My Ideal Vacation

    

     What a perfect time to be blogging about my ideal vacation. With all of this nasty weather, nothing has been on my mind more than dreaming of being on vacation. Seeing how I was lucky enough to take two vacation this year, I've been a little spoiled and am having a hard time coping with this snow. I would be perfectly satisfied with a third trip to Key West, Florida for my next vacation. I say this because it's not a long flight, it's tropical, everyone is so nice and they even speak English. I can't imagine going on a vacation, not knowing anything about the location, and running into everyone that speaks a different language.
     Key West is kind of a tradition for my family. They have so much to offer on such a small island. A few activities that I have had the pleasure of enjoying are snorkeling, par-a-sailing, going on a jet-ski tour, and taking a cruise out on the glass bottom boat. These are all adventures that I would love to experience over and over again, along with a few new ones. I would love to go out kayaking on the ocean, dolphin watching, and taking the shark tour. Alongside all of these adventures, there is plenty of shopping and night life that the island offers. A well-known street called Duval Street has so many unique souvenir shops, along with your typical stores you would find at a mall. This island is so laid back and relaxed; nobody is in a hurry to get anywhere and it just feels like home when you're there. There are so many different hotels, condos and homes for rent that offer nice pools, that when you're there you are just so satisfied with laying pool-side, soaking up the sun. The sun in Key West is so warm and inviting, in fact, there is a popular place called Mallory Square that everyone crowds to just to watch the beautiful sunset.
     I am picturing myself in Key West as I am writing all of this. It seems so real until I feel the heat from the wood stove and look outside to find the white, much despised, snow. My husband and I are saving up to hopefully go back to Key West next year, but until then it will just be my ideal vacation!

Just Pets?

                To some people, pets are just animals and to others, pets are like their children. I very often wonder why some people even own a pet. And I use the word own because yes, you do have to pay to keep them healthy. I have a few family members who go and buy pets or receive free ones, but don’t take proper care of them. I don’t understand what the purpose of having a pet is if they never take it to the vet or spend time with it. A pet, like a child, needs to be loved and nurtured. With the holidays right around the corner, there are a lot of pet adoption commercials on television. I can’t even stand to watch the commercials because I wish I could adopt them all. These commercials are what make me think about how lucky my dogs are. My husband and I have two labs, a chocolate male and a yellow female, along with a female, yellow lab/retriever mix. Yes, that totals three full size dogs, call me crazy, but I wouldn’t trade in any of them or the memories. Asia and Louie, the two labs, we raised from puppies and for the most part they are pretty mellow. Our lab/retriever mix on the other hand, Marley, is a different story. She was dropped off at an Amish store shortly before I happened to stop there. She came running up to me, so happy and full of life, not quite a puppy, but I would guess about 4-6 months old. I fell in love with her and with my husband’s approval, I brought her home. Our plan was to find her a good home, but when we did, neither of us could give her up, so here she stays. Marley was quite a mischievous puppy chewing up a ton of shoes and anything else that was left in her sight, but we continued to love and nurture her. Now, two years later, seeing how far she’s come along really shows how hard work can pay off. So, whether you buy a puppy or adopt an adult dog, a little love, time, and repetition will go a long way.

 Left to right: Louie, Asia, & Marley

 Marley, eating her ice cream cone

Christmas: Just Around the Corner

With December here, I can imagine everyone is going through the same thing as I am: preparing for the busy holiday season. Now, being married, my husband and I have five different Christmas’ to attend. Thankfully, they are all on different weekends, but this still makes for a stressful and eventful holiday. I normally work part time, but being short-handed at work has put me up to full time hours, leaving me with little or no time to shop. I am a very giving person, and if money wasn’t hard to come by, I would buy gifts for everyone on both sides of the family, so narrowing down what I purchase for our family members has been hard for me. Figuring out how much to spend on each person and then finding the perfect gift within that price range has been on my to-do list for the next few shopping trips.  I am one of those people who have to have to perfect gift; I won’t buy the first thing I see, so out of the fourteen people that we are buying for, I only possess a gift for three of them.  Now, I go through this every year, so I know the perfect idea will come along.

One gift that I have found that is always appreciated, but hardly thought of by others is a personalized ornament. I have made many trips to Bronner’s this year, but it’s hard to see everything the first couple of visits because the store can be overwhelming with its size and variety of gifts. I found that an ornament is a great accessory to a gift; you can decorate an envelope with it, or tie it into the gift bag or present. So far this year, I have given out three personalized ornaments as part of a gift and I have a feeling that I will be purchasing a few more. The hardest person to buy for is my husband; it seems like I buy him the same type of gift every year and I want to do something a little different this year, but I’m still waiting for that idea to hit me. No matter what gift they receive, they should appreciate the thought, enjoy their family time, and just be thankful.

Blog #5

Finally, My Wedding!

            Well, we made it through the wedding and the only time my nerves started to get the best of me was when we had to walk outside to get on the quite small airplane taking us into Key West. Everything went smooth overall; we arrived in Key West Saturday evening around seven and were married the following day at one o’clock. The weather was perfect; the sun was shining with very few clouds in the sky and it was the only day of the week where the humidity wasn’t overbearing.  Our timing couldn’t have turned out any more beautiful. After the ceremony and pictures, everyone went out to eat at an awesome, Italian restaurant called Abbondanzas. Early Monday afternoon a few of us went parasailing. That was kind of an adrenaline rush, but very worth our money; the scenery was gorgeous and the water looked the perfect blue color from 400 feet in the air. That same evening, twelve of us went on a twenty-six mile jet-ski tour around the island. As we came around to Mallory Square, we stopped to enjoy the dolphins that were swimming so gracefully throughout all of our jet-skis. That experience was so amazing, even though we couldn’t touch the dolphins, just being out in the ocean, in their natural habitat with them just topped my vacation and I’d only been there for two days! On Wednesday, six of us went out snorkeling. That was my first experience swimming out in the open ocean. Seeing all of the colorful schools of fish and barracuda was definitely an eyeful, but being stung by twice by a jellyfish wasn’t as enjoyable. After we were back on the boat, ready to head in, we were lucky enough to witness more dolphins. They came right past our boat with a baby leading the way; it was so cute.  In between all of the big adventures, we did a lot of shopped, swam, ate, played cards and soaked up the rays by the pool. This has, by far, been my best vacation ever and I am so ready to return!

My Research Blog: Dental Assisting

           

          My research paper will be filled with information on my future career, dental assisting. Some of the topics that I am including in my paper are the job outlook, salary, job duties, and the technology in the field. I’m not really sure what it was that sparked my interest to enter the dental field because, personally, I hate going to the dentist. There is not one thing that I like about dentist appointments, but it seems like the lady helping the dentist or hygienist always do a good job of making the setting a little more comfortable. As an assistant, that is part of their job, along with prepping the patient, handing the dentists instruments and materials, sterilizing and disinfecting instruments and other equipment and many other duties that I will talk about in my paper.

I am starting out with dental assisting to get into the field and see what other options are there that may interest me more. I don’t think I could ever become a hygienist because I wouldn’t be able to handle actually cleaning other’s teeth. Now, I’ve never had braces before, but my siblings and a couple of my friends have, so I’ve been back in the orthodontist rooms. Visiting those orthodontists is what really pulled me into the dental field. Those assistants actually get hands on experience with the patients and their braces. When I went with my siblings to get their bands changed, it was the assistant who did most of the work in the room. The two different dental offices have totally different environments and job duties. After gaining experience as a dental assistant I would love to move to the orthodontics field.

Preparing For Take Off!

            “Aren’t you getting nervous?” That is the question I have been hearing over and over lately. My response: “I don’t have time to be nervous!” The countdown has begun; there are only a few short days left until I walk through the sand to my soon-to-be husband. With that said, I have been scrounging for time this past week. Our flight departs from Detroit Saturday afternoon, but in order to keep the stress down, we are staying in a hotel Friday night, close to the airport.

            I work part time, but lately with co-workers on vacation, I have been receiving full time hours, so my life has been hectic. Between going to school and finishing up homework, I’ve been trying to get my suitcases packed. I’m doing my best to not forget the important pieces for the wedding like my slip, jewelry, the marriage license, our wedding bands, the camera and our itineraries. My lunch hour at work has definitely come in useful for getting my dress altered and other appointments that I don’t have time for after work. On top of all that, I have three Labradors to care for daily and need to make sure I find someone reliable to do the same while we are gone. My dogs are like my children and I can’t just leave that responsibility to anyone. A few other things I still need to accomplish before we take off: get my hair done, give my nails a manicure and toes a pedicure, take my rings to the jeweler to be soldered together, and finish up any last minute packing.

            Upon our return, I will be just as busy; working, doing homework, moving into my new home, finishing up reception details, and unpacking the gifts from the wedding shower. Though, until that time comes, I will be snorkeling, para-sailing, fishing and most importantly, relaxing!

50 First Dates

                50 First Dates was realeased in 2004; directed by peter Segal. Light-hearted, humorous plot lines, and true love surmounting obstacles are just a few characteristics of a romantic-comedy. Romantic comedies are a sub-genre of comedy films. The romantic comedy, 50 First Dates, stars Adam Sandler, Drew Barrymore, Rob Schneider, and Sean Astin.
In this film, Sandler plays Henry Roth, a womanizing veterinarian who cares for animals in an aquatic park with the help of his friend Ula(Schneider). Barrymore plays Lucy Whitmore who has a memory impairment similar to Alzheimers disease and Anterograde amnesia.

                The movie begins with a review of Henry’s past, uncommited relationships. Then one morning, he met Lucy at a local café. They instantly had sparks and agreed to meet for breakfast the next day, but to Henry’s dismay, Lucy has no recollection of meeting him. The café manager, Sue, over hears what is going on and pulls Henry aside. She explaind to him that Lucy had been in a car accident a year earlier and suffers from Goldfield Syndrome, in which her memory is like a white board wiped clean every night. She believes everyday is her father’s birthday, as it was the day of the accident. Lucy’s father, Marlin and brother, Doug (Astin), re-enact everything from the day of the accident.

                Henry, realizing that he is falling in love with Lucy, drops his womanizing ways and schemes up new ways to ‘meet’ her every day, in hopes that one day she will remember him. Eventually Henry convinces Marlin that it would be easier to explain the situation to Lucy everyday instead of hiding it from her, so they start to leave home videos around for her to watch every morning. These videos explained her situation and her relationship with Henry. Lucy also kept notes to her self in a journal and eventually returns the feelings towards Henry and accepting his marriage proposal. One day, Lucy finds out that Henry canceled his sailing research expedition in order to be with her. She didn’t want to hold him back so she destroyed everything that reminded her of him and put herself into a hospital.

                Henry, now Lucyless, prepares for his voyage, but before he leaves, Marlin gives him a CD that Lucy use to give to her dad for his fishing trips because it reminded him of his deceased wife and she would sing this music on days that she was with Henry. Henry then realized that the CD was a hint that Lucy does remember him, so he rushes back to the hospital to see her and she tells him that she does not know who he is but has been dreaming about him and remembers his face.

                I will not give away the ending to the movie, but throughout the whole film Sandler constantly uses humor in his ways of ‘meeting’ Lucy everyday and in their relationship. Lucy doesn’t always reciprocate the humor, but that’s part of what makes the scenes comical. I feel this movie fit it’s genre very well. It followed the whol love story over-coming obstacles along the way, all along displaying humor for all. I love all of Adam Sandler’s movies, as I believe he is a great actor. He plays his roles so well with his different voices and actions. This movie is comparable to other romantic comedies like The Ugly Truth, 27 Dresses, The Bounty Hunter, and How To Lose A Guys In 10 Days. All of these movies have a popular cast and were successful. For the most part, they all followed the same story line, but have very different ways of broadcasting a plot. If you are interested in watching the trailer to this movie you can visit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErjP5xMTc8I

My Destination Wedding

Deciding where to have my wedding and reception was the hardest part of planning my wedding. Did I want to have a Catholic wedding in a church or a more intimate wedding on the beach? I, personally, am more of a quiet, intimate person and prefer not to be center of attention, so we decided to have a destination wedding. Our destination: Key West, Florida. We chose this destination because my parents have visited several times and love it and my fiancée, Dustin, and I went for a friend’s wedding and we fell in love as well.

The company we chose was very affordable and offered a wide variety of options for us. The flower bouquet, boutonniere, photographer, ceremony and location are all provided by the company. I was able to choose from over fifty different flower bouquets and there is also a lot of décor available for an extra cost. We were able to pick any date any day of the week to get married. We knew we wanted to get married in October, but when we found out that they perform ceremonies seven days a week, we immediately went for 10-10-10.  Getting married on the beach gives us a little more lee-way on what to wear. I am still wearing a full wedding gown, but with cute, white flip-flops and Dustin is wearing khaki pants, sandals, and a short-sleeve purple button-down shirt. Purple is my favorite color and I wanted to incorporate that into my destination wedding also, so our families are both coordinating with the color purple, too! The number of guests is unlimited, so anyone who can afford the trip is more than welcome to attend. We have about seventeen people who will be celebrating our special day with us.

Planning our destination wedding has been both fun and exciting. Now, that everything is set in stone, we’re just anxiously waiting for our vacation/wedding get-away to arrive! If you or anyone you know are interested in getting married in Key West, I highly recommend visiting http://www.weddingstogokeywest.com/