If it's true what they say about bad things coming in threes, then I think I'm good for awhile...

I had every intention to blog last Thursday to keep my "Thankful Thursday" theme going. I found myself thinking of things I am thankful for last Tuesday and Wednesday and told myself to hold out just a few more days to post on the actual day! Well, Thursday came and went and I was left with my head spinning! My life has been one big stressful thing for the past week or so and I have found myself feeling cynical and pessimistic...I wasn't in the mood to try to find things I was thankful for...
So, what could be so horrible, you ask?
Well....
1. Thanksgiving Day my credit card # was stolen. Yup, just the number. I was in possession of my card the whole time, yet someone managed to rack up $1500 on my credit card buying who knows what online. If there is something to be grateful for in all of this mess, it is the fact that my credit card company contacted me about the suspicious activity and closed my account right away.

2. Brian and I still do not have our wedding pictures. It has been 4 months since we got married and nothing. And let me tell you, this photographer is giving us a run for our money. Back in September she apologized for them being past the original 6 weeks that she promised us and offered us free prints as compensation. She keeps saying "They are almost finished", but that's all she says. It's our wedding day for pete's sake! I finally grew some nerve, took the next step, and filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau, to which she responded, "You filing a complaint with the BBB doesn't make me want to get your photos to you any quicker, just so you know". (sigh) (deep breath) I have yet to find the good in this situation...

3. As some of you know, I am an advisor with lia sophia. I had a show several weeks ago for Brian's aunt and she purchased some of the wrong items. No biggie...we mailed them back and waited for the exchanges to be made. Well, after not hearing from lia sophia, I decided to contact them and see what the hold up was. I was informed that the envelope showed up destroyed and empty...no jewelry! So, someone stole the jewelry out of the package and lia sophia is not responsible for it. (sigh) I am thankful that I have a 70% discount with the company so that I can replace the pieces for her.

So, this has to be it for me right? 3 bad things have happened to me in the past week...there couldn't possible be anymore, right?! I have to keep reminding myself that everything happens for a reason and that whenever bad things happen, things could always be worse. I need to stress the word "keep" because it's been a doozy of a week. So, in the midst of my anger, disappointment, and stress, I still have things to be thankful for:

1. Brian. I know he will be on my list everytime I make one because without him, things would be a lot worse. While his calmness can sometimes add to my anger, he does his best to help me see the good in bad situations.

2. December 5th Celtics game. Who knew that when I bought the tickets for Brian as a Christmas present that I would be getting so much out of the game as well? The game was last Friday and it couldn't have come at a better time. It was the end of the worst week and the game was just what I needed.

3. My family and friends. They are always there to listen to me vent and even when they don't know what to say...just listening is enough :)

So, in closing...I am keeping my fingers crossed that this week is better than the last. I do not know how much more stress I could handle right now!

Thankful Thursday..er, Sunday ;)

I migrated over to someone else's blog today through Holly's blog and thought that she had a great idea! She started something called Thankful Thursdays on her blog and while it is Sunday today, I was inspired to jot down some things that I am thankful for :)

1. My husband. Brian is one of the best people that I know and he makes me feel very important. He knows just the right things to say or do to make me calm :) He is a great listener, a great friend, a great companion, and a great coffee maker ;) I am very lucky to call him my husband.

2. My family. While we are all very busy and may not talk to each other as much as I would like, I am thankful for each and every one of them. I see how some other families are and it makes me grateful to be part of such a fantastic family unit.

3. Our home. There are times I wish we had more space to move around in, but I am thankful that we have a roof over our heads and that I have a place to come home to every day.

4. Ollie and Sophie. Yes, it may be silly to be thankful for my kitty cats, but they make me happy. They keep me company while Brian is gone to work and that give me great comfort.

5. My friends. Like my family, I don't talk to my friends as much as I wish I could due to busy and conflicting schedules, but I am always thinking of them. Without them, there are some things in my life that I am not sure how I would have gotten through without them listening to me and giving me advice.

6. My job. There are many days where my job is frustrating, stressful, and boring, but without it I wouldn't have weekends off...get out at 3pm...and of course, pay the bills!

7. Old Navy's 50% off sale! hehe...I know this is silly, but today, I am grateful for this! I was able to purchase some outfits for my new niece and some pieces for myself...all for $17!!!

With Thanksgiving coming up this week, I am more pensive than usual about things that I am grateful for. However, I know that I want to stop more and realize the things in my life that are good. There is good in everything...sometimes it's harder to find the good in some things, but it is always there. I hope that you can all stop and take a moment to find the good things in your own lives :)

COMING SOON...BABY GIRL HEBERT!!!

The Hebert family is seeing pink today! Adam, Holly, and Bryson took a visit to the doctor this morning and of course Adam called my cell phone while I was at the bank for work this morning and didn't have my phone with me!!! When I returned, I saw his missed call, noticed the voice mail, but didn't even listen to it...just wanted to hear it from him directly. I could tell from the tone of his voice that it was a girl...I just felt it. How exciting! I had to go ahead and "steal" the ultrasound pics from Holly's blog, but I wanted to share just how cute this little 1 pound baby is already! She seems to already have a little personality..."waving" in the first picture to her viewers! And her feet are above her head in the second! Maybe we have a gymnast in the making?! Adam said they have another photo of her yawning, which I find amusing because what could she be so tired from? Floating?! :)

With Thanksgiving coming up next week, I can't help but think about just how grateful I am for my family...for our health...for each other...and just to have people in my life that are genuine people who all really care and love one another. This little baby girl is already loved a lot by her auntie :)

Tuesdays at work = dreadful!

It is only 7:43 am as I type this in my little office at work. It's freezing outside...I actually had to start my car this morning before feeding the cats, and wait for the frost to dethaw! I am not ready for the cold! It seems like we barely had a decent summer due to all of the rain! And not to mention the lack of sunlight! I come into work when it's still dark and as I am leaving at 3pm, it's beginning to get dark already!

While I tend to dread winter because of the short days, the coldness, and the lack of outdoor activity, I am trying to come up with some things that I can do indoors to pass the time. I have taken up reading again, which is good. I tend to go through spurts where I read a lot and then not so much. I actually joined a little reading group with a couple of friends (and a couple of new people that I don't know...but it's always good to meet new people!) last week! Our assignment is to read 1 book before our January meeting. I am working on this book, as well as a few others at the same time. It's relaxing and gives me something to do on the chilly nights when Brian is at work!

While I am beginning to dread these days at work, since it has slowed down tremendously, I am thankful that I do have a job where I can blog, read, work on my lia sophia business, and do other random things. However, the lack of work doesn't take away from the fact that moods are constantly changing here! With the economy the way it is, people just don't seem to be buying a lot from us here at the FC, which means people's moodiness rears its ugly head and I seem to get the most of it. By the time I get home, even though I haven't done much work all day, I am exhausted and just need time to "detox" myself.

On a more positive note...I am THRILLED for tomorrow! Why, you ask?! Well, my lovely sister-in-"love", Holly along with my fabulous brother, Adam, and oh so cute nephew, Bryson will take a trip to the doctor to find out what sex the baby is tomorrow! I have had more than enough people say, "You must want them to have a girl, since you already have 2 nephews!" What do you mean, must?! Yes, I have 2 nephews, but if I had a third one, it wouldn't make any difference. Healthy is my number 1 priority for the baby and Holly and if we all had boys, it wouldn't matter to me!

I would say I am leaving now to get some work done, but that's not true. Maybe I will do the crossword puzzle in the paper, or read the People magazine that my mom dropped off for me. We'll see what the day brings!

I'm Back!!!!

Where have I been you ask?! Well, here and there and everywhere! Lots of things have happened in the past 2 weeks of my life...so much so that I haven't even thought about posting a blog (gasp! I know!) so, I will fill you in :)

Brian and I left for our honeymoon in Disney on Saturday, September 20th. It was splendid. 7 full days of doing anything and everything that we wanted to do...when we wanted...if we wanted. Just to be able to spend that much time together was enough of a honeymoon for me! I didn't care what we did! Brian and I haven't really even spent that much time together in the past 6 months (maybe that's a little exageration!) but with him working nights and me working days, our time together is short! We arrived in lovely Orlando, Florida Saturday morning and went straight to our resort (Animal Kingdom Lodge) and boy, oh boy...those Disney people do not skip a beat on details! It's amazing...I really would like to be a fly on the wall when they are designing things...it's crazy the detail!!!

We met up with Adam, Holly, Bryson, Holly, and Chad at The Rainforest Cafe on Saturday night for dinner. How awesome to be able to see my family!!! We then spent Sunday with them and went around the Animal Kingdom park. We had great fun and as always, it's sad to say goodbye since the time spent is always quick and doesn't seem to be often enough.

For the rest of the week that we were there Brian and I swam with some dolphins (so cool!), toured all of the Disney theme parks, rode the rides that my motion-sickness body could handle, swam in the 80 degree pool, layed out in the 90 degree weather, ate awesome food, and just enjoyed each other's company. When Friday came and it was our last day, we were both so sad to see the week come to an end. While the trip is over, the memories will last a lifetime and I know that if we are lucky enough to get back there, it will be when we have kids and then we will have all of the great memories of our honeymoon when we go back. So, now it's just getting the 420 pictures developed that we took :)

So, we got back from Disney on Saturday night, the 27th. We spent that night just relaxing, doing laundry and hanging out with our kitty cats (who really did miss us while we were away!), Sunday was spent doing groceries and dreading the fact of returning back to work. Monday and Tuesday were spent getting caught up at work and then Tuesday night decided to throw us a little curve ball....

I went and ran some errands after work and was feeling a little pain in my stomach. I didn't really think anything of it besides the fact that I really had to pee and maybe my bladder was being stretched to its limit. So, I returned home a couple of hours later (after searching the town for the Sex and the City movie!) and finally got to use the bathroom! Hours later, my stomach was still bugging me and all of a sudden it went from uncomfortable to unbearable and Brian convinced me to let him take me to the ER. After several tests, it was confirmed that I had a golf-ball sized ovarian cyst and I was sent home with 3 different kinds of meds. Should be okay right? Hmmm...

Wednesday I woke up and felt worse than I did on Tuesday. I made an appointment with my girly doctor and honestly felt awful as my mom took me to the doctor (thank God for mom! This is one of those times you just need your mom!) Well, to make a long story short...I still have the cyst...they don't want to do anything too drastic right away since I did have one surgically removed 4 years ago and I am still young. So, I have been laying and sitting on the couch for the past couple of days and will return to work tomorrow.

I am hoping to get my energy back ASAP because I have some meetings to attend this week for my new endeavor...becoming a lia sophia advisor! I am motivated more than ever to start saving more money and I toyed with the idea of getting a second job, so I thought this would be a perfect choice! I am keeping my fingers crossed and hoping it goes well!!!!

So, all you lovely readers (all 2 of you!), I am back and here...just sick and busy! tata for now!

Disney bound and so excited!!!

I am writing this in the midst of packing for our honeymoon in Disney, which we leave for in the morning. There is one last load of laundry in the dryer and then packing is on full force!

I am so excited to be leaving tomorrow! We are in need of a vacation and it's funny because for as long as Brian and I have known each other, we have never been on a plane together! We have taken many vacations together...even driving to Virginia for a Dave Matthews Band concert several summers ago, but never on a plane! Yup, I'm a dork...this little part of the trip makes me happy :) It's just one of many things that we haven't done together that we get to do!

Another reason why I am excited is because I get to see my brother, sister-in-love, and nephew tomorrow! Adam called me last weekend to inform me that they had received free tickets to The Animal Kingdom! How cool! While he insisted that it was our honeymoon and we were not obligated to see them at all, how could we not?! They live many miles away from us and now they will be in the same park that we are staying in! We are excited to be able to spend time with them...I know it will be fun!

As we are getting ready for this trip, I am reminded how lucky we are. We decided that we would register for this honeymoon and not for anything else. We purchased our home almost 3 years ago and got lots of new stuff then, so we didn't feel the need to register at Macys or Target, so we went through Disney. Between friends and family purchasing items on our registry, money raised for us at our Jack and Jill, and money given to us in our wedding cards, we have not had to pay one penny for this trip! How fabulous :) I know that we are very fortunate to have friends and family that are so supportive of us and very generous :) I just know that I am going to take advantage of every second in Disney World! We only get one honeymoon and I have already informed Brian that I will probably be one, big kid there!

So, I should get back to packing! I will be sure to post when we return and get settled back into home life! xo

To Sell or Not To Sell?! That is the question....

I made great progress in the past week or so, as you already know! I was able to throw away 2 LARGE garbage bags of things that we didn't need and put together several boxes of things that could be sold in the yard sale at Brian's parents' house that is coming up this Saturday. I was in the mood to clean, clean, clean! And boy, am I glad that I did that! I am even proud of myself for only saving a couple of things from our wedding, putting them in a Rubbermaid container, and placing that in the basement...the rest of the stuff is being put in the yard sale. That was the easy part...now I am going back and forth in my mind about whether or not I should sell my wedding dress. Right now, it's folded and sitting on the bottom of my closet...not where it should be! I am torn between getting it cleaned and preserved and saving it...or cleaning it and trying to sell it. I did some research yesterday and called a local (what I thought was) a little bit higher class consignment store. I always drive by and they always have wedding dresses in their windows. Well, I was informed of their crappy policy, which is:
1. They choose the price that the dress will be put on sale for.
2. You will receive payment if the dress sells up to 6 months from the "put on sale" date. Even if the dress sells the second you walk out the door, you still get your check in 6 months.
3. Dresses "rarely if ever" (direct quote from lady on the phone) sell for more than $200/$300 and after that, I would walk away with 50%. So, the most I would get is $150?! Come on!!!

Honestly, I know that I can't put a price on the memories that this dress has for me, so it would be difficult for me to try to price it, but I know that I couldn't just let it go for that amount of money! Not only because I paid WAY more than that, but it's a beautiful dress!

Brian and I have talked about it and he thinks that I should do whatever I want to do. He said it's my dress and it's my decision. And I even got so far last night as to download pics of the dress for Craig's List last night, but when it came time to posting the listing, I couldn't do it. This is obviously something that I need to think hard and long about. I am usually the type that gets an idea and has to do it right away...but this time, it's different. Once that dress is gone, it's gone. But at the same time, I could hold onto it for years and years with it just taking up space and then never getting around to doing anything with it!

So, the questions remains...to sell or not to sell?! We'll see what I decide!