Project 365: Day 130- April 9th

I believe in sleeping in.
I believe in giving 100% when you only have 80.
I believe jamming out by yourself in the car.
I believe in kisses on the forehead.
I believe in smiling till your cheeks hurt.
I believe in being silly & crazy with your friends.
I believe in taking chances & making mistakes.
I believe in having someone tell you you're beautiful.
I believe in swinging on swings & running in the rain.
I believe in miracles & random acts of kindness.
I believe in saying hello to anyone & everyone.
I believe in 2nd chances & that everyone deserves one.

While cleaning the house that I live in probably isn't necessarily defined as a random act of kindness, I'm including it today because I do it out of love. I do it because I want my mom to come home from work and not have to worry about anything. I do it because I am so grateful that I have a place to live without having to pay rent while trying to get through grad school. I do it because I know that it is the right thing to do. And, well, I do it because I love jammin to some CMT while sweeping, haha! Y'all know my Friday routine by now, right? haha!

And after cleaning, I met my mom at the grocery store. It was pretty busy and the lines were forever long.. so my mom starts analyzing the chocolate bars.. and here's what she finds:

Yeah, the King Size candy bar is $1.18 (the candy bar at the top) and the Regular Size candy bar is $1.00 (the candy bar at the bottom)... think people are getting ripped off? Yea, I'm sure they are.

Then, I bought a shirt at Walmart.. it says it was a small... that's the size I wear, right? Yea, I tried that sucker on and lets just say I looked like the Incredible Hulk. That sucker ripped in like 45 different spots as soon as I put it on, haha. See that:

Amazing, huh? haha! And while at Walmart I bought TONS of stuff to make a Brownie Chocolate Chip Cheesecake since Ethan's birthday is tomorrow :) And he LOVES Brownies and Cheesecake! Here's a shot of me making the cake:

And the finished product. I should have bought whipped topping, but oh well! you live and learn I guess, huh? haha! Here's the link to the recipe for it:

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Brownie-Chocolate-Chip-Cheesecake/Detail.aspx

And while making this lovely little cake... and trying to get the chocolate chip bag open... I busted it and spilled them everywhere. You know nothing I do can ever go EXACTLY right bahaha!

And the rest of the night was spent with Ethan and Scott haha. We watched good ol' Avatar and laughed til late! Good times, good times :)

Cheers to Project 365!

Project 365: Day 129- April 8th

Erno Rubik once stated "Our whole life is solving puzzles" and I'd like to think he's right. I think that's the beauty of life. Trying to figure things out... using common sense.. clues... taking moments and being patient with them.. working with others... and I think that's why I love puzzles so much whether it's crosswords, word jumbles, word searches, cryptoquotes.. I love it all. But I will say this. Yesterday was the first time in a LONG time where I could NOT solve the cryptoquote. I literally felt defeated. It was just really hard for me last night. I probably spent about 2 hours on it and only figure out the letters A and S.. or at least I think I did. I'm going to work on it a little more, but I may have to admit that I just couldn't figure out and find out the answer tomorrow.. we shall see.

And how was the rest of my day spent you might be asking yourself? Well, I decided to try a little project called sewing, haha. I took a skirt I used to have and cut it off to make a shorter skirt. I'm not very good at it right now, but I'm working on it and I have to say I really enjoyed it. It was kind of peaceful and relaxing :)

And while sewing.. I was watching Ghost Whisperer. I haven't seen all of the episodes, so I'm trying to do my own little marathon (like I did with Supernatural awhile back) and catch up on it haha! I LOVE this show. It has easily became one of my favorites, so I'm excited to do a little more watching tomorrow! :)

And the rest of the night was spent enjoying Crenos (a salad and breadsticks)... oh, with a lovely little love note from Ethan's brother Jon, hahaha.

And then Ethan and I cuddled up for some Vampire Diaries and Supernatural. Don't let him kid you, he LOVES watching these TV shows just as much as I do, haha! They were some good episodes last night too! I'm anxious to see what happens next week :)

Cheers to Project 365.. and to it almost being the weekend!!

Project 365: Day 128- April 7th

Well, it was a sad day in the world of Alyssa.... On my way home from Ethan's, I stopped at Tim Hortons and got my usual: chicken salad sandwich, toasted on wheat bread with this salt and vinegar chips.. and a sprite. It's my favorite. Super yummy! I just love it. But guess what? As I pulled up to the drive thru window, the lady handed me the chips and said "These are our last bag of chips.. we'll never have these again." Yea, you could say my heart is a little bit broken. Actually, I'm devastated :( I don't know what I'm going to get with my chicken salad now... *sigh* Dear heavens, I'm going to try and survive... We'll see what happens, haha.

Then mom and I had dinner: Burger and fries! Yummy! And then I drove down to Ethan's house. We went grocery shopping so he could get some healthy groceries instead of eating out hehe. And I got some cranberry juice cause I'm still not feeling good. Here's a picture of us after we got back:

Then we snuggled up on the couch and turned on some American Idol! And oh my lanta! What a show that was! LOVED Jason DeRulo, David Archie, and Rihanna's performances! Amazing. I love that Rockstar 101 song. Rihanna seriously tore it up!


And we were completely in SHOCK that Big Mike was about to be voted off. He is an amazing singer and I have NO idea how Andrew Garcia, Aaron Kelly, and Tim Urban didn't get voted off. Big Mike is so much stronger vocally then all 3 of them.. combined! That was just a down right crazy show.. and they all better be bringing the heat next week, that's for sure!

Cheers to Project 365!

Project 365: Day 127- April 6th

So, the day started like any other day. Had some breakfast, called some places for more research, put the roast on for dinner, went and visited George and Huddy, haha. K, that isn't normal, but still, lol. And then about 4:30PM I get a call from the boyfriend saying he's broke down.... about 40 minutes from my house. Soooo, I grab my keys, phone, and Ipod and head out the door. Traffic was horrible because, well, it was almost 5PM, but I got to him in about 35 minutes. It was SO hot out, so I was trying to hurry. Got there and we headed off to pick up his pictures at Walmart, grab some antifreeze, and stop by UPS so he could FINALLY get his new motorcycle jacket. I spilled Sierra Mist all over me, he thought I was weird rawkin out to Justin Bieber in my car... haha. But it was a good afternoon. And we finally got back to his car... and it worked (just overheated) so here he is.. in front of me.. heading to his house.

And once we got to the house, I chowed down on some roast... and I FINALLY got up enough courage to ride with Ethan on the back of this thing:

He'll tell you I was freaking out. Holding him tight. Yelling. hahaha I was a nervous wreck, but I did it and that was a great feeling.. conquering that fear, haha! We had fun. LOL And then I had to take a nerve pill after, bahaha.

And then Ethan and I did a crossword puzzle and watched American Idol :)

I will say that Tim Urban did MUCH better this week. Big Mike tore it up as well as Casey and Crystal. I'm still Team Lee although the bag-pipe was a little weird, haha, but I liked how unique he was! Who do I think is in the bottom 3 this week? Aaron Kelly, Andrew Garcia, and Katie Stevens. Who's going home? Andrew Garcia.

Cheers to Project 365!!

Project 365: Day 126- April 5th

"What happens to these people in their last moments, it really matters. Places aren't haunted. People are haunted." -Melinda Gordon

I have to say I absolutely LOVE the TV series "Ghost Whisperer" and today there was a marathon on. I had to stay at Ethan's house all day to wait on a package... so I legit watched Ghost Whisperer for about 6 hours, haha! They were all episodes I hadn't seen before... and lemme tell you, I was creeping myself out! LOL There was an episode about Bloody Mary and every noise I heard I jumped. I didn't even want to go to the restroom (cause there were mirrors in there of course) LOL but it was a good day! haha!

Then, I had to leave to go make a sale on an item. Sorry I'm being so vague, but I have to be haha. But anyways, I sold an item for $500 buckaroos and guess what? I PAID OFF MY CAR FINALLY! I've been paying on that lil thing since 2007 and she is finally paid off... hallelujah!

Then I met my mom for some lunch. We got McDonalds... of course. I love Big Macs... fries.. and sweet teas. It was yummy! hehe! And I finally got home and then Helen, Kourtney, and Hosh came over and we played like 1,234,234 games of cornhole, haha! Here are some shots of that :)

(Helen and Kourtney)

(Hosh and me)

(We finally won a game, hahahaha!)

(Yea, they won 13/14 games or something like that haha. We were joking with Kourt that baby Kael was giving her a little more leverage then we had, hahaha)

It was a GREAT night! I am so excited for summer :)

Cheers to Project 365!

Project 365: Day 125- April 4th

I don't believe an accident of birth makes people sisters or brothers. It makes them siblings, gives them mutuality of parentage. Sisterhood and brotherhood is a condition people have to work at. ~Maya Angelou

Today was Easter-- and what a better way to spend it than with family. It's a rare moment to get all of us together.. and boy oh boy, we did it today! Mom and dad had Brad, Corey, Jennifer, and me all in the pew with them at church hehe! We went to Cornerstone and had a great time! They sang some amazingly beautiful worship songs. My favorite-- How He Loves Us! And we did communion. It was such an overwhelming moment. I didn't even feel worthy enough to do it. I leaned over and told Brad I wasn't going to take it.. I just didn't feel good enough... and you know what he said? "Were the disciples perfect? Did they mess up? Yes. But Jesus still loved them... Don't feel ashamed about anything." And that was encouraging. So, we took it. Thank You God for your blood and body.

Then the family came over to our house for some corn-hole, food, basketball, and fellowship! Here's the set-up. It was awesome!

And Makala and I just hung out on the blanket.. reading.. doing crossword puzzles, haha! Having a good time... right here, we were laughing.. and why you might be asking yourself? LOL Hold on, I'll get to that...

K. This is kind of gross, so if you don't wanna be offended.. or sickened, don't read on, haha! But, my grandma was sitting in one of the lawn chairs and she gets up to go get some more food and she *ahem* "toots"... hahaha! And oh my heavens, she grabs her "front region" right after! LOL It was THEEEE funniest moment... ever! We were all dying. It was too much. Aunt Shelly was like.. "Why did you grab your crotch?" hahaha! She's hilarious. Here she is.. embarrassed cause Brad was like "What was THAT?" haha!

Then I went to Ethan's house and we colored eggs, he cooked dinner, we had desserts and what not at his mother's house, and he had an Easter Egg Hunt I had planned.

(Coloring eggs)


(The Egg Hunt, haha!)

And here's Ethan's Easter basket:


And my Easter present from Ethan :) (a bunny, chocolate, vanilla bread Easter house, and a card he made himself hehe)

Happy Easter everyone!!

Cheers to Project 365!

Project 365: Day 124- April 3rd

Jay Leno once stated, "I went into a McDonald's yesterday and said, "I'd like some fries." The girl at the counter said, "Would you like some fries with that?" And well, the girl behind the counter yesterday didn't ask me if I wanted fries with that, because you best believe I got me a Big Mac combo and no, I am not ashamed, haha! My mom, dad, and I stopped at McDonalds yesterday... and lemme tell you, it was delicious! I LOVE their fries.. and Big Macs... and SWEET TEAS! This is my one true love right here, haha! I have to document it :)

And then, I went to Family Video and rented "Old Dogs" and my mom, Corey, Brad, Montana and I all sat down to watch it last night. Kind of a crazy movie when you think about it... Bernie Mac is in it.. and it was just released in 2009. Boggled my mind a little til I read that it was originally suppose to be released in 2008, but was halted due to Bernie Mac's untimely death, due to the death of John Travolta and Kelly Preston's son, and due to Robin Williams having health problems. But other than all of those issues, it was a cute movie.. the kind of movie you'd watch over and over again, haha. I loved when Robin Williams kicked the soccer ball and smacked that kid in the face, lol! Too funny!

And mom had a cute little visitor sleeping on her lap last night, haha. and no, it wasn't me LOL

And after watching the movie, my mom helped me bake another Ho-Ho cake to take down to Ethan's mom's house tonight for their Easter dinner :)

Thanks for all your help momma!

Cheers to Project 365!

Project 365: Day 123- April 2nd

I started making some proper decisions, getting things in order. It's kind of like cleaning up your house. I was looking for direction for what God wanted me to do - and that's when I got a call about The Passion. -Scott Stapp

Well, my Friday morning started off by me cleaning the house. And lemme tell ya, I think cleaning this house is a whole lot easier than figuring out life... what God wants me to do with my life... who He wants to be in my life. I feel like I'm at such a confusing state in my life. I expected to be a lot further along in my "plans" than I am right now at the age of 23. I guess that's why they say God laughs at plans... because He usually has His own. So, I guess right now... just like when I clean this house, I have to put pictures, blankets, etc. in order.... I'm going to attempt to get my life in order... and see what He has for me from there. I want to be happy. I want to feel fulfilled. I want Him to smile when He thinks of me... God, let that be.
And when I clean... you better be prepared for CMT to be playing in the background, haha! This is my beat and I LOVE sweeping and dusting to it. I was watching/listening to the Top 20 this past Friday morning.. this is "A Little More Country Than That" by Easton Corbin (whom I absolutely adore hehe!) How can you not, right? My favorite songs on the CMT Top 20 right now are: Temporary Home, Keep on Loving You, and Best Days are Ahead of Me.

And to make a good day even better... two things happened! My brother came home for Easter weekend.... ANDDD my Income Tax check came. It's not a huge amount, but hey.. it's money I didn't have, haha! So I'm very thankful for it!

Then, my mom and I went grocery shopping... and it was a mad house, haha! But fortunately I got everything bought for Ethan's Easter present. He better enjoy it, haha!

Cheers to Project 365!