.::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!