. feeling neglected? .

I would! I haven't written a post in a month...A MONTH!! I thought I was making a comeback appearently a month ago, and then things happened..my life happened { 10 points if you can tell me what movie that's from :) }

Lets break my life down in catagories shall we, there is school, work, and animals :)
Yea you heard that right, no social life!

School
School started at the end of August. I had to work a 7 hour shift first before my first class and I was so darn nervous! If you know me, you know I talk an obnoxious amount...well I was so nervous that I could not stop talking!! Both my bosses had to tell me to shut up { which is not a good thing, haha }. It was so weird to be back on campus and it seemed like I had never been to school there, like it was all a dream. I don't know, it was a weird feeling.
My first class went great, its funny because literally everyone in the class knew each other..except me. So this semester I am taking White-Collar Crime, Social Statistics, Introduction to Archaeology, Family Sociology and Elementary Italian. I have a nice variety of classes and so far we are 3 weeks in and I'm doing really well! I'm so looking forward to graduating...I cannot wait!!

Work
Im still working at the Upper Crust and still loving it! Its amazing because I've never actually loved a job especially not for this long. I can already tell it's going to be sad when I have to leave there.
And in other news...after 26 years I think I have finally figured out what type of career I'd like to persue after I'm done with school. I would love to be a victim advocate and I'm praying that God has the same idea in mind for me! A victim advocate is basically a counselor that helps victims and witnesses to understand the criminal and legal procedures. The Victim/Witness advocates can be with you at the scene, at the hospital, in the courtroom and help you navigate the justice system. They are the “first responders” to the victim or witness and their family.I would explain to victims or survivors of crimes what is happening in present time or what is going on around them. This is an attempt to help give them back a sense of control around their immediate surroundings. I would attend court proceedings with or without the victim. Assist in preparing the victim or witness for court. During the trial the Advocate stays with the victim or witness and explains the procedure and answers all questions. In 2009 I did an internship at the Victims Assistance Program for the District Attorney in my county, it was great, and I learned so much. Im excited to graduate and get going with my life. I will be starting to apply for jobs in Decemer, 6 months before I graduate so hopefully I'll have a job by the time I have that little piece of paper. I don't have any states that I'm more interested in then others...its exciting to see where God wants me!

Animals
Besides caring for Izzie I also recently adopted a baby kitty!
 

{ hazel @ 2 weeks old }

 

Baby Hazel came into my life almost a month ago. She was born July 31st and was about 2 weeks old when she found me, oh and she weighed a whopping 0.5lbs :). My friend was taking care of Hazel's mom, and when the mom had Hazel and her brother and sisters she rejected all but one {bad mommy}. My friend was raising 3 kittens by bottle and was just overwhelmed, so I took Hazel home to 'foster' her. I think my foster idea was completely obliterated by cuteness oh maybe 4 days after I got her...she's mine forever! I had to bottle feed her every 2 hours (now every 3-4), burp her, bathe her, help her go to the bathroom, keep her warm, socialize her and help her become a cat. She is thriving! I go home in between classes and in my 30 minute lunch break from work so I can feed her and walk Izzie. Its a lot, but they are so woth it! Hazel will be 6 weeks old in 2 days and has changed so much over the past few weeks, its really neat to see. Here are some more pictures of the newest baby :)

{ hazel + mommy 3 weeks old }

 

{ hazel 4 weeks old & 15oz }

 { hazel 5 weeks old..her blue eyes are turning green }

 

{ hazel almost 6 weeks old...looking more like a kitty every day }

 

 

 

And the cutest picture of all:

 

They love each other and I love them tons!! They are my babies :)

 

Happy Thursday

 

xoxo E
 

. workout Wednesday .

I have been so crazy busy with work that I have not yet had time to do groceries or make healthy meals in a while. This kinda has worked out in my favor...that and being on my feet walking all day long has also helped. I saw a number on the scale that I haven't seen in a while...drum roll please :)

148.4

I'm so excited to be seeing the number go down since I started. I got off to a slow start, but I think I might be on a roll now. I'm stoked!!!

Hopefully soon I'll get my stuff together and upload some before and after pictures!

xoxo E

. soon i'll be covered in... .

via

Yep...I'm having ink fever :) again! I would love to get more tattoos (no worries mom, I won't go crazy and be covered!)

I'm heading to Virginia this weekend for a birthday party, a going away party...and a tattoo appointment!! I'm sure a lot of people think I'm nuts for getting this tattoo, and that's ok. Everyone is entitled to their oppinions and I respect them, but this tattoo is for me and for me alone.

This is a stamp of Izzie's paw. I'm getting this tattooed on the top of my right foot. I have had Izzie since she was 6 weeks old and she has been with me thru a lot and I want to never forget what we went thru (maybe someday on the blog I'll talk about it, but for right now it's between Izzie and I). She is there for me when I'm sad, lonely, happy, you name it, she's with me. Like the blog title say's, right now its just Izzie and me! I love this dog like nothing else...its insane really :)

Then after that one, I have a few more tattoos planned. In no particular order:

this one

{ This was taken right after the bandage was taken off..I should update this picture no?? :) }

will be extended to look like this:

via

I'm pretty sure this will cover up most of my back. I really want someone to draw this on me in pen so I can see what it looks like when it's all done that way if I don't like it I don't waste a tattoo artist's time by having to draw it up and me not liking it. I'll have to find someone who can draw...

I have a tattoo on my ribs that says: "Each day is a gift, not a given right". Its a quote from a Nickelback song and I absolutely love the quote but I'm not sure about the lettering, I also don't want to cover any of my tattoos up. They were all done at a specific time in my life. So instead of covering it up I'm thinking about putting either a tree with no leaves on it with the quote in there or a cherry blossom tree, like so:

via



to go around my quote that is this..capeesh??

{ this tattoo is a lot smaller then this, it covers a little bit of my ribs, so it would be as big as the picture above }

Next up: a thigh tattoo. I've wante one for a while now and I was playing around with the idea of a peacock, but that doens't really have any meaning to me. So I came up with the idea of getting my mom, dad, Lynne and my birth flowers on my left thigh...there is nothing more important then family an this will be a pretty, colorful way to pay tribute to that. And when I have children, I would like their birth flowers added on my right thigh.

And the last one I really really want, and will probably be my next one. A tattoo on the inside of my arm that will say:

And because I don't want it to be just the writing, I may add this to it:

I would like just the birdcage, not the chandelier. I think the bird in the cage represents quitting before something good happens and therefor staying in your cage. I can't wait to get this...I've always wanted a tattoo on my inner arm.

Basically my tattoo artist is going to be making bank on me, and my body will be covered in more art. I love tattoos and what they represent to me and I'm hoping that in this day and age no one will judge me on my ink and not my personality!

What is your oppinion on tattoos?

xoxo E





. updatie .

once again, I took a little unplanned bloggie break! I'm back though, I have some blog updates planned for this week and I'm excited to get back into the groove :)

I got a new job a few weeks ago...basically when I stopped blogging. Here is a little back story. So basically I had a job interview at an agricultural transport company for a position as an accounting assistant. I got a call back for a second interview and it was between me and another girl. I thought I did really well, and I NEEDED this job, I had to get away from McDonald's, that job really was a temporary solution to a financial problmems. I got a call saying I did not get the job. I was pretty devastated to be honest and didn't quite understand what His plan was, I mean surely I don't have to work at McDonald's for a lot longer...right?

Well I talked to my aunt who told me the quote I put online here earlier, "Don't quit before the miracle". That day my neighbor came up to me and told me that this cute coffee shop downtown was hiring...its like a family style panera/starbucks mix with amazing sandwiches, soups, bakery items and coffee drinks. It's called "The upper crust" and I've been going there since my freshman year. So I went there right away, and filled out the application. These 2 girls that worked there asked about my experience and availability and the girl behind the counter told me I would get a call the next day. So I left and went to get some groceries, and I had left there maybe 20 minutes and I got a call!! They asked me to come in for an interview the next day!! So I went in the next day and met with the owner, Jim, and I thought it went really well. I went in on  Monday morning to see if I got the job or not, and the girl behind the counter went back, came out again and said "ok, you work Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 11-3pm", I was shocked and so excited! So I worked all that week at the Upper Crust and at McDonalds, and it got pretty hectic and busy! The week after that was even worse, working 16 hours on Monday and 11 hours the rest of the week! I'm so happy that I have found a job where I feel at home, people are nice to me and I love the girls I work with.

I'm leaving for VA again this Thursday so lots of pictures shall be posted next week. I'll also be getting more ink which I am estatic about...it's about time! I think I have 6 new tattoos planned...this is a tiny financial problem that we shall discuss later, yes :)

How have you been? I really missed blogging but this time I'm going to keep my word and I'm back!

xoxo E

. roadtrip shenanigans part 2 .

So ya'll can read part 1 of my story here.

The night after we went to the lake, I spent at Lynne's house and we watched the Bachelorette...totally hooked on this season by the by! We had a nice relaxing night which was a nice way to end the trip.

The next morning I stopped by Lynne's work to say goodbye and I drove to Front Royal, about 2.5 hours north. When I got there, I got Izzie all situated, and Torrie (my aunt) and I decided to go to lunch and run some arrands. As we were leaving her road, we see a UPS truck...now I decided to have my new phone sent to Torrie's house so I could have it before I drove back to NY. So we did what any logical person does...we turn around and follow the UPS truck. He drove straight to her house, where I met him and he handed me my new phone. It was quite exciting!

We had some lovely Mexian food for lunch...I love Mexican food but there is none here that is any good, but this place was delicious. Well when Torrie went to pay she realized she left her wallet at the house, so we went back home. We hung out with the doggies a little bit, did some stuff around her house. Then we left again to go to Target and get peddies :)

After that, we decided to spend some time at the house with the doggies. Torrie and I talked about our weight loss journey's and she just started to go for run/walks every night. So we decided to take the dogs...and the wine we bought at Target. My uncle and her live on 5 acres of land and right on a river, so it is perfect for the dogs to run around. We ran/walked for 30 minutes and it felt really good! We ran by the river, in the water and it was so good...it was a good bonding experience. We got some little chairs and set up right by the river, even lit some tiki torches. My uncle came out and we just hung out, drank quite a bit.

Well, I was in the middle of a super interesting story when I heard this super loud crack! I jumped up out of my chair and so did my uncle. I look behind me and this huge tree log fell out of the tree. It fell 5 feet from where we were sitting and 2 feet from the cars, somehow it didn't hit us, the cars or the dogs! When I turned around Torrie was still sitting in her chair, appearently my story was so interesting she didn't really react to this huge cracking sound. I looked for my uncle and he was in a ball like 20 feet away from us. I just started laughing and asked how he got there so quickly, he said he thought the whole tree was falling and just ran while looking behind him at the tree and tripped over a rock! He was fine, and we were just lucky that all of us and the doggies were ok.

Here is the evidence

It literally left a crater in the ground, it was insane! Its a good story to tell, but it was scary, I was shaking like a leaf...pun intended :)

I left pretty early the next day to head back to NY. I had so much fun in VA, but I wish I was there longer, the time went by so fast and I feel like I spent most of my time in the car. I can't wait to go back. I'm going back in 3 weeks when my uncle turns 40...they are having a huge party with a band by the river, but they are making sure all the dead tree limbs are gone first :)

Hope ya'll enjoyed my shenanigans!

xoxo E

. roadtrip shananigans part 1 .

Holy cow...what a fun past couple of days! I have pictures to share and stories to tell :)

Ya'll read about my trip there...it took for fricken ever, but I made it safe and sound! I got into Lynchburg around 5:30pm and raced to my sister's house. Basically I dumped Izzie there, said a real quick hello to friends from Canada and then bolted because I had dinner plans at....5:30 :) I was a little late but met Laurel at Buffalo Wild Wings where I finally settled my recent craving for fried pickles...I'm not sure what that was about, or where it came from!

After that I went home and went to bed, I was exhausted from my drive! Lynne came home from her rehearsal dinner and we hung out for a little bit before I called it a night. The next day Lynne and I went to see my grandma who just had shoulder surgery, and it was good to see her. After that we went and did some shopping, which was amazing!! :) We took a little too long shopping and when we got home we had an hour to get ready for the wedding...ya'll know an hour is not  long enough to get ready!!! Lynne only has one shower, so I opted to wash my hair in the sink, a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do! We managed to get there in time though, it was by the grace of God because I'm not sure how we did that.

The wedding was beautiful, just look at the pictures! Megan and Daniel are a great couple and they have an awesome relationship.

{ groom + groom's men }

{ bridesmaids }

{ the gorgeous bride and her father }

{ THE KISS }

{ the head table, so cute }

{ the cake }

{ the lovely couple, via instagram }

{ George, the groom's dad and the girls }

{ my wolf pack, from left to right, Kaci, Scott, me, Meagan, Lynne, Justin, Kyle, Caleb, Christy, Brittany and Erik }

The next day Justin, my brother in law, was working at the lake, and Lynne and I and some friends drove out there to hang out. Another friend (are you following) had gotten a boat with his parents and invited us to go tubing...uhm heck yea (not the tubing part). So we hung out on the boat and Lynne was a beast out there on the tube, the driver definitely didn't hold back because she was a girl. It was all fun and games until we hit a tital wave and it hit my bag, which was canvas, not quite waterproof! Well there was a lot of water and for some stupid reason I brought my phone with me on the boat, I'm not sure why because I didn't use it or need it. Well my phone got soaked and so did my camera. I managed to get my camera battery out and saved my camera...my poor phone wasn't so lucky. When I picked it up, water was streaming out and I couldn't get my phone case off fast enough to save it. So $130 later, I had to get a completely different phone, a Samsung Blaze or something, I think I like it so far. It was a big bummer, but here are some pictures!

{ ready for the lake }

{ about to go tubing }

{ the look on Lynne's face is priceless...sheer terror, but that turned to fun, no worries :) }

Because my bag got soaked, so did my extra set of clothes. So I wore Lynne's undies (they were clean) and her shorts that went over my thighs but couldn't quite zip or button, and Justin's shirt..oh and no bra, great look I know. Well then Lynne was going comando, wore Justin's jeans and a button up shirt. We both looked AWESOME :)

That night we saw 'Snow white and the huntsmen' and it was pretty good, but too long for my liking.

Stay tuned for part 2 of my trip, coming tomorrow!

xoxo E

. unplanned .

IM ALIVE!!

It seems I have taken an unplanned little blogging break, but IM BACK!!!!

I'll resume my regular posting tomorrow...you better get excited :) I have some awesome posts coming up and those include 'Work out Wednesday' and 'Throwback Thursday'

xoxo E