if you're happy & you know it clap your hands...

hello world!

well we're a few weeks in to the new year and i already have so much to be excited about!

first of all : VACATION!! we've already got our trips planned for the year!

In March we're going to Baton Rouge,LA to see all the Rickels! We'll be staying with Mamaw and Papaw and we're SO looking forward to it! its been way too long since we've seen that side of the family!

For 4th of July we're going back to Topsail Island,NC and I can hardly wait. This year we even get to stay a whole week instead of just a few days- thinkin bout spending time with my beautiful God Daughter and all my favorite Soignets on the beach is whats gettin me through this cold winter! We always have SO much fun with them, and its so relaxing! I can hardly wait :)


In December we're hoping to go to Washington D.C. ! Neither of us have been and we really want to go see Arlington Cemetery -- and I really want to tour the White House! I think itll be an awesome trip :)

So far thats all! Hopefully with lots of trips to Charlotte in between :)

Also! I had a great day at work today-- they moved me from the front desk in to an office! how cool! I'm so excited! In all my jobs, I've never had my own office--and its an awesome feeling :) I'm excited to jump in and learn/do more! As soon as I got home I started going through pictures to stick in frames for my new office lol. Nerdy I know but I'm excited :) I love RCD and am so so glad I work there!

And lastly- but CERTAINLY not least! This weekend!! This weekend is Owen's 1st birthday! I cant believe it, I feel like he was born just yesterday! Friday is his birthday but Saturday is his party. MY Payton turned 3 last weekend! and whenever we get her again we're gonna have a little shin dig for her :)





and hopefully Sunday Britt and I will be meeting up with Tanya!! Shes back from Germany!! Her and Chase are here looking at houses- her husband is back in Germany but they are PCSing to Fort Rucker and I couldn't be happier. As soon as we heard Britt and I started talking about planning trips lol. It feels like shes been gone forever! and now shes gonna be just a few hours away! britt and I both are so excited!




thats all for now! cheers!

well hello :)

been a minute! needless to say (as always) life has been hectic!

I think Sept. was the last I posted so a quick recap:

October: nothin major...halloween!?
November: Lilliana's Baptism in Charlotte- such a fun weekend with the Soignets/Bakers!
Thanksgiving of course, and then the birth of my cousin Christina's baby Emma! she is GORGEOUS!

and now December: full of holiday parties, MIL/Dad/Husband birthday, and of course Christmas!

We had an awesome Christmas this year! Christmas Eve we had my uncle, cousin, Mom and grandparents over to our house for dinner and gifts. My mom spent the night with us and we woke up with her Christmas morning- did gifts and had a good time. Then hubs and I sat on the couches in our PJs being lazy till it was time to go over to his Mom and Dads! We were over there most of the day..and it SNOWED! we had a white christmas!! SO unheard of in Ga!!
Today we went to my Dads to do Christmas with him and his wife Donna- ran a couple errands and then spent the rest of the day cleaning/putting up Christmas junk (sad!).

Gearing up for work this week, and New Years this weekend! I think we'll be spending NYE with the Sotos again this year-- nothin like dinner, friends, ( a bit of drinkin!), and bringing the New Year in with a Rosary :)

I'm excited, and hopeful, for what the New Year will bring us. From last year to this year is such a huge change I'm ready to see what happens this time around!

Promise Ill try to be better with blogging! For now: Merry Christmas, Happy New Years, and tomorrow: Happy 24th birthday to my wonderful husband!!!

Cheers!

Happy Fall Ya'll!!

thats right, fall is here! but you wouldnt know it by the weather- its still pretty hot here, but the mornings/evenings are cooling down which is nice porch-sittin weather :)

our fall fest at church is this weekend and im so excited! i love this time of year for many reasons, but all the festivals/craft shows are one of them! before we know it christmas will be here! and yes, i HAVE already started my christmas shopping ;)

not a ton new this month- its been a month since i posted last, hard to beleive! on Labor Day weekend we went to the Avenged Sevenfold concert and it was AWESOME, they are incredible live- going to the show made me an even bigger fan! we got there about 1 and started tail gating: booze, food, cornhole, music, and just hangin out: we had a blast!
thats the biggest thing we had this month: other than that its been Pampered Chef party, Baby Shower for my cousin, bible study, church, ect.

Yesterday my mom and I gave a baby shower for my cousin Christina- shes due in Dec (baby Emma) and its prob the prettiest pregnant woman ive ever seen! pregnancy suites her! i can only hope i look that great :) i was happy with how everything turned out, and she seemed to like it so im glad!

ive been cooking a lot more- and loving it. my recipe book has grown and grown and i love trying out new things! especially after getting some goodies from pampered chef- they have such great stuff,and theres so much i want!

anyhoo im rambling: im doing two different bible studies, one is a 'thought closet make over' and im really enjoying it- another is only once a month at my cousins church on "Frazzled Female" and Im starting that tonight, so Im really looking forward to it. Hoping to meet some ladies I hit it off with and acquire more couple friends- joey and I only have one or two couple friends and are so ready to have more! double dates, and just friends in general, are more fun!

comin up next month is fall festivals, birthdays, wedding, parties, and halloween! lots of stuff planned :) Lilliana's baptism along with sisters weekend is coming up in November and I can hardly wait!

SO MUCH to look forward to!

*cheers!*


TV addict...here are the shows we've been watching lately..(YES, all at the same time, its ridiculous! and we're adding on to it with Nip/Tuck and Sons of Anarchy!)

nostalgic

i've been in a weird place lately.

grumpy, tired, sleepless nights, bad days back to back, wondering where i'm going in my career, wondering what kind of mother ill be, trying to keep myself in check...

i catch myself being selfish, or bratty-- so weird. its weird to be able to catch myself! im glad i can do that now, because selfish and bratty are not two things i ever want to be.

the thing is, i strive to be the best person i can be. the best friend, the best wife, the best daughter, ect ect. and sometimes i think i put too much pressure on myself and it all blows up in my face. its interesting when you hit that point in your life where you're getting to know yourself. TRULY know yourself.

im human, which means im not perfect- because im not God. and i do know im my own worst critic. i beat myself up over everything! i want so badly to do great things.

more and more im starting to see who my true friends are- its becoming so clear to me now and making me cherish those true friends more than ever. i all of a sudden feel the need to purge myself of any negativity. stress and worry are two good friends of mine, unfortunatley-- and i get so worked up, so upset--i literally get sick! so how do i purge all of that out? im an adult now, i should be easily able to decide who i want in my life, and who i dont- what i want to be, and what i dont, ect. but its just...not that simple. its so much more complicated than that. LIFE is a lot more complicated than that. so what to do?


"it's sad to see that two people who use to be so close don't even recognize each other anymore... not because they grew up, but because they grew apart"

"Sometimes your friends...or 'friends' hurt you so much more than any of your enemies ever could"


i guess all i can do is continuously try to keep myself in check. try my best not to get caught up in the drama, and try as hard as i can to steer clear of the negativity i want to get rid of. try to be the best Kelly i can be. get my priorities back in order and realize: joey is my number 1, my family, my love. but even then-- before him comes God. i need to come back to him, ive wandered away in a big way and its definitley not made things better for me! i need to get back to Him. and i also need to work on ME.

i need to try HARDER to lose the weight ive been desperatley trying to lose. i need to feel good about myself again, feel pretty again.

i need to find some ME time. spend some time doing things i love like reading, writing, ect.


life is such a gift, and im ready to stop wasting it away by feeling sorry for myself- being angry- being a door mat to WAY too many people in my life... its time to LIVE.

so cheers to that-- L.I.V.I.N.G.

a whole lot of nothin!

a whole lot of nothin has been goin on-- pretty boring!

JOEYS HOME! which is def. a cause for celebration :) I missed him so much and its so great having him home finally. That was the longest two weeks ever!

we are gearin up for the A7X show next month...i couldnt be more excited :)




pretty dang excited, the new album has been on repeat in my car since i got it a couple weeks ago :) theyre missing The Rev (drummer/singer,died in Dec 09) bad, but its cool knowing he wrote a lot of the songs on the new album, and his voice is even on a few tracks- he was my fav!

nothing much else going on with us..like i said: a whole lot of nothing!

another monday down...

Day 8: a picture that makes me sad...





this was joey on leave on his last tour in iraq- saying bye to potter, gettin ready to go back :( this was about a week after we were married. it just makes me sad! he loves potter-- and that whole day was sad. but seeing him kiss and hug his little man and telling him bye just tugged my heart strings!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------



what a busy day! but very productive at work. the only thing that stinks is being miserably sick all day. i SO wish i knew what was going on with me. my stomach had just SHOOTING pains all day, very uncomfortable and making it hard to focus on work. but still managed to get a lot done. stayed a bit late, and brought home some work- and it feels good. it feels good being needed, and appreciated- feeling like im doing something important. i really love it at RCD. :)

tomorrow will be fun! we have a big meeting- followed up by a low country boil and fun on the lake at my bosses lake house! jet skis, boating, fishing, swimming, tubing, and just hanging out with all my coworkers. im hoping itll be a nice, relaxing, fun day :)

hopefully joey will be home Thurs- he said theres a chance! i cant wait to see him it feels like he's been gone for a month!

off to do some more work and relax a bit...

*cheers!*

hey neighbor!

Day 7: A picture that makes you smile

well here it goes....



and yes it has a story behind it :)

Joey and I were 'boyfriend/girlfriend' through middle school and the first part of high school. then i broke up with him for the millionth time and we went our seperate ways! we reconnected about...6 years later (wow..jeez) and fell in love. the thing was- we hadnt seen eachother since that last break up in highschool! we (or..really ME!) found eachother on FB and started catching up. FBing led to emailing, emailing led to IMing, IMing led to phone convos, and that lead to webcam. OF course we thought there was just no way we could be together- he was in germany, still had another tour in iraq- and we hadnt seen eachother (at least in person) since 9th grade! after a couple months it was obvious- we were a couple. a long distance one, but a couple no less. so we embraced it not caring if people thought we were NUTS! This picture- is the FIRST moment we saw eachother after 6 years. We'd been officially together for 3 months, talking for longer- and Christina dropped me off at his house as soon as he flew in from Germany. I cannot tell you how nervous I was this night! I was so excited, but so scared he'd see me and RUN! I knocked on his door, he flung it open-grabbed me and then? well see for yourself ;) best kiss of my LIFE. and Im so grateful Christina was there lol, she managed to whip out a camera and catch the whole thing :) That night was the night I met his sisters for the first time- who are now my bestfriends, and also the night he gave me a promise ring! which little did we know then- that only a year and 2 months later we'd be married :)

The rest is history :) THATS why this picture makes me smile :)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

well last night was a blast but just insane. Vicky came over and we watched movies, had dinner, and THEN decided we wanted to make the Neiman Marcus cookies. WELL we needed to go get all the stuff for it. long story short- i locked us out of the house. we always joke about needing a reality show and THIS is why lol. We called Matt and he came down and tried to help us for about 30 minutes, no luck. My dad said to call a locksmith but thats expensive! then right when I called Brittany and Zach to rescue us- my neighbor across the street (who Ive never met) walked over and did it! no problem! he had a Bud Lite in his hand so I told him I owed him! (later when we finally did go to Kroger, I brought him back a 6 pack and took it to him!)-- come to find out he's an army man (infantry too!) as well! so we chatted for a bit and it was nice to meet him. we've only met two people on our street so far so Im glad even though it took me being locked out- we got to meet!

so vicky and i finally baked our cookies even though it was after 10pm! THAT was an experience as well! but they turned out great- I hope if you tried the recipe you liked it!

and just a few minutes ago, someone from the neighborhood came to welcome us on behalf of HOA. Melissa- and she was SO sweet! brought me flowers, a candle, and brownies!


Im really hoping we start meeting more neighbors, and find some other couples to hang out with! :)

Now I'm just doing some work from home, baking cookies, and getting ready for Neen to come over for girls night- my friends rock, her and vicky have been so great about coming over and keeping me company while joeys gone!

one week down, one more to go- and i am SO ready for him to be home!

*cheers!*