Fun times in KeyLargo!!!

Day one in Key Largo, we drove over to Anne's beach. The water her on the east coast is much more saltier than west coast beach water. Andrew and I were swimming around in the shallow waters and I inevitably got some water in my mouth, MAN WAS IT SALTY! Tasted like a cup of salt poured directly into my mouth. ICK! The theory to this, water evaporates quicker here with the humidity and is leaving all the salt behind. Verses the California beach water is cooler and doesn't evaporate as much, that it does not taste so salty.

The picture of the fountain is a giant “conch shell” The Florida Keys is all about Conch and Key lime pies stuff. Andrew ordered Conch soup for lunch, and I bought a conch shell from a shell shop. We haven’t tried the key lime pie yet. The conch shells are the kind of shell you can put up to your ear and listen to the sound of the ocean.

Here are some pictures of Andrew and I hanging out in the shallow waters, of Anne's Beach near Key Largo, FL.


The shalow waters range from knee deep to waist deep for miles.

Many of the mail boxes around the islands are creative like the fish bait one in the photo above. I took this pic to show my dad, he lives in a small, fish town. This type of mail box would be perfect for my parents house.

Keylargo here we come!

We are off to a vaca. in Keylargo, FL! Any suggestions to things to do and see while we are there?

So far planned: Relax, massage, beach fun, swimming, snorkling, fun times.

Photos provided by online hotel pictures of Keylargo, FL.

The massage table awaits for my arrival...

"Keylargo...baby wanna take you to the...FL Keys!" -BeachBoys song
Out door dinning, by sunset...breathtaking!

June means wedding season!

I work at a hotel, so we will start to have alot of weddings here. Either for the reception or for wedding party to have rooms with us. We also get a few just married couples with no reservation, just walking in still in their dressed up attire. It is so pretty to see the different wedding gowns the brides are wearing currently.


I was in a wedding a few weeks back for my best friend, Emily. I was her Maid of Honor. Her wedding was on the beach, wiggling our toes in the sand; on a beautiful day for the ceromony too.



Here are some pictures from her beach wedding, off of Cayucus Beach:

Matron of Honor (me), Best man and the mother of the bride in blue.
Mother & Father of the Bride give her away after a brief prayer is said. The 4 brides-maids and 4 grooms-men pray along as the groom patiently awaits his bride...Amen.
The Blushing Bride! I took this picture while the photographer was taking a series of poses. My favorite wedding photo from that day. She is so pretty, and blissfully happy and in love.
The happy couple on Cayucus peir. At the reception I take a photo opp with my "little" brother. haha.

WEDDING TRADITIONS:
Wedding tradition of feeding each other cake.

First dance as husband and wife.

Tossing the bowquet to all the singler gals at the wedding.
Tossing the brides garter to all the single guys at the wedding.

It's the End of Another Decade

I am coming up around the corner to ending another decade. I am going on decade number 3 now. Andrew just had his 30th birthday last Sunday, and a few of my friends have turned 30 this year also. I turn 30 this August.




The words 3 decades sounds longer than saying, 30 years. Last night I saw the movie, Sex and the City and the characters are all in thier 40s now, with 'Samantha' turning 50. So I guess 30 is still young, as the phrase goes, "40 is the new 30..." Then 30 is the new 20... On August 19th I will be turning 20? and become 9 years younger then. Just kidding. I am happy with what ever age number I turn; and Andrew is my 30 year old husband, and my 30 year old friends are all still young in my eyes. (giggles)

We had a blast at HOME!!!

HOME was hoppin last night. We had blast at HOME! Andrew and I went to Ameristar Casino last night to celebrate Janaes birthday. There were nine of us so we split the cost of a reservation table. Basicaly if you don't have a table, then there are no seating areas. The reservations are a two bottle minimum along with mixers such as Orange Juice, and little dishes holding limes, lemons, and olives. We danced and grooved the night away till 3 AM! We had too much fun!

Before the party strated I played on the quarter-slots with ten dollars to start off. I was playing for a while winning here and there off my ten bucks, then I was getting down to a few plays left on the slot machine and the reels landed on 2 jackpot symboles and a "double" symbol! Resulting in 307 quarters! I couldn't calculate how much it was to quickly and pressed the cash out button, and the paper reciet prints out to give me $76.75. I was so excited, and up $66.75 in winnings. I stopped playing and knew when to stop. I didn't want to risk loosing the money, I needed it for the rest of my night in club HOME.

On a side note, which phrase is correct? When people drink they say, "beer before liquor never sicker" and a similar phrase goes, "liquor before beer you're in the clear" Just because it is a catchy phrase and rhymes well doesn't mean it is a "drinking rule" to go by!

My Poem...

A Man & a Woman in the Bookstore Café
May 21, 2008 Wednesday 5:30pm
Observational poem by: Martiel Hay
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

He gazes into her eyes
As she rattles on about something insignificant
He is mesmerized by her smile
And the green shade of eye shadow she has on
She leans forward in her seat
Anticipating his next word

He discreetly glances at his watch
The spark is dying down…
As he sips his hazelnut latte
She says something funny
Catching his attention
Still not sure how this blind date is going
He hopes to leave holding hands

She’s starting to get the first date jitters
And nervously tares her café napkin
As their date is coming to an end
They leave together from the bookstore café
Not holding hands
But just as good friends

To be continued…

Just like the movie I paid it forward...

It felt so good to pay it forward. Just as the movie does in the story line where one does a selfless act and helps another person out, you feel better afterwards and the silver lining is discovered from a cloud. I had my car washed yesterday, interior mostly and standard exterior. The company gave me a coupon to use for a free exterior car wash the following day...if it were to rain the same day sometime by midnight. I held onto the coupon, because sure enough it rained later that evening. Now it is the following day and with my coupon in mind, I planned on getting a spot wash redo. BUT first I went over to Mazda for my oil change and new tires. The Mazda people washed my car as a courtesy service. With this, now I didn't need the secondary car wash from the car wash place. The coupon expires today on the 13th, so I drove by and saw a cute, guy pulling up in his new car, but dirty, and decided to "pay it forward" offered him my free car wash coupon. It was a selfless act of kindness to another, didn't cost the other person anything in return, and I didn't waist the coupon. I felt so good to surprise him on the spot like that to get a free car wash. Yeah me. (Pat on the back)

If you get the chance to do a selfless act towards another person, out of simplicity such as the coupon, or even paying an expired parking meter, go for it! The possibilities are endless and to do what ever you feel like doing in the action of "paying it forward".

Rent the movie "pay it forward" if you have not already seen it. It is very inspiring.

Identical twins gone wrong!

Twins? Identical twins, no doubt! What went wrong? This is a photo of the Olson twins, present day. This is shoking how old and frumpy MaryKate Olson looks, and how well postured and tall beauty her IDENTICAL twin, Ashley Olson is. They grew up acting on the tv show, Full House playing the cute litte girl named Michelle. Today in 2008, they are 20 something years old all grown up attending the New York Met red carpet event and MaryKate looks so frumpy.

Happy Mother's Day

glitter-graphics.com



glitter-graphics.com

Fun times visiting back home.

A few weeks have already passed. Andrew and I flew back to California to attend my best friends wedding. I was her Maid of Honor (MOH). While I was in town, I went fishing with my dad on the peir. We went to Virges Landing for some bait (anchorvies in a bag) and would cut each fish in half to use one fish for two poles. We had such a big bag of bait, I guess we could have fished with a whole fish as bait per fishing pole. I saw a bat ray swim by the peir, it was a good size. Dad started to catch a fish but it was too big to real in and it got away.


Afterwards we headed over to the French Cafe, and enjoyed some morning coffee and danishes. He ordered a big cruisant with chocolate in the middle, and I ordered a cinamin roll with walnuts and caramel sauce drizzled over it. Delicious!

Shake Rattle and Roll...

This morning around 4:30 am, our dog started barking. Andrew wakes up to see why the dog is barking, I tell him, "don't you hear the rumble, rumble? we had an earthquake." and then I rolled over and fell back to sleep. I wasn't phased by it, and just fell back to sleep. Andrew did not think it was an earthquake. Then this morning Andrew is driving to work and on the radio it mentions an eathquake hit IL! "I told you so" momment! HAHA. Later in the morning the was another after shock at 10:30am. The main earthquake was in IL and boardering IN about 150 miles from St Louis, MO. The quake was a 5.2 scale over there.

Condoms in goodie bags for HIGHSCHOOL

I was listening to radio, 550am station, and there was a debate for callers opinions. Apparently there is a school in St Louis, MO who have decided to give out goodie bags for prom WITH condoms in the bags! Some callers called in saying it is not the schools desicion to give out condoms, let the parents have that responsability. Others say the teen is old enough to have sex, he/she is old enough to buy them. There were callers calling from both sides of the issue.

My answer to this is maybe it is ok to give out condoms to students to prevent unprotected sex... BUT NOT as a party favor in a goodie bag for prom night! Instead, have the school nurse give them out on a regular basis at school, as students ask for them. If schools pass condoms out for prom night it is like giving students/teens the "OK" to go ahead, do it for the first time on prom night and have fun! Here's a condom and a goodie bag! (obserd) What else is in the goodie bag? Some beer and a hotel key?

Teens have a way of getting condoms, but putting them in a goodie bag is not a bright idea, on the schools part. I think the school should have parental concent before they do that in the first place.

On the flip side to this issue of the schools giving these out...If teens don't get condoms from the schools, they could also go to the planned Parenthood for free condoms too! The parents still don't have control over that either....Teens go to planned parenthood annonymously and have contact phone numbers other than the parents house number. I guess in the end, a teen who is going to have sex, it best be safe sex. But I still don't think the condoms should be handed out as a party favor for prom night. Maybe the schools should teach a course of sex ed in the same season of prom season, and hand out the condoms then, by the school nurse!

We made the cover of a magazine!

Create with your own picture at MagMyPic.com

April Fools! The internet is filled with endless possabilities. I can do so many things with my photos with today's technology and easy to use websites! check out MagMyPic.com , it is a web site to download a photo and choose a "magazine cover" then post it on your myspace profile or blog, etc.

Week end update.

Andrew and I had a lovely weekend together, both off of work together, ehich is a rare occasion. it was a Saturday night and originally we had had plans to go out for sushi with 2 friends of ours, plans changed and we ended up going out just the two of us over Harrah's Casino. We went dancing at the Voodoo lounge, in the Harrah's. The band was playing all 80s songs, and there were go-go dancers on two potiums tossing glow in the dark necklaces to the dance crowd.

After Harrah's we decided to go to Ameristar and check out the new club, called HOME. It is very exclusive. there are three different lines to get in. Andrew and I were in the "General Admissions" line. I call it the plain Jane line. More about that in a minute. The second line is for people who have their names on a list. The third line people had table reservations.

The table reservations are a 2 bottle minimum at $125 a bottle. When we finaly got into the club the lounge area has tables to sit at but they were for the reserved high price people. Where else could we sit? Officially no where to sit with out paying the fee. We saw an empty table, so we sat to people watch. Then a bouncer or someone who looks important, tells us we can't sit at that table because it is reserved. I saw that table through out the night and no one ever used the table. Obserd! So we got up and looked around the lounge for a place to sit. Three guys are standing around a "reserved table" drinking thier $125 grey goose vodka, so I go up to one of them and ask if we could sit down at their table. The guy said, Sure, the more the marrier. Andrew and I sat down and blended in with the table reserve peeps. One guy even offered us some vodka but the bottle was empty! HA!

later we went onto the dance floor, and the DJ started to toss wife beaters tee with the HOME logo on it. One of the tanks landed right infront of Andrews feet! I saw he went to get it, (thinking he was the gentalman picking it up for me...his wife!) he hands it over to a girl standing by him! He said she mummled under her breath that she caught it or something...so he gave it to her. I guess he is a gentalman either way you look at it. Oh well no free tee for me. We had fun though.

Oh so about the process of getting into this exclusive, brand new club. We are standing in line for the general public only to have bouncers let certian people from the line in first...people in BACK of us! Cutting ahead getting in first all according to the way they dress. that was our conclution anyway. The people who were cutting in, all looked a certain way. Hot and dressed to go clubbin. We felt like plain janes.

This post is deep in thought

What a beautiful insight about the geese. (see clip) The clip explains the reason behind why birds fly in a V formation and how they are interacting with other birds to help each other out as a team. I can't add the clip on this blog...here is what it says about Geese. Quoted from a slide show clip.

"As each bird flaps its wings, it creates uplift for the bird following. In a V formation, the whole flock adds at least 71% more flying range than if each bird flew alone. Have you ever wondered why migrating geese fly in a V formation? As with most animal behavior, God had a good reason for including that in their instincts. Whenever a goose falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the drag and resistance of trying to fly alone…and quickly get back into formation. Geese in the rear of the formation honk to encourage those up front to up their speed. It is important that our honking from behind” be encouraging. Otherwise it’s just- well- honking. When a goose gets sick or wounded, two other geese drop out of formation and follow it down to help and provide protection. They stay with the unhealthy member of the flock until it is either able to fly again or dies. "

"...“Ask the beasts, and they will teach you; and the birds of the air, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you; and the fish of the sea will explain to you. Who among all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this?” JOB 12:7-9


I just had an upifany, to share with my blog readers:

God does work in mysterious ways. Don’t take time to question God, just go with it. I believe that there is a time and reason for everything. Things happen for a reason, and all we could do is adjust.We should be aware that our choices are not really our choice. God has already chosen for us... how the outcome will turn out. He has the greater plan for us all.

Andrew and I "CHOOSE" to get pregnant, God thought differently. It was not the right time, so I miscarried, maybe if the baby progressed further to term there would have still been something wrong with the baby? This was Gods way of choosing for us. This particular pregnancy was not the right time for us...? We will try agian and maybe God will let us keep the pregnancy the next time, and we will have a baby soon. God will choose for us when the time is right, and it will fit into his greater plan. When I was prego I was one of the geese flying in the V formation, with support from people around me. Then I misscarried and flew down to the pond to heal, my fellow geese are there for me while I heal and try agian. Then I will be prego agian and rejoin the V formation, maybe starting out towards the back and pick up my strength with the support of other geese to move towards the front of the V. When I get myself to the very front, it will be 9 months later and I will have God on my side, watching over me as I give birth to a healthy little baby. A baby for Andrew and I to raise as our own little geese to be proud of and a part of our family.

Why do some people have sex just one time and become pregnant, only to not want the baby and either give it up for adoption or even abort it? Why do loving couples who want to become loving parents choose to have a baby and try for a while to become pregnant only to loose the baby in a miscarrage? Where is the fairness in this? Some people don't choose to become pregnant and they call it "knocked up" We want to choose to be pregnant and can't (so far).

A bun in the oven, knocked up, there is a beach ball under your shirt!, Expecting, prego, preggy, pregnant, 9 months rag free, all of these phrases mean the same thing, and I want it so bad!

God, please choose me next, we want to have the stork bring us a baby, to raise a family of our own.

There is no more bun in the oven...

Andrew and I are sad to say we lost the baby. I was a few weeks pregnant but no longer pregnant. This is the saddest blog, right next to the one about my aunt Kate passing away, that I have to type. I am keeping it short, I don't know what to really type but frustration and sadness, and I don't want my blog to be a downer to read, for those who are having a happy day. Stay happy and don't worry about us. We will try agian. I feel so empty inside my tummy. It is so hollow, and babyless.

I am going to go eat some sushi and dye my hair red now. Two things that the DR said that I could not do while prego, that and eating lunch meat or cookie dough (raw egg batters).

I'm a pumkin patch mommy!

I just learned a cute term for moms due in October! Pumkin Patch Mommy-to-be! HAHA! By then my belly will be big like a pumpkin! I am due around October 29th. Halloween baby. That will lead to halloween parties when the baby is a teenager! eek. but cute little costume parties for birthdays growing up. ;)

5 weeks pregy!

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I am about 5 weeks pregnant! Andrew quickly calculated out 5 weeks as also saying we only have 8 months left of being pregnant! And we just found out I was even pregnant only last week! Small, minoot freak out moment. I could tell Andrew is excited, even if he is not showing it to well. He told his coworkers and then on Saturday at his volunteer group doing taxes, he told everyone there that we are expecting our first baby.

This morning I woke up and was looking at my belly, I told Andrew to look at it, it is starting to show a little... Andrew said, "I know I was touching your belly last night, looking at it while you were sleeping." AHHH. He is so adorable. I love Andrew so much. I know he will be a great daddy. It's a big step and we are ready with both feet to jump in. He says he's is nervous, and acts like he is dreading it at times, but I know he is excited in his own secret way. I am nervous too...and excited.

I joined a website to track my pregnancy and get baby information. Here is a link to my profile:

http://www.whattoexpect.com/profile/leitram78_1st

5 weeks pregnant means: The heart is developing. There is a website I am following, http://www.whattoexpect.com/ the following information is written on the site at 5 weeks,

"It takes a lot of developing to become a baby — all the major (and minor) bodily systems (digestive, circulatory, nervous, and so on) and organs (heart, lungs, stomach…you get the idea) have to form from scratch. One of the first systems to be operational is the circulatory (or blood) system — along with its companion organ: the heart. Right now, your baby's heart is made up of two tiny channels called heart tubes — and they're already hard at work, beating to their own drummer (it will be weeks before those beats become coordinated). When those tubes fuse together, your baby will have a fully functioning heart (though it almost certainly already has its grip on yours). Also in the works this week are several other organs, including the neural tube (the precursor to your baby's brain and spinal cord), which hasn't yet sealed, but by next week, that open-door policy is over. "

WOW!

Photo is Worth 1,000 Words....

The first try took a while to give a result, and I drank 3 more glasses of water to be sure and did a second test. Both came up with the same results!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh magical, fortune telling stick of hopes I lend you my golden stream to tell me good news!

Oxymorons

Oxymoron as defined by the dictionary: A figure of speech in which incongruous or contradictory terms appear side by side... My definition: Two things that clash, and are contradictory. I tried a new gum flavor by Orbits, it confused my taste buds! At first it was a minty but melon flavor, and as I continued to chew it, the flavor turned more to an orange flavor with a hint of the minty. Towards the end of the flavor just before the gum becomes flavorless, it start to taste like chocolate! The gum was an Oxymoron! It contradicted what flavor of gum it should be. my mouth had a party of flavors going on.


Another Oxymoron today was while I was waiting at the drive-thru for Steak-N-Shake. The landscaping has lava rocks for ground cover around the small bushes. The other day a light snow fell and remains on the ground where the sun hasn't melted it away yet. The lava rocks were covered in snow! An oxymoron is the lava rocks are related to something HOT and snow is related to something COLD. Two things that contradict one another, an oxymoron.