NEWS NEWS NEWS

Today is our BIG move day and I have some BIG news to share with you....

I am so happy to FINALLY announce we are having a baby!! I was ready to burst but we wanted to wait a little while, closer to the second trimester. We are SO excited about this baby!

I have a few pre-written posts from the early weeks, the day we found out we were pregnant, and telling our families. I will post them this week and next.

Today I am 10.5 weeks!

Baby is due November 23rd, Thanksgiving week!

(Hopefully this will excuse how blah I have been on the blog lately, it's hard to blog when you have this REALLY big thing going on you can't talk about)

Busy...busy week!

Well tomorrow is the BIG move and we have had one busy week. We decided to hire movers and someone to do the move out cleaning, I am so glad we decided to do this. It will relieve so much stress to not worry about it. I think the convenience is definitely worth the money.

The first place we wanted to rent (vaulted ceilings, fireplace, patio, oh it was awesome) fell through and we picked another location last minute. Our new place is also very nice but I had my heart set on the vaulted ceilings. Everything happens for a reason and there is a reason for this. We are on the first floor now which super convenient, the other place was third floor.

So, my dad comes in tonight, we move tomorrow, and unpack/ settle in all weekend (we have Fri and Mon off work). I have already created my 'need' list at Target. I love shopping to decorate a new place.

Tomorrow I have a special post...stay tuned...it's big!!!

WE ARE MOVING!!!

We have had our downtown condo on the market to rent for 7 months and we FINALLY have a renter and can move!! This is terrific news!!

The only downside, we need to be out in 7 days!! Time to panic!! We got this news last Friday and we need to be out by this Friday.

In the past 3 days we have: found a place to move to and signed a lease (it's awesome), packed 97% of our stuff, hired movers, got all utilities and stuff ready to go at the new place, and kept some sanity! It's amazing what you can do in a weekend, with help from the P's of course!

The next few days will be more planning and preparing to move. My dad is coming in from California to visit us and it happens to fall this weekend so he will be helping us with our move.

We are so excited to be moving, finally, our condo was 40 miles to work each way and this new place is 5 minutes away. Can't wait!!

I may be mia this week due to the move. Definitely check out Fridays post...trust me...it's good!!

More move details and pics to come!!!

What I'm Loving...

Flash Forward on ABC. D and I have really gotten into this show.

My Tory Burch Thora black flip flops. These are my go to shoes, I even can wear them to work!

CO Bigelow lemon lip balm. I love this stuff!

Starbucks iced soy chai tea. Yummy!

These over sized Gucci sunglasses. Love them, want them!

Reflexology

Saturday morning I have an appointment with my reflexologist for an hour.

I have been going to him for a few years, I go every 3 months or so and I LOVE reflexology, more than massages!

For those of you who have never heard of this, it's concentrated work on your feet and hands to use pressure points to reach all the parts of your body. Hand and foot massages are my favorite so this is so awesome and relaxing for me.

My reflexologist can tell if certain parts of my body are hurting or damaged based on just touching my feet. I had a cold one time and after a few minutes working on my feet he asked if my glands were swollen, so amazing to me!

He told me that 1 hour of reflexology is equal to 8 hours of sleep for your body. I believe it because every time I leave I feel so refreshed. I usually fall asleep half way through, which is normal, but man is it so worth it!!

Has anyone tried this??

Spring Clothes

Spring clothes (and summer) are the best!! I am loving skirts lately. I bought this skirt 2 years ago and every year I love it even more. I think some older items never get old, I will have this forever, it's so comfortable!!

Check your settings

I borrowed this post from Kelsey @ The Seattle Smith's. She put together a step by step way to change your email setting so that I(we) can respond to blog posts. Otherwise the email shows up as noreplay-comment@blogger.com. Please take a quick minute to check this out, I would love to be able to respond to everyone.

Here is how to change it:

1. Click on the Customize link in the upper right hand corner of your screen.

2. Click on the Dashboard link in the upper right hand corner of your screen.

3. Click Edit Profile, which in on the left hand side of the screen next to your profile picture.

4. This will take you to the Edit User Profile screen.

5. Look in the Privacy section.

6. Click on the box that says, "Show my email address."

7. In the Identity section, enter in an email address.

8. Scroll down to the bottom of the screen and click on Save Profile.

6 months down....

It's been 6 months since we tied the knot in Hawaii. Wow, time flies. It feels like just yesterday we were on the beach saying I DO. I miss Maui everyday!

Here's a trip down memory lane: October 17 2009!

PS...this is post #300!! Whoo Hoo!

Fill in the blank

I saw this cute fill in the blank survey at Life of a Busy Wife and decided to borrow it.

1. The first thing I do in the morning is use the bathroom and wash my face (I shower at night).

2. Every night before bed I put chap stick on.

3. My favorite thing to do when I'm having a bad day is watch a good show that I hopefully have on DVR and eat dessert.

4. Something that makes me cringe is when people reek of smoke, the gross ball that comes out the bathtub drain, and when my animals throw up (that's D's department, I run away).

5. Social situations are fun to me, I love talking to anyone!

6. I like to collect Buddha statues, I have them from all over the world from my travels. My favorite is a green jade one my mom got me in China and then a marble one I got while in Thailand.

7. Weekends are for catching up on sleep and dvr, hanging out with my hubby!

New Bed Set....finally!

D and I have had a 'hot mess' of a bed for about 7 months now. We had a nice brown comforter with all the matching accessories until 'the incident' happened!

About a month after we had Bella we decided to let her have free range of the house when we left for a few hours instead of being confined to the bathroom. We left for maybe 2 hours and our nervous wreck of a dog went a little nuts. She some how managed to jump onto the bed, a huge task for a 5 mo old miniature dachshund. Once she was on the bed she decided she had to go poo, not just any poo, a nervous liquid-y poo, all over the comforter. Then she felt the need to run around in it, covering herself and the bed. We were NOT happy when we came home to a smelly mess. She immediately went into the bath and the comforter into the dumpster. We replaced it with a blue queen (our bed is a king) old comforter we had for guests. We kept the brown pillows and it just looked a mess.

I'm not sure why it took so long but we finally got a new comforter set. Can't beat $90 at Target, it even included all the decorative pillows. I love it!! It's reversible too, the other side has a circle design.

BEFORE: our ugly blue thing.

AFTER: much better!! (dog sold separately)

Marley wanted to help!

Wishful Wednesday: Charity

'I wish' .... I had never-ending funds to donate to ______ charity!

What charity do you wish you supported and why?

If I had money to give away I would give it to animal shelters and animal rescue groups. I have such a soft spot for animals and feel so sad to hear stories of abuse and animals living in shelters. I would love to be able to contribute to saving animals, keeping them healthy (and alive), and getting them adopted.

We adopted our cat, Marley (now 4 years old), 2 years ago from a cat no kill/ no cage shelter downtown Chicago, Tree House Humane Society. This place is truly amazing. When my grandmother passed last year we asked that in lieu of flowers a donation be made to this shelter because she loved cats. It felt great to help them out.

Happy Birthday Bella

Our little fur baby is 1 year old day!!

Time flies...we brought her home at 4 months old...that was 8 months ago. She has definitely settled in as part of the family!


This is the day we brought her home at 4 months old (Aug 2009). She looks so tiny to me!

Best Buds

My fur-babies are finally best friends. Well that may be a stretch, LOL. It's a love hate thing that changes on a daily basis and yesterday it was definitely a love day!! Marley loves his bed and Bella rarely sleeps in hers, when we caught them laying in them together in was SO cute!!

It makes me think of the Queen song 'Your my best friend...'

It's just yummy

I rarely venture through any type of drive through but yesterday I really really wanted a McDonald's ice cream cone. On my hour drive home I debated it the whole way. Finally it was the last McD's before my house and I drove through and got the cone. D was happy because he got dinner (fast food is his treat). I must say it was SO worth it, yummy!!

I Google'd nutrition today and it's only 150 calories....even better!!

Why is the cheap fast food cone SO delicious??

What's your blog worth?

I heard of this website that puts of value on your blog/ website/ company sites. It's pretty cool.

Go to bizinformation.com and put your url in.

My site is worth $5,554.08 according to them! Not sure that is accurate though, they said I get less than 10 hits a day and I get more comments than that..?!? What is yours worth??

Now if only someone would send me a check for that!! LOL!

Bellas bath time

My poor girl HATES bath time but she was so stinky, she needed one!! She knows it's coming pretty much as soon as we take her collar off.

Luckily we have a high bath tub so she can't escape, even though she tries desperately to jump out.

Great face! 'I hate you please take me out!'

Crazy hair!

As soon as we let her go she runs around the house like we gave her crack! When she hits carpet she turns and rolls and flips to try and dry off, it's hilarious! This is a pretty good action shot.

Easter Fun and candy

We had a great Easter weekend with our families. And the weather cooperated for us.

My parents got us this Easter basket, never to old for an Easter basket I think!! Lots of candy and some gift cards!!

Hope you guys had a great Easter!

Happy Easter

Today we are headed to brunch with my parents at a yummy restaurant, Lovells. They have a special brunch set up for today. Yum, can't wait!!

Have a great Easter Sunday!

Happy 500!

I looked over at my followers yesterday and low and behold...500!! Holy Cow! Shock-happy-excitement!

When I first started blogging, only 10 months ago, I didn't think anyone would want to read it. I was definitely wrong on that one.

So to all my followers, readers, occasional readers, family members who read: Thank You for all the support and comments. I love my blog and am so happy I started it.

EASTER GIVEAWAY WINNER

It may be April Fools Day but we have a real winner...

Melissa @ Melrose Place

Has won a $50 gift card to Lisa Leonard Designs.

I used random number generator to pick the winner. Melissa is actually a real life friend who is expecting a baby boy this summer. Congrats and enjoy!!

Her favorite pick was this heartstrings necklace!

Send me an email and I will forward your info to Lisa.

livelovelaughblog@yahoo.com