Ericka Corban - an amazing woman following her heart

I just wanted to take a moment to introduce everyone to my friend, Ericka Corban. She is an amazing singer, songwriter, and musician. I am constantly amazed by her upbeat personality and her ability to pursue her singing career while becoming a first time mom last year. She just finished recording her first album and I can't wait to hear it.

I met her a few years ago and we became instant friends. If you'd like to hear some great music by an absolutely amazing person, please check her out on MySpace...
http://www.myspace.com/erickacorban

Enjoy!

Random Information

Here are 25 Random Things about Me:

1. I’ve learned more having kids than I did in all those years of schooling.
2. My energy typically comes in a can in the form of sugar free energy drinks.
3. My optimism does not come from a can, but if I could bottle it and sell it, I’m confident I would make a good profit.
4. Have a guitar that I have no idea how to play and would love for someone to just teach me “Smelly Cat” so that I could play something. (Update: I am taking guitar lessons! Finally!)
5. My body does not know how to relax. It’s so bad that I’ve passed out WHILE getting a pedicure at the spa.
6. I absolutely love being a mom and cannot believe how fast my girls are growing up!
7. My stress level is directly related to how messy my house is. I would love to have a completely organized house…that stays that way. (Maybe when the kids are older.)
8. I refuse to buy clothes that are not on sale.
9. I love my husband’s tattoos. They look really good on him.
10. I have to do at least 2 things at once. For example, I cannot simply sit and watch TV or a movie. I have to read a book, magazine or do something productive while sitting on the couch.
11. My girls are absolutely amazing! They each have a wonderful sense of humor and, luckily, are athletic like their dad. They are both my little soccer stars.
12. I have been married for 10 years and still adore my husband. He is a wonderful stay-at-home dad, even though he has chronic back pain. I don’t know how he does it! He’s amazing!
13. I hate exercise and have to trick myself into doing things that don’t seem like exercise…dancing, playing with the kids, cleaning, etc. It's pretty bad when I enjoy cleaning over exercising.
14. My husband and I completely gutted our first house and remodeled it together so that we could flip it and he could stay home with the kids.
15. Since the remodeling, I can now frame a wall, lay flooring, and do tile and grout work.
16. I am completely domestically disabled (hence, the title of my blog). Thankfully my husband ROCKS and is an amazing chef.
17. Jen Lancaster is one of my new favorite authors and I’ve read all of her books: Bitter is the new Black; Such a Pretty Fat; Bright Lights, Big Ass; and I just finished the newly released Pretty in Plaid. My husband gives me funny looks when I laugh out loud while reading them.
18. Eventually I will write my own book, but I can’t seem to find the time/courage right now. Blogging is my way of baby-stepping toward larger projects.
19. I am attuned for Reiki level I and hope to get my level II attunement by the end of the year.
20. I rearrange the furniture in the house at least every other month…some rooms more…just for a change. Too bad I hurt my back last weekend doing just that
21. After my second daughter was born, the first full night of sleep I got was when I was on a business trip when she was 2. I had 4 nights of uninterrupted sleep. It was definitely needed.
22. I started taking lessons to fly a Cessna (which is amazingly amazing, by the way), but have realized that with my history of migraines and anxiety attacks, I would never pass the medical portion to get my private pilot license.
23. I’ve had two kids without epidurals yet I’m scared to get the small tattoo that I want.
24. I have a hard time fighting the extra weight from having kids and I still blame it on “baby weight” even though my “baby” is almost 6.
25. I love to shop and have passed this on to both of my daughters.

Why Me, Why Now?

There are many reasons to start this blog. They seem endless to me, but below are the top three:

1) I really want to be a writer/editor on a freelance basis and have done a little of each. My husband is an amazing support system for me and keeps telling me to just get going with it already. Sounds like he's tired of hearing me talk about it all the time. Oh, and there is that BA degree in English that I'd like to put to use.

2) I've read every book by my new favorite author, Jen Lancaster, and she gives me hope and a drive to get back to my writing. So sad that I missed her book signing the other day.

3) After reading a blog I recently ran across, it gave me inspiration that maybe if I have someone or something to be accountable to, I might do better on my quest to lose weight permanently - you know, kill two birds with one stone kind of thing. (More, much more, to come on this topic.)

So, here we go. Wish me luck.