Yup, I called that one!

Even though yestesterday was not a surprise, I still had a great bday. Addyson came over in the morning to tell her Auntie Happy Birthday. She's so cute, I love living next door to my siblings & niece :) She's usually more smiley than she was in this pic, but maybe my lack of make-up scared her.

This pic is breakfast at Starbucks, because you really don't have to count calories on your bday. But since I got a glazed donut, I opted for fat free milk in my mocha. By the way, I can't remember having such a warm bday, notice the sun was out & it was only 10am (or so).

After breakfast we played in Riverpark. I went to Old Navy, only to get upset that my usual size "x" jeans wouldn't button, so I got pissed & left. Then we went to Target, I got a new cd & some jammies (last pic). You can never have too many jammie pants for lounging. After that it was time for lunch. Since it was my day, I chose Famous Dave's. I LOVE this place. They have the best bbq food ever! Below is the fam who came out to celebrate with me, thanks, love you guys!

After lunch Mario took me to the mall & I spent way too much time in Macy's. I bought a couple pairs of jeans that are now my new fave's. They were having a sale, plus I brought my coups! I saved quite a bit of money, I was so proud. You can see them in the pic below. I also got a pink thermal hoodie shirt (left) with the blue tank-top to wear under. The white with polka-dots are the jammie pants & the pink to the right is the long sleeve shirt to match. The pink on the bottom left is a wrap around towel that my Aunt Diane bought me & the awesome lepard gloves are another gift from my Aunt Deana & Uncle Doug. Aren't they sexy? Can not wait to rock those!

After we spent way too much time shopping, we got ready & went out to dinner. We had teppanyaki at Sakanaya, say that 3 times fast! I think this is the 3rd bday in a row I've had that for dinner. I love teppan because you never know who you're gonna sit next to. We set next to this highschool couple (not sure if it was a date or not, but a fancy dinner on a Wednesday night? Did their parents approve that?). The girl was telling the boy that her mom just bought the Twilight books & she's really excited to read them. I was holding back from giving her a piece of my mind (in a good way). But thanks to her, since she's the one who took this pic :)
The only reason we didn't go to the movies was because the only showing we could make was the 9:35pm for The Secret Life of Bees and I felt bad cause Mario has to get up at 5am for work, so that wasn't a good idea. Plus, now we have an excuse to go out on another night ;)

Even though my bday was everything but a surprise, and now being another year closer to 30, it was still a great day. Thanks to everyone who celebrated with me, and my wonderful hubby who agreed to shop with me for hours & only wanting to buy a few things for himself.

Happy Birthday To Me, Tomorrow!

Tomorrow (Wednesday), I will dreadfully be another year older :( On the upside, Mario is taking the day off which means 4 things: Breakfast at Starbucks, lunch, dinner & shopping (hopefully we can add a movie to make it #5)!! I desperately need some jeans, so I'm looking forward to that, even though I hate trying to find a pair that actually fit me right, I'm sure most women can relate. Since I have my whole day planned for tomorrow, I had some family over on Sunday for a little pre-bday bday party. I was actually able to cram about 20 people in my condo, that was awesome, and I got some pretty sweet gifts. So now I FINALLY have a camera, wooo whoo!!! Thank you to everyone who gave me support & encouragement during my time of loss (& those who offered their old camera, you know who you are!) Here's my sweet new camera, in pink, of course!
So thanks Mom & Dad for my new camera. Now I get to finally post pics on here!
Here's a few more pics of the festivities.
Mario & his dad Mario, a carbon copy

Upclose look at my cake, Halloween themed of course!



My kitchen that I love! Krista, that's the microwave (in the back) that your gift card helped me buy :)

My Cousin Brandi (my Maid of Honor), my Grandmother Eloise, & my Aunt Deana

Aunt Diane with my cousins Zach & Haley

So much fun, thanks everyone for coming & for all the great gifts & gift cards that I'm going to spend tomorrow. Pics of all that to come :)

Only because everyone else did it...

Take the Quiz and Share Your Results!

Seriously, Someone Hire Me!

Why does finding a job right now have to be so difficult? I suppose finding a job is never easy, but WHY NOW?? I've been searching the web for a VERY long time, and have came up unsuccessful. I decided against the Youth Correctional Counselor job with the state because I refuse to live in Stockton, and my only other option, Camarillo (Ventura County) is a little out of the price range, even with the excellent pay. I can not justify renting a 2 bedroom apartment for $1300+ or more, not gonna happen. The price people pay for SoCal. I'm still waiting to hear from Tulare County about the Probation Officer job. Not quite sure how I'm still feeling about that being that Tulare Co EE's are/were on strike, yikes! During my entire college career, I had this idea that getting your degree would just guarantee you a job upon graduation, boy was I wrong. Even with my bachelor's, I still can't find someone to hire me, or pay me what I deserve to be making. Mario & I are thinking about moving somewhere else, although I'm not fully convinced that's the solution. Any suggestions, job offers, or other bits of advice?

Twilight

Just a quick update for those 2 of you who care :) I'm about 3/4 of the way done with the Twilight book. First, let me admit that I was a bit skeptical about starting to read these. I could have thought of a million other ways for Mario & I to spend our time lying in bed together, but I decided to give it a shot. Second, I don't do well with peer pressure. I am enjoying them though. It's not the scary vampire, I wanna suck your blood kind of story I thought it may have been, so that's good. It helps at this point that they're easy reading too, cause I'm just not up to reading at an adult level right now. So thank you Rebecca & Khristie for the referral, I'm really not sure how many court shows & paternity tests I could have handled otherwise!