Fab 4 Day Weekend

Sisters

My little sister is such a hot shot that she got flown down here on Friday night to shoot her friend's sister's wedding on Saturday.  It was an early ceremony and reception so she was done by four.  My big sis and I met up at Mom's house so we could all hang out and spend time together.

Hangin' out at the bar

Me and my sparkling wine.  Can't seem to get enough lately.

Grandparents and Grandkiddo. 

We went to Claim Jumper for dinner.  That place is always busy and since there were six of us it took a little over an hour to get a table.  We passed the time in the bar.  What is it with this sparkling wine craving?  That was my drink of choice while we waited to get seated.  I was trying to be "good" so I just got the salad bar for dinner and put together my own delicious salad.  We didn't get out of there until around 9pm.  We stopped at my Aunts house and then headed home to watch a movie and eat ice cream and Pie.  Well, I don't eat pie so I had a few cookies instead.  I spent the night and took my little sis back to the airport Sunday morning.  I love family time.  It was a short but sweet visit.

It's been great having a four day weekend.  We get both President's Birthday's at my job.  Friday I got to get my cleaning done in the morning and did some errands in the afternoon.  That night Mj and I ate Subway and watched the movie Straw Dogs.  Sunday  we did some home improvement related errands.  We bought a new kitchen sink at Home Depot.  Then, we went out for Pizza and to the movies to see Safe House.  This morning I woke up bright and early and went to the gym and then came back and did my homework.  It's been a fab 4 day weekend but it's not quite over yet.  I've been watching TV and now I feel an afternoon nap coming on.  I'll have time to sleep AND have dinner on the table by the time Mj gets home and finishes his work out.  Now that's fabulous. 

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I am pleased to announce that the winner of my first giveaway is Mrs. Williams!  Her prize is a 5 x 7 canvas hand painted by Lauren and a $15 shop credit to her Etsy Shop.  Thanks so much to all who entered.

He Hates Valentine's Day

Out to dinner

My lasagna was delicious. I had warm bread and sparking wine with it.

We were in the car on our way to dinner and I mentioned that the street corner flower/balloon booths were already setting up shop to cash in on Valentine's Day.  "I hate Valentine's Day."  Those were the exact words that came out of my husband's mouth.  I immediately slammed on the breaks and pulled over to the side of the road and told him we would not be going any further unless he took it back because I can't be married to someone who hates Valentine's Day and we 'aint gettin' a divorce.  We never made it to dinner.  Okay totally joking!!!  It is true that my husband hates Valentine's Day but I'm okay with that as long as he indulges my girly romantic side at least a little bit.  I don't expect nor do I want a big to do about Valentine's Day but a little somethin' somethin' is nice.  Tuesday is really not the best day to celebrate anything so we were headed out to dinner on Sunday at Il Postino's; this cute little Italian restaurant Mj had been wanting to try. 

 

Me and my cookie Bouquet

That morning at work I got a very special delivery of of giant monster sized iced sugar cookies and balloons.  Oh, how I love these cookies.  I like flowers but they die and I can't eat them.  I got him a nice 90 minute massage using good old Groupon which I know he can really use right now because he's been working out almost every day.

Not so fancy V Day Dinner:  Cabbage & Rice with Turkey Sausage

Valentine's day dinner was Cabbage and Rice with Turkey Sausage.   It's good and all but not exactly my idea of a "special" dinner.  It's something I know how to make and we already had the meat so I went with it.  I haven't been in the kitchen much so I think it was a nice treat that I cooked for him even if it was just something simple.  It was actually pretty tasty but not even close to what Mj made for dinner last year on Valentine's Day.  After dinner we chilled out on the couch and watched Teen Mom 2 and then I worked on our budget.  I know....way romantic.

It's a fake commercial holiday with no historical significance whatsoever made up so that people can make money.  There is no point of making one day to express love when you can do it all year long or on a day that actually has some real meaning like an anniversary.  Blah, Blah, blah.  I get it and even agree to some extent but I still have a soft spot for February 14th.  My husband hates Valentine's Day but he loves me!  So it works.

Laughter: Fuel for the Soul

Pic from a couple years ago but it's basically how I looked all night

Mj's friends cousin has been doing stand up comedy around town.  Friday night we went to one of his shows.  During the week I saw a commercial for sparkling wine.  I can't even remember what brand, but ever since then I had a craving for it and I was really excited about going to the show just so I could get some.

The last show we went to seemed a little bit like amateur night so I wasn't sure what to expect.  There were 7 comics and they got 10 minutes each.  The host opened the show.  He was hilarious.  Good sign.  These guys were all good.  One after another each comic got on stage and made us laugh.  Good old fashioned straight from the belly mouth wide open head tilted back uncontrollable laughter.  I laughed hard and loud in between sips of my sparkling wine; thank goodness they had some!  Laughter is such good fuel for the soul.  It just makes you feel good.  I love laughing and I love to see Mj laugh.  He was laughing so hard his eyes were all watery and teary.  For a second I thought about what a racket the night was.  It cost us $10 each to get in and on top of that there was a two drink minimum at $7 each.  That's $24 bucks each just to get in the door!  But it was a really good show and we were supporting a friend.  Laughing out loud for almost 2 hours straight while drinking wine after long week of work was well worth the price of admission.

Drink More Water!

 I've been struggling with my water intake for a while now.  It's better then it was but I still have some work to do.  I can tell when I haven't had enough because I'll wake up in the middle of the night positively parched.  That should never happen.  My body is telling me what it needs and I just have to get better at listening.  Having water come out of our refrigerator has helped a lot.  It's just always there and cold when I need it.  This water bottle is the latest weapon in my arsenal to combat against insufficient water drinking.  I'm hoping this cute 12 oz water bottle in my favorite color that I can keep at work will inspire me to get guzzling.  The recommended intake is 48 to 64 oz!  It's always represented in ounces of water but we do get water in other ways from foods like fruits and vegetables.  Between the work water bottle and my 24 oz Tervis tumbler at home I'm hoping to manage at least 48.  If I just drink the one water bottle at work it's a minimum of 12 oz which is better then nothing but I'm definitely shooting for double that and then more at home.  I forget, I get busy, it makes my stomach too full.  I'm not sure what it is about drinking water that makes it so difficult to keep up with but it's so hard! 

Speaking of water.  Have you tried Mio liquid water enhancer?   It makes water delicious and it's calorie and sugar free. I love Fruit Punch and Sweet Tea.  You can adjust it to your taste by adding more or less.  Mj brought a few of those home last year and they are so good.  I actually like the taste of water but with the Mio I like it even more and it makes it so easy to drink.

How much water do you drink in a day?

Home Decor....Slowly But Surely

It takes so long to get a house decorated.  We got all the furniture we need it's just the details and accents that are taking a while to come together.  Once you figure out what you want sometimes it's almost impossible to find it in stores and at the right price which can be really frustrating but slowly but surely we're getting there.

Vintage looking Boudoir lamps from Pier One

Finally, after 1 1/2 years of living in our house we finally got bedside lamps for our night stands.  We have recess lighting so it's more decoration then anything else.  I looked everywhere!  First I didn't know what we wanted.  Then we decided to add color to our room with the lamps but finding the right one in the right color at the right price is hard.   I originally went in looking for a different lamp but found these pretty vintage looking ones at Pier One Imports for $40 bucks each.  I had a $10 off coupon so that was a bonus.  I had to take a picture and send it to Mj for approval and he liked them too.  We could have gone bigger because our headboard is high and our nightstands are a good size but eh...I just wanted something small.  These are 18" high.  I plan to add a satin ribbon around the bottom rim to add color once we get some accessories in our accent color; which I think will be purple.

Bargain price ottoman found at Ross for $99

Room for everything

Mj let me keep the black Ottoman.  He didn't say anything for about a day or so and then decided that he liked it.  My pajamas are all nicely organized now in one place where they all fit and are convenient for me to get to.  It's a nice little seating area too.  We're going to find a nice piece of wall art to put over it.

We didn't get the mirror that came with our dresser.  We found our own.

Can't wait until these make it onto the wall

 Back in October we found a large black mirror to hang over our dresser at Marshall's for $99.00, which is great because like everything else mirrors can get pretty pricy too.  I got a great deal on these matte picture frames at Michael's and framed our wedding pictures over Christmas Break.  They've been sitting there waiting for hanging for a while and they will go right over our bed.  Mj if you are reading this...how bout this weekend?  The black rimmed full length mirror needs to go up too. 

Sloan Espresso Leaning Book case.  Photo Source:  Crate & Barrel

Red Bamboo Vase-Photo Source: Pier One

In other rooms.  Just before the holidays we bought two leaning shelves at Crate & Barrel to put on either side of our TV downstairs in the living room. I was trying to go for the less expensive Walmart version but Mj wasn't having it.  At $149 each it's more then I wanted to spend on these but they are great quality and they look good.  We also bought a red vase from Pier One that we filled with sticks.

Next up.  We are getting the downstairs carpet and flooring replaced with hard woods.   Our kitchen counter tops will be replaced with granite and we're adding back splash.  We'll be getting started on those projects after we get our tax refund.   And lastly, we want to do something with our master bathroom.  I'm kind of itching to do it now.  The flooring is builder basic vinyl (like our kitchen) which I actually don't mind so much but I hate our very hard to keep clean fiber glass shower and tub surround.  It really can wait until next year though.  One thing at a time.  It's a work in progress but I love our house and I love how everything has been coming together.  House pics coming soon.

2012 Resolutions

I know most people came up with their resolutions last month or at the beginning of this month.  There is exactly 1 day left in January but the new year is still fresh so I figure it's not too late to write mine.  I have some non specific general things that I want to work on in life but these are the specific ones.  I like to zero in on a few that are really important to me so my list is usually short and sweet.  Let's see how I did on last years resolutions first.

2011 Resolutions:
1.  Be active at the gym or otherwise.  Success!  It was really hard at first.  It really sucked to be spending hours of my precious evenings working out but I stuck with it and now going to the gym and getting work outs in has become a regular part of my life.  It feels good to know that I am doing something healthy for my body and staying fit.  It  became part of my routine and doesn't suck as much as it used to.

2.  Take some classes at the community college.  Success!  I'm in my second semester now.

3.  Continue on with learning Spanish using Rosetta Stone. Fail!  I didn't even start up again at all.

4.  Get in the kitchen and cook.  Mixed Bag!   Cooking isn't my "thing" and I don't think it ever will be so I never set out to be that person that cooks multiple times a week.  The plan was to manage once or twice a week actually.  I started out really good last year.  I looked up recipes and got the ones I liked all organized in a folder on my laptop.  When we went grocery shopping I made a point to buy the needed ingredients so that I would be prepared to cook them.  When I get out of the habit of making an effort to cook it gets really hard to start back up again.  It started fading away as the year went on.  I got busy with trying to stay in the gym and then once I started taking classes in September that was pretty much the nail in the coffin.  Then the holidays came.  Things got busy.  Blah, blah, blah. 

Eh, not so bad. Maybe I'm not as much of a slacker as I sometimes think I am! I accomplished most of them and only had one total fail.  Now for this year's resolutions.

2012 Resolutions:
1.  Write a book.  This is the first time I've ever verbally voiced my desire to do this or even told myself that I really would.  By putting it out into the universe I am hoping that will help hold me accountable and make it feel more real and possible.  I have something fiction that I've been working on for a while and it sat untouched since Sept of 2010.  I started writing again and ended up with 20 pages in one sitting.  I can do this.  I just have to push myself.  I don't care if nothing further ever comes of it but I love writing and would like to accomplish this for myself. 

2.  Spanish with Rosetta Stone.  I started this back in 2009 while Mj was deployed to help keep me occupied.  He came back, we planned a wedding, got married and bought a house.  Needless to say I was otherwise engaged and then last year I dropped the ball completely.  I plan to pick it up again after I finish my two classes this semester.

3.  Get cooking.  Mj is the main cook in our family.  He enjoys it and he's way better at it then I'll ever be.  I'm trying not to feel so badly that I don't do this more often...or ever as of late.  We each bring different things to the table and for me cooking is just not one of them.  BUT...I need to keep trying.  Mj deserves to eat something every once in a while that he did not have to make himself.  It always makes me feel good when I make something for him even if I know it probably would have tasted better if he had done it himself!   So even thought this is not my "thing" it goes back on the list.  I'm not going to specify how often, just that I need to keep it on my radar as something I need to do on a regular basis.