A Dogs Life

This morning I looked over at my adorable puppy, as she was spralled all over the chair asleep, and it got me thinking.  It reminded me of how I used to look at her, in that same position, as I worked on school papers or right before I had to leave for a closing shift at the Bees and say, “oh a dog’s life”. Now, I know how Jake feels.  He always tells me I have a dogs life and I guess I do. Hey, I’m not complaining, but it made me feel a little guilty.


I try my best to be a good house wifey for him. I mean, I’m not a lazy slob.  I never sleep in, I probably couldn’t if I tried.  I always try to have the house as clean as possible, cook, pay bills. etc. I love doing these things and I know he loves what he does. I just can’t help but feel bad for him when I’m sitting on the comfy couch, sipping my coffee and snuggling with our pooch and he is getting ready to trek off to work, especially when it’s freezing outside. I know things will change when I have my hands full with a bunch of kiddos. I’m sure Jake will be more than happy to escape from the chaos, but for now I know he is jealous and I would be too.  I get to work when I want, sleep when I want, do whatever, when I want.  He goes to work comes home and doesn’t complain and I’m not sure I could do that.


We are so old-fashioned, haha, but it works for us.  He needs to be the provider and me, the caregiver. There is no way he could sit at home while I went to work. His pride wouldn’t allow it.  He should be a proud man, because he has a lot to be proud of.  I hope he knows how much I appreciate his hard work. I know he appreciates me. I know I’m blessed and I don’t take that for granted.  So today I feel like doing something extra special for him… not sure what yet, but I will think of something!

Sleepy dogs ; )

Jake if you read this, I love you, thanks for everything you do baby! Lilly and me appreciate it ; )

Hunger Games & Hearts

First of all, check out my new banner!! My cousin Roger made it for me!! He is the best, I absolutely love it!! Thanks again Rog!! ; )

So most of you already know that I am now addicted to the book, The Hunger Games.  I had to make a run to Target the other night to buy the 2nd and 3rd books.  Well, now my husband is addicted as well! This is great for me, because now he will be excited to see the movie with me when it comes out.  Honestly I have only read the first couple chapters in the 2nd book so far. So when Jake gets home from work, we are going to sit on the couch, like old people tonight and read.  I’m actually pretty excited about it. : ) I will just have to record my show Revenge! 

So, while I was at the store I picked up some V-Day cupcakes…you know I’m a sucker for them.  Even though it’s not “real” baking, Jakes office loved the Christmas ones I made and come on, they are so darn cute!! So even though it’s not even February yet, I had to make these cuties!

Pretty Lovely right?


So I tried snapping some pictures of my goofy pooch and I playing tug-of-war with her toy skunk.  Let me tell you, it’s not that easy holding a heavy camera with one hand up in the air and trying to get a picture while your dog is tugging at the other arm which was causing my entire body to move. LOL

Love her to death. Her and that smelly skunk.

Hope you all are having a lovely week, Tootles!

Friends

Jake and I are blessed with great friends.  This past weekend two of our most precious friends came to spend the weekend with us.  See back in the ol' dental school days (like it was that long ago) lol we used to have slumber parties.  You might be thinking, rn’t you a little too old for slumber parties or that’s a little weird, but, NO! not at all. ; )  I think everyone should have close friends that you can just be yourselves around and have slumber parties with. Well, The Kleins are those kind of friends to us, so when we found out that they were coming, we were thrilled. We have some great friends who have taken the time do drive down to see us and we appreciate it so much. We love and miss you all soooo much!!

This is the number one reason we cannot wait to move back home.  We miss all of our friends more than you can imagine.  Life is not complete without good friends.  Great family too, can’t forget them! ; ) 

So anyway, we got to spend the weekend with the newlyweds.  Nothing changed.  We may be old married farts, but we are still 4 happy, fun kids.  I think it will stay that way for a long time.  We also did what we do best, ate A LOT.  Us four used to get together for dinner pretty much every week or even a couple times a week so naturally we ate out about 40 times this weekend.  We went to dinner at Waltz, one of our favorites here in Marion.  Pizza and beer, can’t beat that!  Then we came back to our place, played games, shared stories and drank lots of wine! Gosh, I missed those guys…..

Lilly missed them too ; )

Good times

Saturday, we started the day with breakfast at Crackerbarrel, DUH! We all love Crackerbarrel, and Jake and I are especially obsessed with it, now that we are living here.  Back when we lived in E-ville, Fiona’s was our breakfast joint.   I probably can’t even count the number of times we have ate breakfast with the Kleins and I hope to there are many many more!!  We took a tour of Jakes office, then came back to the house to hang out for a little bit. After the boys were done playing Xbox Kinect, we headed to Mount Vernon and dropped Lilly off at Jakes parents, thanks again MIL!!  Then we went to El Rancherito, another one of our favorite places to eat with the them!
                                   

Jake & Brian, addicted to Scramble

 After that we headed to Brian’s house in Mount Vernon and drank, played games and laughed a lot. ; )

The Smith’s got us addicted to this game! ; ) Love it!

  Sunday morning we visited with Brian’s parents and we all made breakfast together. His parents are the best, such wonderful people.  It was a lot of fun!

Newlyweds cooking breakfast ; )

That afternoon we said our goodbyes to our friends  ; ( and then headed to Jakes parents house to pick up the dog and visit with the in-laws. It was a nice relaxing Sunday, and I got to spend it with a lot of people that I love!

Very lovely weekend.  Thanks for coming to see us Kleins! We love you guys!

Book Worm, not really

Happy Friday everyone!

I’m in a great mood today and a ball of energy, for some reason.  Maybe it’s because I have been eating better or maybe it’s because I get to see the Kleins tonight!! Yes, the newlyweds will be coming to Marion this evening.  So today, I have been cleaning and dancing around like a fool.  I love slumber parties!!!

I did have a lovely calm & relaxing morning. I  finished reading, The Hunger Games which I started yesterday and couldn’t put it down. Since the book I was currently reading, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, fell into the toilet yesterday and was too soaked to read, I decided to start The Hunger Games. I heard it is really good, so I bought it awhile back, but never opened it. I sure am glad my book fell into the toilet after all because I really enjoyed The Hunger Games. I knew I would though, because I like weird sick & twisted stuff like that.  I can’t wait to read the next two and see the movie when it comes out! I’m excited to finish the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo as well.  I was really getting back into it, until PLOP! 


I really haven’t read since our St. Thomas trip in June.  Since we were going to be lounging on the beach for two weeks I figured I would need some good books to read.  I read, Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks and yes, a Danielle Steel novel called, Big Girl. (Both books were good, but I really enjoyed Safe Haven, I think they need to make a movie out of it).  After I read my first book, Jake wanted to go to this book exchange place that was at our condo and exchange my book for one he could read because he sure wasn’t going to read Nicholas Sparks. ; )  He chose The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. So while I was reading my second book, he read that and really liked it. So after I finished my book, I started reading TGWDT.  Jake started the second one and even got the third for when he was done.  He warned me that the first couple chapters were hard to get through and he was right.   I got about 200 pages in, just when it was getting good and it was time to go home.  So anywho, I haven’t opened it back up till now because I want to see the movie, but not until I finish the book.  I guess I will start it back up on Monday, I’m sure it will be nice and dry by then. ; ) Oh, and don’t worry there wasn’t pee in the toilet!!

I’ll just imagine I’m back here! ; )


It’s been nice, not being on the internet so much.  I should have made that a NY resolution!…..nah!
See you all Monday!
Have a lovely weekend!!!

Where in the World is Cynthia Marie Frazier?

Hiddy Ho!
Here I am!


I know, I have been away for awhile, but I needed a little blog break.  It was refreshing stepping away from the wonderful web for a little bit, but I’m back now. There were things on my to-do list that were not going to get checked off if I spent too much time on the net and I’m happy to say I got most of them done. Lilly finally has a vet appointment for some shots and a teeth cleaning and I started on Jakes lovely v-day gift that I’m making for him. ; )


Monday, I went shopping with my MIL & SIL and bought some cookie cutters, pink edible dust etc. for some v-day cookies and I’m dying to make them.  Maybe I’ll bake just a few, for practice…. yes, that sounds like a great idea!


I guess I never got to blog about last weekend, it was nice and busy.  Friday night, Jake took me to a SIU college basketball game because one of his patients told him about it that day. So we went and had a good time. ; )

 I actually like basketball, it’s one of my favorite sports to watch; football is a different story. : O Then he took me to see Beauty & The Beast 3D! He is pretty awesome, even if he did fall asleep at the end. Plus I got popcorn and a hot chocolate! ; )


Saturday, I drove to E-ville for  my friend, Rachel’l baby shower.  It had a camper theme, that was just adorable and check out these cookies!

 Absolutely lovely

Yeah, I have to admit, there is no way I could decorate cookies that well.  They were so yummy too!!

Can’t forget about the adorable mommy- to- be!
I can’t believe I didn’t have a fever that day!! I think I just accepted the fact that, a baby is not going to happen right now. Oh yeah, I almost forgot, I got a almost a foot cut off my hair that morning. ;)

Before

Last Spring, I told myself I’m going to get it cut real short after the New Year. I have never had really short hair and wanted a change, but I wanted to wait until our wedding was over. So I figured after New Years would be a perfect time, a new do for the new year!  So I made an appointment after the New Year like I said I would except I was being a chicken at the last minute and switched my plan to bangs and just a trim. I sat down in the chair and thought, I need to just do it,  no more excuses, it’s after the New Year, I have been saying forever I’m going to do it, so I did it! I don’t miss my long hair yet, but I know I will eventually. Jake loves it, so I guess I will keep it like this for awhile.  I like it too. ; ) I just need to get used to using a lot less shampoo! haha


On Sunday Jakes sister Erin and her fiancee Jeremy visited us, from Mt. Vernon.  We went to a bridal show in Marion and I ate way too many samples of cake! ; )

 Then we all took a little trip to Carbondale for some shopping. They introduced me to the AMAZING place called  Neighborhood Co-op Grocery. 

I really had no idea this place even existed and especially around here.  I guess it makes sense though, with all the farmers around.  I was like a kid in a candy store or should I say, it was like I was in a candy store.  They have a HUGE selection of natural and organic foods.  They also sell items in bulk, which is fantastic.  We bought some vegetable soup in bulk and some pistachios! They also have spices that you can buy in bulk, which is good for me and my new cooking resolution. ;)  Plus, I finally got to try Kale chips!  They….will take some getting used to, but they rn’t horrible. I got two grocery bags full of stuff for $47.00 not too bad. Did you know that the top dozen produce items most contaminated with pesticides are, starting with number 1 :Peaches, apples, bell peppers, celery, nectarines, strawberries, cherries, pears, grapes, spinach, lettuce, and potatoes.  Most of those I usually buy organic anyway, but I thought that was interesting.  Jake is a sweetie and says when I’m pregnant, I’m eating all organic. He loves me, or well, our future baby I should say.  Can’t wait to go back to the co-op!

That was our weekend.  We are still eating out a lot. I know, shame on me, but I’m not the instigator. We have also been renting a lot of old movies.  One of Jakes patients works at Family Video and keeps telling Jake he needs to come in some time. Even though we do Netflix, being the sweet man Jake is, we haaaad to go in there and rent “a couple" movies.  I can’t remember the last time I was in a movie store and I forgot how nice it is to walk down the aisles and skim through all the genres of movies. It reminds me of being a kid again and having slumber parties. I hope my children will get that experience, but who knows my then.  We rented 6 movies, a thing of popcorn and a pack of Twizzlers for only $7! Can’t beat that! ; ) Jake, saw his patient in there and he was really sweet, I’m glad we stopped in.


So, I feel like baking today, I just don’t know what.  I really should make something for dinner, but I have no ideas as of now.  I guess I better go meal plan and wake my two lil sleepy heads up!
Have a lovely day!!

Lovely little cookies and more!

Look at these!

So cute! but I will get to those in a minute.

Happy Friday the 13th!!! I love when it’s Friday the 13th because it gives me an excuse to watch old, classic scary movies. ; ) Which is probably what we will be doing tonight, unless I can talk Jake into seeing Beauty & The Beast in 3D with me.  I want to see it so bad.  If Jake doesn’t want to see it, then I guess I will just go by myself, one day while he is at work, I’m not kidding.


Last night, I finally got to use a couple of my lovely X-mas gifts.  I can’t believe it took me so long because I love them!! Here is the first one….

My tooth shaped cookie cutter!!!  Thanks to my wonderful MIL, I got to bake the cutest little cookies last night.  Yes, I’m going GA GA over these tooth cookies. You have to remember that the only people who eat my cookies, work in a dental office. = )

and I wasn’t able to use my my cookie cutter without without this item…

My lovely little black dress apron!!! Isn’t that adorable? I got this from Brian in the Frazier X-mas gift exchange. I love it. Alright, here are some of my tooth cookies! = )

oh, hi Lilly!

 She likes to watch me bake

She also likes to watch T.V. with Jake lol

I’m not sure if you guys remember my post  These are a few of my favorite things but I have updated a few items on the list.  I’m still a fan of the The Tracy Anderson Method : Mat Workout DVD.  I’m not doing it as much as you are supposed to, but I do have most of the moves memorized, so that has to be good right?  I’m still in love with long wool socks, cozy cardi’s,  & pistachios! I still make my fruit and yogurt parfaits, but I added a new ingredient…CINNAMON! Jake actually recommended it and then the next day I read about it in a magazine, so I thought I would give it a try and….  YUMMO!  Yes, I’m still obsessed with bubble baths as well, but I did change the bubble bath that I was using. I now use the  Sleep - Lavender Chamomile from Bath & Body.

  I like it a lot better. It has a nice, relaxing aroma plus it makes a lot more bubbles that last a long time! Too cool. lol  Speaking of bubble bath, after you take your lovely bubble bath don’t forget to use O.P.I. Bubble Bath nail polish. haha I sound like a commercial, am I getting paid for this?

 Yikes those nails are a little long :O

  I was looking for a good neutral color and my friend Jane actually recommended this color. It’s perfect! So those are a couple of my new favorite things. Just thought I would share. 

Ahh!! I have so much to write about today. Here is a progress report for my NY resolutions. So far, I have been doing pretty good at eating healthy. Besides my fart bars (hehe) and my beef jerky, I have been eating a lot of fresh foods.  I even made dinner 3 times this week!  I’m sorry, but I’m changing the cooking to 3 x a week instead of 5.  I’m still going to try to cook dinner more than 3 times, but I’m not going to set myself up for failure.  Ughh cooking healthy is so much work!  I went to the store like 3 times this week. I have no idea how working moms do it. I’m guessing they probably don’t cook with a billion ingredients like I do.  So these don’t sound that healthy, but they are, they are just healthy alternative & under 500 calories.  Monday, I made Roasted Red Pepper Alfredo, Tuesday, I made Butternut Squash Macaroni and Wednesday, I made Salmon on a bed of rice with glazed sweet potatoes! Mmm that was my favorite.  I got lucky last night, because we went out to eat with some people from Jake’s office and I got out of cooking.  My other goals are coming along quite swell, I believe anyway.  I have been filling my Bobble up with water throughout the day and keeping it with me wherever I go.  It’s a good way to keep hydrated!  I’m proud to say that I have had my treadmill for 9 days and I have ran a total of 17 miles and walked a total 18 miles. Not too shabby.  I think I have been doing pretty well with my other goals as well. Let’s see if I can keep it up!

 Well, I’m out. I have to wrap my gift for the baby shower that I’m going to tomorrow. Hopefully, my fever won’t spike again!  I’m sorry, this post is so sloppy today, I feel like it’s even more random than usual.  Well, enjoy your Friday the 13th & have a lovely weekend!!

Candles, PoPcorn & a Giant Map?

Last night was exactly the kind of night that I want to make sure I write down, to ensure that I will never forget it. It’s not what you’re thinking either, people! It all started with, well a blog post idea actually. All I needed was a giant map, some candles and my trusty baby Canon…..


I wanted to write about one of my biggest passions, traveling.  I always dreamed of traveling all over the world one day, I just never thought those dreams could actually be reality.  I also never imagined that I would have been to the places I have been or seen the things I have seen, especially at this young of age. My husband also has a passion for traveling.  I am so lucky, we not only share the same dreams, but that we get the chance to live out those dreams together.


So for Christmas, I got Jake a World map that tracks our travels. He loved it. So, I told him I wanted to take some photos of the map for my next blog post. What does he do? He goes and gathers random candles that I have laying around the house.  Then he takes the map off the wall, lays it on the office floor and lights the candles.  I’m like, okay…. I guess he has an idea. haha He is so cute, he is definitely the creative one.  It was actually a pretty neat idea and really fun to do!  Here are some of the awesome photos of The Map!

First of all, here is the Map!

Cool, huh?

Let me describe this map a little bit before I go on.  Well, first of all, its a World Map designed to keep track of the places that you have been, the places you plan to go, and even your dream destinations.  For those of you who can’t see the words in the picture above, I will describe what the color of the pins mean. The map comes with a bunch of Red pins, which keep track of the places that you have already traveled to.  We only marked the places that we have been to, together, it’s the travels of the Frazier family after all. The map also comes with 10 green pins.  These pins are for your top 10 dream destinations. What Jake and I did was, we both got to choose 5 dream destinations and pinned them! It was pretty fun to do and harder than I thought. : ) The Blue Flag marks your next planned trip and the Yellow Flag marks your favorite place that you have been so far! Whelp.. on with some more pics!

The Blue Flag Marks our next planned trip to….

 Colorado! Ski Trip on Feb. 10th!

 The Yellow Flag marks our Favorite trip...

Honeymoon in Paris, DUH!!!

 Dream Destinations...

I want to go to Africa SO bad! Probably one of my top 3
The pins below are a combo of Jake and My dream destinations

Ireland, Rome, Greece and…. Moscow? lol That was obviously Jakes
The two below our Mine...

Australia & Figi! Australia is on my top 3

Next two are Jakey’s

Peru & Brazil, Rio De Janeiro

This next one is mine…

Tahiti, Sweetie ; ) 

it’s up there with Australia and Africa, Bora Bora please = )

So there they are! Let the dreaming begin..; )

We like the beach..

The World Travels of The Frazier Family!  

The End!

So that’s the whole map story. You are probably wondering why I started this post off with how last night meant so much to me.  I’m warning you now, that this is extremley cheesy.  So here we go…as I’m laying on the floor, taking pics of the map, Jake was laying on a sleeping bag on the floor playing with Lilly. 

Cute

The room was so peaceful; no T.V. on, no computer on, no lights at all, just candlelight and my 3 loves…Jake, Lilly and baby Canon of course.  It is very rare that ALL the electronics are turned off, so I thought that we should take advantage of this moment.  So we made a pallet on the office floor, kept the candles lit and I even popped us some popcorn!

 It was just lovely.  Cue the really cheesy part….it was even raining!!! ; ) I know romantic right?  We just laid there with the candlelight reflecting off the walls and the sound of the heavy rain fall. ;)  I was on cloud 9.  It gets even cheesier… we made hand puppets on the wall and gazed into each others eyes  hahahah I’m just kidding about the gazing in the eyes thing, but the hand puppets is unfortunately true. We are big kids, what can I say?  Or should I say dorks? We fell asleep taking turns naming things that started with the letter “C”…. I think this started by me making a “C” shape on the wall. LOL I guess this is what married people do when you are stuck in a small town?  I loved it though.  It was a night that I never want to forget.  It really was perfect, listening to the rain fall, the candlelight bouncing off the walls, us…. I couldn't stop smiling and still can’t.  It was just one of those nights that reminded me, that I need to enjoy our family of 2 1/2 for now and cherish every moment. A night that I was looking for, as I mentioned in my last post, Baby Feva ; ) Alright, enough of the cheesiness..I’m done. 

I hope you all have a lovely day and enjoy those special moments in your life..maybe even write them down, so you will never forget them. ; )