The Great Vegas GTG 2011 - Intro & Thursday

When Marcus decided to join the Army, I decided to join an online message board of women who are military spouses and some even military members themselves. While friendships weren't instantly formed, we all bonded over the joys of being military wives, the stresses of being military wives, some marriages, a couple of divorces, children, dogs, etc.

At some point, in the beginning of this year, Southwest Airlines was having a flight special and a couple of girls got super cheap flights to Vegas. They extended the invitation to everyone, and "The Great Vegas GTG 2011" was born.

After months of planning, lots of Facebook status updates, and hours of research and communication, the trip went by WAY TOO FAST! Las Vegas 2011 Recap: Thursday, October 20th... I woke up at 4:00a to get dressed, grab my stuff, and head to the airport. Marilyn was volunteered by Marcus (I think) to take me to the airport because he didn't want to be up that early. Hah. My flight to Vegas left DFW at 6:58a, and landing in Vegas at 7:50a. It was a relatively non-eventful flight, which is always great when you are as scared of flying as I am. I get to Vegas, grab my luggage, and take a $25 cab fare to our hotel... theHotel at Mandalay Bay.  I had a wonderful breakfast at theCafe, explored the hotel (every single square inch), and hung out by the "beach" area reading a book until Krista sent me a text to tell me she was on her way.

Krista was the first person to arrive after me.  She called me when she got into the check-in line.  I recognized her immediately... it wasn't hard, she was the only blonde in line!  Hah.  As she checked in, the hotel told her that her room was ready, as was mine, so we headed up to the 24th floor to settle in for the next four days!  Krista was exactly as I pictured.  It's weird, because we really don't have that much in common... I wonder if we could be more polar opposites, but we clicked, and I had a wonderful time laughing and joking with her!  After we got our luggage upstairs, we headed to the Irish Pub in Mandalay Place.  At first, I thought the food was okay, but I think that was just because I was starving... it was not good.

After lunch, we just killed time until Tonya called to tell us she was there!  Oh my gosh.  Tonya is NOT at all what I expected, she's better.  Hah.  I haven't laughed that much and that hard in a really long time, but Tonya is a hoot.  She says what she means, and means what she says, and I completely respect her for that.  We got Tonya upstairs, settled in, and went to grab her some lunch.  Now that she's annouced it to the world, I can annouce it.  She's PREGNANT with her third baby!  :o)  And she's the cutest pregnant lady.  We literally just sat around, laughing, joking, in tears at points, relaxing and waiting around on everyone else.  :o)

The next group of people to arrive were Emily and Shannon.  They flew in around the same time, so they shared a shuttle to the hotel.  We met them at the elevator entrance while going to meet Ashley in the parking lot to bring all of our liquid beverages (and some clothes) into the room.

 

November Goals

As I sit here, ready to type out my list, I realize how hard I am on myself.  I'm my own worst critic (aren't we all?) and I feel like a failure if things don't go exactly as I've planned them.  I mean, really, how often does life go exactly as we plan it?  Virtually never.  Yet, each month, you'll find me back here posting another list of goals that I may or may not get to.  At least I'm working towards something, right?

"The tradegy of life doesn't lie in not reaching your goal.  The tradegy lies in having no goal to reach." ~ Benajamin Mays

For the month of November, I'm going to try something different... instead of breaking my goals down into distinguished lists, with categories, I'm just going to randomly write down the things I want to accomplish and complete this month.

• Enjoy Thanksgiving... no stress, no drama, just fun.


• Make a Christmas "gift" plan with Marcus, and knock out as much as we can during Black Friday shopping.


• Replace my windshield due to the massive crack, thanks to a rock from I-30.


• Buy new tires.


• Mark off five things from my 101 things to do in 1001 days list.


• Make at least a "B" on my ACCT 5311 test on November 21st.


• Enjoy spending time with my parents and friends for Marcus' 33rd birthday!


• Cut the fabric for Carie's "gift."


• Cut the fabric for the quilt.


• Close on our house!


• Pick out paint colors for at least the master bedroom.


• Do some kind of fitness related activity 10 times this month.


• STOP STRESSING!

October Goals Recap

I think the ONLY thing I managed to accomplish in October was going to Vegas... and having a blast!  I realize that I owe all of my blog readers (all 5 of you) a Vegas post, and I promise I'll get to that this week, hopefully.

Health:

• Do something healthy.  Ideally, I’d accomplish getting back into running, going to the gym, increasing water consumption, cooking at home, but hell, who am I kidding?!  I’ll be lucky to eat, period.

School:

• Try not to drown, and keep up!

Personal:

• Have a blast in Vegas, and leave all the darn stress behind when I get on the plane.


• Finish the blogging challenge… or give up on it.  One way or another, make a decision.


• Finish 5 things on the 101 things to do list.


• Cut out the fabric for Carie's "gift" and the square quilt.

30 Day Blog Challenge - Day 11

Put your iPod on shuffle and write 10 songs that pop up.

1. My Kinda Party – Jason Aldean


2. Earth Song – Michael Jackson


3. Own The Night – Lady Antebellum


4. Pocketful of Sunshine – Natasha Beddingfield


5. Simple Things – Amy Grant


6. You – Bonnie Raitt


7. The Greatest Man I Never Knew – Reba McEntire


8. Every Time I Hear Your Name – Keith Anderson


9. Wild At Heart – Gloriana


10. Dream – Michael Buble

October Goals

You know, at this point, I’m not even sure why I make this  stupid “goal lists” each month.  I can
NEVER EVER accomplish more than about 3 of them, and those goals tend to always have to do with school.  Ugh.  In my best Jessie voice, “There’s not enough time.  There’s never enough time.”  Ahhhh!

Health:

• Do something healthy.  Ideally, I’d accomplish getting back into running, going to the gym, increasing water consumption, cooking at home, but hell, who am I kidding?!  I’ll be lucky to eat, period.

School:

• Try not to drown, and keep up!

Personal:

• Have a blast in Vegas, and leave all the darn stress behind when I get on the plane.


• Finish the blogging challenge… or give up on it.  One way or another, make a decision.


• Finish 5 things on the 101 things to do list.


• Cut out the fabric for Carie's "gift" and the square quilt.

101 Things... #11

Part of my agreement with myself to do the 101 things in 1001 days was to actively blog about the progress I made on my list.  I felt like blogging would help me be accountable to myself, and actually, maybe, possibly get some of the "to do" items checked off my list before the 1001 days is up.

#11 on my list... have a "family" picture taken.  You see, the reason for this item is because my husband HATES taking pictures.  I think he'd rather have a root canal or have his leg hairs pulled out one by one.  He simply hates it.  Now, part of that is my fault, because most of the time I don't like pictures that are taken of myself.

So... on Facebook, a photographer friend by the name of Mia Coelho (Mia Coelho Photography) was hosting a giveaway for 50% off of a session fee.  Well, I won.  Uh, crap.  I don't know how Marcus was ever convinced to take the pictures... I know my mom and his mom too, probably, had a hand in helping me convince him.  But regardless, on September 24th, 2011, we took our first professional "family" picture!

[gallery link="file" columns="1"]

September Goals - Recap

I keep doing these lists, because it somewhat holds me accountable, even though I know I don't have the time to accomplish these goals.  One of these days, I will though.  :)  So I'm sticking with this... maybe.

Health:

• One 5K. This will be #9 for the year!

• Do at least 3 training runs a week (including Saturday). I have to get back to doing this one, religiously, if I’m going to do the Half Marathon on 11/6.

• Try THREE new, super HEALTHY meal(s) this month.

• Lose 5 more lbs!

• Menu plan and COOK at home, at least four times a week.

School:

• ACCT 5311 – Stay caught up with reading, homework, and prepare for exam on 9/27.

• ACCT 5314 – Stay caught up with reading, homework, chapter study guides, and prepare for exam on 9/28.

• ACCT 5315 – Stay caught up with reading. Finish G/L project by 9/15. Finish First Half of Team Project by 9/30.

Personal:

• Pack up sweaters, and ship to Kelly.

• Consolidate student loans from BS/MBA.

• Catch up on book reviews on book blog.

• Organize closet, desk, ROOM!

• Finish the 30 Day Blog Challenge, even though it turned into a 90 Day Blog Challenge.

• Finish 5 items from the "101 Things" List.

Crafty:

• Get to work on Carie’s project! (Can’t tell you what it is, because of course, it’s a SECRET!)