It's a Boy!

We got the test results back and Tico is in fact a Male! We thought that he was because of stories that we heard about the previous owners when we bought him. But we never knew for sure for the entire 3 years that we have had him. Now we are just going to put good energy into the new baby being a girl. We did in fact decide to go with the name Kiwi. Tico seems to like the name when we say it, and Jared loved it so much. We are so excited!

Shape Up!

The year is coming to a fast close and I have been horribly slacking at my commitment to the gym. Back in November with the chaos that was Global Connection 2009, it started my bad habit of skipping the gym at night because I have been so tired I just want to crash when I get home. I also had a really bad hit to my motivation when I realized that it has been almost a year since I started my hard core gym crusade and I litterally haven't lost a single pound. I litterally cried because I have been working so hard! That plus every gym partner I have ever had, has bailed on me. Well there is this really long hallway at work..and my desk is at the front so I walk that hallway almost 50 times a day probably.

See how long that sucker is!!!

So to help with my situation I thought that I would try some of those shape up shoes. What can it hurt right? I mean I am walking that hallway everyday..why not tone my legs and butt at the same time? So that was the reason for my skechers run yesterday. I have been doing my research into the Reebok Easy Tones and the Skechers Shape Up's to see what was better and ended up going with the Skechers just because it looked more like a shoe rathe than a sneaker. I wanted to be able to get away with wearing them at work is why. I personally loved the way that they both felt. Check 'em out!

I know I know..They look a little Grandma-ish. But if it give me a tight behind I don't care  haha.

If you want to learn more about these shoes if you don't know already, Go Here  or Here

Have you ever just had one of those times?

I had a wild lunch "hour" (30 minutes for my lunch haha) yesterday that I wanted to share. Here is the story...

I have been wanting to get some new shoes to wear back home to Wyoming for our holiday vacation. Since living in California for the last 4 years, my wardrobe has changed to a more lighter style. For example, I wear flip flops every single day. Knowing that I am going to back to the land of snow and negative degree weather I have been on a hunt for closed toed shoes and long sleeve shirts. So, on my lunch half hour I decided to go to the Skecher's store at the outlet mall just down the road.

I was wearing some wedge heel sandals that I have had since I was a sophmore in  high school, and as stepped out of the car I turned to walk towards the mall. It almost felt like my shoe was stuck and I almost fell when I turned and realized that I litterally walked right off the heel. haha I have never in my entire life broke a heel off of a pair of shoes so that was a first for me. Since I was in a rush I just threw the heel back into the car and stood on my tippy toe and hobbled to the shoe store. (Good thing my entire purpose of going there was to buy a pair of shoes) I go into the store and they have a buy one get one 1/2 off sale so I go pick up the ones I want, and begin to hurry to find a second pair. As I turn to look at one pair of shoes my purse knocks over the display and shoes go EVERYWHERE! So I'm rushing to grab shoes and make sure they are the right size to put back into the right boxes and fix the display (No one came to my aid *sad*) So I hobble over to the counter and buy my shoes so I can rush back to work since I was already late. Well I still needed to pick up some food because all I had for the day was coffee. Once I grabbed a quick bite I get in the car to hurry back and can you all guess what happened? Yup...every single light from the mall to my office was red! Of Course!

It was very crazy. Funny at the same time though lol. As least I saw the humor in my chaos. So now I have some sweet new kicks to wear home. We leave for Wyoming in two days!

Wyoming Home.

I am so excited to be headed home for the holidays this year. Because I haven't been home since 2007 I am very anxious to get there and soak up the familiar feelings of home. I am starting to feel a little bit "broken" from the city and imensity of life. I just need some time to re-group and feel like everything is going to be fine again. We leave for the country this coming friday, so I am getting that antsy feeling. The two weeks that we will be home sounds like it is going to be jam packed. Since our families haven't seen us in so long they are making plans without us hahaha. Unfortunately, we wont be able to do them all :(  Lately I have been having extreme mental break downs and I feel like spending some time away will be the best thing for me ( I might not want to come back to CA haha) But at least I have our new baby bird to look forward to when we do get back. I hope that each and every one of you are having a great holiday season and maybe I will get to see some of you when I come home.

Birdie Momma!

As most of you already know if we are friends on facebook, Jared and I decided to get a new addition to our family. We finally decided that Tico needed a wife! We have always wanted to get two birds, that way they could have each other when we aren't at the house. Over the weekend, we took Tico to get his wings and nails clipped, so he was all prepped and ready to go to Wyoming for the holidays. While we were there, there was a beautiful baby grey sitting quietly in her cage while the other birds went wild for attention. We asked if we could hold her and it was love at first sight. She was super cuddly and didn't care who snuggled up to her. Just Precious! She more than pulled on Jared's heart strings, if he could he would have walked out of the store with her that day. We went home and just couldn't stop thinking about her. Jared even looked into getting a better cage, names, even information on having two birds bond with each other and mate. (Can you tell he was excited haha) We took Tico to the bird store on Tuesday to  have a blood test done on him so we can have the certificate saying what gender he is. He didn't like that in the least bit. But it gave us a chance to bond again with the bird we are hoping to get,  and pick out their new future cage. We started cleaning up our house as soon as we got home. Did some deep cleaning and we threw quite a bit out. It's amazing how much stuff you acumulate when you stay in one spot for a while. We also listed some furniture on craigslist to make more room. We can't wait to bring our new baby bird home. I would like everyone's input back on this..Kiwi is one of the options we have for the name of the baby bird, what do you all think?

Baby bird on the Left. Tico On the right.

Tico on the left. Baby bird on the right. I love that they are getting a long!

As you can see the baby bird's tail is still turning red. She is fresh out of the nursery. It will eventually be bright red like Tico's. Her eyes are still turning yellow too. Right now they are still all black.

They are a lot smaller than they look...Wish I could say the same for myself hahaha!

Eufora

"Thank you for calling Eufora, this is Courtney, how may I direct your call?"

Just a short year ago I started saying that phrase, and I have said it millions of times since then. I have even said it while answering my OWN cell phone a couple of times. haha That is commitment! I can not believe that I have been working at Eufora for an entire year! It seemed like just a couple of weeks ago, I started my journey with the company, and was feeling so very out of place. I remember when I started that everyone was leary to talk to me or try to get close since this position has had quite the turn over rate before me. I started coming into my own a few months later. One of my greatest memories was when we had a lunch for the company and the owner (Don) turned to me and said " Do you ever talk? You've been here a few months and I don't think I have heard you say a damn word." haha Oh how wrong he was! I have been so thankful that I found this job and that I have accomplished every goal that I set when I started. I have become so close with a few of my co-workers and I am going to miss them so terribly when we move to Montana. I just wanted to take a moment of my day to reflect this past year and express my excitement and gratitude. There has been up's and down's just like anywhere else in life but it has truly been an experience I will never forget.

Loving these Videos!

Tico & the Hut

He is warming up to the hut...He starting chewing on it the other day and is getting more comfortable being next to it. Next stop..Making him get inside!

Other exciting news....This is my 100th post!!!

Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving...The one day of the year that we remind ourselves just how blessed and grateful we are. It's almost sad that we don't take the entire year to do that. But even so, I am very grateful for that one day of remembrance. When we first arrived in California, we made a tradition to give Thanksgiving to our single marine friends. We felt bad that they didn't have their families, friends, food, and a home. So we would invite a house full of people over to share the holiday with us. We did that for a couple of years and spent on holiday at a friends. Well now that we have been in the Marines for 4 years, we no longer have the single marine friends that we came in with, They are all out now. So we decided to spend this Thanksgiving as a family. Just the two of us and Tico. We made a fantastic meal, and Jared even made a sweet toast to me. After dinner we took some photos for our christmas card, and then settled in for some movies. It was just a wonderful day. We have been so very blessed and we take notice each day for all of blessings each day. We are so thankful for everything, and everyone in our lives.

Our Feast

I was so excited!

I love this man!
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Tico munching on his potatoes

Coffee Coffee Coffee...And Tea!

Remember the coffee machine that I wanted bloggers? And remember that I promised that I would have it by christmas? Yeah, Jared and I broke down and got it today as an early present. Since we are going home for Christmas we didn't want to take it a couple states away, and then have to bring it back.we decided to slowly start moving things home when we go. We figured since we are taking the truck, it would be easier for later if we did that. Anyways...I just wanted to share my excitement about our awesome new machine.

Looks good in my kitchen huh?!

A Tiki Hut for Tico

I found this super cute Tiki Hut at Petsmart and just had to get it for my Tico Teekers. It's cool because he can sleep in it, or eat it because it's entirely edible. The only downfall....He is scared to death of it! hahaha He is like that will all new things that we bring home for him, unless he picks it out himself of course. But over time he gets used to it and they become his favorite thing. Hopefully soon I can post a picture of him inside of it.

Marine Corps Ball 2009

This was my last ball of our Marine Corps career. During our four year time, I was able to attend three of them. My first ball was in 2006, it happened at the same hotel as this year, They Regency Hyatt in Huntington Beach, CA. The hotel is beautiful and it's right on the water. It's filled with amazing fountains, just a truly breath taking hotel. My day started really nicely, We went to breakfast at Ihop with Jamie, then Jamie and I did some last minute shopping for the things that I hadn't had time to go pick up because of Global. After our trip we came back to my house and Jamie helped me curl my hair. She is such a great friend, I love her dearly, and I will miss her so much when we leave.

We drove to our hotel and Luke came to pick us up so we didn't have to get a taxi to the Hyatt. (We stayed at a cheaper hotel down the street because the Hyatt was $275 a night) The night kicked off with cocktail hour and trying to find our table for dinner. It was a little sad, because everyone that we did know is now out of the Marines, except for like 3 people. This year's ceremony was wonderful! It wasn't too long, the message was so inspirational, and it made me so proud of Jared and to be a Marine wife. Of course they did the usual presenting of the birthday cake (Happy 234th!) And they do this thing where they give a piece of cake to the oldest and youngest Marine in our battalion. I think the oldest was born in 1952 (57) and the youngest to join was..Get this...Drum Roll....1992.  That's right people...He is 17 years old. Not even a legal adult, but he's old enough to go to war and die for his country. It made me sad because he is just a baby and is in for a big ride. My heart and blessings go out to him. During the ceremony the talked about brotherhood and how great it was to be a part of our Battalion. There was a guy on the video who talked about how they would jump in harms way to save their brother every time and not even think about it. I started to tear up because for us..unfortunately..Jared was never given that opportunity of brotherhood over the last 4 years. Somehow and for some reason..we drew the short end of the stick.

Holding Jared's hand during the ceremony.

  After the ceremony we had a wonderful dinner of salad, steak, and dessert. It was awefully tasty!

Our Table

My steak.

Mellisa's Chicken

Raspberry Chocolate mousse.

Then pictures and dancing begun, I wanted to dance so bad but they had the music so loud that Jared couldn't handle being in the room. Poor guy was getting dizzy because of how loud it was. It's a reminder to me that he really does have handicaps and that he will be injuried for the rest of his life. When you look at him he seems completely fine..but he has so many health issues now.

Our Feet hurt so bad so we starting carrying our shoes

After all this..and many more that aren't pictured..The night led up to this little plan that we helped Luke with for months...

Congratulations hugs..and room service champagne

Over all it turned out to be a pretty good last ball for me. I am very proud of this...

To Be A Marine Wife!

Excitement, Sadness, and Exhaustion..Global Connection 2009!

Global Connection 2009...Where to begin! For many of you that have no clue what I am talking about..It's the Eufora International annual Hair show. I have been employed with Eufora for almost a year now and when I started it was right after the hair show took place so I was super excited to experience it this year. It took the entire year to plan it out. (600 Hair stylists came to the event) The last two months for me have been so entirely hectic, and stressful, that I have been neglecting other things in my life (such as my blog and the gym) because I am just so tired at the end of the day that all I want to do is eat dinner and go to bed. I did a lot of rolling of clothing for the apparel store, order items, getting them organized and staged to put on the truck, lots of phone calls to vendors, and all of my other daily duties. This year the Event was at the brand new San Diego Hilton Bayfront Hotel. BEAUTIFUL! The show kinda went like this...we worked all week long  the first week of November, then on saturday we all met at the hotel for show setup. Sadly for me..Miss Country girl..I got so stinking lost in the middle of downtown! I have a garmin but because the hotel was just finished being built this January it wouldn't find the address. I was so lost and frustrated that I burst into tears and almost turned around to go home.

 So we set up the whole day on saturday and when everything was finished, some co-workers/friends  and I went out to dinner at the fox grill there at the hotel. Then we went back upstairs to our rooms and I did a set of nails on one of my co-workers and we did deep conditioning treatments in our hair. I just love to pamper and be pampered! We had to be up around 5 am Sunday morning to be all dressed hair and makeup and downstairs for the show at 7. It was so exciting for me because it was my first hair show and I don't even have my license yet. The show kicked off with an amazing runway and cutting presentation and then everyone broke for classes and we sold the nicely rolled apparel (YAY go me!)  We added a nice little surprise into the show at the last minute. There happened to be a Marine Corps Ball in the next room on Saturday night and some of the Marines wanted to come watch the show so bad...Well for our futuristic model section we asked them to march but they weren't getting it. So some marines came in to teach them. We loved the way it looked so much that we decided to include them in the show! It was so awesome and gave you chills when you watched it. It was a great sight for me because it took my military people, and my stylist people, and they interweaved them! haha Jared was able to come down to watch the show. It was so nice for him to experience that with me and I am so thankful that Eufora let him be there. :) That night we had a Studio 54 after party. It was so much fun!!! Jared went shopping while I was working so get a costume. Everyone danced, drank, and Don (the owner and creator of Eufora) sang. Jared had the time of his life..I couldn't have paid him to leave the dance floor haha! that never happens..He didn't even want to dance with me at our own wedding. The Long Island Iced Tea just broke out his disco dancing spirit! The next day the show continued and I was supposed to go back to the office to work. As I was about to leave the hotel I got a call saying that they needed my help and I had to get down stairs ASAP! So it was fun that I got to stay. I am so grateful for the people in this company who teach me something all the time, and it will be very bittersweet when I leave them. I had such a great time! So in about a year or so...I will come back to Global Connection..but this time to experience it as a Stylist!

I know there is a lot but it's the entire runway event!