5 Hours To Go!!!

Well less than five hours and I will be off work until January 5th. I am so ready for a little break from it all. Work has been so stressful, so this is a much needed break for sure.

I have all of my presents bought and wrapped except for my nephew. He is 10 going on 20 and I have no idea what to get him. Everything he wants costs at $200, excluding this video game he wants, and that is what he told everyone he wants so he is for sure getting that. He is into wrestling, video games, and music. He already has so many video games so I would not know which one to get. I will have to call my sister again and see if she has any ideas at all.

I doubt I will be on here before the holiday so I want to wish everyone a very merry Christmas!

Grad School Free Till February!

So I took my last final of the year of Tuesday and am looking forward to several weeks without classes. My plan was to set up the xmas tree and other decorations on Wednesday, but I couldn't get the energy to do it after work. It is the end of the year, which means long hours at work. I didn't get home until 7:30 and all I wanted to do was lay on the couch and veg. So that is just what I did. Last night was Ryan' s dad birthday dinner and we got home around 8:30. So tonight is the night, I must set up my xmas tree! I hate the fact that the tree is just sitting there all lonely without decorations. I wanted to have it done two weeks ago but with grad school and 50+ hour work weeks it was not fitting in to my schedule. So as for my promise of posting pics, I still will I'm am just a little delayed. :)

Have a good weekend!

TGIF!

This week has definitely flown by. Between school, work, and getting things ready for the holidays I have not stopped. Next week is finals so I will have to spend much of my weekend studying and working on a paper. Sounds like fun, huh?

Tonight we are going to see Carrie Underwood at the Chaifetz area. She is one of my favorite artists and I am so excited. I was able to get seats 7 rows up and they did not even cost a fortune. I gave Ryan the option to go or I would take a friend. He has opted to go, I think he is just excited to see her up that close. :) I guess I do not blame him.

Last night we went and picked up our Christmas tree from Home Depot. We ended up getting a Frasier Fir. It looks like it is going to be a beautiful tree, we are just waiting for it to fall out a little since it was all wrapped up in the wire before we decorate it. Brodie is trying to drink the water out of the tree stand, he is so curious as to what this big thing is in our living room. I will post pics of the tree once I get it decorated and the house once Ryan gets all the lights up.

Have a good weekend!

What Am I Thankful For?

After reading Kara's blog, I decided to follow suit.

1. My wonderful husband Ryan. He is truly my best friend. He brings so much joy and love in to my life. I really am blessed to be his wife.

2. My mom and dad. They are so good to me and my sisters. We are very lucky to have such selfless parents that have worked hard to give us the best lives possible. They did such a great job and I know that God really blessed us with best parents.

3. My sisters. They are really the best friends a girl can ask for. I can go to them with anything and they will always be there.

4. The rest of my family and family-in laws. They are all so supportive, loving, and I feel so blessed to be surrounded by such wonderful people.

5. My friends, old and new. When I look around me and see all the wonderful friends I have had at my side throughout my life I know that I truly am lucky. Each one is special to me is their individual ways and I cannot imagine my life without them.

6. My health. This is something that often take for granted. I am so thankful for my good health and for blessings of good health of my family and friends.

7. Employment. In this day and age this is something that I must never take for granted. I am so glad to have a good job and that Ryan does also.

I really go on and on once I start thinking about this, but I won't. :)

I am really excited to host my first holiday at our house.

The menu for tomorrow is:
7 Layer Salad
Turkey
Dressing
Mashed Potatoes w/ Gravy
Sweet Potatoes w/ Brown Sugar and Marshmallows
Asparagus
Green Bean Casserole
Mac n Cheese
Pasta Con Broccoli
Bean Salad
Rolls
Pumpkin Pie
Chocolate Cream Pie
Chocolate Sheet Cake

Let's hope everything is edible!!! Good thing my mom has agreed to supervise!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!!!!

No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems

As of Friday afternoon, Ryan and I are officially boat owners! I am excited and Ryan is SO excited. He has always wanted a boat and after much debate and searching for over a year we decided what the heck. We got a great deal and we figured it is best to do this before we have children and it is harder to get away on the weekends. The pic above is our actual boat. It is a 2005 28"Rinker with a little over 100 hours on it. The decal on the side is being removed, we like it better with out and we are adding a sport arch in the spring. So this summer will be filled with lots of boating adventures at the Lake of the Ozarks. We have a 2 bedroom condo rented for the summer and now I can hardly wait for this winter to be over so we can enjoy our new toy (as Ryan calls it)!

On another note....yay for a short work week!

Just One More...

Just two more hours of work left and then it is cleaning time for me. I am going to go crazy cleaning our house this afternoon and evening. I have been so busy with school and everything else lately that our house has not had a deep cleaning for awhile. I would really like to put this off for a few more weeks until my classes are done, but since I will be hosting my first EVER thanksgiving dinner cleaning is a must. I am excited and a little freaked out all at once. Anyone that knows me well, knows that I am not much of a cook. I actually enjoy doing it, but the problem is that I like to cook new things and Ryan is a very picky eater. He hardly eats anything, so it is not much fun for me to cook the same old things all the time. I definitely will cook more once we have little ones, that way I don't feel like I am wasting the effort all on me. Maybe one day I will get Ryan to expand his horizons a little too. I have not decided exactly what the menu will be besides the basics, so any input would really be appreciated. I am completing my menu this weekend and going shopping on Sunday. My mom is coming over Thursday morning to help me since this is my first time cooking a turkey and stuffing. I guess she wants to make sure we have an edible dinner. ;) So we will be having brunch at Ryan's family and then all my family is making the trip from Illinois to our house for dinner. I am so excited to show them our new basement set up and for once Ryan and I will not be running around all day from house to house.

On another note I have some exciting news I will share next time I blog, so until then, have a great weekend!

Finally!!!

If you read my blog back in June, I mentioned all of the things that we still would like to do to our house. One of the main things that needed work is the basement. While it is finished we still did not have a couch. Well, this week finally decided on something and we received it yesterday. We have it all set up and it feels great to get this off of our to do list. The set we got is above. Sorry I cannot figure out how to get it to go in the body of blog where I want it. Alaina I need some blogging lessons. :)

Also, since my last blog we have set up our spare bedroom and I bought a few things to hang on the walls. Now I just need to get Ryan to hang them up. Our bedroom has new curtains and is the one room that is 100% done to my taste. In the living room I have a few things on the wall now, I plan to ask for some other items I have had my eye on for xmas. After that the living room will also be done. The kitchen just needs a few finishing touches, but nothing major. The next major project will be the bar area in the basement and basement bathroom, which we are completely redoing. We plan to get these projects going in January. After that only one thing left and that is ripping up all of our carpet and refinishing the hardwood floors underneath. The hardwood is beautiful and original from when the house was built over 5o years ago, but has been covered for most part because carpet was in style all these years. I am really pumped and cannot wait until we have the hardwood floors exposed! I am anticipating the day when all our home improvement projects will be completed. Oh the joys of home ownership!

New Boots!

I bought these boots yesterday, I have been wanting a pair of gray suede ones for awhile and they finally went on sale at Macy's. They don't look exactly like this they are a tiny bit shorter (don't have the extra length in the front) and they have three little buttons on the side of the boot at the top. I love them! I get so excited about shoes, not sure why, but now I can't wait to wear them!

Oh Where Did October Go?

Between the stress of school, work, and all the other things in my life that have been crazy, October has almost passed me by in a glance. It seems like yesterday I was just celebrating my 24th birthday (10/4) and now there is only 2 days left this month. The reason this month passed by so quickly probably has a lot to do with the fact that school work has taken over my life. And from the looks of the syllabus, next month is going to be just as bad. I am ready for December, then I will have some time off until I start back up in February. We also have a wedding the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th weekends in November, I never knew it was such a popular month to get married. Don't get me wrong I love weddings, but with everything I have going on it is hard to enjoy them as well as I would like. I am really looking forward my friend Tricia's wedding November 15th. Ryan and I are both in the wedding and I know we all are going to have so much fun. I think my biggest problem is that with everything going on (extra long hours at work and piles of homework) I feel as if I am in a rut. I am trying my best to enjoy life and keep my spirits up, I cannot let these things get me down. I have my good days and bad days and today is one of those pretty good days.

I am looking forward to Friday, Halloween! Ryan and I are dressing up as Fred and Wilma Flintstone. I must say though, I am thankful I was not born with orange hair, it does not suit my complexion very well. We got the costumes in the mail on Monday and we both still need to try them on. They should be fine since Ryan has already tried it on in the store and it fit perfectly and tried on the medium in the store and it was pretty big. They did not have any smalls anywhere so that is why we ordered them. I will post a pic of us sporting our costumes next week sometime. Also, for those you that have facebook or myspace I added a ton of pics. I tend to store months of them up on my camera and then download them at once. Well I better get back to work.

Ugh....

I am not sure what my deal is, but lately I just do not feel like myself. I have been just feeling so unhappy about everything. I know that there are somethings that I am certainly stressed about, but I know that my life could be much worse and I should feel lucky, but I cannot shake this feeling. It is like I am walking around just plain old depressed. I really wish I could get out of my funk. I dread getting out of bed in the morning cause I am so tired of my job I could puke, literally. And then on the weekend I get to look forward to homework. I know that I am mostly just doing this to myself, and it will not help me feeling sorry for myself. I really do not know what to do. I am just so frustrated with myself, with life, and with several people in my life. At this point I just don't know.

It is Friday!

I am soooooooooooo tired. We went to the Kenny Chesney concert last night. It rained on us, which kinda of stunk, but the show he put on made up for it. He literally played for almost 4 hours. I was not in bed until 1:30 am and so now I am at work trying to keep my eyes open. Just 30 more minutes!

Ryan is feeling awful this morning, which is tough on him since he is never sick. I think that since he rarely gets sick, he does not handle it too well. Hopefully he will start feeling better.

We have plans to head to Cape tomorrow and I am excited, just have to gets lots of errands done this afternoon and find someone to keep Brodie. The person we had lined up had to cancel. It is really like having a child, lol. Well gotta get off here and try to catch Ryan to discuss our new dilemma. I would be really disappointed if we can't figure it out and cannot go. :( Happy Friday!

Gettin my hair did :)

So today I have a hair appt. I plan to get my hair cut and also dyed. The picture I have in this blog is similar to what I wanting it to be cut like. It is not too much different than what I have not just more of blunt cut. As far as the color I am have not fully decided, guess I will just make that decision once I get there. :) As always, I am nervous and excited to get a new do. Wish me luck!

Six Random Things About Me

1. I care too much about what people think about me. I know that most people do care what others think, but I seriously care too much.

2. I really would love to have a baby now, but my common sense kicks me in the butt everytime I think about it. I am just too busy right now with work and school, I would not be able to do the things with my baby that I would like to do. So a few more years. :)

3. I will only eat fresh green beans from the garden or green beans with cream of mushroom soup on them. This is something I have always did, so maybe I would like canned green beans without anything on them now, but I have not tried it.

4. I would love to retire and help Ryan build up his business. It is at a standstill right now because neither of us have time to anything extra. And if there was no business I would still want to retire. :)

5. I love sweet tea! Especially McDonald's, it tastes like my mom's and it is made with Splenda. No calories and tastes amazing! I also love soda, but I gave it up for the most part because of the calories and refuse to drink diet soda. So for now I will just enjoy my water and if I really need caffeine I just spring for the regular soda or iced tea.

6. The total of weddings that I attended this year is TEN! Four of which I am in. So that makes all 10 different bachelorette parties and 10 different bridal showers. So 30 weekends of 2008 are filled with wedding stuff. It is a good thing I love weddings and all that goes with them!

One Year Later

So our one year anniversary has come and gone. I still cannot believe how fast the last year has flown by. We took a great trip to the Lake of the Ozarks Friday through Sunday and then headed back to St. Louis on Monday to continue celebrating our anniversary. It was great that our anniversary was on a holiday, that way neither of us had to work. Once we got home we relaxed for awhile and then headed to dinner to one of our favorite restaurants, Brio's. We also exchanged gifts. I gave Ryan a book with an inscription in it, a Zodiac watch, and a few shirts for the fall. He loved all of his gifts especially the watch and get this...the wristband on it actually has a cologne smell. I thought that it was pretty cool! I got a Tiffany's bracelet with a "Happy Annivesary" charm, an engraved wine bottle, and a beautiful clock for our house. I absolutely loved my my gifts! He did a wonderful job. It was so nice that we both were able to get something for each other in each of the traditional (paper) and modern (clock) categories for one year anniversaries. We just have one thing left to do and that is eat a piece of the top layer of our birthday cake. We forgot about in on Monday and I have had class all week so far. We are going to try and eat some of it tonight when I get back from class. Hopefully it is good. :) We had a great anniversary together and I was so happy that we were able to get to spend time together and just relax. I am looking forward to many more years of celebrating us!

Alicia Needs.........????

Here you go Alaina. :)

1. Alicia needs more funky beats and innovative tunes in her music.
Hey I guess everyone needs some funky beats.
2. Alicia needs new home.
I am quite satisfied with mine really.
3. Alicia needs your prayers.
I am much more fortunate that most of the world, but hey I could always use a prayer now and then.
4. Alicia needs your help.
I could use a hand cleaning the house this afternoon.
5. Alicia needs to get out of my head.
I am physic. LOL :)
6. Alicia needs to know if there are scissors, crayons, paper, and pencils available at home.
Scissors..check, crayons..negative..paper..check, and pencils..check.
7. Alicia needs to get over herself.
This one is mean. :(
8. Alicia needs to quit making out with that microphone.
I just can't resist.
9. Alicia needs to smile more, too, seriously.
I smile often, but more wouldn't hurt.
10. Alicia needs your love, energy, hugs and financial support.
Interesting...I am taking donations. :)

Time is Flying........Fast!

Well our vacation to Destin has come and gone. It was really fun and we all enjoyed ourselves. Most of all it was really relaxing just sitting on the beach, soaking up the sun, and enjoying the company of friends and family. Ryan and I were sad when the time came for us to return to good ole Missouri. But we did have another trip to look forward to. Ryan was going to surprise me with a little vacation getaway for our one year anniversary. He told me we would be going somewhere tropical, but other than that it was all a secret. Unfortunately, my class is going to interfere. I thought that I would only be missing 1 day of class, but the way the trip would have worked out I would have had to miss 3 days. That was not a good idea considering it is only a 4 week class. So we are most likely going to go to the Lake of the Ozarks instead and go on our other trip in the future.

I cannot believe that in less than a month now we will be married for 1 year! It has definitely flown by for both us. I am looking forward to the rest of our lives together, I am one lucky gal. :) Now that we are not going on the trip Ryan is asking me to give him several ideas of things that I would like and then he will pick and then add something of his own. I am trying to come up with some things, not too sure yet though. I figure that if I give him a list he has to give me one too, it is always SO hard shopping for guys and on top of that I want to give him something meaningful too. I guess we will see how that works out. Well got to get back to work!

Destin...here we come!

Tonight we leave for Destin, FL. We are staying at the Jetty East.We are going to be there for a full 7 days. I am so excited to get away and have absolutely nothing to do at all. Now all I have to worry about is getting the million things done before we leave tonight. I am sure it will get pretty hectic.

My parents are keeping Brodie for the time we are away. I am sad to leave him, it will be the first time since we got him that we were away for more than 2 days. I just hope that he will be okay. I am sure there will be nothing to worry about because they will take good care of him and he will have 2 other dogs to play with. They get along really well, I am sure he will come home so worn out from playing.

4 hours of work left and counting............................

Flowers.................Tulips to be Exact!

So I was so in love with the tulips that I planted last fall that bloomed this spring. It is just too bad they do not last that long. I really need to find something that has some similar color, but last longer than two weeks.

Yay it is Friday!!!!!!!!!!

Well, not much new here on the Robinson home front, just enjoying being husband and wife, and all that goes with that. We have had a busy, but very fun summer so far. I just finished up my summer class this week and will have off until the second week of August. We plan to get some things done with the house. Our upstairs has been done since right after we moved in, but I want to go shopping for decorations and such. We have been in the house for over a year and having nothing hang on the wall! Other than that I want to find some curtains for our bedroom. We have something up, but I do not really like them anymore. I change my mind often. The biggest project will be the bathroom in the basement. We are basically redoing it all together. I want a modern looking bathroom and while this one is nice, it is no where near modern. We are also trying to find a leather sectional that will fit where we want to put it. Apparently the size that we want is not common so it has been a trip to find something that we both like that will work. The only other project is changing a few things on our bar in the basement. The last owners apparently like teal counter tops, me not so much. I am excited to get it done. It will be really nice so that we have a great place to hang out in the winter to entertain, right now most our entertaining is done outside on the patio or upstairs. But if we host family Christmas this year we will need more room than that!

Ryan has also been working hard on the outside. We already have some really good landscaping thanks to the last owners so now our work (well mostly Ryan's) has just been fine tuning it and adding some things. It will be so nice once everything is done and we can sit back and enjoy it 100%, but I don' t think that ever happens anymore these days. There are several others things that we have seen at design centers that we would love to do, but it would be silly since this is not the house we plan on being in for a long time. Once we are about to have a second kiddo, we are gonna move. But that will be awhile since we don't plan on having the first bun in the oven for a few more years.

Other than house stuff we have my little sister's 21st birthday coming up on the 4th of July. We are going out on the 5th to celebrate at Fast Eddie's. The weekend after that we have a float trip with all of my friends from home. I am so excited that we get to go since it has been going on for several years now and we have not been able to go. Then we leave for Destin on July 18th and won't be home until the 25th. I am definitely looking forward to sitting on the beach and relaxing. Especially since once the end of summer and fall approaches we will be busy with weddings and all that goes along with those. Ryan and I are in several of them, so it will be a fun and busy time also. It will definitely be interesting to see my stress level once I have all that, work, and trying to keep up with my masters schedule.

I am gonna try and post some pics on here from our fun adventures together, but I cannot really figure it out. I am gonna need some help with this so whoever can offer some pointers that would be great! Well, now that I have probably wrote the longest blog ever, I am gonna get back to work!! Hope everyone has a fun and save weekend! God Bless!

Its Been Awhile

So clearly from the lack of posts I have been busier than ever these days. Tonight I finished up my first semester of grad school. Woo hoo!! I think that I did pretty good in both of my classes. I have a week off then I will start my summer class, but at least that is only until mid-June.

Although Ryan and I have both been pretty busy we have done a few fun things the past month or so. We just got back from Gulf Shores for my friend Courtney's wedding. The wedding was so beautiful on the beach and Courtney was gorgeous. I plan to post pics pretty soon on Myspace so if you have an account you can check them out.

On Friday morning we leave for Cincinnati for Ryan's brother Matt's wedding. This wedding has been two years in the making so I bet is going to be pretty fun. At the end of May is my 5 year high school reunion. I hope I get to see some of the people that I never get to see anymore.

I am still working to get back to my "ideal" weight. This is a challenge I started back in November, I am doing really well. I have been losing all the weight by dieting alone, but last week I started doing Pilates. I wanted to do something that would tone, but not really give me huge muscles. :) I was surprised how sore I was after the first few workouts. For such simple movements it really works those muscles! I now am 4 pounds from my goal weight. It is exciting because my clothes are fitting so much better. I was thrilled when I went dress shopping for the wedding this weekend and I bought a size 2. I could not help from grin from ear to ear when I had to go down two sizes than what I thought. I am not sure if it was just the brand, but it definitely was a good surprise. I plan to keep on working hard to get to my goal by the end of June. I suspect those last few pounds will be the hardest to lose.

Well it my bedtime so I better end this. Goodnight!

Busy, Busy Bees!

These days life has not slowed down, it seems like I am running through my days. On top of that my weekends are consumed with weddings, bridal showers, and bachelorette parties. I guess this "tis the season" for these kinds of things.

Ryan is also getting really busy with work. Today he is working from 7-7. He never complains though. I wish I could be more like him in that sense. If I worked 12 hours outside I know I would be complaining.

My two classes are going pretty good. I have midterms this week and then next week is Spring Break, which means nothing to me other than I do not have class.

I am so ready for warm weather and cannot wait till Spring. I hope that the tulips that I planted in the fall will bloom.

Lots of randomness...but that is pretty much how my brain works these days!

School Has Officially Started........

So yesterday was my first night of class, Marketing Management. To be honest I was so scared to start school again. It has been a year since I have had to worry about anything involving school work. I actually began shaking when I walked in to the room. I did not expect to react that way, but I guess my anxiety was getting the best of me. I quickly got a grip on my emotions and prepared myself to start class. Class is scheduled for 6-9 and we went the entire time. Overall, I don't expect things to be too bad. My professor seems like a nice guy and from the syllabus it does not seem like the class is going to overwhelm my life too much. I also have a class on Wednesday nights from 6-9, Business Ethics. I hope that I am able to slide in to school life without a huge interuption in my daily life. I guess only time will tell how this will be.

Frustration...........Ugh.

So sometimes I wonder why other people seem to be so stuck in the past. It really makes no sense. The past is the past and that is all ever will be. Nothing else will come of it. For four years now I have had to deal with "a certain unnamed person" that was in Ryan's life. It is like no matter what happens she refuses to move on. Just when I think that she has come to terms with the fact that I am in his life, we take 2 steps back. I mean for goodness sake we are married, if this does not give the clue that we are going to be together forever, I don't know what does. I really would not care except for the fact that Ryan and I get excluded from things for simple fact that she is "uncomfortable" with us around. I know that it bothers him when it comes to certain things we may never be invited. I understood for awhile, it takes time for one to get over a break up. But 4 years, this is getting a little excessive. Sometimes I wonder if she does feel uncomfortable or if she just claims to be so that we will be excluded. I guess I am aggravated, I do not like to see Ryan get excluded from fun things because of me. He tells that it will be okay and that he chose this path and if it means he will be excluded, then so be it. It should not have to be this way!

"When God Winks"

For Christmas I received a book called, "When God Winks." Basically, it is all about how many coincidences in life are not really just coincidences, but God guiding you. The coincidences are "God's Winks."I found the title of the book intriguing and started to read it about a week ago. It is a rather short book and easy to read. I finished the book last night and I loved it. It made me think of so many instances in my life where things happened and I never gave them a second thought, then later that event led to an positive turn in my life. I definitely recommend this book for anyone. Happy Thursday!

2008, Here I Come!

I cannot believe how fast 2007 flew by. It was an exciting year for Ryan and I. We got married, got Brodie, and bought our house, and much more. Now that 2008 has arrived I have decided that I need to decide to focus on things to better myself. So with that comes my New Year's resolutions.

1. Eat healthier and exercise regularly. This is alway on my list in one form or another, but this year I decided that I don't need to lose a certain amount of weight or be a certain size, I just need to lead a healthier lifestyle.

2. Worry less. I am a huge worry wart and it makes me so stressed at times. When I am stressed it affects my productivity and I am usually crabby to Ryan. So this year I want to focus on positives things and do my best not to worry about things that are out of my control.

3. Do not procrastinate. If I do not want to do something I generally just put it off, but this only makes it worse. So this year I am going to approach these things with a get it done and over with attitude. This will be especially important since I am going to start grad school soon. With working 40+ hours a week, plus getting an MBA, I will not have time for procrastination.

4. This one is most important to me. I want to start building a stronger connection with God. I used to attend church on a regular basis and now it is a rarity. So my first task for the new year is to find a church for Ryan and I that we will look forward to attending every week.

I am looking forward to a wonderful and blessed 2008. I wish everyone a happy and healthy 2008!