Blog Posts by k8blujay

Well my Shine friends, I know that I haven't been posting a lot through out this pregnancy. Shoot, I haven't even given you a photo to oogle over. But to be honest, this has been a pretty dull pregnancy, which surprises me to no end. I'm so serious, my doctors appointments take literally 5 minutes. The most that has happened is having to get the Rhogam shot (for us lucky ladies with Rh negative blood) and have to take iron pills for my anemia. I haven't gained the massive amounts of weight that pregnant women supposedly gain (5 pounds total since my first appointment to my last) as hard as I try. And how exciting can I really be if I'm more prone to sleep or be a sloth on the couch watching the millions of reruns of Criminal Minds, with except to those rare bouts of energy where I can actually clean our house.

But alas, I am now in the middle of my 31st week. And our little girl will be here shortly (and that is when I'm sure the stories will start, if she is ANYthing like her

Read More »from The home stretch.

Now, I don't proclaim myself to be a feminist by any means. I am just a woman. I am a woman that comes from a long line of strong women. I am the first woman in that line to have had the opportunity to go to college and get my Bachelors of Science degree. Something that my mother and my grandmother always wanted to do, but never did and regretted it wholeheartedly. They were women that instilled in me the notion that this is most definitely a man's world and that I would have a harder time making it without a formal education. They are right. As I see my brother just younger than me, not have any formal education beyond highschool, as of this moment, make nearly as much as I do with a degree. But that was a lot of my fault, I chose to go the Geosciences route. And we just don't make that much money, that's probably why the majority of us look a lot like "hippies". We can't afford the suits like the engineers and business(wo)men can.

I digress.

I have always been surrounded

Read More »from User post: Is this really the message for our daughters?

The past few weeks, I haven't really been feeling myself... I haven't wanted to eat. The thought of food just isn't all that appealing to me, even though I'm practically starving. But in all honesty, this is how I feel every other time I have sinus and allergy problems... which I have constantly. And besides, it's been crazy hot lately, and I don't like to eat all that much when it's hot outside either... and the tiredness... forget that, I'm always tired. Especially, when I'm all doped up on Sudafed (the behind the counter stuff cause it's all that works for me) and whatever allergy medicine that's working at keeping my sneezing at bay. And not having my periods... pshaw! I hardly had them before I was on birth control so it didn't really dawn on me. So while not feeling all that different just a little sick, I've been having a few people close to me (my husband, my mom and the one lady co-worker I talk to constantly) nag me at taking a pregnancy test. So I did... and much to my

Read More »from User post: But, I don't feel pregnant!

Ok, now I love Shine and the people to death... but the Customer Care... not so much.... in event of the disappearing comments all over the site, I decided to take some advice and click the help button, which lead me to here http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/shine/... Ok cool.... then I went here http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/shine/forms_index.html;_ylt=AtuJm_C1.Pjocr77J..JHTXJ0yh4?last_url=http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/shine/index.html

Awesome! Now I can contact people to maybe get the word to them that our comments that are not otherwise reportable or against TOS or even the least bit snarky are disappearing... all over the site... Now, I'm not one to complain (much) but this is getting rediculous... But when I get a response such as this:

Hello,

Thank you for writing to Yahoo! Shine.

I understand you are noticing that user comments are disappearing. If
you're not seeing a comment you or someone else posted, it could be
because enough readers on

Read More »from Seriously?!

Well it's been almost 3 months since I have gotten off my booty and excercised. And after trying many different things (like Step Aerobics and walking/jogging on a treadmill), I finally found the exercise I absolutely love. ZUMBA! For those that don't know what Zumba is, is a dance aerobics class that incorporates moves inspired by Salsa, Belly Dancing, Raggaeton, Merengue, Cumbia, Chachacha, Tango and many others. Even though I don't have a dancers body, I love to dance. So this was the perfect choice for me. I originally started to go to Zumba classes only twice a week in addition to trying other fitness classes. But I quickly became bored with the other fitness classes, they seemed like it was work. It was to the point that every 5 minutes I would look at the clock and think, "Crap, it's not even half over yet". But in Zumba I rarely look at the clock and before I know it I have worked out for a whole hour and barely noticed.

Because of this experience I have come to the

Read More »from User Post: Taking the work out of the workout

Self-Image. It's a funny thing really. It's how we preceive ourselves. It usually has nothing to do with how other people see us. You can be told your pretty or cute or beautiful, but unless you see it for yourself you will never believe it. Or you might believe it for one or two instances, but not as a rule. So what makes us believe that we are beautiful? Is it eating right and exercising? Is it the right clothes? The right shoes? The right job, husband or kids? Or is it more extreme, like plastic surgery? Or is it how we exude ourselves from the inside?

Right now as I'm finally getting off the couch and exercising, I find myself struggling more with what I see in the mirror (and usually only the mirror in the aerobics class) than I do if I'm not heading over to my aerobics classes. You have these women that have been going to these classes for months (at least) or years. Perhaps they have always exercised and never stopped, like I did. And let me tell you, they look good. They look

Read More »from User Post: A Struggle with Self-Image

So as we all are freezing to some degree or another I have been doing a lot of day dreaming... and by day dreaming I mean wishing I was anywhere but the US (minus Hawaii or possibly Southern California)... and as I was thinking about it, I thought that maybe I should bring a little bit of heat to Shine as we all are freezing our butts off from the piles of snow or the biting wind or the rain that doesn't seem to stop in one of the coldest winters in US history...

So I bring to you, A little bit of warmth and longing to be anywhere but here... :D

So please, grab a Pina Coloda, Margarita or whatever your drink of choice is and enjoy.

Photobucket





Photobucket

Photobucket



































Are y'all feeling warm yet? Or do you need some more?

I thought so! :D


image from concierge.com







image from venere.com

I hope y'all feel just a bit warmer now... :D

Now that you have seen all these lovely photos, where would you like to be at this very moment? Me? I would love to be here... ;)

Image from keylargoresort.com




credits: The first four pictures are mine and the other three are linked to their respective

Read More »from In response to Snowmageddon 2010