Blog on hold until next week!

I am having to put my blog on hold until next week.  With moving this week, I didn't blog even the end of last week.  So I will pick up early next week when my life gets back to normal, when we are not painting, packing and cleaning.  Thanks for reading my blog and see you next week!!!!

~Stephanie~

Day 9.... A photo you took

I took these outside of our apartment, I think last summer.  Makes me long for summer and a "great" summer storm!  Those are the best.

~Stephanie~

Day 8......A Thank You Letter To Someone Who Changed Your Life

Dear Mom:

     Thank you for giving me life.   Thank you for always putting Christopher and I first, even though you didn't always have too.  Thank you for caring enough about me to allow me to be the person I want to be.  We may not always see eye to eye, but in the end we always will be mom and daughter!  You not only were mom, you were dad too.  Sometimes I am sure it was hard, the teenagers I would never go back too!  So thank you for being the best mom out there, the best mother in law anybody could ask for!!!!  Ryan and I love you very much and we will always appreciate everything you do for us!!!!

Love, Stephanie

PS. We need to take more family pictures.  This is all I could find is from the wedding 3 1/2 years ago.

Day 7....5 Things I could not live without

I would like to think that this would be an easy answer for me.  There are important things to me.

1st-My best friend (the hubby)
2nd-Family
3rd-The pets in my life.  Maxwell and Oreo, my 2 cute cats, Elliot my mom's dog (really my dog too!) and even Bert and Ernie (my brother Christopher's cats)

4th-My health
5th-A great book to read

And a superficial 6th-Facebook.  I really do enjoy going on there, getting to know long distance relatives, long lost friend and those that I see or talk to every day too (mom!)

~Stephanie~

So my adventure for the day was going to the MN Wild's Hockey game tonight.  I had won tickets at my work holiday party.  Ryan and I were going to go, but he works so dang early and we knew we would not be home till later this evening.  He would have gone with me, but I knew he did not really want to.  So I ended up taking our niece (his niece, mine by marriage) with me.  It was her first ever hockey game and we had a great time. 

The wild ending up winning 4-1!!!!  So it was a great night, Cassie and I had a great time! 

Day 6........A Moment you wish you could relive

There are a lot of days that I would love to relive or do over again.  High school graduation.  Just because I made a step from living at home with my mom to the next step in my life...independence.  My college graduation.  I am the 1st person from my family (father's side and my mom's side) to graduate from a 4 year university.  That is an awesome thought for me, that I did it and I was the 1st.  

My wedding day or days'.  Both wedding days.  Ryan and I were married at the courthouse on Friday October 5th, 2007. We did an official courthouse wedding because I did not want to spend the $200 or more to have someone come and marry us.  So we went to the courthouse with our parents, my brother and a couple of friends.  The next day Saturday October 6, 2007 we had our "wedding".  I remember it being a very rainy and very humid day (in October, not normal).  The rain stopped about 12:00pm noon that day.   We had a beautiful day, with our friends and family.  My brother was my man of honor and Jason (Ryan's cousin and best friend) was is best man.  Dalton (another good/best friend of Ryan) "married" us.  Since we had been married the day before, we thought that was a great way to include him in our special day.  

 Ryan and I

 The 3 men in my life, Christopher (my brother), the hubby and Jason (the best man and best friend)

 My mom and I

 My mom, brother and I.

Another great day in my life was getting reconnected to my sister.  My brother and I grew up here in MN/WI.  But we have a half(but she is just my sister) sister who was born, raised and has always lived in Pittsburgh.  We were never connected growing up, she is a little older then my brother and I, family issues, and the likes.  We grew up knowing of our sister Kerry, but did not have any connection.  But with the power of internet, December 2009 she found my brother and I on facebook.  March 2010 I flew to Pittsburgh alone to meet my sister, brother in law, niece and nephew.   What an awesome experience.  It is funny because even though we are 10 years apart in age, grew up in seperate homes, 800 miles apart, we are very similar.  We look alike, we act or do things alike.  

My sister and I March 2010.

But the day that I have to say that I would love to do again, just to experience would be my first date with the hubby.  We had a really great first date.  It lasted like 8 hours or something.  Ryan planned a great first date.  A movie, bowling and then hanging out on the boardwalk in Stillwater, MN.  Our first date was October 2, 2005 (my brother's birthday).  If you know Ryan personally, he is a very quiet, not talkative person.  But he was very talkative that night and is most nights at home.  It was the beginning of our life together.  I knew that night that something was different with this boy and something was different between he and I that I had not seen before.  Now if you ask Ryan about it, he'll deny it, but I know he would agree with me :)  So that is the day that I would relive.  The butterflies in my stomach and all!

~Stephanie~

I don't wish to relive a day, I always just look forward to the next day.  (Meaning, I am too tired to think about this,  and don't want to answer today)

~Ryan~

So I have been stuck inside of our apartment for day #2.  It is still snowing outside, the parking lot was a mess until an hour ago or so.  The side roads have not been touched.  So tonight I guess it is chillaxin, watching some TV.  I thinking I may go bake a cake first though.  So I hope you all have a great evening, stay warm and stay safe if you are here in MN/WI.

Day 5....A Favorite Quote

When I think of a favorite quote, one that always comes to mind is.......

Don't let someone tell you that your dreams are too BIG or too SMALL, as they are YOUR DREAMS!

I remember this from a movie that I saw.  And I really just liked it.  Because how can someone tell you what you want to do in life is stupid, dumb, not worth your time, etc.  Other people may not agree with my decisions, but they are my decisions.  The same goes for you and your dreams.

I also love....Don't let people with small minds ruin what you want to do in life.  

Small minds are those that create hatred for example.   

~Stephanie~

On a separate note, it is Sunday evening.  It has been snowing like crazy all day long.  The news cast have been calling for 10 to 15 inches of snow.  

The view from the main door to my apartment building.

With this snow fall, we will have the snowest winter EVER since it has been recorded.  December 2010 was the 3rd snowest winter ever.  

 This was during the snow storm, this is some of the most snow I had ever seen. 12/11/2010

 This is the day after the snow had stopped.  The parking lot where I live, was a nightmare.  That is a pile of snow the plows had just left in the parking lot. 12/12/2010

This was Ryan's car after it had stopped snowing, it took us an hour to dig his car out. 12/12/2010

With all this snow this year, I am so over winter.  I am typically fine up until January or so.  By now, I am so ready for Spring and ready for some nice warm, and rainy season.  When we woke up this morning the snow was suppose to have been started.  Looking out the window, it had not started yet.  So I decided to get up, shower and go to Target.  There is something about being stuck indoors when you know you can't or should not be going out.  It is a whole other thing when you chose not venturing out for the day. 

Tomorrow is Presidents' Day, and my company has given us the day off (as our floater holiday).  I am glad to be done and not have to worry about driving in this stuff.  But I do worry about what my parking lot (where I work, I manage a smaller apartment complex) is going to look like.  

Tomorrow night I am getting together with some of my sorority sisters.  I was picked to volunteer with my sorority's chapter at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls.  I am very excited to be able to help this chapter.  I think I have a lot to offer them, and it is a great opportunity for me to get involved with my sorority again.  In college I was always doing something with my sorority sisters.  Hanging out with them, meetings, socials, events, this or that.  Volunteering with the local chapter at UWRF lets me join in the fun.

I hope all in MN/WI are staying warm and safe tonight.  Drive safe if you are going to work tomorrow.  

~Stephanie~

Day 4....A favorite TV Show

The best thing to happen to TV is DVRs'.  I love my DVR.  I do not like watching live TV anymore.  Nothing like skipping through all the commercials, and just being able to watch the show you want to.  With the DVR, I can record shows when I am not home, when I am watching something else.  Every week there are a lot of shows that I watch.  Probably too much TV.  

But if I had to pick my favorite TV show, it would have to be Law and Order -SVU or Army Wives.  I love both of those shows and look forward  to new episodes.  Law and Order is a darker show, but good.  Army Wives is a fun show that I just like the characters and the show plots.  



Do you like my favorite shows?  Have you ever watched them?

~Stephanie~

Married with Children is my favorite show.  It is an old show, but funny!

~Ryan~

Day 3-A favorite Book

If there is something that I like just as much as movies (for entertainment) it is books.  I struggled when I was younger with reading, so in some ways it is surprising that I like books and reading as much as I do.  

Growing up I loved the BabySitters Club.  I still have all of my books from that series.  I still  have all my books from growing up, due to my mom telling me not to get rid of them.  

As an adult, I love it all.  I love the romance books, the suspense books, true crime books, cook books, on and on and on.  I remember once when I was in college I was reading the book The Pact by Jodi Picoult.  I was so involved in this books that I stayed up until like 5 am just to finish reading it (after reading all day long).  

If I am reading a true crime books, I will finish the books and end up googling who the book was about to see if I can find out more.  I am a researcher.  I also like reading maybe not true crime but just stories about true life, real people.  People are so interesting and there are some many people out there that makes the world go round.  

If a book is going to be a movie, I like to read the book before the movie.  If I LOVED the book, I typically like the movie too (even if others think its awful).  I think it is because I like the characters so much, and I just end up liking the movies.  I loved the book Twilight, and I ended up loving the movie.  (See movies, there I go again!  Talking about movies)  I know that Water for Elephants is coming to the theaters this Spring, so I raced to finish that book (which I did last week).  

So now back to the basis of this post, my favorite book.  Just like music, and movies how does one pick just one book.  I have many that I love.  But when someone asks me this questions, my first response is........To Kill  a Mockingbird.  I read this in high school, and just loved it.  If you haven't ever read it, you need to.   Here I go with movies again, but the movie is really good too!  

Do you have a favorite book that people would be surprised about?

~Stephanie~

No favorite books for me, as I shake my head.  LOL. 

~Ryan~

Day 2-A Favorite Movie

So how is someone suppose to pick one favorite movie.  Me, the person who owns like 500 movies is suppose to pick just one. Just to show how many movies I have, here is a picture of me in front of my movie stand and another one of the boxes that contain my movies.  That is 9 boxes, maybe a box  or two is other livingroom stuff, but that is my movie collection.

My love for movies started at a young age.  I remember going to the movie theater for one of the Star Wars movies.  I was young, maybe 2 or 3.  So I don't think it is far to ask me to pick just one, so being the movie fan that I am, I am gonna choose a few.

1st, my All time Favorite Christmas Move is........


2nd, my go to movie.....Dirty Dancing I have seen this movie a thousand times, and it never gets old!



Favorite 80's flick, a tie between Sixteen Candles and St. Elmo's Fire.  Both great movies!






But I always go back to two movies from my childhood.
ET. Who doesn't love ET.  He is so cute, Drew is too cute at 5 years old.  Overall just a great movie!



Or The Goonies.  Again, who doesn't love The Goonies.  Who didn't want to be down in the caves, searching for the ship with Mikey and his friends.  If you haven't seen The Goonies, and you are around my age, you were a deprived child!  LOL. 



There are sooo many more movies that I could list, but these are the ones that I love to watch, my feel good movies.  Are you a movie fan like me, what are you favorites???

~Stephanie~



Indiana Jones movies are my favorite.


~Ryan~

Day 1-A favorite song

How do you pick one favorite song?  Wow, there are a lot of songs that I LOVE.  So how do you narrow the list down to one?  For example I have a favorite Christmas Song, a favorite country song, a favorite R & B song, etc, etc, etc.  If you look at my Ipod there is everything from country to rap to classical music.  So my thought this evening then is, what is my current ringtone on my cell phone.  It is the great great song --Have a little faith in my by John Hiatt.



I started to love this song in the movie (imagine that a movie!) Phenomenon with John Travolta.  So today, my favorite song is Have a little faith in me. 

~Stephanie~

30 days of...Do you really know the Leopards??!!??

So with this new blog thing, I was on my friend Jessica's page.  She took this idea from her sister in law (I think) and I just really liked it.  I think this will be a great way for me to get bloggin and find things to start with.  So today 2-16-2011 I will start with Day 1, and do this "get to know me" challenge!  Thanks for reading!!!

Day 1: A favorite song.

Day 2: A favorite movie.

Day 3: A favorite book.

Day 4: A favorite television program.

Day 5: A favorite quote.

Day 6: A moment you wish you could relive.

Day 7: Five things you couldn't possibly live without.

Day 8: A thank you letter to someone who has changed your life.

Day 9: A photo you took.

Day 10: A photo of you taken over ten years ago.

Day 11: A photo of you taken recently.

Day 12: A song that you want played at your wedding(or was played).

Day 13: A guilty pleasure.

Day 14: A vacation you would like to take.

Day 15: A person you admire.

Day 16: A song that makes you cry.

Day 17: An art piece.

Day 18: A time when you felt passionate and alive.

Day 19: A talent of yours.

Day 20: A hobby of yours.

Day 21: Something you know you do differently than most people.

Day 22: A website.

Day 23: A way in which you want to be remembered.

Day 24: A movie no one would expect you to love.

Day 25: A recipe.

Day 26: A childhood memory.

Day 27: A physical feature you love.

Day 28: A scar you have and it's story.

Day 29: Hopes, dreams and plans you have for the next 365 days. 

Day 30: A motto or philosophy.

New Challenges, New Adventures

At the suggestion of my mom, I am starting my blog. If you know me, I am a talker. So I am hoping that this bloggin thing is easy for me!

Ryan and I are about to begin a new chapter in our life, home ownership! Ryan and I bough a 5 year old 2 bedroom 2 bathroom townhouse in River Falls, WI. We were not really looking to buy a home at this time, but it was a great deal and it got us out of living in an apartment. Now apartment life is not bad ( I work for an apartment community as a living) but it will be great to have our own place! Currently our home has a renter in there, but she will be moving out the end of this month. Once she moves out, we will begin the painting and move in right away.

So this week is busy at work. We are doing apartment inspections (checking smoke detectors, housekeeping, safety hazards, etc). I am never really amazed how gross people are. Some of these apartments are just NASTY! After a busy work week, this week I am in for a busy weekend. We need to pack and pack some more. I only have 2 more weekends before we move. And the following weekend is going to be nuts!

Alright, so I think I am gonna finish my first post, figure this all out and figure out what I am gonna blog about every week! Night all!