tuesday!

hi friends!

i dont have a great topic to discuss~

(do i ever, really?!)

does anyone have any

new years resolutions?

i never like to make resolutions.

i feel like, after about a week.....(or two days....)

they fall by the wayside.

i just

want

to

find

HAPPINESS.

i want to fill my life with people, items, things, ANYTHING,

that

can bring me

THIS:

joy: [noun]; the emotion of great delight or happiness caused by something exceptionally good or satisfying.

what brings you joy?

i found this over at

the pleated polka dot!! (a wonderful blog, btw!)

and it made me

SMILE.

BIG.

big smiles and heartwarming things are hard to come by these days. i'm not going to lie.

however, i am convinced that with some hard work, help of my loving family and friends,

i will truly find

love,

hope,

peace

and so much more!

what are your new years resolutions? what do you do when you are sad?!?

happy tuesday bloggies! you all make me smile........BIG!

xoxoxo

smiley sunday!

hi bloggies! happy day to you!

only.......

6 more days till christmas!

i can

NOT

believe

it.

seriously.

where does the time go?

it seems like i was so prepared......and then, well, life kind of swooped in and thru

my whole world upside down and now

i am not

ready.

i did a little shopping last night with a cute little friend of mine.

ok, she's not really little....as in like 'little people'....she is 5'5 ! and beautiful!

we had a total girls night out/in.

shopping. coffee. pizza.

i mean that makes life good right??

i wish it were that easy.....

i prayed this morning for strength and to help heal my hurting heart. i pray

everyday for that. i know time heals all wounds but this

is rough.

how do you go thru the holidays trying to smile on the outside when

your heart is breaking

to

pieces on the

INSIDE?

not fair.

everyone says that god gives us 'challenges' to make us stronger. he will

never give us more than we can

handle.

but gosh darn it. i thought by this time in my life that things would be easy!

anyway,

today the little princess' and i are going to see 'a christmas carol'.......

and

dinner.

another

totally

fun

girls day

OUT!

thank goodness for those beautiful dolls because they have been my venting ground, my strength

and

MY

SANITY!

love you guys! xoxo

my middle princess. or princess # 2, as commonly referred, keeps

posting the most prevailing, strong words, picture, quotes

on my facebook wall

EVERY DAY! it gives me

guidance and trust, knowing that i am strong and will

get thru

this

heartbreaking time in my life!

i hope you are all out doing some kind of holiday fun stuff with your friends

and

families.....

drink some of this yumminess.......

well, i had lots more holiday pics, but for whatever reason.....

my computer will not upload.

wth?

ughhh.

every time i try to do one little thing, i seem to get roadblocked.......god is testing me....i

just know

it!

have a blessed smiley sunday and i hope you all get your last

minute gifts wrapped, goodies baked and enjoy this holiday week!

xoxo

t

festive saturday!

its the weekend before

Christmas!!!

i would love to hear from all of you and

learn what's on the agenda

this weekend!

i have had a busy, emotional, sad week.

i made the decision to

move out.

yes.

here i am.....

(well, i moved last weekend, yes, two weeks before xmas)

i

feel that

the things in my relationship with my significant other

were not

going

in the right

direction. (yes, even tho i referred to him as the 'hubs') we

were not 'legally' married.

its just a piece o paper right? well sort of.

i think you come to a point in your life when you feel

if you are not

completely

happy,

then you need to decide

what to do.

i am VERY sad. i miss him. i miss our togetherness, our talks, our silliness.

(you are probably like, why the F did you leave then?)

i think that there are a lot of factors that

played in my decision. without getting

too deep and depressing all of you for god's sake,

i felt like our relationship was not where it should have been

and i felt many times that my feelings were not taken into

consideration, big or small.

but here nor there, i hate being sad. especially this time of year.

sooooo i want all of you to cheer me up!

tell me all your fun holiday plans so i can live vicariously through you!

today i attended my FIRST ZUMBA classs!

wooooo! hoooooo!

ooooohhhh myyyyyyy gooodnessssss!

what an amazing workout! and fun none the less!!

i went with princess # 2 and # 3. then princess # 3 decided to 'teach' us some floor

moves. omg. my thighs, butt and hips better look

amazing SOON! i was dying!

tonight, i am headed out to go christmas shopping and have a fun girls night with a friend!

please keep me in your prayers and hearts. this year has been a rough way

to go.

i am excited that 2011 will be new and offer many exciting opportunities!

happy holidays,

love,

t

hello lovies!

it has been WAY

way

way

too long!

yes, it appears that i may have fallen off the beaten path......and i did.....for

almost 3 months.

but, i have had a lot going on in my little end of the world.

my sweet, beautiful, loving sister

lost

her

fight

to

cancer, sept. 28th, 2010.

if you have ever lost a family member, a close friend, a pet (yes, i did just say that).....you know how much your

heart

can

ache.

its the most awful feeling. i feel blessed that she was a part of our

lives and touched so many people.

she had almost 500 visitors at her wake and every single

one of them

were so sincere with their kind words.

thankfully, she did not suffer long, but it was so fast. there were

so many things i wish i would have done with her, or said.

i am also going thru some personal relationship issues and i

feel that this blog helps me focus on fun things instead

of negative energies!!!

soooo i want to just say happy holidays to all

of you!

thanks for taking the time to read about me......

my trials, tributes, tribulations, triumphs......

life works in mysterious ways and i feel

VERY

strongly that GOD has an amazing plan for

ME!!

love,

terri

sunny monday/tuesday!

ok, blog friends!

this is

going

to

be

the

shortest

post

ever.

i hope everyone enjoyed their weekends. boy the time  sure flies by. it seemed like it was friday night and then

BAM

monday morning.

oye.

groundhog day.

that's what life feels like sometimes.
repeating the same day, over and over and over....
life.
that's
what
it's
about!!

our weekend was good. i did not do a whole lot of anything.

i did get to spend some quality time with my little

god child, and his

2 crazy brothers.

my friend, amy. ahhhh a precious soul. she has a 3 yr old, an almost 2 yr old AND a 4 month old.

yikes.

AND......

she has the patience of a saint.....or something. she takes everything in stride. i love her.

anywhosies, that was saturday. yesterday we watched football.....and this girl

had

a

few

too

many

michelob ultra beers. yes. i did not eat, which was part of the problem....3 tall beers equates

to

one

silly

wee

little

hangover this morning. i headed into the office late....i was dragging. oh, and

guess

what?

the

weightwatchers....um, yes.....good ol ww. i used all my weekly points.....(for those of you

who do not know about this....you are allowed 35 weekly, like bonus points)...i

typically do use mine on the weekends for good

eats

and drinks.

but

today

i used

12 of them on a gyro.

i am still ahead of the game....

but.....just sayin....

i

feel

a

little

guilty.

i ran 4 miles yesterday so that helps.

ok, so out of all of my giveaway entries......

we

had a total

of

44 comments.

whoop! whoop!

thanks to everyone for leaving me such sweet comments....i do read EVERY single one!

and

thanks to all of my new followers!

i am loving meeting all of you!!!

soooooo,

the

$50.00 CSN online stores gift card goes to this lucky

duck!

mike and carrie, from living a healthy beach life!!!

yay!

i used the custom random number generator found

here!

thanks again to everyone for visiting....and mike and carrie, please email me your info!

come back and let us know what fun stuff you decide to 'buy'!

ok, i have one more absolutely adorable thing....

thru blogging, i stumbled upon this lovely sweet girl:

nichole!

her blog, happily ever after again, is full of energy and inspiration.

i

think, that i, personally can appreciate this, since i was married and divorced.

you want that happy ever after feeling.....forever!!!

but....nichole, gave ME...yep....lil ol me....

an

award....

{{{hugs to you nichole}}}

this

made

me smile.

and i need to tell you 10 things i like.....

short and sweet and right to the point!

i love my kids.

i like peanut butter and jelly on white bread....soft white bread.

i love halloween.

i love christmas even more.

i love to match my christmas wrapping paper/gifts to match whatever color decorations on the tree that year.

bows and ribbons have to match also...and i think i spend as much on this as everything else!

(dont hate....i can be anal about this if i want !)

i love the housewives reality tv shows. orange county is my favorite!

i like hanging at home....sometimes doing NOTHING!

i love making stuff. anything. (except my bed)

i love taking long car drives along the lake near our home.

AND....lastly,

i still love going to the circus.

i think that's 10 things.....

thanks again, nichole! you are a cutie patooties!!!

ok, my 10 bloggers:

sunny bug!

amy!

the eclectic owl

the twenty fifth year!

missy salsa!

lee la la!

never growing old!!!

tomiannie!!

domestic fashionista!!

home inspired bliss!

crafty military wife!

(ok, i did 11....i was on a roll.... )
if you are nominated, grab the button, thank your 'nominator'....and then nominate 10 bloggers...leaving them
super sweet comments!

ok.....these are 10 blogs that i read/follow! i am sorry if you feel left out because you were
not
nominated...
there
will
be more
blog
awards
very
soon!
i promise....xo

alrighty, all~i am off to underwrite.....again....(yes, groundhog day....)
have a fantabulous TUESDAY!
xo
t

life's blessings!

sooooo, it's saturday. the boy is

working

again.

i am thankful he has a good job and i am thankful that he is able to work hard.

the

money

is

great.

but

i

am

sad.

i feel like a single person. i feel like i am doing things like i did when i was a single girl.

i

have

cried

a

lot

in

the

past

month.

but the past week, even more.

i feel like i am

being tested.

i know god does not judge, nor 'test'....but

i

feel

like i am.

soooo, last week, i rejoined weight watchers....yes. i. did.

let me give you a little background and then u will

see where i am going with

this whole story.

(remember, i go off on my tangients...)...sometimes it takes a while to get to the original story.

k, background. weight watchers...FOCUS!

i joined WW over 2 yrs ago. i was feeling that i needed to lose a few LBS. not a lot.

but i felt like no matter how far i ran or what i ate, i just could not shake it.

so one morning.....(a saturday morning. at 7freaking30), i got in my car and

went

to

my

first

meeting.

i felt good because i took that step....but i also felt 'weird'.....i was definitely one of the

youngest...but i was also one of the thinnest....

and here i am going to a meeting for excuse me, fat people....(at least that's what i thought)....

i felt like

people looked at me and were like, 'why is she here'....

but

i

instantly (well, ok, not instantly...but shortly after)

realized

these

meetings

are

for

EVERYONE!

our leader is crazy, full of energy. she is an inspiration and helps keep us on that path of 'right / healthy

food

choices.

ok....now fastforward 2 yrs.....yes. i fell off the wagon. thru some stressful times in my life

i gained about 12 lbs back.

yikes.

not

a

good

feeling...

sooooo, last week, i took that step....again.

i went back to my

WW meetings!

i didnt realize how much they really do keep you on track! but what i realized is that i missed them.

i missed hearing all the positive stories.

i missed seeing the transformations that people made and are making.

AND

guess what???

the

BEST

part???

i

lost

FIVE

POUNDS.

happy dancing taking place. i am so thrilled. i am 'relearning' how to make the right

food choices...

AND

what a 'true' portion size really is. ahem....(it's not a HUGE bowl of pasta like one would think....)

try like

one

cup.

one

teeny

tiny

eensy

weensy

cup.

but you know what???

it's so easy to follow the WW way....

and the best part???

it

really

WORKS.

soooo back to my original beginning of this blog post.

today, i got up and went to my meeting.

i have had a horrible week. (please refer back to single life in first few sentences)

but

today

was

another

slap in

my

BIG

FAT *(well almost skinny....lol...)*

FACE.

our leader talked about negativity and making choices. she talked about a 'mean' person

who was not nice to her at work, and what she did about it.

AND you know what?
she felt better.

and then she

delivered these words:

GOD works in mysterious ways. she said she truly believes that EVERYTHING happens

for a reason.

bad things happen to good people, for reasons we are not supposed to know.

but basically she went on to say...

be thankful for what you have. live YOUR dreams....

because someone out there always has something worse.

with everything i have been dealing with this past week / month, with my sister's

new cancer diagnosis, and other various life issues....

i feel

like

this was

just another

slap in my FACE.

life is precious. we need to appreciate....and learn to give thanks for the things we have at the current

moment!

the signs that i pray for are right there in front of me.....

soooo i plug along and try to stop and smell the flowers! sometimes its rough....

have a peek at my cake pops. i showcased them a few days ago but for

those of you who have never made.....

you

are

missing

out

on

a

truly

little piece of heaven.

in

YOUR

MOUTH!

seriously.

thanks to bakerella!

i want her to come to my kitchen and just hang out. chat. teach. learn. grow.

she is amazing.

sooooo, here was the start of two days of cake pops!

bakerellas infamous cake pops!

one box cake mix (made in a 9x13 cake pan, per box instructions)

one container frosting. (see pics below)

lollipop sticks

chocolate discs for melting

sprinkles

plastic bags

ribbon

styrofoam block (important.....i tried it one time with out this...OYE! that's all i can say) :o)

bake cake.

cut cake into pieces and place in large mixing bowl...i use my ever so loved kitchen aid!

add about 3/4 container frosting. (room temperature)

mix until soft gooey dough forms.

form into balls.

FREEZE. i dont have a lot of patience so this was the hardest part.

melt chocolate.

dip in chocolate and sprinkles.

cool.

place in bags. tie with ribbon. give as gifts. be prepared for lots of mmmmmm'ing and awwwww'ing.

and LOTS of questions: "how do you make those"...."are they hard".......and the best: "you're so creative".....

BUT i would not be creative without the help of BAKERELLA! see note above. xo

and for the good stuff:

chocolate......

lollipop sticks!



i think the

whipped

buttercream

is

the

BEST!

balls. lots o balls......

please take note of styrofoam block

all tied up with pretty green and gold bows.......

 all boxed up...in a fancy schmancy bakery box....ready to

be

devoured

by

40

soccer lovin girls!

yellow~chocolate pops.

colored sprinkles~yellow butter cake pops.

either way....

it's lovin

on

your

tongue

and in

your

BELLY!

alrighty, snickerdoodle pumpkin muffin cupcake faces.......

i am

off

to enjoy

one of probably

our

last

80'

sunny

summer, i mean almost FALL

DAYS.....

i hope you do the same....

xoxoxo

back to blogging EVENT DAY 4 and 5

ahhhhh happy thursday/friday!!!! 

as i showered this morning, i am amazed at how fast the

time flies.

literally. the weeks and days go by so quickly.

why is that?

why is it that when you are a 5 yr old, it seems like it takes forever for ANYTHING to happen

but when you are

OLD,

the months fly by.

well, here nor there, i awoke to a cold, rainy downpour. i have finally pulled out the

BOOTS.

ugh.

i

HATE

cold

weather.

i

despise

snow.

i do like the change of seasons but honestly, i could survive quite well, living off the

coast of california or the carolinas.

hhhmmm.

something to debate.

alrighty, enough talk of rain and yucky weather.

today's topic over  here,   is
woman who
inspire
US!

wow. tough question. there are so many.
i
honestly
would have to
say
these
little
lovelies:

yep.
my
three
princesses!
they
give
me
drive,
hope,
faith,
inspiration,
love,
and
so
much
more!!

each one has so many different characteristics that i admire. they each have different personalities that sets them apart from each other.
they have all blossomed into
such
beautiful
young
ladies
and i am so proud
to
call
each
one
my
daughter!!
xo~love you guys!

ok.....so last night/yesterday was a busy day. i didnt even get my blog post up,
thus
day 4 and 5 of back to blogging event at the same time.

my evenings are always so rushed and there never
seems to be enough time in the day.
i realize this
is how
life
has become.
everyone is BUSY!
but sometimes, i just wish for CALMNESS.

soooo, on to  the blog subject for day 5:

"why do you blog?"

hhhhmmmm.....thinking deeply.
good question.
why DO i blog?

originally i started to blog as a way just to vent. a place to share my recipes and craft ideas.
i was reading all of the amazing blogs out there
and
the
giveaways that were
offered.....
and
i
started
to
think.
and
think.
i wanted to be part of this amazing community. i wanted to share in all the fun......
AND
document my life.
i knew that noone would read, except for me......at first.
and
even tho i
do not have a huge following....
i have "met" so many amazing people who i
just love
reading about.
i have
learned
so many
great
things and have been so inspired.

point blank.
i
{{{heart}}}
blogging.
i
am
addicted.
s,o with that being said, thanks again for following me. thanks for reading about my life.
thanks for listening to me rave about my children's accomplishments.
thanks for leaving comments. ( i seriously LOVE reading what YOU have to say)...
thanks for being
my
friend.

even tho i have never met any of you personally......i feel that there are so
many of you that when / if we finally did meet, we would
sit and laugh and talk.....
for
HOURS!

happy friday!
i wish you a blessed day and a GREAT
start to your
weekend.......
AND...

don't forget, my  GIVEAWAY...... right here! only a few more days....

xo
t