Results

Since I am not sure how many of you who read this blog want to see picture of my uterus, I have put my results on my baby blog. You can check it out at www.babyricci.blogspot.com if you are interested. Don't worry, they are just X-Rays!

Emotions set to Sound...

I really love songs with amazing lyrics you can understand and apply to your own life. You know the songs that make you tingle when you listen to them? I never realized how much of an impact music has on one's life but in the past few years I have realized what an art music is and the importance of it in my life. Here is just a small collection of songs I truly love. I listen to them when I am happy, sad, nostalgic, in love and every other emotion I experience. Many of these came from our wedding, others are from high school and other are new faves. I hope you find these songs to be as cathartic and poetic as I do (minus the Britney Spears, All American Rejects, and a few others which are just happy feel good songs).

Marry Me- Train
Paperweight- Joshua Radin
Belong- Cary Brothers
Jar of Hearts- Christina Perri
Fireflies- Owl City
The Greatest- Cat Power
Wedding Day- Rosie Thomas
This is For Keeps- The Spill Canvas
Toxic- Britney Spears
Hey There Delilah- Plain White T’s
City- Sara Bareilles
Divide Me- Kalai
Gravity- Sara Bareilles
Warm Whispers- Missy Higgins
Where I Stood- Missy Higgins
Gardenia- Mandy Moore
Soulmate- Natasha Bedingfield
Almost Lover- A Fine Frenzy
Breathe Me- Sia
1234- Feist
Boston- Augustana
Somewhere Only We Know- Keane
Existentialism On Prom Night- Straylight Run
I Will Love You- Fisher
If It Kills Me- Jason Mraz
Something Pretty- Patrick Park
Cartwheels- The Reindeer Section
I Will Follow You Into the Dark- Death Cab for Cutie
Love Song for No one- John Mayer
Valentine- The Getup Kids
The Reason- Hoobastank
Dirty Little Secret- The All American Rejects
I Miss You- Incubus
Comfortable- John Mayer
Cailin- Unwritten Law
Your Winter- Sister Hazel
Even Angels Fall- Jessica Riddle
I’ll Catch You- The Getup Kids
The Weakness in Me- Joan Armatrading
California- Phantom Planet
Chasing Cars- Snow Patrol
Orange Sky- Alexi Murdoch
Your Guardian Angel- The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus
How to Save a Life- The Fray
All These Things That I’ve Done- The Killers
All I Need-Mat Kearney
Need to Be Next to You- Leigh Nash
When You Say Nothin At All- Alison Kraus
Misearable- LIT
Sorry- Unwritten Law

Enjoy!

Current Obsessions...

Here are a few of my current obsessions...

Chicks, Ducks and Bunnies Sweetarts- I wait all year for these delights. They are by far my favorite sweetarts because they only come in purple, blue and red and they are really soft and flaky. I bought two bags yesterday and I am sure I will be buying plenty more before Easter comes.

French inspired plate from Black Goose-My guest bathroom has needed something on the counter to make it look complete and more inviting. I found this plate at Black Goose for $15.00 the day we bought our new bedroom set and I love it. The goodies on top are thanks to Mike's many business travels and my sweet boss Steph from TSP.

Vivite Exfoliating Facial Cleanser- Mike and I volunteered at Women On The Move a few weeks ago, which is a champagne luncheon and fashion show to support the MS Society. Everyone who came was gifted a nice swag bag, which included this awesome cleanser. There were a few left so I was able to snag one too and I am in love. The granules are small and it's already done wonders for my skin. Highly suggest if you can get past the $39.00 price tag. I am using this pretty sparingly!

Throw Pillows from JC Penney- I am all about comfort in my home so you will always find a thousand pillows and blankets. I have been looking for the perfect blue pillows we can lay on to compliment my other decorative pillows that you are not allowed to lay on. I found these a little while ago and love them. They are super soft, a great color and I love the texture. Not to mention they are ridiculously comfortable and were only $15.00 each! Now I can finally get rid of the gold pillows I force Mike to stuff under the couch when they are not in use.

The Body Shop Pomegranate and Raspberry Body, Room and Linen Spray-I love the fruity aroma of this spray and it makes me so excited for springtime. Plus Mike loves it too!Kelly Ray Roberts and this painting- I have been obsessed with Kelly Ray Roberts for a while now and finally broke down and bought the painting below after finding it in a consignment shop. I love her creepy edge, yet artistic flare and think she is very talented and captivating. Here is her website if you want to check out more of her work.

http://kellyraeroberts.com/portfolio/

Love to hear about your current obsessions!

Proud...

Some things that I am proud of in the past few days are…

Going skiing- Not only was it a FREEZING day but I strained my Achilles tendon and knee after a fall. I am proud that I not only continued with the day, but didn't complain (too much). My entire family is full of skiers/snowboarders and Mike is incredibly good. (Seriously, he needs to quit being so good at so many things!) I on the other hand have zero coordination and skiing isn’t my most favorite way to spend the day. The fam drags me up once a year for our annual ski weekend, which is coming up the first week of March, but this past weekend my cute 13 year old cousins were in from California, so I braved the cold and windy day to spend some time with them. While I am not very good and I fall A LOT, I still stuck with it and am glad my bratty ways and pouty attitude have been left in my teenage years.

Integrating color into my wardrobe- I tend to only buy black, white and neutral colored clothing. This weekend after a difficult and painful test (I will get to this in a second), I felt I needed some retail therapy. I ended up with 4 colorful things, and only two things that were white or grey. Now if only I knew what to pair them with to make them look stylish!

Nordstrom BP ($11.00!)

Express. This probably shouldn't count since I also have this in black and white. Oh well, when you love something, buy three. :)Express.Express.

I know this is grey, but I adore it and stripes are out of my comfort zone. :)
My HSG test- I finally underwent the dreaded HSG test, which is where they insert a catheter type tube into your uterus and inject contrast to see if your fallopian tubes are blocked and if there are any other abnormalities. It was incredibly painful and I am BEYOND BEYOND BEYOND thankful and grateful that Annie was there to hold my hand throughout the entire procedure. She really is an incredible friend and I feel so blessed to have her in my life.

There are two reasons why I am proud of this. First I am proud I underwent the test in the first place because it is really painful. Second, I didn’t get the best results but I am proud that I haven’t jumped to too many conclusions yet and have been able to stay as calm as possible until I get a chance to go over the results with Dr. Terry. I will keep you updated on what he says at our baby blog http://www.babyricci.blogspot.com/

Miss Whitney- Finally, I am really proud of my BFF Whitney. She has signed up to run the Ogden Half Marathon to fight , something she has always wanted to do! She is running to support The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and I can’t wait to cheer her on at the finish line. Here is her personal page if you want to check her out or if you want to donate to her cause!
http://pages.teamintraining.org/dm/ogden11/whouser

.:LOVE:.

"happy to lay here
just happy to be here
i'm happy to know you
play me a song
your newest one
please leave your taste on my tongue"

Lyrics- Paperweight by Joshua Radin

I am a sucker for love and all things hearts and sappy. I listen to mushy music, smile at romantic gestures, adore peonies and roses, genuinely enjoy weddings, cry during love stories and believe in Happily Ever Afters… Today is no exception and luckily I have one amazing hubby who makes me feel as though I am the most important person in the world. I couldn’t imagine my life without Mike in it and I truly am one lucky girl.

Today I woke up early and made Mike this and some coffee so we could enjoy a Valentine's Day breakfast together… (It was super easy)

Mike then surprised me with these flowers…

Tonight will be spent celebrating us and the love we share. We are looking forward to dinner at Michaelangelo’s, a nice bottle of wine, some uninterrupted conversation and time to just be together. I also got Mike and I the book “All about Us” to fill out. I am all about questions and learning things from one another you may not know or talk about on a daily basis to remember for years to come. This is a perfect Valentine’s Day and I wouldn’t want to spend it with anybody else. Love ya be!

Here are a few pictures that made me smile today...

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

"paperweight on my back
cover me like a blanket
mess up my bed with me
kick off the covers i'm waiting"

Goals, Goals, Goals.

I have been sucking at this blog challenge. I have been so busy and every time I go to type something I decide to catch up on my shows, take a nap or hang out with the hubs instead. I am going to attempt to finish the challenge, it just may be a 30 week challenge instead.

My short term goals for this month:

Our biggest goal this month is to pay off the second mortgage on our rental. Here is the reason: Mike graduated college and moved into a friend’s house, where he was perfectly content living…until he met me. As we became more serious (who am I kidding, when were we NOT serious?), he decided he wanted to invest in a house we could live in together and make our own. Since the market was hot, house prices were quickly rising, and 80/20 loans were being given out like hotcakes, he quickly bought our house without a down payment. Ever since 2005, we have been putting any extra money we have including bonuses, tax refunds and extra paychecks into paying it off so Mike could sleep better at night. We are finally within a few thousand dollars of having it paid off and as soon as our tax refund comes, we are looking forward to closing that account and never worrying about it again! I am so glad my hubby is good with money. I would never be in this position if I hadn’t met him.

Another goal is trying to get my butt to the gym so I don’t look like a beached whale in Mexico. I don’t know if that is going to happen as much as I want because February and March are super busy, but it’s a goal!

Finally, I want to catch up on my assessments at work. I try to write them after my intakes but after working a 12 hour day, paperwork is the last thing I want to do. I plan to take my laptop on all of my vacations and spend some time catching up on them. Also now that I have my Sundays back (no more football), I plan to write some then too.

Hope I can accomplish at least one of these!

Happy birthday to the most amazing lady I know!

This post will be double duty. The person who has the biggest impact on me is this lady…

My incredibly amazing, wonderful, generous, supportive, hilarious and awesome mom, who also happened to turn 56 on Tuesday. (Can you believe she is 56?!?, she has the soul of a 35 year old!)

She is my rock and is honestly the best mom a girl could ever ask for. She has taught me so much including strong work ethic, the cultivating of relationships, craftiness, how to wrap a perfect present, thoughtfulness, tenacity, generosity, financial responsibility, strength, humor, love of friends, family, pets, travel and myself, how to be a strong and dedicated woman and wife, how to follow my heart, the ability to be willing to work on yourself, your marriage and your life and to know who I am. She has changed my life in ways I don’t even know yet and without her I wouldn’t be who I am today. She has supported me in everything I have done (even if she didn’t agree with my actions) helped me get through school, planned and paid for the wedding of my dreams to the love of my life, introduced me to The Sharing Place and has stuck in there with me ever since and helped me land my dream job. She continues to inspire me, make me laugh, teach me, encourage me, tell me things I don’t want to hear but need to, be my confidant, my shopping partner. my interior decorator and all in all, my best friend. I can’t wait to see what the next 40 years of life will bring and look forward to her being “Mimi” to our kids and continuing to enhance my life and our relationship in ways I will never be able to thank her for.

Love you DTSB! Thanks for being my mom, putting up with me, never giving up on me, loving me unconditionally, and being my best friend. You are incredible and I am so lucky I get to call you my mom.

Super Hero!

It has been a busy weekend between work Friday and Saturday, dinner with my grandma, a girl’s night and impromptu sleepover with Miss Annie and a Superbowl party so my blog has been last on my mind, which I am completely OK with. So, I will just make up for it all now…

I don’t really have a favorite super hero but I guess because two of my favorite boys, Mike and Cole Baby both chose Batman as theirs, I will choose him too. I went over to Annie’s for some girl time and to watch a movie Saturday nightand Mike being the nice husband he is, drove me over. Mike then being the sleepy husband he is, fell asleep and forgot to pick me up. Pretty sure this is one of the funniest things ever and I guarantee I will be holding it over his head for a while. While I was at Annie’s, Cole wanted to color him a Batman and Robin picture and kept talking about how silly his neck was. When Mike finally did pick me up in the morning, (bearing coffee and Banbury Cross donuts), Cole gifted it to him and wanted to make sure Mike knew how funny his neck was too. I love how much Cole likes Mike and even though I don’t really think of Batman as my favorite superhero, it was definitely a fun night worth remembering. Here is a pic of Baby Cole in his Batman costume at my company Halloween party.

Cutest little Batman I know!

A Sanctuary in the Making...

After two years of searching and one returned set from Costco, Mike and I FINALLY found our dream bedroom set at Black Goose Designs. Thanks to our Tax Refund, we purchased it tonight and I am in love...

From the picture below we purchased the bed with the upholstered headboard, as well as one open nightstand. We are still debating if we want to get the bench but think we will look around for one with more color in it.From this pic, we bought the dresser, mirror and the closed nightstand.

Mike's favorite part is the TV console. The top two drawers tip down so we can put our DVD player and DVR inside and then utilize the drawers below for seasonal clothes.

We are looking forward to turning our bedroom into our sanctuary, getting rid of our broken dresser, hodge podge of furniture and not having our bed sitting on the floor anymore. Now we just have to find the perfect bedding and color scheme as well as a floor length mirror, bench for in front of the bed and a sitting chair. If you have any suggestions on places or ideas for us, I am all ears! Now we just have to wait 6-8 weeks...

Oh the Places You'll Go...

Mike and I have been very fortunate to travel a lot thanks to Mike's many work trips, skymiles, incredibly generous parents and my hardworking hubby. We have been immensely blessed to travel to 11 states including Alaska, Washington, California, Hawaii, Nevada, Colorado, Arizona, Wyoming, Florida, Louisiana and of course Utah as well as 7 different countries including Mexico, Jamaica, St. Lucia, Austria, Switzerland, Italy and Germany. Every trip has been an adventure and we have thoroughly enjoyed exploring the world together and it is so much fun to go to new places with my very best friend.

This pic is from our very first trip together to Cancun, which ignited our love for traveling.

I chose to highlight our trip to Europe in 2008 because I never actually blogged about it. My parents generously gifted up two flights to Italy with all of my family except my brother Ryan. We spent 2 weeks traveling around Italy, Switzerland, Germany and Austria and saw so many beautiful places. I highly recommend visiting Italy sometime in your life because not only do they have amazing food, it's gorgeous. We ended up with a zillion pictures from this trip, but these are a few of my favorites.

Lake Como Italy. Definitely one of the most gorgeous places on earth. St. Moritz, Switzerland.Kramsach, Austria where our friend Andreas lives. Straight out of the Sound of Music!

Rome ColosseumNeuschwanstein Castle in Germany that the Disney Castle was modeled after.Cinque Terre, ItalyA very rainy day in Venice, Italy

These pictures make me want to go back! I feel so lucky we have had the opportunity to visit so many different places and I know these are memories we will cherish forever!

Bad Habits!

Sorry, I was a bit of slacker yesterday because I have been so busy all week, plus who really wants to admit a habit they wished they didn’t have? I know if you asked Mike, he would say he wished I didn’t have my weird throat noise thing. Let me explain… whenever my throat itches, I scratch it and this strange noise is made. Mike so eloquently described the sound as, “a duck choking on a jolly rancher”. Personally it doesn’t bother me because it soothes my throat but it annoys Mike and my mom to no end!

I guess one of the habits I wish I didn’t have is how picky I am with food. I hate that at 25 I still pick out my veggies and I don’t have an open mind about trying new things. Yes I know this needs to change when I get pregnant but for now, I will still pass on anything green, orange or yellow.

Another habit I wish I didn’t have is the inability to be content. I am always looking for the next thing and have a hard time appreciating where I am in life and just enjoying it. Sometimes I forget to stop and smell the roses and I tend to miss out on the moments while I am eagerly trying to move onto the next step. I have been this way my whole life and it’s something as I get older and time moves faster, I wish I could change. This whole infertility thing has helped me realize I need to take solace in the being and appreciate every step of the way; I think I still have a long way to go though.

Friends, Friends, Friends...

I have some of the best friends in the entire world and another random fact is, I have a hard time making decisions. Choosing one picture of friends was no exception, so here are a bunch of pictures of the people I love.

This is Drew and I. He is the brother I never had, Mike's platonic lover, hilarious and one of my very best friends. This is me, Katie and Aubz. I have known these girls since junior high and they both are great friends, keep me laughing and we have a ton of wonderful memories together.This is Shawn Coon. He is an incredible friend, my food mistress and I love him and our friendship. He also has the most amazing family and I adore his and Mike's friendship and stories. He is also one of the funniest people you will ever meet.

Miss Rachel, Miss Annie, me and Kate. These are a few of my favorite Sigma Chi wives and I am very blessed that Mike's friends chose the best wives and that I get to call them each my friend. These girls are always there for me, have taught me so much and I know we will be friends for life. The Sigma Chis old and new. The Sigs are such important people in our lives and I love how close Mike and I still are with so many of them. They keep us laughing, have provided many memories, are always there when we need them and I look forward to many more years of crazy Sigma Chi antics together.Our wedding party- Stander, Andy, Whitney, Seth, Shawn, Laura, D'Eutch, Hannie, Laura and Aubz. Some of the best people we know, enough said. :)The Logan crew- Naanes, D'Eutsch, Me, Mike, Britt (my partner in crime) and JD minus Shawn and Connor. The main reason I love going to Logan is staying at Britt and JD's with these people and laughing for three days straight. I love each of these people individually and even more as a whole. It is such a great group of friends and no matter what happens, I know we will always be able to count on each of them. The BASM- Trace, Seth, Jess, Mike, me Drew and Laura. A great group of friends who has been through a lot together including marriages, babies, diseases, heartbreak as well as a lot of fun nights together and amazing memories.

I really do have the best friends a girl could ever ask for...