Scarves, Scarves Everywhere!

So as of lately I've noticed a huge trend in scarves. I'm not sure how to wear them but I thought it would be great to learn and collect a few!

Kate at Simply Said by Simply Me is hosting a scarf swap! It's sure to be fun!

I've Been Nominated!

Thank you to who ever nominated me over at Divine Caroline! You rock!

I guess all there is left to say is please vote for me! They have some really awesome prizes!

You can click on the button below or at the top of the blog!

By Parenting

Saturday Shenanigans

Today CJ and I attended a function put on by the single parents group that I belong too.

Some of you know that I don't go to a lot of these events. I feel like it's very clique-ish and most of the time I'm too broke to go. There were several other parents there today so it was nice to see some new faces.

This is CJ and I getting ready...I love this picture.

This is where we went: Something from the Farm. I didn't realize it
at the time but we could have walked there LOL


CJ in the corn maze showing his wristband. He was very
proud of this thing!


CJ was on a quest to find a "tiny tiny" pumpkin and boy did we!


This is the Pumpkin Catapult and the Corn Cannon. They were really fun!
The owner built the catapult and canon and his kids helped run the place.

Over all we had a ton of fun. We accomplished our mission of getting pumpkins and playing in the corn maze. We even did a hay ride! All in all, we couldn't have asked for a better time!

100 posts!

Well, it took almost a year to hit 100 posts but I did it! I would love to do a giveaway, but I don't have anything of great excitement to giveaway...maybe around Christmas!

I hope ya'll are having a great week!

This leaves a bad taste in my mouth...

I don't know about ya'll but I'm pretty picky about toothpaste. I seem to have a "demand" list a mile long. I want something that freshens my breath, keeps it that way, strengthens enamel and whitens. Is that so hard to ask? I thought I had hound the toothpaste of my dreams.
Yeah, think again. This stuff tasted awful and was all grainy and yucky. Plus, my mouth feels like I drank warm milk and tastes like it too after I'm done brushing my teeth. Ew!

Anyone have any recommendations?

P.S. Yes, I really did just post about toothpaste. Teeth are important!

Estes Park and Weekend Recap

So as my last entry suggested, my parents, myself and my son went to Estes Park on Saturday. To put it simply it was a very quick trip! The trees haven't changed yet and there was this huge festival going on that made the town nearly in-navigable (that's the word of the day).

We did manage to stop at the Stanley Hotel. When we got there it looked like a wedding had just finished. I would give my arms to get married at the Stanley, but it's soooooo expensive!

This is a picture that CJ took of my dad. You can see the wedding site and gorgeous hotel behind him. Stephen King wrote "The Shining" while staying at this hotel. Then they filmed the remake of the film here. Supposedly room 217 is haunted. I'd love to go on a ghost tour of this place!






This is me and my momma...and some random dude walking behind us.

My mom-CJ's "gandmom" and CJ. They're buds. If you ever need a great cup of coffee, they make the best. I think it's because of the love they add to it :)

After spending a riveting 20 minutes in Estes Park we left LOL CJ wasn't quite done taking pictures so he grabbed this beauty:

On Sunday, B and I went to his Volunteer Appreciation Picnic. It was fun. I met the people he volunteers with and ate some really yummy food. We followed the picnic with ice cream and laying under the shade of tree relaxing and enjoying each others company.

This may sound lame, but that's one of my favorite things to do. Just lay there, next to the person you're with and enjoying that moment. Whether you talk or not-it's never awkward.

Anyway, that was my weekend. I don't have any huge fantabulous plans this week except hit the gym. I have a goal to lose 25 pounds by Christmas. I can do it, I just need to behave myself :)

The Gang is back in town

Well, almost the whole Watson clan anyway. Both of my brothers are still in Idaho, but my parents and my son are here so we're going to go do something fun.

We're going to be heading up to Estes Park on this beautiful day. We're going to see/hear elk, look at the trees and have fun walking around. It's been forever since I've been to Estes. I hope we stop at the Stanley Hotel! I love it there!

Why I Love Fall

Since it's now officially fall I figured I would tell everyone why this is my favorite season!

Fall Colors




PUMPKINS!




LEAVES CHANGING COLORS




SWEATERS

Photo Courtesy of Old Navy


FALL SCENTS

Photo Courtesy of Bath and Body Works
These are on sale 2/$20! Yay!


HALLOWEEN!

Falling off the wagon...

I know I don't have many avid readers, but for those of you that do read, all I can say is that I suck at updating. I could say I've been busy or whatnot, but in all actuality-I just didn't feel like updating. Maybe that's why my followers are now only at 13?

Anyway, let's do a quick recap shall we?

CJ is great. He's almost 5! Less than a month-about three weeks. I'm so excited but kind of sad at the same time :( My baby isn't a baby anymore. We're on a roll with the Autism screenings. We have two in the month of October! The really yucky one is on the 2nd...that's when they'll be taking blood from him. Who agrees that bribing my child with Toy Story 1 and 2 at the theaters is a fantastic idea? Okay, good-that's what I thought!

I was on a roll with the weight loss. That quickly came to a halt. For the last month all I really have to show for it is the FIVE pounds I gained back. Yeah, my butt is getting back to the gym and eating better. I can't say I got lazy, I just got happy!

Why am I happy? Because I have a great boyfriend. Yes, I am not single anymore! Woo-hoo!!! B and I made if "official" on September 5th. He is so awesome! How awesome? He brought me a gift last night. Dark chocolate and hot pink argyle slipper sock thingy's! The chocolate is so yummy and the socks- he got them because my feet are always freezing. How sweet is that?

Lastly, today is the first day of fall and it feels like winter! It's snowing in Denver and it's in the 40's here. I'm loving it since fall/winter clothes are so fun! The cold wind makes me want to crawl under my covers and just read, but I need to go the gym and do homework...

Well, that's the basic update. I'm going to get better at this updating thing. Sometimes I don't know what to write. Please accept this cute picture of my child as my gift to you for putting up with my slacker-ishness!


Who can't love a face like that? This is CJ modeling his fall wear. He picked out all of his clothes for the season! LOL

Untitled...

Life has come at me in several different directions. After such a long period of hard life lessons life has taken an amazing turn down the road of happiness. I will bring you all the details of my new found happiness this weekend. I need a moment to catch my breath!

I hope life treats you well!

It's been awhile...

I have been such a slacker when it comes to my blog...I have no real reason as to why. In the mean time while I work on an update, here's a video to keep you happy :)

Thanks Pink Sass for this video!

How it went...

Last night was sooo much fun! B and I had an amazing dinner at Austins. I haven't been there in years...it was so good! Dinner had great conversation, we joked, people watched and just had a good time. We then went to see Inglorious Basterds. It was soo good! I highly reccommend it.

At the movie I was attacked by the hairy guy next to me so B held my hand so that we could share the armrest. Hairy guy kept touching me and coughing on me then using IM during the movie. Oh well...my night was not spoiled! I was really excited he held my hand. :) I feel 13 now LOL He drove me home and gave me a quick kiss good night and we're going out again! Yay!!!

The third date is on me...which he and I previously discussed :) I'm so excited. I can't wait!

I love Polyvore!

Here's my oufit! The only difference is that my clutch is pink and not faux snake skin! Let me know what you think!

Find me on Polyvore

Grown up time!

As a single parent it's really hard to find time to just be a grown up. My evenings are consumed with bedtime and bath. Then it's usually time for homework or just some quiet to time to unwind myself.

My parents have been super awesome at watching my goober so I can go out after he goes to bed. Last Sunday I left CJ with a real babysitter (the neighbor girl) for the first time. During those times I got to be a grown up!

Sunday was a blast. CJ was excited because he was going "hiking! Hiking! Hiking in woods!" with the girls. He had watched the Backyardagins the night before about hiking and apparently they sing that amazing song! I was really nervous to have him leave, but I knew he was in good hands. Since A, the babysitter, was one, I babysat her and her younger sister. Plus, her parents were going to be there so I felt better about it :) During his hike (his first one!) I went out to coffee for grown up time. I had coffee with B...sigh.

B and I are going on our second date (since our coffee date was four hours long we decided this was our second date lol) tonight. We're going to dinner and who knows what else. I am so excited. My dad is going to be watching CJ tonight so I can go on my excursion. Picking out an outfit has been hard! I will post pictures of it tomorrow...hopefully LOL

The weekly update

I wish I could say that I had lost a couple more pounds, but sadly I cannot say that. Unfortunately, my cheat day was a day of overboard eating. I ate everything in sight...and I felt it! I gained back the weight from the previous week. Yeah in one weekend (my cheat day went through Sunday morning...oops) I gained almost 3 pounds.

Thankfully this week, I busted my butt and got into the 174.something as of today. Today is not a cheat day for me, tomorrow will be since I'm going on my date.

Yes, I'm going on a date! And this is the second date! Woo-hoo!!!! I'm excited. I still don't know what to wear though. I guess I need to go shopping!

....

I can't think of a creative title so we'll just leave it at that.

2.5 pounds gone this week. I'm very excited for my cheat day :)

Yummy

I had to share with you all about the small piece of melon that made my day. I'm not a pro at picking produce. Sometimes I hit it big (like today) other times I wonder what happened.

On Sunday I went and got the paper since I cut coupons now. (I saved $13 this week!) King Soopers had their ad in there and posted was Cantaloupes for a buck.

Sa-weet!!!

Anywho, I picked a fantastic melon. I want another one, so I'm probably going to get one. This is one of the few things I love about summer.

Oh, PS: I fell off the weight losing wagon while my mom was here (we're both trying to lose but we're such bad influences on each other lol) so I got back on track and I can't wait to share my numbers :) I've been kickin' butt and takin' names!

Thankful Thoughts

I am an avid blog reader. I follow 30ish blogs and read the updates faithfully everyday. Some blogs I read are happy and uplifting and they're so much fun to read. Others make you think and the few that are left are the ones that are having hard times-whether it's an ill child or spouse or the author is losing their house and lost their job. Reading other peoples good times and struggles has really given me a new view point about what is going on with CJ.

CJ had his first appointment yesterday for the Autism screening. I was going around telling people it was "just a speech eval". We had been through one before, I thought I knew what to expect. CJ and I arrived at Childrens Hospital and I was just hit with something telling me that it could be so much worse, but all I wanted to think about was how "bad" CJ had it. This hospital was such a welcoming place....there were windows everywhere, the staff were overly beyond friendly and the hospital was very much made for kids.

Mary Kay was our speech pathologist. At first I didn't really like her. She seemed rigid and I wondered why she had picked a field with children. After getting through the initial testing (concepts, comprehension, articulation and vocabulary) CJ was able to play and all three of us relaxed. Little did I know the play was part of the evaluation.

Sitting in the room watching my son was hard but not so hard that I thought I was going to lose it. It was difficult to watch him not understand concepts he should or not understand what she was saying. This was expected but I didn't know to what level.

After play time she started talking to me, asking me questions about his personality, social skills, etc. She was writing so fast! LOL She asked me to play with CJ to watch him interact with a familiar adult and then we just let him play. During the play time this is when the news came.

I feel blessed to have Mary Kay. She knew exactly what to say to me and how to put it. She said that some of the behaviors and lack of development CJ showed her were definitely on the Autism Spectrum as others were just him not developing at the average rate. She gave me a lot of recommendations and a lot of information. The words she spoke to me were expected, but actually hearing them was a lot harder than I thought it would be.

I held it together until I got onto the freeway. I hid my face from CJ. I don't ever want him to think there is something wrong with him. I didn't want him to know that I was crying.

Today I was over at Kelly's Korner. I love her blogs. She had posted a video and it was a tear jerker. I then read the story of the family in the video and it really got me thinking. Yes, Autism isn't easy. The therapies are not cheap and taking care of a "special needs" child takes a lot of time. What I was looking at was how much I have. I have been blessed with my son. I get to hug him and listen to him and play with him whenever I want-even sometimes when I don't want too :)-while other people spend their days praying that their child will make it. Other parents may be grieving over the loss of a child.

Everyday is a day to be thankful for. Life is tough and full of trying times. You have to remember that you have been given this life and you have to live so why not make it a good one?

Operation Beautiful

This touched my heart. In this journey of losing weight I've noticed that it's been all about changing the outward appearance. What about the inward appearance?

Girls and women today are being called fat and obese if they aren't a size 2. Yes, the average size in America is a 16 but that is because of the rate of obesity. You do not need to be a size 2 to be beautiful. When you feel beautiful, that's when others will notice how beautiful you are!

Reason #3492 Why I Strongly Dislike Mondays

Now that I'm not working, I can't really complain about Monday's, or any day really. I stay home everyday and don't really have a big schedule difference from week to weekend.

The last 3 Mondays (today included) have been the start of a new week in my running program. I hae never really enjoyed running but now I like it. It makes me tired and feel good, but also keeps me happy. In the words of Reese Witherspoon Elle Woods "Exercise gives you endorphins. Endorphins make you happy." That statement is totally true...until today.

On Saturday evening I went to the gym and my foot started to bother me. It was bad, it was tolerable. The corpsman in me asked how bad it was on a scale of 1-10. It was maybe a 2-3. It was on the back portion of my arch on my left foot. Well, I worked through it (go me!) and dealt with it all day yesterday. Today felt the same so I went ahead, put on my running shoes and started Week 3 of my running program.

BAD IDEA! I lasted about 10 minutes before the pain just became awful. I had to stop running and just walked. I finished out my 20 minutes, quickly grabbed CJ and hobbled out to my car. I wish I could just cut off my foot right now. It really hurts :(

So now, I have my first running injury as a civilian. I had my fair share while in the Navy (shin splints, stress fractures...all that fun stuff). I am contemplating if my body is ready for running. I have a couple days to think about it. If not, it's back to the elliptical I go.

In more exciting news...I left CJ with my dad for about 1 1/2 hours on Saturday evening so I could go to the gym. When I got home, CJ came running to the door screaming "MOMMY!". He knocked me over with a huge hug and said "I missed my mommy very much". I love being a mom...