Naked blogging: It Works

I've been debating for a long time whether to share this information, because I didn't want to admit that I had doubts about the products I've been using and selling, but I've come to the realization that a LOT of people have doubts about the products I've been selling, and sharing my story can only help.  This is hard to admit and even harder to put into writing, but I truly hope that sharing my doubts and worries can help someone out there to overcome their own.

I've been using It Works! products for a couple of months now.  I start my day with Thermofit (a natural metabolism booster) and Greens (to detoxify, alkalize and balance the body in addition to providing 8 servings of fruits and vegetables), take Fat Fighters (which bond with fat and carbs you consume to flush them out of your system) as needed if I cheat on my healthy eating or eat something to which I am allergic (my allergies aren't bad enough to prevent me from eating the things I like, but I have found that the Fat Fighters help flush the icky stuff out of my system before it gives me too much trouble) and end my day with New You (so many benefits I won't list them all here, but I will say it helps me sleep better!) and It's Vital (a multivitamin).  I felt a lot better, had more energy and less affects from my allergies but just didn't really feel like I was getting anywhere weight or inches loss wise, and I have to admit, I was getting pretty discouraged.  My wedding dress was tight and uncomfortable, my clothes weren't fitting any better and I didn't feel like I looked any better.  In the weeks leading up to the wedding, I had just about given up.  Between the I'm-too-busy-to-make-dinner-so-let's-just-go-out-to-eat and the I'm-too-stressed-out-to-curb-my-emotional-eating I just knew I was gaining weight.  Thankfully, my dress had a corset back, so I knew if I packed on a couple pounds I would be more uncomfortable, but still able to wear the dress.  I wrapped four times (a complete treatment) in the week and a half leading up to the wedding and still didn't feel like I was seeing any results but I just couldn't worry about it at that point.  Miss Thing, overhearing BBS and I talking about my frustration and anxiety over how the dress would fit, told me she thought I looked like I'd lost weight, but I just wasn't seeing it.  I felt awful about myself.  And then the big day arrived.  I don't think anyone else knew, but I was on pins and needles all day long.  Not because I was nervous about marrying Man, but because I was worried my dress wouldn't fit!  I hadn't had it on in about two weeks and I was just sure I was going to end up busting a seam and getting married in my sweats!  As I stepped into my dress, I worried that I wouldn't be able to get it up over my huge hips.  But it easily pulled up.  As I held the dress up I fretted that Mom wouldn't be able to snap the modesty panel in place.  But, despite her having to dig out her reading glasses to see the tiny closure, it clipped easily into place.  Then, as Mom laced the corset back, I agonized over whether she would have enough lacing to close up the whole back.  But there was lacing to spare and the dress fit better than ever.

All my worrying was for nothing.  I should have trusted my body instead of my mirror.  Despite eating junk, not getting enough sleep and running around like a crazy woman, I felt and still do feel) better than I have in years.  Looking at the pictures, I see now that I look better than I have in years.  I think we all have these images of ourselves in our minds, where we will never look as good to ourselves as we do to other people.  When Miss Thing mentioned that she thought I looked like I'd lost weight, we discussed that sometimes other people see the weight loss or body changes before you do because they don't see you every day, but I really think a lot of it has to do with how you look at yourself, too.  When I looked in the mirror I saw the crazy, stressed out nearing-bridezilla woman that I was at the time.  Now, looking at pictures, I'm able to see the happy, healthy, in love woman that I am.  And I am so thankful for my It Works! products that helped me survive that crazy time and will continue to help me become the most healthy version of me I can be!

Continuing in my lazy ways of the past two weeks, I have no creative title here. Feel free to make one up.

Yes, it's Wednesday, and yes, I should be writing a "What I Like" post but I just have to comment on the fact that I've been gone for 2 weeks now and I'm still consistently getting views.  You guys are awesome!  I know I haven't been lately, and I really am hoping to get back to posting nearly daily.  Things have been a bit crazy with settling in to married life, adjusting to changes at Man's job and preparing for changes at my job but that is no excuse and I WILL work harder!

I can't say much on the job front at this point since I'm not sure how or when the changes are happening, but I'm excited to get to stay with a company I know and like while still moving on to bigger and better things and hopefully some new challenges!

As for married life, things are good great!  Our oldest worried a lot before the wedding that things were going to change and somehow her life was going to be turned on its top but Man and I have worked really hard to make sure things haven't changed and we're all settling in nicely.  I told our oldest the only things that would change would be that we would each wear a wedding band and my last name, and I really wasn't too far off.  I've never been a big advocate of living together before marriage, but when there are kids involved, I really do think it's the best way to go.

So, while there are still many changes coming (my job, hopefully finding a home that's big enough for all 5 of us plus our zoo, etc.) and I know there will be many rough times down the road, I really am so lucky to love such a wonderful family!

What I Like: Flowers, flowers everywhere!

First, a little thing I don't like: What I Like Wednesday is quickly becoming What I Like Thursday due to my inability to get a post to publish when I schedule it.  So...either no more writing ahead of time or I need to change the name of this series!  As always, I'm open to input.

Now on to the meat and potatoes (um...petals and stems?) of this one!  I'm doubling up on this post, because I actually got my flowers for the wedding from two different sources and I don't want to leave anyone (who earned a place here!) out, but I also don't want to have the wedding posts drag on forever after the wedding!  (which is this Saturday!  Eeek!)  I figured I didn't want to get too far ahead with wedding stuff, because you never know how things are going to go until you've actually received the product or experienced the service, but these two are done or nearly done and so great I just can't not brag on them!

I contacted Janice at Heirlooms and Blossoms about doing my flowers, because I wanted a mix of fresh and silk flowers and she's the only person I know of that does both.  I always planned on having all fresh flowers at my wedding, but when Man and I sat down to talk about it, we decided that between the girls being rough on things (fresh flowers probably not looking very nice by the time they finally walked down the aisle) and the fact that the girls would want to keep their flowers (we figured it would be an issue if our youngest got to keep her flower girl basket but the older two didn't have anything to keep) that we should really do silk for them.  Then we decided if the younger girls had silk, the older girls should too.  And it snowballed from there.  Wouldn't have dreamed it, but we decided to go with all silk.  I met with Janice a total of three times (once to describe what I wanted, once to see what she was working on and give her the go ahead to finish them and once to do a final review and pick up the finished product) and each time I got more excited about our decision.  Janice did an amazing job and just rolled with every change I made.  And I made a lot!  At our first meeting I said I still wanted fresh flowers for my bouquet but silk for everyone else.  At our second meeting I both added and deleted people on the list who needed flowers, changed my flowers to silk and asked her to add on flower girl baskets and decorations for the arch under which we will be married.  I don't think I made any changes at the third meeting (thankfully!) but I did go over everything with a fine toothed comb.  And it's perfect!  The flowers are amazing and somehow all look real, everything is beautiful and Janice was such a sweetheart.  The whole experience was really great.

The only problem with doing silk flowers is that we needed fresh flower petals for our flower girls to scatter (it's a requirement of the hall, since it's an outside wedding and they don't want to have to chase down a million silk flower petals!  I totally get their logic on that one!).  This wouldn't be a problem, except generally when you do flower petals you use roses since they have nice, big petals and dark purple roses aren't exactly easy to come by.  I know that Kroger has the largest florist in the nation, so they were the first place I tried and they were so super helpful it was ridiculous.  I called the Harrison location, since they're the biggest one close to us and not only were they super nice, they really went the extra mile.  When they couldn't get what I wanted from their normal distributor they called around to other places and not only got me the flowers I wanted but got them at a discount!  One dozen roses for $9.99?  Yes, please!  Today they called to confirm my order and my pickup time and as we were about to get off the phone, the lady said, "While I have you, would you like us to pull the petals off for you or did you want them on the stem?" to which I replied, "You mean I can not only get what I want at a great price but you'll save me the work?"  She laughed and said, "Sure, you've got enough to do!"  I love it!  I know a lot of people think of Kroger as a big box store and don't expect to get very good service, but they prove that wrong time and time again, and they are quickly making me a customer for life!

Awesome experiences, awesome stuff, it's going to be an awesome day!  I can't wait for Saturday!

Almost married

While watching a wedding show (I think most brides are obsessed with these.  Man keeps hoping it will pass after the wedding!) I look at Man and tell him if he mashes the cake in my face like that couple just did I will be PISSED!  Without missing a beat, he looks at me totally deadpan and says, "yeah, but by then it will be too late."  Such a smart aleck, but so much fun.  I'm very lucky to love my silly man!

What I Like: Hooray for non-stock parts!

What I Like somehow didn't get published on Wednesday, so here it is a day late, but still just as great of a business!

I bought a real lemon of a car.  My brother-in-law (who is in car sales and does a fantastic job and will be featured here eventually) tried to talk me out of it but I was dead set on this particular car and although he knew a Ford would serve me better, he also wasn't going to force me to buy something other than what (I thought) I wanted.  So now I've got a lemon.  I bought it (from my brother-in-law) a year old with almost 10,000 miles on it and it is now three years old with about 65,000 miles on it and I've already spent well over $1,500 fixing it.  That's not just the normal maintenance, that's repairs.  Ridiculous.  On the bright side, I've developed a really good relationship with the guys at C&C Tire in Harrison, Ohio.  They've done such a great job, talking me through each thing that has gone wrong and fixing things that even the dealership (not my brother-in-law's dealership where I bought the car, but the one where the original owner bought the car) couldn't find or fix.  The last time I had my car in the owner of the company called me to tell me what was going on, what it was going to cost to fix it and how long I could drive it with what was wrong so I could save up for the repair.  Not only did he give me honest, helpful information, he didn't charge me for taking my car completely apart to figure out what was wrong.  Admittedly, I may get a little bit of special treatment since he knows my dad, but that is definitely what I call good business!

Yesterday I picked my car up after finally taking it in to have those repairs done and it is seriously like driving a new car.  C&C not only fixed the problem, they made my car drive better than it has in the entire time I've had it.  At my request, they used after market parts instead of stock and really did things right.  When I got home from picking up the car, Man looked at the bill and was shocked by the price.  With all that was done, he expected it to be way more, but C&C does great work at a fair price.  C&C, you've got our business for life!

These thoughts are entirely my own and I was in no way persuaded or compensated by C&C Tire.  Not that I would mind if I were.  Hey, C&C, get on that!

Really, it's there a better sight to come home to?

Counting the days to the Aurora Farmer's Fair

Driving home from Schmo's birthday party last night, our oldest and I were playing the alphabet game, where you name a category and come up with something in that category for every letter of the alphabet.  Our category was food, so we did apple, banana, cantaloupe, dragonfruit, eggplant, fennel (and on and on) and it just now occurred to me that we did eggplant and fennel instead of elephant ears and funnel cakes.  Clearly we need festival season to get here quickly!

Hungry, hungry hippos, er, umm, something funnier. I just don't have it today.

Wolfey is about the most impatient animal you've ever met.  When he needs outside he follows me around and whines until I open the door.  When he decides it's time to come inside, he stands at the back door and barks (not constantly, just every couple of seconds like he's rushing you along) until someone lets him in.  When he's hungry he grumbles (he seriously sounds like a grumpy old man) the whole time I'm making his food.  Man frequently tells Wolfey what a jerk he is being when he does these things and while I don't like the name calling, it's pretty much true, so I let it go.  Since we started giving Brady wet food he's started doing the same thing, though he meows instead of grumbles (by the way, we found THE BEST cat food).  Brady's food just has to be dumped into a bowl, but since it's refrigerated we have to let it warm up a bit, so even though his is the first I get out at feeding times, he is the last to be fed and he does NOT like having to wait!

As I was preparing the animals' food they both started in.  Man told Wolfey what a jerk he was being and I told Brady what a pain he was being and all the while Lolly was sitting patiently and the following ensued:

Man: "Good thing at least one of them is patient!"

Me: "There's no need for her to get worked up, she knows she'll eventually get some food."

Man: "Who would have guessed that out of the three, Lolly would ever be the good one?"

Me: "I meant she knows if we don't feed her she'll just go counter surfing!"

Man worked a half day today so he could go pick the girls up after school.  On their way back home we video chatted to say hi and let me know their plan for the evening, since I don't get off work until 8:00 tonight.  Man asked me if I had to do anything after work or if I would be straight home and our little one interrupted him, pointed at the camera and said in her best diva voice, "you better be home for cuddle time!"  I love the technology that allows us to communicate so easily and have those little moments, but even more, I love that the girls want me there and can't wait to get home and have even more special times!

Oh, and I spent the morning putting the finishing touches on several wedding things and now I've got subjects for several more "What I Like" posts.  This may not wait until Wednesday!

What I like: first edition, cat food

I've decided I need to start having a few series on here.  I've already started naked blogging but I don't do it on a regular basis (just whenever I feel the need to overshare or get all sappy) and I'd like to have a series or two that I do on a relatively set schedule.  So here's the first one.  I'm calling it "What I Like" and I plan to do it every Wednesday (because I'm all about the alliteration of "What I Like Wednesday").  My goal is that each week I will give a link to a product or service I have used in the past week and liked.  I am not being paid in any way for my endorsements, these are just companies or products that I really like and would like to share with other people.  I've done this many times before (in fact I went back through old posts to add in some links and there were just too many!) but now there will be an easy way to go back and reference them.

You're welcome.

I know you're thinking that all the products I like are going to be It Works! products (and let's be honest, I do love everything I've tried from that company!) and this would be a great opportunity to shamefully plug my business, but there really are a lot of other awesome things out there and this week, because it's what's on my mind right now with our recent battles to find Brady a cat food he'll actually take from both of us, we're talking food.  Cat food, specifically.  I like our new cat food.  Like, I REALLY like our new cat food.  With Brady being so. freaking. picky. we were really struggling to find something that fit all our criteria.  Basically, it had to be relatively convenient (we're not opposed to making his food like we do with the dogs, but we are opposed to having to grind up whole animals, like was suggested in much of the literature I read), high in protein and calories (he needs to gain some weight), not break the bank, not make him yak and, most importantly, something he would actually eat.  We went through five different cat foods before finally landing on Pet Pride.  Not only does Brady love it, it's cheaper per serving than the leading wet cat food and actually SMELLS LIKE FOOD!  Most wet cat foods smell gross and I wouldn't eat them if you gave me $20, but this one smells like you could toss it in a skillet and serve it for dinner!  You can actually see the bits of chicken, carrots and fresh herbs and Brady absolutely loves it.  Interestingly enough, this is actually a Kroger store brand product.  Who knew?!  The only down side I've found is that it's refrigerated and needs to warm up a bit before the cat can have it, but Brady loves it so much that when you pull the bag out of the fridge he comes running and then harasses you until you give it to him.  Pretty awesome, and this is definitely what I like!

These thoughts are entirely my own and I was in no way persuaded or compensated by Pet Pride or the Kroger company.  Not that I would mind if I were.  Hey, Kroger, get on that!

You'd think 3 weeks would be enough time to recover from having the girls for 3 weeks.

It's not.

And in two short days we'll have them again.  I miss them like crazy and can't wait to have their smiling faces and laughing voices filling the house again, but I also can't believe how these last three weeks flew by so quickly.  I'm still not back to myself after the weeks of our little one waking me in the middle of the night to help her potty, fighting with our oldest over makeup, clothes (did I ever mention that she has the immodesty of a toddler.  10-year-old body hanging out all over the place is NOT okay with me!) and anything else she could challenge me on and Wolfey and our middle child breaking my heart but I'm getting there.  I have high hopes that I will be back to blogging daily here shortly, but in the mean time I'm taking my New You to help me sleep better and my greens for energy and just plugging away!

M.I.A.

Ironically, when we have the girls and I have tons of silly/funny/interesting stories, I'm also too sleep deprived and brain dead to write.  I promise I'll be back to normal soon.

In the mean time, I did want to mention that one month from today, I'll walk down the aisle to my love, my future, the rest of my life.  I am truly a lucky woman.

I truly have the best Man in the entire world

I haven't gotten a good night's sleep in about 2 weeks.  That is in part just my weird body not letting me sleep well, in part due to not sleeping soundly because I'm listening for the girls and in part because the girls actually have needed me during the night.  Last night, Man and I got in to it a bit, only because he's worried about me and I'm bull headed.  He was suggesting different methods for me to get more sleep tonight (taking a sleeping pill, going to bed immediately after dinner and letting him take care of the evening craziness of getting the girls through the bath and the animals fed, etc.) and I was getting mad at him for trying to tell me what to do.  Sounds about right.  After all, I was still pretty grumptastic.  So, long story short, we fell asleep with Man feeling defeated and me more than a little irritated with him.  And then I overslept.  I was supposed to be at work at 9:30 this morning and woke up at 9:50.  And I have a 45 minute drive.  I have no clue how I managed to sleep that late (I never sleep past 8:00) but I woke to the sound of the girls giggling in their room, rolled over to see how early they'd woken up and jumped out of bed.  Man never said a word about him being right about me needing sleep, but jumped out of bed and asked what he could do to help.  He filled my water bottles, packed my lunch and fed the animals.  He ushered the girls out of my way so I could fly through the house like a tornado getting ready.  He kissed me goodbye and saw me out the door without saying a single "I told you so."  And let's be honest, he would have been totally justified in saying that.  Then, on his way to his appointment (to which he was late, by the way, because of helping me get ready), he called just to make sure I had made it to work and was okay.  I've said it before and I'll say it again: I am SO lucky to love such an amazing Man!

It's better to be pissed off than pissed on

Living in a small three bedroom house where one bedroom is used as an office for Man, we have three girls stuffed into one bedroom like sardines.  Okay, it's not quite that bad since it's a big bedroom, but it's still tight quarters with three girls, three beds, three wardrobes, you get the point.  Consequently, bunk beds are a must.  For some reason, our youngest insists on being on the top bunk and although some may question the merits of putting a 6 year old on the top bunk, it's worked out pretty well.  Until this week.  Sunday night, just as Man and I were getting into bed, we heard our youngest giggling.  We thought she was having a dream (she frequently talks in her sleep) and didn't think much of it, but she just kept going, getting louder and louder until we were worried she would wake her sisters.  Finally Man went in to quiet her down and she told him she'd wet the bed.  We're still not sure why she laughed when she woke up in a wet bed but I talked to her the next day and she told me the reason she peed the bed was because she was afraid she wouldn't be able to make it down the ladder from her bed.  We talked about better ways to handle it and agreed that from then on she would call for me if she had to potty during the night and I would help her down from her bed.  It sounded like a great idea until she started calling for me every night.  I haven't slept through the night since Sunday night and last night, for some reason, between the two of us, I was up 3 times during the night for restroom breaks.  Don't get me wrong, I'd much rather go running to get her out of bed than have to change her sheets in the middle of the night, but I could really use a good night's sleep.

I'm one of those people who really needs my sleep.  I can go a couple nights with less sleep, but the longer I go, the grumpier I get.  Today, I'm pretty grumptastic.  I was at the point of saying she couldn't sleep in the top bunk any more when my foster friend had a brilliant idea.  She suggested we get our youngest a touch light to mount at the top of the ladder, so when she wakes up she can hit the light and climb down on her own.  I'm not sure why I didn't think of it on my own, but it's genius.  I plan to pick one up tonight and stick it up there before bed time, and I'm really hoping to get to sleep through the night tonight!

Wolfey just choose or middle child over me. And now my heart is broken.

Calling all moms

And cosmetologists.  And wedding planners.  And anyone else who has an honest opinion on this one.

In many ways, our oldest is more mature than her age, but in so many others she's just a baby.  I think going through the divorce put her in a rough spot and she has sometimes been put in the position of being the other adult in one house or the other.  I have seen Man put responsibilities on her that I don't think she should have (little things like taking her sisters to the restroom when we go out to eat or being the one in charge while he works from home) and you can tell just from spending time with her that her mother has done the same, though even more so.  She is quite the mother hen to her sisters and doesn't call them by their names or "my sisters", but always calls them "the little girls" and gets upset if you remind her that she is little, too.

It's tough, because she's 10, so she's right at that age where she thinks she's big and she's well on her way, but she's still a child.  This is evidenced by the fact that she still needs tucked in every night, still wants me to brush her hair and still needs Man to make her plate and cut her meat at dinner.

So here's the deal: I'm battling our 10 year old on the makeup issue right now.  She wants to wear makeup for the wedding and I told her we could do a little.  Then her mom bought her clear mascara and she suddenly thinks that's an every day thing.  In fact, our middle child was going through the bag they took to the sitter's today (my awesome cousin has the girls today and was going to take them to the pool until the weather turned sour) and found a bag of makeup our oldest had packed, even though I've told her countless times she is not to take it places.  So now that the little bit of makeup I was going to allow for the wedding has become the norm, since her mom gave it to her without clearing it with Man or me.  This wouldn't be such an issue, except she thinks she has to do more than what she does every day for the wedding, so now she has decided she needs black mascara for the wedding.  Bear in mind, not only is she 10, but she's got red hair and a porcelain complexion.  Black mascara is going to make her look like a raccoon!

So today when we were duking it out in the car on the way to our dress fitting before I had to be at work, I got to thinking about what I did when I was 10.  And unfortunately, I'm pretty sure I had the clear mascara back then.  The difference was, BBS is 3 years older than me, so I pretty much got things when she did, so I was ahead of the curve, while our oldest is (obviously) the oldest and I am so NOT ready for the other 2 to be wearing ANY makeup!  So here's where I need help: do Man and I make her put the clear mascara away somewhere when she's here so it will be a special thing for the wedding or allow the clear mascara as a daily thing and then allow more for the wedding?  And if we go that route, just how far do I let her push it for the wedding?  I KNOW I'm not going to let her do black mascara, but does anyone have any other suggestions?  Help!

Some people

Customer (on the phone): "The cord is pulling away from the plug on my pump.  Do you have a new adapter cord?"

Me: "Yes, it's $12.99 and we have them in stock."

C: "Do you think I need a new one or could I just wrap it in electrical tape?"

Me: "You might be able to get away with that over night but it doesn't sound very safe as a long term solution (then in my head) but hey, if it's worth risking electrocuting your family to save $13.83 with tax, go for it!"

Have I ever mentioned that I work at a pool supply store?

You really do learn something new every day

Okay, I actually wrote this in...oh...March?  I thought for sure I had published it the very next day.  Today, I got into my drafts folder because I wrote something yesterday that I wanted to finish and publish and found this staring at me!  It's good information, so I definitely want to share, so you'll just have to wait on the other post!  Enjoy your education for the day!

My washer crapped out on me.  My high efficiency, top of the line, didn't-get-any-better-than-that-when-we-bought-it-five-years-ago washer.  I don't know about you, but to me, five years just doesn't seem like that long for a washing machine.  Especially when for over three of those five years it was just my laundry and I'm not a dirty person.  I mean, it's not like I play in the mud for a living.  Another almost year of those five years it was just me and a toddler.  Again, not a ton of dirt.  Admittedly, I do have more dog hair going through my machine than most people, but I'm pretty anal about cleaning it out regularly and running vinegar through the machine pretty frequently (about once a week) to flush everything out.  So, I called a repairman.  I was thrilled that we didn't need to replace but a little surprised at the problem...I've been using too much detergent!  I use HE detergent, in the amount recommended on the package (although, admittedly, on the rare occasion that I do have something really dirty in there [think rags used to clean up doggy messes], I have been known to add a little extra detergent).  The repair man was super helpful (if you're in the greater Cincinnati area, try Morris Appliance Repair.  They're prompt, friendly and super helpful.  And no, they didn't pay me for this endorsement, they were just that good!) and gave me a little lesson on doing my laundry.  Apparently in an HE machine, you should only use 1/4 to 1/2 the amount of detergent recommended, even though you're using HE detergent.  And you should never use traditional detergent.  Really.  If you have some left over, give it to a friend.  It will save you money in the long run!  So that doesn't sound like much detergent, and you may be wondering how your clothes will get clean with that little soap, but think about it - an HE machine uses WAY less water, so it won't be able to rinse out as much detergent.  So really, how can your clothes get clean if you use too much soap?  High efficiency washers don't clean your clothes with soap and water, they work based on the friction your clothes create when tumbling around in there.  So there you have it - stop overusing the soap.  You'll save your washer and save yourself money on detergent, too!  By the way, this is also a good reason to only run your washer when you have a full load of laundry.  If you don't have enough fabric in there, you don't have enough friction and your clothes won't get clean.  So there you go, saving yourself money on detergent, plus on water and electric but not running your washer as often since now you'll only do it when you have a full load...man, I should start a money saving blog with all these great ideas!

UPDATE: Yeah, because I have time for that, when I didn't even take the time to realize I never published this post!  Hope you learned something, anyway!

Shower report

The shower was awesome! :)  Of course I knew BBS and my aunts weren't going to torture me too much, but it was really a great day.  My foster friend came over to do my hair and we were almost done when Man got home with the girls.  We finished up real quick and ran out the door.  The girls immediately gravitated toward Princess and Miss Thing while I made my way around visiting everyone and when it was time for gifts, all the little girls (our three, Princess and my cousin's two little girls) swarmed around me and "helped" me.  They brought me presents, unwrapped things, held things up for people to see, wandered off with gifts (especially the really cool stuff I really wanted!) and photo bombed just about every picture.  It was crazy, chaotic and wonderful!  There was one time when I had to ask the girls to back off just a little because I was starting to feel claustrophobic with them all so close but there was another time when I said to my aunt "I certainly feel loved today" and our oldest piped up with "we love you every day!" and that made all the squishiness totally worth it!  I am so lucky to love such amazing women who want to throw a shower for me, more awesome women who want to attend said shower and a bunch of crazy girls who steal the show and make it such a great experience for me!

Naked blogging: That's my gift

Tomorrow is my first of two bridal showers.  I have to admit, I've kind of been dreading them.  It's not that I don't appreciate them, in fact I've thrown lots of showers and not only do I know how much work it is (and really, really appreciate the fact that BBS is helping with both my showers!) but I also know how much fun they can be.  It's just that I'm not one to love the spotlight, despite my singing, dancing and acting background.  I was always part of the group on stage, not one to stand out.  These two days are going to be all about me.  I'll be in the hot seat, and even more than that, everyone is showing up to give me presents.  I just got off the phone with an old friend who was heading to shop for our shower gift.  She wanted to know if there was something special on our registry that I was super excited to receive.  I didn't register for stuff I don't want.  In fact, it was really hard to make a list of all the stuff I wanted instead of just buying it.  After all, it's for me, why shouldn't I buy it for myself?  How weird is it that I got so incredibly lucky as to find the love of my life and we get to share that with all our loved ones and have this huge celebration, and they all have to give us something?  If anything, we should be giving gifts to our family and friends for helping us along this journey that led us to each other.  As the dates approach, I find myself becoming excited about my showers, but it's not because I'll get to sit around and open presents; it's because I'll have the opportunity to gush about Man all day long without anyone telling me how silly-in-love I am!  I found this amazing man, I fell madly in love and I get to share it with the world.  That's my gift.