5 Things Friday - 5 Lessons Learned From My First 30 Years

On Thursday I will be 30 years old.

30.

It seems like such a milestone and I'm not really sure why.  I thought it would really bother me, I mean, 25 about put my over the edge.  But I feel good about 30.  At 25 I was upset because I didn't know what direction my life was going.  I just wasn't content with where I was.  I wasn't college age anymore and it was no longer appropriate to be a drunken fool and irresponsible all the time.  But we were still in an apartment, we didn't know if we were going to try to have a baby or not.  I wasn't young anymore, but I wasn't a "grown up" either.  But now, at this point of my life, at almost 30, I am comfortable.  I am a grown up now and I'm good with that.

I saw one of those e cards not long ago that really made me laugh at just how true it was:

You really are as young as you feel - until you spend time with people who are younger! 

In honor of being on the cusp of 30, 5 Things Friday - 5 Lessons Learned From My First 30 Years:

1.  Cherish the relationships that are positive and get rid of the ones that aren't.  This goes for friendships, relationships, family... anybody in your life.  If you aren't benefiting in some way from the relationship - let it go.  I see no point in having people around just because they have always been around if they are having a negative input on your life.  Life is short, don't waste the precious time on drama.

2.  Learn to grocery shop and to cook.  I wish I had paid attention to my mom when she was cooking all those years I lived at home.  And I wish I had paid more attention when I would go to the grocery store with her!  It was tough trying to figure this all out on my own, but you can't eat out every meal forever.  I definitely learned that the hard way by gaining way too much weight and wasting way too much money.  Sometimes I still struggle finding things at the store and will have to go up and down every single aisle before I can find the damn sloppy joe mix.... 

3.  Change is good - don't panic.  This was a big lesson learned for me.  Ask my mom.  I seriously cried every single day of my senior year because I was so scared and nervous about such a big change in my life.  Ask Gary about my move to Morgantown, I struggled with that big change too.  Finally I am starting to accept changes as a positive.  Life cannot stay the same forever and why would we want it to really?  Things are exciting when you can switch them up and make them new.  I am so glad to have finally learned that.  I am sure the next 30 years will be better with that knowledge and true understanding.

4.  I would rather spend money doing something I enjoy than having more stuff.  I love doing things.  Whether it be going to a concert or out to dinner with people I love.  I cherish the memories of the events so much more than buying something that I will end up throwing away in a year anyways... 

5.  Last but not least - Don't spend money you don't have.  I know I keep talking about it, but Gary and I are working SO HARD at paying off our credit card and once its paid off, we are going to start only buying things if we have saved up the money to do so.  I know there are emergencies and sometimes we will have no other choice but to charge something.  But we are not ever going to get in so over our heads ever again.  Never ever ever.

I'm still here! :)

Things have been busy.  Like REALLY busy!  Busy at home, busy at work, just busy ALL. THE. TIME. 

Sometimes I honestly forget that anyone reads this blog.  I do it for myself and I hope that its still available to access on the internet when Lyla grows up so she can see what her mom was like, other than just being her mom.  I want her to know me as I am.  But then I get reminded that people do read it when everyone starts telling me that they are so disappointed there haven't been any updates lately!

I really don't even have the time right now for a proper update, other than things are good, just busy!  I will try to update more and upload some new pictures this weekend.  In the meantime, a video of my daughter - the future rock star! 

Heard Around the House #22

Good reasons why you shouldn't jump on the couch:

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Saturday Lyla wanted me to take her to the mall to see the Easter Bunny.  So we head to the mall.  She was so excited.  We are walking through the mall and she is saying "Easter Bunny.. Where are you????"  We find him, she is not impressed.  Doesn't want to sit on his lap and is backing away.  I wasn't surprised at all... but what did surprise me was the conversation we had once we were out of his view.

Me:  I thought you wanted to see the Easter Bunny, what happen?
Lyla:  He has glasses on.
Me:  Ok....
Lyla:  The real Easter Bunny doesn't wear glasses.  I don't like the new Easter Bunny with glasses on. 
Me:  Well you know how Daddy and I only wear our glasses sometimes, maybe the Easter Bunny is the same way and doesn't wear his glasses all the time.
Lyla:  No.  That is not the real Easter Bunny.  We have to go to a different store and find the real Easter Bunny because the REAL Easter Bunny DOES NOT WEAR GLASSES!
Me:  Ok.... whatever you say.

Lesson Learned:  The Easter Bunny does not wear glasses!  haha

St. Pattys 2013 - The Good, The Bad & The Embarrassing!

One more St. Pattys come and gone.  I always hate when its over! 

Lyla and I wore our stuff on Friday to work, just to get the party started a day early!

Then on Saturday we went out in Pittsburgh.  We had the biggest group we have ever had this year! 

There was:

Me and Gary

Sammy & Frank

Erin & Bill & Patti

Ashley & Jeremy

Stef & Phil

Some of Phil's friends:

Amanda & Justin

(I am looking for a picture of the two of them.... I will update it when I figure out what the heck happen to it!) Update - Got One!

And then some of Ashley's friends met up with us too! 

We had a blast!  We had lunch at Tilted Kilt then we spent the rest of the day at McFaddens.   All of the usual shenanigans took place.  Shots, dancing, lots of laughing! 

On our way back to Washington, we stopped to see Andy at work!

Then we finished up with a trip to Mickey D's!

Funnies from the day:

Sammy:  Ashley, what does your shirt say?
Ashley:  I have no idea, I just grabbed an old one and threw it on, (moves her hair to the side), what does it say?  Lucky Bitch...  lol  Good pick Ash!

Amanda running in to find me at McFaddens:
Amanda:  I just did cartwheels all the way from Tilted Kilt to here!  Just like this! (and then she did a cartwheel in the middle of the bar...)

Erin & Ashley dancing on the bar... Sammy and I decided moms can't do that! 

The boys and their mustaches.

The breast pump... I'm not explaining.  haha

Having fancy appetizers at Jacksons before dinner at McDonalds.

My Fuggs.

Learning how to "wobble".

5 Things Friday - The Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwich

I was truly enlightened this week by a simple discovery I made. 

I happen to see Gary making his lunch.  A peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  I'm watching him, he pulls out the two slices of bread, the peanut butter jar, the jelly jar, his knife.  Then he starts with the jelly - not the peanut butter.  I said, is that always how you make it?  With the jelly first and not the peanut butter?  He said yeah why?  I said because I ALWAYS do the peanut butter first.  Now, I know that I'm sort of OCD about a lot of stuff so I decided to ask other people about it.  I put it on facebook, asked around work, Gary and my mom asked around their works.  And I was just shocked at the responses!!

It seems everyone falls in to one of the following categories:


1.  Put peanut butter on the first slice of bread.  Put jelly on the other slice of bread.  Put the two slices together.

Now, this is how I do it and how I consider to be the correct way.  After a little research I see that wikihow agrees with me!

http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Peanut-Butter-and-Jelly-Sandwich

2.  Put jelly on the first slice of bread.  Put peanut butter on the other slice of bread.  Put the two slices together.

This is how Gary does it.  I found a lot of the guys I work with do it this way too.  Their reasoning was you can clean the knife off on the other slice of bread before putting it in the peanut butter jar.  I said when you use the peanut butter first you just wipe the knife clean on the inside of the peanut butter jar.  They got really upset about that and said that is how you get the lid crusty and then it gets stuck...  I don't know what they are talking about, but they were really upset so I let it go!  People feel so strongly about all of this!

3.  Put peanut butter on both slices of bread.  Put jelly on top of the peanut butter on one of the slices, put the other peanut butter slice on top.

A few of my friends were talking about doing it this way on facebook.  They said if you are packing it in your lunch it prevents your bread from getting soggy with the jelly laying on it.  I never thought to do it this way, but it does make a lot of sense.  And Stef was nice enough to take pictures to explain herself!!

4.  Put peanut butter on the first slice.  Then the jelly right on top of the peanut butter.  Then put the plain slice on top.

My favorite old man (his is 79) said this is the only way to do it.  He thought I was a complete wacko when I said you put the peanut butter on one slice and the jelly on the other... hahaha  I mean, he has been around a long time so he probably knows better than me.  He also tells me about growing up eating these sandwiches with raw meat in them though... so maybe his cooking abilities should be questioned! 

5.  Use only peanut butter - no jelly.  Which really doesn't qualify as a peanut butter AND JELLY sandwich... but it was a response from people to my question... So there you have it.


Another thing I asked people was if they use grape jelly or strawberry jelly.  We always have both in our house because I'm a grape girl and Gary prefers strawberry.  Well I learned that some people use all sorts of wacky things with their peanut butter - orange marmalade for example... ewww.  I guess another thing I could have asked was creamy or crunchy peanut butter.  I feel like there needs to be a real ligate survey about all of this! 

I think this all just fascinates me because making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich is something that everyone has done at some point and I always just figured everyone did it pretty much the same way.  That just isn't the case. 

St. Pattys Day - A History

On Saturday, March 16th I will go out with my friends to celebrate St. Patricks Day in the Burgh as I have done every year for the last 10 years.  I just thought it would be fun to go back and remember each year and who was there and what we did.  Check back because I'm sure I can't remember everything and I might have to search for the pictures, so this might have a couple updates!  This is going to be fun, so sit back, grab a shamrock shake and lets begin!  :)

2003 - The year it all began! 

Stef and I were 19 years old.  I honestly don't even know where we got the idea but we decided it was a beautiful March morning, we packed our stuff and headed to her brother's house in the South Side.  We asked Z to drop us off at the parade.  He stops the car somewhere near the parade route, said "the parade is that way".  And that was it.  We found the parade and we had a blast!  We walked to Station Square and had lunch at Hard Rock.  Eventually we found our way back to Zach's house where they were having a party.  We just had so much fun and said we have to do this again next year... and we did!

2004

A lot can happen in a year.  In 2004 I was dating Gary, Stef was dating Dennis.  The four of us stayed at Dennis's apartment the night before.  Saturday morning me, Stef and Gary met Amber and Adele at the parade.  Dennis met up with his friends at the bar since Stef and I still weren't 21 yet...  We ended up meeting back up with him at Station Square later in the day and the boys snuck us in to the bar somehow. 

2005

This year we were finally 21.  Gary and I were engaged.  Stef was dating Phil.  We went to the parade and to Station Square.   

2006

Here is the truth....  2005 & 2006 are all confused in my head!  And until I can find pictures and make some sense of it ... well this is the best I have!  The 2005 picture could actually be from 2006... I'm so confused!  I know Joe was with us one year (or maybe both years), I know one year we got a hotel room and Casey was there....  I need help with this!  I am pretty sure in 2006 we went to the parade and to Market Square. 

2007

This year we went and saw the Clarks play on the Gateway Clipper.  But first we did lunch at Hard Rock and hit some bars in the South Side.  I thought it was really important to drink as much as I could so I would be sure to be drunk through the whole concert without having to buy any drinks on the boat.  Well that completely backfired.  I was drunk... and I also threw up everywhere and almost got kicked off!  Luckily that didn't happen and I learned my lesson.  Pace yourself.... lol

2008

We made our own t-shirts this year.  Little Scotty came to town to go with us.  He got too drunk Friday night when he got here and slept in the car while we ate lunch at Hard Rock.  It was Scott, me, Gary, Stef, Phil, Amber and Eric.  We met up with Amber's brother and his friends at Station Square.  We also ran in to Casey there and Erin too.  We saw a drunk guy get tased.  At the end of the night everybody went home and Gary and I wanted to meet back up with Erin.  We did and everything was good until we tried to get a taxi to go home... yeah right.  We ended up calling Eric and he had to come back out and rescue us and drive us home!

2009

This year we got really smart and hired my sister and Gerald to come and be our designated drivers!  Really, we paid them to drop us off in the South Side and come and pick us back up that night.  Me, Stef and Amber decided to make our own jeans to wear this year.  It was me, Gary, Stef, Phil and Amber.  We had lunch at Fat Heads.  Erin met up with us later in the day.  This was the year Andy got arrested and got thrown in jail.  Not good.  We all learned on the ride home that if there is a fire at Gerald's.. too bad there isn't anything they can do and he had better save his goats!!!


2010

I was pregnant... and I still went out!  I wasn't going to miss my favorite day!  And honestly, it was just as much fun even though I wasn't drinking!  Gary and I had lunch at Fatheads with Stef and Phil.  Then we went to Marios and met up with Erin and her parents, and Amber and her friends were there too. 


2011

Em and Gerald came to the apartment to babysit the bean.  Gary and I met Stef and Phil at Fatheads for lunch.  Then we went to a few bars in the South Side.  Erin and her parents met up with us too.  There was also A LOT of "Winning" this year thanks to Charlie Sheen and his meltdown! 


2012

Em and G came to our house to babysit.  We all met at Fatheads for lunch.  This year it was me and Gary, Stef, Phil, Daryl, Casey, Erin, her mom and dad and her friend from work.  We went to a couple different bars in the South Side.  We wrapped it up early to get back to Lyla.  Me, Gary and Erin stopped and had dinner at Bob Evans on the way home.  So funny to take tipsy me and Erin to Bob Evans in all our St. Pattys gear!


2013

....

We will just have to wait and see!  I think we have the biggest group of people we have ever had.  We are going to try the North Shore this year and see how that goes.  No worries, I will report back with pictures and I'm sure funny stories!

Dr. Seuss

So we were reading bedtime stories, Gary was reading Green Eggs & Ham to Lyla.  She was being hilarious, his phone was sitting there so I grabbed it and started a video.  Of course I missed the beginning where all the really good stuff was... but this is still funny enough! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S76Xc9s4VKc&feature=youtube_gdata_player

I'm sorry I can't put the actual video here, I can't figure out how to do it since it came from Gary's phone and his youtube and all that nonsense.  But just click the link above and it will take you to the video!  :-)