Sunday Social

1) What is your favorite ice cream flavor? Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

2) What is your favorite smell? It depends on the season or my mood. I love the smell of pumpkin spice, apples, pears, snow, leaves, the forest, rain...

3) What is your favorite TV commercial (past or present) Its funny but even before I saw Neely's answer, Neely's answer is my answer! I love those older Gap and Old Navy commercials.

4) What is your favorite day of the week? Saturdays

5) What is your favorite way to waste time? Reading, Movies, Walking through the woods

6) What is your favorite article of clothing? Shoes!!

Catch-Up

I knew it had been awhile since I had last posted, so I wasn't at all surprised to log in and see that it had been since October. I wish I could say that I've been busy doing great things, but its just been the regular run-of-the-mill fill of the days.

In November I spent Thanksgiving with my family, which isn't at all peculiar. No Black Friday shopping for me, but I did do quite a bit of online shopping on Thanksgiving and some on Cyber Monday. Honestly though I got the better deals on Thanksgiving. I guess that's sad that they do that now. We went to go get soda on Thanksgiving night at K-Mart and they wouldn't let us in because they were gearing up to open the doors at 8 or 9 that night for the start of their Black Friday deals. So sad.

December is a slower month at work, which was greatly appreciated. I've been run ragged since July at work and it was nice to have some breathing time again. I actually went to my work Christmas Party this year and it was fun. I actually have a great group of co-workers (for the most part) and it was good to see some of them that work in different offices and that I hadn't seen in awhile.

Lately this month I've been wrapping presents, reading Christmas books, watching Christmas movies and baking. LOTS of Christmas movies. Its bad...I have an addiction. I'm going to try to not be so bad next year. Today and tomorrow I will probably only watch the old stand-bys, though. By that I mean that when I was a little kid my mom would record Christmas specials on videotape and we STILL have them and watch them every year. Sure, the quality has suffered but honestly to me that adds to it. And its so funny to watch some of the commercials and see the weather alerts and how the people have changed over the years. I mean, we're talking about watching something that was recorded in 1986 and seeing that it was 14 degrees out and the weatherman was sooo much younger looking. I have some newer ones I like to watch every year, too, like The Santa Claus, Christmas with the Kranks, This Christmas, Elf, etc., but those old ones are priceless.

The weather here has been fluctuating. One day its 50 or 60 degrees and then the next its 40 or 20. Just a little bit of snow so far, but it didn't stick. We had a big wind storm the other day and that was intense (good-bye outdoor decorations). We have snow in the forecast for Christmas night/the day after (go figure). 

Well anyway, here are some photos of goodies I have been making:

Getting ready to make candy sleighs for my co-workers (found the instructions at this great blog here)

Sleigh part constructed:

And voila! So pretty and cute and well-received! And so fun and easy to make!

Chocolate truffles:

One of my specialties, Pumpkin Roll:

My other specialty, Chocolate mints:

Chocolate-dipped pretzels:

Fill in the blank FRIDAY

....A day late...better late than never? Hey, I've been busy folks. :)

1) My favorite flower is....peonies. Love them. And gerber daisies. I guess you could say I like my flowers big and beautiful.

2) You should never talk about....I want to say religion or politics, but I want to CLARIFY religion only if you are talking to someone thick-headed :)

3) My favorite discovery as of late is...almonds. I know, sad. I guess this is 'new' for me because when I first tried eating them plain the kind I got were just nasty to me and didn't taste right. But then I found Blue Diamond's Natural Whole Almonds and yum. Honestly I think what happened is the ones I tried before were seasoned or something and I prefer them without any of that. But these 'new' almonds are great and addicting---a good healthy snack for me. 

4) This fall you will probably find me wearing...boots, scarves and sweaters. I started wearing the boots and sweaters a couple of weeks ago. We got a cold front and its been perfect sweater weather. 

5) I wish I were....still on vacation and not going back to work on Monday. Eck.

6) My favorite TV show currently is...Well the Real Housewives of New Jersey is just wrapping up so I don't know if I can count that? I actually haven't been too good about watching tv lately--we've been DVR(ing) a bunch of stuff lately and  I just haven't had a chance to watch most of it. I've been DVR(ing) 2 Broke Girls, How I met your Mother, Parenthood, Gossip Girl, the Office, and have been watching Grey's Anatomy and Revenge live. 666 Park Avenue isn't too bad either, but not sure if its going to last or not since I like GCB and they cancelled that. 

7) This weekend I want to...do exactly what I'm doing now :) Ah, the perks of a late post? I slept late and lounged around watching Christmas cartoons/movies while getting a few things done around the house. Tonight, hubby and I are going out to eat for our FIVE-YEAR anniversary (woo!). And tomorrow its back to the grind, I think.
 

.::Sunday Social::.

1) What were you like in middle school/HS?

 Middle school was probably the lowest of the low for me. I had awful rat brown stringy hair and acne kicked in. Went thru of a flannel stage, too, hah. I played volleyball and was in a few clubs but I was just kind of a lonely pre-teen. In high school I made a lot of friends and was in a lot of clubs but dropped out of sports and became more of an artsy person. I accomplished a lot of, well, let's say, shock value in these years. I did pretty much everything you can with your hair--dyed it every normal color and then some weird ones (black, purple, yellow). I spaced out my pierced ear holes (smells like rotting flesh, I don't recommend it). I did a lot of crazy stuff. I can't say I really regret any of it though because I got it all out of my system fairly early and once I graduated high school and was in my first year of college I was a pretty responsible adult and got going with life--I look at what all I have now because I worked for it, and what the late bloomers and partiers have, and I'm pretty content with my life.

2) What were you favorite past times?

I think driving around is probably a big teen past time. Once one of your friends got their license you could just spend all night driving around and ending up in the craziest places. And there were always places groups of people would park at and socialize, like parks, banks, stores, etc. In high school we went to a lot of local concerts, too--like kids just like us starting bands and having kind of local punk-rawk shows. Oh yes, I did just spell that like that. 
 

3) What songs were you obsessed with?

'Bitch' by Meredith Brooks and she had another song 'What would happen if we kissed'. A lot of grungier songs and I went through a punk phase.

4) What fashion statement do you look back on and cringe?

The overly baggy clothes that I wore. I guess guys pulled it off okay, but I was a girl and should not have participated in that trend. Nor should I have worn boxers and my girly underwear at the same time.

5) Who was your celeb crush?

Skeet Ulrich--one of the murderers off the original Scream movie. And Ryan Phillippe from Cruel Intentions (of course, now I don't like him since he cheated on Reese Witherspoon). I had a big thing for Christian Slater and Christian Bale, too. Still do for Christian Bale.

6) What were your favorite TV shows/movies?

I watched a lot of WB and then the CW when it switched over. So Dawson's Creek, Gilmore Girls was a big one, One Tree Hill, loved Everwood. Home Improvement. And then of course TGIF on Friday nights was a HUGE deal---Boy Meets World, Sister Sister, Full House, Step by Step, Family Matters, Who's The Boss, Growing Pains...I could go on and on.

 

Fill in the blank FRIDAY

 

1.  The best thing to do on a hot day is hang out under an umbrella somewhere on a beach. Not that I've ever been able to do this....yet. Or somewhere with one of those spritzing fan things. You know, the ones that lightly spritz water on you as the fan runs?

2.   The best place to be on a hot day is   inside my house. 

3.  The best thing to eat on a hot day is  raspberry sherbet.

4. Hot days    make me sweat. Especially my face.  And that is sooo not pretty. Not to mention it means I get to have yet another cystic acne breakout--woo hoo!

5. My go to uniform on a warm summer day is  depends if I am at work or home. If I'm home its just a tank top and running shorts. If I'm at work I don't get that luxury and usually have to wear pants or capris and my work shirts are polos but such a bad fabric for hot days. Yuck. Lately I've been really missing being able to wear whatever I want (within reason) to work.

6. The scent that reminds me of summer is  sunscreen or hawaiian ginger-themed smelly stuff like lotion/body spray. Fresh cut grass. Coconut.

7.  My favorite thing about summer is  laying out on my Ostrich at night and looking up at the stars. I did this the other night with the meteor shower and it was sooo nice out. Are you wondering what the crap I'm talking about laying out on an Ostrich? These things are the BEST. You can find them here. Well worth the $$$.

Its OK Thursday

Had some AWFUL storms roll through here just after I got home from work. I don't mind storms, but its the tornadoes and tornado watches/warnings that get me. And of course that's what we had. Luckily, no touch-downs (hah, made me think of football there). Anyyyyyyway....

Its OK...

To skip out on the gym for a day (or two) and take a much-needed nap instead....

To let The Real Housewives of New Jersey auto-record all episodes INCLUDING the social media episodes just to be able to watch whenever I want and prolong the inevitable end of season....

To ignore my wifey duties for awhile longer because (OMG) Season 2 of Laguna Beach is re-playing on MTV....

To chow down on shrimp poppers instead of eating the rest of that salad....

That I have to get up early and get to work early tomorrow and then drive for an hour....

BECAUSE TOMORROW IS FRIDAY.

.::Sunday Social::.

1) If you could only eat one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be?

 

Probably pasta. I could definitely eat it everyday and, sometimes I do. Very filling, yummy, and versatile.

 

2) What's your guilty pleasure/comfort food?

 

Cake. But not chocolate cake. If it was between eating chocolate cake and no cake at all, I'd probably choose no cake at all.

 

3) What's the weirdest/craziest thing you've ever eaten?

 

I don't go too weird with food. I mean, I've had sushi and that was okay (salmon sushi--tasted like mandarin oranges to me.) I had frog legs once--really did taste like chicken. But that's about as far as I'll go. 

 

4) What foods do you avoid at all costs?

 

Pet animal foods. You know, like rabbit, squirrel, horse. Ew.

 

5) What meal reminds you of your childhood?

 

Just basic comfort food like chicken and mashed potatoes or chilli--things like that.

 

6) Share one of your favorite recipes and the story behind it.

 

From: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/pumpkin-roll-ii/

Pumpkin Roll

This isn't the exact recipe I use, but its pretty close. I make these every year. People LOVE them. The only real difference in how I make them and this recipe is that I don't use nuts or dust the roll with confectioner's sugar or use parchment paper. I have one of those silicone non-stick sheets that I sit down on in my tray beforehand instead. This is the only type of roll I've successfully made. I've tried to make a chocolate yule log before but that ended disastrously because the house we were renting at the time had a SLANTED kitchen floor (which I didn't realize at the time) so the roll tilted to one side on the baking sheet in the oven and was burnt on one side lol. But these pumpkin rolls are really so yummy and I make them every year for Thanksgiving and Christmas and even made a few for gifts last year because so many people look forward to them. Enjoy! I feel like making one now....

 

Ingredients

• 3 eggs
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2/3 cup canned pumpkin
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• confectioners' sugar for dusting
•  
• 1 cup confectioners' sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons butter, softened
• 8 ounces cream cheese

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease a 15x10x1 inch baking pan and line with parchment paper. Grease and flour the paper.
2. In a large bowl, beat eggs on high for five minutes. Gradually add white sugar and pumpkin. Add flour, cinnamon, and baking soda. Spread batter evenly in pan. Sprinkle walnuts evenly on top.
3. Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 15 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched. Immediately turn out onto a linen towel dusted with confectioners sugar. Peel off paper and roll cake up in the towel, starting with the short end. Cool.
4. To Make Filling: Mix confectioners sugar, vanilla, butter or margarine, and cream cheese together till smooth.
5. Carefully unroll the cake. Spread filling over cake to within 1 inch of edges. Roll up again. Cover and chill until serving. Dust with additional confectioners' sugar, if desired.

 

.::Sunday Social::.

1) What's your favorite fall activity?

Oh..can I choose just one? I LOVEEEE fall. I love sweater weather and all the other fun clothes. I love the football starting back up. Starbuck's Pumpkin Spice Lattes. The return of boots and scarves. The trees changing colors. (Although, we've had a drought here for awhile so that's been kind of going on now...) The kids going back to school (although, I do detest school zones starting back up lol...not the concept of them, just getting used to not having to slow down and then BAM school back in session). That crisp smell in the air. Fall Festivals. Pumpkin Patches. Fall scented candles. Fried Apples from Cracker Barrel. Oh, I could go on and on...(and on).

2) Do you follow a football team? If so, which one and why?

I follow the Pittsburg Steelers--go BIG BEN. But I also root for the (home)team--the Chicago Bears. However, as of late I've noticed I also tend to follow the Giants and Eagles...always have the Eagles, not sure really why. Now don't get me wrong, I don't sit and watch every game. I have my husband for that. Its just another fun part of fall to look forward to.

3) What is something fun about fall in your area?

We have a great Pumpkin Patch somewhat nearby. I mean, its amazing. Mazes, gourds from all over the world, great prices. And then we have some really great fall festivals, too, and a pioneer town area that does special events in the fall. I just love all that. I think this year we are going to hit up an orchard, too, and I know if we do I'll pick up some apples to make apple cake and DUN DUN DUN...FRIED APPLES. (Yeah, I know I keep mentioning those in this post...they are sooo good, though, and the mention of fall is getting me excited...if you are interested, I think I posted the recipe on my blog before. You can also make them in a cast iron skillet, which I have now so I may have to try--before I always made them in a crock pot.)

4) Fav Fall outfit staples?

Sweaters, cute light jackets/blazers, scarves, boots, cords. Browns and oranges.

5) Thing you are looking most forward to this fall season?

Probably just the influx of things to do. Its been so hot and dry here this summer that we've avoided really doing anything. I'm looking forward to things cooling down. Although, someone told me they heard it wasn't really supposed to do that here until October. Boo :( But I am definitely looking forward to all the fun autumn activities on the calendar. Have a few baby showers and weddings and reunions coming up, too so that's exciting. Can't believe its my ten-year class reunion this year! And my five year wedding anniversary! We always go the traditional gift route--the 'leather' year was interesting! This year its 'wood' lol.

6) Favorite fall holiday? Traditions?

I love how so many people look forward to the Starbucks red cups and Pumpkin Spice lattes--they are really the best. I usually save up all my rewards for this time of year and cash them in for free Starbucks gift cards. Cuz I'm cheap lol. No, THRIFTY. I honestly love so much of the fall season, I don't know if I could choose just one holiday. I usually take off a day in late August or early September and spend the day decorating for fall (and enjoying one of those precious lattes) and I put on the Charlie Brown and Garfield Halloween/Thanksgiving specials. That's kind of the start of the season for me. And hitting up Michael's for craft ideas. Making Pumpkin Rolls for family events. Coming home to that fall smell everyday--it really just makes me giddy to even think about, lol. I'm such a dork! Wait til Christmas comes, people, you'll stop reading altogether! Also gotta put a plug in there for fall season premieres on TV!

.::Sunday Social::.

1) What is your dream job?

Stay at home mom. No, really. Would LOVE to be able to do that. Actually, I COULD do that, we just live in a society (and I, in a family) that disagrees with the concept. But I'll leave it at that and not prolong it :)

2) If you had just won the lottery and didn't need to work for money, what would you do with your time? 

See #1. Or, if that couldn't happen immediately or at all, I would probably travel the world....slowly. So I could take as much as possible in and enjoy it. That's the key word..slow. I would slow things down.

3) When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

A singer. Still do some days. I grew up on/with music. And I'm not too bad if I do say so myself :) But I would have awful stage presence. I'm a skeerdy cat like that.

4) What piece career advice would you give to someone just starting out in your field?

Listen. (I work in social services).

5) Biggest Pet Peeves either in life or in blogging or at work:

 People who are in such a big hurry that they make things dangerous for the rest of us. People who've always had everything handed to them and think it should continue as that once they are out in the 'real world'. Cooing and cawing and cackling when you are trying to work. People who let their kids run wild and do whatever they want and don't say anything or do anything or even apologize for it. Case in point: went out to dinner yesterday and a lady let her kid spit on ME and in my DRINK and didn't even bat an eye about it. HELLO. What kind of people are these kids going to grow up to be? (That's what I need to be a stay at home mom LOL).

.::Sunday Social::.

Yay! Time for another Sunday Social! Of course, well, that means tomorrow is Monday :( But one day at a time, folks!

What is your favorite store to shop at?

Body Central; Target; World Market; Gap

If you could afford anything and everything, which designer brand would you covet?

Victoria Beckham

Must have closet staple?

Shoes? Hah. Right now I'm a flats kick. Especially the sparkly ones...really, anything sparkly. I'm not too old for some sparkle!

Favorite kind of shoes? (brand or type)  

Louboutin der. Not that I could ever afford them. Jessica Simpson has some great shoes, too. As for type, lately its flats. Used to be all about heels but with my current job I don't get to wear them as much so they've sorta lost their appeal :/

 

Best clothing deal you've ever gotten? (sale or amazing find)

I got this great trench-style winter coat at Wilson's Outlet for 70 or 80% off. 

Style you'd love to try?
I have to say I'm not afraid to try new styles--that said, I've pretty much tried them all. I have everything from punk-rawk to country to preppy styled clothes in my closet so I can't say there's a particular style that I haven't tried yet that I want to.

Dang, I've been quiet lately?

What I've been up to:

• Put a bid in on a new house and they accepted our offer
• Put our current house on the market
• Pulled out (for a valid reason!) on a contingency on our buyer's contract and took our current house off the market for now
• Now we're still looking for another house and are going to try selling our house "by owner", so we'll see how that goes....
• Have been training for our annual hometown 5k (have been working on getting back in shape for awhile now, and so far, so good)
• A bunch of stuff has been going on at work, but I won't go there
• Have been trying to "go through" some things so I can feel a little more relaxed...you know, when you have so much going on and you let things slide and get behind on some of the dumbest stuff, you don't feel 'normal' again until you catch up with some things and get rid of some stuff? I'm about 2 weeks behind on reading our newspapers and have magazines stacking up, so I'm working my way through those and trying to enjoy the summer weather sitting outside on the patio furniture and reading. I've started going through my recipe pile, too--you know, recipes I cut out or bookmark, thinking, oooh that sounds good I'm going to try that, and then they end up overtaking a kitchen drawer, etc. I've found a few keepers and a few I just threw away. I tried "Shrimp & Glitz"'s Tomato Pie recipe the other day and, YUM. Hubby is a meat-eater and said I should add some meat next time (which I plan to do tonight), but really its just so good with out it. Kudos, girl!
• I've also been on a quest to "get healthy". I don't think I've really talked about this on here, but I've been struggling with symptoms for the past 10+ years. I'm getting to the point in my life where I'm hoping to have kids soon, so I just want to get this straightened out and figured out before then. I mean honestly, I've been 'ick' for so long it just seems normal to me anymore. I was taught to be a trooper, too, so I really don't go around complaining about how I don't feel good and say I can't do anything. I just carry on as usual. But anyway, I finally switched doctors because I was tired of my doctor not listening to me, being arrogant and mis-diagnosing me. Its bad, too, because my parents both go to him and he about killed my mom, no joke. Actually, he sorta did, they had to 'pound on her chest' as she says. It started off with my leg and he said it was nothing, that it was probably from wearing heels (turned out to be hereditary neuropathy), then I started having heart palpipations and he said I had tachycardia (a heart arrthymia where your heart beats way too fast sometimes) and sent me to a heart specialist and the heart specialist said he didn't think it was tachycardia at all, it was something else (which I can't pronounce, let alone spell) and that I shouldn't have to worry about it or treat it unless I started having other symptoms. So then about a year passes and I don't have any heart palpipations but then I start having a few here and there. So I go see another doctor and she says I need to start taking vitamins, so I do, and they literally make me throw up. So then someone says you should try taking gluten-free vitamins. So I do (gummy variety, too, by the way..yum), and since then I haven't have any heart palpipations or gotten sick with them and I've started looking/feeling a little better. So I started doing my own little research and I come across how malnutrition can cause heart palpipations and how that can be a sign of celiac disease, among other things (because you are consuming something that your body is intolerant of so its not letting your body absorb the nutrients/vitamins it needs). So I've been researching celiac disease and gluten intolerance quite a bit lately, and turns out many of the symptoms I've been experiencing are symptoms of celiac disease. I have another doctor's appointment coming up soon, and we're going to start off with an allergy test. I do hope I do not have celiac disease, because it would mean I would have to give up many of my favorite foods and it can cause infertility, miscarriages and intestinal cancer. But if I do have it, I would be more than willing to give up my favorite foods if it means I could be or at least feel healthier. But who knows, I could just be allergic to something really simple and that's what is causing all of this to happen? Very excited to get this finally figured out! 
 

Wow, way longer post than I intended, folks!

.::Sunday Social ::.

What is your all-time favorite song?

 Well, for the LONGEST time (coming from childhood, folks) it was "Superstar" by the Carpenters. They are my first favorite band and all-time favorite band. (Seriously, check out "A Song for You"). Lately, I've been listening to The Civil Wars "Poison and Wine" a lot, and I have a lot of love for alt-rock and rock songs--songs mostly from my high school and early-college days. Oh, and I've been listening to Miranda Lambert's "House that Built Me" a lot lately, too.

What is your favorite singer/band?

See above! +Belle and Sebastian, Third Eye Blind, Ryan Adams (not Bryan!), Audioslave, Matchbox 20, Jason Mraz....

What is your theme song/song that best describes your life?

 "I want it all" by Terri Clark hah.

What songs put you in a good mood?

Semi-Precious Weapons-"Sticky with Champagne"; Third Eye Blind-"Losing a Whole Year" (though I wish I had an edited version to listen to; Ashley Tisdale-"It's Alright, it's Ok"; Sublime-"What I Got"; Jason Mraz-"You and I Both" Jason Mraz-"The Remedy"--and a host of others...

What is your favorite road-trip music?

 Eve 6, Third Eye Blind, Matchbox 20, Something Corporate, Seals and Croft, the Doors..

What song are you embarrassed to admit you love?

 I'm a closet Britney Spears fan. And Ashley Tisdale. Pretty much any song. Its sad, I know.

 

Sunday Social

Yay! I've been waiting for a Sunday linky-doo!

Favorite movie of all time?

Can I pick just one? Well no, no I can't. And I bet neither can you! Curious Case of Benjamin Button; Catch and Release; This Christmas; Blades of Glory; Fireproof; Love Actually....

Favorite movie quote?

Ah...beats me, lol.

Best movie to watch for a girls night in?

Catch and Release? lol or Legally Blonde or Sex and the City or something like that.

 
Best breakup movie?

 I have to say it again! Catch and Release! Even though its not really a break-up movie in the normal sense--but it is really! 

Favorite celeb eye candy?

Chris Cornell. Chris Brown. Josh Lucas. Ryan Reynolds.

Which movie stars closet would you want to raid? 

  She's not a movie star---but Victoria Beckham. And I saw a tour of Ashley Tisdale's closet once, and wow. But style-wise, I love VB, Leighton Meester, Ashley Olsen, Candace Cameron Bure, etc. etc. But would love to raid Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly's closets if they were still around :/

Good book alert: Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons

Okay, so I've been really bad about reading lately---I used to be reading 2-4 books at one time and reading constantly, so finishing usually, a book every week or so. But lately my life has been CRAZY (more on that later, probably) so I just read when I can and am not too exhausted. I've been reading Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons for a couple of months now and finally finished it this morning. I found myself craving to get back to reading it, but really, its been busy folks. It was soooo good. I highly recommend it. It starts in the 60s and chronicles to the 90s. Its about a group of housewives in Minnesota who start a book club (that which one's husband's says its just a bunch of angry housewives getting together and eating bon bons, so the name sticks as their book club name). It follows their lives through the decades, through thick and thin, divorces, abuse, marriages, babies, sickness, new jobs, you name it. Anyway, yes, highly recommend it. It's by Lorna Landvik, and you can find it at the link below:

Click picture above

Anyway, I've got to get ready for a bridal shower. Have a good day everyone!

fill in the blank FRIDAY

 

1.  The best surprise ever would be, (I'll have to agree with our hostess here) a getaway would be GRAND.  It wouldn't have to be anything fancy or even lasting more than a day, but it would be so nice to get away for awhile just the two of us and try to de-stress a little. Or else I may turn into a little monster soon....and not in Lady GaGa terms....

2.    When my daddy would pull me around on my sled when I was a little girl  is my most favorite memory . Seriously, I have the best dad EVER. I know he must have gotten soooo annoyed that I would beg and beg to be pulled around just a little bit more and he would have his buddies over. Oooh and I remember once in the driveway there were frozen puddles and we 'ice skated' in our big ol moon boots. Okay, I have a lot of fond winter memories with my dad. ...I could go on and on....

3.  The hardest, but most worthwhile thing I've ever done was   letting go of a few things that I NEVER thought I could. Letting go of regret, of denial, and of doubt.

4.  The best part of my day is   curling up in bed with a book and my girly doll kitty. (We have two boys, too, she's my girly doll.) Actually, what's even better is if I don't have to go into work and its just me and a book and coffee/tea and crawling back into bed. Soooo nice. 

5. Something I like that most people don't is     going to the dentist. LOVE. I have the best dentist ever, and he is so little-boy-cute.  And I just love getting my teeth cleaned. Dental hygiene is KEY people. Actually, I have a dentist appointment on Tuesday. Rawk.

6. Something I am willing to fight for is   marriage, family.

7.  Something you might not know about me is  that I gauged out my ears when I was in high school. You know, when you make your earring hole bigger? I think I was a size 8 or something, nothing too crazy. But I didn't do it long at all because whenever I was spacing my holes out I was like, what is this nasty smell? It smelled like rotting flesh! It was my ears I finally figured out. So that was gross and I stopped, and luckily, my ear holes went back down to a normal circumference.

Fill in the Blank Friday

the little things we do Link-Up

1.  Something that is very near and dear to my heart is, animals. I can't stand to see any type of animal brutality. These little critters offer us so much love...they deserve all your love back people!

2.   A beautiful Friday OFF work is good cause to celebrate .

3.  The most fun I ever had was   going to Pennsylvania for my brother's wedding.

4.  True friends are   hard to come by, easy to keep, life-long and PATIENT.

5. Something that makes me terribly happy is    bodies of water.  Crisp autumn days. Walks through the woods. Ice cream. 

6. A good way to spend a sunny day is   well, today I am spending it on my new Ostrich chaise lounge that I got from Target and finishing up The Aloha Quilt by Jennifer Chiaverini. Lunch soon with the hubby!

7.  My favorite celebratory food is  pasta. LOVE pasta. Could eat it everyday (and actually do quite often). Gotta love ice cream, too. Our local ice cream shoppe has the greatest ice cream---Blue Goo Flavor Burst---yum!

 

Fill in the Blank Friday

The Little Things We Do Link-Up

1.  When I wake up in the morning, the first thing I do is, feed my cats--lol. They won't let me do ANYTHING until I feed them, so its automatic now.

2.   I can hardly wait for   the new house!.

3.  The quickest way to my heart is   listening to me    because   ....I don't know...I have a complex?

4. A little known fact about me is that    I used to play the drums!! But primarily I suppose I'm more a piano player---I taught myself when I was little. I've been told I have a "piano player's hands" meaning I have looooong fingers.

5. The best part about my job is    I get to help people and they are thankful for it and don't have a sense of entitlement (like they did in my last job)

6. Something I just couldn't live without is    eye liner. BLACK.

7.  Something useful that I wish I knew how to do is  dance. I'm awful. Okay, I apparently have a complex about a lot of things!

*.*Fill in the Blank Friday*.*

Linking up with "the little things we do" this week:

1.  The highlight of my week was  winning/(using today) a FREE paid time off day!

2.   If I had to classify my interior design aesthetic it would be   well depends on my mood--how about modern country chic?

3.  My first vehicle was   a turquoise Chevy Beretta--can't remember the year. The whole car shook like a bowl full of jelly if you went over 50 mph.

4. An item I need to have in my day in order to function is coffee and FiberOne cereal bars.

5. My favorite way to waste time is  by reading different blogs start to finish :) I know, creepy, right?

6. Right now I could really go for   a mango smoothie.

7.  This weekend I will be  cleaning and organizing probably!

What I'm Loving Wednesday!

YAY HUMP DAY!!! 

Linking up with Jamie for this weekly ritual:

 

This cute little golf bag birdhouse my parents got the hubby for his birthday:

These adorable little birdies I picked up at Dollar General today for $2 each:

Welch's Grape Juice. I LOVE grape juice. Could drink it all day. LOVE communion hah :)

Special K Blueberry Crisps---these things are soooo good and addicting. They remind me of blueberry poptarts. 

Tea infuser

Finally used my tea infuser for the first time! I've had this cute little kit for quite some time (got it from the beyond amazing World Market) but have just been plain lazy with my tea and using tea bags. Yes, I am BOTH a coffee AND tea person. Yum. I had a period of time last year where my doctor restricted me because he thought there was something wrong with my heart. So in between that day and the day about a MONTH later when I saw my heart specialist I could not have any caffeine (which includes chocolate), alcohol, limit stress and limit exercise. It.was.awful. Mostly because I didn't know what was going to happen, though. Honestly, I'm still not entirely sure what the deal is, but my "issues" have been minimal since that time and the heart specialist told me to go ahead and get back to my life and just let him know if "other" things happened. So ANYWHO....

Look! Ain't it cute?????!

Exterior of box

Interior of box

Earl Grey--my favorite!

Fill infuser with tea leaves

Put in mug

Steep!

Serve! Yumm