Thankful Thursday

Thursday already? YIPPEE! I am catching up on yesterday's work because I was out judging Chickasha Pom try-outs! It went well and I will admit I am a hard judge but this is a small school and once I saw the first couple of girls I realized I needed to judge more on potential rather than current skills level! Every time I gave someone a 1 (the lowest you can receive) I *sighed* because I feel awful for these girls and I wanted to thank them for trying but if you have no potential and can not hold a beat you can not be on a team!
The Book below I just finished up and it was a easy, quick and entertaining read! The Giver by Lois Lowry was actually brought to my attention by my friend Becky who purchased the book from one of her kids book clubs. (there is even a cliff's note version so this must be required reading for some) This book is about a Utopian society and one boy who can see past that and longs for more, when I finished the last paragraph I wanted more if that tells you anything! I recommend this book for a easy spring read!!

Thankful Thursdays......................

1. I am thankful for all my friends and family who sent me Birthday wishes!!! Much Appreciated!

2. I am thankful that the sun is out today and the rain has given us a break!! Plus my backyard can not take anymore, I am growing a swamp land I guess!

3. I am thankful Matt got us tickets to see Wolverine on Saturday night, check back Monday for a review!!

4. I am thankful that Wal-Mart sells cute dresses for like $14!!! I am wearing one today and I love it!

28 on the 28th (Updated)

Since I am 28 on the 28th do I get extra wishes? or something extra special? HA! Well folks, today in a ONCE in a LIFETIME day (at least that is what I hear). I could go on about how I feel to be turning 28 or what this means to me or maybe what I want before my 29th Birthday but I feel like being simple today, so no nonsense! Tonight on the agenda is to watch Bride Wars (hey it's my birthday) ha ! Then on Friday night my mom is making dinner and I have requested my favorite casserole, mashed potatoes and cheesecake! Then on Saturday Matt got us tickets to the Warren theatre to watch Wolverine in the balcony! Perfect! This is what I woke up to....
This is Matt's Homemade gift certificate he got me, I am so lucky I have such a creative hubby!

Ooohh........Goodies!!!
Matt made me a Birthday cake! Thanks Matt, I love you!
This is interesting............ Today in History.........

Couple of things..............

1. I share my Birthday with my friend Kaylyn........so Happy Birthday to YOU!!!!

2. Thank you to all my friends and family who have already wished me well! My Grandparents already called and sang to me a tradition I love so much!

UPDATE:

You must click here and see the WONDERFUL E-Card I recieved from my good friend Kelly..

http://www.hallmark.com/ECardWeb/ECV.jsp?a=PG0555821143707M23414980Y&product_id=

Weekend Wrap Up

Oh where Oh where did my weekend go?? Monday's posts always make me sad... because I am thinking why do weekends have to fly by so fast when the work week drags on and on and on....
Friday night we met up with GREAT friends of ours Mike & Allison and we went to have sushi at In The Raw in Bricktown and I had the best time. It really was one of those great meals with great friends that leaves you thinking "man that was fun" on the drive home!

The Bahrenburg's....

Allison told me to close my eyes because she had something for me.... and let me tell you how Allison is such a wonderful friend, Allison is thoughtful, fun, considerate and full of surprises and I am so thankful to call her (and Mike) good friends of mine.

When I opened my eyes Allison had brought cupcakes and candles to celebrate my birthday! It seems my birthday with Mike & Al has become a tradition I look forward to each year! Question.... Do I get 28 wishes? ha!

If you can't tell it was CRAZY windy outside...on a side note -notice Matt's new shorts please!!! He was dying to wear them!! ;)

This is what Allison & Mike gave me, another tradition we have is me getting a cookbook from Allison and this year was no exception! I love it already and I can not wait to get started trying out the recipes!!!! Allison tell me your favs?
Saturday we went to the Yard Dawgz game with some of Matt's friends and I always have a great time at these fast paced games!! And The Dawgz have won all 5 of their games this year!

This is always bitter-sweet for me, in many ways I miss this being out there, dancing, and I love this family oriented team. And in other ways I am glad I am not devoting my free time to practices and petty girl drama! The girls looked great this year, the best in a couple of years!

And a special shout out to Christie the Yard Dawgz GM for putting my name up on the Jumbo tron! It was a nice surprise!!! Notice everyone was turning like 10 or 11! HA! This was so fun!

So there you have it, those are the highlights of my weekend!! On a sour note, in between these 2 nights of fun I have lost part of my mind....... On Saturday I missed a baby shower and on Sunday I missed a Scentsy team meeting! Why you ask.....no other reason than I plum forgot, it was like my head was not screwed on right this weekend. Yesterday I woke up from a nap and was like oh crap I can not believe I for got my meeting! Hopefully today I can get back on track!!

New Moon Mania

And I have completely jumped on the bandwagon.......... I find myself thinking about how I can't wait until Nov to go and see the movie and I am completely enthralled with the "New Moon Set Updates"!!! I think for me this is so exciting for a couple of reasons one being I loved the book and I could go on about why but I will spare you for now, but I just love seeing a book I have read come to life on screen. To me I have imaged in my head what the scenes were like and then for me to actually see life breathed into the characters it is so exciting. Another reason I am soo excited is because I just love the feeling of having something to look forward to, even when it is about 7 months away!!! This series is a cultural phenom and everyone has there own reason for loving the books but the jest for me is, I was so excited to get home from work so I could read and during the week I read the series I just lit up with excitement about what would happen next!
This makes me excited and inspired my post today! This is a wonderful version of the movie poster! (It is 1 of many I have found) and this "scene" really changes her path and sets her on a new, exciting and scary path in New Moon!

I have decided to blog about New Moon from time to time because this blog is suppose to me about things I love correct? And it is true I am one of many (not all teenage girls) who love this series! Below is a short video on the Internet which gives a great and EXCITING run down of the final cast for new moon including the Wolf Pack & The Volturi......

ps...............on a quick side note book related, it was FINALLY announced this week that Dan Brown's next book featuring Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks for you movie lovers) will be released this September!! I am so thrilled!

Do you think people thought I was the nanny?

So what do you get when you cross 3 Great Mommies + 3 Beautiful Babies + ME + Sushi???? Answer.........My dinner last night!!!!
Matt started his summer softball league last night with Melissa's husband John and the plan was to grab a quick bite and then off to watch the boys play but we wound up having more fun than the boys I am sure of it! We met Melissa's two good friends Brooke & Valerie at Sumo in Edmond for some sushi and all three of them have babies 7 months and under!! It was literally a Cute Fest!!!! (Don't worry friends I kissed enough babies to go around)We chatted it up as the kiddos were mesmerized by all the sushi on the table and of course I always have my camera handy so when I announced that I will have to blog about this tomorrow I was met with high expectations.... which is sad because I am not feeling at all funny or very witty today, sorry girls!So let's dive in to what we all want to see, the pictures!! Starting out with Kendall.... I helped dress her, I like to call this one 70s Chic!
This is Kendall with her mom Melissa and me!!!

This picture cracks me up... it is a bouquet of BABIES!!!! Kendall, Reese & Chesney! And yes, Chesney was ultra snuggly!

Here are the super fun moms these little one's belong to Brooke & Valerie! And no I did not try to steal one I gave them back! Please note Reese was kind enough to pull down her Super Star Shades for a picture!

This is Kendall being so nice and wanting to share her Elmo thingy magigee with me! That is very nice of you Kendall!!!

Now a couple of answers to your questions.........

1. Did we make it in time to watch Matt & John?? Why yes we did, we got to watch them walk to the car! hehe

2. Does this make me want to have a baby now? Nope, but I am always up for another dinner with these cuties!!

Thanks for a great meal & great friends last night girls!

Earth Day

Happy Earth Day!
I thought that since today was Earth Day I would chat a little about what it means to me... I am not a "Green Person" it's not that I don't choose to be but I don't try, I am not some extreme environmentalist but what I am is a person who loves and respects the animals we share this Earth with and their habitats. I have watched the Planet Earth series and I am in awe of the wonders of our planet some I hope to be able see in my lifetime and others I'm sure I will only see thru the TV. I am posting this trailer below not to promote the movie which is in theatres today, heck I don't even have time to go and watch it but I am posting it for us to see a glimpse of how beautiful our planet is and the animals we share it with. Each year my love for animals not only grows and but a desire deep inside my soul to see the wonders of this earth is calling me. (Sounds stupid) I should of been ..oh I don't know, a researcher or work for National Geographic... would of, could of, should of! This is not something I began to love on a whim but something I now realize I have loved since I was small I use to dream of being an ocean biologist ( weird I know, who wants to be that?) or a archaeologist (don't even get me started on archeology)!! In elementary school during science class we briefly studied the Amazon Rain forest and we were given reading material and a poster of the forest I remember "playing" teacher in my room and being obsessed with the rain forest and I taught my imaginary class's about it over and over. I am sure there is a larger blogging theme here about what I should be doing with my life but we will save that for another day, ha! But the point of this blog is to maybe encourage you guys to take a few moments today and learn something new about our planet that you did not know before. Shoot me an email I have a plethora of random knowledge in my extra large head (so Matt says) that I could share with you.
I will wrap up this post because from first hand experience long posts tend to be boring!
So enjoy...

Dear Cinnamon Roll Lady at Arts Festival.......

You Are RUDE!!!!!

Hello Friends!!! Today is a BEAUTIFUL day and therefor Matt & I decided to mix things up and make a mad dash downtown to the Arts Festival for lunch! This is a pretty amazing fete considering we have approx 1 hour!! But I thought it would be fun and we could soak up some sun! We ran into my bestie Melissa which was a bonus and then we gobbled down our Indian Tacos! (Yes, Lindsey I ate a couple extra bites for you) After spilling a couple of beans on my shirt me and my onion breathe headed straight for the "State Fair Cinnamon Rolls" YUM! I was so excited and since we had ONLY 15min to make this all happen and be back at work we were thrilled about taking our rolls to-go! So this is the incident that happened...........

We were standing at the cinnamon roll place and after a couple of minutes the lady finally decided to acknowledge our existence and I said "2 Cinnamon rolls please" she says " they are not ready just yet" I say " Do you know how much longer?" I asked because we would of waited a minute or two for sure and this is what she SNARLS at us like we are stupid "When they are done" (pause so you can repeat that in your head) Here is what I wish I would of said........... Oh really? They will be done when they are done? You stupid pirate hooker!!!!!!! I mean who says that to people who want to buy from you? So .....
Cinnamon Roll lady you can SHOVE IT!!! I really wanted your rolls thanks for ending a wonderful lunch for us!


Just so you know I am not mean and I feel bad for thinking rude things back to this lady but the way she spoke to us was so disrespectful, I mean come on it is 11:50 and your stuff is not ready? Anyways! Have a Terrific Tuesday People!

Tiger Safari

Weekend Wrap Up

Here we are again, Monday morning! I think you all know my thoughts about Mondays so we will move right on to something more exciting......a movie review!!!
I let Matt pick the movie yesterday and I know I know I was shocked that he picked State of Play over 17 Again! HA! But come to find out he made a wonderful choice...
State of Play stars Russell Crowe, Ben Affleck and Rachel McAdams and is a political thriller. The plot for the movie is a tad complex but here is the "jest" Russell is a newspaper reporter and he teams up with Rachel who is a "blogger" to investigate corruption within some political figures. Ben is one of the politicians and we find out he had been having an affair this his recently killed assistant and so the twists and turns begin. I really enjoyed this movie it is smart and at times has you at the edge of your seat. It reminds me of the early 90s thrillers such as The Fugitive and that is a good compliment. Russell Crowe is great in this role and his scruffy imagine works well for a over worked and under paid reporter. Now on to the bad... We are suppose to believe that Ben & Russell in the movie were college room mates?? It may be just me but they look like they would of missed each other at college by about 10 years so that was kinda silly to me. But I would recommend this movie and think you all would enjoy it as much as I did!!!

Now there is 1 other thing I loved MORE than this movie........... The preview for "Public Enemies" I am so excited for this movie come July! And I am usually not on the "I think Johhny Depp is so hot" bandwagon but this movie made me jump right on it, I mean WOW!!! He is AMAZING!!! Enjoy..........

Yes, I went to Tiger Safari on Friday but I am waiting on some pictures so HOPEFULLY I will have them to post later! It was a great time and I must say animals love me! ;) I also had book club meeting at Il Dolce Gelato in Moore on Saturday and I am very greatful for new friends, old friends and I can not wait until our next get together!!

TGIF!!

Thank Goodness it's FRIDAY!!!!!!!! Is it just me or has this week gone on FOREVER?? I am excited because I have a few things lined up for this weekend and I am guessing you all would love to know what they are!!!HA
Tonight my family & I are going to Tiger Safari! Not a joke! I am so excited! We are actually taking a "Sundowners Tour" ( I imagined nice spring weather but today will have to do) this tour is a per person price type of thing and they close the park for your group and provide appetizers and you not only get to go on a private tour as they feed the animals but you get to hold ALL the baby animals including a monkey, kangaroo, big cat and many more! I will have a blog rap up on Monday you can count on it!!! (www.tigersafariorg.com)
Saturday night I am meeting with my Shabby Souls book club ladies at Il Dolce Gelato in Moore!! I am so excited.... nothing like great friends, good books and Italian Ice Cream!!!!!!

Now we all know my love for movies and I am going to fit one in this weekend for certain and I am very excited about it! Below are my two choices and they could not be more different! I mean 17 Again looks soo cute and funny but then again State of play is filled with great people and has gotten great reviews!!!! So check back in next week for a review of one if not both! HA!

Well adios until Monday people! You know I can not bear to be on a computer over the weekend after 40 hours in front of one all week!

Kreativ Blogger

Well.... Thank You Sara for choosing me to recieve one of your Kreative Blogger Awards!!! Much Appreciated!!

Now, I must fulfill the duties and pass it on. Here are the rules.
1. Post the award on your blog, and link to the person who gave you the award.
2. List seven things you love.
3. List seven blogs you love.
Seven things I love:

#1- Married Life

I love it for many vast reasons such as well I love Matt, I love that we are a team and I am lucky enough to have a husband who splits chores and cooking with me 50/50! I love that we are homebodies and are completely happy laying on the couch watching DVR! I enjoy cooking for Matt and trying out new recipes!! Matt is my other half and he makes my life better, that is it in a nutshell!

#2- My Animals
I think you all know how much I love them and how my world is centered around them! HA, but I really & truly do! I love how each one of them has a completely unique personality, I love to watch them play with one another and there is nothing better than snuggle time with them! I really feel blessed to be loved by these animals (Bella also even thought she is not in the pic)!

#3 - Our Honeymoon at Sandals Whitehouse in Jamaica!!

I loved this trip not only because it was or honeymoon but the place itself was Heaven! Sandals lives up to every commercial you see on TV!! And that entire week I felt the best I ever have, I packed an arsenal of meds for my migraines and each day was truly a gift from God! I get all warm and fuzzy when I look back on the trip! This picture was taken outside our room#4- DANCE

I am thankful that I danced for over 20 years of my life. I could go on & on about dance and things I have done thru dance but I will be brief. I was never the most limber dancer nor was I ever the best turner but somewhere deep inside when I was on stage, a court or a field I lit up inside. I was told once that because I shine when I perform that is what got me so far. As far as the "Dance World" goes getting to dance for the NBA is really ranked at the top, and although it was a long & hard year I am thankful I got the opportunity which I will be able to look back on forever!

#5- Reading

I posted the picture of Twilight because like many many others it ranks up there with my favorite books that I have read. I love to read anything books, magazines, papers you name it! I think I get every single magazine on the newsstands sent to my house and I have books coming out the wazoo! I love how when you read you are transported to another place and I love imagining and picturing the book in my head as I read it! No matter how bad the movie adaptation is I get so excited to see a book I have read come to life on screen!

#6 - SUSHI

NO joke, enough said I love love Sushi!

# 7 - Sara Jessica Parker

No, this is not a joke but an easy way to tie together the last of my favorites (Sex & The City and Movies) because SJP is the common link! I love movies and that is no joke! I would go to the movies every weekend if I could and sometimes we do!!! I love Sex & The City the movie and the series and I watch it over and over and over but my love for SJP started a long time ago with my favorite movie of all time, when I was little I really thought they made this movie just for me and at times my mom would hide it because she said she could not bare to watch it again! Girls Just Want To Have Fun, staring Sarah Jessica Parker!

Here is my favorite scene...........................

Seven Blogs I Love:

#1 http://thevegasallreds.blogspot.com/

Sara and me have become fast friends and I love chatting with her about our lives and reality TV! Sara & her hubby live in Vegas and they are newlyweds and I think it is so amazing how smart Sara is seeing that works in Cancer Research! Her blog is funny, honest and I love looking at her pictures!

#2 http://www.thompson5family.blogspot.com/

I am very thankful for Kelly... we met while working at Chesapeake and we bonded over how miserable we were! We only worked together for a few short months but in the past year have become great friends! Kelly introduced me to blogging and Kelly is also the brain behind the book club I joined! You should check out her beautiful family!

#3 http://snippetandink.blogspot.com/

I love this site that is devoted to weddings! Everyday they have the best pictures and ideas and I am constantly thinking "ohh I should of done that"!!! It is a fun blog to check in on and enjoy!

#4 http://aubreerianbrody.blogspot.com/

Jeanna and me met thru Kelly and thru our blogs ...we since have both joined the book club and I love chatting with her on email during the day!!

#5 http://cotyandchelsea.blogspot.com/

The reason I like this blog is because Chelsea is a great friend of mine and she has this blog to keep people up to date on her June wedding! I met Chelsea while dancing for the Yard Dawgz and have close every since!

#6 http://ladybahrenburg.blogspot.com/

Allison & Mike!!! I love Allison she is the most sincere and considerate friend I have! I met Allison thru her husband Mike, where we worked together at Mickey Mantles for years and in the years since working there they have become great couple friends of ours! I hope you love their blog as much as I do!

#7 http://www.totsites.com/tot/kingrymiracle

Well I love this blog for many many reasons...... this is my God Daughter Kendall and her mommy is my best friend!!! She is so cute I could eat her up!! I am glad she has this blog so myself and others can share in her life!!!

WOW! That was alot!!!! I hope you enjoy this post as much I do! Happy Thurs!

No Frills Meal

I wanted to share with you all 1 of our "go-to meals"... Matt was in charge of dinner last night (thank goodness, I am not feeling well this week) and he made our easy, no frills, semi-healthy meal that he has mastered! Stuffed Burgers!!! We fill the meat patties with sauteed onions and cheese, Matt grills them and that is that! no bun! no fuss! Last night we had a simple salad and some sliced up tomato's with our stuffed patties!! You could fill the patties with anything, I like mushrooms in mine also!

All we put on top is EVOO and Sea Salt! YUM!

The healthiest dressing is EVOO and Lemon juice! Luckily for us we love our salad that way, it seems to make everything taste so much more fresh!!

I just wanted to share with you something we enjoy and maybe you can try it out 1 night with your family!

Now on a side note, I am having a tough week...... I can not kick the migraines this week and I am really really down about it. It is hard to describe- but dealing with so much pain, nausea and dizziness for so many days while working is getting to me and I am down in the dumps. I try not to do a "why me?" week very often but it is too late for this week, this ismy third day in a row to feel at my worst. Here I am at work when I should be home in bed but people don't understand migraines nor do they realize how serious this is and when I miss work due to a Migraine people think I am at home "because my head hurts a little" and that is not the case! I am on the verge of tears this week ( I am not a baby) and here it is too early in this day for this depressing rant! Anyways I just talk about this so people know and understand~ I will stop here

"A Random Story by Nicole"

Ok, no clue what possessed me to share this story with you?? Maybe because my friend Kaylyn emailed me pictures of her wedding gown yesterday and that must of got me thinking about my own experience. I will try to make a long story short...

When I went gown shopping 10 months prior to my wedding I never had a "OMG" moment, we found one that everyone loved and I went for it... fast forward 8 months to when my dress came in and to my amazement it was not only too small but I gained enough weight that we could barely get the thing over my butt and was about 3 inches shy of being zipped! HA! No, we could not alter it to make it bigger since I had chosen a mermaid style gown.... so here I am sitting in the dressing room 6 weeks shy of my wedding with NO gown. SO me and the sales lady walked amongst the gowns to find a new one and keep in mind we can not order one, we had to find one in good condition on the rack that could be altered to fit me in 2 weeks for my Bridal portraits. Nothing was catching my eye until they brought one out from the back and I was not in love but after some coerson from Sang the seemstress we decided this would work. I paid another CRAZY amount with the fast alterations fee to boot that trumped my original dress price and I loaded up the original gown & headed home! It was crazy! The last minute gown did come together and I was pleased and the "original" sat in the bag for 9 months until I sold it online for what I originally paid (thank god) But before I shipped it to Seattle I tried it on and would you know... IT FIT!!! I have some pictures below of the two, so funny! You see I planned my wedding while dancing for the NBA and working full time and I tend to eat more when stressed and while most brides loose weight before a wedding I actually gained 21 pounds!! HA, no no no I am not saying I was fat of course not but who would of thought!!

The Original after being in a bag for about 9 months!!!

The "Replacement" on my Bridal Potrait Day!!

One of my favs!

Matt is Amazing...

I wanted to share Matt's hard work with everyone!!! We use to have shrubs under the window but if everyone remembers the Christmas morning water main break incident then you will be reminded why we had to re-do our flower beds! And Matt did an AMAZING job! I love the black mulch! And if your wondering if I rent him out? SURE I DO! For a small booking fee! HA!
Enjoy.......

Back yard next right Matty?