Even the Sun Sets in Paradise

I'm at a payphone trying to call home
All of my change I spent on you
Where have the times gone, baby it's all wrong
Where are the plans we made for two?

Yeah, I know it's hard to remember,
The people we used to be...
It's even harder to picture,
That you're not here next to me.

You say it's too late to make it,
But is it too late to try?
And in our time that you wasted
All of our bridges burned down

I've wasted my nights,
You turned out the lights
Now I'm paralyzed,
Still stuck in that time,
When we called it love,
But even the sun sets in paradise

I'm at a payphone trying to call home
All of my change I spent on you
Where have the times gone, baby it's all wrong
Where are the plans we made for two?

If "Happy Ever Afters" did exist,
I would still be holding you like this
All those fairy tales are full of shit
One more fucking love song, I'll be sick.

Oh, you turned your back on tomorrow
'Cause you forgot yesterday.
I gave you my love to borrow,
But you just gave it away.

You can't expect me to be fine,
I don't expect you to care
I know I've said it before,
But all of our bridges burned down

I've wasted my nights,
You turned out the lights
Now I'm paralyzed,
Still stuck in that time,
When we called it love,
But even the sun sets in paradise

I'm at a payphone trying to call home
All of my change I spent on you
Where have the times gone, baby it's all wrong
Where are the plans we made for two?


If "Happy Ever Afters" did exist,
I would still be holding you like this
All those fairy tales are full of shit
One more fucking love song, I'll be sick.

And a few simple words from my best friend made it all better:
"Life may not always go your way, every once in a while you might have a bad day, but I promise you now, you won't ever be lonely. For as long as I live, there will always be a place you belong here beside me - a shoulder you can cry on and a love you can rely on. ♥"

This is it!

This week has been such a whirlwind!  On top of working President Obama's function and seeing him speak and working almost 50 hours in 4 days, I also came one step closer to picking a wedding venue.
I'm so excited because my mom and I are starting to get more on the same page, which is important since she and I are splitting the costs.  I want to have a wedding that John and I will not regret, but I also want to consider what my mom wants since she is also investing so much of her own money into it.
Let me clear the air and tell you that we are doing so much to keep the wedding below $10,000, which for those of you have have planned a wedding know that is considerably cheap.  One of the problems with that is finding a good venue.  The cheaper you go, the cheesier the venue is.  At times it gets frustrating, because in our eyes, we're still spending a lot of money for a place, so it's no wonder that were 6 months later from the first venue and we still haven't signed with anyone.  But, yesterday we sat down, decided what was important to us and decided it was worth an extra $1000 to upgrade on our venue.  This allows me to revisit my first choice!

Fossil Trace Golf Course

 

The views are gorgeous every which way you look.  They did a great job with their tree placement, as they block the views from the Coors factory and apartment complexes.  You also get a beautiful view of Table Mountain, and since we were not able to find a mountain venue in our price range, this is the next best thing.  Another great selling point is that it is on a golf course.  John and I are huge golfers and I think having our wedding at a golf course will make this more memorable.  It helps that they take us around the course in a golf cart so that we can take pictures at different holes (we definitely plan to take our clubs as well so we can get some fun golf pictures in our wedding attire).

We haven't officially booked the venue yet, so I'm trying not to get my hopes up too high, but I have a good feeling that this is it!

3rd Times a Charm!

Losing my running buddy yesterday was a little bit of unfortunate timing.  That's because I'm doing the Colfax 5k on Saturday, and having Mila out of commission will make it harder to train this week.  First, I really love running with Mila, not only does it help get out her crazy Boxer energy, but it's great to run outdoors and it's great to have that bonding time with her.  I could run with Miles, but he doesn't have as much energy and doesn't seem to enjoy it as much as Mila does.  It also doesn't help that he overheats easier than Mila too.  I could go running out on my own, but it's important to me that someone is always home with Mila to help ensure she doesn't rip out her stitches, especially in the first couple days.  I guess for now, I will just have to do my workout videos until I feel comfortable leaving her alone.
I'm really excited for the 5k.  I'm really enjoying this running thing!  I love telling my friends and coworkers about it, I love even more how impressed they all get.  This will make my 3rd race this summer and I'm so proud of myself for doing it. As I said for the last race, the free beer and t-shirt does help me get through the race, but there's just so many benefits of doing it!

 I can't wait to report how I do, and I really hope I can shorten my time even more!

Wishing For a Seedy Recovery!

Today, I temporarily lost my running partner.  Mila just hit 5 months old, which meant it was time for her to be spayed.  For Miles, I waited until he was a little more than 6 months old to have him neutered, but a spay is a lot more invasive and I wanted Mila to be younger so that it would not only be less dramatic, but she should also heal much faster than if I were to do it later. 
First, let me say that having a puppy is expensive.  Not only do you have to pay for them, but you have to buy food, pay for vaccinations, and of course, be responsible enough to have them spayed of neutered if you never plan to breed them.  It all adds up!  I was fortunate enough to have a couple coworkers tell me about Banfield Pet Hospital at Petsmart.  They both raved about how great they have been with their dogs.  Not only are they great, but they offer some amazing Wellness Plans that helps making paying for all of this much easier.  Their puppy wellness plan includes the spay for free, saving me so much money!  Plus, they do all of the same pre-op tests that expensive pet hospitals do! 
Banfield has been so great with both of my dogs.  They got both of my babies up to date on all of their shots, they were very communicative of all of the test they have done during their preventative care, and even call the day after each visit to make sure my dogs have no reaction to their vaccinations.  So it was no wonder they were great on such an emotional day.
I started my day by waking up at 6am, even though I didn't have to drop Mila off until 7:15am.  I just wanted the morning with her before having a different personality for a few days.  Once it was time, we drove over to Petsmart.  The staff was so great, they gave me a few more minutes to say goodbye before giving me the rundown on when they would do the procedure and when I could come get her.
Once I got home, Miles didn't quite understand why Mila wasn't right behind me.  Coming through the front door, he kept looking behind me.  Once he realized she wasn't there he kept sniffing me, as if my scent would tell him where I took her.  Since I had woken up so early, and since I had taken the day off from work, I went back to sleep for an hour.  When Miles and I woke up from our nap, he still seemed worried about Mila.  He had such a sad look on his face and I swear he hiccuped a few times like he had been crying.
To keep my mind off of Mila not being home, I cleaned almost every inch of the house.  Once I had just about finished, I received a call saying that Mila had done great on her surgery and that she was just starting to wake up.
As soon as I was able I headed back to petsmart to pick her up!  When she came out, she was able to walk but she didn't seem to completely know who I was, probably because of all of the pain meds.  Once I got her in the car, I slowly drove home.  John was outside to greet me and help me get her inside. 
It broke my heart to watch her try to get up the one step to our front door, it broke my heart even more watching her try to get down the four steps to the backdoor to try to get outside.  But once potty time was over we got her situated in her crate where I had placed an extra blanket for comfort.

You can see her little bandage on  her arm

I can't wait for my little girl to get all healed up.  As much as her craziness can drive me crazy, I already miss her running around non-stop.  I can't wait to get my running partner back, here's to a speedy recovery!

If you need your life saved...

Today I learned how to save a life!  Well, through CPR and First Aid that is, so of course there are limits. 

Getting certified is something that I should have done a long time ago, but I have put it off for as long as I could.  Why?  I don't want to be sued.  Simple enough!  The good news is, if I step in and help, I am protected in many ways under "The Good Samaritan" Law.  I can now give CPR, an Epipen, do the Heimlich Maneuver, stop bleeding, use an oxygen tank and operate an AED machine without fear of being sued in an incident where maybe someone did not want the help.  Great!  But what happens when I come across a situation, freeze up and walk away?  Am I liable?  Would someone be able to come after me?  Because most likely that is what is going to happen.
On the other hand, I work in the hospitality industry, where anything could happen, and everything has happened.  When I was 16, I watched an older lady snap her leg in half after slipping.  I have seen people seizure, pass out and have a heart attack.  Most of those situations, I have ran and hid.  Scared because I had no idea what to do.  The last incident scared me the most, only because now I'm older and should know better.  It happened about 4 months ago, and in the middle of a large 500 person function, a man passed out.  Servers grabbed me to come help and all I could do was yell on the radio for someone to come help.  I didn't call code 2, I didn't call 55 (our emergency number), I didn't even call security, our first response team.  I'm older now.  I should know better, plus my staff looks to me during those times to see how they should react, and I failed.
Not only is it important to know for my line of work, but I also need it to be certified to graduate.  In most cases, you have to pay to take the class, in my case, my work paid for it.  Not only did my work pay to get me certified, but they also paid me to get certified!  Definitely a huge bonus!  Getting paid for my time is never a bad thing!
So, now I can give CPR, an Epipen, do the Heimlich Maneuver, stop bleeding, use an oxygen tank and operate an AED machine.  Pretty impressive, huh?

The dummies we worked on

Oxygen tank with first aid and bio-hazard kits in them

Pride, With A Dash Of Jealousy

This weekend a really good friend of mine graduated from college.  I'm so overcome with pride for him!  He spent the last 6 years working 2 part time jobs (bordering on full time jobs), while acquiring two really difficult degrees, Chemistry and Forensic.  I always joked that he was a genius, but secretly, I really do think he is.

Although I didn't make it to the actually graduation, I was able to make it to his graduation party to celebrate.  It ended up being at his parents house, which was great!  I always enjoy seeing his parents, they are definitely the most entertaining parents I know, but most of all they are just really great, loving and supporting, even to me.
It was really great to celebrate with my friend.  He definitely deserves the degrees he just earned.

"The Grad," his girlfriend and I

As happy as I am for him, I can't help but feel a pang of jealousy as one more friend graduates before me.  A few years ago, I made the decision to take a year off.  It was the best decision I ever made.  It gave me a year to work full time and enjoy life without school.  It also gave me an advantage when I finally decided to go back, it gave me motivation!  I did excellent my first semester back, and I even landed a great "career" at the end of the semester.  This new job pays great, has both great and fun benefit and the job is just fun in general.  But, I can't lie, there are weeks that I work a lot of hours and because business can be so spontaneous, I can only take two classes a semester at the most, which has significantly slowed me down.  Ideally, I could graduate December 2013, but because the class schedule is starting to get difficult to work with, I'm starting to only be able to take one class a semester, which is really losing me time.
I have to remind myself that this is the decision I made and that i need to follow through as positive as I can.  Other times, I'm reminded of the conversation I had with my F&B director, stating that I don't really need a degree to work in Hospitality.  I know he's right, but it's still important to me to get that degree.  It could possibly save my life in the possible event that I decide I'm through with Hospitality, because as I get older, that just might happen.
I know I'm on the right path, I have a great life with a great man, two beautiful dogs and a great job.  I just wish I could be done with school and enjoy my evenings to something other than studying.