A letter to my soon to be stepmother!

My Dad is getting married this weekend to one of the most wonderful people I've ever met. Since I won't be standing up to say a speech, I want to dedicate this blog post to her.


Dear Meg,

When I met you two years ago, I remember having butterflies in my stomach with any normal feelings a girl my age would have meeting someone new in my Dads life. You see, for Dad and I it's always been "you and I, just us two", always thinking the same and, more often than not, acting as if we were the same person. I wasn't sure if you would be intimidated at the fact that my Dad is my best friend and the bond will forever be inseparable.

After meeting you, I guess you could say that I was the one who was intimidated. I sat back and watched my Dad look at you, in a way I've never seen since he was married to my Mom. He glowed, his smile stretched across his entire face. You could immediately see how much he loved you, even from so early on. But what I saw coming from you was something I'll never forget.

I saw you looking back at Dad, with the same glow, the same big smile and the same admiration that he has for you. I instantly thought, "wow. She really cares for my Dad". The idea of the love two people have for each other being completely mutual does not happen that often. Usually one is told to love the other person more than themselves. But you care about each other as a whole. There are no sides, no separations. You are a team and working together in that way will take you so far.

What I absolutely love about you is your big heart. Your heart contains enough room for the love of animals that shows through your work, your love for children which shows in your family, your love for friends which shows in your personality and even your love for shoes which shows in your closet (which, let's face it is the best part...especially the Manolos!). You are never afraid to stand up for what you believe in. You are always there for people, even if you've had the most busiest day.

The notion of having a close friendship with your Dad's girlfriend is usually an odd concept for most. However, I like to say that our friendship came quite naturally. Thank you for always giving me a big hug when you see me. Thank you for always calling me just to say hi. Thank you for remembering the little things about me (such as my adoration for Princess Diana) and Dad too (he likes a hand towel with dinner and extra lemon with his iced tea). Thank you for laughing at our bad inside jokes and THANK YOU for learning so much about Philadelphia sports!

Meg, when you marry my father this weekend you will officially be a part of our family, even though we have embraced you with open arms since day one. To see you as my fathers wife will be a great feeling, but to keep you as my dear friend will be an honor.

I can't wait to see you in your gown, dancing the night away. Congratulations!

All my love,
Angela, xo

Remember

We will never forget. May God bless those we lost, those who fight for those who were saved and may God bless the USA.

I'm so proud to be an American today.




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Wedding Planning...help!

The day after I got engaged I immediately went to Barnes and Noble to get the almighty hot pink wedding binder. You know, the one that keeps you organized and has all the info you'll need to plan a wedding. I thought I had everything planned out in my mind. I had a clear mental image of exactly how I wanted my wedding to look down to the blue stitching under the hem of my dress. Apparently, I was fooled.



I am lost. Overwhelmed. Wedding planning is SO exciting but so intense!! After really giving everything some thought, I don't even know where to begin! There are a ton of details to consider and hundreds of people to think about.

I thought about waiting until next year to ask my bridesmaids to be in my wedding. I had a special way of asking them (I did however ask one of my best friends to be my MOH and Nicks sister to be a bridesmaid already), but everyone has told me they would be great resources to help me plan. I would really love the extra help but I don't want to weigh them down with the expectation of them helping me...especially because I'm shooting for a spring wedding in 2013. It is a but early to start planning a lot.



For all of the brides and Mrs. out there, what would you suggest? When did you start planning? How did you keep on track? Who did you enlist to help you? Any advice would be great, thank you! Xo


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

I heart pinterest!

As some of you know, I recently joined pinterest and I love it! I could look at the pictures for hours. Here are some of my favs from the week:




















have a great week friends!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

how yoga saved my life

About a month ago, I encountered a pretty scary situation that I never want to go through again. Unfortunately I wasn't the only one involved, Nick was put in a position that made him uncomfortable as well.

You see, before I got the phone call about my promotion at work things weren't going so well. Stress had become a roommate in my house, one that couldn't just be evicted on last minute notice. The night before my interview I had a severe anxiety attack.

If you have never witnessed or experienced an anxiety attack, I hope you never have to. It puts a panic attack to shame. The scariest part about this whole thing is that I'm only going off of what Nick and my family tells me, I barely remember anything.

I remember getting ready to go to bed, I was getting all my stuff together for the next day because I had to be at work by 5 am. I realized I had forgotten to do my laundry so I had nothing clean for not only work but the interview as well. I started the laundry and thought I asked Nick to finish it for me so I could go to bed. Little did I know, stress was about to take over my whole body.

According to what I was told, I started panicking because I didn't feel prepared for the next day. My laundry wasn't done, I didn't look over my notes, I felt like my opportunity to do well had slipped away and it was all because I didn't prepare myself earlier. The panicking caused my breathing to speed up and Nick said it didn't slow down at all, it continued to get worse. Eventually I couldn't control my breathing and I fell back on the bed, my breath stopped. He had to shake me to wake me up and get me to breathe again. I was unresponsive he said and breathing in such a way it sounded like an animal dying. He called my mom, and his mom, asking what to do. He put the phone up to my mouth so they could hear me and everyone said to call 911 except my mom. I think she knew deep down inside I was going to be ok. I passed out two more times, again, Nick had to shake me to wake me up to breathe. He sat behind me to hold me up and about a half hour later, he talked to me asking if I was ok. Somehow I said yeah, after not responding for 30 minutes and laid down on the ground, slowing my heart down and my breathing. I fell asleep at that point. Nick moved me into bed and I woke up in the middle of the night in excruciating pain. Apparently an anxiety attack can put your body through hell. I felt like someone had beat the crap out of me.

Our families had researched and found out that an anxiety attack can last anywhere from 10-20 minutes, 30 minutes would have been grounds for calling 911, because the way you start breathing, you can lose oxygen going to your brain and you could even get brain damage. I was told that with the amount of stress and caffeine that I had in my body that day, its no wonder I had the attack, and with the lack of oxygen, I could have had a stroke, and worse, died. Extreme case, I know, but scary enough for me to wake up and pay attention.

You all know the result of my interview, I did very well. However, I knew that if I continued to let stress from work affect my wellbeing, I was in trouble...again.

So, I started my yoga up again. I needed a way to recognize when I needed to breathe. Stressful situations would make me tense up, my chest would get tight and I would get quiet. I don't talk a lot when im stressed, I keep to myself.

Anyway, I've always loved doing yoga. But when I got back into it and went to classes regularly (about 3 times a week), I felt so much better. Like I really woke myself up.



What I love about yoga is it really teaches you to discipline yourself. If nothing else, it teaches you focus. If you go to a yoga class and the only thing you do is sit and breathe and ONLY focus on what is going on within the four walls you are sitting in, you will learn so much. Do you know how hard it is to not think about what's going on outside or what happened during your day for 90 minutes 3 times a week? Seriously, try it. It's not as easy as it seems. But for me, I love the rhythm, the flow of the movements, the poses, the strength I gain not only for my body but for my soul too.



I don't do the traditional yoga, I do vinyasa flow yoga which is often called "hot" yoga. It's a 90 minute class in a 95 degree room. You sweat, you twist, you bend and you feel SO good when you're done.



My instructor told our class, "trust me, if you think that you won't be able to focus on what's going on what's happening inside the class and not the outside world, just wait until you start sweating. All you will think about is your movements and how hot it is in here." For most of us, this was funny. For others, it was true. It was too hot for them and lots of people walked out. But from personal experience, it's mind over matter. If you tell yourself you want to be stronger and you want to cleanse your body, you will. If you tell yourself you can't do it and it's too hot, you'll never get through it. But then again, isn't that the same thing with our everyday lives?

Take it one step at a time and try, try again. But most importantly, take time for yourself and what matters most.



And breathe, just breathe.


Namaste.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Just an Everyday Gal who Loves to Coupon

Hi everyone,

I hope you are all enjoying your summer whether or not you're traveling, being creative, learning new things or enjoying time at home.

Just a quick update on what's been going on with us lately:

We went to the Jersey shore to spend some time with my Dad and his fiancee. Nelly came with us, experiencing the ocean and sand for the first time. She really loved it and was such a good puppy for the whole trip!

I went for my interview at work in pursuit of a promotion that I've been working on for a few months now. I got a call back two days after saying that I did excellent on my interview and I "blew it out of the water".  I was told that I am being promoted and I am meeting with my district manager next week to discuss which store I will be moving to and when I'll be leaving my current location.

If you follow me on Twitter, you know that I love to coupon. Today I managed to score some really awesome deals and I saved around $60, just in one day alone.

I promised I would blog about how I did all this, so here goes:

CVS Deals for week of July 18-July 23

There is a new toy that has reached the "fad" status in this area of Virginia, so I thought I would grab two of them for my little sister when I saw they were on sale this week.

Zhu Zhu Pets

I got two pets, valued at $14.99 each in toy stores, on sale 5 for $10 (making them $2 ea)

2 toy pets-$4, plus I had a $3 extra bucks coupon, so I paid $1.05 total.

Total savings: $33.00

Oral-B indicator toothbrushes are on sale for $1.99, I bought two and used a $2.00 off coupon

Cottonelle Moist Wipes (GREAT for taking off makeup!) are also on sale for $1.99, plus I also had a $1.00 off coupon

Clean and Clear Morning Burst Face Cleanser on sale for $6.89, plus a $5.00 off coupon

Using my coupons as well as a 30% off CVS coupon from a previous purchase, I spent a total of $5.42.  I received a $2.00 extra bucks coupon for my next purchase at bottom of my receipt. Total savings: $14.43

Target Deals for Week of July 18-July 23

My brother is going away to college this fall, so I decided to start a box of back to school supplies for him to take with him...

Room Essentials Target Shower Curtain Liner $2.34, I had a $1 off coupon

Tums 3 rolls/24 pk. $1.99, I had a $1 off coupon

Bic Crystal Pens 10 pk are on sale this week for 50 cents, I bought two

Sharpie Accent Highlighters 2 pk, on sale for 50 cents, I bought two (I had a coupon for $1 off-they were free)

Scotch Magic Tape bonus pack, on sale for 50 cents, I bought one, I had 50 cents coupon (it was free)

*****GREAT DEAL*****

Vitamin Water is on sale this week 10/$10 and when you buy 10 you get a FREE 6 pk of Smart Water (valued at $6)!!!

(Nick drinks Vitamin Water Zero and I drink Smart Water, so this was a no brainer)

The best part? On top of this deal, I had a Target coupon: Buy 2 Vitamin Waters, get 1 Free!

TGI Fridays Dinners in a Bag on sale for $2.50 ea, I had a $1.00 off coupon plus a $1 off Target coupon

I used 2 reusable bags and got 10 cents off.

Weekly deals plus other groceries we picked up came to a total of $21.68.

Total savings: $13.93

Grand total savings from all three stores: $61.36!!!

*I know you're asking where I get my coupons from! Check your weekly Saturday AND Sunday paper for coupons, go online to coupons.com, Red Plum and Smart Source, coupon blogs, and Target printable coupons Keep in mind that you can use a manufacturer's coupon PLUS a store coupon to double your savings!*

Have fun!

Celebrating Brooke

Today would have been Brooke's 26th birthday, happy birthday angel<3

Celebrating you today.

Happy 4th!