Happy Thanksgiving

 

 

This place is completely magical to me, and this year, just like every year, we have so many reasons to be thankful. True friends, precious family, time together, new opportunities, exciting adventures, and so much more. I tend to obsess over how fortunate I am to be living this life, and Thanksgiving is just another opportunity for me to be so pleased, so thankful, for everything I have. From our house to yours, Happy Thanksgiving. xo.

39 days until my birthday! & 40 days until Easter...



A proud display of my 2 drink rule combined with

my love for all things Mexican, mainly tequila.



It's no secret that Mexican food is, hands down, without a doubt, my favorite cuisine. I have been thinking for a while about what I should give up for Lent, and wondering if that was really the right answer. Should I give up something and  add something to my routine? Should I just give something up that was going to be really miserable?

I'm already limiting myself to 2 drinks per night, what else do you want from me Oh Holy One?

Just kidding. Kind of.

Last year I gave up grocery shopping. Successfully, if I do say so myself. My hoarding habits haven't gotten any better, but I've been chipping away at the contents of my freezer recently and thus there are limited meal concoctions to be, well, concocted.

It should come as no surprise that this year I'm giving up Mexican food for Lent. In addition, the church I belong to handed out "Little Black Books" (don't get excited) with 40 6-minute meditations on the Sunday Gospels of Lent, so I'm going to do that daily.

The teens I volunteer with/for decided as a group to partake in weekly Adoration before Mass, so I'll be joining them, and as my own little personal goal I am going to try to make time to attend at least one daily Mass per week.

This may seem like a lot to some people and not enough to others, but it's just right for me. I'm not much of an evangelical Christian (it's just not in my Catholic blood) but I am firmly grounded in my faith and this is a really easy way for me to share that.

Plus, if I'm being honest, Mexican food isn't exactly the definition of healthy, so it's really a 2 birds, 1 stone kinda move.

And, considering my 25th Birthday is the day before Easter, well...we may just be hitting up La P to celebrate the Resurrection in conjunction with the fantastic blessing my 25 years on Earth have been. And did you know this is not even the first time I have shared my birthday with this holiday? And something tells me it won't be the last. I hate sharing my birthday. 

Happy Lent!  

President's Day Cleaning Extravaganza

One of the many, many, perks of my not-so-new job is that I get today off. I had big plans for today, and they did not involve sitting in bed until 10:30 reading Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks, nor did they involve moving to my couch and curling up under my leopard print snuggie only to get sucked in by work emails and Gchat. Nope, I had big plans for today. Wanna know what they were? (2nd update at 6pm; 1st update at 1:20pm; original post at 10:30am)

• Unload dishwasher
• Put dirty dishes that are in the sink into the dishwasher
• Take all things that don't belong on kitchen counters and move them to dining room table
• Sanitize kitchen counters
• Sanitize nook table
• Dust living room
• Dust dining room
• Vacuum living room, dining room, & kitchen
• Mop living room & dining room
• Mop kitchen
• Take out the trash
• Take out the recycling
• Dust bedroom
• Wash sheets
• Put away clean clothes
• Vacuum bedroom floor
• Clean bathroom counters
• Mop bathroom floor
• Cook my mom's chicken and dumplings
• Bake peanut butter cookies
• Apply leopard print fingernails
• Bathe? (this one is debatable)
• Not fall asleep in my food when I go to dinner at 8:30 (who goes to dinner at 8:30? on a work night? I am a grandma)
• Get a haircut (these pictures are from a long time ago, when I was a totally different person, and it's funny how something as simple as a haircut can really make a girl run wild!)

Clearly I have big plans for today, and there's only so much I can do in the next 9 hours while also not falling asleep in said food at said way too late dinner. I'm off to probably keep snuggling with my snuggie and quite possibly watching television and staring longingly at the pile of dishes I can see from the couch. Maybe my roommate will come home from work with a housekeeper? In my comfy-couch dreams!

Christmas in Florida

It's 11:00pm on the Wednesday before Christmas.

I'm sitting on my parents couch 2/3 of a bottle of wine deep, wishing I was wearing my footie pajamas. See below. And yes, me & the boy pictured below are wearing matching footie pajamas, and yes, I am wearing the black ones and he is wearing the pink ones. It's how he rolls. But for the record, I owned them first.

The only tacky party I went to this year, too.

My parents dog is sitting snuggled up next to me in the chair slowly but surely taking up more than her half.

It's nice and cozy inside the house... with the air conditioning running because I'm in south Florida. Not exactly the kind of Christmas I like, but I'll take a sundress over ski bibs this year.

I'll be updating you about traveling over the holidays, how to do Disney Christmas-style, and a variety of other things. This post may just serve as a reminder to me of the things to come.

I think the PW would consider this bokeh. I call it unintentional.

 I make no promises, so if I don't talk to you before then, Merry Christmas! Feliz Navidad! Happy New Year! Happy Valentine's Day! Hoppy Easter! God Bless the USA! Etc.

Top Ten Thursday -- Holiday Savings Edition

It's holiday season and seriously I feel like all I do is spend money. Go to a free seminar? $10 donation. Run to Target for black socks? Walk out with $150 worth of crap (with no possibilities for return). Attend a holiday party? $20 to create a food contribution. I mean, I know I'm not alone, right?

My computer has been out of commission all day today and part of the day yesterday, so I've really had some time to think about this - ways to save for the holidays.

1. Throw a granola bar or some trail mix in your purse. Healthy, AND you don't have to splurge for the french fries at McDonald's on your way from store to store.
2. Make a list. Even if you add to it in the store, writing everything down makes me spend less. For example, I did not write down black socks, new black flats, or pink flats on my Target list before buying them, and now they have officially moved into my closet. Case and point.
3. Only go to the stores you need to go to. Yeah, I went to Target to help out a friend on crutches. Some friend.
4. Shop with a friend. Although this could seriously backfire (see Target examples), they can also serve as a good accountability partner.
5. Set a budget! I recently re-discovered Mint and set up a gift budget by identifying how much I wanted to spend per person and totaling it up to create the budget. So far, so good!
6. Cardinal rule of life: don't go to the grocery store hungry.
7. Use what you have! Get invited to a last minute party? Don't run out and buy something at the store. Dig through the fridge and find something creative. I have a Christmas party tomorrow night and I'm recycling vegetables from a dinner earlier this week and 1/2 a goat cheese log and calling it a veggie tray. And I had it all in my fridge!
8. Utilize coupons and stack stack stack! I have a $10 Old Navy card and a store credit AND a coupon for $15 off a $50 purchase. Most grocery stores allow you to use manufacturer's AND store coupons for the same item. Double savings! And for all my Kroger shoppers, FYI, Kroger doubles all coupons less than $.50! (I also plan out coupon use so that I am using coupons on top of sales, but that requires extensive planning that I don't always have time for, especially this time of year).
9. Try to do multiple shopping trips at once. I know if I go to 3 or 4 places in a day, I get tired just thinking about it and try to make the stops as in-and-out as possible, which means less impulse purchasing.
10. Share your tips with others - a little holiday spirit and some holiday saving never hurt anyone :)

Christmas Gift Woes

I posted earlier this month about my Christmas gift-giving woes. Since then, my sister has repeatedly requested a tiger cub. Am I missing out on some funny YouTube video or movie or something? Because I don't understand why in God's name she wants a tiger cub? Or is she just weird? Could be a combination of both, knowing her.

Anyway, I've had quite a few friends chime in about what they are getting their families after admitting to reading the blog. (HI FRIENDS! Please refer to this post about blog commenting etiquette, although I'll continue to accept your gchat & real life conversations regarding what I should and shouldn't write about.)

I thought I'd compile what everyone has said and include them here so you can have ideas for the special people in your life.

Mom
a homemade quilt
a homemade tote bag to carry work supplies
an e-decorating session with an interior designer
a citrus juicer (this was my own mother's contribution to my list, not mine!)
fancy olive oil or other cooking product
set of pajamas
family picture session with a local photographer (could be a double gift for mom & dad)

Dad
a boxed movie set
books on CD for the traveling pops (would also work for siblings or grandparents!)
college gear (my dad can't ever have too much GT paraphernalia)
grill tools
an 8x10 portrait of yourself
an XL remote so he can actually see the buttons

Sister
shot glasses
a nice bottle of wine
a cute pair of shoes
business professional sweater/shirt
a new wallet

Grandparents
nice set of playing cards
flowers (mailed or delivered)
gardening gloves (or winter gloves, depending on where they are)
a scrapbook of family pictures (if you're the crafty type and have access to pictures!) -- when I did this for my parents 25th wedding anniversary I also had friends & neighbors contribute letters and memories. Instant winner!

Other (could apply to significant other's parents, a sibling's significant other, you get the idea)
tickets to a sporting event
monogrammed bath towels
homemade cake in a jar with the recipe attached and wrapped up all cute a la ohsheglows

So those are the ideas I've gotten so far. Anybody want to contribute? It's okay if you don't want to leave a comment, we can talk about it in some other forum, and I'll come back and periodically update this post and let ya'll know it's been updated.

I'm Thankful For

I am thankful for:

heroes

best friends

a sense of humor

my faith

old friends

 

new friends

being silly

love

beautiful weather

ugly weather & pets

technology

and freedom

There is so much more to be thankful for.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Christmas Spirit

I know this is 2 Christmas-related posts in a very short timespan, but I'm a girl on a Christmas spirit mission. My roommate shot down my suggestion of putting up our decorations on Sunday (watch out roommate, they'll be out in full force by this Sunday!) and I'm already plotting and planning as many Christmas extravaganzas as I can fit into my already jam-packed calendar. I've sent my mom my Christmas list, and then about a gajillion follow-up emails with other stuff I think of that I want, which I claim are just "mental reminders to myself" that I just casually copied her on. I consider it helpful, she rolls her eyes and probably reports me to spam.



Speaking of my mom, did I tell you her birthday is Christmas Eve? Yup, it has been for my whole life! So we always celebrate her birthday before dinner on Christmas Eve complete with presents and some sort of dessert. Then we have dinner. Then we do family Christmas presents, and Christmas morning Santa brings presents. Still. And it even gets held over my head.

Me: Damnit Mom what the hell?
Mom: Do you want Santa to bring you presents this year? Behave yourself.
Me: Sorry.
Mom: Well?
Me: Yes I want Santa to bring presents.

I just hope that those conversations take place in the privacy of my own home instead of say... on the MARTA bus during the afternoon commute. I bet some of those super fly businessmen think I'm pretty freakin' ridiculous. What else is new?

So, now that I've shared more background than you ever could have wondered and I still haven't found a good way to segway into this, I'll cut to the chase. WHAT THE HELL DO I GET MY FAMILY FOR CHRISTMAS? AND IF I CAN'T EVEN COME UP WITH 1 THING FOR CHRISTMAS, HOW AM THE HELL AM I GOING TO FIND 2 THINGS FOR MY MOM??? (Sorry mom, and yes I still want Santa to bring us presents).

My sister is 21, almost 22, and she & I are as opposite as they come - I wear Polo sweaters to the bar and she wears 5" heels & 2" skirts. Not even exaggerating... My dad has so many tchotchke things that I would be doing him a disservice by buying him something else, and my mom just likes to melt glass & string beads. Really awesome melted glass & gorgeous beaded necklaces, but still. You get my point. They are difficult to shop for if I am going to buy anything with any real purpose. The picture frame thing is overdone, I gave them a scrapbook for their 25th wedding anniversary... I'm out of ideas. I'm stuck.

So now what? You can't even have wine delivered in Florida, or you can bet your bottom dollar they'd be getting a bottle of wine a month for the next 12. Hmph.

Help! Although I think a little trip around the mall and into a few specialty shops is calling my name... I'll report back on what I find.

Christmas Cards

Every year for as long as I can remember, my dad has sent out Christmas cards with letters inside. Then, a few years ago, my mom got tired of his rambling delightful cards and decided to send out her own. So now, my mom sends her card to her friends & immediate family, and my dad sends his card to his friends & the rest of our family. I'm pretty convinced that my mom's friends think I'm the spawn of Satan and my dad's friends think I'm God's Gift To Earth. Have I made it clear which parent I most closely resemble yet? My dad dedicates a paragraph in his letter for each member of his family: one for my mom, one for me, one for my sister, and in recent years, a few sentences about mine or my sister's significant others. Let me tell you how well that one went over... In each of these paragraphs, my dad proceeds to highlight each of our accomplishments and accoutrements. My dad's a pretty clever guy, so these tend to be fairly insightful and clever, and usually have some sort of reference to his favorite quote, "All I'm good for is writing the check, what can I say?"

I am telling you all of this because for one, I am clearly becoming more and more like my dad, rambling on and on and on. And for two, I'm wondering what the socially acceptable thing to do is. I am a grownup. I have a grownup job, I live 600 miles from my parents, I am (kind of) financially independent. So do I still let my parents send my Christmas news for me to family members and friends who only know about me via these Christmas cards? I mean, my dad's a horrid speller so I always get to proofread his letters, which is how I was able to eliminate the paragraph about my then-boyfriend a few years ago. And really, I have my own news to share! Maybe my parents don't know everything! Although the reality is, if I haven't told my parents, the chances of me wanting it to be revealed to extended family are slim to none. But bear with me for argument's sake.

Are you going to send your own Christmas cards? Let Mom & Dad continue to write diatribes about what happened to you in 2010? I'm seriously at a loss here. For fun, let's say I do write my own Christmas letters, stuff them in cards, sign them, and mail them on their way to the refrigerators of my nearest and dearest. I'm all for it. Here's my biggest dilemma: WHAT PICTURE DO I INCLUDE?! There is no significant other (hence the occasional then-boyfriend references) and I don't even have a pet to take a Christmas portrait with. And aren't pictures like... basically the whole point? I'm at a loss.

Top Ten Thursday -- Halloween Edition

I love my clothes, I really do. But if you are looking for a girl who wears sexy, short, revealing articles of clothing, look elsewhere. I'm pretty sure I lost a boyfriend because of my lacking cleavage, and I know for sure in college I had numerous friends make fun of me for wearing a Polo sweater out to the bar on a Thursday night. Whatever, I'm comfortable in what I'm comfortable in and that is that. But now that Halloween is right around the corner, I get all preoccupied thinking of ways that I can finagle my way out of wearing a sexy elf costume. It's just not for me. And it's for everyone's benefit, I swear.

1. An M&M -- oversized tshirt in your preferred color with an M painted on the front, leggings & shoes

You get the point...

2. A referee -- referee shirt, spandex or gym shorts, tights, and tennis shoes. Don't forget your whistle!

3. A bumblebee -- black leggings, oversized yellow top, black electrical tape, a black headband & some pipecleaners. Could also be ladybug, subbing oversized red top for yellow one.

4. A shacker -- boxers, an oversize tshirt, high heels in hand, and smeared makeup.

5. An aerobics instructor -- bathing suit or leotard, sweatbands, leggings, scrunchy socks, and sneakers.
6. A cowgirl -- boots, overalls & a wifebeater. Maybe a cowboy hat? Maybe not.
7. Barbie -- all pink everything, poofed up hair, perhaps a Ken accessory?

8. Catholic school girl -- plaid skirt, tights, white button up, heels, tall white socks. You could turn it into a couple costume by adding a priest!

9. A nurse -- hello SCRUBS!!! AND SNEAKERS!!! And you could snag yourself a McSteamy to dress up with you!

10. My top-secret Halloween 2010 costume. You'll have to wait & find out!

Anyone have any other great costume ideas that don't require a) lots of effort and b) lots of skin? Do share!

How Do You Know...

...when to eat the last cookie? (and when not to?)
...when to tell the friend the harsh truth? (and when to sugarcoat it?)
...when to buy flowers for yourself? (and when to let someone else buy them for you?)
...when to spend the whole day in bed? (and when you should get your lazy butt up?)
...when to play in the rain? (and when it's not worth it to get wet?)
...when to spend your last $5? (and when to save it for ice cream later?)
...when to leave a toxic relationship? (and when to stand by someone who needs you?)
...when to head out of town on a spontaneous trip? (and when to plan out your whole day?)
...when to be confrontational? (and when to pick your battles?)

These are all thoughts that occurred to me today. It has been one of the most fantastic holiday weekends I have had in recent memory, and that is due in part to my friends, my family, myself, and the universe. I laughed, I cried, I gave a hug, I received a hug, I celebrated a relationship moving forward and mourned a relationship lost. I learned more than I ever expected to, thanks to the people who made the weekend so wonderful. It has never been more clear to me that I am on the right path, and that my life is moving in the direction it is supposed to be.

Now if only my ankle stopped hurting, my knee stopped throbbing, and I could walk without a limp. Hey -- I never said the weekend was perfect :)

Friday Confessions

The 4th of July is my favorite holiday. Ever.

I have an American flag bathing suit, American flag tattoos, a USA headband, a tank top, and shorts. Plus about a million tshirts from Old Navy over the years. Suffice to say, I am fully prepared for this year's 4th of July celebration and I can't wait! Even though I have a full 72 hours to wait, I am mentally thinking "fireworks, fireworks, fireworks!"


Happy 4th of July, everyone!

return of the jedi?

I've been inspired by all the blogs I've been following lately. I have no idea what I am going to write about or what my focus is going to be. Do I even need one? I think so if I want to be a "successful" blogger. I won't do recipes/cooking. Not because I don't like it, but because there are a lot of people out there who are a lot better than me.

More likely than not, I will update about my random thoughts and adventures. I am having an extreme adventure starting tomorrow. My mom, dad, sister, 2 dogs, and I are packing up the car and starting our weekish-long trip to the Midwest. Tomorrow we are driving from Atlanta to Springfield, Illinois. We will stay with family there. Tuesday we will drive from Springfield, Illinois to Des Moines, Iowa. We will stay in Des Moines for 2 days. My mom's birthday is December 24, aka Christmas Eve, so she has requested to have lunch with her mom and sister as her birthday present. Then we will continue north from Des Moines to Mora, Minnesota. The city of Mora has a population of less than 4,000. They also have 2 lakes (that makes this a legit town in Minnesota). The city covers 4.31 square miles. Basically what I am trying to say is that you should be jealous of my really exciting Christmas destination. CLEARLY a better choice than last year's cruise through the Panama Canal. Right. We are leaving Mora, Minnesota on Saturday and starting south - first stop, Rochester, Minnesota. Clearly we aren't going very far. However, from Rochester we will be making the 16 hour and 23 minute journey back to Atlanta, going straight through Chicago, Indianapolis, Louisville, Chattanooga, and finally back to my beloved Atlanta. It's unclear if we will make this journey in one day or two. We've done it in 1 before. I guess that's not really something to be bragging about, though.

I am preparing by packing a bag full of books (even though I get carsick, I can't help reading in the car, it just makes the time go by so fast!), updating my iPod, charging my portable DVD player, and that's about it. As painful as it sounds, we have traveled extensively by car as a family and it's really not that bad. The Midwest United States with GPS has nothing on middle-of-nowhere Germany with 2003 version of a map. Yes, a real, unfolded, size of the backseat map got us through Germany (among other places in Europe). Now that, my friends, was painful.

Enough about my past travels, for now. Merry Christmas to all, and to all safe travels!