be thankful. (be thankful you're not as hungry as me!)

scrap-attack!

the truth is that if you let me i would gladly sit scrap booking for hours and hours and hours on end. i LOVE scrap booking and my only life's wish is that someone would pay me to sit and scrap. lol. one can dream right?? no actually that's not true- my only life's wish is for me to have a little bundle of my OWN to do a scrapbook for... yup! that'd be it.

anyway- i love seeing my friend's scrapbook pages they share on their blogs and so i thought i might do the same. since i have no biological children of my own (sigh) my latest scrapbook endeavor has been for my friends baby- kayedin. this child is gorgeous and ive loved creating this book for her. ive been working on it on and off for about the last year- it probably woulda been done a long time ago but her mom and i are always trying to coordinate getting pictures down here from ohio where she lives. SO- once it's finished i have a pretty good idea of where ill go next. ah hem... let's just say im at no loss for inspiration! :)

anyway- these are just a few of the pages for your viewing pleasure...

kaydin nicole in december 2010. isn't she a dumpling??

i believe this may have been january 2010- isn't she such a little diva??

i love the picture on the right of her cracking herself up. that happens to me too kayedin- a lot.

this might be my favorite page thus far- only because i love the whole 'pieces of me' theme. i love all the chunky little pics.



this is quite a busy page... but cute none the less. :)

sometimes simpler is sweet. this is kayedin and her mommy at the breast cancer walk last may.

so as you can see i prefer to do scrapbooks utilizing the same sort of color scheme throughout the whole book... in this case i went 'all girl' because that's just kayedin. of course for christmas and things like that i had special pages but i totally stuck to the theme. no bright reds/greens or any of that... i love combining multiple sheets with different prints on one scrap book page. you can see in the above picture how i typically just rip the additional (2nd/3rd) printed paper to add an additional element of texture to the page. those white uneven edges seem aesthetically pleasing to me for some reason. i love using ribbons on almost every page- again to add texture and a layered look when possible. plus there are a lot of ribbons out there that have super cute prints and i love that additional burst of color. 3D embellishments are huge for a girl like me. which sometimes stinks cause they can get pricey... but i just think they add so much to an otherwise boring page. i take chances by doing some pages with lots of different things and multiple pictures and i sometimes worry they might get too busy. others are just simpler. it would be impossible to have an entire book with just one picture on each page but sometimes that's nice here and there. both ways i usually end up happy once they're done.

anyway! for those of you who wish to scrap but have never done it ive got a few tid bits to share:

-i use a combination of hot glue and rubber cement. rubber cement rocks because if you mess something up big time (and this has happened to me plenty of times!) you can just take the whole page apart if needed. rubber cement adheres nicely but you don't HAVE to be married to the page if you need to make changes. hot glue is best for the ribbons and things like that.

-at target i always am able to find small packs of paper (with maybe 10 sheets a pack) for only 99 cents. i love going this route because the paper can get pricey! especially if you want to pick and choose from michaels or something like that! i think some are even 50 cents a page. YIKES!

-don't ever buy the 3D embellishments unless they're on sale! joanne fabrics has the BEST sales EVER! and they have them often too! plus if you sign up to get their coupons they'll send you 40% off coupons like once a month! love.

-i never EVER use an entire pack of embellishments on one page- a little goes a long way! and since these things are so expensive you'll find it works nicely to just use a couple here and there. combining from different packs also is a cute idea that's worked for me!

-don't ever glue your background onto the white page that comes in the scrapbook itself. ive made this mistake many times and realized later ive done it out of order or something- that's kind of a bummer.

aNyWaY.... i hope that if you aren't a scrap booker some of these little tips/pics have helped inspire you to give it a try. it's super easy and creates a lasting gift for your child to enjoy as they grow up and get married and have kids of their own. plus! it's fun.

hope you all are enjoying your saturday! be blessed friends and as always- be thankful.

flashback friday

i saw a friend do 'flashback friday' and i thought it was a cute idea. so here we go!

this is the very first picture ever taken of eric and i. it was within the first week of meeting, and it's funny to look back and see how young we look here. i think that you can totally see how happy we were, even from the very start.  what do you think??

  

funny cause my friends at the time always joked with me saying i was dating a backstreet boy. he always dressed so cute- jeans with pumas, button down shirts and sport coats. and always, always, always this adorable little khaki page boy hat. he seriously swept me off my feet in just a matter of days, and i fell fast and hard. i think i still am falling actually... falling a little bit more in love with this man every day. 

it's hard to believe now, but LOTS of people were not supportive of our relationship early on. everyone had their reasons i guess- reasons that they thought were important enough to say mean things, or write me/us off all together. it seemed that judgement was coming from every single angle, always from people who didn't really know what it was that we shared. but we never wavered. we both knew very early on that "this was it" and so we moved on as a "we" and as an "us" and left the nay-sayers behind. good thing too because it sure panned out!

i recently discovered a song written by taylor swift that is (of course) amazing. i love all of her songs really, but THIS one felt like it was written FOR eric and i. it felt like she had sneaked a peak into my journal from four years ago, and wrote a song about us. the song is called 'ours' and i totally think all of you should go and get it. here are the lyrics:

elevator buttons in morning air

strangers silence makes me wanna take the stairs

if you were here we'd laugh about their vacant stares

but right now, my time is theirs

seems like there's always someone who disapproves

they'll judge it like they know about me and you

and the verdict comes from those with nothing else to do

the juries out, but my choice is you

so don't you worry your pretty little mind

people throw rocks at things that shine

and life makes love look hard

the stakes are high

the waters rough

but this love is ours

the stares that i received from friends, the emails and phone calls i received from family, the ultimatums given... all of these things could've swayed me from making the most important and BEST decision in my life. thank god i followed my heart on this one! the chorus is so, so true as well.  in our relationship, ive learned that life is really what makes loving look so hard- financial burdens and stress, job loses, unhappiness at work, family drama, miscarriages, other people getting in the way... these are the things that i look back on now and say to myself "gosh, that was hard." but loving him? that was the easy part, and the ONLY part of my life that has come naturally to me since march 28, 2007.

so! with this i say to you- if you've found "the one" don't let life make love hard. protect what you've got! nurture it, and feed it so that it can grow as beautifully as ours did. even in the face of harsh criticism and drama- always, always, always- follow. your. heart. to the friends who are still waiting- my life changed in a matter of moments. i woke up one day, never expecting to meet "the one" and yet there he was. when i met him? i knew. and when you meet yours... you'll know. trust your heart, and don't wonder where yours is- it'll find you when you least expect it!

hope you enjoyed 'flashback friday' as much as i have. be blessed friends, and as always- be thankful.