Dill Pickle recently posted a great blog about what to get me for Christmas. It was definitely one of the sweetest posts he’s written about me. What was cool was that he knew what I wanted, and that was before I sent him a list.  Some other things that I want that aren’t something you can buy in stores :

1. To lose about 10 pounds in the next two months would be amazing. So what I’m wishing for is the will power to stick to a workout routine. It’s going to be rough with the holidays too-all the food is so tasty. So I think I’ll just have to work out extra hard whenever I eat anything less than healthy. Fudge? Drop and give me 20!
2. For sure knowing where we are going to live come January. Right now we have a great opportunity, but nothing is for sure. I hate the unknown and it will be so nice to have that all figured out.
3. For Dylan to be done with his fire academy-something I will get right before Christmas. I just can’t wait to be able to spend our weekends together. Just the idea of sleeping in and then cooking breakfast sounds like the best present I could ask for.
4. For everything this Christmas to go smoothly with my ridiculously large and extended family. I want to share my Christmas with both my family and Dylan’s. My family can be less than understanding of that at times, and it annoys me. This year though, I can’t wait to have Dylan with me to share in all the activities!

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Technorati Tags: Christmas, diet, family, gift list, weight loss

52. My favorite season is fall. I love it when the leaves change color and it gets cold outside. I think it’s the prettiest time of the year, and the most comfortable weather and clothes wise.

53. I hate it when people I don’t know very well call me “Little Tess”. It bugs me a lot, and makes me feel like I’m a little kid. From my friends that I know and love I find it endearing but when my secretary does it I want to punch her in the face.

54. I’m a lil bit fiesty.

55. I used to have a really hard time falling asleep. I’d lay in bed and my mind would race, and then I’d toss and turn and get up ten times a night. Now I sleep like a log-I think it’s because I let go of a lot of stress in my life.

56. I lost a lot of friends when I stopped drinking for a year. It really showed me who my true friends were.

57. I can’t stand it when people say “What can I do you for?” It sounds dirty and it’s a dumb phrase.

58. I hate fake phone voices-like when people act super sugary sweet on the phone and it’s not their normal speaking voice. What is that?

59. I love Christmas. I decorate like crazy for it and I love everything from the songs, to the family time, to the food, to the specialty drinks (peppermint schnapps you are so good). Every year it looks like Christmas exploded in my house.

60. When I was a little kid I used to insist that we cut down our own Christmas tree instead of buying it. This would already result in super ugly Charlie Brown looking Christmas trees that I thought were beautiful.

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I stole this from my good friend, The Queen, first because I love these kind of things, and second because this is my 102nd post! I can’t believe that I’ve written over 100 posts-for those of you who do read my blog, thanks for tuning in!

So here are 102 random things about me, starting with the first 51

1. I waited to be born till after my dad came home from work, and I was apparently a very quick and easy labor. My mom said I’ve been trying to please people ever since.

2. My older brother was my best friend till he went into 1st grade and some kid told him it’s not cool to be friends with your sister. To this day I wish we had a closer relationship.

3. I grew up on a quasi farm-we had goats, pigs, chickens, dogs, cats, a hamster, at one point a ferret, and one sheep. Not a herd, just one.

4. My stepdad killed and ate the lamb-her name was Precious. He actually said, “Mhmm, Precious sure tastes good.” Mean. He was just playing around though.

5. My stepdad has been the best father to me I could have ever asked for.

6. My stepdad was my track coach in high school, and I couldn’t run a race without hugging him first and getting a pep talk.

7. I have a really strong connection with my mom. Sometimes I think we can read each other’s minds.

8. My mom is manic depressive, but she doesn’t let it rule her life. She is the strongest woman I know.

9. When I was a little girl I loved the color pink. I wanted a pink house, pink car, pink everything. When I got a little older I was a huge tomboy and hated pink. In college, I dyed my hair pink.

10. In 6th grade, I was part of the junior pep squad. We performed at half time for a high school football game and I thought I was really cool. I watched a video of it when I got older and it turns out I’m really uncoordinated.

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Technorati Tags: lists, things about me, tomboy, treadmills

I know it’s early, but I am already thinking about my Christmas shopping. If you think about it, it’s only two months and change till the big day. I am trying to get things done now so that it will be a bit easier on my pocketbook. I love so many things about Christmas: getting together with family, holiday cheer, the food, all the love of family and friends. What I hate is the focus on material things and the stress of going broke really gets to me. I love giving heartfelt gifts, and I hate the idea of just buying someone a thing. I think that’s great for the kids, but for my parents and the other adults in my life, I try to make homemade gifts.

This year I’m working on a slideshow dvd with pictures and movie clips of all of my family members. I did one two years ago, so I hope people aren’t bored by the same thing, but I think they’re fun.
This year will also be exciting because we have so many babies in the family. Nothing makes Christmas better than watching kids open presents, especially babies. They get so obsessed with the wrapping paper, usually more than the present themselves. This year my nephew and niece are coming to stay with us and I can’t wait! I think it’d be cool to get my nephew AJ something cool like remote control helicopters or a mini power wheel. I think he’s still a little too young (he’ll be 2 1/2 in December). Shopping for AJ, and my other nephew Ayden, and baby Brailynn my lil niece, is going to be my favorite Christmas shopping this year.

For Dylan, I am completely stumped. It’s our first Christmas together, and I have no clue what to get him. All I know is it has to be great. Suggestions?

I’m going to be an auntie AGAIN! I’m so excited for my little brother. While I don’t know how in the world he can afford to support one kid, let alone two, I know it will work out somehow. I am also hoping it’s a girl, as I’ve already been drooling over cute pink crib bedding. I already have a little niece, and it breaks my heart that she’s eight hours away from me, and I can’t watch her grow up. I have been lucky enough to see my lil nephew Ayden who lives just a few hours from me, and I manage to see him about once a month. Either way, boy or girl, I just hope this new little bundle is healthy and as happy as his/her big brother.

Yesterday was my lil nephew’s first birthday. I have one other nephew, and one niece all the way up in Portland, OR and I miss out on all the fun moments with them. It is nice to have a nephew that I get to see at least once a month, and I’ve had the chance to watch him grow. It’s amazing how time flies! When he was born he was just this tiny little peanut premee, not even 4 pounds. And now he’s all cheeks and rolly polly babiness. You can’t help but smile when you look at him. For his birthday his parents (my little brother and his wife) got him his own personal cake so he could tear it apart. He had a blast basically painting his face with blue and white frosting. He howled when we tried to wipe his face clean. It was such a funny thing to watch. After cake we had present time, and he was of course more thrilled with the wrapping paper than his impressive loot, which included toys and lots of clothes for him to grow into. Yours truly got him a few outfits about how trouble is his business and business is good. I plan on helping him live up to that. It’s only fair, helping nephew cause mischief is what aunties do best!
I wish I had known about these children’s books when I was buying his presents though. A personalized book would be a pretty cool present, and a fun keepsake. Well there is always my niece’s first birthday to look forward to. Or I could wait until Ayden gets a little older and can recognize his picture and his name on a book. How cool would that be for a 5 year old? To be the star of your own book? I’ll definitely have to check into the personalized books when Christmas gets closer.

As some of you may know, in the last few months I have literally become obsessed with the Twilight books. I bought the first three, and I pre-ordered the fourth and last of the series. For those of you who don’t know, the Twilight Series is about a young girl who falls in love with a vampire. It sounds kind of cheesy but these books are beautifully written. The way Stephanie Meyer describes Edward makes you fall in love with him. Each book has left me hanging, and I’m anxiously awaiting the final book in the series. I can’t tell you what the cliffhanger is, but I’m just hoping it happens, that’s all I’m gonna say. My good friend Crystal knows what I’m talking about. She got me hooked on this series and from opposite ends of the country we’ve been reading the books together and talking about them. They’re making a movie this December about the first book, and I can’t wait to see it! I think they did a great job of capturing the characters the way they were described in the books. Poor Pickle is going to get dragged to the theatre. He’s a lot like Edward in the fact that he says romantic things and he’s sweet to me. He teases me all the time about my vampire obsession but I don’t care. Check out this series and you’ll know what I’m talking about. Humina. That’s all I’m gonna say. Humminahhhh.

I’m up in Portland, OR visiting with my crazy family for the 4th of July weekend. I flew in last night and rode the public transportation with my grandparents to a restaurant downtown to meet the rest of the crew. Mind you, my grandmother has bright pink hair, so that plus our luggage we were quite the sight to behold trudging around downtown looking for the Greek Cusina Restaurant.
I got there and the place itself was like any other restaurant, low key, mellow, quiet. They led us to an upstairs part of the building and it was like walking into a club. Loud live Greek music playing, people dancing, and my huge loud family crowded around a table. There were my two aunts, two uncles, their spouses, my grandparents, and five of my cousins. We danced, we drank, chugged a liquor called Orzo (anise flavored and fantastic) and danced a traditional greek dance, and then threw plates screaming out OPAA! (Good luck in Greek apparently).
After the awesome dinner we headed down to the waterfront to watch the fireworks. Talk about an incredible show. It was non stop fireworks from all sides-they were lighting them off in three spots over the water, it was beautiful.
I came back to my aunts and promptly passed out. This morning I got up and went for a run with my uncle Bob. We didn’t bring our ipods which made the run seem a little longer, but it was nice to talk. Well, talk as much as I could in between wheezing breathes. I’m feeling a little more in shape but my knee gave me trouble so we only ran for half an hour. The hills kicked my butt!! Afterwards we got back to the house and he showed me some killer ab workouts. I can’t wait to go home and show them to Dyl Pickle so we can get abs of steel together.
Speaking of Dyl I am missing him like crazy. It’s so much fun here with the fam and I just wish he could be a part of it. Definitely taking him to the Greek Cusina so we can dance around and make asses of ourselves. But he’s at home taking care of my pup and birdie and it’s nice to know they’re in good hands.
This afternoon I’ve played Rock Band where I found out despite being able to sing it’s a super hard game. We also hooked up the karaoke machine which I’m sure after a few drinks we’ll all get into. Tonight we’re going to a blues festival which should be a blasty.
Right now I’m hiding out and resting because I know it’s going to be a lonnnng night and I’m a bit of a grandma. Bed by 11? Not with this crew. I’ll be lucky if I see my pillow before 4am. I better go get some energy drink in me so I can hang with the big kids.

This past three day weekend I got to spend a lot of time with my family. I was especially excited to see my baby nephew, who is quite the little peanut. I know I am biased, but that little boy is about the cutest thing ever, wouldn’t you agree?

He’s a little miracle in so many ways. When he was born he was really premature and spent a few weeks in the hospital. Now he’s a big happy healthy boy. The other miracle is how he’s affected my brother, his father’s, life. Before my brother met his wife, he was heavy into drugs and hanging out with a bad crowd. Then he went to a drug treatment center and got clean. It’s also where he met his wife and through recovery they fell in love. Then they found out they were having my baby nephew and my brother has lived every moment for that little man. It’s amazing to see the way he is with his son. I couldn’t be prouder of the father my brother has become to that little boy. I just wish I could see them more!