{love}: jon

I didn't have the chance to write on our anniversary, so I'm a bit late-but I still wanted to write.  Califonia was wonderful.  I love this man so much.  We celebrated 6 years of marriage on the 12th of March-and we still like each other!! 

After a short trip home to Idaho Falls, I realized how much safety and happiness I have in marraige.  Really, how much safety and love I have with Jon.

High School was tumultuous, college was crazy fun and lonely-full of heartbreak and angst.  This sweet kid who had no idea what he was getting himself into rescued me-drowning in an ocean of hard emotional issues and filled me with light and love.  We rescued each other.  We've healed each other.  He is my happiness, my love and my very best friend and I can't think of a greater blessing in my life than him.  I love him so much-with warmth and safety that grows more every day.

i love you poo muffin.

{valentines}: 80's prom!!

It seems like this was so long ago-but I'm only a month behind, right?  This was such a fun night!!  Hopefully next year everyone isn't sick again!! Happy Valentines ♥

{breakthrough}: running

I think I may have had a breakthrough.  The headaches have finally stopped-I worked up all the energy to complain about them and the next day I woke up headache free.  And then the day after that too...maybe I just needed to complain?  I talked to my Doc about having my tonsils removed and I think that may be a route I might take...but I'm going to wait until we HAVE to pay our deductible for me and then I'll do it.  In the meantime I am going to look into a neti-pot or other sinus cleansing device and see if that helps...and I'm enjoying the wonders of modern medicine and taking Chlortab.  It doesn't always work, but it's better than nothing and should help me manage for the season. 

After months of working out I am finally enjoying the energizing feeling that is supposed to accompany exercise.  I know I've been sick, so that's zapped my energy but previous to the sickness I would just work out and then need to lay low for the rest of the day because I was exhausted.  I tried doing Insanity back in January-and I went strong for 3 weeks and finally decided I really needed the energy to function.  I've been doing Zumba at least once a week and I LOVE it. 

I've put off running because I just wanted to be able to say that I did it this time without running.  I finally broke and went running last night.  There is something exhilirating about dressing up like a dude and jogging at night.  I just kept my head down with my baseball cap on and hood up and no one got in my way.  Jon was funny because he didn't know how to tell me nicely that I very successfully look like a guy when I want to.  It is one of the perks of being a big, tall girl.  Running used to be a therapy for me-I learned to love it after high school and I'm not sure why I gave it up.  Honestly I would rather do Zumba or swim or dance, but nothing beats how easy it is to put on some headphones and run.  Surprisingly I made it the full 2 miles without too much trouble (the route I take is half uphill, half downhill) and the downhill sure did help. 

I expected to wake up the same way I have when I push like I did-exhausted and sore, but I woke up feeling pretty good.  I went to Zumba this morning and I can honestly say I feel nothing but awesome.  I'm tired-don't get me wrong, but I'm not dead like I've been.  I'm almost afraid to say anything aloud because I don't want to jinx it-but I'm hoping that this battle I've been fighting with exercise is over and that I can now start enjoying it again. 

Now if I could just muster up what I need to wage some war against sugar...

{whine}: diagnose me

I can't decide if I need to seek medical help or not.  I don't know if I just have the lingering infection from the Broncitis, or if it's just the weather, or allergies, or everything combined...I don't know.  My complaints:

• I wake up every morning with a pounding headache.  It roams so I can't pinpoint it to a specific spot-sometimes its in the back, sometimes in the front.  Tylenol is effective for about 4 hours-but it wears off and my head starts pounding again.
• I also wake up with a neck/shoulder ache as well.
• I'm all stuffy because of allergies.  Ug.  I've started snoring worse which is keeping Jon up and I don't think I'm sleeping as well either.
• I'm tired.  Always.  I have really tried my best to be more active, or get more sleep, or relax more-nothing.  There is no difference if I go to bed at 10, or if I go to bed at 2-I feel the same!!
• I still don't have my full lung capacity.  My lungs are all goopey, making Zumba and other exercise rough.
• I've lost almost all drive to do anything.  Normally I care that my house is a mess and such but I just don't have the energy to do anything about it!  I've really tried to force myself to get out and do stuff so I don't feel so awful but it's not helping...

Almost every Spring I go through a mild depression but I really am not depressed.  I'm happy mentally, but my body is sad right now... For the last 4-5 days or so I've just been loading up on Ibprofen and Tylenol and taking some allergy meds and I can at least fake it, but I'm tired of doing that too!!  For headaches I hesitate to go to a traditional doc because I don't really want to be medicated-but at the same time if it is a lingering infection then that could be super bad too!!  I just don't know what's wrong with me!!

{update}: paisley

It's been awhile since I blogged about Miss Paisley.  I love her.  We have so much fun.  I think I've been wanting to hibernate lately-I don't know if it's allergies coming on or if I'm still just getting rid of the Broncitis but the more tired and unmotivated I am, the more Paisley just wants to be a busy.  I think spring and life have hit her and she is a BUSY BODY. 
About 2 weeks ago marked 18 months for her-which is still so crazy to me because Jon and I still look at each other sometimes and wonder where she came from?  Some fun new things that she recently began doing include:

• Using "uh-oh" as the universal term for-"I need help" to "I'm doing something I know I'm not supposed to"  Yesterday she stood at the bottom of the stairs pointing up and saying "Uh-oh!!  Uh-oh."  She wanted me to go upstairs and get her blanket with her...
• Just yesterday she learned the word "no."  She's still trying it out, but I think it's going to be popular for her and I'm not super excited...
• She now knows the word "cheese" and "shoes."  Cheese sounds more like "cheee" and she only knows it in reference to cheese sticks, but it is super cute.  If you say the word cheese, however, and do not produce cheese she will wildly demand cheese until she gets it.  We've taken to calling it queso unless we have some for her...
• She is finally getting better about holding my hand on the way out to the car.  I don't know what it is, but she really likes running towards traffic as fast as she can! 
• Anytime I begin with the phrase "Are you supposed to be..." she immediately replys with "uh-uh" (as in no).  I don't even have to finish what I'm saying and she replies with "uh-uh," unfortunately, she doesn't usually stop what she's not supposed to be doing...
• She loves her blanket (snuggles), and must have that specific one to sleep.  Luckily we have 2 that are innerchangeable, but I still worry.  She also is a thumb-sucker and I'm now just starting to worry about that.  She only sucks to go to sleep and usually doesn't sleep with the thumb in her mouth...but ug.  We'll see how that goes...
• She loves being nude and if she gets away from me while in the nude it's really hard to try and catch her.  She's a bit of a free-spirit I guess...
• The other day it was time for her nap so I looked at her and said "It's time for babies to go to bed."  She stopped what she was playing with, grabbed her blanket, and headed up the stairs and was waiting for me, arms outstretched next to her crib.  I am so grateful she is such a good sleeper!!  She loves her sleep like we do ;)
• She loves reading-she grabs books all the time and comes and sits down on my lap with them so I'll read to her.  That's something I fondly remember my Mom doing with me and I love doing it with her!!

She is generally happy and sweet and we love her so much.  Yesterday my sister took her to play at the park and had her for several hours and I didn't know what to do at home by myself!!  I've grown so used to having her around and worrying about her I forgot what it was like to just be home by myself!!  I'm just wondering what we used to do for entertainment before she was around!! ♥

{shenanigans}: harajuku

This was such a fun shoot!!!  If you've never seen our stuff, I am a member of Silly Girls United, a crazy group of girls across the country that love to dress up and take ridiculous pictures.   This month's theme was "Harajuku Girls" and it was soo fun!!  Here are some of my faves...

I am so happy with how they turned out!!  For this shoot I was both the photographer and the editor and it was really fun to have it all come together-especially since I was so sick the entire week before we did it!!  If you want to see the full shoot-click on the link I reference above for Silly Girls-and if you want to play-sign up!!  I ♥ my silly girls!!