A Birthday and Employment

Ok ok ok. It's been a week... AGAIN! I am horrible! Butt.. My daughter is finally a year old! On her actual birthday, hubby was lucky enough to have it off because he had watch the night before and got off in the morning. We pretty much went out to eat lunch, then we went shopping at the mall to get her gifts which consisted of two pairs of jordans, two outfits, and two brand new toys! We decided on letting her open her presents on the day of her party instead. Then we went to go pick up hubby's brother since he had just came back from deployment.. then we got ready again and went out to eat dinner at Chili's. We got baby girl a chocolate molten lava cake and she loved it! Then finished the night off with a little bit of shopping at Wal-mart to get some more things for the party on Saturday.

Then Thursday came and I started to prepare all the cakes for the party. That night I made Chocolate Cupcakes from scratch and put the in the fridge to get frosted on Saturday. Then Friday night I made Red Velvet Cake from scratch and mixed it with Cream Cheese frosting to make them into Cake pops. I also baked baby's smash cake which was regular yellow cake from the box. I didn't get to sleep until about 3am and I woke up at about 8am Saturday morning to finish the cakes and start baking the ribs in the oven. Once I woke up and got the ribs going, I started making the Butter Cream Frosting for the cupcakes and I started melting the milk chocolate for the cake pops. After about 3 hours, I finally got everything ready! I also had a bit of chocolate left over, so I decided to dip some fresh strawberries! All in all, things went pretty well! It was a bit too hot outside for anything, which made the swimming pool really useful... but I don't think we'll be celebrating her birthday outside again for a while! Now here are the pics of all my hard work and.... of course... a recipe for you! Enjoy!


Chocolate Cream Cake

• 2 2/3 cups all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 1/4 cups granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 3 eggs
• 3 oz unsweetened chocolate melted and cooled
• 1 1/2 cups ice water

1. Grease and lightly flour three 9x1 1/2 or 8x1 1/2 inch round baking pans. Combine flour, soda, salt.
2. In a large mixing bowl beat the butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add eggs, one at a time, beating eell after each. Beat in chocolate. Alternately add flour mixture and water, beating on low to medium speed after each addition just till combined. Pour into prepared pans.
3. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 25-30 min or till a wooden toothpick inserted near the centers comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks for 10 mins. Remove from pans. Cool completely on wire racks.

Butter Cream Filling: Beat 1/2 cup butter till softened. Beat in 2 1/4 cups sifted powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons milk, and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. Beat in additional milk, if necessary, to make a filling of spreading consistency.

Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting: Beat 1/2 of an 8oz package cream cheese till softened. Beat in 3 tablespoons milk. Beat in 3 3/4 cups sifted powdered sugar. Beat in 3 oz unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat in additional milk if necessary to make of spreading consistency.

P.S. After job hunting for about a month and surviving 5 interviews.. I finally got a callback and I was offered a position! So I will be starting work in a few weeks! Woohoo! So starting next month, my life as I know it is going to change completely. I hope I'm ready for it!

And by the way, she enjoyed her smash cake. :)

Wedding Bells

I completely apologize for not updating my blog in over a week! Things have been kinda busy at home with trying to plan for Ne'ani's first birthday and my best friend in high school's wedding...

Anyhoo... we started our road trip Friday afternoon and it was such a bad idea for us to leave at that time. I warned hubby that we would be stuck in traffic and he insisted on leaving early because he wanted to be well rested for the wedding on Saturday. Little did he know that those efforts were wasted because we still didn't get enough rest for Saturday! And on top of that we barely made the last few minutes of the wedding! But, at least I got to hear the most important part of the wedding.. their vows to each other and when they got pronounced as man and wife!

I definitely had a great time catching up with everyone and it was so wild to see her get married. I was just super bummed that everything went by so quickly and I wasn't ready to leave yet.. but I know we'll have another chance to see everyone again. Maybe at the next wedding. Hehe.

So I do have a quite a few pictures to start posting up.. Including the pics I took for babygirl for her turning one. I've been so lazy with y camera.. I really need to get cracking on that...

-S

P.S. I had 3 interviews last week for different positions at the same store and today is the day I find out if I got a job there.. so we'll see because time is running out and I really need a job soon!

My Projects are FINALLY completed!

Ok ok ok. You can go ahead and be mad at me for not updating my blog in OVER a week! I've just been super busy and spending tons of quality time with my family. Hubby basically had a 5 day weekend from work. We went to his command's picnic on Thursday (which they served amazing food!) and I got super sunburnt from it. Otherwise, it was pretty fun. Then on Friday I had a job interview at Olan Mills for the Studio Photographer position. I thought it went really well, but they were doing call backs today and I guess the must have lost my number because they never called me back. Super sad about that because I really really wanted that job. The hours rocked and I love to take pictures.. and it would just be such an awesome job to have. blahhh. Anyhoooo... then on Saturday we tried to take advantage of the sun and went swimming at the pool, but the sun didn't stay out too long.. so we only got about an hour of swimming and sun bathing. After we went to eat dinner with our friends and then watched Pirates of the Carribean!! I must be a nerd because I'm the only one who really liked it... and I was the only one who got excited when they showed the Queen Anne's Revenge. How lame am I? Lol. Sunday was catch up on homework day for me and then Monday we had dinner at our friends house. That pretty much sums up my 5 day weekend with my hubby!

But today, BOY was today a busy day for me. I was up and out of bed by 10 and I rushed to get me and baby ready. I went down to the college and got enrolled.. So starting July 5th I will be dedicating 14 months of my life to becoming a Medical Assistant. I was there for a few hours. Then I went to this Job Searcher thing at Fleet and Family services on base and that was an hour long. It was pretty informational. Then I ran around like a chicken with no head trying to get other things done like picking up paperwork at Pass and Decal for my guest list for Ne'ani's bday, dropping off my application at the NEX and buying all white shoes for school, and then going to the Naval Hospital to change my Tricare info so I can start being seen at the Drs on base instead of driving an hour out of town. THENNN.. I finally got to go home and somewhat relax. I broke out my sewing machine, and sewed my school patched onto my scrubs! I’m pretty proud of myself! (Btw, this pic my patch is unsewed.)

Then hubby decided he wanted me to finish the projects I've been trying to finish for over a month already! This tiny project was super easy. Just made a little key holder to hold our keys! It was scrap wood left over from the Ana White project that I originally started. I just bought the little holders at Home Depot. I can't remember exactly how much they were, but they weren't too pricey.


Here is my Ana White Clip Art Rails project! I kind of tweeked it a little bit. I cut my wood piece to 5ft instead and used 12 clothes pins. I put 6 on top and on the bottom! I used gorilla glue, but I would probably try a different kind of glue because the clothes pins kept wanting to come off the wood. She also talks about painting hers and the quickest way is to spray paint. I second the spray painting. I originally wanted to sand it down after I painted it because I wanted to give it a more vintage look, but hubby decided he liked it looking sleek. And to give it more color I chose not to paint the clothes pins. All in all, I'm happy with how it turned out! Now I just have to figure out if I want to add anything else to it besides pictures! Any suggestions?


Till next time! And hopefully it won't take me a week to update this again. Lol!

-S

Trying to Find a J.O.B. (Just Over Broke)

So I've been on this job hunt for a couple of weeks and it's really stressing me out. Especially since I want to go to a ground college campus, I'm stressing out on what jobs to find that would work out with my school schedule and would allow me to afford a babysitter full-time. This is so lame. I wish finding a job could be easier. I wish I could just get a phone call today or anytime in soon saying, "Hey S! Just wanted to call and say that you're hired and you start work on Monday!" or something in that manner.

Why can't things be easier? Why can't I just go to school and not have to worry about finding a babysitter for my daughter? Why can't we just get free babysitting so I don't have to worry about affording a babysitter for my daughter? But it's life. We all go through it and we all deal with it.

It's times like these that make me wish I knew what career I wanted earlier in life. That way I wouldn't have goofed off and wasted all those years and all that money. Now, here I am.. stressing about what I finally want to do for myself. Woe is me.

-S

Work and School

So.. hubby has been kinda pushing me to find a job. I really don't want to work because I want to spend time with my daughter and I feel like it's pointless to find a job if it's just going to pay for a babysitter. Know what I mean? But, I've been busy sending in my applications and resume online to different places and I already had my first interview at Sears and waiting to see if I get a second interview.

I've also been looking at an actual campus college. I'm getting tired of online schooling and I think that it just makes me slack off more than really put work into it. Every time a new quarter starts, I always have high hopes that I'm going to do better in my classes, but I still slack off and put everything off until last minute.. and before I know it I'm behind. I mean, I'm still struggling on writing an essay that was due Sunday night! FML. But yeah. So I went to a private college and basically got information on Medical Assisting. Class starts in July and I would be finished in 14 months.. and hopefully working as a Medical Assistant right off the bat. I know there's a ton of students and stuff, but a girl can only hope that there will be a good paying job waiting there for me when all is said and done.

Now, my issue with this is.. Neil will only be here for so long before he gets deployed again. And once he's deployed, I'm going to need a babysitter for 60 hours a week! Assuming I'm working a full-time job and going to school part-time. Ugh. So lame. I don't know how I'm going to do it and as far as I know.. it's going to be a rough, rough, rough 14 months of work and school. Especially since my hubby is going to be gone for 9 months of it because of pre-deployment and deployment. Military life definitely is tough. I wish I had someone who could help with babysitting and watching Ne'ani.

But you have to do what you have to do in order to have a better future, right? Too bad once I'm finished with school.. all my paychecks will be going to paying off my student loans! FML again.

Well I need to get started on that super late paper of mine. Any grade is better than NO grade. Right?

-S

Working Out

So I started to work out. I haven't ever really been the type to work out. I'm pretty lazy and I guess I can say that I'm content with my body. Sure, I can definitely tone it up... and that's exactly what I'm working towards.

My body is so sore. I've been working out with my friend C and he basically had me doing a lot of arm work outs. My arms are practically dead! They hurt all over and I have a tough time carrying my daughter around. But that's good because that means that my workout is working! Right? He said I should be seeing results in about a month and the rate that we're going at... I believe him. We're supposed to be eating healthier too. I think I'm going to try to do that next paycheck when our grocery money is back at it's full potential.

Hubby and I bought bikes yesterday too so we can go bike riding.. and I bought this Gold's Gym workout thing that supposedly works and it's for your abs, thighs, and arms. It came with a workout dvd and an 8-week guide to healthy eating. I haven't been able to use the "home gym" thing yet, or start working on the healthier eating.. but I have all intentions of doing it. The meal plans don't sound too bad and I'll post up what I'll be eating each day if I decide to start it. Lol. I know I need to eat healthier, but I'm a snacker and that's a huge problem! Maybe one day...

On another note, I've really been slacking on adding pictures to this thing. I guess I can end this blog with a few...




I think I need to take a before and after picture too so you can see my awesome progress. I'm kinda excited I started to work out and it feels really good. I feel healthier and I feel like I have more energy (even thought the next day I am definitely tired). Hopefully I don't give up and follow through with working out. I just don't know if I'll be able to stay in shape once I get there. Lol. We shall see...

-S

Do Over

Lately, I've been thinking about my past and sometimes I wish I could do it all over again. I think about when I first started my Freshman year at SDSU and how much fun it was. But instead of reliving the fun (I mean, I'd still want to have the same fun), but I wish I did better in school. I wish I could go back to those days and just kick my butt in gear and I wish I got my stuff done. I bet, if I took care of things back then... I would probably working in my career by now...

Instead, here I am.. still struggling with what I want to do in my life. Don't get me wrong. I love where I am now. I love that I have my own family and I love my husband and my daughter to death. I wouldn't trade them for the world. But I wish I could have finished what I started back then. I wish I could go to my 10 year high school reunion and say that I made something of myself.

I mean, don't you ever look back on certain things in your life and wish that you could change it?

Sometimes, I ask myself, "If there was one thing in the world that I could do differently, what would it be?" It's hard for me to even narrow it down to just one thing because I would do a lot of things differently. Then from there I start thinking more about other things about life. Such as, reincarnation. I mean, what really happens to us when we die? Do we really just decompose into the ground and our souls go to heaven (assuming heaven does exist in a religious view)? Or do we possible live another life? The saying goes, you only have one life to live.. but how true is that? Do you ever think that maybe we are born into someone new, but we just don't remember our previous life?

I don't know. I guess I start thinking about stuff like that because I'm afraid of growing old. I don't know if I could say I'm afraid of dying. I know that I'm afraid of dying alone or dying in pain.. and I can definitely say that I am afraid of growing old.. but death? Meh. So much stuff just runs through my mind! But yeah.. food for thought.

-S