Stress-Free Friday :)

The frequent headaches and jaw pains I've been having lately tells me that I am clenching my jaw again. I don't even realize I am doing it until it suddenly dawns on me how *tired* my cheeks and jaw are from the tension. This probably means I am doing it in my sleep as well. Stupid stress.

So, today it's all about remembering the little stress relievers. ;) 

Random moments in my day that remind me to

 laugh a little, or at least unclench my jaw for a second or two. ;)

-I love the way that music - anytime, anywhere - can be such a mini moment of stress relief. I sing and listen to music all day long - in the shower, singing and dancing at red lights like a crazy person, during certain times of the day with the kids while they're working... the list goes on. There's just something about humming a little tune that instantly calms my nerves, even when the kiddos have me ON EDGE! ;)

-I've had this episode of Swamp People in our DVR for a week now, because it makes me laugh so hard every. single. time. I completely respect these guys and the way they live off the land, but you're nuts if this doesn't make you chuckle a little. It's about a 2:00 clip, but my favorite part starts around :48. Although, the beginning is pretty funny, too, a Bayou version of Bubba's "shrimp" scene in Forrest Gump.

-This one may be a little mean ;), but it's harmless and it really makes me laugh.  Our smallest dog, Dexter, is SO much fun to mess with. :) For example, he will get up on the couch and spend forever moving blankets around, turning in circles, and trying to get everything just right for him to lie down. I will wait until he gets situated, curls up, lays his head down, and closes his eyes. Heehee. Then I scoop him up into my arms and smother him with hugs and pets. ;) He growls and licks my cheek at the same time... "Mom, I'm ANGRY, but I still love you... scratch my ear." Or at least I imagine that's what his puppy mind is thinking. ;) It cracks me up every time. Little stinker.

-Big bear hugs from my husband are the just cure for so many things. :) Hugs are such a simple thing, but they do soooo much good! I can be spitting angry or an emotional, crying mess and a great big, enveloping squeeze from him instantly calms me and brings me back to reality. ;) He's an amazing stress reliever. 

So, while everyday life definitely takes it toll, I am blessed and have many reasons to stop, relax, and be grateful. Sometimes it's the little things that help you remember that. :)

So, today I will give my honey the biggest hug before heading off to 3rd grade, I will turn my radio up a little louder and sing my heart out, and I will be grateful to be alive and for the WEEKEND!!

What are some of your mini stress-relievers that get YOU through the day??

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If you like Cinco de Mayo...

If you like Cinco de Mayo ... and wearing sweaters in May.

If you're not much into health food, but you eat it anyway. 

If you like singing in the shower and doing karaoke.

Stop back by here on Sunday, and wish me Happy Birthday. :)

Please tell me that you know you should sing that to the tune of the Pina Colada Song. ;) I am in a stellar mood today, and this silly song is the result. Perhaps that means I am more than a little goofy, but I am strangely okay with that.

The entire point of it was to, of course, acknowledge today's holiday and comment on a few other things going on right now (now onto Awkward and Awesome so I can explain a few)!

Awkward

-So, I realize that for much of the blogging world, you have not been introduced to Spring quite yet this year. In Texas, however, we are used to Spring coming in March and then being kicked out by Summer as soon as the end of April. The hot and humidity are definitely not welcome, per say, but it's something we've come to expect. So imagine my complete shock when I had to pull out a SWEATER and BOOTS on Monday. It rained here for a solid 24 hours and was in the 30s and 40s all day long. IN MAY. IN TEXAS. Crazy. Also awkward because my pups refuse to go outside in the rain. Ugh.

-Going into a middle school to sub on Tuesday, I had the WORST anxiety... I was so nervous... it felt like the first day of school! Why?? Don't know. I have become so used to subbing at another particular elementary school. They keep me busy most days, I've been in nearly every classroom, and I know the kids plus their schedules. I guess the "change" was too much for me, even though I had been to this other middle school before. It was strangely emotional, and just a pretty weird situation. Everything turned out fine, of course, and I had a great afternoon, so all is well. ;)

-I know I promised weekly menu updates on Mondays. First, I really needed a small break from blogging after the A to Z challenge. Second, last week I was a major failure at taking pictures of our food, even though I did cook some pretty yummy stuff! Obviously, now that I have my new camera, you can expect to see much more of my menu! :) Yummy food pictures... I can't wait. :)

Awesome

-Today is my parent's 31st wedding anniversary. Aren't they so cute? These are a few pictures of their early years.




Congratulations, Mom and Dad, I LOVE YOU! xoxo Plus, how awesome was it for them to get married on Cinco de Mayo? Seriously, though, I consider myself infinitely blessed to have loving, giving, and supportive parents who have been together for so long. They have shown me that while "happily ever after" doesn't mean there won't be struggles, finding and keeping the "one" is worth the extra patience. I look forward to the day that D and I can look back over the past 30 years and feel the same genuine, forever love that my parents have for each other.

-Yes, it's awkward to be wearing a sweater and boots in May, but there was a major awesome in there, too. I had recently placed an online order for boots on clearance, and guess when the package decided to show up on my front door? Oh yes, rainy day Monday. :) So I got to strut my stuff in my new boots, even if the weather was extra gloomy. :)

-Some of my girlfriends and I are embarking on our own Biggest Loser adventure for the next 60 days (ok, so the awkward part is I am not starting until after my birthday in order to set myself up for SUCCESS). We are all focused on living healthier lifestyles, but we all need the extra MOTIVATION! Facebook Groups are pretty awesome... we have a private one set up so we can post weights, share struggles, give advice, and just work together on our weight loss. Thank you, Lord, for amazing girlfriends that motivate each other!!

-I am SO excited about celebrating Mother's Day with my MIL on Friday night, then going on a double date with my twin and her man Saturday night, then having a huge Mother's Day/Twin Birthday Bash at my parent's on Sunday. Gotta love birthday weekends!!!

Happy Early Birthday to ME!!!

My twin sister and I celebrate the big 2-7 this Sunday (yes, every few years our birthday falls on Mother's Day... triple the celebration!!) and I can't wait to celebrate with her, my mom, my honey, and other family this weekend! 

So, my honey comes home from work early today and starts helping me prep dinner. After a bit he mentions that he accidentally left a bag in the garage on the deep freeze, and asks me to go get it. What is waiting there for me?? 

Meet my new Nikon 5100. :) Isn't he/she gooooooorgeous? I haven't decided its sex quite yet, but what a pretty little thang this is!

The battery is charging now; I can't WAIT to play with it! My Facebook friends know that I have been doing a 365 photo project - one picture for everyday of 2011. I am SO excited to see how the quality of my pictures change from my "point and shoot" to this amazing camera!!! I may even start sharing my daily photos with the blogging world once I figure out how to use this thing!

Wow, I really do have the best hubby EVER! Great birthday gift, my love, and I promise to put it to good use!!!

Do you have a Nikon? What do you think about it? Any feedback for me on my new camera??

Meet Me on Monday!

As promised, I am back for another Meet Me on Monday! A part of me wanted to take a little break... a little blog hiatus after 26 posts in April for A to Z... BUT instead perhaps I will keep up this regular blogging thing. ;) Plus, I "met" lots of fun new bloggers last time I linked up with Java at Never Growing Old and did MMOM, so why not continue the fun?


Questions:

1.  What is your favorite kind of muffin?
2.  What was the first car you ever owned?
3.  Which TV Show were you sad to see end?
4.  What is your lucky number?
5.  Pretzels or Potato Chips?
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1. I haven't really been a muffin-eater in several years, not since I lost 60 pounds on Weight Watchers. They were never really my favorite thing anyway, so I usually opt for a banana and yogurt breakfast versus a muffin. But, when I did eat them, I would grab a blueberry muffin for sure. Weight Watchers does make a blueberry muffin, but it's a little dense for me, so I just tend to stay away.

2. I have had several cars since I turned 16, most of which I shared with my twin sister. The car I currently drive is an '04 Honda Civic. I consider it the first car I've ever "owned" because I paid it off last June and now own the title. Getting that piece of paper in the mail made me feel like a grown-up. ;) 

3. This one is easy; I've even talked about my love of this show in a previous post here. LOST is easily one of the best shows ever on television. Even though the storylines were often really "out there", you just can't beat all the twists and turns in each and every episode. Plus, there were just SO many *pretty* people to look at in that show! ;) I miss all the characters... Hurley was always one of my favs!!!

4. I don't why, but one of my favorite numbers has always been "ten". It's not necessarily a "lucky" number, but it's a number that has always stuck with me as a favorite number. I like that it's even. Weird, I guess, but true. ;)

5. Definitely pretzels. I also prefer the little sticks versus the standard twisted pretzel. Since pretzels are hard, sometimes those twisty ones can cut the inside of my mouth, no bueno. Kroger also makes a bag of off-brand Honey Mustard pretzel rods that are DELICIOUS and not a bad, healthier little snack!

Zero to Zed

Wow, I can hardly believe I made it! 26 posts for the 26 letters of the alphabet, all in the month of April. :) 

This little blog of mine truly is such a baby... my first post was November 2010, a short 6 months ago. The month of April really brought so many "new-to-me" things in the blogger world. I was so excited to do my first guest post, was graced with a few blogger awards, and managed to trek it ALL THE WAY through A to Z challenge.

Through the challenge, I "met" so many other amazing writers and bloggers that I will look forward to reading long after the challenge is over. I was also lucky enough to more than double my followers... I am so grateful there are people out there who care to read my ramblings! ;)

I am definitely looking forward to participating in the A to Z challenge every year, and finding other ways to stretch my creativity in writing/blogging. This has been so much fun, and I am glad I decided to participate!

To wrap up this goodbye to the A to Z challenge, here is a clip from last week's episode of The Office. It is so awesome, I promise. :) We'll miss you, Michael Scott.

Yvonne! :)

Y is for Yvonne... well, why not?

I've always loved my name, even though it was always difficult to do those name acrostics in school. Adjectives that begin with Y and V aren't all that common!

Youthful

Vivacious (I always used this word, even when I wasn't sure what it meant)

Organized

Nice

Neat

Energetic

There, that looks about like something I would have written in elementary school. 

So now, in honor of the letter Y (and the almost-end of the A to Z challenge!!), here are some of Yvonne's (little ole me) random musings, photos, and maybe even a video clip. All little things that have been on my mind lately. ;)

I swear, my nephew is the cutest thing ever! Being that my man is the hottest thing ever, especially with a baby in his lap, those 2 things together make this picture epic. I love it so much. :)

It was soooo nice spending time with family over Easter weekend... except it makes me want babies even more!! :)

D and I love BBC's Planet Earth series. I am especially in love with Blue Planet, Seas of Life since it's all about water and ocean life. I find those particularly interesting. We were watching the end of an episode before we headed to bed the other night, and they were showing us a particular fish that feeds on the harder corals at night. They chew off chunks of the coral and it comes out of them as fine grains of sand. The scene then cuts to the beach, where the narrator says something about how "this fish's excrement is what makes up our beautiful, sandy beaches that we all love." Haha, I am sure I have learned this in the past, but for some reason right then it struck me as funny. 
Sand is fish poop. giggle.

Here are a few cute pictures of our Daphne and Dexter 
from the other day. They are so stinkin' cute. 
They make me smile all day long. :)

Yesterday, instead of cleaning the bathroom, I watched Jeopardy. Sometimes you just don't feel like scrubbing toilets. Yes, that means I will spend Saturday morning cleaning my house for my jewelry party on Sunday... but yesterday I wanted to watch Jeopardy. I had several episodes stacked up in the DVR. I can clean the kitchen, cook, and do laundry while still watching Jeopardy, so the day wasn't a total waste. But toilets are for another day.

This video clip just might be the best thing ever. ;) It's, at the very least, one of the best commercials I've seen. I have the sound bite on my phone and it just cracks me up every. single. time. :)

Soooooooo 'kay, bye! ;)