What's mine is mine... sort of

It's come to my attention that some people find the Kingston Castle's finance system 'weird.' Yes, weird. You see, we've been married six months and still don't have a shared checking account. Evidently, this is just unheard of among the group of work friends I recently had lunch with. How we got on the topic, I'm not sure, but they were pretty amazed at our situation. It used to bother me, like we should have one. Now it's just normal to me and I don't know when and if we'll make the change to a single account.

As a little background info, my parents who've been married for 30 years don't have a joint checking account either. My dad pays the utility-type bills, my mom pays the mortgage, and then the rest of the money goes to car payments, our savings (back in the day), etc. I think my mom bought groceries, my dad bought the cars, and what was left was theirs. I genuinely don't know the whole story, but those are the basics. It's how they've always done it and I didn't realize until I was older that it's somewhat odd. We grow up thinking you get married and "what's mine is yours, and what's yours is mine," right? Well, sometimes, what's mine is mine, and what's yours is yours.

So why don't we share money? Actually, I think we would describe our arrangement as sharing money, but the logistics are a little complicated. He moved into my apartment when we got engaged, so all the "house" bills were in my name, along with my own bills. So he would transfer me money (we have the same bank, thank goodness) at the end of the month for his share. I could have just opened a second account and moved either my personal bills or house bills out of the first account, but I was far too lazy for that. So it all stayed with my personal checking. So now my checking takes care of all the bills for me and us.

In May last year, we made things really dizzying. He sold his truck and bought my Murano for me to drive. He took my Altima. So now, his car payment comes out of my account and and my car payment comes out of his. Same with insurance. So because the Murano payment is more, I pay him the difference, he makes the Murano payment, and I pay the Altima loan. For insurance, I pay my mom for the Altima (since we haven't bought the Altima from my dad, it's not in our name and thus still on their cheap policy) and he pays my Murano insurance. It evens us out a bit.

Additionally, my income is higher as well as constant, so I take care of dog expenses and groceries and contribute more to savings. He travels 4 times as far in a day and gets better gas mileage. Therefore, we end up with just about the same amount of spending money. Which would essentially happen if we had one account, right? We'd both contribute to pay bills and what was left would be split between us. So we "share" money, we just have a really back asswards way of going about it. We do, however, agree on what we consider the important things: how much goes to savings, what is a big purchase that needs to be discussed, etc. We're on the same page, at least.

There are some things I like about our little system, though:

• We get to treat each other. If we had one account and went out for dinner, it wouldn't matter which card we handed over to the waitress. But because we keep separate accounts, I can say "I'd like to buy you dinner." It also makes it special when he decides to buy me a new top or shoes. He's sacrificing spending money to do something nice for me.
• It's easier! I don't have to worry about keeping track of every last cent we both spend. Just me. That's really nice.
• I don't have to be a hawk. I've heard some wives say that they watch their husband's statements and criticize when he spends on video games or something. For me, Dan's spending is out of sight, out of mind. As long as our bills are paid and we have savings, I don't have to fret over what he's spending on. Same with me. I don't have to feel guilty that he'd think some random expenditure is ridiculous.

It's yet another example of "whatever works." It may not be the norm, but for the time being, it fits. So what about you? Do you have a traditional "our account" system, or something more customized to your lifestyle?

Weekend Wrap-up

Technically, I had a 9 day weekend, but we'll pretend I'm just talking about the real weekend. I honestly don't even remember Friday night. Not because it was that wild and crazy. I think I was just tired. Dan detailed a car and got home after 10pm. Boring. I tried to watch Couples' Retreat and ended up falling asleep.

I spent Saturday decorating cookies. My mom asked me to make some for my grandma, so I tried my hand at Bridget's modern daisies . I'm not overly thrilled with them, but Grandma will love them anyway. I didn't take pics on my phone, so I'll have to update later. I also made Dr. Seuss cookies. My friend is hosting a work baby shower for a coworker expecting twin boys, and she's going with a Thing 1 and Thing 2 inspired theme. So I made her these:


The green yolk is a little dark, I'll make it lighter next time, and it'll be filled instead of piped. She was really happy with them, so my job this week is to make 4 dozen more and ship them to Colorado. My friend has great plans for this shower, including adorable cupcakes:

On Sunday, we had out repeat visit from the dog whisperer. I knew Paisley was doing better, but I was amazed at how much. When the trainer came in last Saturday, Paisley barked and then huffed for almost 45 minutes. Yesterday, she barked for 10 seconds, quieted down, and then was trying to give the trainer kisses 10 minutes later. It's absolutely an incredible change. It's like a whole new Paisley. Clover, on the other hand, needs more work. So we signed her up for the trainer's obedience class in the park behind the apartment. She'll go over the basics again and learn new stuff like "wait." I'm hoping that being with other dogs and having to perform obedience tasks while distracted will help her on regular walks. It can't hurt to try, right?

nd I'm so excited - our furniture is done! It's supposed to be delivered today and I can't wait to see it. Check back for pics tomorrow. How was your weekend? Do anything fun?

And the winner is...

Thank you all so much for participating in my first giveaway. It's been so much fun and I'd like to say "Welcome!" to all my new followers and readers. Hopefully you've crept over to some of the other bloggers' pages and found some fun reads.

Anyway, without further ado, the randomly selected winner of the Boojiboo apron giveaway is:

Jamielovestoast!!

Congrats! Please email me at kingstonsqueen@gmail.com and I'll forward your info to Boojiboo so you can get your apron.

Thanks again, all!!

Show Us Your Life: How I met my husband

It is once again time for a Kelly's Korner Show Us Your Life post. This week is the "how we met" story. Enjoy...

There once was a girl named Brooke. She was a good girl at heart but had made some mistakes in love. She came from a wonderful and supportive family, enjoyed her job, had a new puppy and was 4 months out of a relationship and looking forward to rediscovering herself.

There was also once a boy named Dan. He was young, fun, and tattooed but serious about what he wanted out of life. He had a great core group of friends and was working to rebuild a relationship with his parents.

There was also a hussy named Nikki who'd trapped a boy named Dennis by getting knocked up. Brooke worked with Nikki and Dan knew Dennis in high school. The hussy named Nikki couldn't possibly be separated from Dennis for an afternoon to have a baby shower, so she made Dennis bribe his guy friends into coming with beer.

Brooke and Dan were both invited to the baby shower. There was good food, fun games, and - as promised - beer. Brooke remembers noticing a tall cute guy with tattoos and a sweet smile. Dan remembers falling in love at first sight with the girl who knew everything about celebrity babies. Just as he got the liquid courage to approach her, she left for dinner plans.

Dan asked the hussy named Nikki for Brooke's contact info, and between their hectic schedules (he worked full time, a second job, and went to school), they went on a date approximately two weeks later. He remembers that she ordered fried macarroni and cheese and a vodka soda with olives. He also remembers the outfit she wore and could pick it from her closet to this day. She remembers that he was shy, but sweet. There was something magnetic about him.

Long story short, they dated for like 8 months, got engaged, and then got married 17 months after that first meeting. And they lived happily ever after.

My unproductive week

It's been a long week. While I'm looking forward to going back to work, I'll also miss the relaxation and snuggle time with the pups. Here's the run-down on what I've done so far:

2: homework assignments done (out of 4). I hope to get #3 done tomorrow, and #4 done this weekend. Then I shall be done with my masters!
3: homemade lunches consumed
2: trips outside the apartment
1: times I've done my hair
3: loads of laundry
1: trips to the dog park
5: hours spent napping
16: trips outside for Paisley
40: trips outside for Clover
2: accidents from Clover, which is a HUGE improvement and low percentage considering she went outside 40 times
2: hours the TV has been on during the day. And that's total. Not per day.
0: cookies baked - yet. I'm doing it tomorrow, I swear
4: lunches made for Dan and set lovingly on the counter
1: kickboxing class, and my body is soooo sore
3: times cleaning the kitchen after a delicious homemade dinner
172: text messages sent
1: trip to the doctor, at which I learned that...
8: pounds gained since the wedding. Sob.

Yeah, that's about it. And that's really grasping for straws and thinking of everything I've done. Dan should hopefully be home in time for our Thursdaily trip to Dos Gringos for monster tacos and buckets of beer. I've been very good with eating at healthy food at home all week, so this will be my one treat. I'm still sore from kickboxing, but I'm hoping I'll be able to feel my ass enough tomorrow to go to Body Works class. I've gotta get those 8 pounds off, and then some more.

How's your week been?

This whole stay-at-home wife thing...

...is not for me. I'm bored. I've done homework assignments, walked dogs, I've got some cupcakes baking for the Mr. I've grocery shopping, surfed the web, and painted my toenails. Still bored. I realize I could go out and do things, but while I have all the time in the world this week, my friends are all busy with, you know, jobs and stuff. Not to mention, going out to eat and stuff costs money that I'd personally rather save. I know better than to decide I'm going to waste time at Target. That would be a bad choice.

I always thought I'd want to be a stay-at-home mom. Always. And though I realize it'd be way different if I was here with an actual baby doing constant feedings, diaperings, laundry, and trying to squeeze in rest for myself; I still feel like I'd miss doing something really productive (career-wise, I know being a mom is productive) and seeing people.

What do you think? Would you want to be a stay at home mom?

_____________________________________________

Don't forget to enter to apron giveaway if you haven't yet - only 2 days to go. I'm cutting it off at 10am Arizona time on Friday.

Blast from the past

I was doing a scan of my favorite blogs, and I came across an interest post from Salt. She participated in Bev's "Show Me Yours" senior photo post and showed us her younger self as a blonde Jnco jeans wearing club kid. You should check it out :)

I thought, I might have that beat. Might. You see, I decided to get my hair cut about a week before my senior photo. Smart. Evidently, I wanted to look like a boy. And I frosted my tips. Hawt. I also hadn't discovered tweezers yet back then, so I've got mad brows. I present to you, me, circa 1998. You'll be glad it's small...

Take a moment. You can laugh. I hate that picture. And that sweater - really, that's what I thought was my best outfit? Ugh. I only used this photo for my yearbook - I had my real senior photos done at Sears a couple months later instead, then proceeded to hand out 29347346 of them to my friends, whether they wanted them or not.

Alright, back to school work, fittingly.

Training Day

This Saturday, we had a very special visitor. A dog trainer! Yay! It went really well. I'll be honest, I was really worried that we'd be told we're doing so much wrong and Paisley's going to be mean forever and Clover will never go potty outside on her own. Thankfully, though, we were told we're doing a lot of things right, and were taught how to change our interactions with The Girls to make things better.

When the trainer came in, Paisley was her usual self, barking and howling. Of course, little sister Clover followed suit. Within just a couple minutes, though, the trainer showed me how to quiet Paisley by firmly muzzling her with my hand and saying "quiet!" She noticed that I was trying to hold Paisley and say "it's okay, calm down" in a soothing voice and that was giving mixed signals. Instead, if I firmly muzzle her and don't give her attention until she's quiet, Paisley clearly knows that I want her to be calm. Seems obvious right? I felt a little dumb, but the trainer told me that as humans, we see our pets as a baby that needs to be comforted. But Paisley is interpretting my comforting as weakness and feels the need to defend. Anyway, in almost no time, Paisley was calmly sitting next to me, and couldn't have cared less that there was a stranger on the couch 3 feet away.

Next, we took Paisley out for a walk. The trainer noted that I don't keep great control of Paisley and let her get ahead of me, so we worked on loose leash training and heeling. Since Pais had learned that at Petsmart training, she took to it again quickly. Normally on walks, Paisley barks at everyone. But the trainer told me that part of it is her feeling a need to protect, and by me letting her walk ahead, she assumed the role of protector. By making her stay behind, I'm showing her that I'm on the defense and making sure we're safe. It was a huge difference! We walked slowly on the path around the park and past two parties and Paisley hardly noticed them. The trainer showed me how to position myself as we approach people so that I put myself in a guarding position. Paisley is so much more relaxed outside now. And I have the knowledge and tools I need to calm her if she's not relaxed. I'm so relieved!

As far as Clover goes, the trainer wants us to do the same things on walks to quiet her. She taught us that Paisley and Clover have different signals when they're on the alert, and how to watch for them and nip them in the bud. If we let it go too far, it's that much harder to reel them in. So detecting that first sign in each of them is key. For house-breaking, the trainer thinks we may have given Clover too much trust and freedom, and she is missing something in terms of the idea that the apartment is a giant crate and not to be peed in. So we're going back to the very beginning taking away her roaming space and she'll be crated more until she earns freedom.

All in all, I feel so much better after our lesson with the trainer. She comes back next weekend to see how we're doing. I'm off work all week, so I've got plenty of time and attention to devote to working on our new skills.

The rest of our weekend was great. Yesterday, we went to see our friends Scott and Melissa and painted. Dan nearly finished installing the urinal in Scott's garage (boys...). I'm almost done with my daisy painting - I just need to touch up my petals and do the flower's center. I'm hoping to get to finish it later in the week once I get the rest of my to-do list tackled.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

My first giveaway!

I'm beyond excited to announce my first giveaway! Remember when I asked y'all to help me choose an apron? Well, I went with your votes and chose the black and white damask from Etsy seller Boojiboo. And then, folks, Boojiboo offered up an apron for me to give away to you! I just love the shop's designs. Boojiboo's aprons are cute, flirty, and fun. Even if you're not a whiz in the kitchen, they would make a wonderful gift for someone who is. Not to mention, the designs are always changing, making the shop a favorite stop of my Etsy browsing tour.

I'm a total sucker for daisies, but those robots are awesomely unexpected.

So here's the deal: one lucky winner will get an apron of their choice from the shop. I personally love the Chloe style with the straight neckline, but you can choose any style. I'll announce the random winner a week from today, Friday, April 23rd.

There are three ways to have up to five entries:

1. Go to Boojiboo's shop and come back here and leave a comment telling me your favorite (1 entry)

2. Follow me or tell me that you already do (1 entry)

3. Go back to your own fabulous blog and tell your readers about my giveaway, then leave a link in the comments. That way, people become aware of your blog as well. Win-win. (3 entries)

Please leave a separate entry for each of the above, so I make sure to not miss any entries for you. Good luck to everyone! And thank you to Boojiboo for making this giveaway possible :)

EDIT: Or you can do one comment. Turns out I can be smart enough to figure out it :)

Happy Etsy shopping and I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

ABC's of BK

I honestly can't remember if I've done one of these or not, but I need a break from tax work and Kelly at Dare to be Domestic posted this, so I'm going for it:

a. area code: I think I like in 480 (maybe), but my phone is 520 so that calls from my parents' land-line are local.

b. bed size: Queen. We'll be getting a California King when we have a house

c. chore you hate: Putting clothes away.

d. dog's name: Paisley and Clover

e. essential "start of the day" item: Toothpaste. I feel absolutely disgusting until I brush my teeth

f. favorite color: Purple!

g. gold or silver: Tricky. I wear white gold, which looks silver

h. height: 5'5"

i. instruments you play: Ha, none. I'm the world's least talented musician. I got a D in piano in high school

j. job: Tax analyst... corporate tax, people

k. kids: Hoping...

l. living arrangements: We live in an apartment

m. mom's name: Karen. I'd be sneaky, but it's pretty obvious in the comments who my momma is

n. nickname: Boo, Li'l Buddy, Brookey, Brookie Cookie

o. overnight hospital stay: Never

p. pet peeve: Horrible driving, clipping nails in the office, being close-minded

q. quote from movie: Tigers love pepper. They hate cinnamon

r. righty or lefty: Righty with lefty parents

s. siblings: One younger sister

t. time you wake up: I usually hear the dogs around 5:30, but don't get up until 6

u. underwear: I'm a bit of a snob. I pretty much only wear Victoria's Secret

v. vegetables you dislike: Tomatoes. Blech!!

w. ways or reasons you are late: Clover deciding not to go #2 in the morning throws off my schedule. Sometimes I can't resist crawling back into bed for a few, either.

x. x-rays: I've had plenty on my teeth over the years, and 2 HIDA scans for my gall bladder

y. yummy food you make: Cookie and cakes, according to my coworkers

z. zoo animals you like: Lions, polar bears, and monkeys


Anyone else care to join in the ABC fun?

The Hippie Party

Written yesterday, but I was too tired to post last night:

Today is my parents’ 30th wedding anniversary. 30 years ago today, family and friends gathered in the front yard of the home they’d recently purchased and witnessed their marriage ceremony.

On Saturday, we celebrated the event with an awesome hippie party. We had family, neighbors, and friends come celebrate. Here are some of the highlights.

The guests of honor. Mom even wore her Jack Daniel’s tank top I remember so well. My sister found this awesome picture thingy (if there’s a better word for it, let me know) on orientaltrading.com. It was just a flimsy piece of plastic, so Dan and my dad mounted it pieces of sheetrock so that people could stand behind it. Quite a few guests took the opportunity to get a picture with it.

My cousins went all out with their disco pimp outfits. Brees, who’s 7, even told me to give him his money. Charming.

The punches. We had white grape punch with berries for the kids, and dangerous white peach sangria for the adults. We labeled them “Groovy” and “Not so Groovy.”

We displayed my parents’ marriage license and wedding invitation and photos from the wedding on a photo board I made with an old bulletin board. Then we added recent photos of our family and a little notebook for people to leave their favorite memories.

The Peace, Love, and Happiness cakes. I baked them Thursday and decorated them Saturday morning. Of course, I was an idiot and left the fridge door open to move something and Clover licked one – fully decorated – on the bottom shelf. We didn’t serve that cake to guests, of course, but I had a heart attack for a moment before Dan told me that we could just set it out for the visual concept and then cut the section off and not serve it.

And here’s me and the hubs, aka the Grill Master, enjoying the party. I found our shirts at Old Navy. His says “Rocksteady Kingston.” How fitting.

We had a really wonderful time seeing old friends and catching up with family. My parents were both very excited for their party and had a great time. Here’s to 30 more years of peace, love and happiness!

Lovely Lauren

My heart is heavy - my former coworker's beautiful young niece passed away on Friday and I've just heard the news this morning. My coworker, Leia, was at her grandfather's funeral when she got the news that her niece lost her two year battle with a brain tumor. It's such a difficult time for my coworker and my heart is just breaking for her.

Here is the link to Lauren's blog if you're interested in her story. She passed away 2 years and 1 day after her diagnosis. In the time she fought, her family also lost a baby, Brooke, at 39 weeks gestation. Lauren named Brooke as well as the baby her family was blessed with last year, Finlay. Lauren was also big sister to Marissa. Leia kept me up to date on the family's triumphs and trials over the course of Lauren's treatment. Lauren was truly a fighter, having bounced back quite a few times. Living 2 years with a tumor her size was a miracle in itself. I knew she hadn't been doing well, and her prognosis was poor, but things took a turn in the last couple of weeks. Fortunately, her parents were able to bring her home so that she could pass surrounded by family. They are comforted knowing that she is now singing, dancing, and doing other things little girls should do, as well as taking care of her baby sister.

I'm not a prayerful person, but if you are, please send thoughts and prayers to Lauren's family. They're amazingly strong and loving people, but they need the warmth of thoughts and prayers at this time. Leia's told me that the outpouring of support of strangers has been overwhelming. Even though I never met her, I'm saddened by the loss of such an incredible little girl.

If you'd like to donate to the Children's Hospital Los Angeles, where Lauren received treatment, you can do so by going here. You can also donate to St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital and further cancer research by donating here

When I grow up...

Recently, both of our cars needed new tires. My Murano needed 2, and Dan's/my old Altima needed a full set because his brake problems were warping his tires. So, he set out to search craigslist for 700 hours for a set of rims and tires for his pimped out version of my former ride. When I say pimped out, I mean its got a new grill, a new sound system and a sweet zebra headliner. Awesome.

Anyghetto, he finally found a set and we drove out to East Egypt to get them from some guy. He made me come along in case the guy was a serial killer. I guess he figured he could use me as a bargaining chip for saving his own life. That and he needed my cargo area to fit them all. Turns out, the guy was perfectly nice and was selling them because they wouldn't fit his wife's car. So Dan said to me, "here, help me carry them to the car." I, with my huge muscles, thought it would be no problem. Wrong. Tires are heavy. And these tires sucked (Dan was buying the set for the rims - he's a schemer and had other arrangements for tires) and their warping didn't make it to easy to roll them down the sidewalk to the car.

It was then that I realized that my dream of busting tires for Discount would probably never be realized. Yes, folks, one of my dream jobs is to bust tires. I'm weird. For some reason I think it would be really awesome to be the only girl in the shop pulling tires off, plugging nail holes, using the power tools, and fitting tires on rims. I took auto shop for 2 years - I can balance a tire. But how quickly I forget that I always had someone else carry said tires to the spin balance machine. I told Dan about my dream and said that maybe I could just specialize in small tires. He said, "those were small tires." Hrmph. So I started thinking about my other crushed dreams for future jobs....

::cue the wavy screen and me gazing into the distance with my chin propped on my fist::

Once upon a time, I wanted to be a football plater. But alas, they still haven't started up the WNFL. That's tragic really. I suppose I could do roller derby, but I'm not what you'd call graceful on my feet. I'd win only by virtue of falling and having everyone else trip on me.

Then, I wanted to be a marine biologist. I thought marine biologists trained dolphins, true story. And then I went to Sea World and realized that Shamu is EFFING huge and scary. I don't want to talk about it anymore.

I had a friend who was a flight attendant. I thought that might have been cool as a single gal. Flying all over the country, staying in sweet hotels, having awesome hair, saying "buh-bye, see you next time!" to jerky passengers. Yeah, no. I'm terrified of planes. Not flying. Just the plane itself. In the event of an emergency, I'd opt to stay in the flaming aluminum tube of death rather than go down the slide and catch a glimpse of the monstrosity. The fact that I work under the landing path at Phoenix's airport is a joke in itself. I seriously time my walk into the building so that I don't have to be walking in with one overhead. I would not be a good flight attendant. At all.

::end dream sequence::

So alas, I am a tax analyst. It keeps me safely away from Shamu and planes, except for the whole parking lot thing. I know a whole lot about things no one cares to hear about at a dinner party.

I can't be the only one with a busted dream. Any weird jobs you always thought would be cool?

How would you like to win...

this?


How about this?

Aren't they lovely? They're from Etsy seller Ryeleigh Rose , and Salt is having a giveaway on her blog. There are plenty of chances to win, and the Ryeleigh Rose shop is adorable! Hop on over to Salt Says and enter to win.

In similar news, I'll be hosting my first giveaway soon, and I'm so excited! Look for the announcement next week!

Why I love this time of year

Hey there friend/coworker! You're looking a little stressed. Everything alright? Allergies got ya down? Taking your Activia? Oh! You haven't done your taxes yet! I see. My my, you're running out of time. Only 9 days to go, by my calculation, aka the calendar. That would have me stressed too. Of course, I had mine done the first week of February, but I feel for you. Do I want to do yours? Ha, no! Goof! Unless you're a large corporation and you're paying sales taxes, I can't help you. Do I know about the deduction for your atypical random situation involving your investment boodeedo and interest diddliwob? Nope! Not a clue. Ha, you're right, I'm useless. Have a great day!

This is seriously a pretty typical occurrence this time of year: coworkers and friends come up to me and give me the "hey, wanna do my taxes?" spiel. I assume they mean for free, but either way, the answer is no. I suppose people in a lot of professions face misconceptions: I do tax at work, therefore I must 1. want to do tax at home (ha, no!) and 2. I must do personal income tax. Here's a hint folks - until 3 years ago, my parents' accountant did my taxes. Now I use Turbo Tax. And I pretty much don't question it unless it's way off from the previous year.

Despite the fact that I'm earning my graduate degree in the fun intricacies of taxation (of corporations, folks!), I've had one class on personal income, and it was in no way in-depth. I literally know 2 things about personal income tax: you're supposed to withhold, and you have to file an annual return, after which you either owe money or get a refund. Okay, I might know a few other things, but I don't consider myself a personal income tax expert in any way, shape or form. At this point in my career, I'm okay with not knowing more. I like what I do, and we all have our niche. Mine just can't help you out on April 14th, oh desperate friend. You really don't want me doing your taxes - spring for H&R Block, really.

I'm sure Mrs. ESPN can relate - we do the same job, essentially. Anyone else have face fun misconceptions due to their job?

Hoppy Easter!

We had ourselves a lovely little Easter weekend. I did eventually get some steam and go Keg Hunting on Friday, but by the time I got off my ample arse, they were pretty much claimed unless I wanted to venture downtown, which I didn't. Blech, downtown. So I took myself out for a pedicure instead, followed by Easter basket shopping, some light cleaning and heavy napping. I also had to drop my tiny skirt off at the post office to be sent back and resized. I'll be crossing my fingers for the next 4 days that it makes it back in time. We went to Dave & Buster's for the concert and had a pretty good time. We didn't like the second band much, but it was still a fun evening.

Saturday was a waste. I admit I had a bit too much fun on Friday night and my tummy was angry with me Saturday. Stupid shot. Dan loves making people do shots. He forgets, however, that his wifey is a light-weight. Dan had to work a couple jobs (hurray for over time!) so I chilled by myself and watched a marathon of my most favorite of guilty pleasures, Teen Mom.

Yesterday was Easter (obviously), and I made little Easter eggs with beefy treats for The Girls. Clover the Smartypants figured out how to bite them so they'd open, and Paisley was smart enough to follow her around to steal the treats. I also gave Dan a basket filled with various candy bunnies. He'd asked for a real bunny (which he'd name Yummy and fatten up), so I gave him the best substitute I could. I'm pretty sure he's happy for now, until the next holiday with an animal mascot comes along (so I'm safe for a long time, right?).

We went to my in-law's for steak and yummy veggies. I made delicious cheesecake brownies and we hung out for a bit. The Girls got to run around in the yard and burn off a metric ton of energy. When we got home, the girls and I took a nap and when I woke up, there were reports from people all over Phoenix about an earthquake. I realized that I'd been woken up by it, thinking that one of the dogs was scratching and making the bed move. However, when I looked around, they were both still. Being only half awake, I figured I was out of it and went back to sleep. Of course, when I put two and two together later, it made sense. It's very strange to me that we felt an earthquake in Mexico in Phoenix.

How was your Easter weekend?

Hurray, the three day weekend is here! It's been kind of a long week, but a productive one. I got my crafts done for the hippe party next weekend. Dan was a huge help, and I'm happy with how they turned out. I don't want my mom to see any surprises, so I'll include pictures after the party next week. Let's just say, though, that I may have an idea for yet another new hobby.

I was very excited for today. The radio station here does an Easter Keg Hunt - they hide 98 empty kegs around the city and each one is worth a prize. Grand prize is $5K, but other prizes include a PS3, concert tickets, gifts cards, and other cash prizes. I was all gung-ho and said I was going to go out hunting since I'm off work, and then I lost steam. I realized I'd have to drive around aimlessly looking for a keg. I guess I just don't care that much. The awesome thing is, the whole Easter Keg Hunt gets wrapped up tonight with a free concert at Dave & Buster's. We're both pretty excited to go, it'll be something fun and different from the ordinary Friday.

I also got the skirt I ordered for the party in the mail yesterday. I ordered it on Etsy from a seller who placed an alchemy bid for a hippe patchwork skirt. Huge bummer! I love it and it's beautiful, but it doesn't fit at all. The seller is being really awesome and is offering to fix it for free, but of course I'm worried that even with Express mail, it'll be back in time. Stupid me, I never considered vanity sizing or standardized clothing charts when I gave my size. As much as I don't like to get down about myself and am trying to accept my body as is, I have to admit I'm a little heartbroken at realizing my true standardized size. I hate feeling so down on myself, and I feel guilty for not always making better choices with diet and fitness. I really just want to be happy and comfortable in my skin. Funny all the emotions that something as simple as a skirt can bring to the surface.

The rest of the weekend we'll probably spend relaxing. We're going to Dan's parents' house on Sunday for lunch, and I'm bringing a yet-to-be-determined dessert. I saw a great recipe on Bake at 350 that I might try out. I also have some homework to get done - I only have 5 assignments left!

How are you spending your weekend?