Almost one year later!

Wow, I guess I've just been that busy? Really 10 months before I get the chance to sit down and blog..or at least distracted enough.

Where has Belle been in 10 months...hmm. Currently, working for a Healthcare Company that takes THE BEST care of their employees! I have TWO, yes two, not ONE but TWO girl scout troops and my kiddies are 2nd and 4th graders. They are too much fun and filled with so much spunk. My life also consists for the gym, at least 5 times a week. 30 pounds down and more to go, I've met with a personal trainer who is pretty good and my first 5K is this Sunday! And to keep adding to the plate, Greg and I signed up for Austin Pets Alive... so many things to do, Bottle Baby, Dog walking, Admin work...it goes on and on and on.

Life is full and busy, but I love it. I don't feel as if I'm wasting my life away doing nothing or things that are totally selfish. If I died tomorrow, I would be totally content with my life and although that sounds morbid, it's true. 3 years ago, I didn't have that feeling. It's been my mission to make sure that at all times (or at least trying to at all times) feel very happy with my life and satisfied.

People are always commenting on, "Wow, you're a volunteer and with no kids..." or "Great Job on the weight loss." and although both feel good, I do it for myself. I don't care if I don't have kids, I want to help fill this world with strong, self confident women--there are already enough broken ones. And thanks for the compliment, but I do it for me. It makes me feel good and I know I can do anything I put my mind too.

Moving to Austin has NOT been easy. But 18 months later, I fall more in love with my boyfriend, I have a job that I LOVE, and things that make me smile every single day all while learning to grow up a little, create and take care of a home, and most important, take care of me.

Things are moving fast!

Yes Yes, it's been a minute since I've written, what can I say? It's been an interesting past few months.

I thought I got an amazing job, wrong! Damn staffing agencies. That's how I feel about that. It was pretty cool working at the UT Investment Mgmt Co. Nice office, boring people. And then checking out a few more companies.

I think God is telling me to focus on school...I'm leaving Torrid to work at Lane Bryant, yes another totally odd decision, but when you work 4 hours a week, it's not hard to leave...plus Lane Bryant gave me more. =) Yay to me. Then I found out I qualify for financial aid for the current year! Sweet, so I can definitely start school in the summer! Oh man, I'm excited and so is Greg! Volunteering is going well, although I'm worried what this Girl Scout service unit may try to give me...one gal I talked to seemed very excited about giving me quite a few tasks...but nonetheless, I'm excited. And hanging out with my "little sister" is getting better and better!

It's odd how slowly but surely things are picking up...and slowly too. I've had a few months to adjust to spending time with my little sister. Getting adjusted to a new job is not a problem. School will come this summer and in the fall, girl scouts will pick up.

And Greg and I are amazing! We've been doing more activies. We've seen Vampire Weekend, Easy Star All Stars, walked around Lady Bird Lake, gone to whole foods and cooked nice meals together. He was very sweet on our anniversary, we couldn't afford to do much, but he put so much thought into it, I could have fell in love all over again. He bought me organic roses that he hand picked, picked up some very cute cookies at a bakery, then went to Central Market to pick up dinner, we cooked shrimp, and I believe it was Red Snapper and had a salad with a fresh baguette and cheese. It was so sweet. I can't wait for the day when we celebrate 10 years, but we'll be married by then...

Life sure is different than it was a year ago. I miss my friends, but my life is moving forward. I'm finally putting education first and I'm able to, I'm making new friends and having a blast making memories. I'm actually working retail too! It's not an office job, but it's nice to have a break and not be worried about working 7 to 5. I feel this is where God wants me to be and I'm loving that. He knows best..

Valentines Day..or week was nice =)

We started Valentines day a little bit early. We took advantage of having Saturday off the weekend before and we started the day with lunch at Annies Cafe on Congress. Really good food. Not badly priced, from there...off to get some coffee, I think i'm turning Greg into a coffee addict!! And that's where I dragged Greg to the mall, Torrid was having underwear on sale, 5 pairs for $25!! Normally $8 a pair, that was a sale I didn't want to miss...especially when you factor in employee discount! But I also bought some lingerie and a cute shirt for going out that night. I was excited!!

We made our way to a bike shop in downtown. Austin is huge on Biking because of Lance Armstrong and when the weather gets warmer, Greg and I want to take that up as a hobby. So we went into this nice shop, holy cow. The cheapest bike was like $900!! ouch! but you get what you pay for. For now, I think being novices, we need to hit up walmart prices.

Since we were near SoCo, we decided to go to Stag, which is a mens clothing shop and I just picked up Greg's Vday gift there. He wants to start dressing up more, so I got him a few cute trendy shirts..$70..Its love and oh well. Since I was buying him his gift and not waiting, we went over to Target to get some things for the house and he bought me my wii active!!! (BTW,i love it!) oooh, the day didn't stop there! We went to Cannoli Joes..which is the most evil restaurant there is! Italian food..buffet style. But we were good and had our salad to start and didn't exceed one dinner plate. For an italian place, they had some good fish.

The night had to end at Trudys where we had a few drinks and glad we had such a beautiful day together...it still brings a smile to my face thinking about it.

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On Thursday I baked cupcakes for Greg. I wasn't sure if I would be able to get him a nice gift, so I bought the mix weeks ago and decided that thursday would be my only chance to bake them without him around..bad mistake. Officially no more treats in our house..or so we think...

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We decided to celebrate valentines day on Saturday night instead of Sunday. He had school the next day. I had to work that day from 1 - 5 (I was told I'm one of the best sellers and it was going to be busy. No joke! It did not quit the whole time I was at work and yay to me, I sold over $3000!!! Boo Yah! Hahahaha. Although it did make me tired...I still had to go home, change into my cute dress and we had tickets to the movies at 6:30!!

When I was on my way home, Greg called me and told me he had surprise for me. I get home, and he had purchased us a griddle, I always told that I would prefer gifts for our house, but the Dooney and Burke purse for christmas was great too!

We made it though and the movie "Valentines Day"...save your money. It is cute, but very predictable. I wasn't that impressed...But it was more of a time killer until we could make it to a seafood place called Perlas. Wow. great food, Expensive! Our bill was over 100 and we only had a drink a piece....

The night didn't end there, but lets keep this PG. It was a good day =)

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Happy St. Valentines Day!
We wake up together and decide to use our new griddle and cook breakfast...which afterwards he gave me my card for Vday...awww, yes it made me cry, and later I gave him his which in return he had to come up to me and give me a hug...

Although I hung out with Nancy later and I brought her a cupcake, Valentines day was the best it ever could be.

**Final Thoughts**
I've seen that finding love is not an easy thing at all. And finding TRUE love is even harder. I wasn't looking for him and he wasn't looking for me, but we found each other and fell from day one and we still haven't stopped falling. Loving each other isn't easy but I look at him and know it's meant to be.

I hope everyone enjoyed their day just as much as I did.

Toxic Friends

So I bought this book awhile ago and it's seriously like a girls Bible! My thought process when I was drawn to this book was,"I seem to attract or be drawn to, girls who have some issues and aren't good friends. My last 3 best friends have all have some huge issues and I don't want to place all the blame on broken homes."

Therefore, I decided before I embark on finding friends in Austin, I should educate myself on bad friends and the ways to find them. This book is soooo good! It talkes about the friends we tolerate such as the leader, the doormat, the sacrificer, and the misery lover. As I was reading these chapters, I could figure out friends who fit these descriptions and the sad part? None of them are still in my life....I'm intrigued.

It talks about the friends we need to ditch, the User, Intimate frenemy, and the trophy friend. I haven't yet hit these chapters, but already embarking on the "user friend" chapter and wow!! I hung around someone who was exactly this for a few years!!! It gets even better because some of these people can have symptons of all types of friends.

The last part is the part I'm itching to read. The friends you keep. The mirroring friend, the sharer and the authentic friend. I can read those titles and already know that the friends who have been around in my life for quite some time already fit those titles. I'm excited to get to those chapters.

I recall reading one time that finding new girlfriends is like dating, You have to do some digging and find out their past track record before you commit. I read one time and although I've ignored it, it holds true. If a girl doesn't have any long time friends, there is a damn good reason why....oooh how true that is.

I'll let you know how the rest of the chapters follow, but always remember if you meet a girl who can't seem to hold down friends..there is a reason why....

2010 is beautiful =)

New years are always so refreshing!!! Seriously, I got rid of that heinous day job and thank goodness!! It was truly ruining my relationship!! That's pretty sad when a job is SOOO Horrible that it ruins your personal life. Not even in a "I work 80 hours a week" type of way, but just such a negative environment. I hope no one ever experiences such negativity with Overton Enterprises (what a joke).

I still have the job at torrid, but in retail you can only have soooo many hours. The discount is just too good to give up!

Since then, Greg and I have been amazing! Spending time together, furnishing our apartment and making it like a real home. I love it. We just bought a couch and it's gorgeous!! I love how everything in our apartment we've done together and it's only going to get better!!

I flew to SD for my birthday and oh my, what a busy, sleepless trip it was!! Dinner with the family when I got in, Seeing Billy and the crew, Friday morning waking up to get my hair dyed, then going out that night for ladies night (which was totally amazing and a GREAT time) and then Saturday night with the rest of my friends...The best part? Greg is thinking about moving to La Jolla when he is done with school!!! I'm so excited about that!

Life is great, making friends in austin is coming, slowly but surely. Vicki rocks! we have so much fun getting coffee. She reminds me of Dana back home. Oh the day those two meet, it's gonna be awesome!! and Then Nancy, she reminds me of a combination of Nancy back home and Gina. She's small and has so much personality!! I love it!!

Valentines day is around the corner and who knows what'll come of it!! And then our one year. We've worked so hard to keep our relationship, but I think the bottom line is that Greg and I are so madly in love, breaking up is not an option...

Need a new job..now

I know we all tend to complain about our bosses, I believe it's natural and if you DONT, then you're very lucky.

My boss is becoming a huge obstacle in my life. Never have I ever felt so belittled and so frustrated because of someone I work for. I understand being a tough boss to ensure things get done, or even micro managers who have control issues. (Face it ladies, we all have control issues, it's in our blood.)

But this boss takes the cake! She always assumes we (as in myself and the rest of the employees) are automatically messing up. She is that girl who assumes that because her man doesn't answer her call, he's cheating. Same thing with us. When a customer wants to know the status of their order, instead of asking that individual, she automatically assumes it wasn't sent out. It drives me nuts and it's to the point where it's affecting my home life!

Constantly rude and disrespectful. I will never forget one time she had a meeting with 3 of us (the other 3 office employees were out of the office) and she had the audacity to say, "i'm not a cheerleader." That's fine, but when you're the owner of the company, you have to suck it up and put on a face. Don't be a cheerleader, but be a leader!

Wow, I feel much better now...Now, if only I could get another job...

It's almost 2010....

A reflection of 2009..and the many surprises it brought...wonder what 2010 holds for me!

This year had a bunch of surprises in store for me!! First off, I got out of a bad relationship with a jerk and felt the strength to find someone who would appreciate me and put me first in their life...and shortly following this huge decision, I get laid off from work. My plans for financial independence, a better credit score, and a place of my own were definitely put on hold...some great start to a new year..

I began pushing harder at the gym though and at one point saw a 6 pound weight loss in 2 weeks! Pretty huge when the average weight loss per week is about 1 -2 lbs...but then again, heavier folk can lose more than skinny folk. So maybe the year isn't that bad...gives me more time at the gym since I'm not working..but job hunting sucks...

An occurance that very well may change my life (and so far, it has). I meet Greg, amazing, gorgeous, loving greg. I have found the one for me, but he lives in texas...and I'm in california...what to do? At least we had 3 beautiful weeks together before we had to work out the kinks!

Pain like I've never know before!! April 1 came and I was away from Greg again...after that painful goodbye, we knew what we had to do...we had to be together and the only place that was possible? Texas. I would be making the move to Texas again, but with someone who stole my heart.

During this life altering change, I thought the one person who would be the most supportive turned out not only to be truly selfish, but very envious and un-supportive...wow, I guess tough times do bring out ones true self. Lesson learned and maybe a hint I should listen to my better friends. Then the big move and tough goodbyes. I hated saying goodbye to friends and family, but there are times when you have to move forward into the future. Thus began a new chapter and a crappy drive.

June! Never have I experienced such horrible heat! 95 degress on the average and humid!!! And this city called Houston has 7 million people? WHY?! At least I'm with the one I love...and his mom =/ Not what one expects when first living together with someone, but the sacrifices we all make for the people we love. Finally, work! Babysitting...it is really a job, anyone who has never experienced caring for children, you don't know what a job is!!!

I'm officially over being in houston, with the heat, and no real interaction with people...but more fun to come, have to move greg out of his old apartment and search for a new one! Ended up signing papers that same day and bam! We have a move in date, which is two months away..great, september 16. "Just make it through the summer."

August..more goodbyes. Greg has to start school and we can't move in yet, which turns out to be 3 weeks away from greg and only seeing him on weekends...=( I hate saying goodbye to him. At least we had Gloria and Moto-Moto (Madagascar joke). The heat still bothering me too!!!

Finally the countdown until we can move into our apartment!! Now, start job searching..again (is 2009 the year for job searching for me? because I don't think I've stopped at any point...) Saying good bye to the ones I babysit (which made me sad) saying goodbye to what was my home for the summer and the dog and moving (again) into my future. Here we come, Austin, Tx. An interview! Sweet! Got a job 3 days after moving there...little did I know...

Happy Halloween! A better month, getting settled in and woopee! A second job...should I really be excited? YES! 40% discount at Torrid. Yay to me. Went to the bayou art festival in Houston! Actually purchased one piece at $25. Another great month because Kristen was in town ! (well san antonio isn't that far!) And some friendship I desperately needed! A night on sixth street for halloween was crazy, but super fun! Also made a friend!! Things are picking up...

Wait, when did holiday season hit? I'm tired, averaging 55 hours a week at both jobs. Financial stress hits!! Greg is still looking for a part time job, stressing about his upcoming finals...and hoping I get a decent schedule so we can go down to Houston for the holidays! I've also been taking advantage of a wonderful discount which doesn't help when you're trying to save...but before the month is over, Greg gets a job! Sweet! Oh, and major bonus, mom paid for bday flights home!

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night. This month was slow at one job and crazy at another! Christmas sales numbers are always outrageous! Yet, past sales did set the bar, so at some point, it did happen. Stress in the relationship, but that's normal, if you don't have some argument or another, someone is holding back....I'm also excited for christmas with his family with his grandparents flying in...also big dents in the wallet with all the christmas shopping...tis the season to be self-less and broke.

Which brings me to now, New years is in a few days and I'm so excited to see what is going to be going on in 2010. I live in Austin, Tx. I'm slowly making some friends and building a life. It's probably not permanent, but unitl he graduates, it's home. This year brought so many challenges, changes, and struggles and in the end, it's only made me a stronger person. Although I have yet to find a home here where God and I can connect, I'm hoping he'll guide me to one sooner than later, but it's also with my help as well. I'm learning a lot about myself and Greg and I wouldn't have it any other way. I'm thankful for my love, my family, my friends, and the belssings that God chooses to bestow upon me.