Hello, Weekend

This morning I have been sipping coffee, snuggling with my bug and we are eating pancakes with lots of SYRUP, or as L says "SHURUP and SUGA SUGA". 

I've been blogging, pinning Kitchen, Living Room, Bathroom, Fireplace etc. ideas on Pinterest in hopes that we will be buying a home soon! 

I've been crazy lately. 

My blood pressure and anxiety have been super high, my face is breaking out in stress zits and my emotions have been unbearable. Some call it PMS. Some call it anxiety. Many call it crazy. I call it "bitch from hell syndrome". I have a surgery next week I am dreading, yet slightly excited for the results. I have been house hunting with my husband and friend/realtor from work. We have exactly what we want in mind... and luckily found a couple houses that fit our criteria and more! Now it's a waiting game to get a showing time, really inspect it, make an offer... Needless to say, no one ever promised house hunting was easy & fun like you see on TV. What are those two brothers names again? I want to hire them. :) 

I have been preparing for surgery all week with paperwork, short term disability and FMLA and insurance companies... etc etc etc. I just want this to be over and work my way back to myself again after surgery.

My goal is to get better, wait for closing dates and inspections to be done and move in to a new home before the Holidays are here! 

Can someone please just hit the easy button in my life for me?

:) 

So, this weekend kicks off my 17 days off that I have from work and I'm telling you, I definitely need it. My boss is crazy, my goals are outrageous, and corporate has been breathing down our necks. So it's time to clean, organize, paint some canvas' and decorate... And spend time with my handsome hubby and beautiful daughter that I never see enough of.

Enjoy your Holiday weekend everyone!

BIFF Weekend Getaway

What do two married women, who are best friends, workaholics (at work & home), and moms have in common?

They need a weekend away once in a freakin' while. 

So what do they do?

...Go to the most beautiful place in northern Michigan, party like they're 21 and shop until their husbands call and threaten to cut them off. (Yes that happened). Eeeek! 

Sounds like fun, right? 

TOTES.

My BIFF and I went on our little vaca and had an amazing time. We shopped, ate amazing food and drank the best selection of wines East of Napa Valley. 

Saturday consisted of lots and lots and LOTS of shopping, exploring cute little shops and dreaming of buying everything organic and natural for our babies, the cutest toys and new decor for our houses... Eating the most amazing wraps and nachos, yummy beers and fresh iced teas, and going to a winery with a breathtaking view of the vineyards.

We went down to the beach, took some amazing pictures of the water and enjoyed our peace and quiet - although that peace and quiet really consisted of talking all about our babies that weren't with us - and how much we missed their sweet cheeks every time we saw a family together.

Sunday we slept in until 9:00 AM - WHAT?! - yep. 

It was amazing. 

So we spent most of our morning at this amazing little place in town for breakfast. If you ever go to Traverse .... or live within 5 hours of there it's so worth it to go! On a beautiful sunny, warm Sunday morning we sat outside under little lanterns and trees and literally ate until we wanted to explode. 

Look at this - if this isn't heaven I don't know what the F is. 

• Blueberry pancakes = to die for. 
• Fruit salad (pears and apples and grapes... and strawberries, and almonds ... all on top of banana bread drizzled with raspberry sauce and some other sweet yogurt tasting creamy goodness). and ... no, they didn't hire me to write their menu. 

Seriously... Click here - The Towne Plaza

Just don't drool on your phone or laptop while you read the menu.

* KK is not responsible for such happenings *

:)

Oh, and I almost forgot. Here's our iced coffee that was more of a cool looking science expiriment... But this is the kind you can actually drink! HOW COOL IS THAT? :) We felt like kids.

After we had a blast at breakfast and thanked out server a million times for the amazing food and service we headed right downtown to the beach... sprayed the crap out of our skin with tanning oil with a little SPF in it and layed in the sun listening to some PitBull and Sean Paul. 

Ha. 

Perfection! 

After an amazing time in the sun we grabbed some yummy wraps and flatbreads for lunch at a local deli and hit the road for a long but interesting ride home. The ride home was definitely filled with road rage, yelling at idiots and bumpin' to top hits. 

Now I'm exhausted but we are home to our hubbies and littles. We left the most beautiful place ever but we are full of some amazing memories, a pretty good tan, my shelf has yummy wine on it and my husband has his favorite fudge, my daughter has a cute little hoodie and I have an amazingly soft, warm hoodie too!

Until next time... 

XO!

Peace out TC.

Paci's and Crickets

The window is open, a cool breeze is blowing in and all I hear is the sweet sound of paci smacking on little lips and crickets. 

Crickets and pacifiers and my world is perfect.

Lately my world has been a roller coaster ride. I've been stressed out, I haven't been myself, I've been avoiding work, avoiding my family, my friends, everything and it's all because of my wonderful life at the moment.  To say the least it's consisted of ... Cramps, nerves about my upcoming surgery, more cramps, flu last week, a terribly awful new boss we ALL hate (and I mean every last one of us!), stress, a two year old who will not go to sleep alone (and wakes up at the ass crack of dawn EVERY.SINGLE.NIGHT), arguing with my hubby about everything because let's face it... I'm an emotional bitch right now thanks to these cramps that are causing a world war in my ovaries... and last but not least I have school starting soon and this shit in my life better be over before that! Well.. That literally sums up my life right now! 

So yes, I've been stressed. Depressed. Overly cranky and irritated about ... Well... Let's just say EVERYTHING!

To my friends without kids... You've been warned. "Terrible two's" DOES exist. But it's more along the lines of being called;  "attachment problems", "cranky because I'm teething these huge ass molars", "whine about everything Because I can talk now..." phase. It will pass like every other phase until now in my child's life but this phase at this very moment truly sucks. My husband and I don't sleep, we wake up early and just never catch a break.

To my friends I never see or hangout with... This is why. If you have kids you'll understand. If you don't, I hope you can put yourself in my shoes for 5 seconds. 

To my best friend, thank you for being so awesome! I can't take a weekend and go away on our "moms weekend", or should we just stick to "ladies weekend out..."? "Moms weekend" makes us sound old and married. Married yes but, old we are not! After the couple weeks I've been having it's much needed! I can't wait. :)

I have sat next to my daughters bed now for the length of time it took me to write this blog and I hear her sigh, snore a little and she looks so cozy curled up under a pink fuzzy blankey. Moments like this make my life feel sane, calm and complete. Worries and stress gone, I kiss my daughter on the forehead and I can only hope and pray her dreams are good ones tonight. :) (only because neither one of us want to get up at 2am again)! Hehe. 

Xo. 

Passion

“Everyone can rise above their circumstances & achieve success IF they are dedicated to and passionate about what they do.” - Nelson Mandela

I know in my heart that passion drives me, goals drive me and success fuels my fire.

I feel it every time I meet a new student, change their lives, their children's lives, 

when they find a great career, when they show me they did it and they didn't give up. 

I feel it in my hear when my daughter learns a new word, says her colors out loud or counts to ten as she is walking down the stairs in the morning. 

I see passion in my husband's eyes even when he's frustrated with his finance homework, he's had a long day at work or he's gotta work on a darn weekend. 

I see success when we make it through the month with money to spare and save, groceries stocked in the freezer and a warm meal with a cold beer on the dinner table.

I feel the passion, the drive that love in my students, my friends, my family and my co-workers when something motivates them and pushes them to succeed.

Truth is, we all have obstacles, we will all fail and we will all be stuck at times. 

The easy part is giving up, letting go and taking a different road.

The hard part is pushing your way through the obstacles and road blocks to make it to your goals and successes. 

No matter where you are in life, what obstacle you're facing or how big that road block is in your way... YOU can do it with passion and motivation. 

YOU can achieve your dreams and goals, I can achieve my dreams and goals and together we can motivate, entrust and BELIEVE in one another.

Just a little thought for the night.

Goodnight, friends.

XO