I can't believe that I forgot to share this.....

WOW! This happened before New Years! Josh and I were on our way to Walmart the weekend before New Years, and my car started shooting cold air at me. We thought it was maybe low on coolant, but to be safe, we pulled into the mechanic that I usually take my car to here in Grand Forks. After waiting for an hour, he broke the news to me....it may be a good idea to get a new car. Those were pretty much his exact words. The mechanic thought that it was my head gasket that was out, but, because there was only one mechanic on duty on Saturday, he wanted me to come back in on Monday. So I did, still trying to be optimistic. This time the news was worse! It wasn't the head gasket, but he gave me a list of the things that were wrong with it. He also attached a price to that list...$1500 roughly. Well, because my car is 10 years old, and has a lot of miles on it, I'm not sure that fixing all of these problems would prevent something else from going wrong! So now, I am sort of in the process of looking for a new car. But, you usually need money to buy those things! I am waiting for my excess financial aid to come through, and I will use some of that to buy a car.

So until then, I get up at 4:45 am to drive Josh into work (with his car), go to work myself at 8, and pick him up at 4:30 pm. Not to mention go to my evening classes on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesay. At least we have his car!

In Threes

My future

Top three countries that I want to visit

• Italy
• Rome
• India

Top three cities in the US that I want to visit

• Washington DC (I'm going in March!)
• Memphis, TN
• Hollywood, CA

Top three Career accomplishments that I want to achieve

• Receive my Master's Degree
• Become a City Administrator
• Be happy at my job!

Top three ultimate life goals

• Be a wonderful mother and friend to any future children
• Take time to enjoy the little things
• Be able to look back on life and have no regrets and feel fulfilled

I wanted to write the top three girl and boy names I like for my future children, but it seems anytime that I utter these names outloud my friends who are having children before me go and snatch them up! So for now, they are my secret! Who knows, they will probably change by the time that I have kids. I just like the unique names...but I am started to hear more babies being born with one of my names :(, and I don't like to be in the mainstream...in anything that I do!

I'm grateful for...

Today I realized that I am very grateful for my eye doctor and the invention of contact lenses/glasses. I would not be able to function as well as I do without these wonderful items! I have terrible vision (almost as bad as my father's already)! I have had glasses since I was in fifth grade, and every year my eye sight gets slightly worse. I started to get concerned at my last visit, but my eye doctor up here told me that it was normal for someone who was yound, but soon my eye sight SHOULD start to stabilize. This is a good thing, because in order to be a good candidate for lasix eye surgery, you must have like 2 or three consecutive eye doctor visits in which your eye sight stays the same. I would like to do the laser eye surgery in my future, but it's just not possible right now. With that being said, glasses and contacts can be a hassle and annoying, but I don't know what I would do without them! In fact she told me that I am legally blind without them! Scary!!

In Threes

I also wanted to try another kind of regular post on threes. The theme of this first post is MOVIES! It's kind of hard to explain and better to just jump right into it!

3 Favorite Movies of 2007

• Because I Said So
• Hairspray
• Shrek 3

3 Favorite Disney Movies

• Beauty and the Beast
• Aladdin
• Cinderella

3 Worst Movies

• All of the Saw movies (they are just too morbid and scary for me!!)
• Scary Movie
• Not Another Teen Movie...see a trend?

3 Favorite Classic Movies of All time

• Breakfast at Tiffany's
• Gone with the Wind
• Seven Year Itch

3 Favorite Musicals of All Time

• Sound of Music
• Grease
• West Side Story

That's all for now!!

New Reoccuring Post

So in attempts to try to appreciate the small things in life, I decided that my blog would reflect on these. I was thinking about trying to write everyday about one thing that I am grateful, thankful, or appreciative in my world, however once a day me be difficult. So I will try to write at least once a week. I am obviously the most thankful for the wonderful family, but I want to start on a smaller scale. I want to try to elaborate on the small things in life that may go unnoticed or taken for granted.

Today, I am grateful for my warm blankets on my bed. I know it sounds silly, but in the newspaper today I read about a small boy who died from being outside in the Frigid air in New Ulm, MN. The article was very brief and didn't answer the questions I had like, "where were the parents?" My heart is just full of grief and thoughts about how children can get outside without realizing the dangers of cold air. I starting thinking about the high locks that I will put on the door of my home once I have children. It just made me think about how lucky I am to have a warm home and bed to go back to each night. Not everyone is as lucky as me, and yet I sometimes complain because I am too cold. If I am too cold, I can throw on a sweatshirt or grab a blanket, but that's not the case for everyone.

NEW YEARS

I also wanted to post on the New Year. First of all, I was contemplating my biggest accomplishment of 2007, and it was hard to narrow it done. I guess I would say that graduating from college had to be my number one. Following that path in close seconds and thirds, I would say that getting accepted into Grad school and losing 40 pounds (thus sticking to my New Year's resolution from last year). I just have to say that 2007 was really a great year for me when I think back on it. Things are still going well with Josh and I, I turned 21, and have completed many personal and professional goals of my own.

So this year, I had to come up with a new resolution (since I can't use weight loss as a resolution this year! YAY!!)

• I want to start attending church in East Grand Forks. I have decided that I really enjoy going to church, but do not go nearly enough!
• I NEED to budget my money better. I get paid very little for being a college graduate (it's the price I am willing to pay for the experience of my internship), and I need to save as much as I can. I won't be able to save too terribly much I realize, but if I don't put any away I tend to buy things I really don't need!
• Plus I suppose I need to just say it....continue to tone my body and maintain my weight loss!!

Good luck to everyone on their own resolutions!!

Happy Holidays...to be politically correct!

Okay, I'll just say it...Merry Christmas. Or umm belated Christmas? I have neglected this blog once again! This blog is more for my sanity, but I get a few visitors once in awhile. I just love the Christmas time of year. I start feeling the "bug" on Thanksgiving, and it continues right up until Christmas day! It's almost as if the anticipation for the holiday season lasts so long...and then before you know it, Christmas has come and gone in a flash! I'm sad to see it gone, but it was a wonderful Christmas!

Both Josh and I spent Christmas with our wonderful families together! Christmas is about family time, and we couldn't have asked for a better year or for better families! MY only regret is that more of my side of the family could get together! I love getting together with Josh's family, but it also makes me a bit jealous because, for the most part, they all live around the same area.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Year!!