On My Mind

Almost 3 months into getting married, I can honestly say I fall more in love with hubby every day and I really enjoy being married. I was scared before getting married. I constantly thought, “what if it changes our relationship” or “what if he doesn’t love me as much as he thought he did.” Well it has changed our relationship, but for the better. We went from only seeing each other every couple of months (if we were lucky) to seeing each other every single day! It’s great. There’s definitely been some adjusting. We’ve had to learn to take each other into consideration because it’s not just about us individually anymore it’s about us as a team. I feel funny saying it but I honestly miss him when he goes to work. I know I’ll see him at the end of the day but those few hours without him I miss him so much.

Now on to other things, I’ve gained the “newlywed 10-15”. Now this is probably something I’m making up, but my mom named it so I’m going with it. I wanted to lose weight so bad before the wedding and for a while there I was. And then when I found my dress, I had to maintain my weight so it would fit, which I did. I wasn’t absolutely happy with my weight but it was ok. But now 3 months after the wedding I have gained 11 lbs. Needless to say, my self-esteem has crumbled. I am not happy with my weight. Clothes that I fit into with no problem last summer are now too tight. And as I’m writing this I’m feeling pretty low about myself. Hubby and I have been trying to get into a workout routine. I am trying to push myself to go to the gym at least once a day. Also we are trying to eat healthier.. I lost 2 lbs. But I seemed to gain it back. When I go to the gym, I feel like I don’t know what I’m doing. I do at least a mile on the treadmill and some weights, but I feel like I’m not making any progress. I’m hoping that my determination pays off and eventually I start losing weight. I just feel like I’m going nowhere.

As for the job front….well nothings changed. I’ve applied for more jobs and have heard nothing from any of them. Oh wait, another thanks but no thanks. I love hubby so much but I am feeling down about myself. I’m hoping this is only a phase and that it gets better. I need to start making friends.. I’m thinking about going to the animal shelter and volunteering.

This week I’ve been babysitting an adorable 1 yr old. She’s been fairly well behaved and quite entertaining. Today she’s walking around saying UHOH. And the extra money is nice too. But it’s only for this week, while my cousin is out of town. So next week I go back to sitting around the apartment, hoping I get a phone call.

Ok, well I feel this post has been thoroughly depressing. But I really needed to get all that off my chest. I hope my next blog will be more upbeat. I think I’m going to go to Michael’s or Jo-anns and try to find something to keep me busy.

Til the next time :) 

A New Start

On May 19th, I married my best friend and love of my life! It was such a great day and went, for the most part, pretty smooth. After all the planning and preparations that went into it, I can't believe how quickly it went by. It was so great to share our wedding day with so many family and friends. We were able to have a lot of our family there that we haven't seen in a very long time. Almost my cousins were there from my mom's side with a few exceptions who were greatly missed! 

For the most part, everything turned out great. Somethings I wish would have gone a little better but you can't win them all can you? We haven't been able to take a honeymoon yet due to money and time issues. But we're doing things together little by little and next week while hubby is on leave we're going camping, not exactly what I dreamed my honeymoon would be but it's something we're doing together.

On June 1st, we moved into our first apartment together here in Virginia Beach! Although it has it's flaws, it's pretty nice. And even more special because it's our first place together. It's close to pretty much everything and when hubby switches duty stations he'll *hopefully* not have to deal with tooooo much traffic!!! But who am I kidding? This is VA Beach and traffic is a b*#%h no matter where you go! 

Moving away from my family and friends has been difficult and an adjustment to say the least. I have one of my cousins down here, so that helps. But I really miss having my friends and more family. I have been trying to get a job or maybe go to school to meet some people but nothing seems to be working out. So for the most part I sit in our apartment during the day (unless I get up to take hubby to work) and do things around here. I really want to make some new friends down here but I just don't know where to start.


As far as school is concern, I feel like I'm getting nowhere. I applied at 2 colleges which is fine and dandy except I don't forsee being able to afford to go in the fall. I guess I will put it off yet again and see where the next year takes us.

A Long Time Gone

I have been a HORRIBLE HORRIBLE blogger lately. Things have been crazy hectic and honestly I don't even know where to begin. We are 39 days away from the wedding and I can honestly say I am excited and ready! Yes, I am nervous but not nearly as nervous as I thought I would be. I have been so stressed these last couple of months that I don't think I've really had time to be nervous.
In February I ended up quitting my job. A lot of factors added into it but mainly stress gave me an ulcer and I couldn't work with the boss I had. Not having a job has been hard, but luckily I have been making a little bit of money babysitting and that is enough until the wedding.
I went down to New Mexico and visited with my cousin and her family! It was an awesome experience. The day I got there my cousin gave birth to her second daughter and I was able to be in the room. I was nervous about it but in all honesty it was an amazing experience to be there when a little person is brought into this world.
I also went to Virginia for a week and Josh and I were able to apply (and get approved) for an apartment! I am so incredibly excited! It's close to the base he's going to be at and also close to the school I'm looking at going too. I can't wait until we are able to move in and start decorating! I am also soooo excited to finally be living with him. Having to constantly say goodbye sucks. I miss him so much and it's nice to know that soon I won't have to say goodbye for at least a little while.
I have been working like crazy on the wedding favors. Sometimes I think I'm crazy for having them be completely homemade but I was finally able to see one completely put together and I love it. Yes, it has been a lot of work but I really hope everyone appreciates it!

Virginia is for Lovers

After a long weekend with the fiance, I've realized a long weekend just isn't enough. Every time I have to leave him or vice versa, it gets harder and harder. I love him with every part of me and I now know that my home is wherever he is. It's hard to go to work here or do anything else because all I really want is to be with him.
However, as short as the weekend was it was also very successful. We completed our required pre-marital class, that was actually wonderful. It was very informational and I think it was a great class for anyone preparing for marriage. We also went apartment hunting. The first couple of apartments were a complete bust (let's just say a 700 sq ft apt that was a 2 bedroom, no thanks). But after a few stressful apartments and my hope of finding a place slowly starting to diminish, we saw a few good ones and a couple great ones that are definitely contenders. I am very excited for us to get our own place. The thought of decorating is very exciting to me. I keep finding things that I would want to use and I cannot wait!
The next major event is I will be traveling to New Mexico to see my cousin and her family. Also, to be there for the birth of her second daughter. I am so excited! I have not seen her in what is probably a little over 10 years and I have not met her husband or her oldest daughter. I really hope this next month goes by quickly!

2012 = the year I'm getting married

Ok, so I am a few days late. It's been 2012 for almost 11 days and I am just now posting about it. It seems crazy how fast a year goes by. We have been engaged for a little over a year and yesterday was our 2 year anniversary of being together. Josh was here for New Years and it was great! We were able to spend New Years with some friends and before he left we went to The Melting Pot for our anniversary. It was sooooooo good, expensive, but good! I recommend going at least once!
It's crazy to think this time last year I was preparing for him to deploy and just getting started on the planning process. Now, we are about 4 months away and I get to fly down to VA on Thursday for the weekend. We are doing our pre-marriage counseling down there because it was easier for me to come down there (but he ended up having to take leave anyways). We are also going to look at apartments while I'm down there and I'm pretty excited about it. It's really hitting me big time now that in 4 months I am going to be married and living 9 hours away from my parents. It's crazy and definitely going to take some adjusting. I have to say that I am definitely scared, nervous and EXCITED!!

GiveForward Thursday.

Once again this week, I am cheating. My cousin Jen's writing is so much nicer then mine and describe it so much better that I thought it would make more sense for you to read what she's written. So please just take a few moments out of your day and read this. And maybe even pass it on :)

From Jen @ The Hansen 4:

"Did you know that brain stem tumors account for 10 percent of pediatric brain tumors? The peak incidence is between the ages of 5 and 10.

Today, I'm going to tell you about a type of brain stem tumor called a Pontine Glioma. Pontine brain stem tumors affect crainial nerves that supply the muscles of the eye and face, and the muscle involved in swallowing. The symptoms include: double vision, the inability to close eyelids completely, the dropping of one side of the face, and difficulty chewing and swallowing. The tumor also affects "long tracks" of the brain, which results in: weakness of the arms or legs, difficulty with speech, or difficulty walking.

The patients symptoms often improve dramatically during or after six weeks of irradiation. Unfortunently, problems recur after 6 to 9 months, and progress rapidly. Survival past 12-14 months is uncommon.

Radiation therapy is the main treatment approach since these types of tumors are inoperable. To improve the outcome of pontine gliomas, researchers are studying drugs that may enhance the effect of radiation therapy.


Now it's time to introduce you to a 4 year old little girl who was diagnosed with a pontine glioma, low grade, on Halloween of this year. Her name is Brynlin Sanders and she has a 4cm inoperable pontine glioma on her brain stem. Brynlin is receiving treatments from the Burzynski Clinic in Houston, TX but is from Wichita, KS. The money that is being donated to Brylin Sanders Medical fund is being used to offset the cost of medical expenses and, since she is being seen in TX, travel expenses.

Recently an update about Brynlin was posted on her fundraising page saying
Brynlin Sanders Medical Fund updates.Dec 17th 2011

December 17th, 2011

It has been so nice to be home the last couple of days! Bryn was ready to be home and she said she didn't want to stay in a hotel, so we were able to drive all the way home without staying overnight somewhere in between. We made it home around midnight on Wednesday.

Bryn has also started her new diet that the nutritionist suggested we put her on. We were able to follow it somewhat while we were in Texas, but now that we are home and not eating out so much we will have to stick to it. This means we will be making a lot of our food from scratch and leaving out a lot of the good stuff! Grandma Sanders brought her some organic oatmeal today. I made it for her and she ate a little bit of it. Later she said she was hungry again, so after she said no to all of my other ideas I asked her if she wanted some more oatmeal. She said, "No I don't like that oatmeal Grandma brought, it doesn't taste." Well at least she's honest! We did however add some cinnamon to it and she decided it wasn't too bad.

Medical Fundaising Made Simple

As you can see, the goal is to raise $50,000 to help offset the many expenses coming this families way in the future, and only 5 percent of the goal has been met. Please visit Brylin's page and donate if you can... remember, even $5 helps. If you can't leave a donation, why not leave a hug?!?! Let the family know your pulling for them. You can also look for more updates of Brynlin by clicking HERE and clicking the updates tab"

GiveForward Thursdays

GiveForward is a pretty amazing website. My family used it a lot when my cousins daughter Aylianna was diagnosed with Biliary Atresia and when she later had to have a liver transplant. It is a safe and easy to use fundraising website that helps people in any situations raise money.
That being said my cousin Jennifer has decided to start a new "blog tradition" so to speak with GiveForward Thursdays. Each Week she features a new fundraiser that is on GiveForward to help a family the way her family has been helped by so many people. All I ask is to simply take the time to read Jen's blog (linked above) and share this with other people. But just in case you don't click the link above I have simply posted her post below. Please read and realize that any little bit helps. Even if it's just to help get the word out!

Following post courtesy of Jennifer over at The Hansen 4.

"I've decided to start a new weekly posting called GiveForward Thursday. The reason being, I've been where a lot of these people are... needing money to help cover medical expenses and living costs while traveling to different hospitals and living out of a suitcase, and to cover costs that insurance doesn't cover. It's a great feeling to see all the support given by friends, family, and complete strangers when going through something like this. It's not always easy to ask for help, but GiveForward helps make that a little bit easier. GiveForward is a legitimate fundraising site and your donations are tax deductible. Remember when your reading about these different people and what their going through that even the smallest donation, $5, makes a difference.

So, to launch off GiveForward Thursday, I will be telling you a little about Niemann Pick Disease Type C (NPC) NPC is a rare and extremely variable pediatric neurological disorder causing progressive deterioration of the nervous systom. There are only about 500 people diagnosed with this disease worldwide. NPC interferes with a childs ability to metabolize cholesterol within the cell. When large amounts of cholesterol accumulate within the liver, spleen, and brain it leads to a series of neurological problems that are utimately fatal.

There are no treatments for NPC, but there are supportive therapies. Therapies include medication to control seizures, abnormal posturing of limbs and tremors. Physical, occupational, and speech therapy are also used.

A low cholesterol diet and cholesterol lowering medications do not seem to influence the course of the disease and the life expectancy of a child with NPC is less than 20 years of age.

Symptoms include:
Enlarged liver or spleen
liver failure without neurological symptoms
difficulties with speech
development of dementia
seizures
jaundice at birth
early development of neurological problems
low muscle tone
delayed motor development before age 2
sudden loss of muscle strength
and progessive liver failure beginning in infancy

Have I got your attention? Because now I'm going to introduce you to Kamryn.

Kamryn Jolie Brumbeloe was born on July 21, 2011. At Kamryn’s two month doctor visit, she was diagnosed with an enlarged spleen and liver. She was sent to the Children’s Hospital Emergency Room that day. On November 29th, she was given the horrific diagnosis of Niemann Pick Type C Disease.
Recently, Kamryn has been accepted as a patient for Dr. Mark Patterson at the Mayo Clinic. He is very experienced with NPC. Unfortunently, Kamryn's insurance is not accepted by the Mayo Clinic, which is going to make the out of pocket cost phenomenal.

Medical Fundaising Made Simple

Medical Fundaising Made Simple

The fundraisers goal is $20,000 and only a mere 6% of that goal has been met. This fundraiser goes on until February 14, 2012, but wouldn't it be a wonderful Christmas present to Kamryn if we could help make a dent in that goal? Even a $5 dollar donation can help this precious baby girl get the help she needs to keep living.

Want to know more about how Kamryn is doing? Her mom started a blog called The Brumbeloe Family where you can read more specifically about Kamryn's battle with NPC."