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

          7543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=ae853ad15c673210VgnVCM100000082ca60aRCRD

          &vgnextchannel=ae853ad15c673210VgnVCM100000082ca60aRCRD

Our August Wedding

Good evening to you!

It's been another hot day in Oklahoma... Wild, I say!  ;-)  And here we are -- Planning an outdoor August wedding. *LOL* Yup. We're crazy like that. But it's going to be fun! So... We have now set the date for our big day. B and G are will become Mr. and Mrs. H on August 24th, 2012. We are very excited for 08.24.12 and are beginning our wedding plans. We are not having a big old party wedding but more of a get-together with our closest family members and possibly some friends. I went dress shopping with my sister-in-law M on Monday and found an absolutely stunning wedding dress that I instantly fell in love with. I have been forbidden to show B the dress until the day of the wedding.  <3  He is going to love it!

I have also found out that she will not have to retake the CNA/CHHA course again. Or at least hopefully not. Apparently, all I have to do is to retest in order to become certified again. But I only have one shot at the test! If I do not pass it that first time, I will end up having to retake the entire course over again and paying that huge amount that we had talked about in the previous post. *UGH* No stress, right...?!  :-/  Yesterday, I went and got my CPR for Healthcare Providers done and am already signed up for a Medication Administration Training (MAT) course for Monday and Tuesday of next week. Then hopefully next week sometime I will get that letter from the Nurse Aide Registry that states my eligibility to retest -- Then I can finally start work somewhere. *YAY* More than likely, I will be working at a local hospital with Auntie M.  :-)

The Thought for the Day:

Anyway... There's this cool website out there if you are interested in downloading free music -- The legal way.  ;-)  If you go to the DatPiff website (Idle, 2012) and create an account, you can start downloading free copies of mix tapes from various artists in the hip hop and r&b genres. Some of the mixtapes are sponsored so that you don't even have to be logged in to download them. Pretty cool stuff! There is one young and upcoming artist that I am especially fond of. His name is Robert Lucido and he is half-Icelandic. I am from Iceland, too.  :-)  Robert sings r&b and he's pretty darn good at it, too! You can download his full album called Trials and Tribulations on DatPiff if you're interested in hearing more of his music. My favorite song so far is called Take My Devils Away. Here is one of his music videos:

Robert Lucido - Satisfied:

I wasn't feeling too good this past week and now it appears that B has taken over the illness around here. Hopefully he will be feeling better by tomorrow so that we can go and visit a co-worker of his to hang out. I am also headed out of town tomorrow morning with my brother to look at a car for our dad. Maybe it's time to call it a night and go cuddle a bit before bed.  ;-)

Have a great Friday night, y'all!

-- Gigi

References:

Idle Music, Inc. (2012). DatPiff: The authority in free mixtapes. Retrieved from:

          http://www.datpiff.com

Batman Massacre

Hello and good morning!

I have been meaning to sit down and write something for this entire past week. So... Today is the day. It has been way too hot down here in Oklahoma to do anything and we are being drained of all energy around here. And to think -- August is yet to come! *UGH* Although, there are a few positives to August this year for us. B and I have decided to get married next month and A will be starting Pre-Kindergarten! A is currently away with family over the summertime but will be back just as the school year gets ready to kick off. He is having a blast with his grandparents in Iceland and can't even be bothered to Skype with his mom on the computer. *HEHE* Such a boy...  <3

A recent photo of our son, A:

2012.07.05 @ Íþróttamiðstöðin í Grafarvogi
Description: Íþróttamiðstöðin í Grafarvogi is the home of the Icelandic sports team Fjölnir and is located in Reykjavík, Iceland. The teams at Fjölnir play several different individual and team sports ranging from soccer to handball, swimming to tennis, track to wrestling, and many more. There is also a public swimming pool at this location which is always fun to visit. Icelandic swimming pools are open year-round and are heated according to the weather. Even if it happens to be snowing or hailing, you can still find Icelandic people relaxing in the hot tubs at the local public pools. Good times!  ;-)

Last weekend B and I went to Wichita, KS, to visit B's family and celebrate K's (B's sister) birthday with her. K and her fiance J are also getting married this year. They are planning their wedding for October. Wichita was fun and we met some of B's friends. We spent time with his family, watched a movie at the cinema, and checked out the bar scene a bit. All in all, we had a great time.  :-)  

The movie we watched was called Snow White and the Huntsman and we thought it was pretty good. A link to the movie's trailer is posted below. This film is about Snow White with all of her beauty and how her evil step-mother keeps her locked up after her father has been stabbed to death. Snow White eventually gets away from her step-mother but is being hunted by the Huntsman who's job is to bring her back to the evil step-mother's kingdom. The evil step-mother is after Snow White's heart so that she can remain the fairest in the land and live forever. That's as much as I will give away to you. If you like medieval themed movies and fairy tales gone bad, then I recommend you watch it. Like I said, we both enjoyed it.

Snow White and the Huntsman - Official Movie Trailer 2012:

More than likely, you have already heard some talk about the so-called Batman Massacre that happened at the midnight showing of the new Batman movie, The Dark Knight Rises, last Friday. The accused gunman shot and killed at least 12 people as well as leaving 58 wounded after the attack at a movie theater in Aurora, CO (Slosson and Francescani, 2012). The names of the killed victims are currently being released. The victims of this attack ranged from six to 51 years of age. Our hearts certainly go out the families of the victims. This is a horrible thing that nobody should have to experience. Pure evil. That's it. *SAD FACE* And to think -- The killer is a young man that was working on his doctorate degree in neuroscience... What went wrong?! You can't help but wonder what went wrong. One of the people that was present in the movie theater at the time of the shooting blogged about her first-hand experience and how it brought both her and her two teenage daughters closer to God (Marie, 2012). Although, I am by no means a religious person, I did enjoy this blog post. The author talks about how something so tragic can be transformed into a more positive event and I can surely relate to that. An interesting read, nonetheless.

Back to a more basic reality... Still no luck in the job search.  :-(  Because of this, I have decided to invest in re-taking a CNA (certified nurse aide) and CHHA (certified home health aide) course (Wings, 2012) that I have taken before along with renewing my CPR certification just to ensure myself a job opportunity. The next open course won't start until late August but we are running out of options here. This is becoming a last resort. The course itself only takes two weeks to complete and then I can go and take the state tests so that I may be certified... Again. This will end up costing almost $1,000 but there is no way around it. It needs to happen. Whoopie...!  :-)  But not to worry...

The Thought for the Day:

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday!  ;-)

-- Gigi

References:

Marie. (2012, July 20). A Miniature Clay Pot: So you still think God is a merciful God?! 

          [Web log post]. Retrieved from: 

          http://aminiatureclaypot.wordpress.com/2012/07/20/so-you-still-

          think-god-is-a-merciful-god/

Slosson, M. & Francescani, C. (2012, July 22). Obama to meet families of shooting 

          victims in Colorado. Thomson Reuters. Retrieved from: 

          http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/22/us-usa-shooting-denver-

          idUSBRE86J0AM20120722

Wings Health Care Training. (2012). Tuition and enrollment. Retrieved from:

          http://wingshealthcaretraining.net/2457.html