Gatlinburg, Tennessee Road Trip! 🚗

Hi there!

Two weekends ago, we took a family trip to Gatlinburg pretty much up in the Great Smoky Mountains. It’s winter so obviously there isn’t greenery everywhere, but we were lucky to see some! And we also got to see snow very high up in the mountains.

The trip started on Friday when we left at 5am. I wasn’t even tired when I was getting up that morning, I was too excited for this trip even though I knew we had a long 7 hours ahead of us. We spent those 7 hours talking about random stuff and looking at the things we were driving past. My dad had some cool stories for us if we drove past something he remembered when he used to be a truck driver. The hours flew by and by the time we knew it, we were already approaching Gatlinburg. I forgot that this place was high up in the mountains and I got a little scared because my dad was driving – he’s not a bad driver, I just only trust myself when it comes to driving up in high elevations.

It took about 45 minutes to drive up to our cabin and when we finally got there, we couldn’t believe the views! It was a bunch of cabins built by each other, but far enough in between each other where you had your own privacy, so it was perfect. We found our cabin and as soon as we parked, I walked over to look at the views. There was some snow at the top so I was taking a bunch of pictures and everyone wanted pictures with that in the background. We had a little photoshoot and then started bringing our stuff inside.

The place was beautiful, so nicely decorated. I felt like a little kid running around saying “wow” to all of the stuff in there. I was super excited about the pool table and the jacuzzi because I already knew we’d be spending a lot of time with both of those. I took out my camera and started recording everything and everyones reactions. I think the first thing we did after unpacking was chilling in the jacuzzi and drinking some wine. It was so relaxing! It was a little chilly outside, nothing too cold, but perfect for the temperature of the jacuzzi. The views were great and the wine was great. My dad had a cold and was on medication and he couldn’t drink wine so we had to get him sparkling juice without alcohol. That was the funniest part since he is a huge wine fan! He still enjoyed it though.

We spent the next day exploring and driving around to see what cool stuff we could find. We went to a wine store and bought some really good wine and drove into this park that had a pretty river. We spent our nights playing pool and being competitive in UNO. UNO was so much fun and it was hilarious to see my parents play it as well. My sister was the sassiest one there, so we had to watch out for her! On our way back home, we stopped in Nashville to try some BBQ. It was good, but Texas BBQ still has my heart!

This was a great trip where lots of memories were made and lots of fun was had. Anytime with my family is a great time!!

Here are some pictures 🙂

Long weekend + the flu 🤒

Good morning!

Last post I talked about my Thanksgiving and that Friday I took work off. Well, Saturday was a very pretty day with a high of 62 degrees so later that night we went to a bonfire with some friends and it was nice. It wasn’t too cold, but it got chilly by 10pm. By the time we left, I was FREEZING. I just thought that it was just because I was by the fire and half of me was warm and half of me was cold. But as soon as I got into the car, my spine started hurting. It was the weirdest thing! After 15-20 mins, I started getting aches everywhere. When I got home, I was shaking uncontrollably and I felt like it was zero degrees in my house. I had Mirhad wrap me up in 4 blankets and give me Nyquil. That night I ended up having a fever which turned into the flu. I’ve been trying to get rid of it since then and haven’t gone into work with fear of getting everyone around me sick. I would hate that. So I’m not going in until my symptoms are gone.

Besides that darn flu, I haven’t been productive at all and it sucks!!! I’ve been trying to clean up little by little which is working, but I can see how weak I am and it’s weird because I haven’t had the flu since like 5 years ago. That time I didn’t get out of bed for 2 weeks and I feel like that would be the case with this if I didn’t have to work! 

I’m coming up with my 2019 goals list slowly, there are some good stuff on there so far! I have lots of plans for 2019 and I am super excited! I think it’ll be a great year 🙂 Anyone else start coming up with their 2019 goals??

Today we will try to leave the house and go grocery shopping for some items and see if we can pick up something as a gift for my moms bday that’s in 2 days! We also have our nieces bday coming up next week so we need to find her a gift soon too.

But yeah, that’s my quick update.. until next time when I have a quality post and when I’m not sick 🙂

West Coast Road Trip Pt.4: Yosemite!

After SFO, the next stop was Yosemite. We let ourselves sleep in, got up, had breakfast, and started our road trip to Yosemite. So it’s about 3 hours and 20 minutes to Yosemite and we got there pretty fast.

 

Last year when we went to Yosemite, we came from Lake Tahoe so it was faster overall. The side we came from last time was very pretty, but this time there weren’t a lot of good views. There were some parts that were cool, but mostly it was just trees and dead trees from the recent fire. Some parts were scary to drive through, but nothing like the first time we went!

When we finally made it to the part where it has two road options, we decided to go towards the beach side because our Airbnb was that way anyways and Mirhad just couldn’t wait to see that. We didn’t have time to go back and see the falls on the other side, but that’s for next time! It took about an hour to get to the beach area and when we got there, Mirhad fell asleep right away on the sand.

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It was as beautiful as the last time we were there. We stayed at the beach for a good hour, soaking up some sun and just relaxing after our long drive. After chilling for a bit, we decided to explore the area and take some pictures since we couldn’t drive to the other side. We got some cool pictures though using the self timer on our camera so it was fun to click the button and run quickly to get in a good pose.

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We got hungry after a while and went to this gas station to eat. We had a REALLY good burger, we were actually shocked as to how yummy it was. This was also the same gas station we went to last time we were in Yosemite so it was cool to reminisce on those memories. After we ate, we grabbed some snacks and we started driving towards our Airbnb. I didn’t expect the Airbnb to be SO nice. We had mountain views and everything we needed. Although, we didn’t really spend time outside when we arrived… we went straight to bed as we knew we had another day of driving ahead of us. Next up, Vegas!!!

Happy Tuesday! :)

Good morning!!!!

Woke up at 7 this morning to do something for work (have to put something together every other Tuesday for a meeting the following day) so I’ve been up for about an hour and 30 min. Finished my thing for work about 15 mins ago and made myself a cup of coffee. I’m trying to cut down on sugar from like creamers and stuff like that, so this time I only used real brown sugar, milk, and whipping cream. It actually doesn’t taste bad at all!

So the plan is to work out today, probably around 9ish. Was going to work out yesterday, but I came home and fell asleep lol. But it’s okay, I’ll do it eventually hahaha. Today is a bit colder outside, so I’ll have to bundle up to go out there. 

What else?? I GOT MY SD CARD WITH ALL MY PICS AND FOOTAGE!!!!! WHICH MEANS I’LL 100% BE FINISHING THE BLOG POST TODAY AND STARTING ON MY VIDEO TO UPLOAD TO YOUTUBE!! WOOHOO!!!! I’ve been waiting for it and I made Mirhad go get it last night after class at 10 😂 so I’l be doing that as soon as I’m done with this post. 

This weekend was super busy, we had a surprise baby shower for my sister in laws sister in law hahaha. She was totally surprised and it was so sweet. Can’t wait to meet that little munchkin! After the baby shower, we went to my bff’s parents house and chilled there for a bit. Her mom made delicious food (as always) and we just stayed until like 9ish when Sanela left for the Djani concert. Overall, it was a fun but busy day. Hoping next weekend I can take more time to relax than anything.

This week will probably fly by, so I’ve made a quick to do list and wrote it in my journal. Hope I can cross off A LOT so I don’t have to move it to next week lol. Have been eating healthy and already feel better. I just want my skin to improve, it’s such shit right now. I always forget to do face masks, but it’s my goal to do one weekly. Also need to put a mask on my hair too, as it feels pretty dry sometimes. 

So this is a quick post as I’m eager to start doing the other things, talk to you soon! 🙂

Dallas, Texas Trip 2018

Hey there!

Earlier this week I promised a Dallas blog post and I am here to fulfill that promise 🙂

So this Dallas trip was meant to be a short, weekend trip. It was my birthday last Wednesday and we decided to leave on Thursday after I got off of work. One thing I will never do again is wait last minute to pack… I literally came home at 3pm and we wanted to leave at 5 so that left me 2 hours to pack everything I needed and also take a quick shower. It was lots of pressure to get out of the house by 5, but we did it and had to go grab some food and go to Walmart because we forgot something. So we actually ended up leaving around 6 lol. For a second I was annoyed because that means we have to drive until like 3-4am, but I got over it because after all IT IS a weekend trip 🙂

We had lots of fun on the drive, lots of good music, some good snacks, and just the open road. Honestly, I feel like there really is no better feeling in life than taking a trip, driving out on the open road, blasting your favorite music, and forgetting about all of your worries.

We arrived at our Airbnb around 3-4am, I was a little scared of walking around so late at night in a new city, but it actually ended up being perfectly fine and safe. Our garage was right next to the Airbnb so we checked in with security. As soon as we got into our room, we knocked out. Woke up the next morning ready to explore. We swam a lot on the rooftop pool, ate lots of BBQ, and explored what the city had to offer. I didn’t take lots of pictures, but I took some and they are good memories to me.

 

It was a very fun trip and for the first time in my life, I heard Mirhad say “that was fun, we should do it again, I’m excited for the next trip!” Literally have never heard him say that, so I was so excited to hear it and that means many more weekend trips to come 🙂 and also going back to Dallas because we had so much fun and it’s not that far!

His birthday is coming up so I am trying to figure out a cool city to visit, we want to take a train this time so it can literally be anywhere. Maybe Houston? He was saying he would like to visit Houston, but we’ll see. I think I’ll take off that Wed-Fri so that gives us some more time to enjoy his birthday week/weekend 🙂

Anyways, I recommend visiting Dallas if you haven’t already. It’s seriously a beautiful city, I mean all of Texas that we saw was super nice. Also – Southern Hospatality is so real, this is the first time I’ve experienced it and PEOPLE ARE SO NICE HERE! It’s so different compared to St. Louis and the people are so different and much nicer lol.

Go visit Dallas!!!! You won’t regret it.

 

Saturday 🌸

Good morning!

Last time I blogged, we were getting Thor in just 5 days. Well, he’s here now!!! We got him Monday so it’s been 6 days and to be honest, it’s been a busy 6 days. I also started work on Monday so on top of Thor coming home, I’ve been SO TIRED. Every time my alarm goes off at 6 AM for work, he’s up wanting to go outside to use the bathroom. He came home to us partially potty trained, so we just had to show him where to go to the bathroom and he’s had a few accidents, but he’s still learning. Now when he wants to go to the bathroom, he usually goes to the door or whines for a bit. But he really does have a routine of going to the bathroom before going to bed and at 6 AM, it’s adorable.. he’s such a smart puppy. 

I could probably write a book about all of the cute little things he does, but I’ll just write a few right now. He slept in our bed for 2 nights because we just wanted some sleep because he whined all night. Recently, we found a brown recluse in the house, so Mirhad has been clearing out the house and doing all kinds stuff to get rid of them and have them stay out. So we let him sleep on our bed and it was the cutest thing, he turns to a new position like every 20 or so minutes and at one point he ended up by my feet and right in between our pillows trying to take over them. So cute! Last night, we got him to sleep in his bed surrounded by the crate and I don’t know how this happened, but we woke and he was above Mirhad’s head sleeping on his pillow. We laughed so hard and put him back in his bed.. he’s such a little sneakster. He seriously melts my heart. 

First week of work was good, Adisa and I had lunch together everyday, we just switch which building! I didn’t get any real work this week, but I was able to get training, cleaning/decorating my cube, and other first week check-list stuff done. I’m very excited to start working on the real stuff, my co-worker who was my mentor last summer is out of the country for 3 weeks so when she’s back she’s handing over some roles to me, YAY!

Glad it’s the weekend though, it’s been a tiring week. I wanted to sleep in this morning, but Thor did not want to sleep so he whined for a while. He did knock out for about 2 hours, but then woke up around 8 wanting to go pee and eat. Did all of that and he played with some of his toys and now he’s napping. I found out that puppies at around 8 weeks nap between 18-22 hours a day.. crazy because he’s ALWAYS napping unless people are over to see him. But seriously, it’s only been 6 days and Mirhad and I are in love with him, he’s such a perfect fit with our little family 🙂 

Today Mirhad will be working on the house, but I think we might go grocery shopping first and later I might go buy some stuff for my cubicle to decorate it. I already put pictures up and printed some more I have to pick up today. It’s mostly pictures of Thor, here are some btw.. 🙂

Love him!!!! 😍😍😍

Started watching this show called Dynasty, it’s pretty good, I am watching it currently while drinking coffee which I haven’t had since I started working because my mornings are so busy and I forget, but I’ve missed it! I’m about to make some breakfast.. probably eggs with avocados.. my fave 😋

Until next time.. bye! 🙂 

My Bridal Shower 🌸

Hi there!

I had my bridal shower on Sunday April 22, 2018 and I wanted to post some pictures from the event! I had a lot of fun and I hope my guests did too!

The decorations were soooo cute and the cake was beautiful. Everything was just the way I wanted it and without my close family and friends, it wouldn’t have been as great as it was! I’m thankful for all of the people who were there with me until the end. Love you all! ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤

Tuesday April 24, 2018 🌿

Good morning!

Happy Tuesday!! It was a busy weekend and pretty much for the next month it’ll be very busy. So I had my bridal shower and I had SO MUCH FUN!! I’m so glad I was able to spend it with my friends and family. We took a lot of photos and had so much fun with the photo booth and the props. In the end, we took a group photo of the people who didn’t leave after they ate and it’s adorable.. we all held up random funny props. My sister in law has them on her camera so I’m just waiting for her to send them to me. I do have lots of pictures my friends took though, so I am going to upload those too 🙂

After the bridal shower, Mirhad and I, my parents, my sister, Irfan, Mirhad’s parents and sister, my niece and nephew, and Sanela all went to our new house and opened up presents. It was so much more fun opening them at home with family because I didn’t have to awkwardly take pictures with the guests holding up the presents. I liked it this way so much better. Time also passed by so fast during the shower that we wouldn’t even have had time to do it. We ended up playing 3 games – musical chairs, the toilet paper wedding dress, and this game where you have 15 balloons and each balloon has a date in it and if you got the date we started dating you won a prize. It was funny to see everyone popping the balloons on the floor hahaha. So whoever won got a nice present 🙂 I had a lot of fun and we ended up having 3 cars full of presents, it was crazy! So I will be making a separate post about my shower and then when I get the professional pics I’ll make another one 🙂

Yesterday we got the kitchen for the house!!! My parents are putting it together today and a lot of it was done yesterday as well. Soon we have to go pick out a granite top and that’s pretty much it. Saturday our furniture comes and it is soooooo cute!! It’s going to look so good in the living room 😀 This is what we picked out:

So it is that exact color and we got the glass table too! I think it’s going to look good with the carpet I got a while back. Can’t wait to see it in the living room officially. We got this set from Weekends Only! We still have to go shopping for a dining room table set and a bedroom set as well. We are going to go look at office desks so we can get the office going.

We also booked a trip to Colorado in May so I am so excited, I cannot wait to see the beautiful mountains ❤ It’ll be nice to get a fresh breathe of that mountain air after this ridiculous semester. We are going with Mirhad, my brother, Anel, and Sanela. 2 other people might join, but if they don’t we’re still going. Anel and my brother have never went so I can’t wait to show them everything. I was thinking about inviting my parents and Sanela’s parents to go if the other 2 can’t make it because it would be so much fun. I start work sometime in June I still have to figure out what date exactly. About to make those travel posts again heyyyyyy! For now, I am counting down the days!!!

My graduation party is in 2 weekends, so I’m excited to just chill with everyone again. This one won’t be as stressful, I just have to clean up the backyard hahah. It’s also going to be for my dads and sisters birthday (early) so it’ll be 3 celebrations in one. So at least I can say what’s up to everyone, eat, and then go to my living room and hangout with my friends!

But yeah, I have class in an hour and 30 mins so I’m going to go grab a snack and start making my bridal shower post!

See ya!! 🙂

 

Chicago Trip, March 30-April 1

This weekend in Chicago was super fun. It was supposed to rain all day Saturday, but it ended up being nicer, warmer weather on Friday and Saturday to the point where we were able to wear a lighter jacket. I have some pictures, but we didn’t take too many just because we were walking around a lot. We ate some good food and tried some places we have been wanting to try. I think the coolest thing we tried was the Sugar Factory.

 

Then some pictures of the stuff we ate and drank!

 

My first time trying a mimosa ^^ it was pretty good. We also went to dinner at Steak 48 (I think) and we got this $60 wine which has been aged since 2015. It was good and so was the dinner. It was very fancy and it was sweet for them to take us out to a nice place like this! And of course we went to the Nutella Cafe.. first time going there. The crepe was good!

And it didn’t let me upload this video of the alcohol being filled into this bowl, but it was soooooo good. The gummy worms were such a good addition and it was fun trying to fish them out. Deff recommend Sugar Factory! It’s a little pricey, but delicious.

This was a really fun trip, wish it was a bit warmer, but it was a nice little weekend trip.