In Our Hearts

In case you haven't heard..I'm gettin hitched! I am so happy and feel so blessed to have a man like Frank to be my partner in life. :)

As we are planning our wedding there are a lot of decisions to be made. One that was hard for me was whether or not to get married in a church. We believe in God, and for me personally I pray daily and my spiritual life is important to me even though I am not a church goer. We ultimately decided to have a priest marry us but at the beach. Nothing against church but the beach is special to both of us for a few reasons; we met at the beach, our first kiss was at the beach, first time we said I love you was at the beach and our first apartment together is at the beach. Lastly, I have to say that I feel closer to God at the beach then I do in church...

Have you ever been to the beach in the off season when there is no one around? The sun is setting, there is a cool breeze on your face and an overwhelming sense of peace and calm..I look at the ocean, a pillar of strength and beauty, I breathe in and out listening to the sounds of crashing waves and in that very moment I feel so connected to God. I know He exists because how could something so beautiful and powerful exist if He does not? God has given us so many beautiful things in life and for me the beach is one of them.

In the end, it doesn't matter where you say 'I do.' God is in our hearts. Whether you decide to get married in a church, the beach or city hall..God will be there if you invite Him.

150

According to Blogger this is my 150th post..that is a lot of blogging! Who knew I had so much to say? hehe. I am very happy that I decided to start this blog last year. It has been a way for me to document and remember different events and times in my life. It has also served as an outlet for emotions I have felt. I know I don't have the best grammar and punctuation but I can say that I give it my best effort and I have been genuine in my postings. I hope that anyone who may read this has felt my sincerity. It is a vulnerable feeling to put your thoughts and feelings out there on the internet for anyone to read. It has been a fun and therapeutic activity for me and I hope I have a few readers that have enjoyed a posting or two. :)

Spoiled

I feel spoiled that I live here and get to witness this all the time. It really never gets old..

A Day with Gma

I love my grams.. unfortunately we had to bring her to the hospital recently..she's doing ok! After spending the day in the ER with her I have to share a few one liners with you...

"Mrs Lark..do you wear a hearing aid?" -nurse

"Pardon??" -gma

"I hope you dont mind this is my first time drawing blood.." (jokingly) -nurse

"What am I a pigeon?!?!" -gma

"gma you mean guinea pig?" -me

"O yea, guinea pig" - gma

"I am so happy for you (PS I'm engaged!!)..and you are going to be an O'Rourke! IRISH! I'm Irish you know.. So much better then that Oranati name"-gma

I have to say she keeps me entertained.

Resolution

Resolutions are a funny thing because I feel like if its something we wanted or were able to do we would be doing it already. When January 1st comes not much changes except for the year number. We dont magically have more time, more money or change who we are. I think often times we say we are going to make these extreme changes which ultimately sets us up to fail.

We should always be trying to better ourselves and making positive adjustments in our life year round. I don't make new years resolutions anymore because I know I ultimately will feel bad about myself because there will come a time when I break it. Instead this year I decided that I am going to continue on the path that I am on and work at finding the balance and try to do the right thing. Focus on the relationships that matter and let the ones go that dont, eat healthy and enjoy some greasy stuff once in awhile, go to yoga a few days a week and skip it if I want to sit on the couch and catch up on greys anatomy and glee, save money but splurge once in awhile on things that make me happy. You get the idea..

It's obviously important to have goals in life.. just make them doable and don't be hard on yourself if things don't always happen the way you planned. Strive for balance this year..it's the best gift we can give ourselves.

Journey

I was in yoga class the other day and the teacher read a passage out of a book that stuck with me. It basically talked about the fact that many of us have an idea in our head that when we reach a certain goal or milestone in life we will be happier. For example, "when I pay off all my debt I'll be happy," "when I graduate from school," "when I'm engaged" etc.. we look to some future event in which we think life will be so much better. In doing that we miss out on today. All of us are on some sort of up hill climb. While on this climb instead of looking at how far we have to go we should look back once in awhile and be aware of how far we've come. Whether we realize it or not we have all come a long way and we should be proud of our growth, what we have accomplished and be thankful for the journey.

Turkey Day Tips

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. No pressure of finding the right gift and the theme of the day is eat, drink and be lazy with people you love. Who couldn't get behind a holiday like that? I've learned a few things over the years that will help create an ideal thanksgiving holiday. A bunch of no brainers but a friendly reminder never hurt anyone..

wear comfy clothes. you can be a fashionista 364 days a year but thanksgiving is a day where comfort should take priority. loose and baggy people. no matter how good and fit you feel in the morning, if you do thanksgiving right by 6pm you will feel like a sloth. a food coma in skinny jeans is not a good feeling.

just accept the fact that football is going to be on tv. there is nothing you can do about it. no one wants to watch the parade or the lady gaga thanksgiving special :(

families..we love each other to death but we bicker..its all in good fun, really..if you want to keep it at a friendly level do not bring up politics or religon.

cocktail, water, cocktail, water, cocktail, water..h2O breaks help with digestion and mental capacity. :)

Thanksgiving is like a marathon. If you sprint hard out of the gate you'll never make it to the finish line. Pace yourself. If you fill up on appetizers you will miss out on a lot of yummy food.

make sure you get your hands on some left overs. Seriously, there is nothing better because no one feels like cooking the day after thanksgiving.

Enjoy the day! If your lucky you have the day off and people to share it with. Remember to be thankful for not only the blessings in your life but the misfortunes as well. They make us strong, shape us into the people we are and remind us of what is most important in life.

Gobble til you wobble!