Fall Is Finally In The Air!

Wow, it has been MONTHS since I have blogged. I had the busiest summer ever with Adam and Kyla! We took her to Wet N Wild for the very first time on her 8th birthday, blueberry picking and a bunch of other fun stuff. She went back to Kentucky in August. Adam and I celebrated 3 years together on August 1st and if I dont see a ring by anniversary 4---he is in big trouble!!! lol.

Today is the first day that you can "officially" feel Fall in the air in Florida! It's a breezy, albeit somewhat cloudy, 75 degrees on this lovely October day and I wish I was home enjoying it! There is nothing that I love more than opening my windows, turning my AC off, lighting up some candles, blaring some country music and clean the house....YES, thats right---CLEAN the house. Some people prefer "Spring cleaning" but i'd much rather do it when its nice and cool outside. 

I think October, November and December are my most favorite months EVER! Not only does the weather feel great (which in turn keeps all us Floridians less grumpy) but there are sooo many fall festivals and events in the community to take advantage of! I cannot wait to go to Busch Gardens, Howl-O-Scream, the Corn Maze, Pumpkin carving, etc with my love!

"Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall"  :)

I Need A Vacation From My Life

April was a crazy crazy month! Which is why I decided not to bother blogging......and am now kicking myself, since I have the worst memory ever. My brother and his family have come & gone and it felt like it all happened within a few short days instead of one month! They are now officially starting their new lives in Hawaii.

We had a lot of fun while they were here. We took my nephew Joey to the Orlando Science Center, took him to Disney for the first time ever (where he proceeded to inform us after about an hour that he was good with Disney and we could go home now....SIGH) We had a big family luau for their going away party. It looks like we will see them again sometime next year, when we take a family vacation to Hawaii!

As crazy as last month was, it doesn't seem to be slowing down anytime soon. Adams daughter Kyla who lives in Kentucky, is coming down in about two weeks for the summer and we are currently living in a house that is way too small for the three of us. SO we are in the process of trying to find somewhere else to move to.....PLUS we need to get her set up at some sort of day care which means paperwork..that we dont have. I have absolutely no idea how we are going to get everything accomplished within the time frame that we need to. In fact, now that I just wrote everything down...I kinda feel like I need to go puke. Lol

Munchkin Reunions

Sooo Tuesday my brother Matt, sister in law Hailee and nephew Joey flew in from VA to spend a month with us before getting restationed with the USMC to Hawaii.

I haven't seen my nephew since Christmas which is a very long time for me! He is my special little buddy and I love him so very much. Nothing makes me happier than spending quality time with family and this little boy is the light in my life!!! I cant wait to make memories with him this month. It will be hard saying "so long" this time.....

Auntie La La and Jo Jo time! <3

Easter 2013

I have been so busy lately but I hope everyone had a great Easter! I spent the day with Adam and his family on the lake at his grandparents house. It was very peaceful. He surprised me with an easter basket which was super sweet & unexpected. Screen shots of that are below! I love that he is always spontaneously romantic. It sure beats the overkill I have dealt with in the past!

Holidays are a little bittersweet for me these days as I am so used to having my entire family together for every big or small event we have....and now that my brother is in the Marine Corp, we are lucky if we spend even one holiday a year together. Im really not sure if I will ever get used to this big empty space in my heart that I have now that my brother is gone. Not only is he my only brother but he is my big brother. He has always been my protector. Not sure what a 25 year old grown woman needs protection from anymore but I think I will always selfishly want him close to us! :-P

The great news is that my brother, his wife and my nephew just flew into town on Tuesday and will be here for the next month spending time with us before they move to Hawaii in May.

Color Me Rad Made My Day!

So I never win anything. If there is a such thing as luck, I clearly have none of it. I never win those stuffed animals out of the claw machines, I never win at scratch off tickets, I rarely ever even win at UNO for goodness sakes!!

I did win Spice Girl concert tickets a long time ago, but that's about the extent of my lucky streak.

Speaking of my bad luck, My brother contacted me a few weeks ago asking about doing the Color Me Rad 5K. If you don't know what it is, you can click on this link below to find one in your area. It is a BLAST!!!!!

http://www.colormerad.com/

Ps---You don't have to be an avid runner to do it. The only time I run is when something is chasing me! But some of the proceeds go to charity and lets face it, I need the exercise, so I agreed. I signed Adam up to join my brothers team and decided to wait until we had a little bit more money to sign myself up. "Oh, I have plenty of time"....The procrastinator's wishful thinking! My sister in law planned to walk it with me, while my brother, adam and my older sister ran it.

Due to a bit of pure laziness and mostly wanting to save money, I waited until this week to sign up. I go to the website and lo and behold, the Orlando run is COMPLETELY SOLD OUT! Immediately I panic. First of all, my sister in law is now going to kill me-if my brother doesn't beat me to it. Second of all---this just figures! So I do what any determined person would do----I stalked their FAQ page, Facebook page, and wrote them a few emails a day in regards to what I can do if the race is sold out.

I explained that my brother is in the Marine Corps and is coming from VA to do the run before being restationed to Hawaii and that most of my family is doing the race together. That I didnt have the money to sign up and when I did, it was sold out. I got an email back a couple of days later asking me to keep an eye on their facebook page for anyone who wanted to transfer their registration. Basically---they said there was nothing that could be done. I checked the facebook page every single day, sometimes multiple times a day. I emailed the contact people. I had basically given up on the situation altogether until I got an email this morning from the director of Color Me Rad saying the following.......

"Hi Laura. Thanks for reaching out. We can make this work. Print out this email as proof of the exception and bring it with you to packet pick up on 4/11 or 4/12 between 11 am and 7pm. We will help you get registered. Can't wait to see you out there"


...I was completely speechless! It really did make my day. I didn't expect anything to come out of writing about my situation but I am pretty stoked about now being able to do this race with my family. It will be a couple of years before I can hang out with my brother again.

THANK YOU COLOR ME RAD!!!!!!!! :)

LIVE AND LET LOVE!!!!!

All of this is my opinion. Sorry if it offends anyone. Also--It is a bit long, so beware.

So I try not to get into heated debates with people when it comes to certain subjects. For instance....you'll never see me posting a political view on facebook, aside from a funny picture. I might post something related to my faith, but I'm not going to debate the bible. There are certain things you just don't talk about on social media without expecting a heated discussion.... Politics, religion....... and FSU! (YUCK!) Hehe...

So when I found out that the supreme court was meeting this week to debate Marriage Equality, and I saw all these people changing their FB pictures, I (stupidly) decided to post a status, saying this "I am a Christian and I support Marriage Equality. God taught us to love--not judge. Just saying".  I knew it was a risky move. I figured I'd get a few responses. What I got, was super pissed off and completely shocked to the ignorance of people I thought I knew. So I figured I'd post the conversation below. **I changed the individuals name to TONY as I didn't want him getting backlash**


TONY: "The bible says Gays should be stoned to death, there is that one story of Sodom & Gomorrah. If a man lies with a male as he lies with a woman, both of them have commited an abomination. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them. (NKJ, Leviticus 20:13)"
....First of all, I really love when people quote the bible to me. It must be so easy to pull a verse out and slam it down as an argument.

ME: "I know what the bible says. It also gives us a list of a multitide of sins. And I'm sorry, but I just dont see anyone being condemed to hell for something that cannot be controlled. It is not a choice"

TONY: "I'm not really a Christian, but being Christian and acceptable to  homosexuals is contradictory to Christianity. I think our society has something like a virus and this makes people more susceptible to being "Gay". I don't blame them or hate them,  but I think promoting being Gay will only cause this virus to grow. Like you say, they dont have a choice and I think they want to be happy and most seem to not want to be Gay"
..........My mouth was hanging open in shock. First of all, How can you throw scripture out there as means to win an argument, but then come back and say you do not even believe in what the written word has to say. Hypocritical much? Also, saying being gay is a VIRUS?? How sad and small minded.

ME: It isnt a contradiction. Not WHATSOEVER! I don't have to agree with something to understand it. People seem to pick and choose which verses in the bible they want to adhere to and believe in. I am looking at this from a civil rights standpoint. The religious aspects could be debated all day. It ISNT a virus by the way.

TONY: Its detrimental to the traditional way of life of strong family units. When you have a community of all strong family units then you can demand a standard of living which promotes healthy family influenced society. Once you break down our culture, a new one will take hold, and I think things are going to get worse not better with things like this going on. I would like to see all these pretty young ladies with husband & children & a nice home. Instead of living in apartments with roommates and no true future. I could see being Gay and being for Gay rights, or if you are black being for Black rights. But if you are a white christian be for white christian rights, or your not going to have any.
....I honestly had no words for a few minutes.

ME: This is the last I am going to touch on the subject and we can agree to disagree however that whole statement is appalling to me! That is probably exactly what people said when African Americans were given their rights. Doesn't make any sense. What is "traditional" for you? Whose tradition? This is not a time to backtrack. I'd like for there to be no starving children in this country however you cannot expect a cookie cutter scenario and no matter how badly you want to pretend a situation does not exist, it does. And guess what? People are homosexual! So you think (In your words) that since im a white female, who happens to be a Christian, that I should stick with supporting only causes having to do with and/or benefit White Christians? That sounds ignorant. What country do you live in? Statistically speaking, I guarantee you there are more broken families in this country due to teen pregnancy and drug use than from being from a home with two same sex parents.

....Sorry that was so long. He never responded back after that. That whole conversation had me thinking all day long. Why do some people care so much about something that doesn't affect them? Why is it such a problem for two people who love each other to be able to get the same government benefits we all do? If this is a matter of religion, Did God not say that there are all kinds of sins, all kinds of sinners? Why is it up to us to decide their fate? Decide what is right and what is wrong?

We are all human beings. We all deserve the chance to be with whomever our soul wants.

I Watched It Begin Again

You know that saying that a woman has to love a few bad men before she can appreciate a good one?? Well, speaking from experience, I have to completely agree with that statement! I know most people know how I ended up with the love of my life/soulmate. But I thought I'd recap it for *myself* and those who don't know. ;)

My boyfriend Adam has been best friends with my brother since they were in elementary school. There is a 4 year difference between them & myself, so I rarely saw them at school. Growing up, Adam would always come around at random times when Matt and him were hanging out. I have always thought he was "super hot" and i'd make sure to flirt with him whenever he was around. I did this mostly just to piss off my brother. (It worked, by the way). When i was about 17, I was at a party with my brother, his friends, and a few of mine and right before I left to go home, when Adam was telling me goodbye, he randomly kissed me. We never discussed it, although at the time it must have been a huge deal for me. The funniest part of that? I completely forgot about the whole event until after Adam & I had been dating for awhile and he brought it up. PS---He remembers kissing me but has no idea why he did it, nor why he never spoke to me about it. Typical guy, right? So another time, when I was 18, I got a random late night text from him wanting me to "come hang out at his house"---at 3:00 in the morning. Knowing what a booty call is when I see one, I obviously told him I was busy and didn't show. PS---He doesn't remember anything about this, and says he is very glad I never showed up.  Again, typical guy.

I went through an insanely bad, unhealthy 3 year relationship from 18-21 (I like to refer to that period as "the dark years"). Finally, when I was smart enough to end things, I moved back home with my parents for a little while & finally in with a couple of old friends. Upon my freedom from The Dark Years...I did what any cooped up, formerly controlled woman would do: I PARTIED MY ASS OFF! I got sloppy drunk, experimented, stayed out too late, called in to work all the time...I basically had myself a good ol miniature breakdown/freakout. In fact--If you are going through a bad breakup (It happens to all of us!)...I would suggest having a mini breakdown. You know, just a couple of months of good, risky, solid fun. I made a lot of mistakes and it brought me to my lowest point; which happened to be right where I found Adam. That is my true example of the wrong choices sometimes leading us to the right places.

When I was 21, My brother called me one day from The Tiki Bar in Minneola and said he wanted to have a few drinks when I got off work, as he was in town from Virginia (He is in the Marine Corp). I wasn't really into going (Probably because I had stayed out the night before and had one too many long Long Islands and was running off 2 hours sleep) but once I heard that Adam was there, I decided I wasn't THAT tired and made an appearance. (45 miles away!)... We got to talking, which led my brother to announce (in one of his drunken moments) that we should date, and he'd totally be cool with it. (If you know my brother, you'd know that he could have only said something like this while intoxicated!)....For whatever reason, I didn't see Adam for a few months after that. My brother & sister in law were trying to hook him up with one of their other friends and I was enjoying the single life. One day a couple months later, I had a friend in town visiting from out of state, and she really needed some relief of the herbal variety....if you know what I mean. So I knew exactly who to call to remedy that situation........Adam! :)

After that night, we started hanging out pretty regularly. But it was always strictly platonic (even though we did a lot of flirting)....In the end, it was a 2 week back & forth conversation on "Should we do this; or shouldnt we?" and eventually we decided to go for it. To make a long story a little bit shorter, we went through hell with my family, my brother (who didnt speak to us for months) & our own demons in order to maintain the successful relationship we have today. And even though we have our moments, I know in my heart & in my gut that this is the man I am going to be with for the rest of my life.     .....And it feels good :)

Memory Lane!! :)