Upromise Guest Shopping for Natalie

Upromise Guest Shopping for Natalie


Love to shop online??? If so, please use my Upromise guest shopping code above to help earn money for me towards my college loans.   The above link brings you to the Upromise welcome site where I am a registered user.  You will click on the link that says "see deals and shop" and it will bring you to the full Upromise site where you search for the website you want to shop at.  For example type in "Tillys," "Macys," or any place you'd like in the search box.  Most websites are available.  Once you click "shop now" on any of those sites it will automatically bring you to that site.  It may ask if you want to join upromise and save money for yourselves or for me, if you want to save for yourself you will have to register for Upromise.com. 

Once you shop and make your purchase it takes a few days for the money to show up in my upromise account.  Basically most websites will contribute 2-5% of what is spent.  Just so you know it will NOT show me what you bought, how much you spent, or any of your financial information, or even who did it. So I will just see something like this "Macys........$1.82"  Once I collect a certain amount, the money is automatically deposited into a Sallie Mae Savings Account, then when I go in to repayment for my school loans, the amount I have saved up will go straight to my loan.

Please help in any way you can. I know it is hard to remember to use something like this when you are in shopping mode.  But if you can remember, any little bit will help!! :)

The deal of the week is the Entertainment Book!  You get 20% off this week plus Upromise will contribute 28% of what is spent.  For Orange County the books are $32.00 plus free shipping!!

If you have any questions please feel free to ask! And thank you in advance!

One more thing!!  If you like to save money online go to retailmenot.com before you make your purchase to see if there are any promotional codes you can use!! 

Ladder 7

I have been totally MIA.  I had so much going on that I didn't have time to blog...ever.   So instead of blogging on all the past stuff (that would take me forever) this will be an up to date blog.

Recently Dan's fire station had family day and me and the other wives went and ate dinner.  They make amazing food!! But they also had a chance to take their truck out and extend the ladder and show us how it all works.

Here are some pictures of our day!

This is the tiller driver.  You know the big huge engines that have the guy driving in the back.  That is the Tiller

Dan and his crew.  Station 7

My HOT husband and I

Me taking a ride in the back seat of the engine

We had a great time hanging out at the station and I can't wait for more family days.  It helps when the guys that he works with are our age so their wives/girlfriends are wonderful to hang out with! 

Charlee turns 1!!!

So this is a little late, but I have not done a blog in a while and I had uploaded this pictures a while ago so I figured I would finish it!! I have been super busy planning the wedding and with school that it is hard to find time to blog! One day there will be a blog all about the wedding planning!! Hopefully I get that out before the actual wedding which is less than 2 months away!

Charlee hitting her pinata. Do you see the bat in Kristen's hand? She tried giving that to her to use at first, didn't work out that well. Too heavy!
Ok so this picture of her jumping in the jumper is a little blury but you can get the gest of how much fun she was having in there!! She could not keep her balance, she kept tumbling but she'd get right back up and try to start walking or trying to jump (she can't quite jump yet but I'm teaching her) and then fall again! It was just too cute!!
Jackie, Kristen and I with Charlee and her cake! At first she didn't know what to do with it, but once we put her hand in it for her she dug right in!
She shared her cake with anyone who would eat it off her hand!
Ok so these pictures are backwards, but this is before she dug in!
Charlee with her cousins Mickenzie & Chase! With their other cousin Destiny!





Aww I love them!! We got lucky to get this picture because she did not keep that crown on for more than 2 seconds!

Charlee is getting so big! I can't believe she is one now! She is so smart, and I love teaching her things. Like how to jump, it is the cutest thing ever! I was jumping over a jump rope one day and she was laughing and the next thing I knew she was trying to jump. She tries sooo hard to thrust her body up but her feet don't leave the ground! She thinks it's hilarious as do I! She sometimes cries when I leave which makes me sad! Sometimes when I am holding her and Kristen tries to grab her she hangs on to me, that makes me happy! And of course Kristen mad, but that only happens sometimes! Aww I miss her already! She also enjoys grabbing my finger and making me go places she wants to go, like upstairs, or down the hall, or to the pantry! Oh ya I taught her how to go down the stairs without rolling all the way down like she did once haha, that wasn't on my watch! But she was fine! She'll eat anything! She wants everything! She laughs when everyone else starts laughing, it is the cutest thing!

Well that is the update on Charlee! We took her to the beach and those pictures are really cute, one day I will get them up. I should name this the Charlee blog!

Honeymoon!!

Soooo...I went to a Bridal Expo yesterday at the Anaheim Convention center. I have never been to any kind of expo so I was really excited, and had no idea what to expect. All I knew was that they were giving away a Sandals Resort honeymoon.

So for the last 3 weeks I have been telling everyone and their mother's that I was going to WIN my honeymoon!

When we get there, there was a huge line for raffle tickets, they were printed with your name and address already on them and they came 60 for $6...so of course we bought more because I really wanted to win!! The first booth we go to, I layed my raffle tickets down and got distracted and of course someone picked them up to turn them in and make an announcement but no announcement was made! My mom went back to the girls that were printing them out and ended up with over 300 tickets. While Kristen and I were waiting for my mom, each booth had raffle tickets that were free but you had to fill them out yourself. So we started filling some out, and we filled one out at the Sandals booth. When I finally got all my tickets we started putting a whole bunch in the Sandals drawing, then the lady told me that there were only supposed to be ONE in there. Oops! So of course I didn't think I was going to win with just ONE in there, so throughout the day I had my mom and cousin keep going back and putting more. In the meantime we were dropping all my tickets it ALL the other booths...photography, flowers, massages, other trips, and sunless tanning and many many more.

Towards the end of the show, I noticed the Sandals ladies dumped all the tickets out and was going through them all. When I saw that, it was the first time I doubted that I was going to win because I had a feeling they were going to take ALL mine out and forget to leave one in there.

They announced the David's Bridal gift card winner, which was $500! That would have been nice! They ended up calling 5 different people because the first 4 were not present! So we waiting a little longer, and I still was dropping more and more tickets in all the booths because I had a MILLION and I couln't get rid of them fast enough. So finally we sit down and wait for the Grand Prize Winner. This is how it went

She was lik Ok...we are ready to announce the winner, the wedding is in October (I got really really excited) then she said the 18th! (which is NOT the day we are getting married, I got really sad) then they announce some name which wasn't mine!

She gave the girl .36 sec to get up there, but no one was screaming so I think she assumed they were gone. So she said going once, twice, three times, ok on to the next person...Then she said this person is in October too! Oh man did I get SUPER excited again! Then she said October 3rd! Which is my day!! And I am sure my face lit up (we knew another girl there that was getting married on Oct 3rd too, so I knew it could have been someone else) Then she said it!! NATALIE RODRIGUEZ!! I jumped up! Probably screaming I am not really sure, it just happened so fast! I started to run up to her but then she told me to go to the booth.

When I got over there the ladies told me I had a huge stack of raffle tickets in there that they pulled out, but the one they grabbed out of there was the ONE and ONLY ticket that I filled out! Not any of the ones that were printed with my name on it. I CANNOT believe that I actually won!! It is a 3 night 4 day stay at ANY Sandals resort that we want. Dan didn't believe us when we first told him, but then I started crying because I was just soooo excited, then he believed me.

I don't know if it is because I had it so covinced in my head that I was really going to win or what. But next time I really want something like that I am going to do the same thing because it worked! haha I am still shocked.

They don't pay for the flight, and we will probably add on a couple of days, but we are getting a HUGE discount which is alright with me!

I ended up winning a couple other things from other booths that had done their drawings, but there were a few that didn't yet and you didn't have to be present for those (I am expecting some phone calls today)

I had an awesome day with Kristen my maid of honor, and my mom...oh and of course CHARLEE!! She was probably my good luck charm!

Sea World with the Fagan Fam!

Mariann, Jimbo, me, Sean, and Dan! Jimbo is Dan's brother and Mariann is his wife...and Seany boo is their son! He is sooo cute! I wish they lived closer...Washington DC is wayy tooo far! If you can't tell Sean is saying "ccchhhheeeeesssseeeee" :)

Me and Seany boo! He loves his future Auntie!

I had to take this picture because he is wiping his own face! I think he just did it because I had the camera pointing at him.

The penguins!

Dan, Jimbo, and Sean up on the bridge!

Uncle Dan with Seany boo! They are playing in the water.

Jimbo and Seany boo watching Elmo, Cookie Monster, Zoe, Bert & Ernie dance!

They are riding on an Elmo flying fish! Doesn't Sean look so excited?

He is watching Shamu spray the crowd with salty water!

Dang! He is BIG!!

Look at the SMILE on Shamu's face!

Aww...isn't Sean just so cute?? I had so much fun when you guys were here and I really do wish we got to see you more often!

I had not been to Sea World in a veerrrryyyy long time! I was super excited to hear that was where we were going, and I must say that it wasn't like I remembered. Well the shows like Shamu, and the Sea Lion show were how I remembered but they have this whole Sesame Street play area that has bridges, tubes, water, and rides for little kids. I don't remember that at all! Just while we were sitting there I witnessed 2 kids that were lost!! I would freak!

Dan and I got season passes so now we can go whenever we want! Since Dan signed up to go listen to a Time Share in June in Escondido for field tickets to the Dodgers game, maybe we will stop by Sea World while we are there and go see all the things we didn't have time for. I will let you know all about that!

Dan's 30th Birthday Party!

Soooo...Dan's birthday is April 4th and he turns 30!! I can't believe it! So I threw him a birthday party since it is a big one. Might I add this is the first real party we have had in our apartment, and this is the first birthday party we have had for him since we have been together, for some reason I am the only one that got parties. So I didn't know how this was going to turn out, we reserved the clubhouse and I got the Taco Man for food. And of course I was super sick all week and was nervous that I wasn't going to be well before the party, but I did!! The day of the party I still had a bunch of stuff to do, I got my hair cut, I had to still clean the bathroom floor, bake the cake, make the jello shots, go to the grocery store, and get ready. I got back from my haircut at 1:30 and the party started at 4!! So I was running around, and of course Kristen and my mom said that they would come early to help decorate...3:45 is early for them. However, I managed to get it ALL done, thanks to Dan's help of course.

So these are some of our good friends...Darren, Neal, and Zach...It was March Mustache Madness for the Corona Fire Department, and Neal the guy in the middle is a captain, he normally doesn't look that funny. There are 6 pool tables upstairs in the clubhouse which is awesome because it gave everyone something to do! Our clubhouse is actually pretty cool...actually our whole apartments are.
And of course most of my good pictures are of Charlee!!! She is getting so big and she is soooo freaking cute I can't stand it. She has a bunch of teeth and in the above pic you can see her showing them off! I miss her when I am not with her, she was a major trooper and stayed up late. We of course tried to put her down at bedtime but with all the people it just wasn't happening. She loves the camera...or maybe its just me she loves!
Here she is again posing with her mama. Kristen is very proud of that jacket she bought Charlee, I must say it is cute!
So Dan opened up his first gift from Darcy and Brittany and I am sure he was super excited to see this bridal magazine. They keep teasing him about all the wedding stuff, but I thought this was hilarious, and I was excited to look through it....but....

They really cut out the middle of the magazine and hid this Wii game, Dan and I love playing Wii!! It is Pinball!! We still haven't tried it but I am sure it will be fun.
This is Darcy with Ella, Ella doesn't have a problem sleeping when there is a bunch of people around. She isn't as nosey and Charlee, Charlee has to know everything that is going on.

This is when we were all singing to Dan, the guy in the red shirt is my Uncle John. Dan and him get a long really well, they have the same sense of humor, and both love beer...A LOT!! See Charlee? She wants to know what the heck is going on! She is just so amazing! I love her! She also loves food, and is probably staring at the cake...my uncle in the back is trying to throw the balloons on the candles, and when we were all done singing, he did it successfully. It popped the balloon of course, and all the candles went out!

This is my cousin Bryan, cousin Erbie, and Uncle Dave, and my mom...probably laughing at Dan or Uncle John... The shot of the evening was the Chocolate cake shots...Vodka, Frangelico, a lemon and some sugar. After you take the shot, you suck the lemon and it takes like chocolate cake, I don't know how it works but it does, and I must say they are definitely the best shots!! Everyone was doing it...the guy next to Dan to the left...is another firefighter, you can't tell really but he also has a mustache.
These are our friends from Czech Petr and Gabby...and their 2 daughters...Nina is the little girl in the front and you can't see Sofia, she is only 3 months old. They are both ADORABLE!

And this is Dan...with his mustache. The big deal about the mustache is that we didn't think Dan could really grow one...however the department let him start in February so by the end of March he actually had a mustache!! He hates it, I don't think it is so bad, but I do miss smoothness...when I get home today it will be gone... This is our messy kitchen the day after our party. The party wasn't even in our apartment and our apartment still ended up being a disaster, when we moved everything from the clubhouse to the apartment...plus about 10 people. We had a few spend the night that couldn't drive home, and a couple that had to because their car got towed...that was sad...so Dan made breakfast for everyone in the morning. However, was too hungover to clean up, and I didn't want to either, so the mess sat their until Monday night when I got home from school.

All in all the party was awesome, it turned out exactly how I wanted it to be, it was worth every dime! Dan had fun he definitely deserved this party! Everyone showed up, and everyone loved our apartments. Our apartment building is unique, trees everywhere, and the clubhouse is super cozy. I am so grateful for our friends and my family! They are so all so much fun! I can't wait until our next party!

Oh and some wedding updates...I got my dress!! I am going to a Bridal Expo on the 26th so after that I hope to have most of the little things done. I already know what we are doing for the favors, flowers, and cake. We just need to get the bridesmaids and flower girls dresses...and of course the tuxes. Well I can probably go on about all the things we do need to do because all that is really done for sure is the dress...

Not only do we have the bridal expo coming up, but Dan's brother is coming into town and I think we are going to Sea World...if not there than the Wild Animal Park, I will take lots of pictures and post all that up. Then Dan's parent's will be in town, we'll probably do something fun then too! Then Britney Spears concert with Kristen, Jennifer, and Jackie, I will probably take lots of pictures for that too. And...if I have enough time after all that I will post more pics of Charlee, I have a zillion and she is just so dang cute!!

It has been a very long time

A lot has happened over the last 5 months!
First of all...

Yay to Dan for finishing his first year of being a Firefigher and making through probation! No more studying, he can take naps now and watch TV. I am so proud of him! Now we can focus on planning the wedding.

By the way we got engaged in August. It was all a huge surprise to me and I was hoping it would happen but I didn't think it would so soon. He called me on a Thursday night and told me to pack because we were driving to San Francisco in the morning. He had came to my work and got the day off for me. So, of course I was thinking it might happen there, why else would he surprise me with a trip right?? So he came home from work Friday morning, we finished getting things together, I was so excited :) He told me he had to drop something off to a guy from work who was surfing down in Huntington Beach. Of course I thought how the heck are we going to find him, and we can't call him if he is in the water. So when we got there, I told him to go ahead I would wait in the car so we didn't have to park. He made me get out. We walked down towards the water, he then took me to the other side of the pier, and was all "What does that say?" There was something written in the sand, but from where we were standing (right in front of it) I couldn't read it at all. As I was trying to see what it said I turned around and he was on one knee! I was like..."right here?" I was sooo surprised!! He had friends come out and write "Natalie will you marry me" in the sand, and another friend come out and stand on the pier and take pictures of the whole thing!! And of course I can't get those up because the pictures are so huge, and they only will upload on an Apple computer. Dan has one and is in the process of making them smaller so we can email them off to family and friends. Oh, then we drove up to San Francisco and had a wonderful weekend just us 2! We drove the cost home and it took us forever, but it was extremely beautiful!

School is going great for me! We finally are on a 2 week break. But I am moving right along. I passed 1 of 3 of my 70s test. That is 70 words per minute on a Stenograph, the machine in my last blog. I must say that it was very difficult, and I was worried I wasn't going to pass. At this point we should at least be at our 50s and I whizzed right to my 70s. I have a feeling I will be stuck there for a couple weeks. But I love school. I love the girls there, we all get a long great. There is a total of 5 of us in our class, and 4 of us are all the same age. And all very very different.

I also got a new position at the bank! My title is now a Fraud Specialist! I love it compared to being a teller. The only bad thing is that it is a little bit further from my house, and I start at 7:00 am. Which means the alarm goes off at like 5:30! Which if you knew me before I started working at the bank, I woke up at noon everyday! So getting up early really really sucks. But I am slightly getting use to it. Plus I get off at 4 which I must say is way better than 5:30. Our bank built a brand new office building in Seal Beach for all of the departments. The best part...Chef Alonso. He makes us breakfast and lunch everyday. We have Carne Asada tacos every Tuesday, my favorite! I now sit on the computer all morning looking for fraudulent checks. It is actually quite interesting. A couple weeks ago I got a small bonus for catching a large fraudulent check. It came at perfect timing, right before the holidays. Who can't use the extra money? The girls at work are awesome too, so that definitly helps when you are changing positions.

I keep telling Dan that I wouldn't mind moving to Corona if I could quit working and just focus on school. Some days he says ya he wouldn't mind but then some days he laughs at me like its a bad idea. I can't really picture myself letting him pay all my bills, like my car payment! I know he makes enough money to do it but I still couldn't do it. Now, if he wants to buy me a new car and put his name on it too, and it will be both of ours, then I wouldn't mind so much haha. I might consider moving there anyway just because you can get a lot of house for not a lot of money, however you are in Corona. Away from most of the family. But I do have a cousin that lives there so I would spend most of my time there when Dan is working, I don't know how I am going to feel sleeping in a huge house by myself. We would need to get a dog. A mini goldendoodle to be exact! And maybe a bigger one that can actually protect me. I know my mom and Kristen really don't want me moving that far. But we have time to think about it because we are getting married first, and that isn't until October 3rd! Vegas! I am so excited, we are doing it at Victoria's Chapel, but not in the Chapel, outside, and the reception is right there too. Its a all in one place. With an open bar, for one set price. It was a pretty awesome deal and me and my whole family are so excited!

Well I couldn't put up any pictures today because I am working. But I will try to put some up soon. I will get pictures of Charlee :) She is getting so big now, and she knows who I am and loves me lots. She is actually 6 months today!! She is soooo cute!

Gotta go, we are closing soon :)