Thursday, December 24, 2009

Thursday, December 10, 2009

It's been much too long since I've updated again. The pregnancy thing really has thrown me for a loop. I've been really lazy on the internets. I do have a couple pics for everyone. We had our ultrasound the day after our anniversary and found out that we're having a little girl. We're excited. I was 90% positive that I was having a boy, but two ultrasounds in a row proved me wrong. Pregnancy has been going smoothly nothing out of the ordinary (knocks on wood). The baby is growing right on schedule, she's about 2 lbs 5 oz est. I don't have a cute belly yet, but it's getting there. I hope it pops out big soon so I can enjoy some cute belly comments and take some pictures to show her someday.

I think I've settled on the name Ruby Victoria Jones for now (I wanted Ruby Tuesday, but Josh vetoed it saying it was too hippy LOL). We'll see how it goes, but I feel settled about it now. Victoria is after my great grandmother and Ruby is just what I liked.

Anyhow enough with the baby talk. Halloween and Thanksgiving have come and gone since the last post. We gave out candy to trick or treaters with my Dad while my Mom and Sister went to my cousin Mark's wedding in Buffalo. I carved a cute pumpkin cat for the front porch and Tobi barked at all the kids LOL. Thanksgiving snuck up on me because we had just gotten back from Pennsylvania for Josh's mom's retirement party. While we were up there I had my first baby shower. It was wonderful. We got to see the whole family, Sue had a wonderful retirement party and the baby was blessed with many people loving her before she even gets here. Anyhow we drove home on the Monday before Thanksgiving and got back to work. I made 3 pies for Thanksgiving with my parents and Liz. I did Pumpkin, Dutch Apple and Banana Chocolate Chip Cream Pie. They were yummy as well as the the sweet potato dish I made from Josh's Mom's recipe. Yum-oh! It was a fun day, then Josh and I were back to work. That's what we've been doing a lot of working. Trying to pay down the bills before the baby gets here and save up a little for when I won't be able to work.

Let's see onto present day. It's a winter wonderland outside. We got blasted with some frigid temperatures and 1-2 inches of snow over the past couple of days. It's sparkly and bright out, but very windy with a wind chill making it feel 10 below 0. It's started to make me feel a little more Christmasy. I've got a little more shopping to do and some more decorating, but I've started getting my Christmas Cards organized and I'm looking to get addresses from LJ if any of you would like to get a card. Please let me know, I love to send Christmas Cheer to as many states as I can.

I hope to update again soon! Hugs!!

Friday, September 11, 2009

Well, hello... it's been over 6 months since I updated. Yeah for being unmotivated and busy. I have had a lot going on in the past couple of months.

Here's a rundown:
• We've been to 2 conventions (Anime Central), 1 wedding (Congrats Josh & Robin), 1 vacation (Yeah for Pittsburgh), 2 baseball games (Go Tincaps), 3 festivals (Cherry Blossom, Three Rivers & ACD) and several BBQ's.
• We've seen almost all of the Summer Movies we were highly anticipating, some were AWESOME (Star Trek, The Hangover, Ponyo), some were Good (GI JOE, Transformers 2, Night at the Museum 2) and some were sucky (X-Men Origins is the biggest suck I can think of).
• I turned 26 and can no longer say that I'm in my early 20's.
• We gave up one of our cats (Kyo, went to a new home where he can be an only cat).
• Josh got put back into the Nursery Specialist position at Lowes and has been kicking a** at it. I'm still at the same job and still enjoying it being 1 of 2 designers at a company that's doing well.
• We painted the Living Room a lovely dark shade of Green and got new furniture in the Living Room and have hung some more pictures up. We've got plans for some of the other rooms as well.
• On to family news. My little sister turned 21 and now knows where ALL the bars in town are. My brother been having a rough time with the Navy. I won't go into details, but think or pray good thoughts for him, he could use them. We've had several fun outings with my parents since I last wrote as well. Josh's Mom has visited twice since I last wrote and we always have fun with Sue. We got to spend our vacation with Josh's family in Pittsburgh and had a blast. I FINALLY Went to Kennywood. We also got to see the Zoo again and just got to enjoy visiting with everyone. We missed seeing Chuck that visit and Mandy was unable to come, but we'll get to see Mandy lots in a couple of months. She's moving to Michigan with her job. We're so excited to see her again. We'll also see Chuck and Family in November at Sue's retirement party in Pittsburgh. That will probably be my last trip of the year for many reasons, but the biggest one is below.



That's right, on June 25th I discovered that I was pregnant. As soon as the test turned positive I rushed downstairs to show Josh. We were shocked, happy but shocked. I'm still not sure what I'm going to do about work and I'm still not sure we can afford it, but we are both very happy and looking forward to March 1st 2010! Both families are excited for the upcoming grandchild (the first on my side and 4th on Josh's).

Pregnancy has been nothing like I expected. The first couple of weeks were great with very little symptoms other than a little fatigue, then I hit my 8th week. That's when the all day nausea, vomiting and real fatigue started. Well not all day, mornings are good until about 10-11 am. That went on until this week (my 15th) where it's started to calm down a little. Evenings are still the worst, but they are getting better and I'm now keeping down all 3 of my meals instead of just 1 or 2, with some heartburn and indigestion. Josh seems to think that this means I'm having twins, I just think I got the short end of the symptom stick. I have a doctor's appointment on Monday where we'll be able to hear the heartbeat for the first time, that should be able to debunk Josh's twin theory. I may be getting an ultrasound this week as well, I'm not sure. If I do we will not be finding out the sex. We're going to keep it a surprise from everyone. I think it'll be more fun this way.

Yawn... well that's the big news. I'll be heading home in a couple of minutes and I'm ready for a nap. I'm going to try updating more this time. We'll see how it goes. Toodles!

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Well let's see it's been a long time since I've updated and I'll assure you that there have been no calamities to cause. Also, my daily reminder to updated has been annoying the heck out me trying to get me to update. Le Sigh...  I am here today and that is a start.

Well for starters I've been absolutely swamped at work, which is a good thing, but it's also let me sneak in some bad eating habits once again and it's not been helping my want to keep my journaling up. Between the endless stream of parts going through my office that need pictures taken like this one (A Solenoid Valve)

and the ongoing website improvements/tweaks and the normal flow of flyers/mailers/marketing materials needed. I barely get out of my office anymore which isn't good for my weight loss efforts. I am very grateful to be working a fun and sometimes challenging position within my field, but sometimes I miss the slower days here.

As far as weight loss goes, I've been stuck at 10 lbs lost. I was down to 12 and then gained it back. So I'm being really strict this week and really tracking what I eat as well as hoping to get a good couple of  workouts in. I really need it with my lack of activity lately... 

Not any progress on my behalf towards the con prep. I've just been lacking motivation to do much of anything as of late. Josh has finally gotten back on the art horse and seems to be enjoying it again so hopefully that will get me motivated again.

Speaking of Josh, he's been Mr. Work Related Accidents lately. He got hit on the head by a hammer that got left on top of a shelving unit and then later in the week got hit with a beam that fractured his collar bone. Nothing to serious thank goodness, but the workman's comp doctor must be sick of seeing him. I'm just glad he's ok.

Valentine's day came and went. Josh got me some gorgeous flowers. I loved the mixed bouquet and the wonderful note he wrote me.


He got some chocolate covered fortune cookies and some hand/computer made cards. That night, we got take out from our favorite Japanese restaurant and stayed in and watched a movie called Dedication. It was not what I expected in a good way. It was a quiet weekend, but we liked it.

Liz (my little sister) got her first apartment by herself. It's really cute and vintage in an older building downtown. I think she'll be happy there. She's inherited the futon and we've been helping her paint and move in. I hope she finds happier times there.

Speaking of siblings, Josh (my little brother) headed back out to sea on the his sub in the navy. I think this is going to a longer tour this time around. He's got less than 2 years left now. I can't wait for him to be out, I miss my quirky brother. He may enlist again or he may end up staying on the east coast, but either way I hope to see more of him. If anyone out on the East Coast is looking for a great sweet boyfriend, he's single by the way. He's such a great guy and will shower you with gifts and love, he just needs a girl who's willing to wait until he's done with the Navy (unlike his last girlfriend).

This past weekend I took Sunday off from the club and spent the whole weekend with Josh. It was nice and relaxing. We got to talk, go out to eat and just enjoy each other's company without the rush of me having to go to bed so early on Saturday night to open on Sunday. Josh kicked some butt on XBox Live and I got to read. It was just nice. We also talked paint colors for the downstairs and looked at rugs. As well as watching the Oscars and getting the back yard cleaned up a little.

We also went to eat and saw "He just not that into you" with Blosser and Robin. It was a fun movie with some really great lines. I enjoyed it a lot, Josh said it was OK. C'est la vie with Chick Flicks and Josh.



Last night went out to dinner with my parents and had a really good time seeing them. We live minutes from each other, but it had been almost two weeks since we'd seen them. We really need to plan more activities together.

Tonight I'm going out with the girls from work here for a little get together to celebrate this month's birthdays at Texas Roadhouse. Nothing fancy, but girls only so it should be fun! I hope to be back tomorrow to write about it. 

I guess that all for now, I've got to get back to my parts. <wink wink>   

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Since the last post...

Updates since last week. I'm still swamped at work with new projects since the new year. I've taken more part pictures recently then probably the whole first year I was here. I'd rather be busy than bored though. New mailers and promotional materials have been keeping on my toes as well as researching new web ideas for the company. 

On the weight loss front I'm down 3 more lbs this week. It was a better week than last week (a 0.4 lb gain). I'm starting to feel the difference now and am really happy with the progress I've made. Josh is doing well too. I'm not sure what his stats are at, but he's been losing or staying the same which is good.

Trying to get motivated to start working on the freelance for the conventions. It's been really slow going and hard to get started. I'm hoping to have new work to show for con season soon!

Taxes are done and next year I'll be doing them myself again.  The tax professional helped us get things straightened out for next year as well as not owe as much as I thought we did and get a small refund from the state. If I ever need help I have her card too. She looked over last year's taxes and couldn't find anything I was missing and gave us some suggestions for new deductions. All in all I'm glad they are done.

Tomorrow is Friday the 13th and a casual Friday. I'm psyched!  I'm also ready for the weekend and Valentines day. I want to go out to dinner with Josh and just have a relaxing evening with him. I'll have to figure out what kind of Valentine I'm making him. I'll think of something before Saturday.

Well I am continuing to try and post regularly. For inspiration I'm going to start taking the Writers Block questions from Live Journal and using those to help me get a post started each day from now on that way you'll have updates from me and hopefully it will spur me to continue writing about the what's been going on. So here's the question.

"If you could have any job in the world, what would it be?"

I think for me there are several jobs. These would only happen if I was independently wealthy already. ^_^

I'd love to own and run a restaurant or bakery. I'd love to cook every night and have other people really enjoy what I make. I'd love to make really cute cakes and cookies to sell at the holidays. It'd be creative and fun.

I'd love to run a comic book store/coffee house. This is one of Josh and my ideas for when we win the Power ball. We want to open a comics/geekery coffee house that caters to the nerd as well as selling said comics. Josh could do art lessons from it and I could make all sorts of cute cakes and fabulous coffee concoctions. I think it'd be fun a relaxing.

I'd love to get our comic off the ground and be a full time comic creator. I already have a blast creating new stories and plot lines. I'd love to be a guest at one of the conventions we go to and have my work inspire others. That really be a dream job.

I'd love to run a theater troupe. Josh would probably disown me for this, but I would love to mentor/direct a high school or college drama group. To give back what I got out of high school and to make it a better place for kids like me. I'd even be happy with a community theater group. It'd be so much fun. I used to love to be involved in the theater in High School and it would be so much fun to do so again.

I'd love to be a writer for the newspaper. I'd love to write book reviews, movie reviews, restaurant reviews, editorials, actual news. It'd be really fun. Something new all the time think about and be opinionated on.

I'd love to be a stay at home mom. I'd love to be able to focus on just raising my kids. To be there when they need me and to give them every opportunity I can. I hope that I can turn this job into a reality someday.

~Emily~

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

January Overview

Well Hello Blog. It's Emily Here.

Remember that post back in January where I said I was going to work on keeping everyone more updated on my life. Well I FAIL! LOL.

I've been busy. So busy, my Christmas Decoration are still up. So busy that I've yet to get started on most of my resolutions. Here are the Good, Bad & Ugly of January.

The Good:
• Lost 9 lbs so far since the start of the year. It's slow going, but it's going.
• Got a RAISE at work
• The Blog Got a New Customized Look
• Josh got a Bonus
• Sticking to our budget pretty well, cut up some Credit Cards and it felt good!
• Got a New DDR game and have been busy unlocking all the songs (my christmas present from Josh)
• Been eating better, getting more veggies in that I thought I could
• Got the Electrical Fixed at our house Courtesy of Josh's Uncle Jackie (Thanks So MUCH) as well as visiting with him and Josh's Mom
• Started walking the dog a little further each day (For both our health)
• Am Registered & Paid in Full for two Conventions & AA's (Tekkoshocon & Anime Central)
• Became a staff artist for our local convention (Hopefully we won't have to pay anything for this con)
• Started reading Osamu Tezuka's Buddha series (highly recommended for a deep and intriguing look at human nature)
• Big Bang Theory has been AWESOME!
• G.S.R (Grissom Sarah Romance) for the win on CSI Vegas!!!
• STEELER'S WIN!!

The Bad:
• Grissom left CSI, but see good point above.
• Tobi is still a pain to walk, we're thinking about a new collar to see if that helps, if not he's going to obedience school
• Got the window in the neon repaired by Steve, but we can no longer roll the window down (well that's not so bad)
• Realized exactly how out of shape I am now.. (this can go towards the good column though as it's a motivator)
• Not getting the Jones Family Weight Loss off the ground yet
• Getting really busy at work all of sudden (A good and a bad thing)
• Still working 6 days a week doesn't leave time for much else
• Played too much WOW and watched too much TV that wasn't worth watching. Didn't get any projects done for the AA's.
• Didn't get as much reading done as I would have liked

The UGLY:
• Taxes Taxes Taxes... Uggg... We're seeing a professional this year
• World Market is Closing here in Fort Wayne... I love that store!!!
• Been fighting an icky cold for like a week and half
• My Skin! Between the acne, the dryness and the cracking skin, winter does a job on my skin and I see no relief in sight!
• Not starting a strength training program and not doing more cardio, I really need to.
• Not getting my blog or journal going like I wanted to

What I'm going to work on this month is Stricter Dieting, MORE EXERCISE, MORE Creative Works, MORE Journaling, MORE Reading & Researching, LESS time wasted and CONTINUED & BETTER Budgeting!

Lofty goals I know, but I'm really trying to feel more satisfied in all aspects of our lives. ! I am determined to get what I want! 

I've set reminders in my calendar to update, so hopefully that helps. And now I'm off... See you tomorrow!

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Our First Blog Post!

Well, now that the craziness, that is the holidays, is over and done with it is time to get started on some resolutions of mine. One of them is to blog or journal this year to better track what goes on in our lives. I want to post about funny things we do, major events this year and just general life. I think this will help in my effort to be more organized and scheduled. 

Well let's start with the Holidays. We spent Christmas with Josh's family out in Pennsylvania. We left the icy winter wonderland of Indiana to come to Pittsburgh only to find it to be snowless. Go figure, we never get more snow than PA and the one year we want some for Christmas, PA doesn't get it. We got to spend the holiday with Josh's mom, two sisters Jen & Mandy, Jen's kids Landon & Ben, Aunt Margie, Uncle Dave and Uncle Jack Rohm and family. It's always so relaxing to visit Josh's mom's house. It's like the minute you walk in you feel at home and your worries fly out the window. We were able to go shopping, bake tons of goodies and make some interesting sugar cookies. It was really magical to spend the holiday with the boys. Children really make Christmas special. Well halfway through Christmas Day we were on our way back to Indiana to work (yuck) the 26th. One of these days we'll have enough seniority and time off to take longer trips, I swear! Anyhow, onto the week of the New Year.

My younger brother Josh came home on leave from the Navy that Sunday following Christmas which is when my family had our gift exchange and celebrated. It was great to see my brother and to hear some of this stories from the Navy. I only wish we could have spent more time with him. We ended up sitting around watching movies and playing board games after work each day. (By the way I beat my Dad and brother so badly that they gave up 1/2 way through the game!) We also ended up going out to eat at quite a bit and saw Bedtime Stories (Highly Recommended). We spent New Year's Eve with my brother (his birthday) and my family, counted down until the ball dropped, got my New Year's Kiss from my husband and then headed home to bed since Josh had to open the next morning. My brother headed back to Connecticut Sunday the 4th and we miss him already! 

The last week has been spent playing catch up after the holidays. There was so much laundry to do, mail to sort, bills to pay, dishes to wash, etc. We've started working on our New Year's Resolutions. We have a new bill/savings calendar, we have a new outlook on eating healthy, we have made plans to be more active and we have plans for our Art Studio as well. I'll post my check list later. 

Tuesday the 6th my Mom and I made the commitment and went back to Weight Watchers. I weighed in at one of my highest weights ever and we have vowed to stay until we reach goal this time. We've been successful with the program before and that's why we decided to go back. I do my first official weigh in tonight, by my scale I've dropped at least 8 lbs this week. Speaking of weight loss, I have been setting up a Sparkpeople Team for The Jones/Rohm Family to help us all get a little healthier. I'm getting the rules set up now and I think we'll do our first weigh in sometime this week. I hope so anyways. Josh has also been going strong with his cutting back commitment. He's dropped 10 lbs. We hope to keep going strong.

Artwise we have definite plans to go to 4 conventions/art shows and a 5th is in the works. We'll be heading to Pittsburgh in April over my birthday, Chicago in May, Baltimore in July and Detroit in October. We've got tons of new ideas to work on for this season. The 5th show could be here in Fort Wayne, in Indianapolis or elsewhere. We're looking at August & September for the 5th show. We usually avoid shows after October to leave time off for the holidays.

We'll also be heading back to Pittsburgh for the Jones/Rohm family vacation this June, which promises to be great fun for all. We're going to be doing touristy things around town (museums, zoos, Kennywood FINALLY, shopping, etc). It's shaping up to be a great time for all. Hopefully we'll all be svelt by then so we'll all make heads turn walking around as a group . Also in June we will be attending the Blosser/Hildebrandt wedding! Again looking to be in better shape by June. I want to fit a dress I wore 5 years ago to another wedding.

Let's see what else.... I'm working on my portfolio website to see if I can fish up any freelance work. Also working on a website for our Art Studio, my parent's health club and a custom layout for this blog. I've got a generic blog layout up for now until I get the new page finished. I've also got some pictures to show off from Christmas as soon as I get them off my camera. I also have started to schedule creative time, so that I can get moving on New Projects in an effort to get more done this year. I'm really sick of watching time fly by and not accomplishing what I want to do. This is something that Josh and I are really going to try to be better about this year. Wish us luck. 

I think this is where I'll leave this post for now. I should have some pictures for you soon as well as some updates. Thanks for Reading!