Struggling with my own optimism…

On paper… well online, I seem to come across as this…. Faith driven optimist that is always happy, never doubts, never struggles. I pick others up and I don’t need to be “picked up” myself. My life is blissful and I’m never sad. My life appears this way because this is what I want my life to be.  And most the time it is. But like EVERYONE I have days where I struggle. And for some reason the past few weeks I have been “strugglin!” Now let me clarify before this turns into a sappy mess… I’m not writing this for sympathy, I’m not writing this because I’ve experienced something life shattering. I’m writing this because we all struggle and I’m hoping by writing about my struggles those of you reading this won’t feel so alone. You won’t feel crazy and you won’t wonder what’s wrong with you. Because there is NOTHING wrong with you. Every once in a while we all doubt, we all stumble, and we all struggle. We all let the what ifs, the maybes, and the I cant’s push us down. We let our head get in the way and fill us with nonsense. So whether it’s the loss of a family member you never had the opportunity to meet, a bad hair day, loss of a job, loss of a friend, financial woes, surgery, PMS, or simply a bump in the road that throws you off track take the time to breathe, take the time to sit back and get back on track, pray, talk to God, cry, kick and scream but most importantly GET BACK UP! Talk to your family, talk to your friends, read a funny blog, lose yourself in a great song, watch your favorite movie, or read a few happy quotes. Find something that reminds you of who you are and that you are here for a purpose. Hold onto that something and fight like hell to be happy. Because honestly that’s what we’re all doing. And then wake up one morning and smile because now its easy, now it comes naturally, and now you are back on track.

Best wishes for a wonderful weekend! And of course happy Veterans Day! Thank you so much to all the amazing service men and women out there fighting for our freedom and thank you to their families for standing by their sides and fighting the fight with them.

Xoxo~ Jamie 

Sometimes Optimism truly feels like this, but personally I prefer it over the alternative. :)

 Yes!

One of the things I struggled with this week was the loss of my cousins little boy. 

He died at only 19 months old and left us all wondering why.

Sometimes there is just no answer, but I know he is in the arms of Jesus now 

and that gives me so much peace.

 

I am so thankful that I have a wonderful best friend to talk to. Even though she is going through her own trials she is always there when I need her. I love you Christine! 

 I love this.

And because sometimes you just need to smile! 

So much truth in this...

And to our amazing Veterans on this day that is all about you! 

Who is this Jamie?!

Ok so I'm a blog junkie... we all know this already. I love my husband, my animals, my family, and my friends. I'm learning to cook, I love to read, I'm OBSESSED with inspirational quotes (well quotes in general) and I'm a closet dork! I think these are all the things you can easily take from my past blog posts... Oh and I hate grocery shopping! After looking at a couple of other blogs I saw a few posts on "Who am I?' You know those cheesy chain emails you get and you have to fillout with lots of random facts about yourself? Well I thought I would post mine here so you can all know just a little bit more about me! So enjoy and I hope you all have a fabulous weekend!

A. Age: 27

B. Bed Size: King (we need a big one to fit me, the hubby, Gizmo, and occasionally Roxy!)
C. Chore you hate : ugh lets be honest there are lots... but I would have to go with either putting away laundry or doing the dishes, I despise both!

D. Pets: 2 adorable dogs- Gizmo is a 7 year old Pomeranian & Smalls is a 1 year old yellow lab, add to the mayhem1 feisty Cat Roxy and sometimes it feels like we have a zoo on our hands.

E. Essential start to your day : prayers- gotta start the day talking to God, COFFEE- you don't want to see me without coffee and a goodbye kiss from the hubby.

F. Favorite Color : ummm I guess it depends... it's no secret that I LOVE me some Pink, but for clothes I love black, grey and teal.

G. Gold or Silver : both? I mostly wear silver or white gold, but regular gold is good too

H. Height : 5'4"... or so I claim, everyone else in my life insists I'm more like 5'3", come on people I need all the help I can get... round up!

I. Instruments you play : I played the flute in middle school, but lets be honest I was awful... so then I fell in love with singing, I'm no superstar but I love to rock out in the shower and in the car.

J. Job Title : Client Relationship Manager, Client Service Associate

K. Kids : YES! One day I would love to have two kids... 1 girl 1 boy and we already have names picked out for both!

L. Live : Not sure how I'm suppose to answer this.... live with lots of faith, love and happiness! Yes we'll go with that!

M. Maiden Name: Pipkin, although I love my married name giving up Pipkin was like giving up just a little piece of myself... I still miss it some days but I'm proud to be an Alexander. 

N. Nicknames: Oh goodness I have lots... J, Jamers, James, Barbie, Sweet Pea, Sister, and Pipkin (I think those are the main ones.)

O. Favorite Drink: Coffee- Pumpkin Spice Latte, Alcohol- Rio Margaritas (for those of you who have never had a Rio Marg you are seriously missing out... there is no comparison.) and Crown and Coke

http://www.facebook.com/LoneTreeRio

P. Pet Peeve: Negative People... I try to stay happy and optimistic, so when someone is constantly raining on my parade I can't help but get a little irritated.

Q. Quote: Oh lordy this is a hard one for me... Here's just a few...

R. Righty or Lefty: Right

S. Siblings : One younger brother Cody... he's hysterical, hard working and a wonderful person!

S. Shoe Size: 6 1/2, my feet haven't grown since middle school!

T. Time you wake up: Weekdays anytime between 6:00 -6:30 and Weekends between 8:00 -10:00, I love my sleep so I sleep in as long as possible!

U. University attended : Colorado State University.... Proud to be a CSU Ram!

V. Vegetables you dislike: Beats and Brussel Sprouts (I've actually never eaten either, my mom says they taste like dirt and farts so that pretty much ruined them both for me!)

W. What makes you run late : Sleeping in, traffic and above all my hair! It takes me forever to do my hair and on bad days it totally throws me off schedule.

X. X-rays you’ve had : Ummm does a cat-scan count? I had one when I was little because I get bad migraines (YUCK!)

Y. Yummy food : Ooooh I love chocolate! I'm part German and was raised with German food at major family events so I love Schnitzel, I also love seafood... shrimp, tilapia, salmon yum.... and being a fat kid at heart I of course love all carbs... dangit!

Z. Zoo animal favorite : Not really a zoo animal but I love dolphins. And I guess I would say Monkeys! So cute!

So there you have it a whole lot of randomness that makes me.... me! And just for fun here are a few quotes for your Friday afternoon!

xoxo~ Jamie 

Blog what blog? Oh and I suddenly started cooking? If you trust me here's some recipes!

EEEEK! I have been SO bad at blogging lately. And for once I really don't have an excuse. I just haven't blogged. So I'm sorry to my wonderful friends and family who like to read this, I know I'm totally lame! I'll try to do better and hopefully with the holidays coming I'll have plenty to blog about! In the meantime I have been trying to branch out and start cooking new recipes! Yes me the "Anti-Domestic Goddess" is trying to become a better cook. And thanks to Pinterest and fellow bloggers I have found some really good/easy recipes so I thought I would share the love!Enjoy and please feel free to share some of your favorite recipes! I need all the help I can get!

Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas! 

 (click on the title for links to the recipes)

Yum! These were really good, and if you know me and my hubby you know we love us some Mexican food! My parents joined us for dinner the night I made these and they also really enjoyed them. I would call them a success! Just a few comments though... First I would make a little more chicken next time, since there isn't much to these more chicken would have been good. And second if you like things spicy I would add another can of green chilies or some peppers. They come out very yummy and creamy but also pretty mild.

White Chicken Chili

Another yummy recipe and perfect for a cold winter day like today! Makes a ton of food for a group of people or some for leftovers. My only comment on this one was that the broth is a little thin. I'm thinking next time we'll add a tablespoon or two of cornstarch or flour to thicken it up a bit!

 

Fall off the bone BBQ Ribs 

For BBQ lovers this is another amazing recipe. We made these on a smaller scale one night for just the two of us and then made several racks of ribs for tailgating for that awful Bronco's game last Sunday. Thankfully this recipe provides you the measurements for both! Making the ribs in the crock pot keeps them nice and juicy, then broiling them or throwing them on the grill for a few minutes after makes the outside just a little crispy. SO good! For a much simpler recipe forget all the rub ingredients and just douse your ribs in BBQ sauce in the crock pot. So simple and still really good.

 

Breakfast Frittata

Adam I made ourselves mini Frittatas the other day for breakfast based off of the recipe from a blog called For the Love of Cooking. If you want a huge selection of recipes to try check out her blog! She has tons of options that I can't wait to try! We didn't really follow this whole recipe, just kind of used the basics and made it our own with what we had in the fridge, we also split the ingredients into two small bowls so that we could customize our frittatas with what we really like! We used the same measurements for the eggs, milk, salt and pepper and only used about two small potatoes to shred and put on the bottom. From there we added chopped up ham, onions, and shredded cheese (Adam then added some jalapenos to his and I put a little garlic salt in mine.) After that we followed the cooking instructions in the above recipe and just monitored them to make sure they were cooked completely. They turned out REALLY good! And it would be simple to customize these to your taste. Here's a look at how ours turned out....

That's all for now, but I have many more recipes that I want to try so IF they're successful I'll be sure to pass them on! And since it's been forever here's some quote love! 

xoxo~ Jamie