Holiday Cheer

I compulsively buy address books. I have way more than I know what to do with but I just can't seem to help myself! I love sending mail and if I could, I would send mass mailouts at least once a month. I doubt people want to receive cards from my pets that often and postage and customized cards aren't cheap after a while, otherwise I'd totally do it! I think I finally bought my last address book for a while this week. It is a really nice one and I've combined all the addresses from my last books so it's a complete listing of just about everyone I know! I have been thinking about this year's Christmas card for about two weeks now and can't seem to decide what to do. I put A LOT of time and energy into my Christmas cards. At this point in my life, it's simply a logistics issue though. Having such massive pets does not make life any easier when including them in the holiday cheer. Oh, what's a girl to do?!?!? I'm so ready for Christmas. I'm anxious to get my cards done and can't wait to decorate all of my Christmas trees! Only a few months to go... ;)

Sunday Funday

I think having pets is the greatest adventure! I have met many fascinating people that I probably would have never met if it wasn't for my little babies. Take tonight for example, I went to my local Petco (my favorite store!) to shop around for the turtles and I met a pet photographer. She wants to take pics of all 6 of my torts/turtles!!! When I went to look at the Beta supplies, I found Gable's favorite fish food! I was so excited because they stopped carrying it for months and I went to every store to find it, even complained to a manager, but still had to buy alternative food that both Gable and Kingston didn't like as much. I was discussing it with Donna, the nice store clerk who has been on my entire journey of fish ownership with me. She asked about our fish and told me if they ever run out again to ask for her and she'll special order it for me. How nice!!! I will most certainly be taking her up on that offer. It's so funny that people know/recognize me because of my pets! I'm glad they mean so much to everyone who encounters them because they are pretty incredible :)

I decided to join the Dallas/Fort Worth Herpetological Society!!! I think that will be another fun way to meet fellow Reptile lovers and learn lots more about my torts/turtles. I need to mentally prepare myself- I'm sure once I start learning about other reptiles and amphibians I'll want more. I have a tendency to live in the extreme and when it comes to pets I just can't do that. I don't want to eventually end up on an episode of Animal Hoarding. Eek.

Today is August 1st which means this is the anniversary of when I first starting wearing make up! It's been FIFTEEN YEARS!!! That's more than half of my life. I can't even imagine how much time and money I've spent on make up in 15 years. I'm sure that would be depressing information. I spent a good part of my afternoon at Ulta. That store is so overwhelming. I went in for some conditioner and walked out with lots more. Of course. I looked at a lot of eye creams because sadly, Hydrolyze didn't work for me. ARGH!!! I didn't buy any because I have to do some research first but I think I might just have to come to terms with the fact that there is no help and I will forever have dark circles under my eyes. Yikes! That's not fun to think about at all. I'll post before and after pics later this week but trust me, there's NO difference :(

I Can Change

The theme on my You Can Heal Your Life calendar for the month of August is "I Can Change." That is so much easier said than done but I think I'm willing to try. There's a lot I need to change and I love that I'll be constantly reminded to do so. I'm all about positive affirmations and that's a simple enough one to remember so I'm sure I'll be saying it to myself A LOT this month! If you haven't read Louise Hay's You Can Heal Your Life I highly recommend it. Throughout any given day I use her positive affirmations countless times.

In the infinity of life where I am,
All is perfect, whole and complete.
Change is the natural law of my life. I welcome change.
I am willing to change. I choose to change my thinking.
I choose to change the words I use.
I move from the old to the new with ease and with joy.
It is easier for me to forgive than I thought.
Forgiving makes me feel free and light.
It is with joy that I learn to love myself more and more.
The more resentment I release,
The more love I have to express.
Changing my thoughts makes me feel good.
I am learning to choose to make today a pleasure to experience.
All is well in my world.

Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.

Tonight I joined freecycle.org and I am really excited about it!!! I despise contributing to waste and recycle absolutely everything I possibly can so I think I'll have a lot of fun with freecycle. I strongly encourage everyone to be more environmentally friendly. It's not always easy, especially when carrying around random trash items like water bottles and paper all day to ensure that they're properly disposed of, but it's so worth it! (For the most part, I'd say about 92% of the time, I use refillable water bottles but occassionally I grab a disposable bottle). Despite what my family says, I am not a recycling extremist. I can be a Nazi about it but mainly just with myself (and ANY of the trash that goes in/out of my house). I try not to pass judgement on people who don't recycle and prefer to lead by example so that perhaps others will see the value in it. I'd love to be really hardcore and start composting too! I guess now that I have the baby tortoises I won't have much food to throw out anymore though. They're my little garbage disposals and don't care if fruits/veggies are bruised or slightly old. They'll eat anything! I bet if they were humans they'd be freegans! What can I say? Chez Rey is all about saving the planet :)

Origin of Species

Last Friday was my parent's 39th Anniversary! I have the best parents in the world and I'm so grateful for them! My mom had jury duty and wouldn't you know, she got emotionally invested in the case she didn't get selected for and is now friends with the mom of the young man who was sentenced to 7 years last Wednesday. I doubt I would have cared as much as my mom did (in fact I KNOW it), but thinking about Eugene's sentence reminded me that I've never visited a jail! I sat in a trial for a BLaw class years ago though and it was really boring but I'm sure a jail visit would be extremely interesting. And scary. I would totally go for a visit if given the chance. I wonder if that'll ever actually happen?!?!?

Facebook sabbatical update: I decided on a day to reactivate my account but it was short lived. Just thinking about going back bores me. I wish there was some sort of guarantee that it'd be interesting again, like in the old days where people didn't post minute to minute updates on their lives, but I think those fun days have long passed. Looks like I'm right back where I started- offline with no return in sight. Oh well. Now that I'm a fish/turtle/tortoise/plant mom I don't really have time for FB. I do feel the world is being deprived of seeing all my babies since I'm quite sure not many of my friends read this blog. What's a girl to do?!?! Risk extreme boredom or allow only a few people the opportunity to see the best pets in the world? Lose-lose. Nobody wins. Ugh.

In other news, I am very excited about SHARK WEEK!!!!!!!!! I've been waiting patiently all year and it's finally here! Only 2 days to go... And only one week to go until Real Housewives of DC! I am such a reality show junkie. I am still considering a reality TV sabbatical but I just don't know if I can do it. I won't commit unless I know for sure that I will stay the course and I'm still not there yet. Not only is reality TV entertaining but it's educational as well. Take tonight for example- I learned what a push gift is. I've known the concept for a while but didn't know it had an acutal name until Bethenny Getting Married? when Jason and Max were discussing it on the way to the jewelry store. I also watched a documentary on the Galapagos tonight. I'll drop whatever I'm doing to learn about the Galapagos and tonight was no exception! It was fascinating. I learned about Boobie infanticide and it was really sad to watch the oldest chick force the baby out of the nest. Poor baby bird never had a chance. I despise birds but it was still sad watching the helpless baby die. Why can there only be one Brown Booby chick at a time?!?! Argh to survival of the fittest!

Bye Bye Birdie!

I Can't Smile Without You

I have truly never been happier than these last few weeks with our baby tortoises. I haven't seen them for about 5 days (I'm housesitting and they are staying with my parent's until I return home in a few days) but my pops texts me throughout the day with updates and sends me pictures. There literally aren't enough words to express how much I love them! I was moved to tears when my pops sent me this picture yesterday. It is BY FAR one of my favorite pictures of all time! I have it saved as one of my phone backgrounds and I find myself just staring at it throughout the day.

Elmer and Ernie. Pops thinks Elmer might be Elmeretta. Haha!!! I might have my little girl after all :)

Foil Licker

My favorite flip flops broke yesterday. I was devastated, truly sick about it! I was taking some little kids to lunch at Chipotle (yum!) and just as we were walking out their front door, my shoe broke. I tend to become very attached to random/seemingly meaningless things and my flips were one of my security blankets so to speak. They've gone on almost every trip with me and have literally walked all over the world and I loved them dearly. Well, besides being sad I had to find a quick fix because my emergency shoes weren't in my car for some reason (a problem which has since been fixed). Luckily, I had my trusty black duct tape with me and it once again saved the day! I really don't know if there has ever been a better invention than duct tape. It can seriously fix any problem! I don't know what I would do without it. The little girl I was with, Samantha, uses duct tape for crafts. I've only used it as a border in my bathroom- a genius idea of mine that saved hours of painting! After seeing some of her crafts I want to try and make stuff too! Here are some flowers Sam made...