San Francisco and a Wedding Dress

Amidst all the packing, traveling, and holiday festivities I was able to take a 3 day mini-vacation with my mommy & daddy last week. Yes, I still call my awesome parents mommy and daddy. 

It was my dad's second-to-last week at his last job before he started his new one with another company.  He was able to build up a bunch of points for the Marriott hotel because of all the travel he had been doing this past year; so he invited my mama and me to San Francisco! 

That's where he has been flying in and out of each week for four days at a time to work, for the last year...crazy I know. He is such a hard worker, I am glad he had the opportunity to travel a bit, but it was time for him to be

with his wifey again.

San Francisco was amazing! I have to admit I had a few preconceived notions about the city because it's more on the liberal side, and I am a conservative! And proud of it baby! Anywho, while we were up there mom and I were able to visit my dad's work (which was really cool).

We walked around the famous Pier 39.

We got to spend a half day with dad exploring, and walking up & down Lombard street, which is well known for their zig-zaggy street. It's so cool!!! I LOVED Lombard street. It was probably my favorite part of the trip. 

We found the golden gate bridge!!

LOL. Just kidding...we were walking down Lombard street and saw someone's front gate. We made a joke because the real golden gate bridge is red. Hahaha, it was funny to us. By the way, we also drove across the golden gate bridge, but it was at night so I didn't get a photo.

We were also able to visit Ghirardelli Square, and try some of their famous hot cocoa. YUM.

It was a really nice way to spend time with my parentals, I loved having quality time with them! I also loved exploring San Francisco. It's much prettier than I thought, and there are a lot of great qualities to it, even if it is a little too liberal for my liking. I enjoyed watching all the people, and just being able to be a tourist for a couple days. 

We didn't have a chance to visit Alcatraz Island, but I'm going to make that a priority for Jeff and I when we travel up to San Francisco as part of our adventure.

So, mama and daddy if you're reading this, THANK YOU!!! I love you both so much, you are amazing and you both inspire me with the love you have for the Lord, each other, and your family. I've been blessed to have you as mine.

On another note: Today I went wedding dress shopping for my sister Ciara!!! My other sister, Treasure, my mama, my adopted-into-the-family-sister, Scarlett, and the soon-to-be mother in-law all came to enjoy it! Ciara looked beautiful in every dress she tried on, so it was hard for her to choose, but she picked the perfect dress for her perfect day!! This is such an exciting time for her, and it brings me back to when I was planning my wedding. I love that! It will be two years in February! ...time sure does fly by...I can't post of picture of Ciara's dress because her soon-to-be hubby might see this, but she looked like a princess. Her tiny, little waist made every dress look amazing. The store manager started taking pictures of Ciara to have as her model! It was great. 

So there you have it, San Francisco and a Wedding Dress. We have been blessed with this life, and I love being able to enjoy each moment, knowing the Lord makes all things work together for our good.

Love, 

Em

P.S. While in San Francisco I tried calamari for the first time, and I actually liked it!! And my mama tried oysters for the first time too! She ate it like a champ, buttt I don't think she will be ordering it for herself anytime soon. ;)

Catching Fire

I am so excited for the Catching Fire to come out this weekend!!! Oh my goodness...I read those books in about 3 weeks. All three of them! I would stay up until 3-4am just so I could finish the chapter or book I was reading. I loved them. 

It's been about a year and half since I read the books, so I am currently reading Catching Fire in order to refresh my memory before I see the movie this weekend! It seems so fitting that the title of the book is Catching Fire because it seems like everything in my life right now is on fire!! In good ways, and overwhelming ways. I mentioned in my last blog how things have been a bit chaotic, and it's not ceasing!! I'm trying to keep my cool while the flames keep getting higher and higher. Today, to avoid my responsibilities (which we all know, never works) I purposely slept in, even though I wasn't tired, just to pass the day away. And THEN I didn't get ready for the day until 3ish...annnd to top it all off, I did absolutely nothing except make lunch for Jeff.

Ugh.

On the brightside, I was able to enjoy my new, festive coffee mug I bought from my trip to San Francisco last week.

 By the way, I will post pictures in my next blog.

 I also enjoyed some tasty, always desired Godiva hot cocoa. YUM!

 As well as read a bit of my book. :) So, all is well that ends well, right? 

Love, Em

Irvine is all like, "Hey I'm going to be cloudy today but give you no rain.." and I'm like, "Dude, no biggie, I know you're secretly controlled by the Irvine company...I gotchu." The End.

It's the holiday season with the whoop-de-do!!

So once again...I haven't been staying on top of my blog. I really need to work on that!! -- not to give myself an excuse but things have been a bit chaotic over here at the Sparrow household. My husband is very good with chaotic, but I tend to be forgetful, confused, and stressed, and then on the days I have a little down time, I just sit and do nothing. It's hard to find balance in chaos, but I think that's all part of the fun. 

As it gets closer to the date that Jeff and I leave to go on our travels, I can't help but find myself in a mess of boxes, tape, bags, and everything scattered everywhere. I CANNOT believe it's already mid-November! I mean, Jeff and I decided to go on this little adventure of ours in July!! You would think that would be enough time to get everything squared away...nope. Not at all...at least not in our home. Between Jeff's business trips, his co-workers staying with us, family visiting, us visiting family, weddings, babies, and just regular life duties like grocery shopping, and paying bills...I find myself scrambling for more time!! Thankfully the Lord has been giving me peace amidst the craziness. I just wish I had planned it all a little better. Oh well, this is my first try...probably my last. ;)

I counted the days that Jeff and I will be home together this month, and it came out to (dun dun dun) 10 days! Is that not mind-boggling?! On top of that we are supposed to be out of our apartment December 27th, and we have Thanksgiving, my birthday, and Christmas to celebrate between it all! Oh, and I need to go Christmas shopping! LOL, I think that the Lord gets a kick out of our human-ness...we think we have it all planned out but we definitely don't.

Well, I am choosing to use this time as a way to channel all the chaos into excitement. I get to go on an amazing, life changing adventure with my stud!! I've been blessed beyond imagination, and I am thankful that the Lord is allowing Jeff and I to experience this extraordinary life. In fact, the more I pray about our travels, the more I believe it's the Lord's leading. I believe He wants us to go through these travels, and I believe that along the way He will be teaching us more about ourselves, our marriage, about Jesus, and prepare us for our ministry that He has called us to. I think that is the most exciting part about our adventure; the fact that the Lord is calling us to travel. He has done so much for us and our marriage, and yet He continues to give us more. Our Lord is truly amazing.

So for the next 4 weeks, I will be finishing packing and storing our things, gathering our travel items, and enjoying the holidays with my wonderful family and friends. Before we know, 2014 will be here!! This is such an exciting time. Not just for Jeff and I but for all our family and friends. I really believe that 2014 is the year of BLESSINGS from our Lord. He's been speaking to my heart, and I feel like He just wants to love on us. So be prepared because 2014 is coming in fast, and it's carrying numerous blessings along with it!!

Like I've said in the past, I am going to try my best to update my blog as much as possible. Once we are on the road it should be easier, so bear <--not sure if that is supposed to be "bare" or "bear", haha..with me. I hope you are all having a wonderful fall/winter season along with all the holiday goodness! 

Oh, and don't forget to start listening to Christmas music!!! Don't be ashamed...I was listening to it in July!! LOL...I'm that annoying person that wishes it was Christmas all year around, but you know what? I am totally okay with that. ;) I've been listening to Mariah Carey Holiday station on Pandora...I LOVE the CHRISTMAS SEASON!!! 

"SANNNNNNNNTAAAAAA!!! I know him! I know him..." - name that movie!!
Sending love,
Em
P.S. 48 days until our adventure starts!!

Looking Back

"Looking back on the things I've done, I was trying to be someone, I played my part, Kept you in the dark, Now let me show you the shape of my heart"

I'm not going to tell you who sings that song, you will have to guess!! Mwahahaha

Okay, so in my last few blogs, I talked about listening to Disney songs and getting them stuck in my head. Well now I've been listening to singers and bands that I used to listen to when I was younger; Britney Spears, N'SYNC, Backstreet Boys, etc.  It might have something to do with the whole VMA's Miley Cyrus/NSYNC uproar. I've chosen to avoid, the Miley Cyrus tabloids at all cost because, well, she's a freak. However, I am thankful that NSYNC came back with a performance because it gave me an excuse to make Jeff listen to old songs with me! LOL

He hated it...

I  tried to get him to dance with me to "Bye Bye Bye", but he just stood there looking at me like I was a freak. Haha, that's okay, because he knew I was a weirdo before he married me, so HA! I win. ;)

Listening and dancing to all the old songs made me want to go through my old yearbooks, so I did. Oh my goodness, it was HILARIOUS reading what people wrote in those things. It made me really miss those folks, specially the ones that I didn't stay in contact with. I mean, a lot of them were my good friends in high school, so it really made me wonder why we all drift apart so easily. I started getting sad because so many of us have changed, which is great...but I just wish we would have all been able to stay friends during the process. I get it, not every person you meet is supposed to be in your life forever, but I still wish that we could all put aside our judgements, and be friends again. 

 This is Cassie...she has been my best friend since high school...LOVEEEE YOU WOMAN

My dad and I on graduation day <3

Anywho, it's been a fun/sad couple of weeks reminiscing. I have wonderful friends now, and great memories of old friends, and that is why looking back is so great. It makes you realize what you have now, and what you had then, and you become more thankful than you already were.

-Em  

Weight Loss Challenge

Well hello there!! Lately I've been listening to Disney movie songs through Pandora, and I've been waking up with my brain singing the songs! Haha. I love that we have access to things like Disney songs over the internet, because it brings back so many great childhood memories.

As a married adult wife I still LOVE and adore the Disney movies, songs, and of course, Disneyland!!! My husband and I try to sneak away to Disneyland as often as possible. THIS is one of the songs I've recently had stuck in my head. The best memory of hearing this song is that when we were younger, my dad used to sing this song to us. He was the BEST at singing this song, and he totally played the part. We all loved it.

On another note, my family, husband, and family friend, Deron all decided to start a weight loss challenge!! Now, we've tried this before. In the past we decided we would do a weight loss challenge, but all of us ended up giving up or forgetting about it, so we failed.

But this time I upped the ante!! We all put in $50, and the winner of the weight loss challenge gets the entire pile of cash. We are all very motivated to get some extra cash, LOL. 

Let me give you a little back story about the day we started the weight loss challenge: 
So, last Sunday the 18th, my sister's boyfriend got our family, and his family together because he was going to propose to my sister!!! It was such an exciting day! She had no idea, and was totally surprised and in shock. The family was waiting at Bailey's BBQ in Julian for the celebration afterwards. She said, "Of course!", and now I am a maid-of-honor and my wittle sister is getting married in April of next year!!!! I am so excited. She's the same age I was when I was engaged, and she will be the same age I was when I was married too. It's awesome. I'm so happy, and excited for her and her fiance, I couldn't be more proud of them!

Anyways, since all the family was there for the big event, we were all able to take our measurements for the weight loss challenge. Turns out my sister and her fiance want to be part of it too, which works great with their wedding coming up in 8 months! So, we took our measurements: biceps, thighs, hips, waist, chest, weight, and BMI. We also wrote down what our 8 week goal is. 

I am so ready to win this weight loss challenge. Since my marriage I've gained 15 pounds! This is the heaviest I've been in my life, and it is NOT okay. I'm already realizing that it's WAYYYYYYYY easier to gain weight then it is to lose it. My plan is to exercise 5 days a week (maybe 6), eat less with portion control, and eat healthier too. I want to loose 2 pounds every week, and we have 8 weeks to get to our goal. 

You may be wondering how I went from talking about Disney songs, to my sister getting engaged, to weight loss...well it's because I feel like our motivation can be THIS song, since Gaston is so strong, and superior. ;D Or maybe I am just scatter brained...

Yay for the WEIGHT LOSS CHALLENGE!!

-Em