Goodnight weekend

making homemade tabouli, originally uploaded by daniellehampton.
Well, I am about to say goodnight to another great weekend that I really don't want to end...but I guess in order to appreciate them so much work is necessary. This photo I added is of the tabouli I made for Hank and me today, it was truly delicious and already almost devoured. Approved by both Hank and Dustin, so you know it's good!

I already blogged earlier today, and I was just heading out to see "The Time Traveler's Wife" with my mother-in-law and Brooke. I had high expectations for the film, but I wish I wouldn't have, because there is no way the film could have ever lived up to the book. The film was definitely entertaining, but because it left out so much of the book, I felt the characters weren't developed enough and their relationship didn't have the same depth that made the novel so agonizingly upsetting. I still recommend that you see the movie, but take it for what it is; a watered down version of an amazing book. I do love Rachel McAdams though, in any role she plays, so that helped a lot. She is a true beauty. I do have to make note though, of the crazy environment inside the theater. I met Hank's mom and sister there, and they had already gotten seats by the time I arrived. When I walked into the theater I knew it probably wasn't going to be the best experience because it was filled to the brim with senior citizens. Now don't get me wrong, I love old people. I'm not one of those people who really get annoyed by them...I usually find them endearing and adorable. But going to a movie at noon on a Sunday basically means you can count on a theater of them. I sat down and pretty soon after that the previews began, and I started to hear a "whoosh, whoosh" sound every five seconds or so. It took me a moment to figure it out, but the guy in front of us was on an oxygen tank and the "whooshing" sound was the sound of oxygen getting sucked into his nose via the tube. The sound started to drive me crazy because it was like clockwork obviously, every breath he took there was a "whoosh, whoosh," and I was fixated on that...I couldn't focus on anything else. I decided I was going to move and sit on the other side of Hank's mom, so I did...only to still hear the oxygen tank. Soon that sound was accompanied by a very loud buzzing sound coming from the woman next to me. For about 20 minutes I thought it was her phone constantly vibrating but then I looked over and noticed she had a semi-large hand held fan! Yes, this lady was cooling her and her daughter off while they watched the movie...and it was the most annoying thing I've ever heard. I am definitely not a complainer, and I always try to make the best of situations...but this was way too much. Oxygen tank man on one side, hand held fan lady on the other, and all I wanted to do was watch this movie I'd been anticipating for months. I feel like maybe I didn't love the film because I was in theater hell, so I feel like I may try to see it again soon.

ANYWAY, after the movie I went food shopping at New Frontiers, picked up some things for the week and came home and started cooking food for my lunches this week. Afterward Hank had Matt and Dustin over for sports and hangouts, and I did some housecleaning. Now I'm relaxing, about to go to bed and not super stoked on work tomorrow. I keep thinking about the 3 day weekend coming up next weekend and that's helping me stay positive. And Emily and I are currently planning my NY trip in October (I'll know more later this week) and I am so stoked. While she is at work during the week I am going to try and take the train for a day train into NJ to visit some of my childhood friends which I am super pumped about too. I've kept in touch with so many of them, and it's going to be so fun to see them.

Alright, enough blogging for tonight. Goodnight everyone.
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antioxidant breakfast! yum!

Good morning! I had planned on sleeping in late but my body didn't like that idea so I've been up for a long time, already worked out, and I'll be heading back out to the movie theater to see "The Time Traveler's Wife" in a minute. I posted about it before, but I love love loved the book so I am hoping the movie lives up to it.

Happy Sunday everyone!

oh, and that photo is one of my favorite breakfasts - Ezekial cinnamon raisin toast with Trader Joe's almond butter and Trader Joe's organic fruit spread (this is a mix of the rasberry and superfruit flavors), and blueberries! YUM.
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if I was a ZOMBIE

if I was a ZOMBIE, originally uploaded by daniellehampton.
Hank said, "so this is what you do with your free time?" Haha. I guess. I was bored today and editing some band photos so I made this little gem. It's me, supposedly looking like a zombie. And I promise I won't post another one of these stupid photos from this point on. ;)

Today was a fun day though. Hank's mom and sister picked us up bright and early and we did estate sales all morning. I'm so weird and I can't stand touching strange, dirty things (I have even grown to really, really dislike thrift stores) so it's hard for me when the some of the houses just put weird junk out. Hank found a cute table though, Hank's mom got this cool 1950s chair, and Brooke got this Marilyn Monroe thing she loved. Oh, and Hank also got some Ping golf clubs for $1. One of the drivers alone is worth $200 plus so all in all it was a success and fun to just hang out anyway. We did Hugo's for lunch, then I came home and watched "Hard Candy," a totally weird and disturbing movie starring Ellen Page, who I thought did an excellent job with her role. After relaxing all day I went to the gym for cardio and legs. When I got home we went and saw District 9 and I actually liked it, despite hearing many bad reviews. Call me crazy, but I could totally see something like that happening, especially with America's mentality about keeping anything alien or foreign out. Very interesting social/political commentary lurking between the lines. There was also a love story buried in there too which surfaced from time to time. If you like alien movies like me, then you'll like this film.

So tomorrow I will be sleeping in late and loving every second of it. At noon I'm going to see "The Time Traveler's Wife," which I am so, so excited about! Hank is spending the day golfing and then I'll be making dinner and doing some baking. Sunday is probably my most favorite day of the week and I think tomorrow will be exceptionally great! Next weekend is a three day weekend too, so knowing that makes this weekend that much sweeter and the work week less ominous.

I hope all of you have had a restful and fun weekend so far!
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Tonight

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Happy Friday!

Happy Friday!, originally uploaded by daniellehampton.
I haven't blogged in a couple of days, so before I head out for the evening I thought I'd do a little update. I'll warn you in advance though, nothing special happened this week so this entry will more than likely be boring! But still, this week has been a good one, although very exhausting. Wednesday night we had a little dinner party at La Bruzza's for Hank's step dad's birthday, It was really, really delicious and I enjoyed every bite of my lemon caper pasta. Yesterday I had a million and one things to grade and get done by today, so I stayed home and got everything done. When Hank got home from practice we worked out and I went to sleep way too late. And today...today was an excellent day at work, my kiddos were all so sweet and the day flew by. Now I'm just relaxing, contemplating going to eat some Thaifoon for dinner or just making a veggie burger and calling it good. Hour of the Wolf has a show tonight, so I'll be down the street at the skate shop for awhile too.

This week has gotten me very, very excited for Fall, because it's been in the 60s at night so I feel like my favorite season is getting closer! I always feel so ALIVE during this time. Autumn is my most favorite time of the year- the clothes, the beautiful scenery, Halloween and Thanksgiving...I love it all. I feel very fortunate that I live in such a wonderful seasonal place and I get to experience all of the leaves changing, holiday fun, etc. Gosh I can't even express how excited I am! I am also hopefully going to be in NYC this fall and strolling around Central Park with all the orange and brown and gold just makes me beyond excited.

And speaking of Autumn, of my best friend Autumn, she'll be in Phoenix in a couple of weeks...house hunting! I couldn't be more excited that the Loops are moving back to Arizona. Hank and I have made it out there quite a bit, and they've come out to Prescott too, but Long Beach to AZ is too far. North Scottsdale is a lot better. So I took off that Friday so we can have a great pool day at the JW Marriott and then I'll be searching for houses with them all weekend. I'm so excited!

So, that's it for now. I'll probably take the D60 with me to the show tonight and snap some photos. It will be an early night, because I'm going estate-saling with my mother and sister-in-law early in the morning. Then it's date night, and we will hopefully be seeing District 9. Stoked. Happy Friday everyone!
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VAMPIRE ME!

VAMPIRE me! hahah, originally uploaded by daniellehampton.
Hey, look what I made. I think I've been watching too much True Blood.
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Can't wait...

my heart!, originally uploaded by daniellehampton.
to see my friend Emily soon, hopefully in the next two months. This picture makes me so happy so I wanted to post it. <333

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Cheers,

Here's to all the wonderful people in my life -

some of you I've known for a long time, and we may not talk often,
some of you I've only met in the past couple of years,
some of you are in my daily life,

but all of you hold a special place in my heart. Cliche or not, it's true. Life happens, people drift apart and come back together. I firmly believe that everyone in my life is there for a reason, and everyone who has gone out of my life has gone that way for a reason too. I don't ever have hard feelings over stuff like that, maybe that's weird. Two of my dearest girlfriends and I spent years apart from each other, due to various reasons, a small fallout with one of them, but we've "rekindled" our friendship flames with each other over the past year or two. I've spent time across the country, visiting one of them, and the other I see on a pretty regular basis in both Prescott and Phoenix; she makes the most amazing effort to come visit Hank and me. People come and people go. If I would have just closed the door on those seemingly "lost" friendships, I wouldn't have the opportunity to have my life enriched so deeply by these amazing women. In both situations both myself and my friend could be held accountable for the drifting. But even if I love a friend so much, if I'm the only one making the effort I don't take it personally, because I've been there too. People are busy, people's priorities change, people go through things, and I'm not so self-centered as to think anyone in my life revolves around ME (besides my husband of course, haha!). I do understand though, that as adults, friendships take work. But with that said, I feel like friendships shouldn't be terribly hard- I feel like if people want to keep in touch, they will. It shouldn't be a chore, or a struggle. And when it becomes that, on either side, I feel like that's just the way it goes. If someone drifts from me, or me from them, I feel like that's life and I don't get upset about it, I simply accept it, and have faith that if someone is supposed to be in my life it will be that way, and if not, it won't. I have many friends in my life who I don't get to talk to regularly but it feels as if nothing ever changes- no resentment, no negativity. As adults, it's not realistic to expect others to have time to sit down and chat for hours, or sometimes even minutes. Luckily one of my best friends, Autumn, and I make time throughout the week for good solid hour-long chats. But that's us, and the only one of my friends I do this with, outside of my Mom. She's a stay at home Mama herself, so our schedules are able to work well together and throughout our long friendship we've always made the time. Another one of my oldest friends, Melissa, is a server at a super busy bar in Phoenix, and her schedule is opposite of mine, so we usually have to schedule phone calls in advance on her one day off if we want to talk at all. Amber and I talk every single day, all day, via blackberry messenger, and although we don't usually talk on the phone all of the time, we always know what the other is up to. It's not perfect, but we make it work. And I know when I do talk to any of the people I am closest to, it's as if no time has passed, and I know we'd be there for each other through anything. And to me, that is being an adult. We have husbands or boyfriends, children and pets, careers and college, meals to make, working out to do, reading, sleeping, me-time, date nights, LIFE. The older I get, and the more I look back at my life, I know that in my past I have been both inconsiderate and flaky. And very much so, to the point of losing friends. In fact, a majority of my late teens and into college was spent being a great friend to my friends immediately around me, but having issues keeping in touch with other friends who weren't in my day to day life. It's just what I was like. I accept it now, it doesn't bother me, and the friends who I've been close with through that entire time are still here, over a decade later. Luckily, now, it's gotten a bit easier to make the effort- it's fun to mail letters, email, call, etc, and stay in touch with the people I care about. I'm definitely not great at it, and if I get even a little bit sad, I will retract into myself for awhile. And I love that the few girls I am close with understand this about me and can accept that. As far as others go, I never expect anything. I'll call or write a few times, and if I don't hear back, no big deal. The small group of friends I've cultivated get unconditional love from me, no matter what. It's comforting to know we do the best we can, and there's no games and shittiness and resentment. I'm not really sure where this post came from, but for some reason I've really been feeling very appreciative of life lately and reflecting on all of the people in it, now and then, near and far. I started thinking about all of these different friends and just started typing, not knowing where this was going...and this is what came out. I have to say, one advantage to blogging is being able to just empty out my entire head onto this computer screen and having the satisfaction of having it here to look back on. I love it. At the same time though, it is kind of unnerving to know every word I say is being perceived in different ways by different people. Oh, how I wish I could see myself from a different perspective. Wouldn't that be a gift?

So, do you have friends who live far away? How often do you talk to them? Have you ever "lost" a friend and then rekindled that friendship?

Happy Tuesday :).Source URL: http://sweettattooforgirls.blogspot.com/2009/08/
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my night, Sunday edition

my night, Sunday edition, originally uploaded by daniellehampton.
...and now it is Monday. Yesterday was a perfect Sunday spent with my family. Every time I leave Mesa and my parents' home I get oddly depressed. Hank and I go there so often and we always have the best time just spending quality time with my parents and sister. It was hard to leave and even harder to go to bed last night, because it was such a perfect weekend...I didn't want it to end! But, today was a good day, although Hank and I stayed up way, way too late last night being silly and I got less than 5 hours of sleep, yuck. Fortunately my kids were having a creative writing day so they were occupied with their notebooks and I could get more grading done and have a great "tired" kind of day. When my sweetheart got home from work we headed out to dinner and had the biggest sushi meal in the world, and I now feel like I want to die from an overload of food. It was so delicious though- I had a new roll with mango and avocado, and Siracha in it- very tasty. After dinner we came home and I've been doing a whole lot of nothing, and Hank's practicing with HOTW and Hot Skin (he's now playing bass for them). I am already counting down for next weekend. Nothing too special is going on but I'm looking forward to lazy mornings in bed, afternoon strolls, and reorganizing a few things around the house.

Blah blah blah I feel like I always blog about the same stuff (haha actually I DO) so thanks to those who find it interesting and read! It's very curious to me to watch my followers grow from the 12 people I know in real life to the 93 I have now. It makes me feel happy to know someone out there is reading my silly ramblings. My hits range from 150 unique visitors to 400 on other days. One insane day I had almost 750 but that was just because some of my Flickr photos were reposted in a well-read blog. That is insane to me. I would love to know more about my readers who don't follow or comment. Who are you? Where do you live? How did you find my blog?

I hope all of you have a fantastic week! xo
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Wow...

I just finished reading The Time Traveler's Wife and without giving anything away to future readers, I have to say that it was one of the best books I have read in a long, long time...and definitely tops my list of all-time favorites. I feel so sick and heavy-hearted though, and I often get this feeling after I read books like this, or books like The Notebook, or watch movies like The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. It's weird- these types of stories make me feel so grateful I have Hank, I somehow found my soulmate, and I am able to walk every step of life with him. But at the same time it makes my stomach turn and makes me feel indescribably sad because stories like this remind me that nothing lasts forever. My love can be taken from me at any time and this is terrifying, and a thought I try to never ever think about. The book was written beautifully- I have never read anything from this author before and her sense of character is brilliant, I loved the way she would weave such a scene with words and I really felt as if I was right there. A few instances stood out in my mind- describing Henry's father's hands as napping cats- when you read this part you will know what I mean- the description of this musician's hands is so perfect and the words were pure poetry. The description of Clare's mother towards the end of the book, the dialogue. The telling of the end of the book, the letter, the entire way it was set up. Wonderful. My copy definitely has teardrop marks throughout it, and I will never forget how this book made me feel. All I want is for my own Henry to be home NOW so I can hug him and kiss him and try to forget just how MORTAL we are, tell him how scared that makes me feel, and he can hold me and tell me it's okay. Certain books and movies affect me on such a deep level and this novel was no different, each of her 536 pages are masterfully crafted. I laughed many times at the author's lively little snapshots of life, the comings and goings of the characters and I smiled and smiled at many pages. At the same time I cried because she made the story come truly alive. I was Clare. My Henry was Henry. I felt the emotions. I don't know if it's just because I am a crazy English teacher and let words profoundly affect me when they're assembled just so, but this book was one of the most touching books I've ever encountered. And I know it may not be for everyone, but I wholeheartedly suggest you read it. <3Source URL: http://sweettattooforgirls.blogspot.com/2009/08/
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my night

my night, originally uploaded by daniellehampton.
backwards, thanks photobooth ;)
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Ah, relaxing day!

Happy Saturday to everyone. I am spending the night at my parents' but NOT going out with my sister (which always leads to a late, late night and way too much fun!). So I'm up in my old bedroom, about to either continue reading "The Time Traveler's Wife," or beginning to watch Coraline for the first time. It's 8:25pm on a Saturday and I'm already in my pajamas, awesome! Today was a good day- I slept in nice and late and had a wonderful workout when I woke up. Then I went shopping for awhile and came home to my Mom's delicious home cooking. She is such a good vegan cook and always concocts something awesome for us when we stay with them. After dinner we all went on a little family ice cream run (well my Dad and Hank did!). So fun. This weekend is a weekend for family, so its nice to just stay in and disconnect. Tomorrow morning we'll do an early workout and then we'll all go to breakfast and do the usual Sunday shopping- Trader Joe's, Sprouts, and Whole Foods.

I hope all of you have a fantastic night!

YUM! Quinoa stuffed peppers.



Thanks Mom!




And here's me and the little girl!


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Product Rave

Alright, so I have to make a short post about one of my all-time favorite beauty products...Rene Futerer dry shampoo. Both my sister Lauren and Amber Joy have recommended this to me, and after putting it off for awhile, I finally bought it a few weeks ago. Because I don't like to wash my hair more than 2-3 times a week and I work out daily AND have bangs, I needed to find something that would allow me to rewear my unwashed hair without it looking dirty. My overall hair doesn't really get greasy, but my bangs definitely get piecey and a little greasy after a couple of days. So, enter this fabulous product. Not only does it fix my hair and bring it back to a "clean" state, it makes my bangs look even better. The best part about this product is that is does not flake at all, and doesn't make my dark hair look light.




click to view product at Sephora.com

To apply it, be sure to shake it (solids settle to the bottom and need to be moved around) and simply hold it about 12 inches from your hair and spray it wherever you'd like. Let it sit and dry for about 2 minutes, pat dry with a towel, and comb through. Quick and easy.

I definitely recommend this product to anyone and everyone. I love that I can finally, happily wash my hair just two or three times a week and it still looks amazing. By not washing my hair my color lasts a lot longer and my hair is a lot healthier. Furthermore, my bangs looks awesome everyday without having to do the whole "wash in the sink" deal which can get annoying. The only "con" I have noticed is the weird smell when you first spray it, but I think that comes from the mix of essential oils used in the product (peppermint, caraway, and basil). Hank has also assured me that the smell goes away after it dries in my hair.

For some it may be a little pricey at $24, but I feel it's totally worth it. I've used it about 4x a week for 3 weeks and the can shows no signs of running out of product anytime soon.

If you decide to buy it, let me know what you think!Source URL: http://sweettattooforgirls.blogspot.com/2009/08/
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TGIF!

Day 10, originally uploaded by daniellehampton.

Today was a great Friday, although the air conditioning is still broken at work, so my classroom was a little slice of hell. Horrible. So it's safe to say I am super stoked about being off for the weekend. Work was good though- a few really funny things happened, although I am hesitant to write about them because I feel like that could be really breaching some sort of "talking about work/students online" type of rule I don't want to get into! I made a facebook update earlier today about one of the funny things but that is private and between a controlled group of people. This is so public that I hesitate to write anything like that here. So I won't. Just know it was a really entertaining day!

So, happy weekend! Very excited to relax with Hank the entire time. Right now he's at the salon, working on some stuff for a couple of hours, so when he gets home our weekend "officially" begins. I should be at the gym right now but I am just way too tired to go right now. Plus this bed is too comfy to leave....one more hour of relaxing before I get up and go running.

I hope all of you have an amazing weekend!
So much love :)Source URL: http://sweettattooforgirls.blogspot.com/2009/08/
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Weekend oh weekend...

It is almost here. This week has been an awesome, awesome week at work, in terms of teaching. I LOVE LOVE LOVE what I do! It's so fun. It can get tedious at times because I have to repeat the same thing four times in the day to my 10th graders, but it stays interesting because each class is pretty different. It helps that I like what I teach and I love the age I teach. Plus, my seniors this year are the best group and I know it's going to be a great year. Right now my sophomores are working on Native American literature- we're reading various myths and they'll be writing their own origin ("how something came to be") myth next week. My seniors are currently working on a propaganda in the media unit which is really interesting, especially in light of the past couple of years in politics. So, overall good times.

Outside of work life is just peachy. I've been a busy lady recently because I've been preparing for this year teaching and also working out a ton and spending time with Hank the past couple of days. I am ecstatic that he is home of course. I know Madeline is so glad her Dad is home because whenever he's gone for awhile she gets just a little depressed. Now she has someone to walk her during the day and play with her while I'm at work! Speaking of walking her, when I was at Em's in NY in July, Salsa had the best little harness, by a company called Puppia. Do any of you have any experience with their harnesses? I am thinking I am going to switch over and get her one of these, it looked very comfy for a pup and its cute too.

So tomorrow is Friday! I am so excited. Hank and I have a really fun weekend planned, a couple of movies to check off our "must watch" list, and I have couple of books I am intent on finishing.

Here are my work outfits from the last three days :).

Wednesday - this outfit was NOT a good choice. The AC at school went out, and my classroom was sweltering. I had on way too many layers and I wanted to die. Luckily both my tank and dress were sleeveless but it was still bad.


Thursday- I ended up wearing light colored tights under this, it was a tad too short. And if you're curious, I gauge my length based on the school dress code just to be safe!


Today- I just realized I never include my shoes in my outfit photos because I'm usually barefoot until the last second. I'll try to remember to include them. And I spy a little Madeline!
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my hubby Hank started a blog

It's on Posterous, which is a blogging platform he prefers, but you can always add it to your Google Reader or bookmark it...and be sure to leave a comment and say hi to him! :) Awesome.

Check it out -

hch3.posterous.comSource URL: http://sweettattooforgirls.blogspot.com/2009/08/
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Goodnight busiest day

Well, it's 11:46 and I NEED to go to bed soon but I am trying to blog almost every night so I figured I would type up a quick one. Today was a good day, turned even better when I saw Hank after work! He got home around 8:30am so it was really hard to make it through my day knowing that he was waiting for me! I made it though, and got home to my sweet, darling love. Gosh I am so happy he is home. We went and got dinner at Hugo's then came home and took a wonderful afternoon nap until I had to get up and go back to work for "Meet the Teacher Night" and he had to head over to the skate shop to set up for the show tonight. I can't stress enough how awesome the new venue is. It's one of my favorite places for shows and I am ecstatic we have it now. Hopefully a lot more touring bands will come through town now that we have a solid all-ages spot. But anyway, tonight at work was awesome. I got to meet so many parents and I got the best feedback. It really reaffirmed why I do what I do. A couple of parents even said they've noticed their child reading for fun, for the very first time, since being in my class (and it's only been a week). I am just so happy and it was really special to hear so many great things and that the kids are enjoying English. After the work I headed over to the Hour of the Wolf show and got to see Adie, who's in town from LA for the evening. I love her and I loved that I got to see her. After the show Robyn and I went to the gym for some late night cardio and now I'm here, about to go hop into bed with my hubby. Tomorrow is our weekly short day and Hank has a show in Phoenix. I was going to try and head down with them but I just have too much to do, and it's a later show, so no Phoenix for me unless I change my mind last minute. I am already counting down to the weekend and looking forward to getting some sleep. I've been pretty bad this week with going to bed early and tomorrow my goal is to be in bed by 9pm. We'll see if I can accomplish that! As for now, it's past midnight (yikes), so I am off to sleep. Goodnight all. :)Source URL: http://sweettattooforgirls.blogspot.com/2009/08/
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post-gym

post late-night gym, originally uploaded by daniellehampton.
Don't you LOVE when you really, really don't want to go to the gym but then make yourself go? It's the BEST feeling afterward. I didn't feel like going at all tonight but I forced myself to do my workout rather than push it to tomorrow, and I am really proud of myself. I workout about 6 days a week, and I do it mainly for the mental/emotional effects. Obviously it's nice to be in shape and look good, and that is also very important to me, but I swear, if I didn't workout regularly I would be an insane person. Exercising definitely keeps me sane and I love it. I was such a competitive athlete when I was younger and all through high school that it is completely ingrained in me to do it everyday thank goodness. I grew up watching my mom in aerobics and my dad doing insane workouts so it's all I've known. I try to mix my workouts up a lot, between classes (spinning, yoga, pilates) and traditional cardio machines (I'll usually do 45 minutes to an hour of cardio when I am at the gym). I avoid running long distances now because it hurts my knees, but I can comfortably do about 5-6 miles. That's it though. My most favorite thing to do though is weight train. I do a 3 day split with one day off, so I work each body part twice on a good week. Do you like to workout? What is your weekly routine?
Source URL: http://sweettattooforgirls.blogspot.com/2009/08/
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Happy Monday!

Well, my Monday wasn't so happy due to me staying up way, way too late watching True Blood and suddenly having the urge to read very old Myspace messages between Hank and me, from 2004. They always make me smile because after meeting for the first time we corresponded for a long time via the internet while he was on tour, and because we lived two hours away. So I have hundreds of amazing letters we have written to each other, from the very first "getting to know you" type of messages to right after we got engaged in 2007 and both kind of lost interest in that website. They are amazing to read and I am in the process of putting them all in order- sent and received- and printing them into a little book for us to keep. It's very neat to be able to see the entire timeline of our relationship, both in those messages and in my very detailed personal journal. I love it. I hope one day our children can enjoy reading them too!

So anyway, I stayed up waaay too late and woke up very late. My alarm went off at 6:30am and I proceeded to somehow turn both my blackberry alarm and regular alarm clock off and sleep until my body woke itself up at 7:15 which was not good at all, seeing as I should be at work no later than 7:45 in order to get everything set for the day, which begins at 8:09am. I feel lucky I naturally woke up too, that could have been a nightmare. It's a lot different being late to work when there are 35 teenagers waiting outside your door! I don't wear a lot of makeup (foundation and mascara only) but I still take a long time to get ready and having 20 minutes was not pleasant. I ended up getting to work at 8am, cutting it way too close and ended up feeling stressed and behind all morning. Robyn luckily had brought a Lunabar for me for breakfast, when I texted her in frenzy about how late I was. I am SUCH a breakfast person and I simply cannot function with having a nice, solid 1st meal early in the morning.

The day shaped up and the sweet Robyn also brought me lunch- an amazing couscous and zucchini dish (which I will be making for Hank this week- so good!) and because I had lunch duty outside today she sat with me. I always eat with Jenn but this year we don't have lunch together, which makes me sad and I hate not having "our" time to catch up and squeeze in a horribly wonderful reality program while we eat!

The rest of the day flew by, and I spent the evening straightening up the house for Hank's arrival tomorrow morning and then working out for awhile- cardio, shoulders and legs tonight. I am so, so excited for Hank to get here. I somehow missed him more than ever on this tour and I cannot wait until we can be back to our regular life for a month or two before he leaves again for a huge full-US tour out to Gainesville Fest and back, around, etc. Apparently on this tour they've been killing it, which is awesome. I really enjoy listening to HOTW and things are really coming together for them which they deserve. Tonight they're in San Diego, playing with Lewd Acts which means fun fun fun.

So tomorrow Hank will be home by the time I get home from work, and I expect that we will go on a quick little dinner date before I have to return to school for "Meet the Teacher Night" where all the parents come to the classrooms to do just that. It's just for an hour and a half, and then I will be heading over to Hank's show at the skate show. Stoked.

Here is a photo of my outfit today, I took it this afternoon because I was so crazy this morning! :) I don't know why it looks so short, I swear it's not like that in person! haha


and one of the many postcards Hank has sent my way, this one is part of a little series! ;) He is too funny. I love him.
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Weekend rundown

I had an absolutely amazing weekend. I arrived in Phoenix early Saturday morning and hung around with my post-op Mama while she lounged around, recuperating from her surgery. It was so nice to just relax and have a slow, slow morning. I worked out in their gym, then headed over to see Rhonda so she could color my hair back to the pretty dark brown I love so much. After my hair appointment, I came back to my parents' and we ordered a pizza and watched "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas." My goodness it was a horribly sad movie but so incredibly beautiful at the same time. I thought the writing was just excellent, and it was so interesting to see the Holocaust from a child's point of view. I definitely recommend it, just be sure you have plenty of tissues handy.

Originally I was just going to stay home with my parents the whole weekend, but after the movie I decided to join my sister Lauren and our dear friend Kelli for a girls night, out in Tempe. Kell's sister Jamie and my friend Erin joined us, and it turned into such a fun night. We started the night at Kelli's house, went down to Casey's, and ended up dancing at Tavern and then eating burritos at 3am. I am definitely tired today but it was totally worth it. I feel so lucky that my sister is my best friend and we share the same interests, and most of the same friends. I feel very blessed to have such a wonderful relationship in my life!

This morning I woke up pretty late and ate breakfast with my Mom, then headed out to shop for a bit. I found some really cute fall items that I'm really excited about. I came home, ate lunch and headed back up here to Prescott. My parents stocked me up with stuff from Whole Foods, Trader Joes, and Costco which I am so thankful for. Every weekend I come down I feel like its Christmas for my pantry and I love it!

So right now it's about 8:30 and I am going to try and be asleep around 10pm or so. I went to bed so late last night that I'm a little concerned that I messed up my normal schedule but we'll see. Tomorrow my kids will be presenting their "All About Me" projects so it's a super easy day for me, because they're the ones doing all the work! It's actually one of my favorite days because I love seeing what these kids are all about and it's also interesting to see how they present themselves to the class.

This is going to be a good week! Hank is playing Las Vegas tonight, San Diego tomorrow, and should be home very early Tuesday morning! I can't wait.

I'll leave you with some photos from the weekend, I hope you all have a lovely Monday. :)

getting ready to go out


Laur and me!


playing Apples to Apples at Kelli and Jamie's










I'm looking a little tired here but I still like this photo of Laur :)


sisters!


Kelli's awesome new tattoo- awesomely swollen too!








love these girls!


"You have your BUTT tattooed?!"


Erin and Laur


Jamie and Lauren <3


K and J


Erin and Kelli
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Friday night

I am back from a wonderful, early evening spent with good friends. Amber, Robyn and I went to see "Julie and Julia," which was an adorable, light-hearted film. I am the biggest Meryl Streep fan, and I absolutely adore everything she does. She did Julia Child spot-on, and at times I forgot I was even watching Meryl. With that said, I am not the biggest Amy Adams fan, but I thought she did a good job in the movie. It was a good film. Not great, but it was definitely a great feel-good movie. I just watched "Doubt" a couple of weeks ago, also starring Streep and Adams, so it was interesting to see them in completely different roles. It also really made me love Hank somehow a bit more when I watched both Julia and Julie's on-screen husbands. Hank is just like those men, the kindest man I know, and I feel like my relationship with Hank was similar to the one Julia Child had with her Paul. My heart was very full the entire time, in a good way. So, I left the theater with a smile on my face and I feel inspired to cook more which is always a plus.

Amber leaves for the second and last time tomorrow morning, so it was nice to spend one more evening with her. She's my movie partner (well really my partner in most everything fun!) so thankfully and luckily Hank is coming home next week to work our way through our "must-see" list. We seriously go to the movies about once a week I feel like, especially when there are good movies out, like there are now.

What else, what else? Well work today was very interesting. I had a student have a seizure in my class which was very scary and upsetting. From what friends told me, it may have even been a weird overdose freakout and not a seizure, but I'm still unsure. I took care of it immediately and she got the help she needed, thank goodness. Other than that it was a typical Friday- my sophomores were a little rowdier than usual but overall all the kids I have are so respectful and well-behaved. Like I said before, it should be an awesome year.

So Amber and I, and our friend Chelsea, are planning a very exciting, very long trip this summer to Europe. None of us have ever been and since we are in the very, very beginning stages of planning I would love any input as far as where to go, what to see, etc. Luckily Chelsea has friends in some places so it looks like we may have host families and friends helping us along the way, but if any of you have any friends in Europe please let me know so I can bug them via email! ;) I'm sure I will be posting about this over the next year in a lot more detail, but so far we are planning to visit Greece, France, Italy and Ireland. I am getting excited just thinking about it.

Another thing I wanted to add to this blog is about my Mom. I waited until after her surgery to type this out, as I was really nervous and didn't want to even go into it here, but all is well now, thank goodness. As many of my close friends know, my mom battled breast cancer last year and WON (fuck you, cancer)...although she lost both of her breasts in a double mastectomy. She is the healthiest person I have ever known (both in mind, body and spirit), yet she constantly deals with very serious health issues, which is heartbreaking and very frustrating. Most recently my Mom's cardiologist informed her that the back wall of her heart was very weak and he was concerned about the risk of a heart attack, so today they went into her heart but luckily found no blockages. She is doing well now, post-op, but it was scary today and I avoided talking about it until I knew everything was alright. I am going down to visit her tomorrow morning and I am really excited to give her a big hug. I swear, these past few years have been a nightmare of health issues for my family and really, enough is enough.

So a scary day turned into a very good, positive day. My Mama is a-okay, Hank is officially home in FIVE days, and I spent time with two wonderful ladies this evening laughing and having a grand old time. Tomorrow is a hair appointment with Rhonda and hang outs with my Mom and fam, and then most likely out with Kelli and Lauren for a girls night.

I was going to head down to Phoenix tonight but instead I'm heading to the gym for a late night workout. Phoenix in the morning! I hope all of you have a wonderful night. So much love. :)

Half of Robyn, Amber Joy and a flash-blinded me, waiting for the movie to start


and me, STOKED that my sweetheart will be home in five short days (hence the five fingers...)! Don't mind my crazy face- I guess this is how I look when I'm excited! :)
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