News Update

Good morning, world!  :-)

I guess it's about time I submitted another post... And today I have some good news to share, as well. *YAY*  :-)  A few things have happened since last time that I want to tell you about.

First off, as goofy as this may sound to some of you, A and I woke up this morning to see a beautiful sight outside. Guess what it was! C'mon, now, give it a shot!  ;-)  It was rain! *YAY*  :-)  Around these parts, we are happy to see rain whenever we can get it! Oklahoma has been ridiculously dry for the past few years, I want to say, and we are grateful for any rainfall that we get. So, yes, in our opinion, the dark, wet, and cloudy sight that we saw this morning was absolutely beautiful! It stormed all night which made for a great night's sleep. Except for this crazy dream that I had. I dreamed that we were stuck in a tornado and had found shelter in a neighbor's cellar which is kind of funny, though, because we live in an apartment. *HEHE* Weird. But anyway... I am glad that we got some rain around here. It was much needed.

Easter was just a couple of weeks ago and we decided to head on up to Wichita, KS, to spend the day with B's family. In spite of our trip being very short we had a great time. It was fun to get together and catch up with loved ones.  <3  We started our day off by having breakfast at Village Inn (Village, 2013) and then heading off to church. I had not been to church for probably three years at this point! It was nice.  :-)  Even little man liked it.  ;-)  After church we stopped by the grocery store and picked up a few things for that afternoon's barbecue at Grandma C's house. Later on that evening Poppy came by and we all talked for a while. All in all, it was a great day and I am glad that we made the trip even though I was exhausted when we made it home. Here are some pictures to show for it.

Easter Sunday in Kansas:

2013.03.31 @ Grandma C's Easter Egg Hunt

Description: The three photos above are taken at Grandma C's house in Kansas where A got to hunt for eggs in the backyard. The first photo is of Grandma C and A before the egg hunt, the second photo is of A and B while they hunted the eggs, and the last image is A with all of the eggs that he found. The reward was $5 in quarters, divided amongst the eggs hidden for him. He sure was happy to find more coins to add to his piggy bank when we got back home. Thank you, Grandma!

Remember a few weeks ago when I posted about sending off A's and my permanent residency applications (USCIS, 2011)?! Well, we have already gone in for our biometrics appointments and have even received an appointment date for our interviews! *WOO HOO* This is awesome news, y'all! We are so excited! This (more than likely) means that the applications were complete when I sent them off -- saving us about $3,400 in attorney expenses (versus having a lawyer fill out the paperwork for us) -- and that, my friends, is great news. The big day is Monday, May 6th. Let the countdown begin!

For the past year or so I have been a member of the YMCA here in Tulsa (YMCA, 2013) but have found it to be a little too expensive for my taste. Especially because I have not been going very often lately. Not that there is anyone to blame for that other than me. I decided that I would go ahead and switch over to Planet Fitness (PFIF, 2011), instead. I have a premium membership at Planet Fitness now that includes unlimited access to all exercise equipment, tanning beds, massage beds, and more for less than what I have been paying at the YMCA. And these guys are open 24 hours a day which may encourage me to get up early, before work, and check in for a few minutes. I can even take a guest with my each day I go if I like. So today, after dropping A off at school, I stopped by the gym and put in almost an hour's worth of work. That's not bad if you consider the fact that I haven't done very much exercise for a while now. Maybe I'll stay a bit longer tomorrow... I might even tan then, too. I could use some color.

Anybody that knows me knows that I love to take pictures and always carry a camera with me. (Not just the one on my cell phone, but an actual camera, too!) While in Wichita I took a picture of A standing on Grandma C's back porch because I had a vision. I could see this really cool image forming from a shot of little man's boots. After I had put the image together, my mother-in-law said that it looked just like a CD cover. I must agree. It sure could be a CD cover. That picture is on our Instagram (Instagram, 2013) page if you want to see it. It's super cute.  :-)  I also created another image that I later printed onto an 8x10 inch photo at my local grocery store. I then framed it and placed it in my son's room. This is an Icelandic prayer alongside a photo of A taken at the park.

An Icelandic Prayer:

It's already noon so I think I'm going to jump in the shower and get ready to prepare something for lunch. I hope that you have a wonderful day full of laughter and happiness but before I go, I will leave you with this...

The Thought for the Day:

Life is beautiful and don't you ever forget it! It may get tough sometimes but those rough times make the good times so much more enjoyable and help us to appreciate the things that we far too often take for granted. Take some time to tell your loved ones how much you care for them today and make sure to share your smile with others whenever given the opportunity. Smiling is contagious, you know, and it can help brighten someone else's day, even if you don't know them. Be happy and show it! Do your part to help make the world a better place.  ;-)

Enjoy the rest of your hump day.

-- Gigi

References:

Instagram. (2013). The Hadleys on Instagram. Retrieved from: 
          http://instagram.com/the_hadleys

PFIF, LLC. (2011). Welcome to Planet Fitness easy join! Retrieved from:
          https://www.planetfitness.com/EasyJoin.aspx?clubid=10661

USCIS. (2011). U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services: Green Card (permanent 

          residence). U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Retrieved from:

          http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.eb1d4c2a3e5b9ac89243c6a

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Village Inn Restaurants. (2013). Welcome to Village Inn. Retrieved from:

          http://www.villageinnrestaurants.com

YMCA of Greater Tulsa. (2013). Home: strengthening the foundations of community. 

          Retrieved from: http://www.ymcatulsa.org

Girl Scout Cookies

Good evening. I hope all is well with you!  :-)

As mentioned in my last post, I have decided to make February my 'turn-around' month in terms of diet and exercise. So far I've done pretty good. In only five days I've lost about two pounds and even made it to the fitness center today. Of course, I have been working all weekend (Saturday, Sunday, and Monday) on twelve hour shifts which doesn't leave much time for the gym, but I made sure to go there this morning, instead. After I got home and had showered, B pulled out some Girl Scout cookies (Girl, 2013) that he had bought from a colleague at work yesterday. That's when it happened. Game over. *SOB* I ate my entire day's worth of calories in Tagalong peanut butter cookies and they're not even my favorite! (I'm mostly fond of the Samoas with caramel and coconut.) Bleh! And now I am disgusted with myself and totally regret even tasting a single cookie today. Boo! That was not cool. But -- tomorrow is a new day and I'm sure that I can bounce back from this little screw-up. Right?! Yes. By the way, this upcoming Friday, February 8th, is National Girl Scout Cookie Day.  :-)

The Thought for the Day:

This morning I found a fun little message in my Facebook inbox. I tend to take part in prize drawings and such on social media as well as other blogs and this morning I was informed that I had been selected as the winner for one such drawing.  :-)  I won a wall sticker of Iceland that I was seriously thinking about purchasing before today. So, to me, this was great news. *YAY* The company sponsoring the drawing is an Icelandic clothing labeling company called Imprimo Fatamerkingar (Imprimo, 2013) stationed in Akureyri, located in the northern parts of Iceland. The sticker is really cool looking. Here is a picture of it from the company's Facebook page.

My new Iceland wall sticker:

2013.01.28 @ Imprimo Fatamerkingar, ehf.'s Facebook page

Description: Isn't that super?! Heck, yeah! Although this image contains a white Iceland with black glaciers, I have decided to go with the black Iceland sticker with white glaciers. That'll look awesome somewhere in our home. It's always fun to have something from the homeland in one's residence overseas. I'm really excited.  :-)

As I have already mentioned, I am from Iceland... So, this morning I noticed an awesome video on Facebook that made me exceptionally proud to be an Icelander. In this video, made possible by the Inspired by Iceland (Inspired, 2013) campaign, local celebrities, authority figures, and the general public are openly inviting the world to come and partake in traditional Icelandic activities. Not only are the people of Iceland offering to show visitors the true Icelandic way of life, but they are also openly inviting others to come into their homes and get to know the people of our country. I think this is wonderful! And I think that this will become a hit for tourists. *BIG SMILE*

Inspired by Iceland's personal invitation to you:

 

2012.02.28 @ Icelandic President's fan page on Facebook

Description: In this video you will see the Icelandic president, the mayor of Reykjavik (the capital city of Iceland), and other Icelanders officially invite you to come into their homes and experience Icelandic daily life. Get to know the real Iceland! I'm telling you -- it's great!

This evening I decided to try to make some home-made soup for the first time and it went surprisingly well. I was impressed by own 'throw-something-together' recipe for soup that I've never made before. Here's a picture for ya.

2013.02.05 @ G's Potato Soup with Carrots

Description: There you have it, my brand new potato soup. Recipe card coming soon!

And after I made that soup, little A took a nice, long bath. He hasn't taken a bath for a while. He's been too busy to spend that much time in the tub so we've gone with showers, instead. *HEHE* But tonight he wanted a bubble bath which was great. He is too cute!

2013.02.05 @ The Bathtub

Description: Mama's little man in the tub tonight. What a cutie-pie!  <3

Maybe it's time to get off of this computer for the night. Hubby is home and I wouldn't mind spending a moment with him before I head to bed. Have a great night and happy hump day tomorrow!

-- Gigi


References:
Girl Scouts of the United States of America. (2013). Meet the cookies. Retrieved from:
          http://www.girlscouts.org/program/gs_cookies/meet_the_cookies.asp
Imprimo Fatamerkingar, ehf.  (2013). Sidan er i vinnslu - vinsamlega komid aftur i 
          heimsokn! Retrieved from: http://www.imprimo.is
Inspired by Iceland. (2013). Home: All. Retrieved from: http://www.inspiredbyiceland.com

Another Friday Night

Good evening, friends!

So another week has come and gone. Actually -- another month has come and gone! We've made it to February, people! Can you believe it?! Time flies when you're having fun, right?  ;-)

So, like I said, it's Friday night again -- not that it matters at our place. The hubby always works nights and I work every weekend. I know what you're thinking. Great... *SARCASM* Yup. At our house the weekends are just like any other day. Unfortunately, Mommy doesn't get to spend a full day with A or a romantic evening at home with B because of our conflicting schedules. I wish there was some other way to make things work and still manage to have some good old-fashioned family time. But this is what seems to work for us at the moment and hopefully it won't be like this for the long-term. Family dinners and movie nights are long overdue around here! ;-)

Today was the day that our applications for adjustment of status with immigration (USCIS, 2011) finally made it into the mail. Woohoo! Yay! *HAPPY DANCE* I am much relieved, to say the least. It was a bunch of tedious paperwork and I'm so glad that it's over. I would estimate about forty hours of filling out paperwork (completing forms, checking them, re-checking them, and then checking them again); gathering all supplemental documents required for the various forms; getting pictures taken; and going to doctors' visits (having TB skin tests, getting blood drawn, and receiving vaccinations). After all that hard work and endured pain (by the little man, mostly), the packet was finally put together and ready to go. This afternoon we stopped by the post office to drop the envelope off and as we left, so did the packet. So -- off it goes!  :-)  Now, a couple of weeks and almost $3,000 dollars later, all is said and done. The next part of this process is to wait, and wait, and wait. It's okay, though. I could use a little break.

2013.02.01 @ Lazy Friday Night

Description: That's me (G) after a long day of running around town trying to get those documents in the mail. Now I can relax and take the night off from paperwork.  :-)

Poor little A injured himself last week after our initial doctor's visit for the immigration stuff. The kiddo had done so good all day -- he visited with a doctor where he got poked with a needle and was super brave at the hair salon when he got his hair cut (which he absolutely hates to do) -- but fell out of my truck once we had finally made it home. Let me set the scene... After seeing the doctor and getting his hair cut last Thursday, I bought my son an ice cream sundae at McDonald's to reward him for his bravery and good behavior. As we are getting out of the vehicle outside of our apartment, A's foot got caught and he fell out of the truck -- head first -- right onto the concrete and I thought I would have a heart attack. Of course, he had his hands full (an ice cream sundae in one hand and a bottle of apple juice in the other) and did not think to let go of anything to shield himself during the fall. Why would he, anyway?! Goofy boy. Mommy was almost certain that her child was going to end up with a black eye, an all-over bruised face, and a huge bump on his head, but the healing process has been quite stunning.

2013.02.01 @ A's Stages of Recovery

Description: Here is a comparison of A's injury from the day following the fall and then again this evening, seven days later. Isn't he healing great?! I sure am relieved. *WHEW*  :-)  Isn't that smile lovely?! He melts my heart like a stick of butter.  <3

In Wednesday's post I also forgot to mention that Uncle G and Auntie M are expecting! Not only are they expecting, but they now know that they will be having twin girls in June. Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. G! This is so exciting! We have not had a baby in our immediate family since my son was born. And he is now going on his sixth year. It's about time we had a new addition.  ;-)  Maybe Mr. H and I will have another of our own sometime soon. That would be fun. I think A could use a sibling or two, you know. *WINK WINK*

I have decided that I will embrace this new month and take the opportunity to get back on track with my fitness regimen. I went ahead and weighed myself this morning and started my day with logging my new weight on the Lose It! (FitNow, 2012) website. I more than love that application! It has helped me so much in my personal struggle with weight loss. I have now been a member of Lose It! for just over three years and with the help of my friends in the network (that hold me accountable for logging both my meals and exercises as well as encouraging me to make healthier food choices) I was able to lose a total of fifty pounds. I have always been a skeptic when it comes to dieting, but I didn't even have to diet to lose the weight. All I did was make myself aware of the nutritional values of food, watch my portion sizes, and incorporate more exercise into my life. That doesn't sound too hard, does it? It's not. Trust me. Although, unfortunately, I have been stuck on a plateau where I can't seem to drop any more weight for about a year now and it's driving me nuts. I think I need to do something different for a while that can help to kick-start my progress again. Any suggestions?! I'm open to (almost) anything.

It's getting pretty late and I should probably be asleep by now. But before I go, I will leave you with this...

The Thought for the Day:

Good night, y'all! Have a great weekend.  :-)

-- Gigi

References:

FitNow, Inc. (2012). Lose It!: The best, most seamless weight loss system available.

          Retrieved from: http://www.loseit.com/new/what-is-lose-it

USCIS. (2011). U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services: Green Card (permanent 

          residence). U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Retrieved from:

          http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.eb1d4c2a3e5b9ac89243c6a

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Happy New Year

Hi there...!!

Yes. I know, I know. Here I am wishing you a happy new year when January is practically over. But -- this is only the first post of the year.  ;-)  I also know that it's been way too long since my last blog entry. Although, I have been working on some recipe cards that I plan to share on the site as well as making music videos for some of my favorite songs that include lyrics. I have actually made quite a few changes to the page since my last post. We now have several tabs with cool new stuff and lots more things to look at.

Anyways... How about a little update of the Hadleys' lives since last time...?! B and G got married in a cute little park in downtown Wichita, KS, called Naftzger Park (City, 2013). We had a judge come out and perform the ceremony for us on a wet Friday morning in late August. The park has pretty waterfalls and other likable scenery for photos and it ended up being the perfect spot for us. Considering that we had not even been by there beforehand to check it out, we were very content with the outcome.  <3

A few photos from our wedding day:

2012.08.24 @ The Hadleys' Wedding Ceremony

Description: These three photos are taken at our wedding ceremony at Naftzger Memorial Park in downtown Wichita, KS, USA. The first photo is of G and her father, approaching the gazebo in the park where the actual ceremony took place. The second photo is one of G and B sitting on a waterfall inside the park after the ceremony. And the third photo is one of the first photos of the new-found Hadley Family with little A included. It was a beautiful day and we had great fun. Thanks to everyone who made it up there and shared in our special day!

In the week following our wedding, I finally got to start my new job. I now work at a local hospital with my sister-in-law M on an Orthopedic floor. M is a nurse there and I am currently working as a nurse technician. I hope to go back to school to finally get my nursing degree. And now that I already have a Bachelor's degree I should be able to enroll directly into a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) program at a university. But our biggest problem right now is funding this new expedition so, unfortunately, it may have to wait a little while longer. Not to worry... It will happen. Oh, believe me, it will happen!

Not long after our wedding last year, B's grandmother passed away. She was a wonderful woman full of life and love and she will be dearly missed. Grandma Bee was severely ill and fought hard for a long time. Although the Bee is no longer with us, she will forever be in our hearts as we continue to think about her and share in her memory. Rest in peace, Grandma Bee.  <3  In honor of her memory, I have chosen a special reminder for today's post.

The Thought for the Day:

A also turned five years old in September. Five years old -- I can hardly believe it! Now how old does that make me...?! *HAHA* B and I started by taking A out to lunch on his birthday, then we visited Chuck E. Cheese's. Who doesn't love Chuck E. Cheese?!  After spending all of our tokens at Chuck E. Cheese's, we headed to Braum's for ice cream cones, and then we ended our fun-filled day at this super cute pumpkin patch (Pumpkin, 2012) right across the street from our apartment complex.  ;-)

Photos from A's birthday:

2012.09.23 @ A's 5th Birthday Celebration

Description: Up there at the top you can see B and A playing Guitar Hero at Chuck E. Cheese's. I think the funniest part about that picture is that they are both wearing black pants and blue plaited shirts. Too cute! Then we have A chowin' down on his yummy ice cream cone he got at Braum's. Last but not least, Mommy's little man posing for a photo at the pumpkin patch. Isn't he handsome?!  :-) 

Shortly thereafter, B's sister K and her fiance got married. This was in October. They also married in Wichita and had a lovely ceremony at their church. Family flew in from all around to come and be at their wedding and it was great fun meeting all of these people. There are many of them that I had not gotten a chance to meet before. Another great day of memory-making with the Boyle family.  :-)

After K's wedding came Halloween and then, of course, came Christmas. Christmas is no doubt the most fun time of year. A got so many cool toys that he had been wanting and, although I had to work Christmas Eve, we got to spend Christmas day together with Uncle G and Auntie M. The two came over to our place for dinner and presents. It was great. 

Ever since the new year, I have been working on immigration papers for myself and A. I am currently applying for a change of status for the two of us which should -- if all goes well, which I'm sure it will -- grant us permanent residence (USCIS, 2011). The last thing that we have left to do is to get A to his doctor's appointment on Friday so that he may get a quick check-up and receive three vaccinations that I have not yet taken him in for. Once that is done, the packet is off and the dreadful wait for a response begins. I'm just kidding. It can't possibly be that bad.  ;-)  If I end up getting a response stating that my packet was completed correctly and all that good stuff, I will probably go ahead and put up a little tutorial on here that will lead people through the various steps of getting this done. But like I said, I won't do that until I know for sure that I have completed my own paperwork correctly. At that point, I can create a Green Card Application Process Tutorial of some sort.

Wow. I have blabbered on for too long today. I'll write some more tomorrow, maybe. Make the most of your afternoons and evenings and have a happy hump day!

-- Gigi

References:

City of Wichita. (2013). Naftzger Memorial Park. Retrieved from:

          http://www.wichita.gov/CityOffices/Park/Parks/Naftzger

Pumpkin Town. (2012). Pumpkin Town now open. Retrieved from:

          http://www.pumpkintownok.com

USCIS. (2011). U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services: Green Card (permanent 

          residence). U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Retrieved from:

          http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.eb1d4c2a3e5b9ac89243c6a

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