Birthday Stuff Pictures

OK, so here are pictures of my birthday stuff that I got. :o)

My new camera bag: (Isn't it adorable???) It's SO me, it's EXACTLY what I would have picked out, and he picked it out all by himself! Is he GOOD or what? :o)

The flowers my mom brought me: :o)

I'm going to post more of these later. I took a TON of really close up ones and stuff, so I need to go through them, and figure out which ones I want to post. :o)

My new phone:

Oh, and here's a random picture of Evie. I finally got a good one of her face. :o)

Well, there's my birthday stuff. :o) I also got a green The North Face jacket from Lanae`. It's the softest thing ever. I LOVE it. Natasha loves it too apparently, as she was cuddling up to me after church last night. :o) And, Tori got me a $30 gift card to American Eagle, which I was thrilled about. :o) (Remember that whole thing about not being able to spend money the way I want to? Yeah, gift cards are taking on a whole new light.) :o) Mike's mom also got me a couple of sweaters from her favorite store. I just can't remember the name of it right now, sorry! :o) Anyways, I guess we're having a birthday dinner at my parent's house on Sunday, so I'll let you know how that goes! It's kinda fun when your birthday lasts a whole week! (Tori gave me the gifts from her and Lanae` before she left last Friday). Yes, yes, I am spoiled, thank-you. :o)

Hope you all are having a wonderful day! :o)

October 21, 2008

Well, yesterday was my birthday. I am now no longer a "teenager". :o) I am 20 now. It's a bit weird, I must say. That's ok though. I'm enjoying it.

Mike made it a wonderful birthday for me, and tried to make up for the fact that nearly all my friends are gone for my birthday this year. When I got home last night he gave me my gifts.
He got me the cutest camera bag ever! It's made specifically for my camera. It's awesome. I love it. :o) then he hid stuff in some of the pockets. He got me a couple memory chips for my camera (together they can hold like 1,600 pictures), and he got me a new lens cap (I lost mine in Hawaii), and then in the front pocket was a new cell phone! :o) It's one I wanted a while back, when mine broke. It's the LG Vu. It's a touch screen, and it's awesome! :o) There were also two memory chips for my phone in there too. Then he got me a DVD on how to use my camera. It's specific to my camera's model and everything, which I think is really cool. It's just what I need. :o) And there was a protector film for my phone.

He then took me to Pike's and had dinner. It was SO yummy. We just sat there talking. It was nice. :o) It was fun to be in the same place that we got engaged. Made it a little more romantic. :o) All in all, it was a really good day. :o) Oh, and the card he got me made me cry. :o)

My mom brought me flowers yesterday morning too. Light purple roses with stargazer lilies. They smell so great. The whole design center at work smells nice because of them. Thanks mom! :o) And the people in the Design Center bought me a cake, and a yummy smelling candle (peppermint vanilla by Method). I love it.

Anyways, I have pictures of my new bag, and my flowers and such, but naturally I don't have my camera cord with me, so they'll have to wait. I'll try to post them tomorrow or something. Anyways, hope you all are having a great afternoon! :o)

Just Stuff

So, I took Evie to the vet just a little while ago. She had to get 2 shots. :o( Poor little girl yelped on the first one. The second one she did ok, then when they were wiping the little blood spot off, she was crying a little bit. She sounded so sad. :o( Before she went back though, they weighed her in, and she now weighs 2.5 pounds! :o) She gained 0.6 pounds since we took her in there last, 3 weeks ago. Haha, listen to me. I sound like she's my kid or something. :o) I guess that's what happens though, when you have to wait to have a baby.

Anyways, not a lot else going on with us. My house is a disaster. Sadly, yet not surprisingly, my schedule isn't working out so hot. But, alas, I have not given up hope yet. Remember, I said, we'll try it out for the next few weeks and see what happens. It's only been a week. :o) I'm still trying. I'll get this down one day. :o\ Of course, working a 40 hour week doesn't exactly help either. I'm getting real tired of working. I really wish I could just stay home and be a home maker. I just want to have more time to get things done at home. I want to have the energy and the actual DESIRE to keep up my home, and cook, and then have time on the side to do the things I want to do (go through and clean the spare room, and get it completely organized, into an efficient work space; crafts; on the side baking projects; etc.). But no, sitting at a desk 8 hours a day, wasting my time is SO much more enjoyable, don't you think?

Anyways, for those of you who haven't heard, my sister-in-law, Lauren is pregnant with #2. :o) I'm really happy for her, but sad at the same time. I was really hoping that I would be around for her second pregnancy, but obviously, that's not gonna happen. :o\ It's ok though. I am getting a lot better about them being gone. I know, I KNOW, they've been gone almost 4 months. But seriously. I can't help but miss them. I'm really happy that Tay will have someone to play with though. She LOVES babies, so I'm sure she'll do great when her little bother or sister comes along. :o) The baby is due in May - the same month that Taylor will be turning 3. I hope their birthdays aren't TOO close together. :o) Oh well, the Lord knows.

Anyways, there's a post for you *ahem amber*. :o) Hope you all are having a good day.

Organization

I've decided to get organized. I have two main problems at home, and go figure, they're the two most important for maintaining a house.

1. I do not clean like I should. {Insert Procrastination Problem Here} I usually get the basics done ok, such as dishes (although, I won't lie to you, I am certainly not 100% on those), and keeping things fairly tidy, but when it comes to things like, laundry, mopping the downstairs floors, vacuuming all of upstairs, etc. I am no good.

2. I HATE trying to think of things to cook for dinner every night. It's a little easier now that I have my own kitchen and I'm the one doing the shopping so I know what's on hand. But seriously. After working all day, the last thing I want to do is try to think up something to cook.


SO, I have devised a plan, and have started the process of organizing these areas of my life. To take care of the cleaning, I have made a list of things that need to be done weekly, and semi-weekly, such as: mopping the kitchen floor, vacuuming the rug downstairs, vacuuming the stairs, sweeping and mopping downstairs, etc. I have taken this list and put it to a calendar. I have specific days of the week that I do specific things. For instance: Wednesdays I have to vacuum the rug downstairs. Thursdays I have to mop the kitchen floor and scrub the bathrooms. And of course, the usual chores go on daily; clean the kitchen at night, keep the house picked up, etc. It's just the weekly and semi-weekly things that I have the most problem with. I need structure in these areas! :o)

Then to take care of the cooking, I have mapped out what I am going to cook for the next two weeks, starting Monday, the 13th. I have decided that I'm going to go grocery shopping every other Saturday, and get all the groceries that I need for the next two weeks, after every paycheck. I got all of my recipes off of www.bhg.com (Better Homes and Gardens). They give you all of the nutritional information, and I've even seen on some of the newer recipes, the average cost for each serving, which is kinda cool. You can go in, and on each recipe, you can add the ingredients to your shopping list, then print it out, and off to the store you go! :o) So, I'm going to try this out for the next several weeks, and see how it goes. :o)

I've just got to do something. I'm driving myself insane! :o) Anyways, that's all for now. Hope you all are having a great day! :o)

As Amber likes to say, "Can I get a Woot Woot?!"

Alright, sorry. I am just extremely happy that I FINALLY (4 months later) got all of my honeymoon pictures posted. Good-NESS. Now onto Wedding pictures! :o) Unfortunately, they are not on this computer, so I will have to wait until I get them up on my jump-drive. :o) I promise to try to get it done very soon though! :o)



Wow. A week from today, I have been married for four months. Where has the time gone? On one hand, it seems like it was only yesterday that I was running around freaking out, because there was a miscommunication and we all forgot my wedding dress at home. It was just hanging there, all lonely in the living room. :o) And here we are, four months later, already. On the other hand, it feels like we've been married forever. The days before we were married are slowly being forgotten, and sometimes it seems as though that time never existed. But it did. Oh, it did. :o)



So, what's different about being married, than living with your parents? (Sorry, I can't give you that whole angle on "what's different about being married, vs. living on your own". my feet never went down that road.) :o) Well, there's a lot. And people with the best of intentions always try to prepare you for what is coming, but you can't really fully understand what they mean, what they're really saying, until you're there, in it, living it. The cold, hard truth, people?



Marriage is hard.



Yes, all you wonderfully aged women, (Titus 2:3) and the younger, more recently married women, were right. I knew you were right. :o) I just couldn't fully understand it, as I was not yet there, not yet in it, living it. I fully appreciate every bit of advice that each of you gave me though. The time you took to try to prepare me for what lay ahead. Every time I'm in a new situation, someone's advice always comes back to me. I can't say that I always, willingly accept it, and follow it, but just know that your words stuck with me.



So, what's so hard about it, this marriage business?

1. I am very prideful. I'm stubborn, and I like having my way. I hate being TOLD what to do. ASKING is much better. I am desperately trying to work on this large character flaw. Submission isn't exactly my forte` and I hate that. My pride gets in the way of me submitting, and it's a constant battle with me. I need to learn to lean on the Lord more, and trust him if I'm ever going to beat this pride. I am getting better though, I promise. Step by step, day by day. Single girls, please work on this with your dad before you get married. It will help. I didn't believe it then, but it really will. :o)

2. I am lazy. Ask my parents. They'll tell you. :o) Remember that whole "I am the very definition of a procrastinator" thing? Yeah..... I wasn't lying. Ya know, it's just so frustrating to me, because while I'm at work all day, I am all pumped up and ready to go. I sit and wish I could be getting my laundry done. I wish I could be sweeping and mopping the floors. I wish I could be getting my kitchen to be sparkling clean. I wish I could be cooking; baking bread, getting dinner ready. There are so many things I WISH I could be doing, instead of sitting at a desk. Then, the second I get home, all I want to do is sit down and chill. The LAST thing I want to do is cook, and clean. It's terrible, and it frustrates me to no end. Then things don't get done, and then my husband is frustrated to no end, and rightly so.

Marriage is hard.

Ya know, I think by far the hardest thing that I have dealt with in marriage is money. I am not used to not being able to spend my money the way I want. Mrs. Suzie tried to tell me about this over and over, but I really didn't understand. I just kept thinking, oh it'll be fine, things will be different when I'm married. Girls, young ladies, those of you not yet married.....

It's not different when you're married.

Every man is different. Every man handles his money differently, and every man lets his wife spend it differently. But I'm telling you, unless you have a super easy going husband, who just makes a ton of money, chances are, you're not going to be able to spend money any way you like. And it becomes frustrating. Until you learn to deal with it and move on. I'm getting there. these oh-so-bad habits of singleness can be a little overwhelming at times! :o)

In any situation though, don't think it's going to be different when you're married, because it's not. You still have the same thoughts, the same attitudes, as you did before you were married. The "different" only lasts for a little while. Trust me, you settle into a routine, you get comfortable, and suddenly, it's not different anymore. You're still thinking and acting the same as you did before you were married. It takes work, so be prepared to work at everything you do. Marriage is change. And change doesn't always come easy. You have to adjust, and get used to new things.

I don't know what I was expecting when I got married, but let me tell you, it isn't that. :o) It is completely different than what I was expecting. Not BAD, just DIFFERENT. And that's ok.

Hmm, this post may be coming across a little weird. I do not hate marriage, people. I love being married. I love my husband. I love being able to say that I love my husband. I have a husband. :o) Yes, we certainly have our bad days. But what would we be without them? The bad days are what shape us, what teach us things, so that we can outnumber the bad days with good ones. And trust me, the good days far outweigh the bad days. :o)

I hope you all are having a wonderful afternoon. Take care,
Kassandra.

Day 8: Sunday

Well, on Sunday we didn't actually do stuff, but I did get pictures of the condo we stayed in, so I thought I would share those too. I loved this place. It was so nice. :o)


The dining room


Bathroom, obviously. :o)




The kitchen. It was so nice to have a real kitchen. We always at breakfast there, and packed our lunch (we bought sandwich stuff) so we saved a lot of money on food that way.


The living room, standing in the kitchen. the dining room is just to the right.


Stacked washer/dryer. That was really nice to have too! :o)


Living room again.








Bathroom and bedroom doors.


Bedroom.




Ok, so I know there were a LOT of condo pictures, I just wanted you to get a feel for what the house looked like, so I basically did a complete 360 of the whole place. :o)


Pink plumeria trees on our way to the airport. :o)




In the mustang for the last time. :o)

alright! That is all of the Hawaii pictures. They're done!!! :o) YAY!!!! Hope you enjoyed them. have a fabtaculous day. :o)

Day 7 of the Honeymoon: Saturday

Saturday was our last day in Hawaii to actually do stuff before we came home. Somehow, Mike convinced me, against my better judgement, to go hike up a volcano crater (an inactive volcano crater). We went. It was hot. I thought I was going to die. the pictures I got were amazing. I'm glad Mike had fun, but that's all I'll say. :o)


This was the plumeria tree right outside the front door to our condo. We were on the third floor (not so good with stairs in hot weather) so we were in the top of the tree. It was beautiful, and it smelled AMAZING. I loved walking outside in the mornings. :o)


These are all pictures from the top of the crater, and looking down on the trail and stuff.






This is Waikiki. I love this picture. :o)

this is the inside of the crater, where we started. :o)

This is where you come out to the other side of the crater at the top. it's an old World War II bunker. I think that's really cool. :o)

Looking out of the bunker.

A tunnel we had to walk through. It was in between the 1st and 2nd flight of stairs. Yes, stairs. 271 to be exact. don't worry, I didn't count them. They were selling T-Shirts. I didn't buy one. :o)

You can see the tiny little trail right in the middle of the picture.

The top, from the bottom. :o)

After we got done, Mike bought us these huge sno cones. Oh MAN were they good. mmmm mmm. :o)


this nice couple took our picture for us. :o) It was gorgeous that day. :o)

Alright, there's day 7. :o) Almost done, folks.