Thank You Ma'am...

Well it is official I am a Ma’am. I stopped for gas the other day and the young boy working (who I see all the time and have never been anything but joking and cool with him) told me “thank you Ma’am” to which I smiled and shook my head and said “oooh don’t call me Ma’am” and of course he replied “sorry Ma’am”, to which I replied “Damn”.

I appreciate manners. I grew up in a household where manners were required, and taught at a very young age. In addition to the usual Please and Thank you, when replying yes or no to a question we would have to include Sir or Ma’am in our response, especially to grandparents and parents, that was HUGE and if forgotten would result in a “what do you say” from my mom or dad. I guess a lot of people think it is a southern “thing” but I always thought it was just good manners. When asking “can I” my Papa would always respond “I don’t know can you” to which a quick “may I” would follow. Now that I am having a child of my own I struggle with the Ma’am and Sir response, should I teach this, will it be over the top…will someone *ahem* cuss at my child for using these precious manners?

I guess it all falls into place, I mean I still use the manners I was taught daily and surly little effers that have no manners drive me insane, so I guess like all things a happy medium is where you end up, and you just have to be thankful for what your children absorb.

But I still hate being a Ma’am because in my manners lessons it meant you were old.

~S

Beginnings, Blessings and Being.

So today is the day I shall share…71 days…pregnant.

Scared. Nervous. Anxious. Excited. Scared.

I have a flurry of emotions, the hormone party I am currently hosting is to blame for the most part. But above that, I have always known my body, when something was wrong I knew what, how to fix it, which Doctor to call, which medicine to take. Now that I am sharing this body I am scared. I am scared that I do not know anything, that I might mess up the very thing I have been trying so hard to make happen. I have a niece and 3 nephews. I have watched my sisters thrive in their pregnancies and have watched many friends have beautiful babies. I keep thinking “just stay and grow” as if my body, the one I have know so well may turn on me and allow he\she to simply walk away.

I am focusing on the positive, preparing for each new trimester, first over now onto the second. One down two to go. I guess my thinking is normal. I guess I fear that speaking these thoughts to my friends and family will make me seem naïve or depressed or negative. So I type because it is less intimidating and honestly I don’t think or feel that I am naive or depressed or negative.

I am beginning my 2nd trimester. I am blessed. I am very blessed, and I am happy. But right now I think I am just Scared. Nervous. Anxious. Excited. Scared. and for right now on this 71st day that is how I am...that is me.

~S

Stress...

I travel everyday over this bridge...to and from work, it is why I have road rage, or bridge rage as it is often referred. But every now and then, the beauty of the water and the bridge captivate me. I have witnessed the most amazing fog, that lies directly above the water and makes you question what is below. However, this weekend was definitely a tough bridge weekend. Saturday required a trip to the "Western Shore" to go to the Doctor at 10AM. The traffic heading back across was a good 2 hour back up. Crazy! So I visited with friends, browsed a couple of my favorite shops and then picked up my husband at the airport and headed home at 9 PM. Days like Saturday make me ram my head on the steering wheel as to why we moved over the bridge.

Then yesterday as if God heard my cry of possible insanity he gave a day of glory and made the picture abundantly clear as to why we moved...

As if he said "relax...take a load off". So I did. It was a perfectly relaxing Sunday, the sun, my hammock and a book!

Hope everyone had an amazing weekend! ~S

Oh I wish

My husband would go for this...

I love these floors. I want these floors, oh and the wicker chairs...would take those too!

~S

My front door dilemna...

My front door used to be white. I am not crazy about the door, as I would love to have a really sweet old wooden door. However this is the door that came with the house and it is staying until I can convince my husband otherwise! We painted the door a pale blue/aqua we were going for a beachy theme, as we live on the water in a cedar house. Anyway, I liked the door at first, then I started thinking it was toooo much as the door is too modern for such a dramatic color, now I just don't know...take a peak, tell me what you think.

Before ~ Boring!
After~Better?My grass looks so green! I wish it were still this green.
Have a great day!
~S

YUMMMM

My husband hates one of my favorite meals, so without telling him what we were having, I made fish tacos! If you are fan of fish tacos try these, they are a little different and the ingredients are a little weird at first, but the flavors meld together perfectly...they are AWESOME!

Ingredients:
Mahi
Carrots
Olives
Scallions
Sour Cream
Dill (or store bought dill sauce)

To make: marinte mahi for 10 minutes in with fresh lime juice, olive oil and salt and pepper. Heat grill. While fish is marinating chop carrots, olives and scallions. Mix dill and sour cream.
(amounts will vary depending on how much of which ingredient you like more...with mine it appears in the picture I am in love with sour cream) Grill the fish for 4 minutes on each side (may be longer depending on size and thickness of fish). Break fish into pieces place into white corn torilla and top with olives, carrots, scallions and dill sauce. Eat.

Let me know if you try them.

Enjoy!

~S

Found Beauty

My family has traveled back home to Louisville (I will post pictures soon) and I am wrapping things up in my soon to be old office. Things are hectic, I am waiting to hear from prospective employers, and wondering if I really want to hear from the employers to whom I have sent my resume, I am thinking about changing things up all together, nervous what changing things up means...

Anyway in all of this confusion and the muddled thoughts that pour through my brain I found time to stop and smell the roses, my nose was my cell camera and the rose was this awesome rainbow that seems to lift from the Bay as if saying ~ look at me. take a breathe. life goes on. even after this storm. the sun is still shining.

I have changed my outlook from holy crap what am I going to do to an outlook of what can I do, what do I want to do! I am beginning a journey and the pot of gold at the end will be the satisfaction that I have found work or a job or a talent or whatever I CHOOSE that makes me truly happy.

~S