let the games begin.

So last night we celebrated one of my best friend's birthday. Emily's never been one to love celebrating her birthday, but I have to say she picked the best way to do it this year!

We started out with appetizers, dinner, and some delicious wine. (maybe not in that order...I mean come on we have to get our priorities right!) One of our friend's fiance made some delicious appetizers, herb & butter shrimp and cream cheese stuffed jalapenos wrapped in bacon. And Emily made some of the most delicious chili I have EVER tasted, that's saying a lot coming from one picky eater!

After dinner is when the REAL fun began! I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Yes...you guessed it Dance Dance Revolution! It was so much fun! I think we all had a blast! We ended the night with a little Rock Band, Beatles style.

It was a great night with great people.

Happy Birthday Emily! I can't believe we are 26! (well almost for me) Thanks for the 11 years of friendship and I can't wait for the MANY more to come!

Check Emily's blog for her chili recipe! Maybe this will make her post it faster. ha

changing and rearranging.

Well, thanks to a bottle of wine and 3 awesome friends the living room is a changing!

Now that I'll be staying in my condo for an indefinite amount of time, there are lots of changes I can't wait to make!

The Cabernet brought out our creativity as we discussed colors, furniture, and textiles!

This is a first draft mood board.

 I can't wait to see how it ends up!

Stay tuned for the before pictures and even longer for the after pictures!

mosaic.

My friend over at Emily Posts posted a mosaic and I thought I'd play along.

so here it goes!

1. Summers evening in Port Erin. 2.  Flickr loves sushi. Mmm. 3. Bulldog - Relax evening. 4. Boussu Olive Green Sherbert stemware. 5. Bradley Cooper. 6. Perfect Margarita Time. 7. Intercontinental Resort & Thalasso Spa: Bora Bora. 8. The Worlds Best Chocolate Cake. 9. Event Planner Orginasation Delhi, India. 10. With a Little Help From My Friends. 11. Calm and Vibrant Nature Scene~Tayside~Scotland. 12. Stretch Band Yoga Workout.

1. What is your first name? erin
2. What is your favorite food? sushi
3. What high school did you attend? edmond memorial bulldogs
4. What is your favorite color? olive green
5. Who is your celebrity crush? bradley cooper
6. Favorite drink? perfect margarita

7. Dream vacation? bora bora
8. Favorite dessert? chocolate cake
9. What do you want to be when you grow up? event planner
10. What do you love most in life? my friends
11. One word to describe you? calm
12. Favorite Hobby? working out

isn't it ironic.

It's so ironic how things happen.

On Tuesday morning, the first article on yahoo's shine page was entitled "How to Get Over Mr. Wrong and Find Mr. Right" It was an article on a book a woman wrote after her divorce and is said to give very helpful advice on modern dating. (adding to amazon shopping cart now)

On Wednesday afternoon I came across the same web page, but with an article titled "5 ways to enjoy your post break up misery". It lists them as:
1) Vacationing. (good idea if I wasn't broke)
2) Chopping off your Hair. (I think I'll do the oposite and grow it out)
3) Making new playlists. It's so funny how a relationship can ruin songs you once loved!
4) Find a new hobby. (my 5k's will take care of that)
    • I also think I'm going to take a class in the spring on Photoshop. I've always wanted to learn more about it, maybe I'll even take one on web design.
5) Redecorate your apartment. (this one strikes a major cord)
    • After taking down pictures and realizing just how many I really had, I think its time to get rid of my shelves.
    • I'll refer to #4 except it's an old hobby and I'll paint some new paintings for the living room. 
    • I'll show you my cheap and easy way to make curtains using these

 

    • And if I'm really up to it. I might just turn my office nook into a craft nook, oh what a dream come true that would be!

and today I found "How to get over your Ex in 7 days"
   • Day 1: Indulge yourself.(Thank you bottle of Relax)
   • Day 2: Focus on you. (Thank you blogger for letting me publish my goals)
   • Day 3: Rediscover your sexy self (Thank you sexy top I wore to dinner)
   • Day 4: Reflect (Thursday) I'm supposed to annalyze what went wrong, what I liked/didn't like about our relationship or him)
   • Day 5: The final good-bye (Friday) Housekeeping issues...
   • Day 6: Reconnect with friends and family (Saturday) Not sure my exact plans, but everyone has been so amazing that I dont think this will be a problem!
   • Day 7: Back on The Prowl (Sunday) This is where I tell myself there is another person out there for me and I will find him.

I think it'll take me a LOT and I mean LOT longer than 7 days to get over him. But it's at least a start.

DAD and I don't mean Dad.

Lately, I've started to give away DAD awards. (Dumbass of the Day)

Today's DAD award goes to

Yup, that's right Jake the bachelor. I mean really, how is ABC so good at portraying his inner most douche-ness?

If you watched the episode Monday night, my friend and I LAUGHED OUT LOUD when he swung his leather jacket over his shoulder as he walked on to the plane with his aviators. We both looked at each other and said "did that really just happen"?

And since when did he learn to ride a motorcycle? Wouldn't that have been something they emphasized about him when he was on The Bachelorette? I think they made him learn to drive one so it upped his "cool, bad boy image".

I wish they would have just played up his dorkish side and everyone would have fallen in love with the nerd. But instead I cringe every time I hear an awkward phrase come out of his mouth during his one-on-one sessions.

Oh and Jake...for future reference

NEVER UNBUTTON THE 3RD BUTTON. NEVER!

Thanks for being my Dumbass of the Day! I needed a good laugh!

goal.

Fitness has been a big priority in my life for the last few years. I started out this year with a couple of resolutions in that department. And until the "break up" I was right on track.

Due to the aforementioned "break up", I'm on hiatus this week.

But starting....MONDAY! I'm getting back on track!

For about the last 3 years now it has been a goal of mine to run a 5K in less than 30 minutes. Ok ok, you can stop laughing now. I can't run fast, never have been able to. But this year, I am DETERMINED to do it!

 

It's still pretty cold out so I'll have to resort to a treadmill for the time being. I have plenty of chances this spring, summer, and fall to obtain my goal.  But I need to set myself a plan for how to get there.

Here are the races I have planned so far:

RedBud Classic April 11, 2010 @ 2:00pm
Oklahoma City Memorial April 24, 2010 @ 6:40am

So that leaves me


I better get my run on!

starting new.

It took my boyfriend of 51/2 years telling me he doesn't want to "try" anymore for me to realize and really say out loud for the first time what I want in a life long partner.

I want a best friend. I want someone who is strong where I am weak, who picks me up when I'm falling. Someone who loves me just as much as I love him and isn't afraid to show or tell me. I want someone who pushes me when I fall behind; who has so much commitment to our relationship that they don't want to ever quit "trying". I want someone who isn't afraid to love me more than he loves himself.

I never thought I would be where I am at this moment today. I never thought I'd be watching the person I love most in this world slowly move out of our apartment. It's like a sick surprise every day when I get home from work and find a few more things gone.

In the last 48 hours, I think I've been eerily calm about it. Don't get me wrong, the tears have been flowing, but only when the memories of our 30 minute break up pop into my head or when my sweet friends and family give me words of encouragement. Otherwise I just sit with this numb feeling inside me and a heavy heart.

I always try to be a positive person. It's something that sometimes I have to work really hard towards. I know deep down in my heart that everything happens for a reason; and I have the faith to know that in the end, everything will work out the way God has planned.

Whenever I am faced with a situation that didn't turn out how I wanted it to, I always try to find 3 things I learned from it. Here are my 3:

1.  I have learned that if I give 100% towards something and it doesn't work out, I have nothing to regret. I did my best and I cannot control anyone or anything else in life.
2.  I now know not to be afraid to say what I want from a relationship. I need to learn to swallow my fear of the outcome of the situation and just say it.
3.  I have been reminded that my friends are my friends for a reason. They TRULY are the MOST AMAZING people I have ever met; and if it wasn't for him, I would have never met some of them. I am SOOO glad I wasn't one of those girls who dropped all of her girlfriends for a boy, because ultimately in the end, they are still standing by my side and he is not.

So as I take down memories of us in the house, keep myself preoccupied, and sleep with the TV blaring to drown out my thoughts, I know that each day will get better and that one day...I'll find my way.