Taking Chance

Did any of you watch the HBO special 'Taking Chance'?

Derek and I are watching it right now while our dinner cooks in the crock pot and I cannot stop crying. Every single scene has made me tear up. Such a great story of honor, grattitude, respect and deeply moving. I only wish Id watched it sooner.

THANK you to all of you wives with members of the Air Force, the Marines, the Navy and the Army as your husbands. Thank you to all of you in the service for all of your hard work and your absolute selflessness. Thank you.

Dinner With Macey

Yep, I got to see Miss Macey last night and of course arrived armed with my camera. Feast your eyes!

(she really likes my blackberry)

Shes talking up a storm and always makes us laugh- so much fun to watch her grow!

Thats all. Just wanted to brag.

On my Nightstand

I finished reading Still Alice last night. It was an amazing book that made me cry and taught me a very valuable lesson at the same time. Alice Howland is a successful and intelligent professor teaching at Harvard when she is diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s at the age of 50. The story is told from her point of view and while very very sad, its a book I was unable to set down- seeing what this disease is like from her point of view was truly remarkable. I highly recommend reading it- Ill even let you borrow my copy!

Up next...

(Yes, its true, I am obsessed with Jodi Picoult books)

Yoga

Today was my 9th day of yoga. I feel healthier. Im sleeping better. I have more energy. I have lost inches off my waist and my arms (yes, already). I drink more water. I care more about what I put in my body. My skin glows a little extra. I am proud of myself.

If any of you have a chance to try out hot yoga, I would highly suggest it. Now, Im sure in a few moths (once Im post Playa del Carmen bathing suit weather) the excitement will wear off like any form of exercise eventually does. For now, I am completely committed, sold, and convinced of all the power yoga has to offer.

Namaste.

Lucky Number 8

Kelly over at Dare to be Domestic tagged me to play Lucky Chinese Tag. Wahooo (watch as my head swells!) I love surveys and love that It counts as blogging when Ive done so little of it lately.

So here is all the Lucky 8 Chinese Tag info you could ever want to know about me!

8 TV shows I watch
1. Dexter
2. The Office
3. Brothers & Sisters
4. Desperate Housewives
5. Ugly Betty
6. Chelsea Lately
7. Nip/Tuck
8. Teen Mom- no lie.

8 favorite places to eat and drink
1. Frank & Angies
2. Baris
3. Opal Divines
4. Pei Wei
5. Tomo sushi
6. Janets house (Dereks mom)
7. Tokyo Steakhouse
8. Casa Garcias

8 things I look forward to
1. Derek coming home at the end of his day (the sound of the garage door opening)
2. Sleeping with the dogs when Derek is out of town
3. Joannas wedding in Playa Del Carmen in April
4. Being Sarahs Maid of Honor
5. The Weekend
6. My Mom coming home off the ship in just a little over a week
7. Seeing Macey tonight
8. Getting married/spending my best years with the man I love

8 things that happened yesterday
1. Ate breakfast
2. Went to yoga
3. Ate lunch
4. Had a sales meeting at work in which I did not consume one single beer (yes, they serve beer at our meetings)
5. Drove home
6. Made dinner
7. Watched Good Will Hunting
8. Laughed with Derek

8 things I love about winter
1. Being inside cozy and warm
2. Christmas
3. Fuzzy socks
4. Soup
5. Hot Chocolate
6. Pictures from Sarah of just how much rougher she has it and just how much snow theyre burried in
7. Naps
8. Scarves
8 things on my wish list
1. New pots and Pans
2. Staying motivated and focused to continue on with yoga
3. An easy fix to get skinny
4. More closet space
5. Better landscaping in our yard
6. To be taller
7. My hair to grow faster
8. The ability for my dogs to talk- Im insane, I know.

8 things I am passionate about
1. Karma
2. Compassion
3. Honesty
4. Derek
5. Family
6. Friendship- what you get out vs. what you put in
7. Reading
8. Pizza
8 words I use often
1. Seriously
2. Meh
3. Damnit
4. ‘Can you…’
5. Derek
6. REGGIE!!! (In a mad tone when he bounds in from outside)
7. Bitch
8. Thank you

8 things I have learned from the past
1. You will always learn from the tough stuff- you wont see it then, but you will later
2. Smirnoff Ice is disgusting
3. You will never have enough money so get used to what you’ve got and make the most of it
4. Getting an education is ESSENTIAL to your future
5. I was too good for him
6. True friends never let you down or leave you when you need them
7. Netflix is better than Blockbuster
8. If you lie, people will find out

8 things I want/need
1. I need to work harder at my job
2. I need to nurture my relationships as much as necessary and whenever possible
3. I want a new laptop
4. I want a better digital camera
5. I want a diamond ring (but more so what it represents)
6. I need my dogs to live very very very long and healthy lives
7. I need to love and be loved
8. I want to be skinnier and know how hard Ive worked at it
8 people I want to tag
Katie
The Blogivers
Peace Love & Applesauce
The Joiners
Llama Tales
Live. Love. Laugh.
Leaving and Loving on a Jetplane
Happy Meals and Happy Hour

Bedding

Derek and I have been looking for new bedding for quite some time now. You see, he likes plain, simple classic bedding and I like more colorful, loud and patterned bedding. (Insert months and months and months of looking) We finally found bedding we both liked. Although Im more convinced Derek was sick of looking, we found something we could both live with. I wanted to share it with you all, despite taking a hasty picture with not all pillows in place and improper lighting (I dont think the shams are even facing the same way).... Voila!

I wish I had a before picture for you, but alas, youll just have to imagine a duvet in a chocolate brown cover and multi colored pillows. It was nice, dont get me wrong, but the duvet was such a damn struggle! Making our bed was easily a two person job.

Oh, and Reggie helped me put the new bedding together (and by helping I mean he followed me from room to room constantly at my feet and laid on every piece of sheet and blanket I needed so I had to physically move him off of what I needed when I needed it).

I tried to sit on the ground to be at his level for the photo shoot and this is how he repaid me. By raping my face.

A Very Good Monday

Every now and then something happens in my day that stops me in my tracks and forces me to thank my lucky stars. Today was one of those days. These two events made my Monday so much more tolerable.

Macey asked Rhonda when she was picked up from daycare if she could go to Uncle Derek and Dezs house.

As if that wasnt enough to make me grin from ear to ear until bedtime...

When I got home from my 90 minute yoga class where the room is kept at 98 degrees, Derek had drawn me a bubble bath.

I wish every Monday was this wonderful!

Day 5

Just wanted to drop in and let all of you lovers that Desiree has indeed completed 5/10 days of hot yoga. I am halfway to reaching my goal of 10 consistent days. Once the trial period is over I will decide if its something I want to do full time- so far Im leaning towards yes. Feeling so good about it so far.

Tomorrow is already Monday again? Yuck.

2010 Wants (and Yoga)

I was hoping to write about hot yoga hours ago. Like right when I got home. Before I showered and all the positive energy and happy thoughts dripped off of my overweight naked body that looked back at me in the mirror (youre welcome for the mental image).

I arrived, paid my $10 for ten days of classes and walked back into the room. My friend Tiffany met me and laughed when we walked in to a completely pitch black room. We literally could not even see past our own noses- we had accidentally planned on attending the class taught in the dark, with NO TALKING. Sure there was the typical wind chimey, babbling brook music, but the only voice you could hear was a recorded one that named off poses and stances.

Im not going to lie- 90 minutes of yoga was tough. Add onto that the fact that the room is kept at 90 degrees. I was sweating before I even lifted a finger but still left feeling like Id successfully kicked my own butt without feeling the need to vomit, cry or pass out. Tomorrow I plan to try a 60 minute class where the room is set at 98 degrees. If I never blog again, youll know why.

Im in the whole new years kick of taking better care of myself. I dare not call them resolutions because were all aware those don’t typically last long.
Im talking about claiming my body back, making healthier choices about not only what I eat but what I drink, what I put in my body. I want to file my nails instead of chewing them off when theyre ragged and uneven. I want to go to sleep earlier and wake up earlier, make more of my day. I want to walk my dogs more, not for me, but for them. I want to cut back on the foul language. I want to devote more to my job. I want to continue my kick of dry cleaning nicer clothes. I want to love myself more. I want to read, and not just when I travel. I want to brush up on my Spanish. I want to be a better friend and a better phone- answerer. I want to learn more knock knock jokes. I want to be a better girlfriend. I want to not text or email and drive. I want to drink more water. I want to floss more. I want to laugh louder, harder and more often. I want to make the most of my blog.

I want to make the most of 2010.

Award! AKA Im Famous!

The very talented and funny Amy gave me an award! This one came with no instructions or specifications so rather then be generous and share the love, Im keeping this one all to myself.

Who am I kidding? Im just too damn lazy today to think of anything ;)

Tonight starts day 1 of hot yoga for this little butterball, its kinda all I can think about- Ill let you know how it goes if I dont melt into a puddle of pure fat first.

Grrr

You know what really annoys (What really grinds my gears- a la Peter Griffin) me?

Getting a text from my boss at 7 AM Monday (before Im even out of bed) saying that we will have a meeting at 6:30 AM Tuesday.

As if Mondays after a holiday and after coming home from vacation arent difficult enough.
So today I got to think about how horrible the following morning would be... ALL DAY LONG.

Attention Jersey Shore Fans

This made me laugh. HARD.

Youre welcome.

Reading

One of my favorite things to do while traveling is read. Derek is not a reader at all so I think sometimes my nose being in a book for hours at a time confuses him. While traveling back and forth to Miami, I finished my third Jodi Picoult book- I have to say that her books, all that Ive read, are amazing!

Now that Its finished (it was wonderful, heart breaking and impossible to put down) I picked up a new book and plan to start it tonight after I hit up my treadmill.

What are you guys reading these days?

53

I cant believe I have 53 followers! What on earth makes what I have to say so interesting?! Either way, thank you all that stop by and leave comments- you truly make my day everytime I hear from you!

(I did a Google image search for 'surprised' and this came up- too funny to leave out.)

Hello World

Hope your holiday season was as eventful as ours and that you survived as well- I have spent the better half of my morning reading about all of your adventures over the last week or so and I cant wait to fill you guys in.

We survived Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and a trip to Miami on New Years Eve for my cousin, Eric's wedding. I have so much to tell you all, so many pictures to post and a TON to catch up on. As soon as we got home last night, the dogs were picked up, bathed and suitcases were unpacked.

Is it silly that the thing I was most excited to fly home to was my dogs? I missed them so much!

My friend, Sarah, who I have known my whole entire life receved a sparkly diamond ring on Christmas Eve from the love of her life- in addition to that, I know of 3 friends that got engaged on New Years Eve- Derek and I shared a good laugh at how just when we think its all over and our bouts standing at the altar with our nearest and dearest are over, someone else signs us up. Sure wre honored and happy to take part in such special occasions, but in April, I will be standing in my 14th wedding. FOURTEEN.

Heres to 2010 and all the advantures ahead!