I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!! This post is my 100th post and I thought in honor of that I'd do a give away. I'm giving away a few of my favorite things!! I will leave this open for one week and choose the winner next Friday at 10 PM EST. TIME IS UP!! This is open to US residents only (and APO addresses). All you have to do is leave a comment and I will randomly choose a winner!! If you happen to not have a blog, be sure to include your e-mail address in your comment so that I can contact you.
So, here is what you'll get!!
- Jelly Belly jelly beans--Yum!! I lived in the town these are made in for a while (Fairfield, CA).
- Dove milk chocolate
- $5 Starbucks gift card...truly not a big coffee fan, but I do love an occasional Starbucks drink...as long as it doesn't taste like coffee :-)
- Vertigo cookies and cream sucker--I recently discovered these and love them!!
- 2 pack of pretty sticky note pads
- Mary Jane slipper socks...I have two pairs!!
Also...to keep with tradition, here is 100 things I'm sure you were dying to know about me!!
1. I was born in Texas and lived there until I was 16.
2. My mom and dad divorced when I was 3 and my siblings (one older brother and one older sister)and I lived with our dad.
3. We lived in a little town in TX until I finished 7th grade.
4. We moved to another small town in the TX panhandle (that was a little larger than the other small town) and I made some great friends there!
5. While in the 10th grade, my dad got a job in CA and moved there during the school year .
6. He let me stay behind to finish out the school year.
7. Although some 16 year olds may think they would LOVE to live on their own, I didn't like it at ALL! I got very bored!
8. I spent a lot of nights with friends and they spent a lot with me.
9. When school was out, my dad returned and we loaded up the U-haul and were on our way!!
10. I started my junior year of high school at a new school and I HATED it!!
11. I ended up dropping out of school.
12. In TX, I was a mostly A student, so my friends and family were shocked.
12. My dad didn't really want to let me drop out, but I tearfully convinced him.
14. I hated school that much!!
15. Right before I dropped out of school, I met a guy online.
16. That guy is now my husband of over 7 years!!
17. I was 17 and he was 21 and my dad was NOT happy!
18. Eight days after I turned 18, I moved out of my dad's house and into an apartment with my now husband.
19. We lived in Fairfield, CA and paid $550 a month for our one bedroom apartment.
20. I can guarantee it would be more now!!
21. I was going to a technical school program to become a lab tech and I also worked at Chick-fil-a.
22. I finished the school, but decided I didn't want to do phlebotomy for 8+ hours per day, so I became a nanny instead.
23. I watched a 6 week old little girl and her 4 year old brother.
24. I really enjoyed it and it helped prepare me for motherhood.
25. I watched them for almost a year and then we moved.
26. The cost of living was on the rise in the bay area, so we moved to Humboldt county to live with my future-in-laws until we found a place of our own.
27. I got a job as a nurse's assistant at a nursing home and worked there for 8 months.
28. The shortage of workers and overwhelming patient load finally caught up with me and I quit.
29. It was the hardest job I have ever had...next to motherhood!
30. I started a new job at a dialysis clinic in April, 2000.
31. We bought our first new car....a 2000 Nissan Altima.
32. After being together for over 3 years, we decided to tie the knot and married on June 4, 2000.
33. On July 5, 2000, my husband left for basic training in the Army.
34. On July 14, 2000, I wrecked our new car and almost totaled it.
35. I learned a very important lesson to not swerve on the freeway when you are going over 70 miles per hour.
36. It was 11 at night and not much traffic on the roads. Good thing for me since I crossed the median and went across the other side of the freeway.
37. Miraculously, I walked away with only a bruise from my seatbelt...and I was sore for days!!
38. My car was repaired just in time for me to head out on a cross country trip.
39. I stopped in the bay area to visit family and got rear-ended....I was NOT a happy camper.
40. Not enough damage to stop me....I was going to see my husband graduate from basic!!
41. I continued my journey and stopped in Texas to visit more family and friends and then headed to Florida to see my sister and her family.
42. I spent a few weeks with my sister and then drove to South Carolina for basic training graduation.
43. I spent 3 days there and then headed back to Florida while my husband headed to Ft. Huachuca, AZ for AIT.
44. I spent about another month in Florida while I found out more information about joining my husband in Arizona.
45. The Army didn't pay for my move because his school was only supposed to be 6 months long.
46. I just had this feeling that I needed to join him because he was going to be sent where I couldn't join him after that.
47. He got to AZ at the end of Sept, 2000 and I joined him there on Nov. 2, 2000...his birthday!!
48. He lived in the barracks and I lived in a tiny apartment off post.
49. I got a job at Target working nights and spent as much time as I could visiting my husband on post.
50. He wasn't allowed to leave post or be with me alone, so I would meet him each day for lunch and dinner at the mess hall.
51. My feeling was right about him being sent where I couldn't go....as he neared the end of AIT, he got orders for Korea.
52. His school took longer than planned and he was finally able to move off post with me just weeks before he finished his schooling.
53. When he finished, we drove to CA and I moved back in with his parents and he did hometown recruiting for a month before leaving for Korea.
54. Our one year anniversary was June 4th and he left for Korea on June 6th.
55. I returned to work at the dialysis clinic.
56. On Sept. 11, 2001, I was off from work and was going to be buying a ticket to fly to Korea to visit my husband.
57. I was awoken to news of the twin towers and everything was chaos.
58. I didn't hear from my husband for over a week and did not buy the ticket because his post was in lock down and he would not be able to leave post to visit me and he lived in the barracks and I couldn't stay with him.
59. He was able to come home for mid-tour in Jan. 2002 and we decided we were ready to try for a family.
60. He was home one month, so essentially we had one try....I didn't think it would happen.
61. He returned to Korea on Feb. 2 and on Feb 14th, I had my positive test!!
62. He came back on June 4th (our 2 year anniversary) and we had one week to get from California to Maryland (I was 5 months pregnant).
63. We stopped and saw family and sites along the way.
64. He was stationed at Ft. Meade, MD and worked at the NSA.
65. On Oct. 9, 2002, we welcomed our sweet Logan to our family at NNMC.
66. He had pneumonia and spent 5 days in the NICU, so each year we attend the NICU reunion.
67. I was fortunate enough to be able to stay home with Logan and I enjoyed every minute of it.
68. Daddy worked long hours, so Logan and I had lots of quality time together.
69. We moved off post in March 2004 and hubby got out of the Army in July 2004.
70. He got a job in Crystal City, so we moved to Virginia when our lease was up in 2005 to be closer to his work.
71. He often worked in the Pentagon, so Logan and I got to go to his Christmas party at the Pentagon!!
72. Hubby didn't understand why I was excited about that, but that's okay...not everyone can say they went to a Christmas party at the Pentagon!!
73. At the end of June 2005, we found out that I was pregnant!!
74. While pregnant with Logan, I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes and then with type II diabetes when Logan was one.
75. Needless to say, I spent a lot of time at the doctors while pregnant the second time around.
76. I was scheduled to be induced on Feb. 26th, 2006 and my dad flew in on the 25th to take care of Logan.
77. The night before I was to be induced I went into labor and our little Lucas arrived 3 hours before I was to be at the hospital!!
78. I am good at making 7 pound 2 ounces babies...because both of mine weighed that even though Logan was born at 38 weeks and Lucas at 39 weeks.
79. And so, the life of a mom of two begins!!
80. I find great joy in watching my boys play.
81. The sound of their laughter makes me smile.
82. I was definitely a daddy's girl growing up.
83. It makes me glad to have a couple of momma's boys (for the time being, anyway).
84. We moved again in March 2007.
85. This time it was because we purchased our first home (a 3 level town-home in a D.C. suburb)!!
86. I was born and raised in a small town, but I love living close to a city.
87. I love diet Coke.
88. I love chocolate...who doesn't??
89. The only time I have ever left my kids overnight was when I was in the hospital having Lucas.
90. Two of my best friends in high school were Skyla Anne and Shyla Linan...I am Candi Lyn...neat, huh? Get it Lyn, Anne, and Linan!!
91. I have two sisters and three brothers, but I only grew up with my older brother and sister.
92. When I was 9, my mom had remarried and I became a big sister.
93. My mom lived in CA, and I would fly from TX to visit her in the summers.
94. Although I love to talk, I don't like to do public speaking.
95. I get nervous and say, "And....ummmm" way too often!!
96. I love the smell of Johnson and Johnson baby wash and was super excited to recently learn that they make baby wipes (sold exclusively at Babies R Us)!!
97. I forgot to mention that I went back (to an adult school) and got my high school diploma (actually, my husband had to get his to get the job he wanted in the Army, so I decided to get mine at the same time....we got them one week before we were married).
98. Being a parent has taught me to cut my own parents a little slack.....it is certainly the hardest job....EVER!!
99. I spent a lot of time with my grandparents (my dad's parents) while growing up and I miss them a ton.....I was my Papa's "wittle girl"!!
100. In case you can't tell by all the pictures of my boys on my blog...I love taking pictures of them!! I never thought I would want to be a stay at home mom, but I know that this is what I am supposed to be doing....I LOVE it and am grateful that I am able to be home with the boys I love dearly!!
