The Love List (Reflection 5)

1. Is there any unfinished business you and your partner need to talk about? Probably, I feel like everyone does to an extent.

2. Have you felt lonely lately? How can your partner help you feel less alone, less isolated in certain areas of your life? Yes, part of this stems from anxiety though, which isn't something that can really be fixed. Nate does his best to be understanding and helpful with it though.

3. Is there a money issue you and your partner need to discuss? Are you being honest with each other when it comes to your spending habits? Money is one thing we are both really good with when it comes to our relationship. We both know each others spending, but we also have access to each others stuff.

4. Have you been angry with your partner this month? If so, explore with him or her what's going on and why you sometimes feel this way. I don't know if I have this month or not. We definitely can frustrate each other, but we both understand how and why we do.

5. How can you better support one another emotionally or practically in the next 4 weeks? Nate is on travel right now, so the best thing I can think of to do is send him cute things each day and be understanding that he will be working a lot. While home I am taking care of the house, mail, kittens, and other things that need to be done.

6. To keep your marriage current, ask each other what has defined you in the past month. What has been on your mind the most? Mine has been wanting to do more volunteer work, deciding whether to go back to school, working on organizing the house, and wanting to get a dog.

The Love List (Reflection 4)

1. Almost everyone struggles with being as affirming and encouraging as they would like. Why do you think it is difficult for so many of us to build up our partner's self esteem? When in a relationship you get to see all of the good and bad in a person. Many times we focus on the good first, then are flabbergasted when we notice the bad later. Often we tend to blame our partner for this.

2. Recall a time when you felt affirmed and encouraged by your partner. What made it so meaningful and memorable? One morning Nate woke me up in the morning (which he normally does and I don't remember it). He told me how much he loves me and hopes I have a good day, then gave me a kiss. It just made me realize how much he loves me and goes out of his way to show me his love.

3. What is one specific area that you would like your partner to notice more? In other words, where could you use a little more affirmation? Most days I try to keep in contact with Nate and take time out to text him randomly or send him things that he would enjoy. He normally doesn't respond or mention it after.

4. Consider how you might devise a mental jogger to help you remember to boost your partner's self-esteem. What might it be for you? Probably a notification on my phone or a reminder on my desk in my office.

The Love List (Reflection 3)

This section of the book says that you should do something active with your partner each week. Find some fun activities to do together and make it a point to do those activities. Not everyone will like the same activities, but continue to try different things until you find something you enjoy doing together.

1. How would sharing an activity together each week bring the two of you closer together? There are small activities that we enjoy doing together, but we could work on finding more activities. Often times we get frustrated when we don't both want to do the same thing, but we still want to be together. Trying new activities and finding ones we both like would really help this frustration.

2. Which activities have the potential to be shared with your spouse? Biking, camping, golfing, ice-skating, swimming, tennis, concerts, movies, sporting events, volunteering, woodworking, card playing, cooking, house renovating, photography, shopping, etc.

3. Of course the above list is just to get you started. What other activities might the two of you enjoy? Planning events, looking at businesses, finding potential rental properties, rock climbing, broom ball, laser tag, etc.

4. Once you identify a potential shared activity, what will it take for the two of you to actually follow through and do it? Will you need a baby-sitter? Equipment? Get specific. All we would really need is time to do that activities. Nate travels for work so we are not always together. Maybe we can find a way to Skype our weekly activity while he is gone.

The Love List (Reflection 2)

This chapter was all about the art of laughter, not only in relationships, also in life. Laughter really can be a good medicine. Sometimes all you can do is laugh!

1. How would you describe you and your partner's funny bones? In other words, what makes each of you laugh? Nate (fiance) is very goofy. His sense of humor ranges from innocent craziness to dirty jokes to slap stick humor. I partially have a dark sense of humor, but also love innocent craziness.

2. Have you ever found yourselves laughing at something that nobody else thinks is funny? What do those moments reveal about your shared humor? Nate and I have a lot of inside jokes, which no one else ever seems to find funny. This especially happens around my family or friends, then the fact that they don't find it funny makes me laugh more.

3. Are you more likely to laugh at Jay Leno or David Letterman? Why? I laugh at Ellen DeGenerous if that is an option lol. She has fun clean comedy and it cracks me up.

4. Recall a time when humor backfired on your marriage. What happened and what can you learn from it? Joking with my fiance when he is really mad is not a good idea. Sometimes I laugh at inappropriate things that aren't funny. Anger happens to be one of those things.

5. How can you incorporate more humor into your married life? Honestly if Nate and I used more humor we may never be serious. It seems like we joke around all the time. It was what attracted me to him in the first place. :P

The Love List (1st reflection)

The Love List by Drs. Les and Leslie Parrott is the book I am currently reading. These posts about it will probably come randomly, because I will be reading a lot more some days then others.

This is my first reflection/set of questions that I will be answering. The first section was about learning to touch your spouse more and appreciating the power of touch. Studies have shown that touch makes the quality of life better in various ways.

1. How did your parents and family show affection? Do you like or dislike the kind of physical affection you grew up with? In my house it was just me and my mom. We tended to show our affection by a hug or kiss on the cheek before school and the same before bed. When I was younger I can remember cuddling up on the couch with my mom was one of my favorite things. Cuddling is definitely something I have always loved to do the most.

2. What kind of touch do you like the most? Pretty much any type of cuddling or long hugs.

3. When do you like to be touched? When do you not like to be touched? Most of the time I loved to be touched, the only time I don't like being touched is when my anxiety is really bad or I am very angry about something (the anger is pretty rare though).

4. How can you greet each other more affectionately at the end of the day? Nate (my fiance) is pretty good about giving me a hug or kiss when I first walk in the door. I'm not so good at this, tending to neglect the greeting when I get home from work. Normally I have other things on my mind. This is something I definitely need to work on!

5. I like to be kissed... Passionately, meaningfully, or playfully depending on my mood. Kisses are probably the best when I least expect them for me.

6. I like to be hugged... Pretty much anytime. Lay the hugs on me!

7. How can you incorporate more touch into your life? Sometimes I back away from being touched or am too distracted to realize when Nate wants to hug, cuddle, and kiss. We don't see each other for very long because of how busy we are, so I have a lot I want to talk about and do. Touch often gets pushed to the side.

Book Giveaway Winners

Congratulations to the winners of this weeks book giveaway (You can watch the video to see what book you won):

*Teresa Chevis

*Kim Pacheco

*Gail

*Heather Jurek

*Melissa Mensing

*Winner of the 1st comment giveaway (TBD).

If you want the extra books mentioned, they will go to the first person to comment (does not include people who already won a book). If you do not want the book you won or do not send me your address by Wednesday the book will go to the first person who comments that they want the book. If you want one of the mentioned books, please comment that you would like to be the runner up if the winner does not claim there book. There will be more chances to win in the future.

PS. Sorry for the video quality, I was to excited to wait or edit it :).

Winners email me at: lntaz20@gmail.com.     No junk mail please!!!!!!

10 I've Learned Tips! (Part1)

10 Tips from Live and Learn and Pass It On, check out the book for more awesome tips.

1. I’ve learned that you can get by on charm for about fifteen minutes. After that, you’d better know something. - Age 46

2. I’ve learned that my gas tank is always empty when I’m late for an important meeting. -Age 32

3. I’ve learned that after age 50 you get the furniture disease. That’s when your chest falls into your drawers -Age 53

4. I’ve learned you shouldn’t call a $100 meeting to solve a $10 problem. -Age 52

5. I’ve learned that if I’m in trouble at school, I’m in more trouble at home. -Age 11

6. I’ve learned that no matter how thin you slice it, there are always two sides. -Age 58

7. I’ve learned that nothing really bad happens when you tear those little “do not remove” tags from pillows. -Age 31

8. I’ve learned that motel mattresses are better on the side away from the phone. -Age 50

9. I’ve learned that you shouldn’t go through life with a catcher’s mitt on both hands. You need to be able to throw something back. -Age 66

10. I’ve learned that you can’t tell how far a frog can jump just by looking at him. -Age 79

30 Days of Regina!

Day 1: Favorite Evil Queen Outfit - Check out the picture below.
 
Day 2: Favorite Mayor Mills Outfit - Check out the picture below.












Day 3: Favorite Hairstyle - Love the swoopy hair. Check out the photo!

Day 4: Favorite Fan Art - Check out the awesome fan art below!!! Love it.

Day 5: Favorite Evil Queen Quote - I love so many of her quotes.... Especially when she tells it like it is.






















Day 6: Favorite Meme - Check out the one below!

Day 7: Favorite Smile Picture - Below.

Day 8: Favorite Young Regina Moment - She falls in love, saves a life, loses her love, turns evil (enough said). Seeing her in love and saving snow white are both awesome moments.

Day 9: Favorite Ship - Regina and Robin hood. They are everything that I would want true love to be.


Day 10: Favorite Episode - That is impossible to decide. Anytime where her caring side came out and you got to see the deeper person :).

Day 11: Favorite Mayors Office Scene - Anytime that Regina was being a boss and getting things done. This time with Pinocchio was interesting.



Day 12: Favorite Enchanted Forest Scene - The return to the enchanted forest. They may have no idea what to do, but at least they are working together.





Day 13: Favorite Scene with a Hero - Regina and Snow are able to reconnect and be on the same side.




Day 14: Favorite Facial Expression - How can I choose? I love her face :P.



Day 15: Favorite Lana Quote about Regina - "I think Regina has learned a lot from her mistakes, and she doesn’t want to see Emma make the same mistakes, so she’s going to stand by her side and protect her as much as she possibly can to make sure she doesn’t cross over to the darkness."  Looking toward the future I love this quote and the fact that Regina has transformed in to this genuine and caring person.

Day 16: A song the reminds me of Regina - Wonderland by Natalia Kills.

Day 17: Favorite Sass - She is so sassy and I love it. I had a hard time choosing, but I didn't want to pick the ones everyone else was going to choose.

 

Secrets: To Creating the Life of Your Dreams (Ebook)

From wisdomtimes.com anyone can get a free ebook called Secrets: To Creating the Life of Your Dreams. On here I will be talking about some key points of the book and my opinions. Hopefully if you like what you read on here you will download the free ebook. If you get the free ebook and read it, let me know what you think :).

The three simple questions:
1. 'Create and Live your dream life' - Is there a reason that you have heard this line before? I was always told to follow my dreams and do what makes me happy. As a child I was dyslexic and school was challenging. I had to overcome a lot to get where I am today (like most people).
2. Is it possibly that it's not an accident you are reading this book now? After picking it out and deciding to ask for the free ebook I think it was my choice to read it lol.
3. If this book does have the answers in it for creating your dream life, what is stopping you from giving it a try? Life has it's limitations. I'm on the way to building my dream life, but it won't happen in the blink of an eye.

Lessons/Quotes:
1. Stay in the present moment and focus on whatever you are doing at this time. "The best way to get is to give, just like the best way to achieve power is to empower other. So when you give someone 100%of yourself, they really feel it."
2. "You must live your life as you see fit, and bring the world all of the contributions you know how to bring."
3. "A dream is the seed of possibility planted in the soul of a human being, which calls him to pursue a unique path to the realization of his purpose." ~Sharon Hall
4. "If the ladder is not leaning against the right wall, every step we take just gets us to the wrong place faster."
5. Some tools to work on asking for help: Meditation and building intuition.
6. Belief traps: When you want to do something, but you can't for some reason (or think you can't). This leaves us stuck in place. Modify your goals to fit you, to avoid this trap.
7. DCBA - Dream, Connect, Believe, Act.

Observations/Thoughts:
1. The interview with God format is very interesting. Not what I expected.
2. Many musicians have mastered the art of being in the moment and giving people their full heart.
3. People will keep seeking you out if you make them special/actually care about them.
4. It is sad that the graveyard holds most peoples dreams. Weird idea in the book, but it makes sense.
5. Picture your life's dream already created? What does it look like?
6. You have to have a goal, in order to reach a goal.
7. Make your goals exciting and inspiring.
8. We like movies that show other succeeding because it gives us hope.

Taxi Brooklyn (and the "isms")

Recently I have been watching a show on Netflix called Taxi Brooklyn. For those of you that have not seen it, it is about a taxi driver who drives an on duty cop around. It is not nearly as lame as it sounds lol. They build a weird and funny friendship along the way. The investigations are interesting and the story line is normally good. One day if you are bored I would suggest watching this show.

While I was watching tonight, this clip caught my eye. Many people in this world are judgmental. This clip shows a man (the suspect in this case) following some pretty typical stereotypes. He claims that he is the one who deserves to have rights, while other people do not. The main character, who has short hair and is a cop, he calls a lesbian. He doesn't want to talk to anyone who isn't white. The only people he likes are white "normal" males.

Watching things like this makes me cringe, but I hope it spreads awareness. Everyone is human and we have no right to act like we are above anyone. Hopefully you weren't offended by the clip. The idea behind it is to spread awareness about stereotypes.

#LiveTweetYourPeriod Campaign

The #LiveTweetYourPeriod is new trend on social media sites like Twitter and Instagram. Basically women on their periods are tweeting about it. The trend came when a girls period art was taken off instagram for being inappropriate. We seem to normalize sexuality, but we are not accepting of women's periods (is the theory). I understand the concept behind it, including why we would want to normalize women talking about periods. Some of the posts about it are pretty funny. I do understand the campaign, however this is not a campaign that I would participate in.

Some women are very private about their periods and some women aren't. I'm not shy about mine, but I wouldn't want to publicly advertise it either. The important people in my like can hear about my time of the month. To expect other people to care about my period though, is just weird. Why would you care about my period unless it effected you. More power to the women on board with this campaign. Try to normalize it, freedom to you and all women. Maybe it will make a change and I hope it does. Personally I have never been judged for being on my period (other than being told I am crabby). I know some people do make judgements about it, especially in other countries. Keep it real and let me know your experiences.

Has anyone ever heard of this #LiveTweetYourPeriod Campaign? If so what do you think about it?

Jurassic World (Movie)

Went to see Jurassic World today!! It was a really good movie. There were a lot of flashbacks to the first movie. I don't want to give away to many spoilers, that way everyone can enjoy watching it. If anyone wants to comment about their thoughts on the movie, I would love to hear your opinions. Just some interesting things to think about.....

1. Dinosaurs were around for a long time before us, I wonder how much they knew about the world that we don't. Do you think they know things that we don't?

2. Human's often tend to act like they can do anything they want. We are the dominant specie on earth right now, but what would happen if we weren't? The struggle for survival and power would be real. Human's don't take commands very well, lol.

3. Did anyone else want to cry when all the innocent dinosaurs in the movie were getting destroyed? I thought it was really sad. It's the chain of life, I get it. Innocent things shouldn't have to die the way they do though. Was it just a movie in this case, yes, but it happens in real life too. 

4, What would have happened if a T-Rex was crossed with human genomes? During the movie, I thought that is what was going to happen. Ultimately, we love creating new things. Why not create something that is like us. Creators love creating things like them, right?

5. If we were able to recreate dinosaurs, how would you feel about it? It is a little creepy to think about the fact that we could recreate an entire species. Animals are not play toys or possessions. Creating any type of species would come with consequences. Personally, I would have no interest in a project like this. If there has anything we learned from these movies, it is not to mess with things we don't understand. 

30 day Once Upon A Time

I will try to update this every day, if I can remembers. Feel free to do it with me :).

Day 1: Favorite Character - Regina (She proves that people who do terrible things can still be good people deep down).

Day 2: Least Favorite Character - Regina's family members (They are devious, annoying, and always seem to hurt Regina).

Day 3: Favorite Hero - Depends what you classify as a hero.... Probably Emma.

Day 4: Favorite Villain - Regina... Duh.

Day 5: Favorite Episode - The Heart of the Truest Believer. Thanks to the help of http://onceuponatime.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Episodes I was able to review many of the old episodes quickly. This is the episode that really stood out to me, where many people people (hero's and villains) were able to work together and save Henry from Pan. Plus, I loved watching hook as a kid, so that made it even better.






Day 6: Favorite Plot Twist - When Regina is willing to becoming the dark one to save the town, but Emma does instead because she cares about Regina. It's just awesome to see that worst enemies can become best friends. (This just happened, so it's stuck in my mind too).

Day 7: Favorite Story - Swan's entire story. They are all great stories, but Swan is what connects everyone together. Without her OUAT wouldn't make sense.

Day 8: Favorite Couple - It was Rumple and Belle, but he decided to keep hurting her. I know he can't help it though. Right now I really love Swan with Hook and Regina with Robin hood.

Day 9: Favorite Brotp - Robin hood and Will Scarlet. Talk about a dreamy bromance.

Day 10: Character Most Likely to Die Next - Anyone accept the main characters. 

Day 11: Favorite Realm - Storybrooke, it's the current world and it's awesome. Without Storybrooke the stories wouldn't be tied together. It is the place where everyone has a chance to be happy and/or change.

Day 12:  Most Romantic Moment - All the times when lovers risk everything to make each other happy. Especially Rumple and Belle falling in love.

Day 13: Favorite Quote - Emma: "It's time for all of us to believe. Not in magic, but in each other."'

Day 14: Favorite Secondary Character: There are so many to choose from, maybe Granny or Lily.

Day 15: Character you would like on OUAT: It would be awesome to have some animal characters. Like, lady and the tramp, Simba, Bambi, etc. I'm not sure if it is possible, but it would be really cool.

Day 16: Favorite Costume: Maleficent, Hook, Emma, and the Evil Queens costumes.

Day 17: Favorite New Character: Maleficent and Lily.

Day 18: Character I Want Back: The fairies, they were funny and caring.

Day 19: Saddest Moment: Belle making Rumple leave.

Day 20: Most Underrated Character: Belle, I think she is amazing. She is kinda a main character, but it pushed into the background a lot.

Day 21: Hottest Male Character: Team Robin Hood and Hook :). Both of them are extremely good looking.

Day 22: Hottest Female Character: Emma and Regina. I love their style and personalities :P.

Day 23: Favorite Season: Season 2 - this is when I really started watching and appreciating the show.

Day 24: Scariest Character: Rumple. He isn't that scary, but you never know what he is capable of.

Day 25: Any actor or actress you want on the show: This is very unlikely, but I would love to have one of the original cast members from Grey's Anatomy.

Day 26: Most evil character: The author. Everyone else was evil because of things that happened to them, but they actually cared. He was just a jerk who wanted things his way.

Day 27: Favorite OUAT Director: Don't have one.

Day 28: Favorite OUAT Writer: Don't have one.

Day 29: Favorite message: That villains aren't always evil, they just are caring people that have had their hearts broken.

Day 30: Favorite parallel: Neverland.

Car be Gummed

One of my bad habits bit me in the butt today. I have a really bad habit of throwing gum out the car window when I am done with it. When I am driving it just seems like the easy thing to do. A few days ago I through my gum out the window like I always do. Came home, parked my car, went in the house, nothing unusually.
Fast forward to this morning... I walk up to my car and see a big blob of gum on my driver side door. Thinking nothing of it I go to flick it off. Unfortunately the gum was melted and just attached me to my door, spreading the gum all over over my hand and stinging from the door. I try to keep most of it with me, but a lot of the string mess fell back onto my car.
 I look over and see the garbage men coming and my friends mom from high school that I hadn't seen in forever. Trying to hide and prevent myself from looking like an idiot, I go to get into the car. The gum is still all over my hand, so it gets on the door handle as well. My new project for tomorrow morning (when it isn't so hot) is to clean the gum off my car.
Moral of the story, despise of your gum properly. I can't say this will keep me from ever throwing gum out of my window again, but I will definitely re-think it next time.

What is your craziest gum story? I'm sure we all have a few of them to share...

Sad Posts

First of all, there are billions of people on facebook, which I'm sure we all know. Some peoples profiles are set to private and some to public. Depending on what your posting and what your profession is, it might be a good idea to set your profile to private. When it is public anyone can access your information (employers, employees, crazy ex's, cops, etc). That is a whole different story though, so let me get back on track.


As a caring person, when I see someone post something about being sad, depressed, suicidal, etc. I take it seriously. People do go through hard times and I understand that. Facebook can be used for reaching out, however I take it seriously. If you are upset enough to post something bad on facebook, then chances are I will message you about it (depending on how serious it is). Personally, I could not live with myself if something happened to you after you tried to reach out. It could be someone last attempt for people to care or to get the help they need. I will never underestimate someone's feelings.


There are people that hurt themselves or others that have reached out over social media. I recognize that some people do it for attention as well (but that is not what I consider when seeing postings). In my viewpoint if more people reached out, asked questions, and were able to ask for help, there would be less suicides. It's not just about suicide though. Anytime someone is going through a hard time, what is wrong with reaching out. Do most people not reach out because they are scared of being rejected or they don't want to get involved?

For those of you that experience this, I challenge you to message the person next time. You can't force them to talk to you if the don't want to, but at least they know someone cares. I don't care if the person is your best friend or worst enemy. Let me know if you have tried this, plan to try this, or have a story on this topic. I look forward to hearing from you. If you are trying it for the first time after reading this post, let me know how it goes as well.


P.S. You can try this on other sites besides facebook. I say facebook because that's what I am on most the time.

Soul Age Quiz

http://higherperspectives.com/soul-born/


I took this quiz about when my soul was born and the results were pretty interesting.

This is the result I got "Your soul was born when you were born! You're brand new! You started this life with a clean slate, making your reliable, kindhearted, generous to a fault and not jaded by the woes of the world. Your soul is pure light, without all the baggage that others come with. You're relaxed, easy going and can light up any room with your smile... Use your innocence well because you're only brand new once!"

What kind of soul do you have? If you took the quiz do you believe the results were correct?

My result seems to be pretty accurate. I'm still pretty innocent, kindhearted, and easy going. I like to give everyone a fair chance. It is important to me to help others and not hurt them.

Pretty Little Liars

A friend of mine got me into the show Pretty Little Liars. It's on netflix right now. The show is about teenagers, but there is so much drama. A person called A is stalking these girls, framing them, etc. They cannot figure out who A is and the story seems to never end. It's like a never ending mystery show. I would recommend checking it out if you like mystery, drama, romance, etc.

Some things I learned from Pretty Little Liars:
~People lie (A lot).
~Nothing is as it seems.
~Even strong people go through hard times.
~Sometimes your worst enemies are better than your best friends.
~Sometimes your worst enemy is your best friend.
~Girls play way to many games.

Honestly, there are a million things you can learn from pretty little liars. Let me know the lessons you have learned from it.

Burpee Workout

I already knew I wasn't in shape, but this showed me how out of shape I actually am. If you are looking into getting back into working out, this is probably not the exercise to try. It is a good test to show you how much you can improve though. I made it through the first two sets of burpee's, but couldn't bring myself to do the third. I was lightheaded, out of breath, and in plain. I know that sounds crazy and stupid, but I haven't worked out in years (other than riding bikes). I'm trying to get back in shape to run a 5k with my friend next month.

Let me know your experience with this workout. I may not be able to do this whole workout in one workout session, but I plan to split it up throughout the day. I will get back in shape. Try it out and comment :). 

Cafepress Shop

I love creating things and coming up with designs, so I decided to give this a try. Some of the items are from pictures I have taken and some of them are from designs I created online.

If you are creative I would suggest trying out this site to sell stuff. I just started yesterday (none of my stuff has sold yet). It's worth trying it. If you want me to check out your shop or ideas feel free to message me.

http://www.cafepress.com/ezstuff

PS: It is really not that easy to set up your stuff on this site. It took me a while to figure it out. You need to create your shop before making your items. If you do it the other way around (Like I did), your items will not be found on the site. You can put the items on your own site as well if you own one.

Dubsmash

My boyfriends sister got me into dubsmash. I downloaded it as an app on my phone and it is really fun to use. I will post some of my video's for you to check out below. If you try it feel free to send me a link to your videos, I always like a good laugh. 

This is just one of my video's. I will probably post more eventually or I will put a link up if I put them on youtube :). Stay awesome. Have fun on dubsmash.