Happy 2nd Birthday, Talan!

Uncle BJ and I love you more than we could have ever imagined!

We hope you have a fantastic birthday!

{Thankful}

On this Tuesday morning I find myself being thankful for the many blessings in my life. I'm warm and cozy in my humble abode, watching my snow blanketed yard glisten from the rising sun. My supportive husband left our home hours ago, having to endure the treacherous road conditions, so he could get to work. The dogs are snuggled up, enjoying my company as I type away. My mind is relaxed from the break from the intellectual overload that I won't experience today at school; thoughts have switched from statistics and psychology to Christmas trees and snow angels. This is the start to a very good day.

{Our little abode covered in snow!}

{Conversing with the Mr.}

Yesterday I was stuck at home without my beloved car! There was some warranty work that needed to be done (hmm...like "chrome" interior door handles that were peeling) so I was stuck at home. I decided to clean, even though the house was already clean. When I went into our newly invented media/chill room I noticed the flower pot to a little plant was missing from the coffee table. I decided I would text Brendan to see if he knew where it went.

Me: Where did you put that little flower pot? (Man, I'm sassy!)

Him: In the shed.

Me: What?! Did you forget to fill it up and bring it back to the house? (I still needed to officially plant the cutie palm, but needed soil to do so.)

Him: Yeah, I got scared in there, it was dark.

Me: LOL!! That was too cute!

Him: Sorry, I will get it tonight.

So he tried to fill up the planter with soil from the shed but got scared during the process because it was dark in the shed!!

Happy Birthday, Dad!

I hope you're able to fit in an extra long bike ride today!

Love, Big Pal

P.S. I'm actually making cupcakes for tonight; can you believe it?!?

{A Little of This, A Little of That}

I've decided that I'm just not a reliable blog poster! I have all of these great ideas running through my mind, but they just aren't getting documented! Well lets see, I'm still having issues with uploading pictures, so this will be another word heavy post! Let me start with what I'm best at, bulleted lists!

*After this week is over I only have two weeks left of summer quarter! I'm so excited for a break!

*After summer quarter is complete, I have two more quarters before I FINALLY have my bachelor's degree!

*I have been getting ready for a garage sale. It feels so good to clean out the house!

*I really can't believe that it's August! Before we know it we'll be celebrating Christmas!

*I have over three weeks off from school before fall quarter starts! I really don't know what I'll do with all that time! (Probably drive my family crazy!!)

Well, that's all I have for now. Hopefully I'll be back sooner rather than later!

Ta-Ta

Dear Mr. Gilroy,

The last four years have been wonderful. Having you by my side is like walking through a valley with rainbows and unicorns!

Happy 4th anniversary!

Love always,

Mrs. Gilroy

Happy 4th of July!

We're celebrating in sunny, Southern California!

{Cookie Monster}

My husband is many things, loving, caring, funny, and thoughtful, but he is also a cookie monster. He consumes approximately 6 cookies and 1 glass of milk every night. He consumes his cookies in bed, and every morning I have to clean up cookie crumbs! I think it's hilarious that he enjoys his cookies so much! Last night he insisted that we stop for cookies on our way home from the chiropractor because he didn't think there were enough for his nightly snack. That's all we bought, because I had gone to Trader Joe's the night before! The funniest thing about his cookie obsession is that he is the thinnest man I know! He couldn't gain a pound if he wanted to! I only wish I had that problem!

{Are you ok, Mother Nature?}

For the last week it has felt like Fall in the Pacific Northwest! It has been in the sixties during the day and in the forties or fifties at night! Oh my gosh, this is so depressing! It's almost Summer and we're experiencing Fall like weather! No barbecues, sitting in the sun, ice cream, playing outside, bike rides, or outside adventures for us! So what are we doing? We're sitting inside with our furnace on, bundled up in sweatshirts while wishing for warmer weather!

Picture from our last visit to Cabo, where it was hot!

{Big Dreams}

As a child I had big dreams, such as, becoming an Olympic gymnast, owning a forest-green-Eddie Bauer Edition Ford Explorer (I was a weird kid), being a tennis player for the CUTE clothes, and being able to walk on my hands instead of my feet all day long. Anyways, as I age (I'll be a quarter of a century old in 350 days), my dreams have changed. Now I want to be a runner. The crazy thing is that this love runs deeper than just wanting the cute running clothes (don't worry that's what my family asked first). I think the idea of a toned body, healthy hobby and stress reliever of the sport are drawing my attention. I have always been somewhat athletic up until the month after our wedding. Growing up I was a gymnast and worked out 3-4 times per week for 3 hours each time! I had a six pack in junior high school before the boys did! Then I quit, and I tried to find different activities to fill my time, but that didn't really work. When we became engaged I joined a gym and worked out 5 times a week to make sure I would look good in my size 4 wedding dress. That was a success! After the wedding I was too busy, but joined the gym off and on for years. Today, I am not a member of a gym. After we moved out of our last apartment, which had a gym, I decided that I would try and exercise outside. This sounds like a good plan to get in shape without spending money, but living in the rainiest place in the US it has been hard. As summer quickly approaches I am hoping to be able to run outside. Last night I ran a whopping 1 mile through our neighborhood. I literally pulled our little chihuahua, Bella the entire mile. Anyways that is my long explanation of how I'm trying to become a runner and I hope to document my success!

{Opps I did it again}

*Well, well, well, I did it again....I waited entirely too long in between updating this poor little blog. Since I've neglected the blog so much over the past few months, I decided a makeover was in order; what do you think?

*I'm on break this week from school but I return on Monday to begin Summer quarter.

*I am very happy with my grades from Spring quarter (3.6,3.9,4.0) which won me a spot on the Dean's List again!

*I have been working hard around the house finishing up little projects, so far I've: painted the interior side of the front door white, touched up all of the white trim, touched up paint throughout the house, fixed caulking in kitchen & bath, helped pressure wash the deck/patio/driveway and helped pull weeds!

*Today I can't think of anything that needs to be done around the house (or maybe I'm just being lazy after being so productive the last few day).

*The golden thing in the sky showed up on Saturday and stayed until yesterday afternoon. Today, I've only seen him briefly, which is so depressing since it's June!

*I've taken some great 'after' pictures of the house, but I need help posting them...sometimes I can't do anything on my own.

Anyways, I think that's all I have to say for now! Hopefully I'll be back soon with some juicy pictures of our new house (can I still call the house new, even though we closed in September of LAST year?!)...

Wow, I really haven't posted anything for 1.5 months! When we look back at this blog 30 years from now, we will probably say, "we didn't do anything for 1.5 months during 2010". Well actually we have been busy, and haven't taken any pictures to document our comings and goings. Instead I'll do what I do best, make a list...

-I finished out my first quarter back at college on a strong note. I ended up earning a spot on the Dean's List.

-We didn't go anywhere on Spring Break! I was bored out of my mind!

-This quarter has been kickin' my booty, but so far I have an 'A' in all three classes.

-I apply for graduation on May 3rd (I have to apply 3 quarters before graduation!).

-I've already started stressing about finding employment after graduation.

-We've, errr... I mean Bren, has been working hard in the yard. (Most of the time I use homework as an excuse not to pull weeds).

-We're trying to plan a vacation for late August or Early September.

-I decided to take classes during summer quarter, because I drove my husband nuts during my spring break. You're probably wondering why? Well, I decided that I needed to organize and label every nook and cranny of our house! Not even kidding!

Well I think that's about it! We'll see if I ever get pictures on here...

{Mrs. Wifey}

So I might have lied when I said I wouldn't blog again until ALL of my homework was done, but I need a break! I just finished my 7 page essay for my literature class, and now my eyeballs feel like they're going to fall out! Anyways, this evening Brendan played Mrs. Wifey! He picked up his dry cleaning, bought himself a new pair of khakis, bought us cupcakes and decided on dinner! Wow! I was impressed, he usually doesn't feel the need to play Mrs. Wifey (too bad he didn't offer to clean the floors)! :) When he was shopping we sent the following text messages to each other:

Bren: Cupcakes for dinner? Hehehe

Me: LOL

Bren: I wall take that as a no, hahaha!

Me: Sounds good for dessert! But I think we need something more substantial for dinner! :) A vanilla cupcake sounds good though!

Bren: I will make you a deal! I'll buy cupcakes if you make margarita pizza!

Me: Ok, I want a vanilla cupcake with white frosting! :)

{This is where I tell you how I'm too old for finals week}

Seriously, I forgot how painful these last couple weeks of the quarter are! Holy cow! I still have several assignments to be completed: a 10 page research paper, a 6-7 page paper, a four page paper, a 3 page paper and a presentation! Earlier this week, I had some classmates laugh at the spreadsheet that I had created to track all of the assignments that I need to complete during the last weeks of class! Haha! They thought it was pretty pathetic! After that, I decided it was probably a bad idea to show them that I also have a day planner with all of the due dates too! :) I'm officially a college dork!

I'll be back after all assignments have been turned in!

{Life}

Have you ever had a conversation with someone, and then an experience from your past reappears as though it was just reality?

Today at school I was talking with a girl who was just pre-approved to buy a house. I was instantly brought back to the excitement that came to Brendan and I as we received our pre-approval notice. At the same time, I felt like it was eons ago since we were in that situation. I also felt bad for her, because she was under the impression that she would find a house, have her offer accepted, close and move in before the beginning of May! I wanted to share my experience, but decided that I would just smile and enjoy the early joys of buying your first home!

On a different note, sometimes I feel like a fifty year old woman, who has experienced so many things. But then at times I feel like a young-teen who can't navigate through the kitchen or grocery store! Very interesting, maybe that's what life's like in your twenties?

{March Right In}

As I transitioned from the work force and moved back into academia, I have become more in tune with the seasons. Today I am grateful for the appearance of March! March brings the end of winter quarter and the beginning of spring quarter, which means only 4 more quarters before I graduate! It also means that Spring is around the corner. There's something lovely about the thought of warm weather, flowers and sunshine that brightens my thoughts! I try to keep these lovely thoughts in my mind as I complete several final projects, presentations and exams! I am a little overwhelmed, but trying to stay positive and look at the bigger picture. I'm already listing out potential employers that I would love to interview with, a graduation vacation, and new work clothes! Overall, life is good and I'm always trying to live with a positive attitude!

P.S. My husband is one of the most positive people I have ever met, he always has a refreshing way to look at life! (Bren-If you're reading this, I love you!)

It went a little something like this:

Brendan: Hey, today I had the opportunity to purchase tickets to an event at the Olympics.

Me: But you didn't buy the tickets?!?!

Brendan: No, I didn't know if you would want to go. Also, there isn't anywhere to stay.

Me: Oh my gosh! We seriously live 2 hours from Canada! We could have easily come home to sleep!

Brendan: Good point.

Needless to say, my husband is crazy! I think we missed out on a once in a lifetime experience! Oh well, I think we will still drive up to Vancouver to take in all of the festivities!

{Heard Lately}

This morning hubby and I had a funny chat:

Me: I've been dreaming of having another snow storm like we did last year.

Hubby: Darn Global Climate Change. Oh, by the way, why do you want it to snow?

Me: This year I'm in school, and school would be cancelled if there was enough snow. And then I could sit home and drink hot chocolate while reading home decor magazines.

Hubby: You would probably be checking blogs all day too, right?

Me: Haha! You know me so well!

Hubby: It's really funny that you think of these things!

Me: Really? I can't stop thinking about how mad I was last year that I had to go to work even though there was a foot of snow on the ground. This year it would be totally awesome to have it snow!

We both started laughing! Needless to say, I am constantly dreaming up crazy things!

I completely forgot about this story...

Earlier this week I was stopped at a stoplight (after dark) and decided to pull my phone out to check my email. All of a sudden I hear continuous honking. I was completely startled and started to look around. Next to me I noticed an older Ford pickup truck with two dirty, white-trash worker type men, waving their hands at me. Apparently they were pissed off that I was on my phone (since it's against the law and all) and were trying to signal me to put it down. The weird part about this is that I have tinted windows, so were they closely watching my every move? Second of all why the heck do they care if I was on my phone checking my email? Third of all I wanted to give them the middle finger, but then I talked myself out of it because I wasn't going to drop to their level! My heart was sure pumping after that one!

{It's Friday!}

A little list on a rainy Friday:

*Hubby got home safely last night and was happy to report that there were no signs of a little mouse in the garage!

*I'm in the editing phase of a paper that is due by midnight tonight, woo-hoo almost done!

*I have a little DIY project up my sleeve to hid unsightly computer cords in Hubby's home office!

*I've made my list for next week's menu and I'm heading to Trader Joes shortly! (I actually enjoy menu planning-who would have thought?!)

*Tomorrow we're going to a movie at a fabulous place that serves dinner too. It's a new-ish establishment and it sounds amazing!

*Monday I don't have school and I get to watch my amazing nephew for a little while!

Ta-Ta for now!

***Edited to add: I fixed my grammatical error! Maybe I should edit my blog posts and my papers for school! :)

****Edited to add again: My kind mother pointed out that I made another grammatical error...thanks mom...

{Raccoons, Squirrels and a Mouse}

I'm going nuts! I need Brendan to reserve a padded room at the crazy bin! The little critters that call our .25 acres of suburbia home, are driving me crazy! We have a family of raccoons that likes to squeal in the dark hours of the night and leave their poop behind! They are gross! Huge creatures with glow-in-the-dark eyes! Also, we have squirrels that frolic around our yard as though it's their own little jungle-gym! I was looking out the window and a squirrel popped out of no where and made me jump through the ceiling just now! Then, there was the mouse that I spotted in the garage last week! I thought I was going to faint! I absolutely hate rodents! They completely freak me out even though they are tiny! So since that little incident I have not ventured out to the garage! I think it was Brendan's idea to plant the mouse, so I would leave his man-zone alone! Haha I'm funny, but I think it actually freaked him out too! So the next day we went out and bought poison! I don't know if we killed anything, because A: I don't go out there and B: Brendan was out of town for work. So tonight when his cute little buns walk through the door, I will give him a kiss after he checks the poison and the garage! I hope it makes sense why I'm going crazy! There are just too many little critters running around!

P.S. Our neighbors have a peanut feeder on their deck! I think all of these lovely animals are attracted to the food over there!

{Shattered Dreams}

When we closed on our house last September, visions of pretty decor and a large tax refund danced in my mind. Well, fast forward to last night. Those wonderful visions of a large tax return were shot down! If we didn't have the First Time Home Buyer Credit deduction we would have had to pay! Therefore, we aren't getting the wonderful $8000! We're getting the $8000 less the amount we owed! Come on, I thought we were going to get all of the interest back that we paid on our mortgage payments, and a chunk of our closing costs, but nope! I guess it comes down to, the more you make the more they take.

I do have a little piece of mind knowing that next year they will have to give us a big return because the good old husband is the only one makin' the cheddar! Oh and we will have a whole year of tuition payments and mortgage interest to deduct! Haha Mr. Government, what do you think about that?!

Also, last night we were further annoyed when we found out that we couldn't file our taxes online. We have to print and mail them in. The annoying thing about this it that the refund takes longer and we didn't have any black toner in our printer (I printed a 37 page online reading for school earlier). So I suggested that we print it in pink or purple ink to show them! Brendan didn't think that would be such a good idea! Haha! I guess we will be picking up black toner today.

{Random Thoughts}

1. I received a grade of 3.7 on my Technological Autobiography paper which was about blogging! I am so excited!

2. I have my first exam tomorrow! I'm a little nervous, but not really, because the professor is allowing a 1 page outline for the essay portion of the exam.

3. Today in my Literature class, a girl sat in front of me and played on FaceBook during the entire 2 hour and 5 minute class. I was so annoyed! It's like come on girlfriend, you are spending $2,525 per quarter to sit and play on FaceBook?!?

4. I'm excited for Valentine's Day! I can't wait to dig out our lovey decor!

5. It's almost Friday (well my Friday, which is Thursday!)

Happy 24th Birthday, Brendan!

I hope you've enjoyed your special day!

You are the best husband and I am so grateful you're mine!

I Love you!!

Happy Birthday, Mom!

You are the most amazing woman and I'm so proud to call you Mom!

I Love you!

{Keep on Writin'}

I'm currently working on a paper, due Monday, on the differences between two literary works from the 1850's, and how the female main characters try to balance the different Spheres of society, the Public Sphere and the Private Sphere. But, I'm just not feeling the whole, write a four page paper, and make it witty and include quotes, and show how you can 'read closely' right now. But the interesting thing I've come to learn is that women who worked outside of the home during this time period, were viewed as dirty, manly and untouchable by their husbands. Boy, oh, boy have things changed?! It is so interesting to me to learn about how our societal norms have shifted and changed over the years!

Another interesting learning experience from this week, is that I wrote a four pager on Monday, in regards to my Technological Autobiography for my Media and Society class. I had to pick a technological medium that I use closely on a daily basis. I decided to write about the world of blogging. Wow, who would have thought that blogging would some how be incorporated into my school life? Very interesting!

Alright, I guess I should get back to my paper writing! :)

I'm trying...

Well, as I mentioned in my last post, I'm loving my new role as a domestic goddess. Although, I must say that all the domestic intuitions haven't kicked in, for example:

Hubby: Hey hun, do you know why my underwear are hairy? It looks like it might be Bella hair.

Me: Well, umm.... Ok, do you want the truth.

Hubby: Um, yes...

Me: Ok, I had a brilliant idea to wash Bella's blanket with our underpants, since they both needed to be washed in hot water.

Hubby: Oh hun. Well, that was a great idea, but, maybe next time you shouldn't wash the dog's stuff with our undergarments.

Me: Yes, I already decided that. Hey, don't be so cynical; I'm new at this job.

Hubby: You're trying really hard; I'm sorry!

A few nights later I attempted to make rice crispy treats with left over Christmas marshmallows. Well, unless you want brown rice crispy treats, I suggest NOT mixing red and green marshmallows with your rice crispies. Also, I suggest not serving warm rice crispy treats on napkins, they will stick to the napkin! One last thing, rice crispy treats should NOT be stored in the fridge. You will definitely end up being a hard mess and when you try cutting it, rice crispies will go everywhere, (including your hair).

Anyways, I'm trying and as my mom has told me, "you'll get there".

{2010 So Far}

Well 2010 has started off on the right track! I don't think I could be anymore content with our lives right now. I LOVE not working! I'm also loving school, even though I have a ton of homework every night. I am also enjoying my role as a Domestic Goddess; our home has been perfect since I quit my job. No dirty dishes, dirty floors, dirty bathrooms, excess laundry, etc. I have also been really good about planning out our meals in advance and then doing one big grocery trip per week. Brendan is working hard as ever at his job! I will forever be grateful for his support in my educational endeavor! As the rain increases around here, we've been itching to plan a little getaway during my spring break. I don't know if this idea will work, but we're trying to pull something together!

On the home front, we're still without a shower (thanks for letting us use your shower, Mom & Dad) we're also left with several small projects that must get completed before we host a house-warming party. Also, we've been planning out our landscaping and outside living spaces to be tackled in the Spring! We're also tinkering with the idea of adding french doors from our master bedroom to our backyard. I think it would be lovely to wake up on a Saturday morning and sip coffee on our own little deck.

Well that's all I have for now, since I haven't hooked up my new camera...

Happy New Year!

I'm sitting here typing from my new laptop! I just organized my school supplies and am getting ready for my first day back at school! Even though we eliminated an income on the 31st, I am very calm and excited with the new path my life is taking! I am so excited that I will FINALLY receive my bachelor's degree in 5 quarters! Life is good! (I've already started my list of wishful graduation presents!)

I am also excited that I finally received a new camera! I can't wait to take 'after' pictures of our new home! I still can't believe how much we have done to this little house over the past 4 months! Tomorrow night the camera will be removed from the box and hopefully I will capture some fun images!

Good night!