it's been a busy couple of weeks. not sure where i left off, but i don't have much time to blog. ok acutally i do have time, but i don't feel like writing much. i did want to get my list of life long dreams down before i forget. here's just a few, i'm sure i'll think of more later...

~learn to play guitar
~take acting classes and possibly perform in an amateur play
~go to australia and scuba in the great barrier reef
~be on the amazing race or some sort of travel around the world show with tracey (this one will only be possible if they have a reunion show in about 20 years. :) )
~have more babies
~lose 50 lbs (i guess after the babies :) )
~live in a city outside of the midwest
~visit seattle
~run a half or whole marathon
~go on a mission's trip overseas

those are a few. many of mine have to do with traveling. there's so much out there i want to see!

last week i got my hair cut again and i decided that it was time for highlights. i've never gotten highlights before and i love it! it looks so fun and i feel prettier! this wed ryan's work is starting a weight loss challenge. they are letting me in on it as well. we pay $15 and at the end of the year whoever has lost the most percentage of their weight wins the pot. it's going to be around $150 i think! it's going to be tough through the holidays, but i think it's a great time to do it. i'm actually more motivated than i ever have been to lose weight now. it helps that i am so competive. plus i've seen those people at lifeway and if i reach my goal i don't see how anyone can beat me, so i'm already considering the 150 bucks mine! ryan and i have a side bet with it that whoever loses the most between the 2 of us gets 2 weekends in a row of sleeping in both days! $150 and sleep...what's more motivating than that!

ok time to be productive..i'm out! oh and i can't wait to hear the details of the muddy buddy race. sounds so fun!

well i have 2 minutes before I told myself i would start working so i thought i would blog real quick. i am hannah free today! my original intent was to have a michelle day and do some fun stuff, but i have to work because i have a deadline that i have been putting off. but that's ok, it will be nice to have some uninterrupted time. i have the sweetest husband in the whole world! last night i got back from dropping hannah off at her nonni and grandpa's to find ryan had set up our tent in the back yard and when we got in the tent he had the little tv set up with a collection of chick flicks and some mountain dew and ice cream. it was so much fun. it was also freezing last night, but i miss that feeling of sleeping outdoors and trying to bundle up as much as possible.

we were going to go up to cincinnati tonight, but i could sense that mom was a little disappointed so i asked her if it would be ok if we came saturday morning instead and she cheerfully said yes. so we get tonight free too!! i think we are going to steak and shake after 9pm just to say that we can. we used to do that prehannah if we were bored..we would go there and get vanilla cokes (or vanilla diet cokes if we were on our health kicks).

oh and mary that is very scary about the stonewashed jeans. i've been freaked out by the pink and grey that is back. i remember in 8th grade my favorite outfit were my grey stirrup(sp?) pants, my button down white shirt (collar up of course), and my long pink sweater over that. and to top the outfit off, my pink and grey snake skin flat heeled shoes. i actually saw a lady wearing stirrup pants the other day. do they still sell those?

ok here's a question for everyone...it's from loaded questions. what is one fad that you are most embarrassed about participating in?

for me i would have to say either the jammers (remember the hawaiin looking shorts, so but ugly) or my pubic perm. actually i'm not sure the latter was even a fad, but i had one nonetheless and i would pull it back on each side with about 10-15 bobby pins. i was nicknamed the bobby pin queen i found out later. wow what a nerd i was!

ut oh..it's past my time..gotta work. i'm out!

a great big awesome congrats goes out to trace and mare. that is just so awesome that you both accomplished that! i know i keep saying, but you are an inspiration to me! I hope you are feeling better tracey.

welp ryan is gone and once again i am a single mom for a few days. he has a training up in new carlisle until thursday. but thursday i am visiting with my friend tracey and then hannah is spending the night with nonnie and grandpa again! it will be a nice little break and ryan and i will get to hang out thursday night and i am sleeping in on friday and i'll probably have to work, but it will be good to get more than 1 hour of uninterrupted time in.

hannah's party was a lot of fun. i unfortuantely completely forgot about video taping it until she ate her cake, but that was really the best part anyway. i'll have to send you some footage matt and trace and some pics. she got way too much stuff for a 1 year old, but it was a lot of fun stuff and she loves it all. she keeps going from one thing to another. i decided to put some of her other toys away so she doesn't have too many out at once. i constantly struggle with not wanting hannah to be spoiled and to appreciate what she has to really liking toys and wanting her to have lots. i'm sure with ryan around, i'll be able to find a balance. there's just so many fun toys out there...so much better than they used to have, but i guess kids still entertained themselves back then too. i do wonder if it hurts kid's imaginations to have to many toys. oh well then as ryan says, she'll just be a math and science girl then. :)

i have also been getting over an illness of some sort. it has never come on full force, but my body is fighting off something. i too have lost my voice which is funny to read that tracey did too. i was up with my sister Jen and soon to be sister in law, Meredith until 5am saturday night and i started to lose it then and it still has not come completely back. but we had an awesome time of chatting and praying. it was something we all needed, especially jen, so losing my voice was well worth it.

welp i'm off to bed.

Catching up on some blog reading. That really stinks about your sinus infection trace. what's up with that do you think? are u getting freaky with the fungus? and to comment on mare's blog about sucking her thumb and saying, "hey at least it's not pee". i actually peed my bed until i was 9 thank you very much. ;) i even had to take these little green pills before bed each night. i always took them with a big glass of pop, but my mom could never figure out why they wouldn't work. just teasing, but i did have to take those pills. probably the most embarrassing pee story for me was when i was at girl scouts camp (yes girl scouts not brownies) and i woke up in the middle of the night and went and peed on my best friend. thankfully she took it pretty well, but i overheard my scout leaders saying something about me not being mature enough to be a scout. how mature are 8 year olds supposed to be?! anyway enough with that flash back.

hopefully hannah does not get my weak bladder syndrome. i can't believe she is a year old. it's too much to think about. this year has flown by. i was remembering back to when we would lay her on her playmat and get so excited because she was just looking at the elephant and monkey hanging from above and now she's pointing to the monkeys and even signing 'monkey'. it's so amazing how much babies change the first year. my friend who has older kids told me that even though they still change alot after 1, that first year is when they change the fastest. we are getting ready for her birthday party this weekend. we've decided to rent out a banquet hall and there will be about 100 people there and we've asked everyone to bring toys and not clothes because that's what hannah wants. after all she only turns 1 once! ok that's not really true, i just wanted to get trace fired up. but we are having meatballs and cake! and maybe 15 people at our house.

my brother and his fiance, meredith, are coming down tonight. ryan and i were a little under the weather last night, so we didn't get a whole lot of cleaning done. fortunatley they won't mind. i had another chiropractor appointment this morning which i look forward to. i've been having muscle spasms in my neck and i've been meaning to see one anyways just for some maintenance. i feel great now. it's great that our insurance covers it, but it still gets expensive paying those copays everytime, but after next week, i think i'll only need to go when i feel like i need it.

welp i guess i better try to clean a little for my bro. have a great time at your triathalon trace and mare!! i can't wait to hear all about it.

happy friday!