Day 7- A picture of someone or something that has an impact on you

Well I'm one week into this challenge. I can safely say that I have enjoyed doing this little thing. Its been funny to have a different thing to write about each day and even more fun to be a little creative with the way I answer those questions(check out day 6).

Today's challenge is a picture of someone or something that has an impact on me. This one is very easy for me.  See the someone or something that has the biggest impact on me are my kids.

My children impact everything that I do. They impact where I live, what kind of car I drive, when I work, what I buy, what I watch on TV, when I shower, when I eat and where I go in this world. My children are the reason I do almost anything in the world. When I cook it usually is with a thought of what they would like to eat and what they had at school for lunch. When we go car shopping it is with the kids in mind that we purchase something big enough to hold all of them. When I plan trips it has a lot to do with the comfort of my children. When I watch TV it is with the thought of do I want the kids to see this sort of stuff.

I'm sure some of my friends are probably looking at this and thinking wow, I'm glad I don't have kids. Having children doesn't make you have to change, you do it for a reason. I changed because I look at my children and see the future of the world in them. They might be future super-star athletes, or doctors, or lawyers, or teachers, or entrepeneurs, or captains of industry.

Whenever it starts getting hard, or I get frustrated with them or what I have to do, I try to think about the parents of great people. I think about the parents of notable people like Dr. King, President Lincoln, Bill Gates, President Obama, Condeleeza Rice, Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama. These are people that grew into greatness but they arrived like the rest of us on the this planet, they arrived as a baby needing parents to care for them.

Each day I think am I do what I can to give my children the best start in life? Am I encouraging an open mind? Am I setting high moral standards? Am I encouraging a love of learning? Am I teaching them to excel? Am I teaching them about compassion and love? Am I encouraging them to help other people, even if the people don't appreciate that help? Am I teaching them about the world? All of these questions run through my mind. All of these are important things that I want to give my children. Because someone has to be great in the next generation and who's to say it isn't them!!!!!

Day 6- My favorite superhero and why

Hum....This one is a little bit of a challenge. I have never been much into Superheros. I mean I watch the superhero movies and all but I'm not a freak about them. So since I have to pick one I'll go with

Ok so I guess this is sort of cheating since as far as I know there is no "Super Mom" character. But if there was this is a list of 10 of the "Extraordinary or Superpowers" she would need.

1. Super cooking powers(making all those meals and bake sales)

2. Super memory(remembering all the appointments for everyone in the family)

3. No need for sleep( who has time for that anyway)

4. X-ray vision(now you can really see if that room is being cleaned up)

5.Speed reading(for when you get the 2 minutes to read something you want to a day)

6. Self cleaning clothing(especially useful if this happended instantly)

7. Automatic makeup and hair (for when you see someone you didn't want to run into)

8. Auto-tune hearing( for hearing things far away and more importantly tuning out things you don't want)

9. Ability to clone (this is helpful for when you have to be at more than one place at the same time)

10. Teleporting (this would help with getting where you gotta go faster)

Ok so I know that this wasn't the real intention of the challenge question, then again the challenge is only a guide right. It's only meant to inspire me to write about all types of things. I don't think it would be hard for anyone to see why this superhero would be my favorite. Being a parent(not just mommies) is a tough job, that is to say if you are doing it correctly. I hate to say it but I know a lot of parents that didn't do it right and now have issues they are dealing with in later years.

 Raising a child is not a 9-5 job, its a 24/7/365 for the entire lifespan job. There is no day off!  There is no sick day call in. It isn't easy to have kids and it isn't always fun. The thing I can say though is that being a mom is the best job on the planet because not only do you give yourself a better life if you do it right you also give the entire Earth a better life if you do the job right.

And that to me has SUPER MOM written all over it!!!



Day 5-A picture of someplace I've been

I haven't been very many places. I haven't traveled nearly as much as I would like. My favorite place I have been though is

Washington ,DC!!!! I've been to Washington,DC twice. The city is such an amazing city to me. When I was younger I went with my dad and brothers on one of our yearly vacations. We went to many of the museums and walked by the capital and the Whitehouse. It was so cool to see. We also ate at the Hard Rock Cafe.

My second visit was in 2008 with Rashaan and the kids!

Here is a picture of us in the National Mall. You can see the captail building behind us. On the day we visited there was a bunch of rec leagues playing softball in the mall. I tried to imagine the lives these people lead. Are they congressional aids? Are they lobbyist? Are they teachers, doctors and lawyers? Some of my favorite activities in a city is to visit the places that people who live there visit. I love to sit back and observe the lives of people who live in this fantastic area that I came to visit.

I'm busy planning a return visit to Washington. Hoping to hit it next summer as a longer stay. The size of the buildings and the thought of what occurs inside them is enough to inspire anyone. The history of Washington,DC. The size and planning behind it. All of this inspires me.

One thing that inspires me each time I go someplace in America is how amazing this country we live in is. Just how many truly beatiful places that exist. It amazes me to see how in times of great people can unite and make something so great that it is recognized all over the world.

So with all that being said I am going to close with one thought. Well not so much of a thought but a statement. God Bless America, My home sweet home!

Day 4-A habit I have that I wish I didn't

I don't smoke, I don't chew my nails...I'm gonna have to dig deep on this one......

????????

Let's see. I guess my habit that I wish I didn't have is eating when I'm stressed out!!!!

I especially enjoy foods that aren't very good for me that make me feel awesome

like this Lava Fudge Cupcake from Georgetown Cupcakes!!!!

I've been working on ways to curb the stress eating. I'm trying to replace it with healthier habits like

working out....even though those of you that read Day 1 will know that I'm not a big fan of working out.

I'm also trying other forms of reducing stress....I've been exploring things like meditation and ......

Yoga! I actually enjoy Yoga and Pilates a lot. I am getting much better at some of the poses but in all honesty I still resort to eating when I am stressed....because nothing soothes the soul like the first bite of a delicious cupcake!!!!!

Day 3- A picture of you and your friends and some info about it and them

So Day three requires me to post a picture of my friends and some info about them and the picture. Well I looked through lots of pictures and thought I'd start with this one....

(Amie,me,Beth, Andrea)

This picture is from the night of our wedding. It was after we got married and we had decided to hang out for awhile with our friends. I think this was taken at Shawbucks. These three girls with me are my closest friends from college.
Amie and Beth were my Sophomore year roomates, along with Nancy who isn't in this picture. We loved living together and I am so blessed to have had the most amazing roomates in the world...Andrea and I met through Amie and we went to Sunday night mass together every Sunday when we where in college. Andrea also happens to be Calen's Godmother.

These are my bridesmaids at the wedding. You can see Beth, Andrea and Amie in the picture. It's such a blessing to have these amazing women in my life still. Each of these girls is special to me in a different way. Andrea because she is caring and hardworking. Beth because she loves being a mommy as much as I do and Amie because she is always so kind and doesn't sweat the small stuff.

These are my friends and I love them very very much!!!!

Day 2-Meaning behind your Blogger name

Well. This is sort of not that interesting. My blogger name is "Liz" which as most people know is a common abbreviation for "Elizabeth". So what is the meaning behind Liz.....

Well Liz as actually a nickname that I got when I went to college. It mostly picked up because I had a roomate who's name is Beth....not Elizabeth, just Beth. In an effort for messages from home to get to the right person I agreed to be called Liz and she was Beth. Here's a picture from our UB days in the dorm!!!

As time went on Liz grew on me. Mostly because most everyone I met after that got the introduction that my name was Elizabeth but they could call me Liz!....My husband's bestfriend Chris(Kyra's Godfather) took it one step further and started calling me.......

You guessed it LIZARD....I think this is sort of funny and am not offended by the name at all...Although most people think I am crazy for that!!!! I think it is sort of playful...It makes me smile when he calls me Lizard now!!!

Sometimes I sign off as Liz, or LJ...which is just the simple abbreviation of my intitals...So this is where my blogger name came from and a little bit about it!!!!

Day 1- A picture of me

Day 1 of the 30 day challenge says "Post a recent picture of yourself and 15 interesting facts about yourself." This should be fun! So here we go....

This is my most recent photo. It's after my fabolous new makeover. For those of you that don't know I have an aversion to short hair. It took me forever to pick out this hairstyle. I used one of those nifty little virtual makeover websites and uploaded a picture. They style I choose to copy was Victoria Beckham. I always wanted to be a Spice girl...

Now on to 15 facts about me. I don't know as they will be interesting to you or not...but they are none the less 15 things that are about me. Enjoy!!!!

1. I am addicted to Unsweetened Iced Tea with lots of ice. (I easily drink a gallon a day of it)
2. I am in love with M&M's! I especially like the Peanut Butter ones.
3. I am the only left handed child of two right handed parents. (Go figure that one out!)
4. I eat Cherrios not because they are good for me but because I truly love them.
5. I love to bake and I'm pretty good at it. I have the chocolate chip cookie recipe memorized
6. I love to draw and paint, this is my personal passion and I don't do it often
7. I hate to exercise. I'm not talking about walking or stuff like that I'm talking about in the gym, running on a treadmill. It seems like such a waste of time to me.
8. My favorite type of food is italian food.
9. I can read a defense in football( this skill is credited to my husband)
10. I was a three sport athlete in high school (volleyball, basketball, track)
11. I've been with my husband since I was 19 yrs old.
12. I hate my stretch mark stomach.
13. My dream vacation is to go to the Vatican.
14. I'm a moderate democrat. ( I have conservative moral views but liberal economic views)
15. I always wanted to be model.