Day 1....survival

Being positive all day yesterday was not the easiest, BUT I would say it was a successful day. I found myself constantly reminding myself that i needed to stay positive and not complain (sometimes out loud. haha) I am hoping that after a few days of sarcasm and forcing the smiles it will become habit. Not saying I will be perfectly happy all the time, but I am hoping to at least smile enough to completely ignore the negative energy thrown at me daily. I can handle haters, I just don't want to be one!

I thought I was doomed on my way to work as I was running late and there was construction traffic. And then the radio kept me smiling, amazing how music can keep you in a "happy place." Made it to work on time and made it through the day with a smile on my face.

I am so grateful for my co-workers. SO SO SO grateful for my co-workers. We all have our ups and downs but at the end of the day they are my family. When you spend more time at work than family and friends combined...you learn to love one another! With the stresses of everyday life in the ER it is kind of difficult to make it through the day without the support of these wonderful people. So thank you for making it a happy day for me. Thanks for reminding me why I go to work each day and put up with all the craziness that Peoria throws at us. I often complain about my job, say I don't want to go to work, or just get grouchy at the thought of dealing with whining people all day....and then I remember that I work with some of the most amazing people in the Peoria area and it is all worth it. Love you guys! (Becky & Lori, thanks for keeping me in check all day)

I am also grateful for our new Building....as much as i curse it daily it is a pretty sweet facility! And if nothing else, it's enormous size forces me to walk many miles a day which helps me keep my weight in check. So thanks OSF...I am sure it is worth the lack of a pay increase :o)

Since this is being written at 3:30 in the morning...I am hoping that tomorrow I can be grateful for sleep :o)

And of course....I am grateful for my Hubby (and his hot abs)!

Hello Moody!

I wake up every morning hoping to have a good day with a positive attitude and smiles all around...who doesn't. I highly doubt anyone out there really hops out of bed and says "Hey I think I will be a grouch today." But it happens, life happens. And most likely, the things in life that seem to push us over the edge are not expected or planned. Whether it be a rough day at work, a day where you get some bad news, or simply a day where things are NOT going as planned, your day can go from good to bad to worse in a matter of minutes. For me, a day that does not fit into my perfectly formed schedule is a serious 'stress starter'. And of course if there is something out of place, a chair is not pushed in at the table, a drop of water on the counter, a shoe off of the shoe rack.....ok ok I am a bit OCD, but everyone has issues. Micah will tell you that I can wake up smiling and once my OCD mind takes over it is all down hill and my mood goes along for the ride. For someone else it may be a speeding ticket on the way to work...that would put me in a foul mood as well. Or possibly hitting every red light in a 10 mile stretch would put a damper on your day. But it could be worse...somewhere in this state, this country, somewhere in this world, someone is having a worse day than you. We just have to face the fact that people have bad days...some more than others...but bad day or not, we control our moods. And our moods affect those around us. I often forget this part....because once I am in my OCD world it is my world and no one else matters. Selfishness. (We are all sinners and I am working on this!)

I often try to blame my mood on those around me. But in reality it is all me. Someone else may hurt my feelings, their actions may inconvenience me, or they may really piss me off, but that doesn't give me the right to be a grouch...even if I have all the justifications in the world. (and I promise I will try to justify)

So, my goal is to improve my mood and to prevent myself from going to that nasty hateful grouchy place. I am much more enjoyable to be around when I am a happy girl and right now, i am not a happy girl, well not all the time anyhow. I try and my plastic smile can usually cut it for a while and then it fails....fails miserably and I am a grouch. So I apologize to all my sweet friends, co-workers, and husband for my extreme moodiness and excessive complaining the last few weeks (correction: Months). Things have not really "gone my way", for those of you who deal with me every day you can attest that this is a serious understatement. I have found myself crawling out of bed grouchy and the majority of my conversations are negative. I annoy myself with my complaining so I can only imagine how my friends feel at this point. And while really has been a horrible few weeks it is not worth my time or energy to go through each day grumpy. Which brings me to the point of this blog...

Thanksgiving...I am normally not a holiday kind of person. I get stressed...imagine that. But I believe that we control our thoughts and attitudes and gratefulness is a great way to drown out the hatefulness. SOOOO Welcome to Whitney's (however many days I allow myself time to blog) Days of Thanksgiving, where I will bore you with the many things in life I am actually grateful for in hopes of reminding myself that life really isn't all that bad and I am quite blessed....

(and for those who are with me daily, friendly reminders not to complain would be awesome....if I start to go on a rant about something stupid, just walk away and tell me to be grateful!)

Sunshine for the Soul

The rest of our trip consisted of Food, Food and More Food... We made sure we ate at all of our favorite spots, hungry or not. We also wandered around La Jolla for some window shopping and Ocean viewing. There were countless visits with friends as well. Over all I would consider our trip a success!

Favorite Places to Eat:

Miguels Cocina (Coronado Island)

The Burger Lounge (best veggie burgers around)

Fuji Japanese Steak House

Wahoo's (Fish Tacos)

Jake's Del Mar (oceanside elegance...)

Favorite People In San Diego:

Billy and Mallory

Ben and Debbie (plus the whole Harris family of course)

Tracy

Ela and Jon (even if you really don't live in San Diego)

Favorite Spots:

La Jolla

Torrey Pines

Sea World

The San Diego Zoo

Seaport Village

Gaslamp District

Fashion Valley Mall

Coronado Island

Any and Every Beach

Shadow Mountain Community Church

True North (night Life fun)

Nothing like a San Diego Sunset....

My LOVES. Ela and Jon...At the Beach in La Jolla

We made them take a 'SoCal' guy friends picture. At least we didn't make them hold hands :o)

My sweet sweet friend Ela

The Seal/sea lion hang out

Many people ridicule Cali for its 'liberal' outlook on life....but everyone who 'hates CA' has clearly never been there. So friends from the Midwest....take a vacation :o)

British love at Sea World

There were many highlights to our trip, but one that surpasses them all was my reunion with my dear sweet friend Ela. This whole blog started when I was living in England and I long to be able to blog once again about my British encounters...Someday I will return. Some of my most treasured friendships began on British soil...friendships that speak to my soul from thousands of miles away. When I left England I left knowing that I would once again see the sweet faces I grew to love. So far Skype is the only way I get to see these beautiful women, however I was blessed with a real life reunion while we were in San Diego.

Ela was supposed to fly to IL when Micah and I got married, but illness hindered her from making the trip...such a bummer, but there was no illness this time around. Ela and her now fiance made the trip to CA for their own pleasure and shortly after planning we realized that our trips overlapped. PERFECTION (As if I needed another reason to make the trip perfect)

We ate at our FAVORITE restaurant in San Diego, Miguels. If anyone plans on visiting San Diego this is a MUST TASTE. Coronado Island holds the finest Mexican food and Italian Gelato. Both of which were enjoyed with my beautiful Ela, her fiance Jon, Mallory and Billy.

Since we also enjoyed a day at SeaWorld together. It was a gorgeous day for a stroll with the whales...

The traditional Micah/Whitney watching Shamu picture...

Thriller...definite entertainment

Ela showing off her engagement ring.

The Whales never get old...I could watch them all day long every day :o)

Why can't you live in the same country as me? I need more friends like you ;o)

Sweet reunion....with a sweet friend who knows my heart without saying a word. It is such a joy to be able to talk to someone who 'gets' you. Thank you Ela for your friendship. For your unconditional love...and for all the memories on British and US soil. I cannot wait for our next reunion on British soil.

Torrey Pines

We recently took a MUCH needed vacation to San Diego. We have been traveling a lot in the last two years but none has been for pleasure. Each trip we take is either for work or a friends wedding...so needless to say it was time to take a break from life. I could use a break from life daily, but this trip will have to do for a while. (at least until I sneak away to England in June...)

Anyhow...

Travels were not nice to us on the way there, but it was all worth it in the end. Took off out of Peoria and since our flights were free we really did not have any say in what route we took. SO our schedule was: Peoria to Dallas to LA to San Diego. And when you have one delay it really puts a damper on the whole trip. But after sitting in Peoria for 2 hours, running to catch our plane in Dallas, missing our flight in LA, and driving to San Diego, we safely made it to Billy's house at 1 AM (which on our clock was 3 AM back home due to time changes). For anyone who knows me....this is not good for my sleep schedule as I like to be in bed by 10. But sacrifices....its all about the sacrifices. 6 AM rolls around and we are UP and off to church. Yes Shadow Mountain Community Church is worth the lack of sleep.

After Church it was time to enjoy the beautiful weather with our other Hubby and Wife (AKA Billy and Mallory) Billy is a friend of ours who lived with us for a few months when we were living in SD. One big happy Family....the Newlyweds and Billy (with Leo the Cat of course). Sweet Mallory joined our lives shortly before we moved back to IL. The two got married last year and life would not be the same without them. Although I think they will agree that it is kind of nice having our own house :o)

We had many adventures but my favorite was hiking at Torrey Pines. Out of shape....I think so. Mallory and I were about dead when we reached the top but it was worth it. The best part is, once you make it to the top, you get to hike down the other side and end up on the beach:

Micah falling off the cliff

one of the many reasons I wish we still lived in San Diego

The best wifey ever...Love you Mal...and Hubby #2 who enjoys being present for all pics.

Take me back

on the 'little' rock at the beach

Mid hike

halfway down the other side of the 'hill'

One big happy family!!!

Love you guys! So glad our family could be together once again :o) Mal, you were definitely a much needed addition as i was outnumbered before!!!

Katie's Baby Shower

Two baby showers in one week was a lot of work, but it was 100% worth it. I had a day break after Sarah's shower, and then we jumped right in to Katie's shower on Sunday. This being Katie's first child, the party was quite large but wonderful. Her Mom, Sister, and Sister-in-Law went to a ton of work and I was so glad they allowed me to help! We had around 45 guests at this shower and boy could you tell. There was a TON of food, TONS of gifts, and even more fun. Jarrod (daddy-to-be) joined us for some gift opening...he was entertaining as always.

The Food!

Cute Construction Decor

My Dump Truck Cake

The Decor

Some of the gifts.....It took them a good hour to open them all!

Gift Opening Time....Jarrod had more fun with all the cute clothes and toys than Baby Gatlin will I am sure.

Goof Ball

The Bestie! First picture of Katie, Me and my sweet little Nephew. I am sure there will be millions more to come!

This little one is going to be SO spoiled by his whole family and of course by Aunt Whitney. Katie has been my closest friend since High School, my Maid of Honor, and I her Matron of Honor. We have been through the hardest time of our lives together as well as the most incredibly joyful times, and I could not have asked for a more loyal and loving friend to be by my side. Now this Bundle of Joy is a HUGE celebration and I cannot WAIT to be sitting in that waiting room until his arrival is announced. I even got to be at Katie's Sono appointment when she found out that this baby was indeed a boy not a girl. I will NEVER forget the look on Katie's face, and the sweet little baby boy on the sono screen. Thanks for letting me be so involved with your little one Katie! I am blessed to have you in my life!

Side Note: I swear I did my laundry :o) I didn't think about needing my orange shirt for Katie's shower so i wore it to Sarah's first. haha Woops

Let the Baby fun begin

A while back i posted a blog about all my friends who are expecting little ones in the near future. Well we are in full swing baby season. Let me just apologize to those of you who don't really want to read about babies for the next 6 months, but here we go.

FINALLY HERE!!!

Baby Dunne was born on September, 11th. They named her Olivia Erin. Congrats Chris and Kris!

Baby Martin arrived last week and they named her Emma Marie.

Baby Brazis is coming today (boy: Name is a secret)

ARRIVING SOON:

Baby Stein is still waiting holding out on us...but we are ready for news any day. Mom is still working!!! (not finding out the sex)

Baby Heinold in November (girl: Mackenzie)

Baby Fleck in November (girl: Reese Josephine)

Baby Emlen in December (BOY: once mistaken for a girl, but it is

definitely a boy and his name will be Gatlin Douglas)

BRINGING IN THE NEW YEAR

Baby Knecht in February (not finding out)

and we are now adding:

Baby Miller in March (boy): Praise the lord for this healthy little baby. They have been waiting for quite a while to have some GOOD news! Praying for you all during this pregnancy.

Which brings me to the actual POST. I have been busy with work, life, and planning baby showers. Luckily I am not responsible for ALL the people above (although I would love it of course) but for the ones that i get to help out with, plan I am grateful. Last weekend was a whirlwind....Friday was a Surprise Baby Sprinkle for Sarah and Sunday was a HUGE shower for

Katie (next post).

The yum yums!

Church Friends: Kate, Sarah, Martha, Me, Deanna

The Party Planners and the little Momma (Martha, Sarah, Me)

The Pregos: Kate (March), Sarah (Oct), Martha (Feb)

Sarah's high school friend Morgan, Her sister Jess, Mother Julie, and Grandma!

Gift time is always fun: Sarah, Deanna, Kate, and Martha

Still a bit in shock I think.

Sarah was surprised to say the least. This has been in the works since July and she had absolutely no idea. Since it is her second child (but first girl) we wanted to do something special that would get her some necessities and sweet little girl things. It was small and PERFECT. Martha helped me plan and pull off the event....and she even opened up her house. Husband Chad did a wonderful job getting information, getting Sarah to the party, and keeping it a total surprise. I cannot thank you both enough.

The evening went like this: Chad drug Sarah and Noah to the park....at 6:50 (it is dark by now) Noah didn't care I am sure but Sarah was ready to put on Pajamas before they left. When Sarah showed up the look on her face was priceless, i wish i had my camera. She had plenty of 'did you really pull this off moments' throughout the evening. The poor girl was ready for bed before the party but Chad made sure she didn't show up in PJ's.....although we would not have cared she may have been a little upset. They get the park, run around a bit...freeze (according to Sarah) and then all of a sudden Chad says "hey Landon wants us to stop by their house to look at it" Sarah of course is thinking he is nuts, not only is it snack time for Noah, but it is late, last minute, and she is tired. But once again she follows her hubby's lead and heads over. What a good sport!

Upon arrival she recognized some cars but was still a little blown away by the situation. Once inside the look on her face was priceless. She could not figure out how everyone kept it a secret, especially her sister and mom. Through the evening she recalled events that should have given the whole thing away but her pregnancy brain allowed them to pass without question. Her mother-in-law even called and said she could not make it. Red Flags for anyone else, but Sarah was afraid that she had forgotten her previous invitation to the family to stay for the weekend. She felt bad that she forgot she invited them, so she didn't say a word. Bless her heart....she really had never said a word to them about visiting, they just missed the "surprise" memo in the invitation. Sarah was also a wonderful sport and didn't think anything of the odd text messages her husband was receiving from Me.

So a surprise it was, with the comments from family and friends completely passing by Sarah. And I am hoping she enjoyed it as much as we did! We cannot wait for this sweet little blessing to enter the world. Reese, you are so loved already.