Thought for the day

Amazing moments in life

1. Coming home late and going straight to bed.
2. Wine o'clock
3. Buying amazing clothes that you found on sale
4. Talking on the phone until 5 in the morning
5. Holding hands, even after 8 years
6. Falling asleep on someone's chest
7. Unexpected moments that become your favorite memories
8. Meeting people that you feel like you've known your whole life
9. Finally knowing what you want to be when you grow up
10. Realizing everything is going to be ok

#2

I have a date on Friday afternoon.  A date with my friend Wendy.  At a tattoo parlor in Wilmington. 

I've got a tattoo that I've had since I was 18 years old (yeah that was clearly a smart idea) that has faded so bad that I need to have it re-inked. I have spent way too much time in the tanning bed over the last 15 years and my poor tattoo went from being black and red to a strange gray and pink.  I will be getting that touched up and made nice again on friday afternoon, and I will be watching Wendy get tattoo #8 I believe.  She's crazy but I love her.  I've debated getting tattoo #2 for several years now.  It took forever to decide where I wanted the first one -and I've gone back and forth as to whether or not I want another one.  I've wavered on where to get it, what it would be, how big or small it would be.  I'm having second thoughts and I believe I'm going to wait and decide if I like this tattoo artist before I decide to get the second one.

I know what you're thinking - nice girls don't get tattoos.  Eww.  Why on earth would you want a tattoo, much less more than one?  I believe tattoos are incredibly personal.  I was an immature teenager when I got my first one, and it doesn't have much meaning to me.  I think that's why it's so hard to decide what I'd want for the second one.  I want something with my children's names.  I want something to remember my sister.  I want something that means something to me.  I want something that's a symbol to my husband.  And that is exactly why I can't commit to the next one!

If I could have more than one, this is what I would have; 1) a butterfly for my sister,  2) a winnie the pooh for Brier (I call him Pooh for his nickname), 3) a pair of shoes with wings for Tyler (because he has conquered his clubbed feet) 4) a claddagh for Jayson and 5) the simple phrase "this too shall pass" for myself.   There's no way I will get 5 more tattoos...

What do you think I should get?  Or should I get one at all?

Go Cowboys!

I don't care if we win another game this season, but beating the Redskins last night was enough bragging rights for at least the next 6 months.  Suck it 'Skins!

True story

I had this entire conversation with myself this afternoon.  I decided to shave...

Song lyrics of the day

I've tried so hard to tell myself that you're gone
But though you're still with me, I've been alone all along...

"My Immortal"- Evanescence


ROUGH. MORNING.

Just an update

I feel like I spend so much time on this blog complaining about stuff.  Maybe that's what my blog was intended for - to let me get things off my chest and to talk about things when I need to.  I wanted to take a minute and just give an overall update on life in general.

Life is good!!

My husband and I are doing really great lately - in fact, we are getting along better now than we have in our entire marriage.  Thank God for answering prayers.  I'm glad I hung in there.

My children are so wonderful - they are very well behaved and truly love each other and they bring so much joy into my life.  I couldn't imagine my life without them and I am so blessed to be their mother.

My job is fantastic.  I didn't think I would ever say that about where I work, but I am honestly so very happy with where life has taken my career.  I am loving the client management side of the business - I have so many balls up in the air right now though...  but busy is better than bored any day of the week.

My schoolwork is going well too.  I managed to make it through Accounting and I've maintained my 4.0 GPA.  I really hope I'm able to make it another 5 classes with all As.  Maybe it will make up for all of the partying I did at UNC...?  (Yeah probably not)

I hope things continue down this happy road.  I had high hopes for 2011 and the first 6 months of this year pretty much sucked ass.  I've still got time to turn it all around.  :)

Song lyric of the day

It's crazy I'm thinking
Just knowing that the world is round
Here I'm dancing on the ground
Am I right side up or upside down
Is this real or am I dreaming

"Crush" - Dave Matthews Band

Thought for the day

GPOY(with a mini me)W

This is my niece Elizabeth.  Now, if you were to actually see this cutie pie in person, you would say "she looks just like her mom."  But for some reason, making this face like me, she is clearly my clone.

Song Lyrics of the day

My heart is old, it holds my memories
My body burns a gemlike flame
Somewhere between the soul and soft machine
Is where I find myself again

"Kyrie Eleison" - Mr Mister


(Yes I was jamming this song during my walk this morning.  Maybe it was my Catholic roots, my love of 80s music or just that this song is completely awesome, but it seemed fitting today.)

Hooray for progress!

After trying to burn CDs on iTunes for the last 30 minutes and having my computer crash on me three separate times, I decided it was finally time to set up the external hard drive to move the 4 years of pictures I have on my computer onto a huge terabyte drive.  I hope that stops the crashing problem.  I know it's time to get a new computer but I'm trying to hold out until January if I can.  And I don't know if I should get a Mac or another Dell (which I loved).  I know Mac people are seriously biased.  If you've had both a Mac and something else, tell me your recommendation...

Thought for the day

OK I think I'm ready

I have come to terms with the fact that I cannot grow fingernails.  Like at all.  Mine are just nubs.  And I don't want to pay for fake nails anymore.  It's silly and unnecessary. 

So I think it's finally time to go ahead and sign up for guitar lessons!  I know that is lame, but that is honestly the only thing that has been holding me back from signing up.  I know my hands are going to get torn up and will probably get completely beaten up the first week alone, but it's more important to me to finally conquer this.  Wish me luck!

Paint it Pink

It's not that often that I get the opportunity to donate towards a worthy cause.  When I was invited to the Paint It Pink Gala in honor of my friend Jamie's roommate who died of breast cancer, I saw it as an opportunity to donate to a cause that's near and dear to me.  My friend Ashley is a breast cancer survivor.  My mother-in-law Marti and her sister Linda are breast cancer survivors.  My friend Christy's mom is a breast cancer survivor.  I have seen so many women go through this disease and BEAT IT.

If you are interested in attending the Gala on October 6th, please go here :PAINT IT PINK!

Finally!

 

It took my husband 19 years to finally finish his bachelors' degree and graduate from college.  He finished up earlier this year, and he quietly showed me his diploma when he picked it up a few months back.  He doesn't make a big deal about his graduating because he feels like he should have done it right the first time and finished back when he was "supposed" to.  I have always made a big deal about his finally finishing - I want to make sure our kids understand that Daddy never gave up on a goal of his, even if it took him many years to do it.  

I happened across my own college diploma a few months back when I was decluttering our office.  I finally bought suitable frames today and I hung our diplomas on the wall, proudly displaying them as they should be.  It was one of the best accomplishments of my life to graduate from UNC.  I want my children to understand everything that a college education has done for me, and as such, I want them to aspire to go to college and make something of themselves as well. 

Congratulations babe - I gave you the top spot because you're an inspiration to me as well as our children.  Now let's get that Master's Degree next!

Vent of the day

How on earth do I always pick the perfume that isn't going to be a good seller and will ultimately be discontinued???  It happened to me AGAIN!   This is probably the 5th time it's happened and this time I am very sad.

I went shopping on Friday (I've started shopping for Christmas) and I had run out of Coolwater for women.  So I headed on over to the perfume counter to check out the price and decide if I wanted to get it now or wait until next summer... 

"It's been discontinued," the sales lady told me.  SAY WHAT?!?!?!    I have been wearing this perfume every summer since 1995 or so.  OK so maybe I'm weird, I change my perfume with the seasons.  Vanilla anything in the winter, Love Spell in the spring, Coolwater in the summer and Heavenly in the fall.  What am I going to do now?  I need my "blue" flavored summer fragrance! 

I feel like I'm in mourning...

Thought for the day

Enough said

WOO HOO!!!!

It's football weather!  This was the temperature when I was dropping off my son for school this morning.

Welcome to Fall kiddos!  I have officially shut off the A/C and have opened (well, cracked is probably a better description) the windows.  Let in the fresh crisp air!

Hello Autumn!

If I haven't mentioned it before, I am SO ready for fall to get here.  I feel like this has been the longest, hottest summer on record and I'm ready for some relief from the heat!  The weather man said the temperature was going to drop almost 25 degrees by tomorrow so I went ahead and took precautions.

Yep, I got a pedicure.  Why? you may ask.  Because if my feet are not going to be seen in flip flops or sandals for the next 6 months (potentially), then they need to start out pretty before they go into hiding!

I actually chose the plainest, most subtle color I could find.  My toes are still cute though.  :)

Goodbye Rainbows.  See you in March or so!

Pinterest!

A friend invited me to join Pinterest last night.  If you don't know what that is, don't feel bad.  I didn't really either.  But apparently it's a website you can use to "bookmark" things that you like or want to try out etc.  So far I haven't left the "food ideas" page.  I have some lofty goals with some of these recipes, but wow, I'm getting hungry!

Everyone's trying it

I was down THREE POUNDS this morning.  Apparently the candy corn diet is working because I've pretty much eaten nothing but candy corn for two days now.

Yet again, the one thing I actually have a DEGREE in continues to baffle me. 

Word of the day

Did you try it?  Because I most certainly did.

My new favorite song

I have no idea why I love this song so much. I've always liked OneRepublic but this one seems to be playing in my head all the time lately.

So now I will pass it on to you!

Thought for the day

Oh hell yeah!

It's that time of year again!  I admit, the only reason I get remotely excited about Halloween is because of these...

I know, I know, it's still 90 degrees out and it's September, but I saw these at Target yesterday and I couldn't say no!

song lyrics of the day

She said I don't know if I've ever been good enough
I'm a little bit rusty, and I think my head is caving in

-"Push", Matchbox Twenty

Help!

I'm drowning in work right now - and all I want to do is go shopping.  I can't get focused no matter how hard I try today!

ZZZZZZzzzzzzz.........

I couldn't sleep last night.  I went to bed at 10pm and I just laid there for what seemed like eternity.  Normally I don't have any problem going to sleep.  Heck, I would go to bed at 8pm every night if I could but for some reason I was wide awake and I just couldn't turn my brain off. 

I started thinking about a lot of stuff.  Totally random stuff.  Stuff I had no business even thinking about because I knew it would upset me, but I couldn't stop it.  I realized that I hold onto so many things from my past.  I wish I could just let go of some of it. 

I started thinking about my sister and what happened the night she died.   I thought about how much I missed her and how I wished I could just hug her one more time.  I thought about the people in my life that I had hurt immensely.  I thought about what I would say to them again, given the opportunity to just be in the same room with them.  I thought about where my life would be if I had made different decisions and followed my heart instead of my head.  I thought about the person I would have become if I had changed directions and lived for myself instead of what others expected of me.  It was a lot to think about.

I wish I could say that all of these crazy thoughts ended last night, but they didn't.  Here I sit in front of my computer, with SO MUCH TO DO today, and I still can't turn the thoughts off.  Sigh... it's going to be a long day.

Sorry if this is a day late

It's hard to believe 10 years have gone by already.  It seems like just yesterday I was sitting at my desk when my brother called and told me to turn on the TV.  "You're not going to believe this - we're under attack," were his words.  We both couldn't believe our eyes as we watched the second plane crash into the North tower of the World Trade Center.  I have never felt fear like that before.  I remember my father was working out of the country in Abu Dhabi and when I called to tell him the news, sobbing at what I was watching on TV and scared for his safety he told me, "I'm clearly in a safer place than you are right now."

It's hard to imagine what the world was even like before 9/11.  Our economy was booming.  There was no such thing as an "unemployment problem" in America.  There was a housing boom.  You could say goodbye to loved ones getting on a plane AT the gate.  There was no fear of being attacked.  There was no hatred of Muslims.  The world has changed considerably since then.

I tried to explain to my 6 year old yesterday why Mommy was crying when they showed all of the pictures of what happened.  What was making me sad.  Why it was such a tragedy.  It's difficult for a child to understand what terror is.  It's even more difficult to explain WHY someone would do something so horrible. 

It was ten years ago but it still feels just like yesterday...

Burfin Family Reunion

A week at the beach was just what I needed.  We had, by far, one of the best family vacations we've ever had last week.  I think a lot of the reason it was so awesome was because of the company we shared at the beach.  Chris and Jessica and Blake were so much fun to be around, and the boys really enjoyed spending time with our "other" family.  Here's a quick recap of the week:

Day 1: We spent most of the day driving to the beach.  It took us almost 6 hours to get there (unbelievable!) and by the time we got there, we were worn out but excited.  Since it was after 5pm, we grabbed some dinner and settled into our 7 bedroom house.  Yes, 7 bedrooms!  The place was way too big for just our two families, but it was nice to have some breathing room.

Day 2: We packed up the kids, all the beach toys, and a cooler and headed down to the beach.  We stayed on the 3rd row, so the walk there was a few blocks.  That didn't seem like that big of a deal until we were heading back each day, carrying a 2 year old.  Here's a picture of Jessie and I the first day, before we decided to drink beer.  Notice the flat bellies...  ha!

Day 3: We were convinced that this would be our last real day on the beach because the weather kept saying it was going to do nothing but rain for the remainder of the week, so we decided to blow it out.  Day drinking = early bedtimes!  I think we were all worn out and passed out by 9pm.

Day 4: Yet another beautiful day on the beach!  We loaded the kids up again and spent most of the day by the water.  The wind was starting to pick up and it was too rough for the kids to get in the water, so we spent a lot of time playing in the sand and chasing these little guys - sandpipers!

They were everywhere!  The boys had another great day.

Day 5:  There was a rough seas advisory (due to Hurricane Katia) on so we spent half the day on the beach and half the day in the pool.  The house we stayed in was perfect for families and I hope we decide to stay there again next time. 

We managed to venture out to dinner on Wednesday night and we went to a local place that had great food.  I can't remember the name.  Oops.  The boys were so well behaved at dinner too!

Day 6: After lugging all of the chairs and toys and everything to the beach for days on end, we decided to spend our last day at the beach playing in the pool.  It was a great idea, considering it had rained the night before and all of the sand was washed off the beach stuff.  No sense in getting it dirty all over again!

After practicing flips and throwing footballs and swimming until we were exhausted, it was finally time to start cleaning up and packing for home.  Goodbye beach!  See you again soon!

2 more hours and I'm out of here!

I don't plan on blogging from the beach, but rest assured that I will be back next week with all the beachy fun updates you can handle.  Enjoy your Labor Day!

My heart aches for you :(

Eight years ago today, a friend lost the love of her life.  I know how she feels on days like today and it's hard not to feel the grief too.  I never knew Jeff but I know he must have been pretty amazing...

Love you girl. Hang in there...




(total side note: How freaking SEXY is Kevin playing the piano in this video?! Eeeee!!!! BSB for life!) ;)