My sweet little sunshine girl (sometimes)

We're here in AZ visiting the family during Addison's spring break. We got to spend some time with Wyatt, Lori, Rhett, Kelli, Kodi and Gray tonight. Lori brought her camera and got some great shots of little miss Addison. Lori is so talented. If you ever need a great photographer she's your girl. :) The cute little bohemian (which I decided to call it after Grandpa said she looked like a "hippie") hairdo to go with her tye-die dress was courtesy of her cousin Kodi. How Kodi convinced her to let her touch her hair is beyond me. She can't stand having it combed, brushed or anything that might involve a teensy bit of discomfort. I've been tempted several times to give her a buzz cut, but it's so thick, long and beautiful that I'll endure the fighting we go through every morning when it comes time to brush it for school. I remember going through the same thing with my mom and my hair every morning until second grade when I decided a mushroom cut would be the way to go (someone should have talked me out of that one). We're here until Saturday and we're enjoying spending time with "the family" as Addison calls it. My heart melts when I think about how much she loves being around "the family". I'm so proud that family is so important to her.

I did it, I kicked the habit!

Nine days without any soda. I think I have officially overcome my addiction. We've been out to eat a few times since I quit and it has been no problem asking for a cup for water instead of ordering a soda. I'm so proud of myself because I am the girl that never finishes anything she starts (just come take a look at all the semi-finished projects at my house). Dr. Pepper will always hold a special place in my heart and I'll probably tear up every time I'm in the checkout line at the store and the darn bottle stares up at me from the cooler with it's shiny maroon label and fancy script spelling out it's name. I'll miss you Mr. Pepper! ;)

Five days, no soda!

I'm so proud of myself. As Mom told me Grandma Bower used to say 'don't hurt your arm patting yourself on the back' or something to that effect. The first few days were so horrible. I had migraines and missed that burn in my throat at 9am every morning. I've gone five entire days....make that six, I just realized it's Friday and I haven't had a single sip of soda. I even took Addie out for pizza a few nights ago and I had water while her root beer taunted me from across the table while she was away playing video games. I almost snuck a sip, but decided not to...even though it was caffeine free. My goal is to quit it completely, even the caffeine free stuff.

Oh and for all you diet soda drinkers out there, I've read that diet soda contains something regular soda doesn't that is pretty scary in my opinion (please don't take this as me on a soap box, it just scared the pants off me). The stuff is called Aspartime and it's known to cause the following: arthritis, birth defects, fibromyalgia, Alzheimer's, lupus, multiple sclerosis and diabetes. Here's a little excerpt from a book I recently read:

"When methyl alcohol, a component of aspartime, enters you body, it turns into formaldehyde. Formaldehyde is toxic and carcinogenic. Laboratory scientists use formaldehyde as a disinfectant or preservative. Want more bad news? When aspartime is paired with carbs, it causes your brain to slow down its production of seratonin."

By the way, this stuff is found in most sugar-free foods. Just an FYI. Thought I'd pass along the information because I was absolutely blown away that they'd put this stuff in our food and drink.

Okay, so off my pseudo soap box and back to the topic at hand. So each time I go out to eat and see the soda fountain or I open my refrigerator door and I see the Dr. Pepper staring me back in the face I almost feel like I'm betraying THE DRINK. I'm so torn, I don't want to hurt the poor soda's feelings....but then I remember, it's just a soda, it doesn't have feelings and there's nothing to feel guilty about. I am a bit disappointed that I haven't seen my extra pounds melting off, but that could have something to do with my intake of strawberry cream hearts (darn valentine's day). Oh well, I guess I just need to give up one thing at a time if I want to be successful. This has been really hard though, don't know if I can give up all chocolate.

My New Year's Resolution is giving me a headache

So I'm on a health kick lately trying to shed the 10 pounds I so quickly gained. Did anyone else's metabolism just stop completely at age 30? It's horrible! I used to be able to eat anything I wanted without even worrying about what it was going to do to my thighs. I've recently come to notice that I'm struggling to tug my jeans over my thighs and hiney (which has been nonexistent until the last few months). I read a book on eating healthy and I'm a regular at the gym, but the pounds seem to come faster and faster as of late.

So for my new year's resolution I've decided to cut soda out of my daily diet. This means no more soda....and worse, no more Dr. Pepper. This may gross some people out, but I sat down and thought about the last 10-12 years of my life and I can only think of one day I ever went 24 hours without a Dr. Pepper (or in dire times a substitute of Coke or Pepsi) and that day was the day I gave birth to Addison. I was restricted from eating or drinking anything before I was induced and because I had her so late at night I wasn't able to get Rich to run out for a soda for me.

I'm two days into my "no-soda" kick and it's killing me. I was doing great until about 8pm last night. The headache came roaring in and I haven't been able to shake it since. I can't take any headache medicine because they all contain caffeine which is what is causing the headache to begin with (or the lack of caffeine I should say). We'll see if I can really make this work. Wish me luck!

'Tis the Season

Ahhh, at last. My favorite time of year has arrived. I've always loved this time of year and I think the draw for me is getting to spend time with my family. It's the one time of year that I get to see nearly everyone and the kids are all so excited, reminds me of being little and not being able to sleep a wink on Christmas Eve. I still get so excited, but not to the point where I'm willing to sacrifice precious shut eye. ;) So, happy holidays to all.

Eight things.....

I'm not original, I stole this from someone else's blog and I'm bored....so here goes.

8 things
8 television shows that I watch......in no particular order
1. What Not to Wear
2. The Office
3. Kath and Kim
4. Cops
5. Project Runway
6. The Pick Up Artist
7. Two and a Half Men
8. The Soup

8 Favorite restaurants......
1. El Farolito
2. Luigi's
3. Togo's
4. Lamppost Pizza
5. Ruth's Chris
6. Orange County Mining Co.
7. Islands
8. Mom's house (that isn't really a restuarant, but still one of my favorite places to eat;))

8 Favorite Singers/Bands
1. Mirah
2. Rilo Kiley
3. The Killers
4. Snow Patrol
5. Depeche Mode
6. Tori Amos
7. Gwen Stefani
8. Leona Naess

8 Books I have read
1. Shopaholic and sister
2. Shopaholic Takes Manhattan
3. Shopaholic Gets Married
4. Shopaholic and Baby (are you seeing a theme yet?)
5. Sweet Ruin
6. The Pact
7. The Notebook
8. Shawshank Redemption

8 things that happened yesterday
1. I went to the gym for two hours (yay for me!)
2. I had a parent/teacher conference with Addison's teacher
3. I drove to Fullerton and back in rush hour traffic
4. I played with our new kitten
5. I watched my favorite tv show
6. I ate way too many sugar cookies
7. I went to Target
8. I giggled with Addison about her Happy Meal making her "happy"

8 things I am looking forward to
1. Trick or Treating with Ad
2. Family get together tomorrow
3. Thanksgiving
4. Christmas
5. Spending time with family
6. Making cinnamon rolls with Mom
7. The weekend (woot woot)
8. Getting a new car maybe sometime in the next year???

8 things I wish for
1. Can I have a new car?
2. The election to be over!!!
3. A money tree so I could shop non-stop
4. That sparkly LAMB purse I've been eyeing at Nordstrom
5. That Addison will always be happy
6. A home makeover, all furnishings provided by Z Gallerie
7. A bigger closet
8. To be a rock star for one day, mostly for all the cute clothes I'd have (I'm too old though....)

8 people I am tagging
1. Katie
2. Michelle
3. Lori
4. Meri
5. Marcie
6. Sorry, I ran out of people to tag......
7.
8.

Family photo shoot

We had our family photos taken last week by our fav photographer Jenny Stafford (Red Loft Studios). She's been taking our family portraits since Addie was a baby and we missed her for those two years on the east coast. I am so pleased with the outcome. I thought for sure Ad's hair would be a mess and she wouldn't smile because she was acting like a little impatient five year old, but Jenny managed to capture everything I love about my little girl. Guess who turned five?