Our August Wedding

Good evening to you!

It's been another hot day in Oklahoma... Wild, we say!  ;-)  And here we are -- Planning an outdoor August wedding. *LOL* Yup. We're crazy like that. But it's going to be fun! So... We have now set the date for our big day. B and G are will become Mr. and Mrs. H on August 24th, 2012. We are very excited for 08.24.12 and are beginning our wedding plans. We are not having a big old party wedding but more of a get-together with our closest family members and possibly some friends. G went dress shopping with her sister-in-law M on Monday and found an absolutely stunning wedding dress that she instantly fell in love with. She has been forbidden to show B the dress until the day of the wedding.  <3  He is going to love it!


G has also found out that she will not have to retake the CNA/CHHA course again. Or at least hopefully not. Apparently, all she has to do is to retest in order to become certified again. But she only has one shot at the test! If she does not pass it that first time, she will end up having to retake the entire course over again and paying that huge amount that we had talked about in the previous post. *UGH* No stress, right...?!  :-/  Yesterday, G went and got her CPR for Healthcare Providers done and is already signed up for a Medication Administration Training (MAT) course for Monday and Tuesday of next week. Then hopefully next week sometime she will get that letter from the Nurse Aide Registry that states her eligibility to retest -- Then she can finally start work somewhere. *YAY* More than likely, she will be working at a local hospital with Auntie M.  :-)


The Thought for the Day:

Anyway... There's this cool website out there if you are interested in downloading free music -- The legal way.  ;-)  If you go to the DatPiff website (Idle, 2012) and create an account, you can start downloading free copies of mix tapes from various artists in the hip hop and r&b genres. Some of the mixtapes are sponsored so that you don't even have to be logged in to download them. Pretty cool stuff! There is one young and upcoming artist that I am especially fond of. His name is Robert Lucido and he is half-Icelandic. G is from Iceland, too.  :-)  Robert sings r&b and he's pretty darn good at it, too! You can download his full album called Trials and Tribulations on DatPiff if you're interested in hearing more of his music. G's favorite song so far is called Take My Devils Away. Here is one of his music videos:

Robert Lucido - Satisfied:

G wasn't feeling too good this past week and now it appears that B has taken over the illness around here. Hopefully he will be feeling better by tomorrow so that we can go and visit a co-worker of his to hang out. G is also headed out of town tomorrow morning with her brother to look at a car for their dad. Maybe it's time to call it a night and go cuddle a bit before bed.  ;-)

Have a great Friday night, y'all!

-- G

References:

Idle Music, Inc. (2012). DatPiff: The authority in free mixtapes. Retrieved from:

          http://www.datpiff.com

Deadly Heat Wave

Good morning and happy Monday!


Hopefully your day is off to a good start just as mine is. The sunrise this morning was beautiful and G really enjoyed watching it this morning as she sat outside with the day's first cup of coffee. Breathtaking! G is currently reviewing some old photos that have been taken over the past few months and thought it might be nice to share a family photo with you all. So here goes...


Our Family Photo:

2011.12.17 @ Rhema Bible Church's Christmas Lights Extravaganza
Description: Rhema Bible Church in Broken Arrow, OK, has an annual celebration of lights "...designed to provide a safe, peaceful, and fun atmosphere in which people can enjoy the Christmas season, and to point visitors to the love of Christ and the real meaning of Christmas" (Rhema, 2009). It really is a sight worth seeing if you're ever in Oklahoma around the holiday season.


On the Today show this morning, Al Roker mentioned that 74 people have been killed in 14 states as a result of this crazy heat wave that had taken over the United States for the past few weeks. How unfortunate is that?! Crazy. But, on a lighter note, we are finally going to get some relief from the heat wave this week. Here in Tulsa we have been seeing temperatures in the triple digits for several weeks now. This week's forecast is great, though. Low 90s... Awesome!


Our Local 7-Day Forecast (Scripps, 2012):

G has been job hunting for several months now but still has not been able to find a job. She has gone in for a few interviews but is beginning to lose faith... *HMMPH* This is not good. In May, she graduated with her Bachelors in Psychology with an emphasis on Mental Health from a local university but is having the hardest time finding a job! So far she has submitted applications and resumes to 45 different employers -- with requests for more than one position at the majority of these places -- and still nothing. Frustration is setting in...! Please, please, please let her find something soon. *CROSSES FINGERS* Something good has to come from all of this... Right?!

While browsing YouTube the other day, G came across a bunch of musical talent that she had never heard of and now she wants to share some of it with you. Today we will start with a band that call themselves The Paper Kites. They are from Melbourne in Australia and play beautiful music. There is one song in particular that G just fell in love with. It is called Bloom and tends to be replayed around our house quite a bit these days. The video for the above mentioned song is here below. If you like what you hear, you can click your way on over to the band's webpage and download one of their tracks for free. All you have to do is to sign up for The Paper Kites' mailing list and you will receive a link that will allow you to download their song Woodland off of the Woodland album at no charge to you (Paper Kites, 2012).

The Paper Kites - Bloom:

And now for some serious talk -- weight loss and exercise! This is disgraceful... G worked so hard for such a long time to lose weight and now has been gaining a lot of it back. She was down 54 pounds from her original weight and has gained 16 of those pounds back. Eek! A change in diet and additional exercise must come into play now. This is not working out. As of this morning, G is 160.7 pounds but her goal is to reach 140 pounds. Blogging about her weight loss goal and journey may help to serve as further motivation -- or at least that's what she likes to believe.  ;-)  If you would like to make a change of your own in terms of your health, feel free to join in and we can make this trip together!

I'm wondering if I've said too much already today?! Maybe this would be a good place to stop. As I call it quits for today, I will leave you with this...

The Thought for the Day:

Now get out there and enjoy the rest of your Monday!

-- G

References:
Paper Kites (2012). The Paper Kites - Heavy Reins Tour. Retrieved from 
          http://www.thepaperkites.com.au
Rhema Bible Church (2009). Christmas Lights Extravaganza (par. 5). Retrieved from
          http://www.rhemabiblechurch.com/index.php?
          option=com_content&view=article&id=173&Itemid=192
Scripps TV Station Group (2012). 2 Works For You: 7-Day Forecast. Retrieved from 
          http://www.kjrh.com/generic/weather/7-Day