A little bit about me...

I was born and raised in Southern California.  I have two younger brothers and we had a normal childhood with parents that loved us and did all that they could so that we were able to experience nice things in life.  At one point both parents worked for the airlines, so we did lots and lots of traveling growing up.  My parents ended up getting a divorce when I was in college.  It was very difficult to be the oldest child and the one that each of them would turn to so that they could vent and complain about the other person.  I was stuck in the middle.  Before then, I met my husband who became my rock through the hard times.  During the years that we were dating he was my safe place.  No matter how crazy my life got, he was there for me.  He never did anything but support me while I was dealing with my parents divorce, my mom's diagnosis with endometrial cancer, my steady weight gain and all of the issues in between.

I met Adam when I was 19 and we dated for about 6 years before getting married.  We moved to AZ shortly after getting married and purchased a brand new home.  Something that would only be a dream to us in CA.  A few years later we decided to start a family.  It took me over a year and a half, a diagnosis of PCOS, and a few rounds of fertility drugs to finally conceive our son.  He was the precious gift that everyone in my family was waiting for.

Then a couple of weeks after he was born, my world changed.  My mom was diagnosed with cancer.  She was originally diagnosed with endometrial cancer right before my wedding.  She had a hysterectomy and all signs of it were gone.  Then all of a sudden, about a week after Baby G was born, she started getting blood clots and was told she has recurrent cervical cancer that had spread to her lymph nodes.  There was no cure and on April 20, 2008 I lost one of the most important people in the world to me...my best girlfriend... my mom.  She wanted nothing more than to be a grandma and never really got to experience it.  Baby G was the perfect baby and I cherish every day that they had together before she was taken away from him when he was only 4 months old.  So, basically the first year of being a new mom was a blur.  My vision was tainted by the fact that I had no one to turn to when I needed mommy advice.

Fast forward to today... I have a 4 year old son, I am overweight and feel totally unhealthy, my house is in need of major organization, and I feel like I need to be a better wife to the man who has gone from rock to mountain.  No matter how hard I may lean on him, I know he will never budge.

Welcome

Welcome to my little space on the web.  A little place to call my own.  My name is Monica, I live with my husband, 4 year old son, and 1 year old black lab.  We traded the California ocean for the Arizona desert in 2004 and have never looked back.  (well, we go back often to visit family, but we are always happy to come home)

I would like this blog to not only be an outlet for me to express my feelings, which I sometimes have a hard time doing in person, but also to help me in my journey to become healthy, organized, and live the life that I was meant to live.
I would also like to have an outlet to express the things that I love.  Things like my family, scrapbooking, crafts, photography, cooking and anything else that I am excited about at the moment.

So, grab a drink or a snack and stay a while...

Under construction...

This blog is brand new so please be patient while I get the hang of it!