Winter = Hibernation

I must confess: I'm not a big fan of Winter. I'm not a snow sports kind of person anyway so I could care less if it snows or gets cold. Which is why I live in the south. But after Christmas and New Years I've noticed that hubby and I tend to hibernate. It's almost like a post holiday depression that lasts until Spring. I'm sure we're not the only ones who get that way. Which is why I'm making it my mission to make plans with friends and family so we don't get stuck into the watching TV and movies all weekend rut. Its hard, when it's cold and dreary outside to want to do stuff outside the home. And I'm thankful for friends and family who have January and February birthdays, so we do get out of the house. It's quite the effort, because sitting around is soooo easy! Am I right? 

Not hibernating this year,

Wendy

New Years Eve!

I must confess: I used to love New Years Eve, but December 31st, 1995 it all changed.  While living in Connecticut, a friend and I went to one of those inclusive New Years Eve parties at a hotel. Dinner, dancing, room, breakfast, etc for NYE.  It was going to be so much FUN! We ran into people we worked with and were having a blast. But sometime before midnight, after dinner, while the party was rolling along, a man at a table next to us had a heart attack and died. Right there, in the ballroom, in front of hundreds of people. It was awful. He couldn't have been more than his late 40's. It was truly tragic, his wife was a co-worker. Needless to say, it put a damper on the rest of the night. The hotel tried to do their best for the man and his wife to respect their privacy, but getting the party going again was a lost cause. I didn't sleep well that night, watching the life leave that man. So awful. What I learned from that experience was this, I was never to make another New Years resolution.  If I wanted to change something about myself, I was going to do it, and not wait for the new year and claim to make a change under the guise of a New Years resolution.  It has been the only resolution I made that actually stuck. We never know when our time is up. I'm guessing the man at the party was expecting to have a wonderful time with his wife with out the kids and ring in a new year and go home the next day, he didn't get that chance. If you want to change something about yourself, just do it, don't call it a New Years resolution, call it a New You resolution.

Happy New Year everyone!

Wendy

Tis the Season to be.... crazy!

I must confess: I really love Christmas, but its such a crazy time of year! I always feel like it's over before I get a chance to enjoy it. This year my shopping was done before Thanksgiving. All 80 holiday cards went out earlier this week. Note to self, pare down list for next year.

Please enjoy this years Christmas card!

Wrapping isn't finished, and baking isn't done either. Hopefully this week?! We don't even put up a tree since we aren't home for Christmas. Each year we alternate which set of parents we spend Christmas with (and Easter and Thanksgiving). This year it's a beach Christmas in Florida with my in-laws. Then, when we return, a trip to SC to see my parents. No wonder people take 2 weeks vacation, you need it to recover from all the traveling!

Hoping you have a wonderful Christmas season and Happy Hanukkah too!

Happy Holidays,

Wendy

Giving Thanks

I must confess: I hope I'm as thankful as I should be. I have nothing to complain about. I have everything I could ever ask for in life. I really do. The material things don't matter. They can all be replaced, for the most part. I have an amazing husband, family and friends. What more can anyone ask for? Nothing. This month on facebook many people are posting their daily thanks as their status. Here are mine, all at once!

Things I am thankful for:

1. my husband, Eric- love of my life, my best friend, and puts up with my crazy.

2. my parents- I am so lucky to have them; as role models for marriage and I am thankful they are still here on earth and that I can call them and say 'I don't know what to do, help me'

3. my brother- who when all is said and done, he is the deepest link to my childhood and past

4. my in-laws- who love and treat me as if I was one of their own and another good role model for marriage

5. my sister-in-law, a sister and a friend

6. my aunts & uncles- my other parents and those who gave me a thick skin

7. my cousins- with whom I am very close and that have my back no matter what- they are more like siblings to me than cousins.

8. being an Aunt- nothing give me greater joy than being called Aunt Wendy. Even if they are the children of my friends or cousins. I LOVE being Aunt Wendy. To me, it's next best thing to be a mom.

9. my high school friends- way too many to name: who got me through elementary, Jr and Sr high, with tons of support, love and laughs. I can look back on those years as a good, fun experience.

10. my college friends- who also loved, supported me and I had WICKED good times with, that I can also look back and think of those years as fun and a major growing up time for me.

11. the rest of my friends- that I've met along the way on this journey called life- from the friends who are still in college and the ones looking at retirement. I find that having friends of all age groups gives me different perspectives on life. Especially when you need them most.

12. a house- I have a roof over my head for which I am very thankful

13. electricity, cable, internet, indoor plumbing, heating & air- the little conveniences that we take for granted every day. As the people in Northeast affected by Hurricane Sandy can attest.

14. a car- so glad I don't have to rely on anyone else or public transportation to get around. It equals freedom, this is the teenager in me!

15. my right to vote- so many women fought and paid the price for my right to vote. I exercise it as much as possible and not just for a presidential election. We need to teach our younger girls how important it is to exercise this right for the women who fought so hard to get it. And for people still trying to get it in foreign countries.

16. my animals- who make me crazy sometimes, but I love how much fun they are.

17. my angels in heaven- I believe they are with me when I need it most. They keep me safe and when necessary give me patience when I need it most.

18. healthcare- I am very grateful for our medical, dental and vision plans. So many are with out, I'm so glad to have them.

19. books, music, movies and TV- a wonderful way to escape reality and on occasion, learn something new.

20. living in the South- the cost of living is much cheaper down here, the climate is better, longer summers=shorter winters, little to no snow and only a few hours to the best beaches in the country. All of this is my opinion, some people love the snow, I do not.

21. Snellville, GA- this little city I live in, with the worst possible name, isn't so bad. I literally have everything I could ever need in a 5 mile radius: doctors/hospitals, restaurants, shopping and activities. Seriously, I can not complain about that! And the big city of Atlanta, with everything it has to offer, is not that far away.

22. satellite radio- hundreds of choices and no commercials!

23. playing games with my family, apples to apples, pass the pigs, mexican train dominoes, etc. we always have a good time and laugh really hard!

24. thick skin- figuratively of course. I developed very young from uncles who teased me (and my cousins) from everything from growing boobs to boyfriends. All that teasing taught me to get a thick skin, quick.

25. God/time on this earth- I'm not here for a long time, but I'm here for a good time!

26. Quiet time- of which I have a lot of, and not that many people have it, I do and I'm thankful.

27. Choices- all kinds of choices, where to live, what to drive, where to work, where to shop, where to eat out, what Doctors I can see, etc, etc, etc. Very thankful for to have choices.

28. which leads me to: living in the USA. I love this country and wouldn't want to call any other place home and I'm proud to be an American, even if the rest of the world thinks were obnoxious or stupid or whatever. I know better.

29. Travel- so glad to have the experiences that come from traveling!

30. Food- I love food, enough said!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wendy

Infertility (you knew this was coming, right?!)

I must confess: I'm infertile. Hubby and I are passed the point of feeling sorry for ourselves and have moved on with our childless life. We are happy and still in love with each other. We enjoy all the children in our lives: our nephews, our friends children and our cousins children. Adding a child would have been fantastic, but it wasn't meant to be for us. We are OK with that, we have each other.

Our journey starting in April 2008 when I went off the pill. When we didn't get pregnant by April 2009, we sought out additional assistance. Long story short, dozens of tests, dozens of people praying for us, 1 miscarriage, 1surgery, 5 artificial insemination's, 1 IVF and thousands of shots and pills later, (not to mention thousands of dollars) we ended up with nothing by May of 2011. It was at that point we decided that if God wanted us to have children He'll bring us to it. Adoption, at that point, was out because we spent everything we had on fertility treatments.

We have adjusted to our childless lifestyle, not that we know anything else! We are used to being together just the two of us. If we want to drop everything and go out to eat, we do, if we decide we want to run errands or go to the movies after wards, we do. No worrying about naps, babysitters, bed times, etc. It's a sort of freedom, that most parents do not have, so we enjoy it.

If we hear you are pregnant, we ARE happy for you, we really are. It's not your fault that it wasn't meant to be for us, so stop feeling sorry for us! Let us enjoy your pregnancy and child, too. Is that too much to ask?

Yesterday, hubby was given a baby shower invitation from a guy at work he barely knows. The guy is fairly new to the company of over 500 people and hubby has had very limited interaction with him. My very even keeled husband was kind enough to take the invitation, but informed new guy that we would not be attending the shower. New guy insisted on knowing why. This frustrated my hubby as he explained to him that they were 'not friends, the wives don't know each other and our families are not friends'. New guy said to hubby 'you don't know how hard it's been for us to get pregnant' to which my hubby responded 'actually I do know, I know first hand, I'm sorry, we won't be able to make it' – new guy responded with 'you can still get us a gift, we're registered at XYZ'. Hubby came home so mad, and for anyone who knows him, he's the even keeled one, I'm the hysterical one. It made me realize that the pain of not being able to have kids of our own is still a wound that will probably never completely heal, and I'm not the only one who feels it. People always feel for the woman, but seem to forget about the man. Except me, I haven't forgotten about my man. He has the same pain as I do, we talked about it at length while going through the process and continued long after our journey was over.

We knew that certain things would trigger the emotions, but I thought it would be more me, than him. I was wrong. He experiences the same run of emotions I do, just different things trigger it. Do we want to be invited to your baby shower, of course, but ask your self these questions:

Do we really know you? Are we related? Are we friends? If the answer to any of these is YES, then by all means send us an invitation!

A BIT OF ADVICE!!!

If you have questions about our infertility, please ask us! Don't whisper behind our backs, we know you're doing it.

Please don't feel sorry for us, we don't.

Please don't say a prayer that it will happen for us, it probably won't.

Please don't say 'relax, it will happen', it hasn't.

For the complete list of things not to say check out this site, it is right on target!!!

http://laugheduntilwecried.wordpress.com/2011/08/02/top-eleven-things-%E2%80%93-not-to-say-to-someone-experiencing-infertility/

Living life to its fullest!

Wendy

Zip Lining was PRETTY FREAKIN' AWESOME!

I must confess: I might be a little bit of an adrenaline junkie. Well maybe not so much. But I am all for trying new things, so for my birthday my cousin Kristine wanted to go zip lining. I was all for it until I fell and sprained my wrist and then found out I have tennis elbow then it was Christmas and well here we are 7 months later, almost to the DAY, and we finally went. It was so much fun! I wasn't nervous at all and we had the best time. We opted for a two hour tour that included tree walks, sky bridges and nature walks. After all that, I was so glad we didn't go for the three hour because we were exhausted! But in a good way. I love breaking out of my comfort zone every now and then and trying something new. And this is definitely something I would do again. And again. And even again. 

Here are some pictures for you to enjoy! 

Getting our zip lining lessons.

Kristine ready to go! 

Kristine and I taking a breather.

Me having a great time and showing off  'look ma, one hand!'

Happy Zipping!

Wendy

Girls Night Out- Redefined

I must confess: I love the new definition of Girls Night Out. Remember when GNO was getting dressed up and meeting your girlfriends out for dinner, drinks, dancing, movies, etc? Well that is still popular, but there's a new definition. Companies are getting in on the action and organizing events at their places of business. Recently I've been to two GNO events. The first one was at a local department store, where they offered a silent auction, an additional 20% discount on your purchases, and raffles for various items. They had an acoustic guitarist who also sang and some little things to nibble on. I went with a friend and it was nice. Really nice, just to be out with a friend for some designated, quality time together. Which these days seems harder and harder to do.

Then, a week later, I went to event number two. It was held at a local plastic surgery center, where they do more than just plastic surgery. This one had sponsors. At the door we received a gift bag. Then we were sent up to the next floor to receive our complimentary Peanut Butter and Jelly Martini's. Which were gross by the way, but free. Then off to the silent auction, see a pattern here? After the silent auction, were were able to wander around and visit various 'booths'. A booth for Dior makeup and perfume, put on by a national department store, and a boutique with handbags & clothes (nothing over a size 10, so nothing for this big girl). There was a DJ and live performance by someone we didn't know, but was a Grammy nominated artist. Then we could watch women get 'injectibles', it is a plastic surgery center after all. We were able to speak with doctors, nurses, patients, etc. They also offered wine tasting, temporary tattoos, food, dessert, and raffles. And all of this was free. We just had to sign up beforehand. I went with my cousin and one of her friends, it was so nice. Again, designated time to spend with friends. And this is what I love about. A preplanned event where all we have to do is show up. No making dinner plans, picking restaurants, bars, movies, etc. It's all done for me! YAY! I will be attending more events like this because it's so easy, not to mention affordable!

So check you local business: department stores, hair salons, plastic surgery centers, esthetician centers for your own Girls Night Out!

Happy GNO y'all!

Wendy

Best day of the week? Why Saturday of course!

I must confess: I think Saturday is the best day of the week. Not just because it's the first day off after a work week, but because of the possibilities! The possibility of accomplishing things that need to be done, the possibility of creating new memories with friends and family, the possibility to explore new places and learn new things. It just makes me happy! Now what could be better than that?

Have a great Saturday! 

Wendy