crimson night....because we love them.

so friday night we hit up crimson night again. 

we're getting to the point where we don't invite anyone with us

because we're nervous they'll be offended that we think they actually go to things like this. 

but...all pride aside....they never let us down. 

they had awesome stuff this time. 

an oxygen bar (that actually did clear up brads sinuses), free massages, disco skating, carnival games, and chipotle catered. 

we did do the bowling this time which we promised

to do every time we go from now on. 

you just let us know when you want to go and we'll be there by your side without hesitation.

lisa hannigan and gary lightbody

there's truly no greater gift to me than when 2 fantastic artists come together and make some of the best music humanly possible.  i've loved lisa hannigan for some time now and her getting together with gary lightbody, lead singer from snow patrol, was their best idea yet. they made a song i cannot for the life of me stop listening too. 

please enjoy it as much as i do...every 3 minutes.

ikea makes us hyper.

jax is redoing her room and i think we've been more excited about it then jax. 

only because we get to help her pick stuff out. 

last night all the girls hit up ikea to pick out some stuff for her room (i'll show you the pictures after it's done, it looks adorable!) and for some reason we were all either hyper, or just out of control because we were laughing at the dumbest stuff. 

i truly treasure that even the small stuff with the girls ends up being a hoot.

thank goodness the men didn't come with us,

they would have been annoyed beyond repair.

one of these days to me.

 it's one of those days where i wish with all my life i can bake and cook like a champion.

have you tried my mom in laws homemade bread?

it'll blow your brain balls it's so good.

feeling good again.

my energy is finally back and i wake up excited again. 

i feel like i can't take for granted feeling good because i wanted it so bad when i was sick.  

i keep thinking back to some things i treasured this past couple of weeks that make me so freaking happy.

we were lucky enough to spend a lot of time this past week with brads brother ryan and liz from michigan.  their kids melt me to the point of not being able to function. one night i was tickling ashlyn's feet, their 4 year old red head, and she asked me to tell her a long bed time story about me and her. i ache thinking of how cute it was.

waking up to brad tickling my back saturday morning.

during the lesson on sunday, one of my young women asked me to tell her a story of back when i was high school, and then she followed by saying she loved the "version of me in high school". i'm sure because every time i talk about high school it has to do with me being an idiot.

cooper saying to stace, "we haven't seen melissa in years".

one day when i was sick i physically couldn't move, so i was laying on the couch half dead and just let my ipod play and this song came on.  i think it was the first and only time i smiled that day.

i was with my family on sunday and me, my sisters and my mom were laughing at some old pictures.  i treasure sitting around with my family making fun of ourselves. life is never serious with my family.

hearing my brother get excited about a kiss he layed on a girl he likes.

having a blast with the mirrors in an elevator with the young women. we took about a dozen pictures.

brad making his traditional valentines day red heart-shaped pancakes. i was too sick to even eat them. but the thought of him waking up early to make them in his garments leave me wanting to pinch his little buttcheeks.

this blog post.

sick and tired of being sick and tired.

this whole week i've spent on my coach moaning and whining. i've had a sickness i wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. i never went to the doctors because i truly hate going to the doctors.  but i did diagnose myself. it's called hellburninginmythroatitis. it sucks.  but im a huge wuss when it comes to being sick.  it doesn't happen that often to me, so when it does....i am truly a boob.

valentines day was not that exciting.  we didn't talk cheesy, or hug, or flirt or giggle like fags. we didn't even resort to nakedness.  i blame my sickness for all the above.

BUT-I DO HAVE GOOD NEWS REGARDING MY CARDIO CLASS!

FREE CLASSES FOR ALL DAYBREAK FITNESS CLASSES UNIL MARCH 6TH!! ALSO, I'M TEACHING ANOTHER CLASS FOR THE PUBLIC ON MONDAY NIGHTS AT 7:00PM @ DAYBREAK-WHICH WILL ONLY LAST UNTIL MARCH 6TH BUT IS FREE AS WELL!!

so put on your spankies and come tonight at 8:30.  i'm still feeling the sickness, but i'm on the upscale of things, so i should still be able to boss you around:). and remember, IT'S ALL FREE!!

hope to see you there:).

the good wifes guide.

this was from a real article back in 1955 from the magazine housekeeping monthly. 

i can't get enough of these tips. 

happy valentines day friends and family.  i'm lucky to have ya.

• Have dinner ready. Plan ahead, even the night before, to have a delicious meal ready on time for his return. This is a way of letting him know that you have be thinking about him and are concerned about his needs. Most men are hungry when they get home and the prospect of a good meal is part of the warm welcome needed. 

• Prepare yourself. Take 15 minutes to rest so you'll be refreshed when he arrives. Touch up your make-up, put a ribbon in your hair and be fresh-looking. He has just been with a lot of work-weary people. 

• Be a little gay and a little more interesting for him. His boring day may need a lift and one of your duties is to provide it.

• Clear away the clutter. Make one last trip through the main part of the house just before your husband arrives. Run a dustcloth over the tables.

• During the cooler months of the year you should prepare and light a fire for him to unwind by. Your husband will feel he has reached a haven of rest and order, and it will give you a lift too. After all, catering to his comfort will provide you with immense personal satisfaction.

• Minimize all noise. At the time of his arrival, eliminate all noise of the washer, dryer or vacuum. Encourage the children to be quiet.

• Be happy to see him.

• Greet him with a warm smile and show sincerity in your desire to please him.

• Listen to him. You may have a dozen important things to tell him, but the moment of his arrival is not the time. Let him talk first - remember, his topics of conversation are more important than yours.

• Don't greet him with complaints and problems.

• Don't complain if he's late for dinner or even if he stays out all night. Count this as minor compared to what he might have gone through at work.

• Make him comfortable. Have him lean back in a comfortable chair or lie him down in the bedroom. Have a cool or warm drink ready for him.

• Arrange his pillow and offer to take off his shoes. Speak in a low, soothing and pleasant voice.

• Don't ask him questions about his actions or question his judgment or integrity. Remember, he is the master of the house and as such will always exercise his will with fairness and truthfulness. You have no right to question him.

• A good wife always knows her place.

valentines love.

when i think of love, without a shadow of a doubt, i think
of my grandma and grandpa gibb.

they are the epitome of how we should all treat each other.

with selflessness, patience, humor, commitment and never ending care.
i've witnessed these things first hand.

i'm sure they had/have there hard times,
but the only thing that makes them different is that they know how
to overlook the small things, and focus on the bigger picture.
which is what i imagine got them through the years.

i hope your valentines weekend is filled with a lot of "i love you's", a lot of random hugging, corny lines,
little surprises, and endless good, romantic food.

and if you don't do any single one of those things,
you can never go wrong with a little nakedness.

blah blah blah.

this weather's killin' me. and for some reason it makes me crave sugar like the freaking dickens. 

are you still surprised i've made it this far? promise i am. 

i want to publicly thank brad for doing it with me. he's the kind of friend everyone should have.

today i was thinking about something that happened last week and, 

no joke, i've laughed about it 7 times sporadically throughout the day.  

jax was going through a hard time with a break up, so me and stace were talking with her one night and while we were all sad and feeling heavy hearted reese came over and pulled my pants down and before i could pull them back up she started laughing and said, "ha ha ha big poo poo". and in reese's language poo poo means bum bum.  we all started laughing so hard.  

thank goodness for moments like these and my fat rump for bringing so much joy to a 2 year old.

cross country skiing.

i love carson in the background....

 my dad sent out a text last thursday, 

"i'm going cross country skiing, who wants to come with me?".  

we've never been before so we jumped all over that, 

along with my 2 littlest brothers, carson and gentle-josh.

it was surprisingly awesome.  a good workout that's for sure...but awesome. 

i think the first half hour was the best because none of us had done it before 

except my dad so we were falling all over the place...

and i swear every fall ended up in the splits.  

there was a time i was laughing so hard at gentle-josh 

while he was laying on the ground just sobbing because he didn't have any more energy to get up.  

and i literally had no energy to help him up because i was laughing so hard. 

i'm a rude sister.

i want to take up cross country skiing as a hobby. 

when me and brad are loaded (and by loaded i mean making more than minimum wage)

we both agreed we'd take it up. 

the scenery was breathtaking and the mountains were still and quiet.

it was extremely refreshing. therapeutic even.

thanks pops, you made the weekend fantastic with that brilliant idea!

bed head

these are real pictures.  freshly woken up.

i have a collection of these kinds of pictures in my phone. 

and brad gets sent about 3-4 of these kinds of pictures a week. 

now that my hair is shorter i have the most outrageous bed head i can ever imagine.

so don't mind the hideousness.

it's almost become one of the first things i do when i wake up,

is take a picture of my perfect bed head and send it to brad.

it's been a rather slow week this week.  nothing too exciting going on. 

i did get a new job last week of teaching step in the select health building. 

now i officially teach 3 classes a week and it makes it impossible for me to wrap my head around people that teach 6-8 hours a day.  unfathomable.

prayer.

tonight one of our inactive girls came to young women.  she's 13 and i asked her to say the pray on some soup we made.  this was part of her prayer:

......"thanks for letting us be here.  i know i haven't talked to you in awhile, hopefully i can talk to you soon. and thanks for the food..."

melted me down to the core.