| Chapter XXXV |

Yes I sure do!

First and foremost, I'm so thankful for wonderful friends. One in particular is my sweet, beautiful friend Heather (aka cheeky) who wrote a super cute post yesterday wishing me a happy anniversary. I love and miss her tons!

Below are the gorgeous flowers and the cute/funny card he bought me for our anniversary! I *love* roses: the way they look, the way they smell, and just everything about them is awesome!

He also did a great job by getting me this fine looking gold locket. "I love you" is inscribed right above the two little hearts but the glare in the picture covered that.

Well, I loved my gift(s) and so did he because I got him the new Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City. He mentioned this a few weeks back and I knew I had to get it for him. He's actually playing it at the moment while I blog. :-)

I wanted to be slick about it and trick him into thinking I was only getting him the box of Hershey's Pot of Gold chocolate below. I took all the chocolate out of it and placed the game inside the box. He did ask if it was really chocolate when I first handed it to him because it felt light but I said, "Yea, it's chocolate." (I'm *the* worst liar though so I'm sure my facial expression showed otherwise). He probably knew on some level that it wasn't really chocolate but he did not expect the game at all. He was definitely surprised when he saw it and it was great to see his happy expression :-)

I did give him all the hidden chocolate after ;-)
For our anniversary dinner, we went to Tumbleweed. I've only ever been there four times in my life. The first time was in Wisconsin and the other three (including last night) was right here in Somerset. I had the mango chili glazed salmon and he had the buffalo chicken fingers. It was all so very delicious!

Well, that was only Part 1 of our anniversary celebration ;-) We will be having Part 2 in the near future which will involve a sushi dinner and a jacuzzi suite! Location? Lexington, KY most likely.

I'm truly blessed to have an incredible friend like my cheeky and an exceptionally wonderful husband like Randy.

"It may rain or it may drizzle, but I can always find a way to make my life sizzle!" ~ May Zin Foster.

Yes, it sounds lame but whatever. :-)

| Chapter XXXIV |

Two years!!!!!

Yay!! Happy 2nd Anniversary to me and my sweetheart! It has been two wonderful years and I am truly blessed to have a husband like him. Yes we have our moments- our ups and downs- the times that make us feel so frustrated with each other, but through it all we continue to hold onto that feeling that made us fall in love with each other.

On weekdays, he would go to bed early and I would join him in bed but instead of sleeping I would stay on the computer and get online, play Sims 3, or watch a movie/show. Multiple times during the night I would look over at him and as cliche as this will sound, I'd feel like we were the only ones in this world. I would then lean over and give him a kiss and smile to myself when I think of how he still makes me weak in the knees whenever he walks in any room, how I still get that infamous 'butterflies in my stomach' feeling when he tells me I'm beautiful, how I still feel like a silly little schoolgirl with a crush when he kisses me, and most of all how lucky he makes me feel when he holds me in his arms and tells me he loves me.

I cannot wait for us to take the next step and have children and way down the road, watch them have children of their own. I cannot wait to grow old with him and sit out on the porch one day and reminisce on all our goods times: especially those in the beginning when we lived for the weekends and waiting 5 days in between seemed like eternity. That was where it all began... :-)

I love you so much Mr. Randy Lee Foster! :-) You rock my world! ;-)

I thought this was cute:

| Chapter XXXIII |

Yes! Thank God it's Friday!

Not that I personally have to look forward to the weekend due to the fact that I don't work. However, it is the time when I get to see a lot of my husband so that's always a plus! First things first though, I'm going to start of with a random rant. (Always the positive way to start of a weekend, right?! :-) )

Okay, I don't get why, whenever you apply for a job and have to go through one of those 'apply online' things, they ask you to attach your resume almost right off the bat after you create a username and password. Then, after a couple of steps, which usually involve filling out your name, address and other contact information, you are asked to fill out your work history, educational history, and pretty much everything that is on your dang resume! My question is, why the heck are you wasting my time asking me the same freakin' information that you just got earlier when I attached my resume?! It does not make any sense and truly, aggravates the heck out of me! I mean, yes, it takes about 5 seconds to attach a resume but if I knew I was going to fill out the same information here in a couple steps, I may as well not attach it at all. Whoever thought that was a good idea is definitely on my 'crap list'.

Alright, I did say 'rant' (singular) but I just had another tiny little rant to add as well. Have you seen the latest T.J. Maxx commercial where this designer (Lucy Sykes) narrates about being a 'Maxxinista'? Oh my goodness, her voice drives me insane! Okay, she has a British accent so of course it's different but that's not even it. It's just the way she is talking and over pronouncing every part of every syllable of every dang word! It's simply tiring listening to her, especially when she says the word Maxxinista. After I first heard the commercial, her 'Maxxinista' pronunciation rang in my ear for days.

We don't have any solid plans for the weekend, except for church on Sunday of course. I'm hoping to catch a movie again though. Before watching Shutter Island last week, which was awesome by the way, we hadn't been to the movies in quite a while. There are a number of movies I'm wanting to watch at the moment but these two are the top two for sure, not particularly in this order though cause I could go for either one.

It's our 2nd anniversary on Monday and I cannot wait to celebrate it. I think we debated celebrating it tomorrow but the more I think of it, we may just wind up celebrating it on the actual day. Plus, it's pay day! (Yes, on a Monday. Lol)

Whatever we wind up doing this weekend, I just can't wait to spend time with him. During the weekdays there's just not enough time between the time he gets off work and has to go to sleep. Don't get me wrong, every moment is treasured, but I'm selfish - I want him all to myself for days at a time. :-)

Yes, yes, we sure are two peas in a pod! I can't believe, come Monday, that I will have been married to him for 2 years and have known him for a little over 3. Regardless of all the ups and downs, I can never imagine my life without him. We both are truly blessed to have each other. Now I'm not going to say that life would be 'boring' if we never had problems because, trust me, if I had it my way, I'd live in la-la land every single moment and be happy all the time. However, what's important is the way we both react in the times of trouble and hardship. It is the way we both come out of all the arguments learning a lot more about each other and continuing to love each other even when, at times, we feel like completely suffocating the other person. :-)

| Chapter XXXII |

Bon Jovi

Somewhat fuzzy pic of the 4 of them

(Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, David Bryan, and Tico Torres)

Jon Bon Jovi with the lucky audiences from the pit &

the first rows of the first 3 floor sections.

Jon Bon Jovi

So needless to say, I am still stuck in a state of euphoria from the concert.

I had such an amazing time (and that's totally understating it!).

I mean, seeing them in person just brought back *all* my childhood memories of listening to all their songs with my sister and singing a long to them. I wish she and I could have seen them together in concert but she saw them back in March and now I've seen them so I'm definitely happy for that! :-) Although, the together trip to see Bon Jovi will surely be in the works soon ;-)

We had a late start from here but I didn't even care if we saw the opening act. (Who, by the way, was Dashboard Confessional and I have already seen them back in May of 2004 at the City Market in Kansas City, MO - wow, I remember random details of things! Lol.) Anyhow, about 30 minutes or so into the drive, as we were estimating the time of arrival in Nashville, I look down at my phone and realized that the time wasn't 6:15 p.m. (as it said on the clock in the car and the GPS) but it was 5:15 p.m. and I was totally taken aback. I told my husband to check the time on his phone and it said the same thing. Then he goes, "Maybe we're in a different time zone." And I'm like, "Really? We have barely driven 40 miles from Somerset." But to be sure I searched Google for Nashville's current time and bam! Sure enough it was Central Time. I was totally surprised cause I had no idea. I've even been to Nashville before but I guess I never really paid attention. But that little mix up definitely worked in our favor. Or so we thought at the time I guess.

We did get to downtown Nashville at around 7:30 p.m. which was when the concert was scheduled to start (The venue was downtown). But after inching through traffic and finally finding a parking spot, we wound up getting out of our car at around 8 and sitting at our seats around 8:15. We did miss Dashboard Confessional but again, as I had said before, it wasn't that big of a deal.

Bon Jovi came on about 20 minutes later. They opened with the song Blood on Blood and did a phenomenal performance - not just for that song but for all their songs! I didn't think they would have done any less than that anyway ;-)

I know he isn't much of a fan so I caught glimpses of him being "bored". Of course, he was probably tired as well from working hard all day. I did feel sorry for him because we didn't stay the night in Nashville but instead drove right back and he finally got into bed around 4:30 a.m., leaving him with barely 3 and a half hours of sleep before he had to get up for work.

I definitely want to see them perform again!

Perhaps on Friday, July 23, 2010 at the Churchill Downs in Louisville? ;-) Not that I have thought that far ahead or anything. :-)

This Bon Jovi high that I'm on ain't goin' anyway anytime too soon ;-)

| Chapter XXXI |

Bon Jovi

Bridgestone Arena

Nashville, TN

Wed., April 21, 2010 7:30 p.m.

Yayyyyyy!!! In a few hours I will be Nashville bound and off to see the legends: Bon Jovi!

I'm so freaking excited!!! My husband could go either way which is making me want to shake him and say, "Get excited, dang it!" Hehe :-)

Anyway, I ordered/paid for the tickets yesterday on Ebay and the seller overnighted them through UPS and they arrived this morning. I could barely contain myself when I finally got them in hand.
It's going to be an awesome show! Definitely a special moment to go down memory lane :-)

Side note of panic: Just about less than 5 minutes ago I was wanting to look at the tickets and so I grabbed the little white envelope the seller put it in and they weren't there. Okay, so I grabbed the big UPS envelope and they weren't there either. I was starting to panic at that point and I lifted up the UPS envelope thinking maybe they were under there. They weren't! And I went into major panic mode as in breathing heavily, not thinking straight, the works you know. Finally I remembered when I woke up I moved the laptop and cord from the room to the living room. In my hand were the tickets (UPS envelope plus the little white envelope), and my phone. And I remember tripping on the cord at the side of the bed. So I went and looked there. Sure enough they had slipped out of my hand during the commotion. Thank goodness! I was about to start crying. Lol.

| Chapter XXX |

Little Miss Nova Jean

This precious little baby girl is Alicia (my husband's cousin)'s baby. We went to see her at the hospital when she was born a few months ago but hadn't seen her since. She's grown so much for sure.

I've never been much of a baby/kid person in general I guess and thinking of motherhood does make me cringe most of the time but *every time* I see a cute little baby I'm always thinking, "Aww I want one" :-)

That was so the way I felt today when I saw her. I cannot wait to babysit her! :-)
My husband and I are thinking of trying around the end of this year so it should be very exciting. Of course, if it were to "happen" between now and then I will take it as none other than a blessing that came just a little early :-)

Side note: I've totally been stalking my Bon Jovi concert tickets that are on their way (via overnight UPS mail) as we speak. I'm sure they will arrive tomorrow on time but I'm just all anxious and fidgetty from all the excitement! :-)

| Chapter XXIX |

She's says: We've got to hold on to what we've got

♫ ♪ It doesn't make a difference if we make it or not

We got each other and that's a lot

For love -- we'll give it a shot...

Ohh..we're halfway there! ♪ ♫

As ready as I am to carry out the whole song, I'm gonna have to end it right here, 'else I'll never stop. True story!

So I have all sorts of Bon Jovi songs ringing my ears as I'm laying here last-minute ticket searching/shopping. Well, the concert is in 2 days (Woo hoo!) and I *have* been searching for tickets for quite a few weeks now but it was on purpose that I waited until now to get put serious thought into getting them.

My theory (well it turned into a theory from a hypothesis when I scored awesome floor seats for a George Straight/Taylor Swift/Ronnie Milsap concert for $35 crazy bucks (Full Story) a few years ago) is that when you wait until the last minute you open yourself up to the possibility (even if it's just the slightest one) of scoring great seats (i.e. pit, floor, heck- even lower level seats) for a very good price. The way I see it, tickets aren't like products. If you place an ad for, say, a PS3 for $200 and someone offers you $100 or even $130, you just want to write back to them and tell them to kiss your behind. Reason being, you can hold on to that PS3 however long you want to and eventually you can find someone who will offer you the asking price or even just $5 to $10 below . Okay, rephrase that, not 'however long' necessarily but in a sense there isn't an "expiration date" on the item. Tickets, on the other hand, do have this "expiration date" and as anyone can guess at this point I am talking about when the concert ends (at the very latest). So after that point (which is realistically a lot earlier than the end of the concert but for sure by that point) the ticket becomes obsolete.

Granted, I have never been on the other end of the spectrum where I am the one holding the ticket(s), panicking, and trying to sell them last minute. But I can only imagine that as the event draws nearer and nearer my expectations (of course, the price at which I had set the ticket for originally) gets lower and lower. By a day or two before the concert I would be happy if anyone would offer anything remotely close to my asking price and would more than likely sell it to him/her/them. I guess I'd reckon I might as well make some money out of it than for it to be a total waste.

Well of course they can try selling it to scalpers or those standing around desperately by the venue putting up signs like "Need 1 Ticket" etc. But there's no guarantee the ticket will sell.

That's what I thought anyway but apparently this Nashville crowd's a tough one to get through to.

And the next time I hear someone say "I still have plenty of time", "I'm losing a lot of money as it is", or "I'm trying to get what I paid for" (today specifically), I'm going to lose my mind.

Seriously...

1). No you don't have plenty of time. It's freakin' Monday and the concert is Wednesday.

2). Sucks that you're losing "a lot of money" but would you rather let the tickets become 2 pieces of paper only worth throwing into the trash or would you rather make some cash out of it?

3). Well, sorry to disappoint you but that little statement may have been (more) possible earlier in the selling process but you can't expect to (only) get offered what you paid for at this time anymore.

Needless to say, this entire last minute gamble for tickets is mentally exhausting and aggravating but I'm trying to continue to stay positive only because of the possibility of a great reward- aka great seats for a steal. Another thing too, actually, is that I am 100% set on going so no matter what, we are getting our butts to that concert. Because of that fact, I have an Option B that I can fall back on. You see, Ticketmaster has promotion tickets which are the 3rd tier- 300 level tickets- aka the last resort tickets as I call them- for $56 for 2 tickets which ain't bad at all. And these particular ones available on promotion are not entirely the last resort ones because they at least face the stage. I guess the ones behind the stage (facing their backs) are the true last resort seats. Then there's always Option C, since I am *that* determined to go, I will buy any ticket available-facing them or not if it comes down to it, which I doubt it will.

See I've only waited all my childhood/high school years dreaming of seeing them. Then when I came to college (here in the US) and it became a very 'real' possibility that I could see them in concert, I started actively seeking to finally go to one. Unfortunately something always came up but this time, nothing is going to stand in my way! I have pumped myself up way too much for the past month or so and by golly, I'm going to finally check it off my To-Do-Before-I-Die List :-)

I think I have directed all my negative energy into ranting about the ticket search process on here that I'm ready to get back in there and continue with the search.

Somewhat of good news though, I have quite a positive prospect in the works and it's for two 100 level seats which is not shabby at all. The seller has already accepted my offer in fact. I'm just trying to wait it out as much as I can and see if I can just push my luck a tad bit more and score floor seats. ;-) We'll see how that turns out. Don't get me wrong, if I get those 100 level ones I will be very content.

Side note of happiness: My cheeky (aka Heather) officially got on blogger today! :-) Yayyyy! So we can be blog buddies and I am very excited for that. She is just as random as I am and I know she's probably got a thing or two every now and then to rant about, just like I do. Lol. So her joining up blogger makes me like this ---> :-)

| Chapter XXVIII |

Here Comes the Bride....

No, not me of course. Been there. Done that. And loving every minute, I must say.

I am, however, talking about two of my sisters-in-law, Nikki and Brittany, who are both getting married this year!

Nikki's wedding is set for October 16 while Brittany's is set for September 18.

I will be a bridesmaid at both of these special occasions and couldn't be more honored to be a part of each of their special days.

On top of that, though, what I am just totally flipping out about is the fact that I am going to be a wedding coordinator for Brittany's wedding.

I've taken up on this very special position just 2 days ago but already I have over half the wedding planned out. :-)

I've already ordered my dress for Nikki's wedding (from David's Bridal), as we (Nikki, my mother-in-law, the other 2 bridesmaids, and the maid of honor and her mom) went to Lexington at the end of March to do the dress shopping. Although Nikki's initial plan was to search for only the bridesmaid dresses, finding them was so easy and very fast I must say, that she wound up picking out her dress as well. It is breathtakingly gorgeous, to say the very least.

Brittany's engagement, on the other hand, is very recent (a week old) so we haven't begin doing anything yet. But, as the recently appointed wedding coordinator, I am guaranteeing that we will be moving along in the planning process fairly quickly due to the fact that I'm a highly anal retentive individual. Which, by the way, is a very useful quality to possess when it comes to this particular position. :-)

The next few months are going to be very, very busy for me but I am so excited and ready for them to come my way!

Congratulations to the happy couples!

| Chapter XXVII |

The Portable Purse Hook

So if you're a girl and don't have one of these yet, I strongly suggest you get one!! One of my friends introduced this product to me when she sent me as a Christmas gift this past Christmas and I have fallen in love with it ever since. It is truly a life saver. I don't know about you but I often run into situations whether they be in the bathroom or sitting at a restaurant or anywhere for that matter where I can't seem to find a place to put my purse. Sometimes, in the bathroom scenario, there was a place for my purse but the counter was just wet or nasty in general. Clearly, I don't want to set my purse on there. And that's where this handy purse hook comes in.

Plus, it comes in so many very cute colors and designs. You can also get one that is retractable..like this.

When coiled up it looks like this....

Really nifty, I must say.

Below are the links to three stores (among many others) of where you can purchase this fabulous girly must-have gadget:

Macy's (under the handbags and accessories category)

Purse Jewelry

Silver Hooks

| Chapter XXVI |

So I stayed up all last night playing Sims 3. For those who don't know, I have major insomnia. It's highly irritating in fact.

Well I wouldn't have played it quite that long but I ran into an issue. You see, I played about 3 hours worth and guess what happens? My laptop decides to restart (from the usual updates) and I was powerless to save my progress. So all the 3 hours worth of effort went sliding down the drain! Needless to say, I was highly disappointed on the one hand but on the other hand I became "obsessed" with wanting to get back to "where I was" or round about where I was anyway. So I played for yet another 3 hours. (Yea....I wish I had an ounce of the motivation/dedication that I have for my Sims as I do for exercising). Actually I think the 2nd time around may have been for more than 3 hours. Regardless, next thing you know the sun was coming up and I was wide awake.

And since one bad habit seem to promote some sort of chain reaction of bad habits, I wound up staying up and watching last night's episodes of Cougartown and Modern Family. Truthfully, I was at that point of being so wired from not sleeping that I couldn't even sleep if I tried. Next thing you know it's 1230 and then, and only then, am I sleepy enough to decide to shut the computer down and set my alarm. Granted, I knew laying down at 1230 was a horrible idea so I decided to make a compromise by setting my alarm to 330 and deciding to only sleep for 3 hours.

Sure enough I did wake up then but boy, am I tired! I mean it's too late now to go back in there and sleep...not that I can, even if I tried. So now I'm working on 3 lousy hours of sleep and feeling completely lazy, even more than usual which says a lots.

Laying around and watching Desperate Housewives with light cleaning (which consists of picking up little things that are out of place here and there) in between has been about all I could muster up the energy to do.

On a more upbeat note, I have been scouting out Bon Jovi tickets! (They are going to be in Nashville, TN at the Bridgestone Arena (Sommet Center) on April 21st at 730 p.m.) I haven't just been scouting them out today, I've been scouting them out for awhile. I just haven't purchased them because I'm looking for the 'best deal'. Sure, once I actually do purchase the tickets, the chances of another set of tickets with a better deal coming along are very high. But the way I see it, I want to wait long enough to the point where sellers get desperate and start negotiating on price deals. I mean, hey, that's how I wound up getting George Strait/Taylor Swift/Ronnie Milsap floor seat tickets (about 5 rows from the stage) for $35 crazy bucks back in February of 2007! (Side note: The guy - who lived in Virginia and I was in Charleston, SC at the time - actually wound up giving me a 'nevermind' on the payment but $35 is still a great deal for their location). So I'm hoping that my little theory, or scheme rather, will benefit me and get me great seats for a fairly decent price.

Nonetheless, oh my goodness...Bon Jovi in about a week! I cannot believe it! My sister saw them in Kansas City back in March (lucky, lucky her!). It was definitely a priority on both of our 'to do' lists (not just before we're 30 but period). I mean, come on, I vividly remember like it was yesterday, all those mornings during the summer time when we were young when we used to crank up Blood on Blood, Living on a Prayer, Born to be my Baby....oh the list could go on and on. We knew (and still know) all the lyrics to his songs on his older albums. I do have quite a few songs I like of his new ones though, don't get me wrong. It's just that the oldies were all a significant part of my childhood memories. Good times for sure!

Well my husband should be back home fairly soon. He suggested a dinner date night but sadly I doubt I can muster up the energy to put on makeup and go out. Putting on make up is becoming more a chore these days, which is totally a 180 from how I used to be.

But we'll give it a go tomorrow night or maybe we said Saturday. Well it's either one of the two :)