Random Musings Friday

Hurray, hurray, it's Friday! Another long week. It was a pretty good week, but still a long one. I am ready for some weekend, people. We don't have a whole lot planned - I have a lia sophia show tomorrow and then we're celebrating our Irishness with corned beef and Irish Car Bombs at my in-laws' house.

- My mom flew to NY last night to visit my grandma and she flew Delta Airlines. Upon arrival at the airport, she discovered that Delta now charges $39 for a window or aisle seat. How do they get away with this? They have to fill the plane, right? So what if all the cheap (read: regular priced middle seats are gone) and someone refuses to pay (because according to my mom, you don't find out about this until check-in)? Then what? And what about people traveling with kids? My mom told me there was a passenger with her child that she couldn't even sit next to without paying $40 to do so. Ridiculous. I get that airlines are struggling, but this is a pathetic way to nickle-and-dime customers. Just go out of business gracefully, Delta. -- FYI, this is the first I've heard of this. If this is old news, please kindly disregard and move on.

- In less than two weeks, I'm going to Morristown, where I get to spend time with my friend Mrs. ESPN and meet Shana! Oh and I have a meeting I have to go to... an all-day meeting that will likely leave me wanting to lobotomize myself with a spoon. But I get to hang with Mrs. ESPN and Shana! Clearly, I'm excited.

- Yesterday, a package arrived in the mail for me from a wonderful friend, Kathy. We know each other through IF message boards - our (and by "our," I mean collectively as respective couples) diagnoses are similar except that just this week, Kathy celebrated the 1 year anniversary of being diagnosed with thyroid cancer by being cancer FREE! Yay, Kathy! Anyway, she sent me a really awesome gift - she found this beautiful print and decided it had Brooke written all over it. I'm in love with it, and I can't wait to hang it over my craft room desk:


Thank you, sweet friend!

- I met up with TJ last night for dinner. She'd booked a lia sophia party with me, which was converted from a traditional show to a catalogue show, so we decided to have dinner instead since we'd blocked the night off. Not making the connection between the closest meeting spot between us and a Radiohead concert in the adjacent arena, we showed up to a pretty packed restaurant. She was there before me and got a table, but as I was walking in, there was a large party who'd just put their name in. I overheard one of the moms say, "25 minutes to an hour? But we have kids with us!" Ummmm... since when does having children mean you get to cut lines in restaurants? This really isn't bitter me speaking. It's just kind of ridiculous and an example of how some parents these days seem to feel that the fact that they reproduced someone puts them above others. And they clearly weren't concerned that the wait was too long for the kids (there are other restaurants in the area they could have gone to instead if the wait was too long) because they were seated next to us as we were finishing dinner. So before anyone suggests that "we have kids, we shouldn't wait" was not what she meant by her comment, if the wait was truly too long, they had other options.

- I get to go to the doctor today for a blood pressure check. Fun shit. Only today is the first time I've used my new insurance, which basically now only covers catastrophic illness and one well-woman check a year. So basically, I get to use my lunch hour to pay about $150 for a blood pressure check. Yay!


You know the drill: have a great weekend and go visit Shana to see what's rolling around in everyone else's heads.

Random Musings Friday

Hurray, it's Friday! Holy moly, it was a long week. It's the kick-off of our income tax season, and I am dealing with some royal asshats. I'll be having a well deserved glass (or two) of wine this evening. Anywho, on to my randomness

- I don't remember if I mentioned this here, but there was a poll where they asked people what they thought Mitt Romney's real name is. I admit I don't know it, or remember it, but 2% of the population polled answereed that they think it's Mittens. That means grown adults think this man is named Mittens. Like a cat. I heard this on the radio over a month ago and it still cracks me up every.time. I see his name. Mittens. Ha!

- I've become something of a hair product junkie. I switched stylists in December, and I love what she has done. She's punched up my color (a slightly darker and richer shade of my own color, so I only need it done every 8 weeks because I don't really get roots), made my cut fantastic, and shown me products that give me that big voluminous Southern hair I've always wanted but wasn't born with. But of course, being styled with a product for one day just isn't enough. So once I ran out of the stuff I had, I decided I would pretty much buy what she uses on me (all Redken). So in the last 4 weeks, I've gotten a plumper (Velvet Gelatine 07) for my fine hairs, a root pump (Rootful 06) that doesn't weigh my hair down (!) and a spray wax (Wax Blast 10) that gives volume and texture without back-coming. And, I sucked Dan in, too. His appointments are 2 weeks off from mine, and I went to his last appointment, and they were having a special on products. So I made him buy me a hairspray (Quick Dry 18), too. Yeah, no more Tresamme for me, baby. It's kind of sick to think how much I've spent on products (although the cost has been offset by friend and referral discounts), but I love my hair again after a long time of feeling blah about it.

- Kirk Cameron recently told Pusscake Piers Morgan his honest feelings on gay marriage. And he's being seriously criticized for it. Here's the thing though: what the heck did you expect him to say? He's an openly conservative evangelical Christian. I'm not saying there aren't Christians who are accepting of gay marriage or that I agree with him at all, but in general, I think we all know that many who identify as Christian believe it's sinful. I'm honestly not sure why anyone is surprised. What I AM surprised about is that anyone cares what Kirk Cameron thinks. I find it interesting that because he's a "celebrity" we expect him to be PC and open-minded.

- Kon.y2012. I'm not linking the video because you all are capable of Googling, but if you haven't seen the video yet, it's interesting. And everyone on my FB feed is calling to stop K.ony and buy bracelets to support the cause. Um, let me make a comment about the cause. The In.visible Chil.dren "thing" behind this has a website and if you read enough literature on the mission, they basically want to lobby congress to send more troops to Africa to fight and capture Ko.ny to bring him to justice. Here's the thing though, the guy has built himself an army of children (which I'm not saying isn't horrifying and disturbing), but he's still around, I'm sure, because he makes sure he covers his ass and is protected. Someone this wacked isn't likely to have plans to go down quietly. So to send troops after him essentially means sending troops to fight his army... of children. I'm not sure we've thought this through. I have a better idea: take all this plastic bracelet money and increase the bounties on him. You can't tell me someone wouldn't take the SOB out for a cool couple million dollars. Also, they've been trying to catch him for 9 years - my guess is this isn't as easy as selling some bracelets. But it's been fun to see how a viral video is turning everyone into experts on global issues. Hurray for inactivism (Heir to Blair wrote an interesting piece on this that's worth a gander).

- I may or may not have (read: definitely did) burned a baby shower invitation I received with a blow torch. It was a rough IF week and I definitely felt better afterwards.


Alright, I think this just about covers the randomness in my brain for the week. Go visit Shana and see what's on everyone else's mind.

EDIT: Now with product names!

Random Musings Friday

Happy Friday! Holy shizballs, this week felt long! Here's my brain dump:

- I just can't get into a sympathetic frame of mind over Whitney Houston's death. I respect that she's a person who died and that's sad for her family and loved ones, but in my humble opinion, she was a crackhead with a once great voice and her death was not surprising due to her lifestyle. I say "once great" because her continued drug use damaged it. She was a troubled soul, and I'm glad that she no longer suffers, but I always find it interesting when celebrities with troubled pasts pass away and we seem to forget the troubled part. Either way, rest in peace, Whitney.

- I had my second lia sophia show last night, hosted by my mother-in-law at my house. It was small and fun, but I was hoping for bigger sales for her. I'm kicking tail on my start-up sales goals, which is great, and I've gotten bookings out of both shows, so I'm thankful for a successful start. I have two more shows this weekend, and I'm just hoping they go really well for my hostesses, because I am so thankful they agreed to help me get started.

- Dan and I bought the paint for the craft room on Sunday, and I'm hoping we can get started with the makeover this weekend.

- Speaking of this weekend, we're going to the body art expo. I've never been to one and I'm really excited. I really have no idea what to expect. Our tattoo artist is entering one of Dan's pieces in a contest and I'm super excited for both of them.

- Confession: I got a tattoo symbolizing our infertility and - aside from posting it on Facebook with a vague explanation of its meaning - haven't really shown it to anyone. My confession is that I worry that people would think that since we didn't try treatment, getting a permanent mark of our experience would be making a mountain out of a molehill. I struggle a lot with feeling like we haven't "suffered" enough, and I need to come to terms with that.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend! Don't forget to go see the other link-ups at Shana's site. Oh, and! Amanda's lia sophia virtual jewelry extravaganza ends Wednesday and a I threw in a special deal for orders submitted this weekend, so go visit her, too.

Well, since everyone else is doing it

I kind of glazed over it in my last post, but everyone else who went to PJs at TJ's wrote a recap, so I figure I should too. Because it was fun and TJ was a very generous hostess who showed us all a wonderful time.

So, Friday I got done with work and headed across the street to the airport to pick up Elise. We had fun chatting in the car as we headed toward TJ's house. When we got in touch with TJ outside the base to arrange the base access stuff, she asked if we could turn around and go grab a few girls at a nearby outdoor mall, because she could only sign on so many cars and blah blah blah so we needed to carpool. So Elise and I picked up Stephanie, Megan (who doesn't blog but does Tweet), and Laura and headed back.

The rest of the evening was spent meeting and greeting as more people arrived. The bloggers attending aren't in my usual blog social circle, but I'd checked them out to know who they all were. Even so, I quickly realized I hadn't read enough. That or I am even worse with remembering names and details than I usually am. Anyway, I met Linnea, Noemi, Diane, Lara, Jess, Jessica, Kammah, Erin, and two of TJ's aunts. TJ put out a sandwich spread and enough soda for a small army, along with a WALL of CANDY. Organized candy. Seriously, brilliant. She used a show organizer on her laundry room door and stuffed it with goodies. Dan can never find out about it because he'll want one. We chatted and played with babies (TJ's Penny, Erin's Lorelai, Jessica's Callum) and hung out before heading home (or to hotels) for the night.

I got up bright and early Saturday (because I have dogs who don't sleep for shit because OMG, they might miss a meal) and picked up a few girls and headed back to TJ's for breakfast. Ladies trickled in all morning, including a new arrival, Andrea and her daughter, Alli. The babies played on the floor while we chatted. After a while, a few of us headed off to Target for general awesomeness shopping and to buy pajamas for the PJ party that evening. I had to leave to go shadow a lia sophia show (although I got hopelessly lost, burst into tears, and ended up giving up and going home for a nap) and a few girls went to get pedicures while TJ turned the house into a true pajama party.

I have to say this about TJ real quick. She really is awesome. I enjoy her company very much and am glad we've become friends. She's funny in a sarcastic way I can appreciate, wicked clever in both her writing and her conversation, and incredibly kind. She truly just wanted everyone to have a good time. She took a lot of effort in planning to get the most out of our very minimal registration "fee" (for lack of a better word, because I think we all would have coughed up more for the experience). She kept us in good snacks, great company, and gracious hospitality all weekend.

So, with all that in mind, she also had a vision for this party. She and I met up after she came home from the Blathering, and as she was hatching her idea for her own gathering, she truly wanted a middle school-esque girlfest PJ party. Like old school, from back when we'd stay up late with girlfriends eating popcorn and candy until we got sick, whispering about boys and watching movies. She had a VISION. And that vision included a BED. At a pajama party. It's so obvious, yet so brilliant that she actually hauled out a bed while most of the girls were gone (I came back to help turn the house from "hang out all day" space to "this is where the party's happening space), set it up in the living room, made it up with blankets and pillows, and set the scene. She had hot pink and black streamers and party decor. Everyone (including Kara, who hadn't been able to make it to the Friday night meet-and-greet) descended on Kelly's house in their cute pajamas and warm fuzzy socks. We had pizza, "Big" and "Dirty Dancing" going in the background, root beer floats, and a lot of great conversation. We piled on the bed or sat on couches or the floor, played with little ones, and just talked all night.

I'll be honest, being with that many people at once for a whole day is breeding grounds for sensory overload for me. But it was precisely what I didn't even know I needed. It really was great and very memorable. There were ladies from so many different places and backgrounds to meet and get to know and share with. I spend just about every evening hanging out with at least one guy (Dan, obvs, and possibly the roommate or one of Dan's coworkers), so having girl time was a breath of fresh air. And it didn't matter that I didn't relate to all of their experiences because we were all there for one reason - to just have fun and enjoy something totally new. As tired as I was on Sunday from all the fun, it was a happy and satisfied tired.

So, in summation, I'd definitely recommend attending a blog gathering should you ever have the opportunity. And it doesn't matter that it's not a gathering of your "usual" bloggers, because they can become part of your blog circle. It's an experience you won't regret - I can assure you that the 15 ladies who spent Saturday night in PJs with me would agree with you :)

TIme to get Blingy

Happy Valentine's Day, all :)

Today is the kick-off of a very special little partnership between me and Amanda at It's Blogworthy. Amanda is hosting the first ever virtual lia sophia jewelry party, and the info is on her site. It's part of the 1st birthday celebration for her awesome Friday feature, Celebrity Roundup, for which I was the first ever guest poster back when Charlie Sheen went cuckoo for cocoa puffs. We're quite excited about this little endeavor, and I'm thrilled to have her as a hostess. So hop on over to her site to check it out and treat yourself to whatever you didn't get for Valentine's Day.

PJs at TJ's and Free Your Mind Monday

Morning, all! I'm a hot mess today. I forgot my phone and my badge to get into the office. I forgot to leave Dan my check for my car payment, and I'm sure I'll discover I forgot something else at some point today. It's a great start to Monday, eh? I had a really fun weekend, though. I went to PJs at TJ's, hosted by Temerity Jane, which means I got to cross off #34 on my 101 in 1001. I got to meet some wonderful fellow bloggers (and a couple of their super cute kiddos), relax, enjoy girl talk, and wear my pajamas for most of a day - let's not kid ourselves though. Me wearing pajamas for 24+ hours is not all that uncommon. All in all, it was really fun, and I highly recommend attending a blog gathering if you ever have the opportunity.

Last week, I started my Free Your Mind Monday, inspired by Shana. Today brings you the second installment of my 50 Questions to Free Your Mind:

6. If happiness was the national currency, what kind of work would make you rich? Baking and crafting – anything to be creative and gift people with things I put heart into. I'm most happy when I'm doing something that fulfills my urge to bring ideas to fruition with something tangible and hopefully fun.

7. Are you doing what you believe in, or are you settling for what you are doing? I think I’m doing what I believe in. Part of my growth in the last 5 years has been to do what makes me (and Dan) happy and make no apologies. You're never going to please everyone, but what's most important is that I go to bed at night knowing I'm happy and have nothing to regret.

8. If the average human life span was 40 years, how would you live your life differently? I’d spend more time on vacation, enjoying silence. I’d read more, laugh more, and cuddle more.

9. To what degree have you actually controlled the course your life has taken? A lot I think. I’ve made some tough decisions over the last ten years, and gotten myself out of some rough spots. There's a certain amount of life that one can't control, and I've tried to make the best possible decisions for the situation I was in. I haven't always done things the way I would now looking back with hindsight, but I own it and try to learn from it.

10. Are you more worried about doing things right, or doing the right things? Both. I don’t think anyone wants to do things wrong. However, I’m not willing to compromise my integrity just to get an answer “right.” Doing the right thing would win out over doing things right. I’m the only one who has to live with my actions.

It's getting mushy in here

Found this on The Blue Eyed Bride's site. I figured while I was eating my lunch (which my husband had simmering on the stove when I walked in last night - Dan for the win!) I'd get a little mushy. We're not big on Valentine's Day, but I do loves me some husband and I like talking about our relationship, so I'm going to get lovey dovey for a few.

1. How long have you and your significant other been together? We don't know the exact date of our first date, but it was late May, 2008. We started "goin' steady" at the end of July. It feels like much longer... in a good way. He looked so young!

2. How did you meet? We went to the baby shower of a mutual friend. I know... a guy at a baby shower? Yeah, well, Mom-to-be was clingy and would never let Dad-to-be off his leash, so she made him invite his friends and bribed them into coming with beer. I wooed Dan with my knowledge of celebrity babies, but just as he got the (liquid) courage to come say hi, I left for dinner plans. He asked our mutual friend for my info, we linked up on myspace and went on our first date a couple weeks later.

3. If married, how long have you been married? We got married (that's a lot of "married") on October, 16, 2009 (his 25th birthday), so we've been married 2 years, 3 months, 23 days and roughly 40 minutes. But who's counting?


4. If you are married.. okay, we've established I'm married... where did you get married? Big or small wedding? Our wedding and reception were at a Sheraton Hotel in Phoenix, near what is affectionately known as the Ghettro Center Mall. After the reception, we continued the party at Dave and Buster's. I believe our final guest count that day was 67, so it was small... and perfect.


5. Do you have any nicknames that you call each other? We both call each other "Buddy." He sometimes calls me "Lil Bud"

6. Name 3 things you love most about your honey. He's my rock, he's the most kind and sweet and generous man I know, and he's funny as hell.

7. Tell us how he proposed? In the living room in our pajamas after making dinner together on a Sunday evening. It was absolutely perfect.

8. Is he a flowers and teddy bear kind of guy for V-day, or strawberries, champagne, and rose petals? Neither. Our brand of romance isn't for everyone. Dan shows his love by washing my car and bathing the dogs. He does things to make my life easier. When he surprises me with gifts, it's with something I wouldn't buy myself or something I've been talking about, like with hiding my Kindle in his lunch box or surprising me with a new wallet. Plus, we don't give gifts on Valentine's Day. So the aforementioned sweetness is just his normal, everyday awesomeness.


9. Are you a sunset dinner on the beach kind of girl, or pop a movie in and relax on the couch? The fact that anyone is asking this is ridiculous. I'm a homebody, all the way. See, I like lounging even when I'm outside...


10. Tell us one thing you'd like to do with your significant other one day, if you could do anything? Go anywhere? There are many places I'd love to go with him - Ireland, Italy, France. And places in the US, too, like Seattle, Chicago, New York City. We haven't gotten to travel much in our time together, and I hope that we'll get to do that someday soon. As far as something I'd like to do... I guess it's hard to narrow it down. I think it would be awesome to own a business together. We love doing projects in our home. I'd love to take him skydiving and skiing and wine tasting.

11. Tell us what you plan on doing this Valentine's Day. Nothing, really. I'll work, come home, make dinner. We'll eat it, presumably. I'll kiss him goodnight and tell him I love him, like I do every day.

12. Are you asking for anything this Valentine's Day? Nope.

13. Give us one piece of advice to keep a relationship strong and full of love? You have to communicate and be on the same page, and put your marriage first. The last six months could have had a very different outcome had we not made such great efforts to take time to talk, listen, understand, and care. I wake up every morning thankful for him and his love, and I don't take what we have for granted. A relationship shouldn't be work, but you do have to make the effort to keep it healthy and prioritize it.


14. Show us a picture that means "love" to you. I love this one. It's one of my favorites from my wedding day and was taken by my mom. I think it has "Brooke and Dan" written all over it. He's got a huge smile, I'm smiling, we're just perfectly happy. This is how we strive to be, and it's how I feel about him inside, even if I don't look it.


Oh, and this one. I love how much he loves me.

Free Your Mind Monday

You know who has awesome ideas? Shana at Fumbling Towards Normalcy. She really does - she's linked up Random Musings Friday and has also been doing Free Your Mind Monday, where she shares about 5 of her answers on the "50 questions to free your mind" list. I have this list on my 101 in 1001, and I had answered them fairly early on, but hadn't figured out yet when/if to share them. Well, thanks to Shana, I feel inspired. I'm needing inspiration from people lately. I'm in a far better place emotionally than I was two months ago, but I feel like I'm at a stand still. Life has become about doing whatever it is that makes me happy and trying to push away the negativity. However, I feel like I need to let my guard down some. Not necessarily to unshield myself, but to open myself up to other happy things I've been shunning. So hopefully this will be a way to do that.

So, here we go. Opening myself up and freeing my mind, installment numero uno:

1. How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are? Probably 25 or so. Sometimes I still feel like I’m so young and still figuring things out. Other days, I feel like I've been aged so much by the last six months or so. There are days when I'm shocked that I own a house and am married and work at an adult job and all those other things. I think it all averages out to about 25.

2. Which is worse, failing or never trying? It depends. I think there are some things you don’t have to do and fail at to know it’s not worthwhile to try. I don't believe every battle has to be fought and sometimes self preservation is valued more than experience. I think our infertility is one of those things. I'm conscious of the fact that we chose not to try, but for us, the costs and risks outweighed trying. If we weren't so risk averse, it might have been a different decision, but as long as we're okay with the choice to not try, it doesn't hurt anyone else. With other things, you have to learn from failing to succeed next time, or to learn a lesson. I think part of really maturing is figuring out which is which.

3. If life is so short, why do we do so many things we don’t like and like so many things we don’t do? I have no idea. Because we feel we have to? Because we know they make other people happy? I’m trying harder to focus my time on the things that I love and eliminate the things that don’t make me happy. At the same time, there are people I really value in my life and they like things I don't. Sometimes sacrifices have to be made for the greater good, on both sides.

4. When it’s all said and done, will you have said more than you’ve done? Probably. Unfortunately, one thing I’m learning about myself when I’m truly honest is that I talk the talk and don’t always walk the walk. It’s a constant self-improvement action item for me. I'm trying to equal out the talk:walk ratio

5. What is the one thing you’d most like to change about the world? It may be because of where I am now, but it’s important to me to raise awareness about infertility. It shouldn’t be shameful, and people should know that it can happen to anyone, it’s sensitive to the people going through it, and there are just some things you don’t say out of common decency. I think traditional sexual health education has done a disservice to young women, and it's important to me to find a way to improve it for the next generation of women.


There, that wasn't so hard. See you next Monday for round two :)


Also, Amanda at It's Blogworthy is kicking off her Celebrity Weekly Round-up's birthday party with some truly awesome stuff and posts and treats by incredible ladies, including probably the first ever lia sophia virtual jewelry party. Pretty awesome. Check out her site all week to join in the fun.

Random Musings Friday

So, once again, I've managed to not blog for over a week. To be honest, my heart just isn't always in it. I feel like life is pretty steady and for the most part, relatively dull compared to some of you. My rants generally go on Facebook or Twitter. So in general, I don't find most of my thoughts, or even most of what happens in life, to be very blog-worthy. But I will dig up some thoughts.

- This whole Susan G. Komen vs. Planned Parenthood thing is interesting. While it's a disappointing choice from the women's health perspective, I also believe that organizations have a right to choose who and what to support. Just the same as you or I have a right to support one organization and not another. However, I think they lack integrity in their reason. If they're not going to fund PP because of "investigations," why are they giving $7.5M to Penn State, who also is? There's been no talk of pulling that grant. I'm fine with Komen instating a rule, but they need to be consistent. I'm not going to get all political about it because that's not my style, but it's hypocritical and I see right through you, Susan G. Komen.

- This past weekend, we went to Tucson for my dad's birthday. On Saturday night, we went to the casino and then came home and made s'mores. Sometime Sunday morning, 2 of the chocolate bars on the counter went missing and Clover was a likely culprit. We googled all sorts of stuff, and even though the maximum amount she could have eaten wasn't likely to be lethal for her body weight, we decided to induce vomitting with hydrogen peroxide to be on the safe side. Clo had enough to make a 100 pound dog puke and barely slowed down. She did finally get sick (in the car of course), but there was no evidence of chocolate. We don't know for sure that she actually got any, but I do know that my girl has an iron-clad stomach, unlike her sister.

- Last night, Dan wasn't feeling well and I wasn't very hungry. I had been hungry when I was driving home and had cheese and crackers for a snack, but when dinner rolled around, I was over it and content to have fruit or what little leftovers we had. Dan asked repeatedly what I wanted (steak was on the meal plan, but it was windy out - not good for grilling), so I said I was fine with just Wheat Thins or whatever, but we were actually out. Since I didn't come up with anything else, he decided Wheat Thins it was. After googling for a minute (during which time I assumed he was looking up some sort of Wheat Thin casserole), he went to the store and came home with this:


Size boxes of Wheat Thins, in every flavor. He was mighty proud and lined them up on the refrigerator, going through them saying, "Yummy, good, yummy, probably good, good, yummy." Lesson learned: ask and you shall receive

- My first lia sophia show is a week from yesterday and I'm getting so excited! I have a lot to do - in my mind at least - to get ready. I need to figure out some presentation stuff, figure out a cute display for earrings, and get a bigger table cloth for my display table. It doesn't seem like much, but this coming week is incredibly busy, and every free second is going to count. I can't wait to get through my first couple shows and find my groove.

- And speaking of next week, PJs at TJ's, a blog gathering hosted by Temerity Jane, begins a week from today! I'm really excited. There are a lot of really fun bloggers coming, and TJ herself - along with her daughter, Penny - is totally awesome. I have no idea what to expect, except for a good time and meeting some cool new people.

Alrighty, people. Enjoy your Friday and your weekend! Have fun watching the Super Bowl commercials, since no one anywhere seems very interested in seeing the game itself :)

Random Musings Friday

Hmmmm, it looks like I haven't done or thought about much since last week's post of the same title, but that's far from true. I promise. I've been busy.

• I am officially a (pending) lia sophia Independent Sales Advisor. What that means is that I now hawk jewelry. Mighty fine, fun, pretty jewelry with a lifetime guarantee, no less. I went to a party in November, then hosted my own in December. I thought it would be something fun and productive to do with my time and make some extra money for our home. Also, I've missed the fun aspect of work that I enjoyed working as a waitress pretty much since graduating from college. You'll be shocked to hear this, but being a tax analyst isn't usually very exciting. Basically, I'll be getting paid to shop, meet new people, and have fun. Couldn't really ask for better.
  



• I was driving to work this morning and saw a sign that said "Authotech's Direct." What's wrong with that? I'm like 99% sure they mean Autotechs and that apostrophe is superfluous. I see this everywhere. Apostrophes aren't that difficult to use properly. I find it astonishing that somewhere in the design, editing, manufacturing, and erecting of this sign, no one ever said, "hey, I think you have a grammar fail on your sign." I make mistakes, too. Even with reading and re-reading posts and emails, I will catch something and be all, "gah, Brooke! That was dumb." But this is a huge SIGN. Advertising your BUSINESS. Nothing elicits my confidence in an establishment less than the lack of awareness to display grammatically correct signage. It's no wonder to me that when the State Fair was going on, the parking lot that proudly displayed its "Fare Parking" signs was always empty. Those dopes only had to copy spelling on signs that were all over the place for miles around and they couldn't even do that. I wouldn't trust them to watch my car, either. Edit your advertising, people.
  



• My co-irker didn't review my account reconciliations in a timely manner, so the controller - who I don't in any way report to (my group supports his, but our reporting structure is technically in of a different part of the company) - reviewed them and found errors. He's intimidating and I'm going to have to sit down with him and go over them. I know it's a chance to shine and show initiative - since I eventually want a position on his team - but he's incredibly blunt and straight-forward and that style doesn't always go over well with me. Eeek!




• So Paula Deen has diabetes. Some people are seriously upset about it and saying she pushes unhealthy eating and now is advocating treating it with medicine rather than living a healthy lifestyle. Personally, I don't really see the big deal. Yeah, her food is generally rich and comfort-y. She considers butter its own food group. She isn't forcing anyone to make or eat it. And now she has diabetes, which may or may not be the result of her eating what she cooks. Some dope on Facebook actually said, "I have a pretty good idea of what she eats - I've seen her show." Moron. We have no idea what she eats on the regular. Her at-home eating style could be vastly different than her on-air eating. Assuming she eats gooey butter cookies and mac and cheese constantly is like assuming Candace Nelson eats only cupcakes - since that's all I've seen her eat on TV. Not to mention, not only unhealthy eating causes diabetes. Watch out, I'm going on an IF tangent: one of the major causes of infertility, PCOS, causes imbalances that lead to gaining/difficulty losing weight and insulin resistance. Ladies who eat perfectly by-the-book healthy and exercise as recommended may develop diabetes thanks to PCOS, no matter what they do. So seriously, just because someone eats 2 bites of crap on TV does not make them "deserving" of diabetes. And as far as her now selling diabetes medicine as a diabetic herself, ummmm... who else would be more appropriate? Someone without diabetes? Get real. I'm sure there are fails in my logic somewhere - there usually are. But the the moral of the story is that I have bigger stuff to worry about than who's the spokesperson for insulin. Someone has to take over the "diabeetus" when Wilford Brimly takes a dirt nap.

I'm linking up to Shana. Go see what is on some other ladies' minds. And have a great weekend :)

Catching Up

I've been gone. Not even anywhere incredibly interesting. It's just been super busy. Last I posted, I was getting ready to head to Tucson for my friend Rachel's wedding. This is the story of what's happened in our life since. Get some coffee, it might be long. And grab me a cookie, please and thank you.

Our anniversary weekend was really fun. It started off with a pizza party for all the out-of-towners to meet. I quickly figured out where Rachel gets her "must take a picture of everything" obsession from. I kid you not, somewhere, there's a picture of me and my plate of pizza and salad. I'm posing awkwardly in it because I'm totally caught off guard by the fact that someone wants a picture of me with my dinner. The groom's family is from Spain, but now lives all over the world, and it was really fun to meet them. The super-cute flower girls (the groom's nieces) live in Miami and were super excited to meet Rachel's friends, including me, La Amiga Mas Importante (Spanish for "maid of honor").

On Thursday, I got to spend the day with Rachel - dropping some stuff off at the reception venue, having lunch, getting nails done, talking about friends we were both excited to see. Perfectly relaxing day. We went to the rehearsal (which was interesting and long, so very long) and then just Rachel and I and the bridesmaids went to a gourmet burger restaurant for dinner. Absolutely delicious. If you live in Arizona, you need at least one Zin Burger experience in your lifetime.

The wedding was gorgeous. I teared up about a thousand times during the day - my best friend was beautiful, she was marrying a great guy. It was all very emotional. Side note: I was never a very emotional person. Ever. I'm not sentimental, I don't find myself to be very compassionate. And then, I got engaged. Since I got engaged, I turned into what Dan calls a "mush pot." In fact, he calls me Henry the Mush Pot. Long story.

Anyway, wedding: gorgeous. It was so much fun dancing all night, seeing old friends. I was super nervous about having to give a speech, and I can't even begin to tell you how funny that turned out to be. I'll try though. So I'd had a couple drinks by the time I had to give it, but I'd also had a lot of water. Don't worry, I don't pee on myself. I'm just trying to emphasize that I was balancing out the wine with water. So I was at a fun point where I giggle at everything but I'm no where near sloppy or anything. So, the best man - the groom's brother - was up first. And he went on and on and on. For a while. And then said "and that's point one." And then he had two other points. And then, finally, he said "and lastly, on my wedding day, our uncle (insert uncle's name) sang to me and my wife, and so now I present to you, (insert uncle's name)." Um, yeah, the groom's brother is an opera singer and proceeded to belt out this beautiful song. I was listening, of course, but I was mostly also looking around at my parents and friends with wide eyes and giggling (quietly), thinking, "how the eff do I follow this?!" So the singer/uncle finished, the crowd went wild, and I got up to take the mic, and people start chanting, "Encore! Encore!" Say what?! So the mic is ripped from my hand and the guy sings again. At this point, I'm just dumbfounded, I lost my train of thought, had no idea where to even start. I have little recollection of what I said, aside from a very hilarious, "well, that's what you get when you have 10 years to plan a speech" (because the bride and groom were engaged for 10 years - helpful info) and I talked about how they take thousands of pictures of food (no joke). So yeah, that was my encore matron-of-honoring experience in a nutshell. I'm retiring from bridesmaiding and refuse to make any single friends.

After all that, I had to get up early on Saturday and drive back home to get ready for the BBQ I planned to celebrate Dan's birthday. We had a really fun night with friends, eating, drinking, playing Guitar Hero, and watching our friends' two-year-old trying to play Bocce ("dees baws weawy hebby"). On Sunday, we had to celebrate our friends' son's birthday at Peter Piper (really not fun hungover, BTW) and then I took Dan shopping for shoes and did some other window shopping. We had our anniversary/Dan's birthday dinner at our new favorite sushi place. All in all, a fabulous weekend of celebrating.

Since then, life has been more mellow, but still busy. We had a friend and her two kids over for dinner one night, I met up with Temerity Jane and Brie for dinner, and we had a garage sale this past weekend. Side note: garage sales are interesting, by the way. First, I'm amazed that people would want to buy my junk that I don't want. And secondly, at some point, it gets hot and the crowds die down and you're just sitting on your driveway with all your junk. Anyway, with our garage sale earnings and our cut from the sale of a golf cart on my mom's behalf, we installed a new security door and got our turtles a new tank... and the dogs got costumes. Money very well spent.

Up on deck the next few days: we need to prep our wall to be cut for the RV gate we're installing, our friend is moving in for a while, and we're going trick-or-treating with our friends' kids, which I'm super excited about.

Also, I just have to brag a minute, because this is adorable and funny. I'm a prize. Yes, that's right. Mrs. ESPN's daughter, Chatty, was in a soccer tourney this past weekend and came in 2nd place. Since she had to play against girls who are older than her, she decided she was entitled to a prize. And that prize is me. And Dan. See, we're watching Mrs. ESPN's younger daughter, Bia, the weekend before Thanksgiving, and Chatty decided that wasn't fair and decided that to make things even, she needed a babysitting sesh with the Awesome Kingstons, too. So we are apparently her reward for a game well-played. I feel so honored :)

Alright, that's enough for now!

The Cafeteria Challenge

For the first time in far too long, I connected my checking account to Mint.com and started really looking at where my extra money is going. I was a little shocked at what I was spending on food in the cafeteria at work, especially considering that I buy plenty in groceries each week. My sodas alone were costing me about $3.50 a day (eek!) and I don't need that much soda anyway. It's rare to get out of the cafeteria with an entree for less than $7, unless I have a salad, and even then, salads here are for more expensive than they ought to be. And so, I made a mid-year resolution. My challenge for the next 30 days: no more cafeteria.

First, I went to Costco, and stocked us up on drinks. For 3 days worth of my cafeteria soda habit, I bought a 32 pack that should last me three work weeks, assuming 2 a day: on in the morning, and one with lunch. Comparable cost in the cafeteria: $56. Eek. I also stocked Dan up on Monster Energy drinks and Gatorade G2s. He drinks one Monster a day and 1-2 G2s with electrolytes to keep hydrated in the heat, so that should last him 2 weeks or more, as well. Savings to him: about $38. So if we're diligent and dedicated to drinking only from our little stockpile, we stand to save ourselves about $80 every 2-3 weeks. Scary.

On to the cafeteria food itself. It's convenient, but it comes with a price. It's expensive, first; and secondly, unless I get salad, I don't really know what's in it. And let's be honest, I don't want salad every day. I have some cafeteria favorites, but for the next 30 days at least (oh, panini bar, I love you), I'm challenging myself to eat only lunch that I bring in. The exception: I'm grilling chicken tonight for my own salads and I'll use the cafeteria's salad bar for some of the toppings. For $1.49 I can fill a small cup with egg whites, sunflower seeds, and olives. In comparison, a full salad would probably run me $5. I figured out that I can spend, on average, an extra $8 a week to make a large enough dinner to have lunch leftovers, and therefore save myself $6 a day. It's easy when put in terms like that.

Now of course, this is all stuff I knew. It's not like it's big news that I'll save by bringing in my own lunches compared to buying them. But it's a matter of setting a goal for myself and sticking with it. Amanda over at It's Blogworthy is doing an eat-in challenge - as in NO retsurant food - and, along with the evidence in my Mint.com account, inspired me to challenge myself to something similar. Not to mention, the extra money in my bank account will be nice. My goal is to save an extra $150 a month, and this challenge will go a long way in getting me there.
Wish me luck!

Gimme gimme! Update - my life in crappy Blackberry photos

Remember this fun little post about some things I was pining for? Well, some of my dreams have come true. I ordered my letters from Letter Chef on Etsy just before I wrote that post. What I didn't tell you was that the seller was awesome to work with. I wanted them on a pretty big wall, so 4x6 prints weren't going to cut it. She sent me a list of all the prints I could choose from to get the 8x10 and 11x14 prints I wanted. I had about 12-14 options for each letter. I showed them to Mrs. ESPN, Salt and my friend, Natalie, to help me choose. I got them in about a week, which is awesome, considering their custom size, and framed them right away.

But I didn't like something about the white on white on white. I had tried to pick prints that were dark around the edges because I knew the frames I wanted were white with white mats. But something just didn't look right. I wanted the mats to be purple to coordinate with my candles and bath mat. So on Mother's Day, my mom and I went to Joann Fabrics to search for a solution. We considered buying/custom ordering new mats, spray painting, and even covering the mats in scrapbook paper. Ultimately, we decided to try the spray paint. We figured that the worst that would happen is that we'd get too much moisture on the mat and it would ripple and we'd have to buy a new one. Spray paint was the easiest and least time consuming solution to start with. And this is our end result:


I love how they came out, and it was a fun project to do with my mom.

Next up, I mentioned my friend Jennifer's cards in my Gimme, gimme! post. It wasn't entirely a surprise because she asked for my address, but I was stunned to find these beauties in my mailbox when I got home yesterday.


Aren't they amazing? I wish you could see the details - there are hat pins, glitter, embossing, buttons, cute bows, and tiny Bingo cards. Five gorgeous, hand-made, and one-of-a-kind thank you notes. I love them all, and I can't wait to order some cards for upcoming birthdays from her. Again, if you'd like to contact Jennifer, her email is vogtdesignco@gmail.com. I think you'll be amazed at seeing her work in person

So there are just a couple of my little desires satisfied. Now all I'm waiting on are my chairs.

Gimme gimme!

Since buying our house, I've obviously been thinking a lot about how to decorate and such. Not to mention, my 30th birthday is in 3 months and 3 days, so I've been on the prowl for ideas for Dan. Some of the things that I've found and love are things worth sharing with you all, so that you may enjoy the prettiness, too.

First off, I'm in need of some furniture. The way our living room space is set up lends itself perfectly to add a couple of cute and comfy chairs near the bay window. I found this that I love at Target.

Super cute, right? Well, I was reading the reviews, and 2 people said that the brown on the upholstery is so dark that it looks black. Black just doesn't work with the tones in our living room, so I went back to looking and found this beauty:

Love it! Two of these puppies would fill the bay window area perfectly, and make a nice seating area that melds nicely into the area with the couch as well as providing a cozy spot by the fireplace. I instantly emailed the link to Dan and pretty much haven't shut up about them since. I'll break him one way or another. I might just have to send him another email from the chairs themselves. Subject line: "hey, don't forget about us!"

Next, I went Etsy shopping for some cool art. I want to eventually do a gallery wall in our hallway, and currently the only things we really have in frames are pictures from our wedding. We'll soon have pics from our recent photo session, but I like the look of mixing in some non-personal items as well, to make it feel like less of a shrine. So I bought these from Etsy seller Letter Chef.








Now, I have to be honest. My intent was to find stuff for the gallery wall, but I got a tad sidetracked. You see, I love monograms. I think I may have been born in the wrong part of the country, because there are some "southern" things that I just die for, like monograms and giant bows on baby noggins. Dan, on the other hand, doesn't hate monograms, but they're not his favorite either. If I had my way, we'd have BKD and K's everywhere (though you have to be careful about putting too many K's too close together). No so much for Dan. So since it's apparently been decided that the master bath is mine, I get to decorate how I want, and a giant monogram it is. They'll be framed separately in white (I think) frames and go on my bathroom wall opposite the giant mirror. Best part, they're pretty much out of sight, out of mind for Dan. These babies are mine, all mine.

Lastly, I was looking at Facebook, and one of my fellow Knotties has been posting pictures of her handmade cards. Now, if I tried to make handmade cards, things would be messy. But Jennifer's cards are gorgeous, and I just love her sixth sense for detail and choice of materials. They make card giving really feel special. Check out her blog posts about them. I just love the bicycle and bunting card. Too cute. Jennifer doesn't currently have an Etsy shop, but if you're lusting after these as much as I am, you can contact her at vogtdesignco@gmail.com

So, those are the things I'm loving so much lately.: cute square slipper chairs, alphabet photography monograms, and some super sweet cards. What are you wanting all for yourself?

Problem solving is WINNING

I'm pretty sure I mentioned that I have a coworker (whom I call by the code name Bile Chimps) who's completely socially inept and chooses his cubicle as his preferred place to groom himself. In case you don't know, the office is not the appropriate place to trim your nails. I can understand a broken nail or a cuticle that needs to be clipped, but I'm talking full on grooming. This coworker clips his nails at least once a week - all 10 fingers, one disgusting clip at a time. And it's loud. Mrs. ESPN and I exchange giggles and disgusted IMs every time he does it (he sits between us). The nastierst part, for me, is that his nails are still long. Like snort coke or strum a guitar with them long. And men should not have long nails. It's just... icky.

So anyway, we contemplated how to get it to stop. We considered rational actions like leaving an anonymous note or just saying something face-to-face. And then, the evil got the better of us and while Mrs. ESPN was on a business trip last week, the idea of super gluing them shut was presented to her. So this morning, before Bile got here, we attempted it. Unfortunately, there wasn't a significant contact point on the nail clippers to glue them (and trust me, I was disgusted by the fact that I had to touch them). Thankfully, though, we have other cunning coworkers who are equally annoyed by the clipping and who also have great ideas and evil sides. The solution? We glued them to the tray inside Bile's desk drawer.

WINNING. The only thing missing, as Mrs. ESPN pointed out, was "We're not gonna take it!" playing in the background.

Unfortunately, Bile goes to Vegas next week (which is another thing that we've been getting kicks out of all week - I've made a drinking game of doing accruing shots every time he mentions "Vegas"), and he just clipped yesterday, so we won't get to see the reaction until the week after. I have no clue how I'll keep a straight face if he says something, but it's bound to be epic.

Friday Randomness

It's been a very busy week. It's month end close at work, and we have the added pressure of making sure things get done before we head to our corporate head quarters in Morristown for a week. More on that in a minute. I haven't had a chance to form a coherent and sensible thought in a while, but I'm going to give it a whirl.

- The potential deal on the house with the divorcees is a no-go. They seriously can't seem to communicate, and we gave them almost a week to come through with either a counter offer or an acceptance, only to find that the wife doesn't even seem to want to sell. Take it off the market then! I swear, these people are bat shit crazy. We're going looking with Raluca again tomorrow morning, and hoping that one of the six that we see is a good one, and then also that the 3rd time is a charm.

- Morristown. Oy. My group at work, along with Mrs. ESPN, is going to Morristown, New Jersey on Sunday. I'm mostly (like 67%) dreading it. Not only is it going to be super cold, but I can see my boss and coworker (the one who talks endlessly about weight loss while eating brownies and clips his nails in his cube) driving me insane. I also just like being at home - a week away living out of a suit case and not doing my own cooking and not sleeping in my own bed is going to wear on me. I used to travel for work, so I know that what makes a business trip enjoyable is who you're with. I'm going to be with a 75% anxiety-inducing crew. I'm just thankful Mrs. ESPN will be with me. She'll keep me sane when everyone else pushes me toward the edge.

- I'm getting very anxious about my sister's shower and hoping it all comes together. I'm really really excited about the candy bar. I got all the candy and the containers for it sorted out about a week ago. Dan and I practiced making tissue paper poms and they came out really well! Dan's actually a very talented pom maker. I just need to figure out how to exploit his talent. I also plan on making some of the candy bar stuff myself - chocolate covered Oreos and pretzels, cupcakes, and mint meringues. I bought a mold and gave the Oreos a try last night and they came out really good! My coworkers certainly appreciate me practicing goodie-making.

- Even though we don't celebrate Valentine's Day, I want this super cute "Kiss the Cookie Decorator" sign and adorable sheet of cookies cookie favor on the Cookie Crumbs blog by A Dozen Eggs Bake Shoppe. I love this blog, and the shoppe is something like what I'd love to have myself someday. I might just have to send Dan this link as a not-so-subtle hint.

- This may seem weird, but I was super excited the other morning about Clover. As you may very well know, she's not a cuddly puppy. She likes us mostly because we give her food, but she isn't attached to us like Paisley is. I take that back. If Paisley's not around, she'll curl up on our lap, but for the most part, she's far too busy with chasing shadows and ripping socks and trying to sneak stuff out of the pantry to give us much attention. Anyway, yesterday, we were hanging out in bed in the morning, like we always do. I started talking to Clover and telling her how sweet she is and she started wagging her tail, people. She never does that. She wags it when I come home and when she's playing with Paisley, but she's never wagged her tail just with me talking to her. I'm a total dork, but I imagined it must be how a parent feels when their baby gives them a smile for the first time. Okay, that might be taking it far, but still. It made me very happy. Maybe she loves me after all!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!!

Farewell, 2010

I'm stealing this from Brie and Temerity Jane, because I am just not that creative with the wrap-up stuff. P.S. You're about to see one recurring theme. Fair warning.

Edited because I apparently was too tired to be posting and didn't make sense on some of my answers. Plus I forgot links.


1. What did you do in 2010 that you’d never done before? I pretty much did everything this year as a wife for the first time. I visited Baltimore, and met Salt. My sister and I threw our parents a party, rather than the other way around. I earned a Master's degree. I was asked to be maid of honor, not once, but twice.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I don't make resolutions, really, so I guess not. This year, I need to make some though: I need to get down about 20 more pounds, and I need to get off blood pressure medication.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth? Nope, but some fabulous bloggers, Amanda, Jenny, and Kallay welcomed their babies!

4. Did anyone close to you die? No

5. What countries did you visit? I didn't travel outside the U.S. this year

6. What would you like to have in 2011 that you lacked in 2010? A baby, please.

7. What dates from 2010 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? Alright, confession time. Dan and I started trying to start a family on May 12th. Honestly, nothing else really stands out as a significant date. 2009 was big for us, and I'm okay with 2010 being a little more on the mellow side.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? I graduated with my Master's degree in May.

9. What was your biggest failure? I'm feeling pretty bummed that there's no baby Kingston on the way at this point.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury? Sort of. I had a cold that lead to an ear infection that lead to the discovery of a severe vitamin D deficiency and high blood pressure.

11. What was the best thing you bought? This is lame, but the aquarium for the turtles. Before we got it, I was cleaning their little container twice a week. I'm so much happier now. I can't think of anything else.

12. Where did most of your money go? Savings and paying off bills.

13. What did you get really excited about? Starting a family.

14. What song will always remind you of 2010? California Girls

15. Compared to this time last year, are you:
– happier or sadder? About the same
– thinner or fatter? Fatter. :(
– richer or poorer? Richer, in every way

16. What do you wish you’d done more of? Traveling. I wish I could have gone to visit my sister in Seattle.

17. What do you wish you’d done less of? Worrying

18. How did you spend Christmas? Like this

19. What was your favorite TV program? Old: The Office. New: Worst Cooks in America

20. What were your favorite books of the year? This is bad, but I can't think of one book I read this year, other than the South Beach Book and some random chick lit.

21. What was your favorite music from this year? I discovered Lady Gaga this year

22. What were your favorite films of the year? The Town, Despicable Me

23. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? Went to dinner with friends and family. I turned 29

24. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? A baby (see, recurring theme)

25. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2010? I discovered tall boots. Finally.

26. What kept you sane? My husband

27. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2010. I'm not always funny when I think I am.

A big ol' whopping hybrid of a post

This weekend was long. And short. It was a little of everything, kind of like this post is going to be. We went to Tucson on Saturday to help my parents. Their gas line was leaking, so we went down so Dan could replace it. We got up bright and early and got there by 8:30am. Dan and my dad had to dig the trench for the piping, so that took a good 5 or so hours. Then they had to measure and buy the pipe (2.5 hours) and then lay it all in the ground. Dan is obviously a certified pipe fitter, so he knows exactly what he's doing. It was kinda fun to watch him work. There's a lot involved in making sure that gas line piping is safe, and I have a lot more respect for how hard he works. We weren't done until just after 10 and then drove back home. Long day.

Yesterday was a pretty perfect day. The dogs, who were tired from 14 hours of constant playing at my parents' house, slept until 8:30. Eight. THIRTY. Glorious. I got up and hung out with them while Dan slept in. Then we went to Applebee's where I got fabulous South Beach diet happy fajitas. We went shopping at the mall, and I got my sister crossed off the to-buy-for list. I absolutely hate shopping after Thanksgiving, so I'm trying to get what I can done now. I actually took a day off in December to finish, if need be. You won't find me shopping on Black Friday. Anyway, we also did our grocery shopping - tons of veggies, lean proteins, and low fat dairy stuff for me. Life on the South Beach diet so far is good. All the proteins keep me feeling pretty full. I'm sure I'll miss my brown rice, and Dan's fries yesterday looked soooo good, but I'll get through it.

Last night was my first official South Beach dinner. When we got home I made delicious Italian burgers with zucchini and squash "fries." I used extra lean beef that I seasoned with garlic powder, black pepper, Italian seasoning, and minced onion. Just before they were done, I topped them with non-fat mozzarella cheese. I steamed the zucchini and squash about half way, then sprinkled them with a touch of salt and broiled them the rest of the way. I have to say, they were pretty darn good, and I'm kinda stoked to have the leftovers for lunch today. I also used up my over-ripe bananas by baking my coworkers a couple loaves of banana bread. I did taste a tiny bit just to make sure I didn't serve them anything disgusting, and it was pretty good for my first try, if I do say so myself.

By the way, I'm not turning this into a nutrition blog by any means. I'm the last person qualified to do that. But healthy cooking and recipe ideas are always great to share, which is the whole idea of...


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Meal Plan Monday!!

Monday: Crock pot chicken with asparagus. I thought I'd have to get rid of my cream of mushroom soup recipe, but I read the can and the soup is lot in fat as well as carbs, so I can eat it. Hurray!

Tuesday: Beef fajitas and black beans

Wednesday: 15 bean soup. My mom gave me all the fixings (I just have to add Canadian bacon). I'll probably freeze most of it in bowl size portions that we can use for lunches or quick dinners.

Thursday: Thanksgiving!! Yay!

I've got extra veggies to take to my parents' house for the weekend, so that I'll be able to keep up the good habits. I will indulge in a little bit of mashed potatoes and stuffing, but my goal is to limit myself to only one small portion of each. Starting a new way of life around the holidays will definitely be a challenge, but it'll be worth it, and if I surround myself with good choices, hopefully I won't feel like I'm missing out on much.

What are you cooking in your castle this week? Linky below...


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And now, a couple of giveaways!!

As you know, I have a massive Cookie Girl crush on Bridget at Bake at 350. I pretty much taught myself to do cookies with the help of her blog's tutorials, recipes, and instructions. Her blog turned 3 and she's celebrating with an amazing giveaway: a bright red Kitchenaid mixer! So go enter. Do it now! Happy Birthday, Bake at 350!!

Also, Mom-Nom.com is having a whole hot mess of giveaways. She's got great stuff for gifts for you or someone on your list. This lady is hilarious - both on her blog and on the Twitter. Definitely go enter any and all of her giveaways and get some Christmas shopping taken care of.

I won an award!

I should read my blog roll before I go posting. The lovely Shelly over at Shelly's Musings gave me an award! Yay!! Funny thing about Shelly, and I'm not even sure she knows this, but I'm sure I'm not the first jackass to point this out, but whenever I think "Shelly," my brains adds another and makes it "Shelly, Shelly!!"

South Park, anyone? No? Okay. My Shelly is way cooler, obviously, because she gave me this shiny award. And also because she's just plain awesome and has cute dresses with airplanes and loves the zoo with the passion of 1,000 fiery suns. She and Salt are pretty much my favorite Knotties of.all.time.

Enough already. My "A Blog With Substance" award:

I have to explain my blogging experience in 5 words: therapeutic, liberating, entertaining, fun, journaling

I now get to give my award to 5 other lucky bloggers. And the winners are...

Mrs. ESPN @ Life With Our Brown Eyed Girls

JMJE @ Making Stuff Is Fun

Amanda @ It's Blogworthy

Skye @ ndnspeechmom

Angie @ Painting Galactic Scenes

Perfection

I don't really even know how to start this post, but I felt compelled to post it after finding out about it on Twitter through Salt. I've never read this man's blog before, but he's got a humbling and powerful message. I urge you to read it, and share it if you also feel so inclined.