Happy Belated Thanksgiving!

Now that it's almost a month since Thanksgiving I guess it's the perfect time to talk about how adventure to Tennessee!

Wednesday, night before Thanksgiving:
 I am home about 20 minutes since getting off from work throwing clothes into a bag waiting for Devin to get home from school. I am running around like a chicken with head cut off ( per usual) making sure I am not forgetting one thing! ( Of course I made my usual list so I would be triple sure not to forget a thing.) Devin gets home about 6pm so once he changes out of his school clothes he is ready to load up the car. Now that it's about 6:45pm we are finally ready to hit the road! Stop by Wendy's for a very nutritious dinner (lol) and are ready to fight the traffic! To our fortunate deck of cards, no traffic! Wow God is definitely watching over us. We make into Macon,GA around 1am, find a lovely Motel 6 ( since they leave the light on for ya) and get ready to lay our heads on the pillow. Well..... as I am fluffing my pillow and pulling the sheets back I notice lots of black hair. Not human hair. Dog hair or cat hair either way it was animal hair. My jaw fell to the ground in amazement. The maid clearly placed the pillow strategically over the crazy amount of hair in hopes no one would lift it up. Wrongo! I was that person who looked under the pillow ( as if I was awaiting money from the tooth fairy or something).  I must have made some kind of grunt because Devin yells out, "what?!", I replied," Oh just some hair," He replies," eh dust it off you'll be fine." So I dusted it off and went on my marry way to dream of fried turkey. :) Woke up the next day bright and early, showered, changed, and packed up.

Thursday, Thanksgiving day:
We drive thru a Mickey D's before we get on the road. At the first window, where you pay, was this volumptious southern gal who told us in a very southern Georgia accent, "Happy Thanksgiving." I looked Devin in shock as we pull up to the 2nd window to get our food. The lady at this window was also very sweet and wished us a Happy Thanksgiving as well. We couldn't believe how nice they were. We pretty much decided that even though Florida is a southern state for some reason the southern hospitality ( at least in Orlando) completely skipped Florida and finished off in Georgia, South Carolina etc. Now we are on the road to Clarksville and we are enjoying no traffic on the highways and the beautiful scenery. Finally we see a sign that says, "Welcome to Tennessee!" We are so excited until we see a sign that says, "Welcome to Georgia!" Whoa whoa whoa... what? I thought we just left GA how are we back in GA? We look at the GPS and it looks like the way the highway goes you go into TN then back to GA and then back to TN. Low and behold we see a sign that says, "Welcome to Tennessee," again. I guess that's what happened then. We ended up making great time to my sister in laws, without speeding (I promise we did the speed limit the entire time because the GA police officers were out!) the whole way. It was so nice to see a familiar face and relax and enjoy being around family. So being aunt and uncle we had to bring Bella and Gage their christmas present. Since we don't have kids of our own it's game on to spoil our niece and nephew.  They got RC cars. Not the little dinky one from Walmart or Toys R Us. The ones from the RC hobby shop that they can upgrade throughout their life. No it wasn't cheap but hey they are only young once. :) They were so excited! They charged up real quick and went running outside with them. RC cars = success.

Friday, day after Thanksgiving aka Black Friday & Saturday:
 My family and Devin's family haven't really been ones to seek out Black Friday stuff. On occasion we will participate, but it isn't a tradition or a have to. We enjoyed Thanksgiving left overs and headed out to explore. We went to some RC hobby shops and went to the mall in Nashville. It was a very low key relaxing couple of days with much needed family time.

Sunday, journey back to Florida:
Devin and I enjoyed some breakfast tacos with the kiddos and Jules and Tish. We planned on leaving early, but we prolonged our departure since we didn't want to return to Orlando. We had a blast and were sad it was coming to an end. We left around 9am and traffic wasn't too bad until we hit a huge jam about an hour or so outside of Georgia. I pulled out my handy iphone and used the Waze app. ( FYI it is amazing! Shows you pretty much everything in route and you are able to communicate with others to spot out what exactly is going on.) The jam finally cleared up and then we hit another one right outside of Atlanta. This was one was worse. I fell asleep for about 30 minutes and woke up and we literally moved like a few exits. Luckily, someone on Waze suggested a different route and our GPS re-calculated correctly. Apparently, a car had caught on fire creating a huge huge mess! Even though we got home later than planned we were fortunate to make it home safely.

Overall, we had an awesome time at my sister in laws drinking, eating, laughing, and playing with kids. We are beyond blessed to have such an amazing family. So friends please remember to pray for eyes that see the best in the people, a heart that forgives the worst, mind that forgets the bad and a soul that never loses faith in God. 

Mencia and the Motorcycle Re build

     Saturday, we went and saw Carlos Mencia! I have been excited to see him for like a month now! I bought the tickets in early October and was stoked that the day was finally here! A co-worker of mine just moved into a new place so she invited us over for lunch and was gracious enough to let us use her washer and dryer so we wouldn't have to go to the laundromat. ( Boy! was that relaxing! I hate the laundromat!!!) When we got done eating lunch, we just sat and relaxed while chit chatting with my co-worker and her boyfriend.

     Devin gets a text message that a package for the bike project he is doing has arrived for him. He tells me we need to stop by the house on the way to the comedy club so he can put the package inside the house. I said ok because it was on the way. Well, it wasn't exactly on the way. The Improv was on the opposite side of I-drive so Devin says he needs to go back now so no one will take the package. I give him the "Are you kidding me" look and decided whatever might as well go. So he heads back to the house so he can meet us in time at the comedy club. My friend is done getting ready so we head out.

     Devin calls for directions to the parking garage we are in. Well, out of the 4 of us my friend's boyfriend is from Orlando, but he didn't know his way around very well. I am horrible with directions. I use landmarks for everything. Devin has advised me for years to remember street names because the landmarks could not be there one day. Oh well I'm stubborn and still use landmarks! Luckily, he found us.

     So we get into the club, grab a drink, and get seated. I was so glad we did not sit right in front of the stage. I did not want to get made fun of or spit on! We had awesome seats in the second row! The food and drinks were good for a club and the atmosphere was very enjoyable! Carlos Mencia was soooo funny! I laughed the entire time, while also laughing very loudly in Devin's ear! ( He sat in front of me at the table) Before the show ends, a guy comes up to us and has us fill out a survey and then hands us tickets to come back to the Improv. Super cool! I love winning stuff! At the end of the show, we go stand in line to get our picture taken with Carlos and get his autograph. Devin rushes out to the bathroom since he didn't go the entire show and misses getting his picture taken! I think I was more upset that he missed out than he was. The line moved way faster than I thought.

     We walked out to the car, told my friend bye, and drove back home.

     This morning my throat was killing me! I obviously had a good time since I laughed so hard and loud that my throat was sore! I'm a little hoarse, but oh well. We had a lot of things to mark off on our to do list. We are going to visit Devin's sister, brother in law and niece and nephew for Thanksgiving so we had a lot to get done before our departure to Hickville. :)

     We got the kids their christmas present so we had to wrap them up. The floors needed to be swept and mopped along with the bathroom getting scrubbed down and we needed to clean the bird cage and put laundry up. Needless to say, we have been up and running since about 8am ( I think Devin actually woke up at 7am) and are watching now watching Hook.

     Devin worked on the 1982 550 GTZ ( I probably wrote the wrong model) he bought last weekend as a project bike. The guy who he got it from couldn't get it to run because he thought the engine was locked up. Devin figured out how to make it run today. He has been cleaning it up and fixing this that and the other all week. He's even reading the service manual on the bike. He wants me to ride it once it's already to go. I sat on it and tried to imagine myself riding down the road, but I keep going back and forth on whether or not I want to ride a motorcycle. Anyways, at least we know MMI is worth the money and the time since he has shown what he's learned in real life.

     Our new Monaco family member, Squirt the Lovebird, has decided that he doesn't like me. He is definitely Devin's lover. He tries to get me when I go change his water in the morning or put new food in. He bit me the other day on my neck so now I'm over it. I know I should play with him more, but honestly I only enjoy dogs. Devin is THE animal lover. When we were dating, he got two cornsnakes. I did hold them and they never bit me. Devin found them to be cuddly in their own slithering way. Now that is the true definition of an animal lover.

     Well, I'm gunna put my feet up, pop in another movie, or watch some On Demand and relax until Monday morning at 7am rolls around. Thanks for continuing to read about me and my life :) I can't believe I have almost 2,000 views! Incredible.

Always remember to pray for eyes that see the best in people, a heart that forgives the worst, a mind that forgets the bad, and a soul that never loses faith in God.

    

Trust in God with all your heart

  Everyday on my way to work and right before I close my eyes to go to sleep, I pray. I pray for us, our friends, and our family. I always end my prayer with what I end my blog with, "Always pray to have eyes that see the best in people,etc."  I never took the time to step back and see if God did answer my prayers. I figured eh it'll happen when it happens and I'll thank him later. Over the past few months, I have taken the time to acknowledge God's work in action.

   One of my good friends at work has been struggling a bit. She is a wonderful person who constantly puts others before herself. She is living paycheck to paycheck and is doing a damn good job at being a single mom. She is such a strong person and I admire all these amazing attributes she obtains. I prayed that she would no longer have to struggle the way she is and be able to get to a place where she could relax and just work to have extra money on the side. Ladies and gents, my prayers were most definitely answered. She is moving in with her boyfriend here soon! They found a quaint apartment on a good side of town and you can just see how she lights up when he walks in to our office. I am beyond happy for her. :)

  That is just one example. There are a few more but I think y'all get the jist. Don't take the things God does for granted. I know there are times when it may seem that God is not around, but he is. I have to constantly remind myself when times are hard that God would not put something in my path that I could not handle. I ask that you do the same.

   We were just blessed beyond belief recently. We found out Devin got approved for 30% disability from the military. His unemployment was extended and he is doing phenomenal in school. He will soon move on to doing his elective classes and it will be a breeze from there on out. He won't be done until Feb 2015, but I will be done with one year of nursing school and he will move back to San Antonio and begin his career as a motorcycle mechanic. I am so thankful for how blessed we have been and continue to be.

   So friends and family, remember God does answer our prayers. Sometimes not in the way we would like him to,but we have to remember he has a plan for all of us. We need to keep faith and trust in him daily.

     Always pray to have eyes that see the best in people, a heart that forgives the worst, mind that forgets the bad, and a soul that never loses faith in God.

Bring it on!

    At the end of August, I found out I was accepted into nursing school! Yipee! I have since been running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to balance work and getting all of the my requirements done for school such as CPR training, background check,etc. I am happy to say I am done with all of those things and now all I need to do is register and go to orientation!
   
    It's a little bittersweet because I'll have to leave Florida, where Devin is, and move in back in (temporarily) with my dad and step mom. It'll work out better that way because then I won't have to stress about having a job that will pay for living expenses and bills. I can just focus on bills. (Who said being a grown up is fun anyways?!)

    Work has been NUTS! NUTS I TELL YOU! I am now head of customer service and they want me to run a separate office of only customer service. I have never moved up so fast in a job than this one. Since things were just starting out when I first got hired, they needed people to move up as things got bigger and they got bigger FAST!

   We went home for a weekend a couple of weeks ago for Devin's cousin Mercedes' wedding. It was beautiful. It was super TEXAS hot but it was beautiful. Also, it was the shortest weekend known to man so needless to say we a bit upset that we couldn't stay longer. We'd thought about going home for Thanksgiving but plane tickets are espensive!!! ( must say with spanish accent, no offense) We are still working out what we are going to do for Thanksgiving. Devin would like to go for a motorcycle ride to Timbuktu while I would like to go for a ride to the outlet mall. :)

     The Florida weather is getting cooler so it's more enjoyable to take a ride on the motorcycle now. A couple of months ago we almost had heat strokes because of how hot it was sitting at the stoplights to go from our house to blockbuster 7 miles down the road. We just did a Ride for the Cure for Breast Cancer Awareness last weekend and the weather was amazing! Sooooo Devin decided let's go down to Miami and then Key West for Thanksgiving since he has a 4 day weekend. Let's just say these plans are still in the making...

     You see there is this "bridge" or as I call it "THE BRIDGE OF NO RETURN". I don't know I have this 'thing' with bridges, especially HIGH bridges. For example, ALL my San Antonio peeps, y'all know the new connector highway thingymagig that they built to help traffic out for people traveling down 1604 towards Stone Oak that connects them to 281 heading towards the airport. Well that overpass is SERIOUSLY the highest thing in the entire world! I feel like I am going to fall off the face of the earth everytime I get on there. I accidentally took it once because I didn't know they added that when I moved back. Then Devin took it out on the motorcycle when we were going to Embassy Movie Theater and purposely rode the shoulder so I would be even more freaked out! OH MY HOLY JESUS! Now I will take the exit to wait at the light and then go wayyy up to get onto 281 just so I don't have to use that overpass. So since to drive from Miami to Key West there is this bridge that is like 100 miles long I am a bit skeptical.

     Again, we  are still making the plans :)

Quick Family updates:

     My grandma aka Momo just turned 91. Janna pierced her nose and then FINALLY decided to take that crazy thing out because she was getting a keloid inside her nostril. My dad and Karen are still living up the retired life. Devin is enjoying school and continuing to be the lovable, pain in my rump, bbq master, caring husband he always is. Devin's parents and Memaw are doing well as well as his brother Brodie. Tish and Jules and the kids just moved to Tennessee and are getting adjusted.

    Nothing real exciting is going on in the Monaco household. Hope I didn't bore ya too much :)

Remember:

Always pray to have eyes that see the best in people, a heart that forgives the worst, mind that forgets the bad and a soul that never loses faith in God.

Dream a little dream of me

             I know there is a website you can visit where your dreams get analyzed. I also know that there are people out there in the world that you can pay for them to analyze your dreams as well. I prefer to do my own analyzing.

              Friday night, I dreamed of Theresa Caputo, The Long Island Medium. Meeting her in person is truly something I would like to check off my bucket list one day. I have put myself on her waiting list so her and I could possibly communicate with my mom. I feel that by trying to do I would know that my mom didn't suffer. We tried to make sure she had pain medication around the clock and that she was being forced to stay on Earth for our own sake. God knew it was her time and we had to let nature take its course rather than putting a feeding tube in and watching her be a vegetable pretty much just so she could still physically be here.

             On facebook the other day, Theresa had posted that she is doing another tour and tickets would be available soon. I remember thinking I should go and see how much and where, but I didn't. I guess that sprung a thought in my brain later in the night.

              So I ran into Theresa while out I guess ( because we weren't in my house or hers) and she begins to communicate with my mom. She says, "Your mom wants you to know that she didn't suffer. She knew who you were the moment you walked into the room. She's sorry she couldn't say anything." I just turned to mush. I said, " I know that's what I thought. I just wanted to be sure." Theresa says, " Your mom is very proud of you making it into nursing school." I said, "What? I haven't found yet." Theresa replies, "Oops! Well surprise!" She thanked me for listening and off I went. Our mini session was over.

              Last night, I dreamed of sitting in my high school cafeteria awaiting the answer as to if I "got in or not". I sat among numerous girls awaiting the answer. At first, in my dream, I think that I am sitting here waiting to hear if I got into nursing school. As more girls got up with smiling faces, I thought no this has to be something else. Someone comes by the girls I am sitting with and hands them a decorated paper plate ( weird I know, but hey that's what they were given). The person tells them " I'm very sorry, but you didn't make it." They take the plate, grab their things, and walk out. I am now the only person at my table. All of a sudden a girl I went to high school appears at the microphone and says, "It was a tough decision, but we narrowed it down to the last two.Luci you will be joining us next year." Some other girl comes running up to me and congratulates me on making into Dollies again. I'm super excited and call my dad and sister and Devin. Once I get to Devin, I realized wait a minute I thought I was waiting to hear about nursing school. As I leave the building to get into my car, it's raining. Actually it's flooding. I can barely walk to get out to my car. Devin is walking with me and he says, "That's so awesome! I'm so glad you got in!" It's like he new, and everyone else I called too, what I was awaiting to hear good news about. I woke up a little confused and tried to go back to sleep so my dream could finish, but I couldn't. I hate it when that happens.


           So my analysis is that, yes I am stressed about whether or not I am going to get into nursing school. I haven't exactly felt too stressed nor have I been a mess waiting to hear. I have been checking my email religiously since I found out Aug 21 would be the earliest day I would hear.I still haven't gotten anything, but I have til the end of next week still. So I am dreaming about that because it's subconsciously on my mind. I believe that if I ,or anyone else for that matter, dreams about my mom talking to them it really is her communicating with us. Maybe she knows something I don't. She was always very positive and optimistic, so I'm sure she is the same person in heaven. The only difference is that she has angels wings and can be with God everyday. I know he is watching over us everyday. We may experience tribulations every now and then, but he has proved that he does not give us anything we cannot handle. He has a plan for us. I believe the plan he has laid out for me about my career has been chosen. I know I am wanted in the medical field. After doing home health care and being a CNA, I have found my calling.

           With UCF and other colleges in Florida that offer nursing ,not exactly being ideal, was God's way of saying, " Look you searched it out and discovered it's not the best situation. So now you know what you should really do." I know Devin wants to do 3 different courses at MMI. I only want him to do 2 if not 1 because I don't want him to be away any longer, but I know God has a plan for him and both of us. If we have to be apart a little longer than preferred, God knows what he is doing. Because again, he doesn't give us anything he knows we cannot handle.

           Once again remember,

 Always pray to have eyes that see the best in people, a heart that forgives the worst, mind that forgets the bad, and a soul that never loses faith in God.

Mani/Pedi Day

    I got promoted at work recently and I feel like a chicken with my head cut off. I am always busy. I went from being someone who sat and waited for a call to come in to someone who is either replying to a business email, answering the phone/someone's question, not being able to have a moment to think and never leaving on time.

     Last week, I had to turn in my UTHSCSA nursing school questions. I wanted to make sure I had plenty of time to do them, but every time I came home I felt so worn out. Luckily, I had the weekend to complete them and send them to my dad and my aunt to triple check everything made sense and was good to go. Now, I have to wait til the end of the month til I find out if I got in or not.

   One night, I decided to bring some work home with me so I wouldn't have so much to do the next day to where I could possibly leave early! Well, it must have been a sign from God because as I am cleaning up my email somehow it jumped from the trash folder to the inbox and PURGED everything! ( Yes, I cried.) I couldn't believe it. I put my face in my hands,had a little hissy fit, and wanted to crawl into a hole. Devin comes over to see if he can help since I am computer illiterate when it comes to 'fixing' what was done. Unfortunately, there was nothing I could do. I tried calling the email tech support and they couldn't help me because I didn't have my work's account information. I couldn't believe I had just lost everything I had received from July 23-Aug 7. Devin advised me to just go to bed and not worry about it. He said, " Everyone makes mistakes." I was just so damn worried that I was going to walk into work and tell them what happened and looks of "what the hell?!!"

    The next morning Devin tells me that I never left work because throughout the night I was yelling in my sleep, as if I was talking to people at work, telling them what they did wrong and so on. I was obviously very stressed about trying to get all the work I needed to finish done and then it was just the cherry on top having 3 weeks worth of emails gone forever!

     So  I go into work and talk with the IT guy about my  little mishap and he spoke with the email tech support and supplied them with the information I couldn't give. All they could was get my emails up to Aug 6 back but hey that was better than nothing! I did some recon to figure out what I had lost and so forth, so no I wasn't banished from work for eternity nor was I objected to have my head chopped off like I was expecting. :) ( Yes, I tend to over exaggerate)

     Last night was a good stress reliever. We went to downtown disney for a kiss tribute concert at the House of Blues. It was so much fun. I had a cherry vodka sour and Devin had a 24 oz budlight and it was freaking $17 for that! I was like hmmm I think this maybe my only drink, until I sipped it and it tasted like cough medicine. The first time I had a cherry vodka sour was at New Year's and it was delicious! This one not so much. So I tried something else. I got a whiskey sour. Yea, that sucked too. It was like I drank spiked water. Seriously. Oh well, other than the awful bartender we had a blast. There is just something about seeing grown men wearing platform shoes and face paint that makes everything better. :) The poor guy that was being Gene Simmons could barely walk in his platform shoes. Devin and I couldn't stop laughing! He would pick his legs up high as if he was a giant when he would walk. Too funny.

       This morning I decided I should get a mani/pedi to be the cherry on top of my stress relieving weekend so I did. I have never been to such a huge a spa! I felt like royalty being so comfortable and luxurious! I love walking out and feeling like I have slept for days. You just feel so relaxed. It's truly amazing. I get home and Devin has mowed the grass, done dishes,and packed up laundry to go to the laundromat. I couldn't believe it. Now he is making dinner on his bbq pit  while I write on my blog and watch shark week. Have I mentioned how great my husband is? Well he is pretty awesome!

      I'm glad I went and treated myself today. It had been awhile since I did that. I think next time Devin and I are going to have to get swedish massages.

       Remember, always pray to have eyes that see the best in people, a heart that forgives the worst, mind that forgets the bad, and a soul that never loses faith in God. 

   

Weekly Hubbs and Wifey Movie Date

                             First off, so sorry it's been almost a month since I last posted. I got a job doing telemarketing and it's pretty much draining me mentally and physically. Anyways, as many of you may know, Turbo and R.I.P.D came out at the movie theater this weekend. Devin and I huge movie goers so we pretty much go to the movies every weekend. It's just something we have been doing since we were dating. Well, they were both good movies with morals to the story of course. I don't know what it is, but I love love love movies with a moral ( Yes, this is pretty much every movie minus action and horror films). So for those of you who don't know what each movie was about I will tell you. I promise to SPOIL everything, so if you do not want to know what happens at the end, go watch the movie and then come back and read my blog. SORRY! If I don't spoil it, then I won't be able to get my point across! :)

 *****************************SPOILER ALERT**********************************

                  R.I.P.D, a movie about a man who is a police officer on Earth and gets shot on duty and goes to a place called R.I.P.D to wait out his sentencing as to whether he will go to hell or heaven. As he captures the dead people, he finds out that his best friend on Earth is the villain and is trying to build a tunnel so the dead people will forever be on Earth and can take over. Well, the man's wife finds out that he took some evidence when doing a case so his wife has a totally different feeling about him. He can't explain to her because he is already gone, but he took the evidence( gold) because he wanted to give them a better life. The man ( Ryan Reynolds) and his R.I.P.D partner take down the tunnel, but in the process his wife gets stabbed because she was the dead people's sacrifice. Well she is losing a lot of blood so for a brief moment she is able to go to the other side and she sees her husband. They share a special moment and he explains to her why he took the gold and then tells her that he must let her go and live her life instead of keeping her with him for his own selfish reasons. She ends up waking up in the hospital fine and he continues to watch over her.

********************************MORAL************************************

                 Don't take for granted what you have because you never know when that moment may be where you are no longer with the one you love. ( At least, that's what I took away from it)

*******************************SPOILER ALERT**********************************

                 Turbo, a movie about a snail that wants to go fast! Obviously, he won't ever be able to go fast, but something happens to him and he gets 'super powers' per se and can move at lightning speed! He gets entered into a race to not only live his dream, but to also help send business to the guy that entered him in the race because they have been struggling, along with many other business owners in that particular shopping center. He puts up a good fight throughout the enter Indy 500 until one of the star drivers hits up and his shell breaks releasing his super powers. Now he can only move at snail speed. A huge accident happens on the track and no one can make it to the finish line on the last lap. Turbo is so beat up that even he can't until he realizes he is closer to the finish line than anyone else and starts moving as fast as he can. He ends up winning the race and goes on to live with the guy ( taco shop owner) who entered him in the race.

***********************************MORAL************************************

                  No matter how many people think your dream is ridiculous if you put your mind to it you will be able to achieve it.

END OF SPOILERS

                          I don't know why but it just dawned on me that every children's movie always has a moral. To me, kids are able to take with them these morals and they are tucked away in their subconscious. I mean think about it. When you are babysitting multiple children, or maybe you have younger siblings, you can see how they play together. They will share or tell the other kids what is fair and what is not. Or even when a child says, "I want to be a ballerina", there is always some snotty kid that says, "You can't!", but that child will say back, " Yes I can if I believe in myself." I know its cheesy, but even adult movies such as R.I.P.D had a moral for adults. Even love stories make us skeptical sometimes and reality tv shows by showing us that being unfaithful in a relationship happens and what the re-percussions can be. Go watch Temptation, the new Tyler Perry movie. Trust me that has a huge moral!!! 

                         I just found it to be interesting how movies or tv have such an impact on us without us really knowing it. Just a little something to think about.....

     Remember to....always pray for eyes that see the best in people, a heart that forgives the worst,mind that forgets that bad, and a soul that never loses faith in God.