Football, Sushi, and the Pursuit of Happiness

Deciding to do it... again!

2012-02-07T15:42:00.002-06:00

Happy February loyal readers. Do you hate me for being absent so much? I know, me too!

So... remember how Steve and I 'won' 2 first class tickets to fly anywhere? Well we now know what that means: The USA (including Hawaii and Alaska) and Mexico. Lots of me wants to go back to Mexico - I really do love that country. HOWEVER, Hawaii is an 8 hour flight... we have first class tickets (I still get the chills when I say that out loud)... why would we take a 3-4 hour flight when we can use it on an 8 hour flight?! Right? Soooo... we're pretty sure we'll be back to Hawaii this fall! Thinking Kauai and Maui, but we haven't booked anything yet. I'm so excited and I can't wait!

I've been in contact with our travel agent and she is sending me info on Kauai. We already know where we want to stay in Maui, so that's easy!

YAY... I'm excited.
In case you've been absent to my blog as well: We're going to New York City for 3 nights in May, to Chicago for 3 nights in July, and now back to Hawaii hopefully this fall (fall allows us to save some money, non-peak season!).

That's all for now. buh-bye.

Oh Hey!

2012-01-31T08:42:00.001-06:00

When was the last time I blogged about anything of importance? Seems like I've posted some random crap over the last couple of weeks just to have a presence in the blogosphere!

Continuing with that today....
I need to make a resume. I don't have one. I haven't had to apply for a 'real' job ever. My current job was a very informal interview; my aunt hired me over a lunch at Panera. I'm in my 7th year here and I've learned so much that I can add to a resume. My jobs for the 4 years before that were at shoe stores, selling shoes. Before that, I did home health care for elderly people and before that I worked at a Target store, first as a cashier, then moved to the service desk (returns, how fun!) and then I moved into the cash office, which I loved! The Target cash office is basically taking all the tills from the registers and counting the money to make sure it matches the reports as well as wrapping bills and wrapping coins to deposit all the money! OMG, I LOVED that job!
Anyhow... I need to build a professional resume. I have little idea where to start, I'm soliciting help!

I'm sick again - twice in one month. My stress level is weakening my immune system - this is absolutely ridiculous. I'm at home today, being sick. It's a sore throat this time.

We've got some snow in the past week, but yesterday is was in the 40's and the next few days are going to be the same, so the snow will be gone soon.

Here are some photos of what I've/we've been up to in the last few weeks (I'm on android, so I don't have any fancy camera effects on my photos like those of you with instagram):

Homemade Onion Rings! yum!

Homemade cupcakes!!!!

Monster Trucks!!!

Natalie (Pam's little girl) sleeping on me at a baby shower of a mutual friend. I love this little girl!

AYCE Crab Legs at a new restaurant in Anoka

The piece I painted at a pottery shop with a group of about 17 other women for Diva Night

The Inside of the same bowl

Cheesecake from Manny's - the biggest piece of cheesecake in the world, short of giving up the entire cheesecake (that's Steve's hand, for size comparison)

Orpheum Theater for The Lion King!!!

the chandelier at The Orpheum

Other than that... I feel like we've been watching a lot of movies lately. Yesterday I came home from work and watched Horrible Bosses and Bad Teacher I have Little Fockers lined up for today. Steve and I watched Mission Impossible last night, and recently we've watched V for Vendetta, and a few others I'm having a hard time coming up with.
I'm might see what else is available at redbox when I go to return my movies today.

Lastly, one of my best friends, Pam - you may remember her from the shower I threw back in September and the adorable little baby Natalie that I'm pictured with above - well, her and her man, Nick, are getting married and it looks like they're about 95% sure it's going to be on June 30th! I'm so happy for her! She already has her dress and her shoes, so everything beyond that is just simple!

Random v.12.2

2012-01-19T10:47:00.000-06:00

2 Random blogs in the first month of the year? Must be a lot going on in my life. ugh, there is. I usually blog at work, work has been NUTS... work has been miserable. I hate my life right now. Well, not my whole life, but certain aspects of it.
I've been getting a lot of blogs hits on this post, via web searches... wtf are people looking for?!

Also... to the person in Michigan finding my blog by searching for stupid words, I know it's the same person each time, don't try to get mention on here by searching for dumb shit like that. Being that it's you each time, you'll never get mentioned for the keywords you search, stop trying. Also, man up, if you're going to stalk me, at least leave a comment saying hello.
I feel like I'm crabby a lot lately.
I booked another trip yesterday. Steve and I are going to Chicago... I blame this idea mostly on Ang, because she's been posting pics of her trip there over NYE. She made me realize how much I miss that city; for a stint, it was like a second home to me. I love Chicago.
We are going to drive down on July 4th and stay 3 nights. Got a good "Name Your Price" deal on Priceline.com.
So now we're up to 2 short trips for the year... one in May, one in July. We still have first class tickets to use as well... hopefully those don't expire.
We're going to Monster Trucks this weekend!
I'm going to dinner with Kristi, Dana, and Heather tonight - for Dana's January Birthday!
I have to get back to work now.

I'm taking a trip!

2012-01-11T13:23:00.001-06:00

That's right bitches! Most of you probably read it on facebook last night (seriously, what's the point in having all my blogging friends on facebook? The point is having more than just blogging relationships, duh!).

I'm going to NEW YORK CITY! Again! I've been a handful of times in the past but what makes this trip so different is who I'm going with - the true love of my life! He's never been and I CANNOT wait to show him one of my favorite cities in the United States.

You may ask yourself if we took advantage of our free first class tickets for this and the answer is no. There are super good airfares to NYC right now and we took advantage of that! Sure we could have saved money, but we'd rather use the first class tickets on a longer further away vacation... somewhere that isn't cheap to get to, like NY is.
We also found a killer deal on a hotel that is across the street from Ground Zero (or maybe across 2 streets).. either way. I've been to NYC only since the 9-11 attacks, so I've never seen the Twin Towers, but I'm very excited to go and see the 9-11 Memorial that is now open. I tell you what - it was an eerie feeling being there after the attacks, I can only imagine what it'll be like with that memorial open.

All of this was planned on a whim. Towards the end of the day yesterday I noticed on my Twitter feed (maybe it IS good for something) that some special promos were ending soon, so I looked and decided to price out a trip for fun. You can ask Steve, but I do this pretty often. For fun only, I swear. Then we're noticing that we can do it for a good price... so I was all we can talk about it more tonight, but think about it... and I guess he did! Last night I was all over the web looking for deals... ended up finding a good flight along with a prime location hotel... and it was booked! I couldn't believe it... still can't. I'm going to NEW YORK!
A word of advice: don't book a trip right before you go to bed. You'll have a hard time falling asleep ;)

So we're going for a long weekend (Friday-Monday) in May. Hopefully it'll be good weather! So much to do that I've never done and so much to show Steve that he's never seen!

AHHHHHHH!!!! So excited!

Random v12.1

2012-01-10T10:53:00.000-06:00

1. Do you ever find it impossible to tell someone how much you really love them?

2. I'm sick. I can't wait to be able to breathe through my nose again.

3. I'm throwing up the white flag to 2012. I surrender.

4. "Buzz words" used by people make me hate the person without a second thought. Synergy, Team, Outside the Box... vomit.

5. I don't do fashion. I don't wear cute outfits. I see people pinning outfits on Pinterest... it's so over my head.

6. I'm obsessed with Zoya nail polishes. IN the past few months, I've purchased so many that I've had to start a list so I know which ones I have. I've also taken advantage of their twitter promo codes during December... I've not paid full price for one bottle, even if you include shipping. Matter of fact, I've paid about half price for every bottle I have. Their Spring "True" collection is to die for.

7. My dad and I have a handshake... one we've spent years perfecting. It's complete and has been for many years... I want to tattoo it on my body, but how do you tattoo a handshake?

8. Do you have a bucket list? If you do, and you have it published (on a blog or somewhere), can you link me to it in the comments? I like to read other peoples bucket lists. I find them quite fascinating.

9. When was the last time you Googled yourself? You should probably do it now. While you're at it, Google Image yourself too... what page do you first appear on? I pop up on page one. I have a unique last name, so all my hits are me and not someone with the same name.

10. I love the home I live in, but having a cat and having a lot of wood (hardwood floors, wood trim, wood build-in's) makes for too much cleaning.

11. I know it's part of nature and part of life, but I really hate watching nature type shows and seeing animals fight... and then one win - because usually that means one has died.

12. People who smoke, stink.

13. I'm craving sushi.

14. I'm sick of people telling me they can help me out and then falling short. I get that you're doing me a favor and all, but if you can't follow through, don't even offer. Waste of my time.

2011 Survey

2012-01-06T10:19:00.004-06:00

I found this little survey that I filled out for 2008, so I've updated it and am now doing it for 2011. The way the year is going, I figure taking one more look back at 2011 might be fun.

Where did you begin 2011?
In Elk River, with our friends Jeff and Linnea - then made our way back to my house, via cab, extremely wasted face!

What was your status by Valentine's Day?
very much still basking in the beauty of our trip to Hawaii

Were you in school anytime this year?
no

Did you have to go to the hospital?
nope

Did you have any encounters with the police?
Not that I recall...

What did you purchase that was over $1000?
Nothing

Did you know anybody who got married?
Jeff and Linnea

Did you know anybody who passed away?
Steve's grandma

Did you know anyone who had a baby?
yes, Raquel (my dad's wifey), and my bestie, Pam - plus a crap ton of people on facebook

Did you move anywhere?
Yes, I moved in with a boy!

What concerts/shows did you go to?
I feel like there was one, but I don't remember

Do you still have the same job as you did in 2010?
sure did

Where do you live now?
Anoka

Describe your birthday
It was simply perfect - as you've already read about. I turned 30!!

What's one thing you thought you'd never do but did in 2011?
went to Hawaii and moved in with a boy

What has been your favorite moment?
The entire year was fantastic. Hawaii, moving into a beautiful home (that feels like 'home'), growing in my relationships, turning 30

What's something you learned about yourself?
that even in bad times, I can still be a positive person

Any new additions to your family?
i've got a little baby brother, and Pam's daughter Natalie, calls me auntie, so I guess I have a new niece too.

What was your best month?
I can't pick just one

Were you in a relationship this year?
I sure was

What music will you remember 2011 by?
probably Adele, Eminem, and Bruno Mars

New friend?
I'd say my friendships have grown for the better

Favorite Night out?
Probably the night in Hawaii that Steve and I went to Morimoto's, then went to sit on the beach and watch the sunset.

Would you say you've changed since the beginning of this year?
I'd say yes, at least some. We all grow, right?

Do you think 2012 will be better or worse?
Better, it has to be!

Stayed single almost the whole year?
Nope

Done something you've regretted?
Nope - I don't have regrets as a rule

Lost someone?
not personally

Cut class?
n/a

Were involved in something you'll never forget?
So very many things!

Visited a different country?
Yes actually, we went to Canada this summer

Cooked a gross meal?
shit yes. Meatloaf mush comes to mind :(

Lost something important to you?
not really

Got a gift you adore?
Indeed - diamond earring, obviously!

Tripped over a coffee table?
probably

Dyed your hair?
nope, i haven't

Came close to losing your life?
Not that I recall

Read a great book?
I did manage to finish The Lost Symbol

Saw one of your favorite bands/artists live?
no, sadly, no music this year

[[2011: Friends and Enemies]]

Did you meet any new friends this year?
Yes, I did.

Did you dislike anyone?
yes

Did you grow apart from anyone?
yep

[[2011: Your BIRTHDAY!]]
Did you have a cake?
Sure did

Did you have a party?
Yep - at our house!

Did you get any presents?
I did!

[[2011:All about YOU]]
Did you change at all this year?
Yes, added pounds to my body

Did you change your style?
Nope, I really don't get into fashion/style...

Did you get good grades?
n/a

Did you drive?
Oh yes!

Did you own a car?
Hell yes!

Did you go on any vacations?
Hawaii

Would you change anything about yourself now?
I need to change my mentality about the gym, I need to just do it.

[[2011: Wrap UP:]]
Was 2011 a good year?
one of the best I've ever had

Do you think 2012 will top 2011?
I sure hope so!

IN 2011 I:
(x) kissed in the snow
(x) celebrated Halloween
() had your heart broken
(x) mooned someone
() went over the minutes on your cell phone
(x) someone questioned your sexual orientation
() gotten pregnant
() had an abortion
() done something you've regretted
() painted a picture
() wrote a poem
() ran a mile
() shopped at Hollister or Abercrombie and Fitch
() posted a blog on MySpace
() visited a foreign country
() cut in a line of waiting people
(x) partied to celebrate the new year
(x) cooked a disastrous meal
(x) lied about how old you were
() prank called someone
[] broke a promise
[] cried over a broken heart
[] disappointed someone close
[x] hid a secret
[] pretended to be happy
[] slept under the stars
[] kept your new years resolution
[] forgot your new years resolution
[] met someone who changed your life
[x] changed your outlook on life
[x] sat home all day doing nothing
[] pretended to be sick
[x] left the country
[] almost died
[] given up on something/someone important to you
[] lost something expensive
[x] learned something new about yourself
[x] tried something you normally wouldn't try and liked it
[x] made a change in your life
[x] found out who your true friends were
[x] met great people
[] stayed up til sunrise
[x] cried over the silliest thing
[x] had friends who were drifting away from you
[] had a high cell phone bill
[] spent most of your money on food
[] had a fist fight
[] gotten sick
[] liked more than 5 people at the same time.
[x] became closer with a lot of people
[] stayed single
[x] got kissed
[] kissed someone new
[x] made out
[x] made out in a car
[x] kissed in the snow
[x] kissed in the rain
[x] fell in love
[] fell in love with a fool
[] had my heart broken
[] broke someone else's heart
[] had a stalker
[] lost a friend..
[x] had a good relationship with someone
[] got married
[] had a divorce
[] kissed someone of the same sex
[] met someone that I will never forget
[] lost my true love
[] lost faith in love for awhile
[] kissed under mistletoe
[x] got a promotion
[x] got a pay raise
[] changed jobs
[] lost my job
[] quit my job
[] got fired from my job
[] got straight A's
[] almost got straight A's
[] failed a class
[] cut class
[] skipped school
[x] did something I was proud of
[x] proved myself an idiot
[] embarrassed myself in front of the class
[] fell in love with a teacher
[x] listened to music I couldn't stand
[x] double dipped
[] skinny dipped
[x] went to a sleepover
[] went to camp
[x] threw a surprise party
[x] laughed till I cried
[] laughed till I peed my pants
[] flirted shamelessly
[x] visited a foreign country
[x] visited a foreign state
[] tried to gain weight
[] went to a wild party
[] got arrested
[] saw a great movie
[] saw a movie so scary that it made me cry
[x] did something that I want to tell everyone
[x] experienced something new
[x] lied to your parents
[] snuck out
[] got in trouble with police
[] kissed in a pool
[x] kissed under the stars
[x] went to a party
[x] had the time of your life
[x] danced
[] fell out of love
[x] had a crush on someone
[x] swam in a pool
[] made a snowman
[] went snowboarding
[] went sledding
[] slept in past 2pm
[x] held someone’s hand
[x] held someone’s hand that you care about
[x] told someone you like them as more than a friend
[x] gone on vacation with a friend
[] played strip poker
[] danced in the rain
[] seen someone get in a car accident
[x] laughed until you couldn't breathe
[x] had an amazing year
[x] missed someone
[] got hit by a car
[] sent someone to the hospital
[] got a new pet
[x] enjoyed this year overall

Obviously geared more towards a teenager, but fun nonetheless.

New Years Weekend 2011-2012

2012-01-04T07:43:00.000-06:00

First, here is a photo of our Christmas tree - we both like the look of solid color light strands - we picked white this year because we got a bunch of hand-me-down Christmas stuff and there happened to be enough white to do our tree:

Next, moving on to New Years Eve weekend -
Wednesday night of last week, Steve started to feel like he was coming down with something, sure as shit, on Thursday (his birthday) he came home from work, sick. Needless to say, we needed to rethink our wild weekend for something with less alcohol and more sleep.
We went out for Steve's birthday on Thursday, with Jeff and Linnea, to Benihana - for those not familiar, it's a hibachi style restaurant, where they cook the food in front of you. Good stuff I tell ya.
Then Friday, we went out for my aunt's retirement, to Osaka, another hibachi restaurant. Another night of good food, but not a lot of drinking and not a late night.

Saturday, we went to Olive Garden with Steve's parents, to celebrate his birthday... more eating! ugh. By Saturday I was sick of meat and pretty sick of chewing.
This was also New Years Eve - we decided to NOT attend my cousin's party and opted to stay home, just the two of us instead. It was a pretty chill night. Around 10pm, we turned on the TV to start watching ball dropping coverage, but the news was on and they were talking about a snowstorm moving through. We promptly look outside to see it's snowing and had been snowing for quite some time. It was beautiful snow too... the kind that photos are made of. It was our first snow in weeks - we've been brown for the entire month of December.
I may have dozed off on the couch before midnight, but Steve was on the ball and woke me up to see the ball drop. We were fast asleep by 12:20.

Sunday, we woke up with ambition ... breakfast ambition. I really wanted to tackle Eggs Benedict, so we did. For our first time, it wasn't bad, but I'd want to make it again knowing a few things we can do to make it better.
Sunday afternoon/dinner time we went over to Jeff and Linnea's for more food. They made a pork roast in the crockpot - plus a bunch of different crack dips - so again, more eating!

On Monday we woke up and ate a light breakfast and then went to meet Jeff and Linnea for lunch at Pittsburgh Blue. I got Sea Scallops Benedict- Oh yum! We then went to an outlet mall in the area looking for winter boots at a good price. We found a pair but, as usual, they didn't have my size - so I arrived back home with no boots.

I feel like the weekend was full of eating, full of Jeff and Linnea (hopefully they don't end up with Steve's bug), full of movies, and full of relaxation.

Movie's watched this weekend:
Red
The Sound of Music
Lethal Weapon 3
Big Fish
Avatar

Photos from the weekend:

Boomer was more than happy to have us home all weekend. He normally hates when things are on top of him, but I took the blanket out of the dryer and laid it on him, he looked up at me and then snuggled in and fell right back asleep. He LOVES to be warm.

As I type this on Tuesday evening, Steve is still a bit congested but he said it feels like it's finally starting to drain, which means in a short matter of time, he'll be all better. Stay tuned next week for when I'm sick and blogging about what an amazing job Steve is doing taking care of me (payback, the good kind).

In other news, I'm hoping for some positive thoughts, prayers, whatever you have to offer.
Two things going on right now - one of my cousins has melanoma, they've been working to get rid of it by removing skin and lumps, it was going well... but over the weekend I found out it's spread to her lungs, liver, armpit, shoulder, and her thigh. She's 25. How incredibly awful.
In addition to that, Steve's mom has been making several trips to the Mayo clinic here in MN - I don't want to get into great detail about that as it's Steve's personal life and not mine, but his mother is an amazing person and she could use thoughts and prayers as well.
We're hoping to keep our family around for all of 2012. Thanks to all in advance.

Year 2011 in Pictures

2012-01-03T07:52:00.000-06:00

If you've been with me for a year or more, you know that I've taken to review my years in photo form. Click these links through to see my photo reviews from 2010, 2009, and 2008.

So... prepare yourself for a long and picture heavy post!

First let's look at the trip Steve and I took to Hawaii back in February - what a beautiful place!

Then let's talk about great friends and great times:

Linnea's bachelorette party

Milwaukee and Six Flags with Krysten and Izzy

Jeff and Linnea's wedding!

Amanda and I at the Vikings game

Shotgunning my first beer EVER!

Second annual pumpkin carving

Monthly girls dinners with my best friends from way back when (me, Amanda, Pamela, and Abbie)

Dinner's with these wonderful ladies (some more than once this year!!)

My best friend, Pam, being preggers and throwing her a wonderful shower!

Natalie Marie - born 11/14/11

Continuing to develop a close friendship with my cousin, Shannon

Steve buying a house shortly after returning from Hawaii and him asking my to move in with him:

One of many shopping trips to Home Depot for the house

First big project - taking down wallpaper in the bedroom and painting it to suit us

painting our dining room a BEAUTIFUL shade of deep red

under cabinet lighting!

My wonderful brother and sister-in-law - and their amazing daughters, my nieces:

Doing a boudoir photo shoot!

Random photos of my year:

Diamond earrings for my 30th Birthday

One of my favorite photos of the year - taken along the North Shore of Lake Superior.

Found me a nice little red barn to photograph

Grand Marais Lighthouse

Winning first class tickets to fly somewhere!

My sweet kitty Boomer, though he had a bit of a rough patch, I feel like he is doing well now, he eats bland food only, but at least he's eating and keeping it down.

Cuddling on the couch

Fun drawings on the white board wall:

Getting a new baby brother - Wyatt Lewis, born 10/19/11

Good times with my amazing outcast cousins

Saving the best for last - this year of my life has been simply incredible and I owe that entirely to one person; Steve. He has been my rock when I've broken down, he has loved me without question, he has expressed his love for me in ways I never knew possible. If 2011 is any indication of how the rest of my life with this man will be, then bring it on! My dear sweet boyfriend, I love you with all of my heart and soul; thank you for being with me and sharing in my joys and sorrows all of 2011. I know 2012 will bring some difficult times, as we're already preparing for, but together I know we can get through it - you lean on me and I'll lean on you. In the end, we have each other, and that's a lot. I love you Steve.

A Special Birthday Wish

2011-12-29T07:35:00.000-06:00

Taking a moment today to wish my amazing boyfriend a very

Happy Birthday!

Flying home from Hawaii - Feb2011

Christmas Eve - 12/24/11 with Steve's nieces

I hope the next year of your life is amazing and I can't wait to share it with you. I love you with all of my heart - you are my everything. Happy Birthday baby!

Day 28 of Birthday Month

2011-12-28T13:35:00.000-06:00

Yep - it's been a few days, and I've yet to even post all the wonderful gifts we received! In due time, my pretties.

I've been meaning to mention for like 2 months now this wonderful thing my aunt is doing for me, because I turned 30 this year.
In Minneapolis we have this placed called Kitchen Window - which is an amazing kitchen store that also offers cooking classes and things of the sort. Well, she offered to take me to a class - with her - and pay for it all! My aunt Jayne is a pretty special woman to me. She's been my boss for the last 6 years and as of tomorrow will no longer be working at my company.

We've grown close over the years here together and we've discovered a passion for food together, mostly through leftovers and magazine recipes.

Anyhow - I was given my choice of classes and of many great sounding choices, this is the one I went with:
With Terry as your guide, you’ll create a menu of small plates and appetizers that is sure to inspire that lovin’ feeling this Valentine’s Day. We’ll start with DEEP-FRIED POACHED EGGS & BEARNAISE ON CRISPED PROSCIUTTO – an incredible, indulgent take on eggs benedict that’s perfect at cocktail hour or (ahem) breakfast. Next, we’ll make FILET MIGNON & GOAT CHEESE CANAPES WITH WATERCRESS – an elegant, mouthwatering pairing of flavors. We’ll make OYSTERS ROCKEFELLER GRATIN – a tried-and-true mood-setter made even better with the addition of spinach and cheese. SEAFOOD COCKTAIL SHOOTERS are next – mini seafood cocktails that are as adorable as your valentine. Next we’ll move on to GRISSINI BREADSTICKS WITH SOFT HERBED CHEESE – a snack that’s perfect for sharing with that special someone. And to end our evening, it’s PASTRY CUPS FILLED WITH LEMON CURD & WHITE CHOCOLATE CREME PATISSIERE – a lot of sweet and just a little bit of sour... just right for Valentine’s Day.

So we make all that stuff AND we get to eat it all!

It doesn't happen until February 2012, but I can't wait!!!

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T09:11:00.001-06:00

Merry Christmas to all my blogging friends and real friends (it's one in the same you know).

Steve and I exchanged gifts last night, a few pics to hold you over:
I got him this:

Yep, it's a globe bar!

and he made me this:

It's a 'Steve Box' - as a girl, I keep a lot of stuff; ticket stubs, hotel key cards, trip stuff, papers, etc. I put it all in a shoe box and call it a Steve box - well, I've been bugging him to make me one for a couple of years now - he finally did - and it's PERFECT! It's made of maple wood and Purple heart wood (Google a Purple Heart tree, the wood is straight up PURPLE!). Anyhow - it's not fully finished, he needs to seal it yet and I'm guessing the purple will stand out a bit more after that. I'll take more pics after.

I'm off now to my brother for gifts with them and my mom, and then to my aunts for Christmas with my dad's side of the family. Drinks with friends tonight!

Merry Christmas to one and all - I hope your day is magical and full of love!

Day 24 of Birthday Month

2011-12-24T07:38:00.000-06:00

Merry Christmas Eve!

weheartit.com

Today is a full day - we're going to spend the day with Steve's family - lunch, gifts, Church, homemade pizza - then we're coming home to exchange our gifts.

I hope you all have a wonderful day, even if you don't celebrate Christmas or any holiday on this weekend. To me, this weekend is about family and being around people I love, and I hope it's the same for you.

Day 23 of Birthday Month

2011-12-23T19:34:00.000-06:00

I don't know if I ever mentioned that I clean my grandma's apartment every other week - well today was that day.
My gma isn't coming to Christmas this year because she doesn't like the noise and she doesn't get along well in the crowd our family has become. I don't blame her. So I brought her over the present I got for her, and

While I was cleaning my gma asked me to find a radio station to listen to that has Christmas music playing, so I did, obviously. It was so cute to be cleaning to Christmas music while my gma hummed along with all the songs. It just made me feel good to hear her happily playing along to the songs.
You know how they say it's the little things, right? That's definitely one of them!

I took my gma to lunch at Perkins afterwards as well - I figured since I was going to see her on Christmas, I could spend some good one on one time with her that way. I love, so much, the stories she tells - even the ones she has told me over and over. Never gets old.

I love my gma.

Here is a picture of her and my dad - not sure the exact date, but it was taken in the last year, I think around May:

Day 22 of Birthday Month

2011-12-22T10:11:00.002-06:00

I straight up jacked this from Krysten (and pretty much stole her layout for it as well), play along too, if you'd like:

weheartit.com

1. egg nog or hot chocolate?
Hot Chocolate - I actually just asked Steve last night if he likes egg nog and what it tastes like; I've never had it.

2. does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?
Santa wraps them!

3. multi-colored or white lights on tree/house?
Solid Colored. White is great, but I love when homes are lit up with just one solid color - red, green, blue, etc.

4. do you hang mistletoe?
I haven't, I wanted to this year, but never got around to it.

5. when do you put up decorations?
This year Steve and I had all our stuff up before Thanksgiving. I think I was just so excited to celebrate Christmas living with Steve... I couldn't wait any longer.

6. what is your favorite holiday dish?
I like all the snacky stuff

7. favorite holiday memory as a child.
Always coming home from our Christmas Eve celebration and seeing that Santa had already been to our house.

8. when did you learn the truth about Santa?
I'm not sure how old I was, but I think my mom got lazy one year and wrapped Santa's gifts in the same paper my parents used. Not only that, but Santa's handwriting looked an awful lot like my mom's as well... they tried to play it off, but it didn't work

9. do you open a gift on Christmas eve?
As kids we always did. This year, Steve and I are going to do our gifts on Christmas Eve and do our stockings on Christmas morning.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree?
White lights, candy canes, ornaments.

11. Snow! Love it or dread it?
I don't mind snow - I don't like snow when it comes between me and my travel. I dislike the cold more than I dislike the snow.

12. Can you ice skate?
last time I tried, I could.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift?
Last year, Steve got me a diamond heart necklace - I've worn it almost everyday since.

14. What's the most important thing about the holidays for you?

Family. I was thinking last night about how I really don't care about anything as far as gifts go, I just want my family together.

15. What is your favorite holiday dessert?
Melting Moments cookies

16. what is your favorite holiday tradition?
I love going to my brother and SIL's house on Christmas morning and doing our little family thing. We do gifts and brunch. I love my family.

17. what tops your tree?
An Angel

18. which do you prefer: giving or receiving?
I love both! I always find myself wanting to spend a shit ton of money on people (I usually always go over spending limits)

19. candy canes. yucky or yummy?
I like the cherry flavored ones. On a related note: Sour Patch Candy Canes are NOT good.

20. favorite Christmas show?
Rudolph

21. saddest Christmas song?
Blue Christmas

22. favorite Christmas song?
Baby, It's Cold Outside, White Christmas, Jingle Bells as sung by my niece, Jordan.

Day 20 of Birthday Month

2011-12-20T10:51:00.001-06:00

So, I just updated my blogroll - see it here - and I've added buttons to the blogs I read. It's a nice touch considering it was plain text before that. Do I read your blog and missed your button? Let me know, I'll get it updated.

So let's talk about buttons; how do I get one?!
Must I make my own? Is there a website that'll help me?

As bloggers, what made you decide to make one for yourself or decide not to have one? Maybe you don't even know about buttons? Maybe you're like me and have no clue how to make it happen?

Just looking for everyone's input on this - the good and the bad. More than anything, point me in the right direction to get my own!

Happy Tuesday!

Day 19 of Birthday Month

2011-12-19T12:38:00.000-06:00

I just need to write this down - for 30 years from now (when I'm 60) - I can have some sort of a memory.

It's December 19th. It's Minnesota. There is ZERO snow on the ground. The temp is 32°. Yesterday it was in the 40's. It's been in the upper 20's, 30's or 40's for the past while, several days, weeks even.

There is no snow in the forecast - we're going to have a brown Christmas. Do I mind? Not completely. I like the warmer temps, I don't mind diving on clear roads... but I kind of feel like there should be snow around for Christmas. I was looking forward to taking some outdoor photos of Christmas lights with snow on the ground. Doesn't look like that'll be happening.

I'll post tomorrow about dinner at my dad's yesterday and dinner with my grandparents tonight.

Work is killing me. I'm blessed in life, but I'm miserable in my work life. My daily blogs for this month have been a lot less personal and detailed as I'd like... I just don't have the time.

Day 17 of Birth Month

2011-12-17T18:30:00.000-06:00

After I got diamonds yesterday, Steve brought home sushi for lunch:

Onto the night:
I survived!
Today has been mildly rough... not sure if I drank too much or if I didn't get enough sleep. Both, probably. Steve and I went to bed at 4am, and woke up at 8am. I didn't feel that drunk last night, but I didn't feel good when I woke up!

Before I throw in all the photos from the night, I just want to talk about how blessed I feel. Even though I didn't feel great today, I did have a minor moment of tears with Steve. Not because I was sad; they were happy tears. I've never felt so happy in my life - I'm not sure how I got to be so lucky. Last night was simply amazing - my closest friends and family were with me, Steve was a fabulous help setting up and cleaning up, I had a wonderful (simply wonderful) night. I just feel so happy. Not a bad way to enter my 30's, eh?

All the people who said they would come, came. My brother even showed up after he got off work!

I wanted to do this to my hair - but I couldn't for the life of me make it work. I cut my finger yesterday on the blade of our food processor, so I'm blaming it on that.

Source: weibo.com via Angela on Pinterest

The photos are a bit blurry, we had pretty dim lighting around the house and flashes get to be obnoxious. So, just deal with it, blurry photos are an accurate representation of the night after a certain point :)

The little cake my mom got for me - my favorite colors; Orange, Green, Pink

My bestie, Pam and I

me and the boy :)

New parents, Pam and Nick

Abbie and I have been friends as long as Pam and I, since 5th grade

Abbie and Nick

Erin and I, in our pose - she's my beast

Story time

I really wanted to do it, but I knew someone would smash my face in it!

Pam and I again

I love photos like this - I love real laughs captured

:) my girls

with my cousins

They all sang Happy Birthday to me, and I guess I was embarrassed

Ang, Amanda, Pam, and Abbie - friends for 18 years

I love this man

Our men in ties <3

Tomorrow we're going up to my dad's to eat prime rib and lobster tails!

Day 16 - Happy birthday to ME!

2011-12-16T12:04:00.000-06:00

Go ahead, sing it!!

It's my birthday bitches! I'm 30!

Last night, as I mention, I went to dinner with Kristi, Dana, and Heather - it was a fantastic time! We ended up spending 2.5 hours at the restaurant. Dana, the sweetheart she is, got me a bottle of wine, "cheap wine" as she calls it, I've yet to try it, but I love a good bang for your buck bottle of vino!

So who's DYING to know what the gift from Steve was? Well, I'm not going to tell you. HA!

Chill people. I'm kidding. I'm 30 now you know, I'm a whole new kind of funny! I have a lot to do today before the party tonight. I spent probably 20 minutes trying to get a picture of my gift, but as it turns out diamonds are hard to photograph, especially with it's not great outdoor light coming in and the lights inside are just kind of meh. Oh wait... what?! Diamonds?!?!???!!!!! Yep, I said it - diamonds, 2 of them :)

Yeah - it's hard to get pictures of diamonds, but it was worth the effort ;)

Best birthday ever? You betcha!

Now, I'm off to get shit ready for tonight!

Pictures tomorrow!!

Day 15 of Birthday Month

2011-12-15T15:34:00.000-06:00

My birthday is TOMORROW!
I don't work on Friday's, so today is my last of work for the week, my co-worker, Bob (we have a mutual admiration club at work), he came in this morning with these:

How many people do you know that have co-workers who bring them flowers?! Like I said, Bob and I are like peas and carrots - or ... it's more like he's my work dad. I never let him forget that my birthday is coming. He gives me shit, I give him shit... we get along the best of anyone.

Zoya nail polish has been having these #FlashPromo deals on Twitter for the past couple weeks... it's dangerous. That's all I'll say about that.

I'm going to dinner tonight with Kristi, Dana, and Heather. We're actually going to the place my brother just started working at. I'm excited to try a new place and see the girls!!

I'm excited to get my present tomorrow!

I'm excited for my party tomorrow!

As for the first class tickets we won - we don't know where we want to go yet. We don't know when we want to go - I'd love to go to New York City in the summer. I'd love to go to a beach in the winter. I'd love to go some place I've never been. The couple things we do know: we want to go somewhere far enough to make the first class flight worth it, we also know that it has to be reasonable enough to afford a hotel and a car if the location calls for our own transportation. LOTS to think about - SUPER exciting!

That's it for today - I'll be back tomorrow so that you can wish me a happy birthday, okay? ;)

Day 14 of Birthday Month

2011-12-14T15:06:00.002-06:00

I don't have a lot of time. Work is crazy. I didn't blog yesterday.

LONG story short, because I want to tell you all about Steve's party - our evening event was "Viva Las Vegas". His boss had poker and blackjack tables - plus a couple of others. Each employee (and their partner if applicable) was given X amount of fake dollars to gamble away - to hopefully turn into more money - in the end, you had a chance to bid on prizes:

Again, short on time, so I just want to tell you what we won:

2 first class tickets to fly anywhere in the US! WTF?! How awesome is that?! Not sure if Alaska and Hawaii are included, but does it really matter?
Some other photos of the night - it was a drunk night for sure, so not many photos were taken:

Ice Bar

Raw bar - complete with osyters, lobster (cooked), and cooked shrimp.

Blackjack

Poker

Texas Hold 'Em

Blackjack

Steve with a chocolate waffle topped with ice cream, and bacon flavored cotton candy

Ice bar at the end of the night

Sorry this is so short - simply no time.

Day 12 of Birthday Month

2011-12-12T09:41:00.002-06:00

YAY! It's officially birthday week!!!! Waaaaa----Hoooooo!!!!!
It's a good thing I can type excitement, because this morning - I'm pretty beat, extremely tired, and still shaky from the weekend activities. I forgot the camera at home, so you don't get to hear about the weekend until I have photos to go along with it.

Today's blog, in honor of the beginning of Birthday week, I only have a question for you. It's easy and everyone can play along! Humor me, if you will.
If you could fly first class from Minnesota to anywhere in the US (let's keep it continental US); where would you go? You can go any time of the year!
Would your answer change if Alaska and Hawaii were in the running too?

Day 9 of Birthday Month

2011-12-10T11:24:00.000-06:00

Well, I didn't get these posted last night... my mom and I started painting at about 10am yesterday and finished about 11pm last night. I jumped in and out of the shower and crawled right into bed. Blogging was not high on my list of priorities.
Here are some before and after shots of the Kitchen and Dining room. Keep in mind two things: the dining room still needs one more coat of paint and the kitchen color is NOT what we were hoping it was going to be. As of this moment, both Steve and I are unsure if we like it, but (as the painter) we're gonna stick it out for a bit to see if it grows on us. I'm not interesting in painting that kitchen again - smallest room to paint, but the biggest pain in the ass (lots to pull out, plates to take off, counter to clear, ugh.)

Kitchen Before

Kitchen After (color: Dill Pickle)

Beofre

After

before

after

We had to change the light in the kitchen as well. There is a huge florescent fixture in there and it had super bright white lights - it made the color look awful. Steve went and bought some soft white light and it really helped the look (all photos were taken with the new light bulbs). Again, we're unsure if we like the color in there.

On to the dining room:

Dining Room before

Dining Room after (not put back together because it needs another coat of paint)

before

after

So that's what I spent all day doing yesterday.

Now I have to get ready to drink all afternoon and night - Steve's work party is tonight... Please GOD let me survive this!

Day 8 of Birthday Month

2011-12-08T12:34:00.000-06:00

On my way home from work last night I realized that I have a picture of the front of our house to show you - so you can see exactly how awesome my party invite is:

Pretty neat, right? He obviously took out a tree or two, but that's kind of the point. Anyhow - thought that was worth sharing.

Last night, Steve started another project (who knew he was such a rock star? Me.)
It wasn't finished when I went to bed but when I woke up this morning there were post-it notes all over our kitchen counter:

Under cabinet lighting!!!!!!!! (with the light off)

This is it with the big kitchen light on as well

I never knew we needed this until just this morning. Every time Steve would talk about it, I'd listen and think cool, that'll look neat but turning it on provides SO much more light on our counters, it's going to be the best thing ever while cooking and stuff!
It's seriously so awesome!

I'm hoping that tomorrow night I will have a dramatic house change to post about - during the day, my mom is coming over to paint with me - we're going to tackle the kitchen and, depending on the time, get on the dining room too. We only have tomorrow to do it though, so I'm not going to start the dining room if we can't finish. Saturday is Steve's work party and Sunday I'll be too hungover to paint.
The following Friday is my birthday and I'm not going to spend my birthday painting. My mom and I kick ass though, so we'll get it all done tomorrow, I'm sure of it!

Look for those photos tomorrow, probably late.

Day 7 of Birthday Month

2011-12-07T12:59:00.001-06:00

I'm so not going to be this:

Source: someecards.com via Melissa on Pinterest

I'm turning 30 in just over a week and I'm embracing that shit out of it. Turning 29 last year I was all ugh, next year I'm going to be 30; I'm not married, my job sucks, I'm not who I thought I'd be by this time. Now I'm all 30 ain't got shit on me! Who cares, it's just a number!

This year, I want to be just like this:

Source: google.com via Missy on Pinterest

Glamorous (thanks to Fergie for my knowledge of how to spell that!), spoiled (I've been that way every other year), and simply happy!

I want this too:

Source: someecards.com via Kelli Michelle on Pinterest

A few weeks ago I posted wondering what you'd do if you were turning 30 this year - I got a few great ideas from people. The main things I wanted: close friends, a super chill atmosphere, and nothing too loud (I like to be able to hear my friends talk). What I really wanted was a party where I could take B&W photos and have them turn out like all the photos you might find in your grandparents photo albums; all the stories I hear about them sitting around, smoking and drinking, and just being casual. Do you know what I'm talking about? Picture a swanky cocktail lounge with over-sized leather couches and people in pretty dresses.

I did a lot of research for stuff around the Twin Cities, nice chill cocktail lounges and I found a few with promise, but on a Friday night, I figured they'd all still be super loud and packed. Lots of people usually equals lots of noise, I didn't know how to get around that.
The other things I didn't want: making people spend a fortune to come out and have a good time, driving a far distance, nowhere to stay if they did whoop it up, having to worry about parking, amongst other things. So the last option I had been toying with was having a party at our house.
At lunch with my cousin Shannon one day, it was decided; we'd have a cocktail party for my birthday, on my birthday, at my house! This also assures Steve being able to drink rather than drive me around :)

It's a fancy party too, well cocktail attire required is what the invite says. Yep, I mailed out formal invitations. Don't be offended if you didn't get one, it's a small group, mostly people I've been friends with either a good part of my life or friends that I'm close with.

So... Steve, the whiz he is in Photoshop, whipped this up:

Now that's only the front - the details on the back are not important (and it has our address on it, so I'm not posting). The biggest thing you need to know is that the house on it is our house! Steve is amazing. He took Photoshop and basically drew our home for the front of the invitation, and he did it in record time as I wanted to have the invites out a month in advance, giving people 2 weeks to RSVP and giving myself 2 weeks with a firm number.
It's going to be BYOB and Hors D'oeuvres are welcomed but not necessary. We have plenty of places for people to sleep, so drinking is encouraged :)
We're going to have some sort of playlist, with some great music - mood setting music - think oldies like Sinatra, Dean Martin, Etta James, and probably lots of Adele!
The lighting will hopefully be mood setting as well - which is why we've been hanging so many damn lights as of late - it's just too hard to open up walls just to add a wall sconce (like Steve would eventually love to have).

Now, if I can just get someone to make me pretty cupcakes (like what I see on Pinterest).

I think I might make this too:

White Sangria with Pomegranate

Source: whatsheshaving.com via Angela on Pinterest

I figure it wouldn't hurt to offer one thing to drink, even though it says BYOB, right? It's so pretty!

Tonight I think I'm going to work on Steve's Christmas present - which I can't post here because he stalks my blog. I'm also hoping to get some gifts wrapped and under the tree, as it's been up for weeks and is still bare underneath!

Day 6 of Birthday Month

2011-12-07T06:30:00.000-06:00

First, I updated this post to now include this photo:

Fondue Group on Saturday

Second, things at work suck. The 2 owners are in the middle of negotiations for a buy out - actually... they just started talking about it and it's supposed to be done by the end of the month. It also means we're hiring a new accountant to take the place of the one owner that is leaving. Turns out it was between 2 people - a guy and a gal... the guy got the job. So, once this deal is done and final, I'll be the only girl working in this building. Let me tell you how NOT excited I am for that.
My job is growing some, nothing radical, which is good and bad - good because it means I have less to learn in the short amount of time left. Bad because it means if I get a raise, it's not going to be huge.
I really want to get vulgar and bitch about work on this entire post, but I really don't want to look back and ever be able to remember the way I'm feeling this week while being at work.

Day 6 of birth month brought freezing cold temps - the one time I looked it was 19° - neat, eh?

On a positive note: Jersey Shore starts in January. I know, it's mildly retarded, but we all need our thing, right?

We had Heggies pizza for dinner and my mom brought over a couple of lobster tails for us (for another night)... can't wait to enjoy those!

Steve and I are both December babies - and we're both on Benihana's email list - which gets us each a $30 credit to eat there during this month! They can't be used together, so we have to go twice... bummer. I swear I probably will gain 15 pounds this month alone!

It was a pretty boring Tuesday overall - the highlight was getting another light hung:

Close up

It hangs behind our TV where there is this odd little space and it's super dark back there... not any more it's not! Not only that, but I decided that for my actual birthday, rather than going out downtown and spending a bunch of money and making other people spend a bunch of money, we're going to have a few people over at our place. So getting this lamp hung is just what we needed to create some perfect mood lighting. I'll post more about the party in a day or two - Steve made me invitation in Photoshop, and they are amazing!

Day 5 of Birthday Month

2011-12-06T06:14:00.000-06:00

What do you expect from a Monday? My work day started out shitty, my work day got progressively shittier, my work day ended shitty.

It was not my ideal rock star birth month day.. I said I was going to rock this month out but sometimes that's just beyond our own control.

The plus side of the day?

After dinner, Steve and I went to his parents house to raid their Christmas ornaments to find the ones he wants to keep forever and hang on our tree. Steve's mom is a giver, and by that I mean, she tries to give everything away... and she has a LOT of stuff to give! LOL, it's pretty funny... I swear she offered us everything from a grape to the entire Christmas Tree!
We did get a pretty snowman that lights up and has glitter running through him:

Steve's parents have a train track on the upper part of the tree, it runs in 2 minute cycles

The outside of their house - all red lights, it's pretty bomb.

ugh, so i guess that got blurry, but that's the beginning stages of their tree, blurry.

now to go through and find a place for everything else we got! :)

The super plus side of this day is that my grandma is out of the hospital and back home. I didn't blog about it this weekend because it just didn't feel right. She's not out of the woods fully, but she lives in an assisted living complex, so she has plenty of help around.

She hasn't been feeling well, so last week my aunts took her in to the ER (based on her past, they thought the ER was a better and fast option of being seen) - turns out she just needed a 'tune up' as the docs call it. She has some fluid building up around her lungs - typical of someone her age with the conditions she has (heart and lung disease). Well the docs wanted to keep her a bit longer to try and figure out why her shortness of breath became so much worse in so little time... turns out she had some blood clots in her legs that spread up to her heart and lungs, so her heart was working OT to try and pump. The heart looks good (after several heart attacks in the past 5 years) but she is now on blood thinners and needs to start being more active all while being careful not to fall.

Again, not out of the woods, but well on her way to 'better'. My gma is one tough cookie - I've never seen a woman in the hospital with so much spunk and desire to live, she's 87 years old and still giving it all she's got.

It seems for the past few years in December, she's been giving us a reason to appreciate family during the Holidays. A few years ago in December she had her first heart attack... another one the following December. Last year she all of the sudden couldn't hear - some drops and shots later, she can hear as well as any old lady.

This year we have this whole blood clot thing to deal with - not ideal, but it could be worse.

Sometime I plan to write a whole post about my grandma, maybe I'll do it this month. I have a lot of dirt on her as she is more than willing to share all of her life stories with her children and grandchildren.

For those of you who believe in a higher power or who believe in the power of prayer, maybe just throw in a word or two for my gma, would ya?

Day 4 of Birthday Month

2011-12-05T06:17:00.000-06:00

This one is going to be short and sweet.
Sunday, the 4th day of birthday month, was pretty chill. Steve was hungover - I was not.

Going to get wings about sums up the only out of the house activity. The Vikings lost, which is nothing new at all :(
We watched a couple more roasts (the Hoff, and Shatner), and we watched Die Hard 2.

For the most part, it's been a pretty chill weekend - got to spend some time with good friends and got to relax on the last weekend before this month becomes a complete blur.

Next weekend, on Saturday, is Steve's work party - I'm sure Sunday will be a day of the biggest hangover of the year, it has been every other year, why change this year?

The weekend after that is my birthday (which is on Friday), Saturday will be a day to recover from that. On that Sunday, we are going up to my dad house for prime rib and lobster!

The weekend after that, it's Christmas!

Lots of stuff in between too... so, I'm going to try sticking with this birthday month posting every day.. NO promises though, I think you all know me better than that. I don't usually stick to things once I start them.

:-P

Day 3 of Birthday Month

2011-12-04T11:34:00.000-06:00

It started out like every other Saturday morning - we woke up and made breakfast.

I then proceeded to get pissed off because I couldn't beat a level of Angry Birds Rio - so I have issues, sue me.

Steve ran out to run some errands, I cuddled with my kitty, used the internet to figure out what the heck was going on with Hulu Plus on our PS3 (wouldn't load) and since I'm a master at everything I do (besides angry birds rio), I got it working and watched The Office. We also watched the Roast of Charlie Sheen... it was the first roast I'd ever watched... it was pretty funny.

We have a couple of lights we want to get hung - they are those awesome lights with a really long chain that hang from the ceiling. Well, Steve got the hooks and one of them is now hung and will create nice 'mood lighting' for say, a cocktail party :) The other is hopefully going to be hung today :)
See:

It's hanging on our porch, which will be Purple at some point ... hopefully this winter.

We were invited to a fondue party Saturday evening hosted by Steve's bestie, Jeff and his wife, Linnea. Who can pass up fondue and good friends, right? We ate way too much food - as always. Here are some photos from the night. Linnea has a group photo that I will add to this post when I can get my hands on it.

Jeff and Linena - the hosts!

Meatballs, Steak, Apples, bread, potatoes, hot dogs and batter (for making corn dog bites) - YUM!

The Cheese is in... melt away!

These guys (my bf included) were all wearing the same pants...

Time to shotgun some beers

ETA this photo:

Group Photo!

As you can see, it was snowing. We got a nice little dusting yesterday, wasn't the worst thing in the world.

I was sober cab, so I didn't do too much drinking. We hung out and played Operation - which, as the sober person in the room, was quite funny to watch and play along watching people get pissed at me for doing so much better than them (I blamed it on being a lefty).
It was a really fun night, we rolled in about 2am and crawled right into bed!

Day 2 of Birthday Month

2011-12-03T07:30:00.000-06:00

I woke up expecting to paint today... but because of my burn, I decided to call my mom and cancel plans to paint. I didn't get holes filled or primer purchased in prep for painting (I was supposed to do that last night, but I decided to grab a hot skillet instead).

So I woke up and made breakfast (Steve was kind enough to make me a pot of coffee before he left for work), and relaxed a bit.
I put some beef in the crock pot to make this:

Source: bakingbites.com via Angela on Pinterest

I had plans to meet Krysten for coffee at 11am. Our 2 hour coffee date was super fun - we met in the middle (we live about an hour from each other) and talked about everything ranging from her boyfriend being a vampire to how it'd be wrong for me to snoop around my house to find my birthday present :) A few things in-between as well.

I came home to a wonderful smelling house - YUM.

Steve came home from work with these:

Which are now sitting on our mantle (eek, it's a dark one):

Not sure if it's because I burnt my hand yesterday or if it was because he loves me so much... I'm pretty sure the reason doesn't matter, I love my flowers!

The dinner was a hit! The french dips had great flavor and we have a ton of leftover meat - I can't wait to eat more!
I also made this:

Source: eatingwell.com via Angela on Pinterest

The tomatoes were not as exciting as I expected. It was kind of like eating a little pizza or something, I suppose since it was baked tomato with parm, it tasted just like tomato based sauce. It was alright... but not as good as the picture makes it look.

Here is what the meal ended up looking like:

After dinner I chilled for a bit and then went to my brothers new job to have a drink with my mom and a family friend who was in town. I meant to take a picture, but forgot to make that happen.

Oh hey, by the way, in the month of November Steve took our white board wall and drew a nice Thanksgiving picture, I'm not sure if I ever shared it here:

Well, for the first half of December (since my birthday is on the 16th), we have this on the wall:

I can't wait to see what he comes up with for the second half of December!

A great second day of birthday month :)

Day 1 of Birthday Month

2011-12-02T10:13:00.001-06:00

So, last night, the first day of my birthday month, was pretty much a rollercoaster. The day at work was good, nothing super amazing, but not awful. My mom won the 1st of the month game :(

I get home and I'm all excited to make dinner - on the menu was steaks that we got from my dad and a dish that I saw on Pinterest and was dying to make; it's an onion and potato skillet, yum, right?

Source: hizzoners.com via Angela on Pinterest

Have you ever seen the below pin on Pinterest? What they're supposed to look like and what they actually look like when an average everyday person makes them... it makes me LOL, and feel like it's pretty much everything I try to make myself. Never quite comes out right.

Source: pleated-jeans.com via Laura on Pinterest

Well, this is what my potato and onion skillet turned out like:

whoopsy.

It was still delish though, here was our finished dinner:

I sat and ate dinner in tears because I was a fucking idiot and ~~touched~~ grabbed the handle of the cast iron skillet about 3 minutes after it came out of a 400 degree oven. Steve had to cut my steak for me :(
I also put took some skin off my knuckles grating cheese... :( band-aids on one hand, ice on the other.

I had ice on my hand for the rest of the night.. and sleeping was pretty meh.
I posted a status on facebook yesterday saying that it was my birthday month and I was planning to attack 30 like the rockstar I am... yesterday was not a good start.
Now, you'll notice the blog title here; am I planning to blog the entire month of my birthday? I'm just not sure yet, you'll have to wait and see. It would, however, be a pretty awesome way to document the month I turned 30 - imagine looking back on that 30 years from now!

Black Friday

2011-12-01T08:27:00.001-06:00

I've never done the Black Friday thing. I don't care to get up that early to stand in line... no amount of savings is that important to me.

This year though with doors opening at midnight, my plan, since I knew I'd still be awake, was to go to Target after midnight and get the few things I wanted at the sale price, and not have to wait in line. I pull up to the first Target at 11:30, the line was long to get in. I drove to another Target about 7 minutes away and the line was longer. So I went back to the first Target. I went against everything I had been saying all day... I got out of my car and waited in line :(

I waited about 20 minutes for the doors to open, and got inside Target about 10 minutes after midnight. I grab a cart, see all the craziness, avoid the TV's that were on super discount, go right for what I want, grab it, go grab the other thing I want - stop and pick up a roasting pan (full with roasting rack) for half off, even though it wasn't on my list... weave through all the roped off aisles of cosmetics to make it to the checkouts.. check out and I'm out of Target before 12:30. I felt very successful - I parked down the way from Target because as the line went, it was closer to park in a bank parking lot and jump right in line... I didn't think about the coming out part. I had 2 bags... 2 of the long Target bags, you know the super-sized ones?! Whoops... I grabbed them and left the cart, then had to make the long walk back to my car holding the bags high, so they didn't touch the ground. So, double score as I got all my items AND I got an arm workout. :-/

I then get the bright idea to go to Best Buy and get 2 of something we knew would be on sale - one for Steve and I and one as a gift for my mom... I grab the items, find the end of the line and wait.... and wait... 15 minutes and 3 weaved aisles later, I'm told the line weaves back into and through appliances, through the main aisle and weaves through all the DVD aisles... all for 2 items. They were half off, but only $50 to begin with, the same item was available on newegg for about $8.00 more. Soooooo I said EFF it... and went home, I got home shortly after 1am. I was so stressed from the Best Buy thing, that I couldn't even pour myself a glass of wine, I put on my jammies, and sat on the couch in silence.

Steve went to the Macy's downtown Minneapolis... apparently he had a short line to wait in... he got me something. Something that he says cost "a pretty penny", but he saved LOTS of money. I get it on my birthday... in 16 days! I'm pretty sure it's a new car; an Audi A3, Ibis White with a super fancy engine that gets as good a gas mileage as my Yaris does. However, he came home yesterday with it (I know because he ran upstairs to hide it)... and when I hugged him as he walked in the door... I didn't feel any cars in his pocket... so, maybe I'm wrong. Does Macy's sell cars? ;)

Don't worry, I'll let you all know what it is - probably on the 16th. Watch my facebook that day too, in case I don't get around to blogging. Ugh, I'm going to be 30!!! Steve is taking the day off so he can spend it with me! YAY!

The Gym Whore

2011-11-30T12:10:00.001-06:00

For those of you on Pinterest and blogging... do you ever wonder if your blog material is pinned? I'd never pin my own stuff (just not how I roll)... but I pin things from blogs I read - I wonder if I should be telling the bloggers that they've been pinned. Just a thought.

That being said, plug your ears and get the kids out of the room because I'm about to litter this post with foul language.

I joined a gym back in ... September... let us not get into how many times I've made it there in those couple months.
The first day I was at the gym I was working out, and a couple walked in - they guy says "Hi" to me and strikes up a friendly conversation. I tell him that it's my first day and he goes onto tell me about how awesome the owners are and how nice the people are, etc. He introduces himself (his name is Steve but I don't want to confuse him with my man, so I'll just call him 'he') and points to his wife and tells me her name.
This dude has been super kind and friendly to me each time we're in the gym together, always says hi, makes small talk about the weather or current event, but never crosses the line where I feel he's a creeper.

His cunt for a wife, on the other hand... is a fucking Bitch - with a capital B! The first day when he pointed and said "That's my wife, Katie" (yes, I even went out of my way to remember the cunts name) she didn't even really look my way to nod hello. Fine, you're working out and way too cool... no big deal, I'm not there to be friends either. Each time he comes in and says hello, she just walks right over to her precious bike and starts peddling - without so much as a smile in my direction. I've become used to this behavior from her - she's a cunt, she knows it, and doesn't care what people think of her. Good for you, cunt.
Yesterday though.. I was <thisclose> to saying something to her.
They walked in as a couple as they always do... they didn't see me. They are doing cardio and I am behind them on some machines. They get off their bikes at the same time and turn to walk ... she's in front, he sees me and says "hi", I say "hi" back, she snaps her head back so fast to see who he's talking to, sees me and rolls her eyes back in front of her so hard I thought they were going to pop out of her fucking cunt.
I don't know if she thinks that I'm trying to steal her man, or if she thinks that because I don't workout everyday that she is way better than me, or if she's just a flat out whore.

I've done NOTHING in this situation to warrant that type of attitude from her. Her husband was kind enough to make me feel welcome on my first day, and from what I've seen since that day - he says "Hi" to damn near every soul that walks in the place. Get over yourself bitch.

I'm not a threat, I'm WAY cooler than you'll ever be, and just because I don't workout everyday - it only means that my life is way more fun that you'll ever have in your life.

Take the stick out of your ass and shove it up your cunt as hard as possible so that it comes out your skull and you die.

(I told you to put the kids in the next room...)

That's all. I really don't like people like that, so.. I'm hoping that blogging about it will allow me to continue to bite my tongue and not call her a cunt to her ugly face.

Thanks for sticking with this one... not usually how I blog.

{2000's} Tubular Tuesdays Music Linkup!

2011-11-22T06:51:00.000-06:00

I feel like the 2000's (how else should that be said; it sounds funny to me) were so lame, with one exception - Eminem. This post will probably be full of him, I just feel like music lost it's way during this decade. Sure, there was a fair share of fun music, but a serious lack of true talent.

By far, my all time number 1 Eminem song is The Way I Am. That being said, I will forever have one negative connotation that goes with it - that is: I was dating a boy when this CD came out and this song quickly became my favorite. A fact about me; I rap - some call it good, some call it bad - I do it regardless because I'm passionate about rap music, especially if I like a song. I digress... when this song came on in my car, I was driving, he was shotgunning (not this shotgunning, but the act of riding shotgun) and I began my passionate rap along with my favorite song. He looked at me and busted a gut, like seriously laughing, not just a little chuckle over how cute I was. He OBVIOUSLY was a major loser and I'm happy to report that my current boyfriend encourages me to rap and quite enjoys it. Unfortunately for me, I always think of that moment when this song comes on - it's still my favorite though, because it's a bomb ass song.

On Em's next CD, my top pick was Superman - I tried to rap/karaoke this song on one of my birthday's.. I was already 3 sheets to the wind... it was a mild fail (as opposed to an epic one)... later that night I fell off my barstool. Have I ever told you that story? Doubt it; I don't remember it happening. I only pick this song because it has that wonderful night associated with it.

Another wonderful memory I have is driving my mom's HUGE pick-up truck down to a car show, this song came on the radio, I turned it up and started belting it from the top of my lungs - I guess I also started speeding too.. I got pulled over and got a ticket :( I still LOVE to jam to this song! At the time, there was no better group of women than these; Pink, Mya, Christina, Lil' Kim, and Missy - Lady Marmalade. This also used to be my favorite song to dance to at the clubs - I was 20 when it came out, so I was big into the club scene then.

A song about shoes? Hells to the yes! Do you guys remember Air Force Ones? What ever happened to Nelly anyways? I LOVED this song - it was popular when I worked at a shoe store with my friend Pam, I remember trying to teach her the words and how to slang them up like these guys do... lol, good times!

Back when she went by Jennifer Lopez she teamed up with Ja Rule (who later proved to be a douche).. and I loved this song: I'm Real

Don't hate on me for throwing R. Kelly in the mix - at the time he was a decent enough dude.. and The Remix of Ignition was another of my club jams!

I've never likes any music that Kanye West has put out except for this one song, Gold Digger with Jamie Foxx. It's upbeat and fun, makes me want to shake my tailfeather.

A few others:

Now... as I've said week after week - GO LINK UP.

{90's} Tubular Tuesdays Music Linkup!

2011-11-15T07:09:00.000-06:00

Man - the 90's were MY decade, not to say anyone else can't claim the same, but in terms of music... I was all over the place. I had a tendency to buy an album and just listen to it over and over and over... something I still do today. So trying to pick out specific songs is ... hard.

I'm going to start off with my X-rated fantasy, if I'm being honest, I discovered my sexuality at a young age, so that being said... In the 90's The Box Channel was huge (you call in and pay to play the video you wanted), every time this Madonna song came on it was the closest thing I could find to sex on TV (aka porn)... so I fell in love with it; do you remember this song/video? After watching it now, it's pretty weird...

Next up is a sad one, but a great song, nonetheless. Toni Braxton's Un-Break My Heart. Watching through all these videos over these posts its funny to me how people film the videos. She's just prancing around her house in a bra and panties with a big shirt covering her - cause obviously we all do that (shit, I would if I had her body too though!)

One of my favorite 90's albums was The Presidents of The United States of America's self titled album. Picking one song off this album was extremely difficult. I narrowed it down to Lump, Dune Buggy, Boll Weevil, and Kitty. I went with the classic Kitty because it is an awesome song. Take a listen:

Another of my favorite 90's albums is from Weezer, The Blue Album as it's more commonly known. While I love all the songs on this disc, the one that has always been my favorite is Undone (The Sweater Song) - simply classic to me. I scream this shit from the top of my lungs!

Another of my favorite albums from this decade is What's The Story Morning Glory? by Oasis. I still keep this one in my car and listen to it quite a bit. Literally every song on this album is amazing... my favorite though, without a second thought is Champagne Supernova; enjoy...

I also enjoyed the album Pieces of You by Jewel - as I began my search of the album for this post I couldn't help but feel maybe this didn't quite qualify for my tops picks of the 90's... I continued on looking at the track list and picking based on memory what I thought would be my favorite - I did my youtube search and began to listen. So many memories flooding back to me, not to mention just her voice sends chills down my spine - this lady is talented! Here is Near You Always by Jewel.

Moving on to En Vouge - a group who straight out ROCKED the 90's. Funky Divas was another great album of the 90's - my favorite though, I think mostly because of the video was Giving Him Something He Can Feel... I loved those red dresses!

Everyone knows Alanis Morissette and every one knows her Jagged Little Pill album and if you don't climb out from under your rock fool! She recorded an acoustic version of this album a few years back and I rushed out to get it.. it's probably a bit more amazing than the studio recording. I loved her in the 90's and she can still belt it out today! My pick from this album is You Oughta Know
One of my favorite songs in the late 90's (while I was in high school) was Picture Me Rollin' by 2Pac.

Alright, let us round up the 90's with some crazy, sexy, cool ladies by the names of T-Box, Left Eye, and Chilli. I remember being in middle school when this album came out and everyone loved it, including myself. creep... a classic, waterfalls.. amazing... my favorite? Red Light Special - what a bunch of freaks!

Now... what are you waiting for? Go Link Up!!

Boudoir Photos

2011-11-14T09:33:00.001-06:00

Alright, alright... leave me alone about it - here they are!

Obviously I'm not sharing them all with you, and if my banner isn't sample enough, here are some other photos from my boudoir photo shoot.

A few fun facts, I did this shoot with Krysten, our hair and make-up were done by a very talented lady by the name of Steph Vick, and the boudoir session itself was done by the talented Britt of Render Photography.

Now... what to do with all these pictures!?

Random v.11.6

2011-11-09T12:20:00.002-06:00

Want to hear something super awesome but super lame at the same time? I deleted my account with myspace yesterday. LOL.. yeah, I still had one.
The smell of Cheetos reminds me of being little - on Sunday's we'd go bowling as a family. I'd always beg my parents for the 10 or 15 cents it took to buy a bag of Cheetos from the vending machine... so ever since then, opening a bag and smelling them takes me back to the bowling alley. It's one of my favorite smells, my favorite memories, and one of my favorite snacks.
I've deleted the link to my bog from both Facebook and Twitter - the cons of working with family (who have both) and having many changes at work make you want to write angry blogs.
I'm left handed.
I love Mexican food; I want to travel {back} to Mexico and try the authentic stuff!
I'm turning 30 in 37 days; on a Friday. What should I do that won't break the bank?
I want to marry Steve and spend the rest of my life with him (I think of this every time Beyonce comes on singing "Single Ladies"). I'm also head over heels in love with the guy!
I don't want kids.
I want to take a trip!
I have a Type A personality
I'm addicted to Facebook lately.
The single most popular image on my blog is this one:
because people Google the exact words "Fish with Arms" What goes on in this world?
I posted on facebook a couple weeks ago that I went to the ATM to deposit a rebate check and I didn't need an envelope, it just took the check, scanned it, and told ME how much it was for. Neat. Last night I went to Old Navy and was given the option to have a printed receipt or have it emailed to me. I'm already on their mailing list (for coupons)... so why not? The world is advancing... and I fear as I approach 30, I'm not ready for it.

That's all.

{80's} Tubular Tuesdays Music Linkup

2011-11-08T07:20:00.000-06:00

Geez - I don't even know where to start here... While I was born in 1981, I still have LOTS of music memories and songs that I'd still, to this day, jam out to! Debbie Gibson, Madonna, Rick Astley, Tiffany, Cyndi Lauper... oh, the 80's!

I LOVED Madonna in the 80's (and 90's and so on)... but in the 80's she had balls and wasn't afraid to discover herself and turn a few heads in the process. I have two songs by Madonna here, Borderline and Cherish. Two of the songs I remember most by her in the 80's.
Borderline... I LOVE this video, I loved being a little girl and watching her spray paint all over the wall! That being said, this song was released in 1984, which would make me 3... why on Earth would I remember this AND why would I love watching her spray paint the walls. I loved watching her get her photos taken, and I LOVED her clothes! I know, right?!

Cherish was such a neat video to me as well... mermaids, B&W filming, not to mention how beautiful she is in this video! I was sure this was a 90's song, but it was released in 1989, so it makes the 80's cut. I remember singing along to every word of this song as well... from the TOP of my lungs. I really thought I was the best singer in the world when I was little... true or not, we may never know!

Next up is probably one of my favorite 80's songs - Tainted Love by Soft Cell. I hadn't seen this video before today, and it's fucking weird... so if you listen, close your eyes and don't watch. I have no idea why this is my favorite 80's song other than the fact that I LOVE the way it makes me feel and it's soooo under rated.

Any little girl who grew up in the 80's fell in love with at least ONE song by Debbie Gibson... she was ALL THE RAGE! Only In My Dreams was my favorite - though... I remember loving the entire A Side of the cassette tape (yep, I went there!)

These days, the Rick Roll is all the rage, but it's all the rage for a reason - Rick Astley was amazing for his time. I had this tape and I'd listen to that thing OVER AND OVER... my mom still has the same tape we had in the 80's and every now and again she'll pop it in (she especially loved to play it randomly on the weekends when I still lived there) - I'm not giving you the Rick Roll song today, but rather my favorite, Together Forever.

Lastly, rounding up the 80's with his bleached torn jeans and badass leather jacket is George Michael because, seriously, who doesn't jam out with their guitar right next to the jukebox?! Faith is one of those classic songs that you hear in random places and just start dancing - no? just me? crap.

Now, go link up!

Banner 11.5.11

2011-11-05T17:50:00.004-05:00

I guess this also serves as a little glimpse into my boudoir shots...

I'm not pleased with the sizing of the banner online, but I couldn't get it to upload, so I had to throw it in picasa web and then paste the url... I may try playing with it again tomorrow to see if I can't fix it.

Scarf Swap

2011-11-04T13:47:00.000-05:00

I don't know if I ever even mentioned that I signed up for a scarf swap hosted by Krysten - well the final link up is here and all packages should have been received by now.

I was paired up with a fellow Angela (who also happens to have a boy named Steve) and since I've had the link to her blog, I've had a new blog to read (and one I really enjoy) - which is probably the best part of these swaps that Krysten hosts.

Anyhow - I got my package a few days ago - the only 'rules' were it had to include a scarf and the package had to be worth $25-$30.
here is what I received:

Super cute little bowl/dish

The perfect size and a wonderful color

Yellow scarf - it's super long, I had a hard time showcasing it.

I feel like it looks orange here, it's not, it's Yellow.

I love everything, thank you so much Angela!

I hope she likes the stuff I sent her as well - even though she already told me she does! :)

Can't wait for the next swap - I have a feeling its becoming a seasonal thing, eh Krysten?

(PS - I got my boudoir pics... more to come on that soon)

Costumes, Halloween, and Music... OH MY!

2011-11-02T10:03:00.000-05:00

Wanted to share a few things:
First, date night to The Oceanaire last Thursday - While the food was amazing, we looked way better than amazing!

Second, my Halloween costume:

What am I, you ask? I'm a HUGE mustache!

We've got a flapper, a zombie something, Static cling, Black Swan, and a Dexter Kill Table victim. (plus some other random's)

The theme of the Halloween party was Dexter - so the hosts were Dexter himself, and a kill table victim, which was basically Steph wrapped up in plastic wrap. It was pretty amazing! My mustache? I'm very intrigued by this trend of mustache stuff - mustache necklaces, drawings on fingers, t-shirts, furniture, I just don't get it. Seriously, that's just a small sample - if you google the words "mustache trend" you'll find coffee mugs, pacifiers for babies... it's crazy. Why are mustaches so 'in' right now? Anyhow - being that I didn't (and still don't) 'get it'.. I decided why not be something super awesome for Halloween?! So I took a piece of black felt and folded it in half, I took a fabric pencil and drew out half the shape of a mustache and then cut... I took a white full bodysuit (made for painting or other home projects) and sewed the mustache to it. Costume... Done.
I was a top finalist in the costume contest but did not win. The black swan did. I personally thought the kill table victim should have won - for anyone who watches Dexter, she was on the money!

Third - Halloween night:

Our front stoop

We had a lot of trick-or-treaters, this being the first year at this house, we weren't sure how many we'd have. Steve was being a pessimist and I (the eternal optimist) was doing what I do best. I bought 4 lbs. of candy! We didn't get rid of it all, but we had a great turn out and I LOVED everything about Halloween night. The kids were SO polite Thank you, Have a nice night, Happy Halloween - it was wonderful. I can't wait for next year, I'm so going to dress up for answering the door! Anoka has brought out my Halloween spirit!

Fourth - the music link up I did yesterday, I failed to post the important details - it started yesterday and will run every Tuesday until December 6th. Each week has a theme:

November 8th *** 80s
November 15th *** 90s
November 22nd *** 00s
November 29th *** Current

December 6th *** Bonus Week: Soundtracks

Lastly, a picture of my cat I took one morning while eating breakfast, straight out of the camera - tell me how it makes you feel?

¡Adios!

{Oldies} Tubular Tuesdays Music Linkup

2011-11-01T07:03:00.000-05:00

So, the idea of this linkup really excited me... a way to take a look through all your music and remember the times in your life that shaped who you are and the music that was playing in the background. Krystal and Jen are hosting this Tuesday Linkup for the next several weeks, so it's not too late to join in and play along! Each Tuesday, from today until December 6th, has a different theme. This weeks theme is Oldies (Anything 1979 or earlier). After putting the list together, I realize that most of my picks are slower songs.

So Oldies... I was born in 1981, so pre-1979 doesn't have any memories of the things going on in my life... but I do love me some old songs! A couple of my favorites:
I absolutely LOVE Etta James, specifically the song At Last. When no one is watching, I WAIL thing song at the TOP of my lungs (...and I obviously sound JUST like Ms. James, herself). There is nothing magical about this song as far as why or how I know it - I heard it once, and fell in love; it's been one of my favorites ever since.

I think I mentioned on a different music post that I love the song Imagine by John Lennon. It's a magical and powerful song to me.. simply put.

Anyone who says Queen isn't talented has NO idea what talent is. I first heard this song, as I'm sure most people my age, in the movie Wayne's World, I specifically love the part where they all begin headbanging! Anyhow, ever since then, when I hear this song, I think of that movie. It's a great song, and it's fun!

The last song I'll list here is a faster, groovier song... it's a dance song, about a dance... a little ditty called The Locomotion. If you don't sing along to this, you're just a party pooper!

Check out Krystal's blogs for linkup information!

A few things I've done

2011-10-25T09:27:00.001-05:00

My calendar has been pretty full as of late and while the events are winding down (only to be taken over by the holiday season) I still have a few comings up:
This Thursday Steve and I are taking advantage of Restaurant Week in the Twin Cities (does your city do this? A list of restaurants offering 3 course dinners for a fixed price..) and going to The Oceanaire - I'm SO flipping excited. not only have I wanted to check this place out for YEARS, but after the Taste event Steve and I went to a few weeks ago where I was able to sample some of their food.. it's all I can think about. I could live off seafood if I had a better paying job.
Saturday we are going up to Duluth for a Halloween party. I have all the supplies for my costume, but I've yet to make/put it together (you'll see next week in pictures). I hope to take advantage of The Anchor Bar while we're up there - last time we tried to go we were barely noticed to order our food, so we left. Bad service or no bad service, I want to eat their food.
The weekend after that, we are going to be downtown Minneapolis for my cousin's fiance's 25th birthday party. It should prove to be a good time!

This past weekend was a shit ton of fun! I'll share all the photos from my weekend after I tell you about it.
On Friday I planned a last minute photo shoot of my brother and his family Cayden is about 1 and a half, Jordan is 4 - and they are so damn cute! Some of the photos have turned out so wonderful!
After that I took Jordan over to my moms place and the 3 of us went to the pumpkin patch to let Jordan play with all the stuff and ride a pony and jump in the bouncy house... she had a blast and I love watching her grow up and see how she interacts with other kids!

Saturday we ran some errands and then went home and started drinking before 5pm... and drank until midnight. I edited photos for the most part (even though I wanted to work on my Halloween costume) and we watched The Wizard of Oz on Blu-Ray. It was a good night, simple, low key, and I got to spend it with the man of my dreams.

Sunday we headed to the train station to make our way downtown Minneapolis to tailgate and then go to the Vikings vs. Packers game. We got drunk, I shotgunned my first beer, the Vikings lost, but overall I'd say the day was a big WIN! It was Steve, myself, my brother, and my girl Amanda.

Monday (yesterday) after work Steve and I headed over to my friend Abbie's house to carve pumpkins and eat dinner! This is our second year doing this down at Abbie's house. It was Abbie and Nick, Pam and Nick, Steve and myself, and our friend Amanda. Pam is preggers and due in 3 weeks... this is probably the last time I'll see her before she is a mama! I'm so excited for her - a few weeks ago her man proposed (totally forgot to blog about that)... so they are engaged as well!

What a successful few days!
From Family Photos:

I LOVE this photo

From tailgating:

At the train station

the beginning of the shotgun

Mid shotgun (I look pro; don't I?)

The end of the shotgun (my brother is slow)

Afterwards, the dude taking the picture said "Say Skol!!!" which just solidifies the fact that saying "Cheese" during a picture really is the best thing to say! LOL, I love this picture!

At the game with Amanda

From dinner and pumpkin carving with friends:

My pumpkin

All the girls' pumpkins lit up

The girls

The group

Steve's pumpkin

I'm going to try and take some better photos of them lit up at our house tonight - so hard to see them here.

That's all :-P

The Story Of My Life, Literally.

2011-10-20T11:24:00.001-05:00

I'm not real sure how to start this or where its going to go... so bare with me.

I'm writing to fill in some blanks based on the comments to my post yesterday. Back in April I announced I was going to have a little brother or sister - it was in passing - no matter how much I say I'm 'at peace' with it.. it's still a hard thing for me to deal with.

Back story goes like this:
It was the summer of the year 2000, I had just graduated high school and just gotten over a case of mono from too many late nights celebrating my freedom. I was about a month into a relationship with a boy I was sure was the one. We had just picked up a couple of pizza's and were all set up over at a friends of his house to watch something, I don't remember what. My phone rings and it's my dad... he's asking me to come home right away. He tells me he's leaving and I need to come be with my mother. I panic, I cry, I drive home in a state of confusion.

I get home to my mother, in tears and hysterical, telling me my dad has left us to be with another woman, Raquel.

I've never felt so much hurt in my life. To this day it still hurts to talk/type about.

I took a small downward spiral - did some drugs, drank a bit, didn't care much about anything.

As a secondary result, my still young relationship ended a few months later... I clung to him as a support system and we weren't ready for that yet.

There was a lot of back and forth over the next year - my dad came home a time or two - then left again. Each time it hurt me a bit more and set me back in my grieving.

After a LOT of anger (including but not limited to: driving to Raquel's job and confronting her, writing lots of probably hurtful letters, and trying to give my father an ultimatum of her or me) I finally realized that I have no control over this and I'm a daddy's girl and I always will be. I didn't know what he is going through and I couldn't even pretend that I don't love him anymore.

If I wanted to have my father in my life, I needed to figure out how the hell I was going to deal with it. Then I needed to just do it. I didn't have to forgive or forget, I just needed to cope. My mother was non-stop bashing him - which I understood but I couldn't listen to anymore. I needed to begin healing and that wasn't helping. I asked her to stop talking to me about it.

in 2001, my parents were divorced.

I began trying to accept my dad and Raquel's relationship, even though she is 19 years younger than my dad and the way they went about entering into a relationship was wrong. I started doing little things like spending time with them and trying to get to know her.

In August of 2003 they were married. I was there, I drank to ease the pain, and I had my best girl Pam with me to help as well.

I made some more progress after that point and began spending more time with them as a couple.

In 2007 a new issue arises and I find myself being set back again.. I already had enough going on in my life with a long distance relationship that was getting me nowhere, I didn't need to feel all of these negative feelings again. This issue was causing lots of problems for my dad and I found myself 99% of the time worrying about him. My dad asked that we support him in his decision to try and work through the bad.
Not a pleasant time in my life, but I didn't follow that same downward spiral - this time I did the opposite - I found myself in the gym more than ever and got myself to a point where I was proud of my body - the gym was a good distraction and a helpful way to get out frustration. This was also the same time that I started hanging out with Steve more, as a friend.
Even though I don't feel like I ever went into great detail with him about what I was going through, he was a great support system for me as well, it was nice to have a friend that I could talk to about something other than the bad stuff. I don't think he has any idea how much I needed him at that time. Maybe I should tell him?

After some time my dad assured me that things were better and he seemed happier than I'd ever seen him, so all I could do was trust that. Just because I had a broken line of trust with Raquel didn't mean I couldn't trust my dad, so I figured I'd start to let that trust build back between Raquel and myself.

I still don't know exactly how I did it; the saying Time heals all wounds is a very true statement to me.

Fast forward to this year, back in February - the first day I'm back at work after Hawaii, my dad wants to take me out to lunch, obviously I go. We eat and talk about the trip, no big deal. Then as I think we're getting ready to go, he drops the bomb on me they're having a baby... I cry, a lot. I go home and cry, I cry to Steve, I cry to my mom, I cry to my brother.

Over the next several months of Raquel being pregnant I somehow flip a switch and my entire way of thinking changes. I realize that I care for this person and that little baby inside of her is going to be my brother or sister (we now know, brother).
I never used to give Raquel hugs when we'd go our separate ways after being together, I don't know if I ever called her by name on my blog - it was always my dad's wife, never step-mother as she is only 3 years older than my brother - it's hard to think of her as a 'mother' to me. Things have just changed for me mentally.

Yesterday when I found out she was in labor I was excited and very nervous. Since I'm being so honest here, let me continue by saying that I really wanted for them to have a boy. Not only would that assure the last name be carried on (since my brother had 2 girls and they talk of being done), but I didn't want someone else to take my place as daddy's girl. I can't even type that without getting teary-eyed. I know that no one would take my place in my father's eyes, but I didn't even want to have to think about it.

I got home from work last night still with no news of a baby, I sat on the couch with my cat and cried a little bit. I wouldn't love the child any less if its a girl, but the thought of it made me sad. That AND the fact that my dad was having another kid just hit me hard yesterday.
I went to bed last night still with no news, I laid there trying to fall asleep and cried a little bit more. Parts of me were sad, other parts excited, other parts scared. It's a very emotional thing for me. My dad is 55 in a month - that's old for having another kid! I'm going to be 30 in a couple of months and I have a new sibling, my nieces have a new uncle,; it's just odd to think about!

I want my dad to be happy - and I've said that from the beginning of my healing process. I truly mean that.

Some days are better than others - some days I have to wear a fake smile to get by with thoughts of my dad starting a new life, other days my smile is real. I want people to see me as a strong person, I'm almost 30, I should be able to deal with this like an adult.

I'm happy for them and the new chapter they are entering in their lives, I just hope it doesn't mean less time with the rest of the people they love. I know how busy people get when kids are brought into their lives.

So.. that's the history - some of you know parts of that, others know nothing of it, but that's how it went and how it goes.

Introducing....

2011-10-20T07:42:00.003-05:00

~Introducing Wyatt Lewis~

~Born 10/19/11 at 10:11pm~

~7lbs. 13 oz. ~ 21" long~

Waiting...

2011-10-19T14:37:00.002-05:00

I'm guessing withing the next 24 hours I'm going to be a big sister!

My dad and his wife, Raquel, have been in the hospital since 5am this morning. Hard labor started at 7am.

It's only a matter of time now... and it's driving me crazy! I wanna know if I have a baby brother or sister!

Weekend 10/15-16/11

2011-10-17T09:54:00.001-05:00

My weekend was a lot of things - exciting, nerve-wracking, relaxing, busy, sexy...

On Saturday Steve and I woke up, ate breakfast, and then watched Little Shop of Horrors while we drank our coffee. I haven't seen that movie in years, like since I was little, and while it's completely awful, it's pretty entertaining! The rest of the day was pretty chill.. I tried to do some yard work, Steve did a lot of yard work, I didn't want to do anything or eat anything that would make me feel bloated for Sunday. So it was pretty low-key overall.

Sunday I woke up, ate a semi-light breakfast, drank coffee, took a shower, relaxed for about a half hour and before having to leave to go get my hair and make-up done. Krysten and I did our boudoir shoot on Sunday! It was so much fun and I can honestly say I never thought I'd know Krysten on that level! LOL... we pranced around in our skimpies like we'd known each other forever! It was funny, but also very comfortable! Britt at Render Photography did our photos (you can view some other boudoir on her site). She was wonderful and very professional (and very preggers!) I'm excited to see how they turn out and I promise to share some here as well. Thinking back, there were a couple of poses I wanted to do, but never did - it was all such a rush and happening so fast... it just never crossed my mind! Oh well, next time, right?

post photo shoot

When I got home Steve was up on the roof painting... I was obviously too pretty to start painting and there wasn't much left to do. A little bit later he came knocking on the window and threw his hands in the air to imply "Victory!" He finished! Our house trim is all painted and we did it all ourselves!

We obviously had to celebrate - even though it was a Sunday night, my face was too pretty to not go have a cocktail. So we had a shot of tequila, dinner and then went to Bennigan's and I had a martini (or two). It is so good to finally be able to cross that shot off our list! Now... we have to start tearing apart our pink bathroom tile to find a leaking pipe; fun shit, eh?

Oh.. and the Vikings lost last night. Surprised? Didn't think so. What a horrible season.

My name is Angela

2011-10-14T11:30:00.001-05:00

I just went to party city to return something I didn't use for Pam's shower... The lady says she needs the credit card it was charged on and my ID; fine.
As she is entering my info for the return, she types my name as Angie, when my ID CLEARLY says Angela. It took every ounce of self control to not say something. If it had been anything other than a simple return, I would have definitely said something!

There is nothing I hate more than being called Angie, by anyone, other than my gma.

Bitch (the cashier, not my gma).

Zoya Nail Polish

2011-10-12T13:37:00.002-05:00

Ok, so I bought some nail polish from Zoya because I've heard good things about it; here is their 'About' verbiage on their website:

Zoya Nail Polish has been awarded as the longest wearing natural nail polish by an independent panel in Women’s Health Magazine. Zoya Nail Polish is a nail polish free of toluene, formaldehyde, DBP (phthalates) and camphor. Nail Polish by Zoya offers over 300 gorgeous nail polish colors to choose from, plus 4 seasonal collections of nail polish every year. Zoya Nail Polish was specifically formulated to deliver the longest wear possible on natural nails. Zoya Nail Polish can be found in better beauty salons, spas and online at www.zoya.com.

When I got an email about a BOGO deal they were having, I figured it would be a good time to finally give them a shot. Below are the colors I decided to order:

Charisma

Source: zoya.com via Angela on Pinterest

Charlize

Source: zoya.com via Angela on Pinterest

Diana

Source: zoya.com via Angela on Pinterest

Dea

Source: zoya.com via Angela on Pinterest

I got them yesterday finally! So as I stood in the kitchen I began painting my nails while Steve watched - one nail in each color - obviously to see what they look like. I feel like Steve thought I was crazy and quickly walked away after seeing how effen bright that top color is.

Welllllll... I would certainly suggest reading the fine print (or even the FULL description) on their website - that top color (Charisma) dries matte and, while I get that matte is trendy AND I get that a top coat will bring it to it's original beauty, I don't keep top coat on hand because I don't use it! So yeah. It's also A LOT more Purple than I expected. I don't dislike it, I just need a top coat to truly tell.

The other colors I like just fine - I used to have a Brown nail polish that I LOVED and I used it all up and was unable to ever find it again - it made me sad. So I decided to try this Brown (Dea) - it's very similar to the shade I had before - but the polish itself was ... not as wonderful.

For some reason, I've become accustom to nail polish that is ... hardy. The Zoya brand goes on so thin, I found myself considering a third coat just to even it out. Maybe its the because this nail polish is free of so much of the bad stuff? I don't know and I really don't care as long as the color looks pretty and it lasts!

I got right into the shower after I painted them, one of my fingers has a tip that is slightly peeling, which is fine, cause I just wanted to paint them to see the colors. So here I sit with one hand painted with 4 different colors (I used Charisma on the thumb and pinky), wondering if I should leave it on to see how long they last or take them off and do a REAL paint job on them. I guess I need to invest in a top coat first, eh?

They sure do have some pretty colors though... and they go on nice, no matter how many coats you have to put on!

I'll let you know how long they last after I wear it for a bit. I use my hands a lot (on top of my 9 to 5, I have 2 cleaning jobs I do), so my nail polish usually doesn't make it very far!

Don't get bent out of shape - this is my opinion only. I've not been asked to review this product by anyone, nor have I been given ANYTHING in return for it.

ETA 12/7/11: I'm now in love with Zoya nail polishes! It was a change in thinking, as stated above, but just because they go on thin doesn't make it any less of a polish! This stuff lasts on my nails forever - I've done toes and fingers in a few of the colors and I've had to take them off for nail growth over polish chipping. I've NEVER been able to do that. I'm impressed and I'm now a lifelong user of Zoya! I just ordered 3 more colors and should be getting them soon! Follow them on Twitter - sometimes they have promo codes for some pretty great deals - @Zoya_NailPolish

BIG fat RANT

2011-10-10T08:06:00.002-05:00

Before I get started - LOL at those who commented on my last blog title and how it no where was mentioned in my post. It's my way of keeping you on your toes! It's how I roll. (and yeah, Jamie Foxx... I know!!)

Now, begin rant -
Want to know what pisses me off more than pretty much anything lately?!
Steve and I always walk side by side when we're in public, as any couple would, right? Most of the time we will hold hands (unless he knows someone near by, he gets all weird and tries to not hold my hand..). So even as we're walking by other people - we have it down to an art where we continue to hold hands; he bends his arm behind him and I just scoot to the back until we pass the people. No biggie.

Lately, it's come to my attention that no one moves for us! I get that we're OBVIOUSLY better/nicer than most everyone because we're kind enough to move.. but what gives - why does NO ONE else do this? It's not just couples either, it's simply every.one.
I made a vow to stop moving for people, I'll scoot over and get closer to Steve, but I'm DONE walking behind him!
A woman and her friend/sister, we walked by them, I scooted closer to Steve, they didn't even budge. So we end up hitting our arms against each other - and I fucking hate touching other people, especially people I don't know, it was so nasty. She didn't even move over to get kind of out of the way. Bitch.
This is just one story - I kind of tested the market on Saturday as we were strolling around in Stillwater and then around the Xcel Energy Center (on the several block walk to the game, not while inside the Xcel, obviously you've gotta take drastic measures inside a sports venue). People suck. That's the conclusion I've drawn.

Have some damn respect for other people and at least move the fuck over and pretend like you want to be nice.

I'm OFFICIALLY done moving behind my man, I'll continue to stand proud next to him while holding his hand. Being a nice person by nature, I'll probably continue to move closer to him, but that's fucking it.

/rant

How often do you shave?

2011-10-07T10:01:00.001-05:00

I just tried to post a blog from my blogger app on my super awesome android phone... then the fucking app encounter and error and force closed on me. Unbeknownst to me, the stupid blogger app doesn't save as I type, so it was all lost. fuck that app. It's coming off as soon as I'm finished here.

Last night Steve and I made Beef Wellington, inspiration stemming from Chef Gordon Ramsay on Hell's Kitchen. It was good. I was blown away by how much flavor it had - so many different tastes and textures... I felt overwhelmed. I'm glad we tried it; Steve is good not trying it again, but sometimes Steve is wrong. I think one day, some time in our lives, we'll be giving this another go.

Looks good, huh?

The last thing here...
I woke up this morning because of a dream... the dream had Jamie Foxx in it... he was kissing me. What the hell?! I don't even think I like Jamie Foxx - but he sure did like me. It was so rude of him to kiss me while Steve was in the same room too... ugh. The nerve!

Oh, last question, I promise: Is chivalry dead? You know, the days of men holding a door open for a lady (their lady or not)... following the "ladies first" rule... I could go on and on. I'm just wondering if being a Gentleman is still 'cool'?

Blogger Meetup 10/5/11

2011-10-06T08:48:00.000-05:00

I feel so amazing that I blog in real time (Kristi and Dana, you should try it sometime!!! kidding, mostly ;) )

So last night was the little get together that, I guess, I planned? I don't know - Krysten gave me credit for it in one of her posts and it caught me off guard, but whatever - I'll take credit for amazing ideas! word.

So we met at Axel's Bonfire in St. Paul - I got there early as I went right from work, so I bellied up to the bar and ordered myself a perfectly dirty martini. Next in rolls Kristi and Kim - now, I've known Kristi since before I started my blog but not like since childhood or anything and we've never been like BFFs where we hang out all the time. ANWAYS- Kim was the only new face of this meetup to me.. and I was SO interested in what she'd be like and, at first, I was kind of surprised by just seeing her. I felt like I kept staring at her and I even apologized to her in case I was... she just looked so different to me than she does on her blog. Until I found out she 'airbrushes' herself... which made me chuckle a little bit. Sorry if that was supposed to be a secret Kim!
Krysten arrived next and bellied up with us and we were all able to get a little bit of chit-chat in before Dana arrived and we went to our table.

Forewarning: All these pictures are from Kristi given to me with permission to use them - I did not steal them because (most of the time) stealing is wrong; there was NOTHING Photoshop and/or I could do to make me look less white than I actually am without making everyone else look shades of Yellow. I'm not a ghost, don't be scared, I won't hurt you.

All the lefties on one side:

Kristi and Kim on the other:

At one point when Kristi was adjusting her camera settings she wasn't focusing on any of us in particular, just aiming off into space... well... I always see this as an opportunity to share my beautiful white face - in an unsuspecting manner. So this morning as Kristi was emailing me photos she showed me this one and pointed out that she didn't even notice last night - MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

again with the wide open mouth - I've got to stop that!

Group shot after dinner:

Not a whole lot else to say other than Kim is a lot sassier than I expected! Always a good thing in my book ;)

If you want to see pictures of our food and read a review of the place, keep checking out Kristi's Restaurant Review blog: Twin Cities Restaurant Blog. She's usually a bit behind on her reviews, but there are plenty of other restaurants to read up on in the mean time; what are you waiting for, go look!

In all it was quite a lovely time - I would have loved to stay a bit longer and chit-chat, but ... well... I don't know why we left right away! I seriously can't wait to do it again!

Afterwards, I get to the block my car is on and I see a car with a ticket on it and think that sucks, hope I don't have one... then I see this little red sticker on ALL the other cars that are parked there, like a permit type sticker, so I'm thinking that it's probably a sticker allowing them to park on this street and well, I knew I didn't have one... I get to my car and low and behold... BIG FAT TICKET. I was instantly pissed off... I looked up at the sign and read the times for NO PARKING and I was fine, I wasn't parked there during those times, until I realized that the hours listed were from 10am (maybe it was 11am) to 2am... so you know, that's like ALL DAY LONG. I couldn't clearly see the AM/PM part of it, and I think I just assumed it was 10pm-2am (bar hours)... either way it sucked. I was fully prepared to fight it until I saw those times and almost punched myself in the face for being so stupid. Now I have to wait 3 days to even find out how much it is.. yes, that's right, they give you a ticket but don't tell you what the fine is. Stupid.
This morning when I got on Facebook, I found out that Kristi and Dana also got parking tickets on the street. I wonder if they read the times wrong too or if it wasn't even posted for them.

All photos taken by and/or copyright Kristi Sauer - don't steal this stuff people, it's just plain WRONG!

Weekend 10/1-2/11

2011-10-05T10:01:00.000-05:00

On Friday - I kicked ass cleaning - I clean my gma's apartment, I cleaned our basement bathroom (top to bottom) and I cleaned our upstairs bathroom (top to bottomish). We then went to Red Lobster with my grandma, my dad and his wifey. We then came home and Steve took on another weekend of making homemade margaritas; this time using freshly muddled grapefruit and oranges. They were not as good as the margaritas he made the weekend before. Overall, it was a good night!

On Saturday, Steve and I went to Taste! which is an event put on my MSP Mag. Basically food and wine tasting, held at TCF Bank Stadium (where the Minnesota Golden Gophers football team plays) - what a beautiful venue on a beautiful day. They even had some of the Minneapolis food trucks outside giving away samples - which was fun for me as I don't work downtown, so I really have no way of trying these places! I had high hopes for taking pictures of EVERYTHING, but it turns out most of the time I had wine in one hand and food in the other... so you're left with just these:

Food Trucks

Beautiful Stadium!

Gophers Locker room - it is HUGE!!

CELEBRITY SIGHTING - Eric Perkins - one of the strangest guys on TV, I threatened to ask for an autograph, but chickened out. Imagine if I met a real celebrity!

all the people!

Sushi from Aji Sushi in Hopkins - delish! (couldn't find a website to link to)

We were given a glass (to keep, yay!) and a tasting notebook to write down all of our tasting notes - I think I wrote like 3 things down.

Saturday night there was a surprise 30th birthday party for my dear friend Abbie - I don't have any pictures with her, but I do have one of myself with my other dear friend, Amanda (with bunny ears, never gets old people!!):

On Sunday, Steve and I decided to partake in some of the Parade of Homes Remodeling Showcase on our way to Minnehaha Falls. Not only did we see some stuff worth remembering, but we also added to our list of dreams - so many things we could do to our home. In the midst of it all, we stopped at an antique store in St. Paul and purchased a nice Pyrex casserole dish (aka hotdish dish) that looks exactly like this and matches our antique Pyrex mixing bowls and we never actually made it to Minnehaha Falls. It turned out to be a great day! Tatertot Hotdish was waiting at home for dinner! yum!
Oh, and the Vikings lost again... bringing them to an amazing low of 0-4. That's zero games won and four games lost, for those who don't follow. What the fuck Vikings - how am I supposed to have a blog with football in the title if you can't even give me something to write about?! I'm still a fan and always will be (us Vikings fans never set our sights too high), but I'm already setting my sights on next year, as per normal. ;) and here I thought it was just Childress holding us back....

So yep - that's the weekend, in a nutshell.
Tonight I'm meeting up with Krysten, Dana, Kristi, and Kim for dinner in St. Paul - it should prove to be a good time, right ladies?!

One last question to direct you in your commenting: if you ordered ~$50 worth of stuff from a website and received those items only to receive them again a few days later (aka double shipped)... what would you do? No one has contacted me from the business saying they messed up...

Weekend 9/24-25/11

2011-09-27T15:30:00.000-05:00

So I had a pretty fun weekend!

Friday all day we (me and Alex - the girl helping me plan the baby shower) went out and went shopping for groceries, decorations, etc. for the party. It was a successful day - the only part that made me a bit crabby was the fact that she had to cut our time short, so while we were supposed to be putting together our gift for mama-to-be, Pam, she was getting ready and leaving me at her house to do it all alone. This is what we I made:

It's a onesie bouquet that I found on Pinterest - basically made of onesies, washcloths, socks, hats, and a few silk flowers for texture. I honestly LOVE the way it turned out and I'm glad to say I made it!

Saturday was a pretty low key morning - I had all my stuff done for the shower, so this was my day to relax and not worry about a thing until Sunday. Little did I expect several calls, texts, and emails on the topic of shower. I'll spare you the details because I honestly don't care to ever read back on some of the stuff I was dealing with the day before.
That evening was planned to be a night out to support a friend of mine, Rich. He used to be in a band... and long story short, the lead singer of this band has a baby girl who has racked up some pretty hefty medical bills; Charloette has lymphangioma. Here are a couple of websites if you ever care to give a few dollars to help the family out with some of the expense
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/charlotte2011
Donate here: http://charlotteshope.webs.com/

So Steve and I went to this bands reunion show - where... I got to spend a little bit of time with a few blogging ladies that you probably read: Kristi and Dana (sorry girls, it got a bit blurry):

Both, Kristi and Dana went to school with Rich - so for them it was like a high school reunion with me and Steve crashing the party - or at least that is what it seemed like! I actually know Kristi through Rich, and met her before I had a blog. Dana, being friends with Kristi, I got to meet back in 2009 for a sushi date for Kristi's birthday!

Here is Rich, on the drums:

Anyhow- so Saturday was fun. I found myself back in time singing along to all the songs I remembered!

Then comes SUNDAY - The baby shower day is here!
Let's just say that Pam was so happy and after a few minor hiccups, the day went off without a hitch. Again, I don't care to have these 'hiccups' in written word to ever read back on. Pam was happy and felt loved all day - that's what important!
My beautiful cousin, Shannon, was there and I asked if she'd be the photographer for the day, since I was likely going to be busy the whole time - and Thank God for Shannon (thank you Shannon!!!!)! We ended up with just under 200 pictures, which is perfect! Some of you may have seen them on facebook, if not, here are a few highlights:

Punch with rubber duckies :)

Shannon and I

Mother-to-be in the middle, party planners on the outside

Pam and I

Cupcakes!

Mom and Dad (to be)

Alex and Pam

Pam and Nick with the bouquet I made :)

Just me... not frazzled at all ;)

Pam and her mother

Pam and the A-Team (Ang, Alex, Abbie)

Nick and Pam with Nick's mother, Nancy

Just Pam, preggers!

So after the shower I went home and pretty much chilled... I was beat.

The End.

Winner! Winner!!

2011-09-26T06:47:00.002-05:00

I'm not offering a chicken dinner, but I am offering some neat scrapbooking software - ready?!

The winner is.........

KimBerly said...

I'm a loyal follower. I love this idea. I will have to try it.

Thursday, September 15, 2011 8:46:00 PM CDT

Congrats Kim!!

I have you email info, so you'll be hearing from me soon! Congratulations again!

Remember, if you want your very own software - my readers can get it for $10 off PLUS a $10 coupon for the store - go here: http://www.mymemories.com/digital_scrapbooking_software and use this code: STMMMS57536

My Friends and My Life

2011-09-20T14:05:00.003-05:00

I have a lot going on as of late and a lot of it has to do with my friends.

My best friend since 6th grade, Pam, is preggers and due Mid-November - this coming Sunday I (along with another of her friends) am throwing her a baby shower! I'm super excited and I'm so happy for Pam. She has ALWAYS wanted to be a mommy and she is going to be wonderful at it! I'll be sure to post pictures (if I have time to take them) from the shower on Sunday.
I'm not excited to be planning with someone else (again - you remember my 10 year reunion planning?) - I've learned that I need to be in change too much to plan things with other people. My own fault, I know, but that's not my point. I'm over the top with detail and information, if I'm planning with someone I keep them filled in at all times, when I take a breath even - maybe it's annoying, but I want the other person to know what's been done, what needs to be done and whatever else comes up... I feel like I'm the only person in the world that is this way.
/rant

Another of my friends since 6th grade, Abbie, just found out she has MS. Several years back they thought she had a stroke - and after some recent events and testing brought to light that she has MS, they are now saying it wasn't a stroke, but her first serious symptom of MS. I can't even imagine what she is feeling right now. Her doctor has gone through some treatment options and she is currently weighing over them to figure out what is best for her. This is all very new news. News that is simply shocking. I don't know much about MS other than what I've read since finding out...
I don't want to pity her, because she is strong. I just can't help but feel a little sad for her as no one want to find this out a month before they turn 30.

Some other fun stuff coming up:
Sept 25th - The shower mentioned above
Sept 26th (this Monday) - I'm babysitting my nieces - I miss their faces and their hugs! I'm excited.
Sept 28th - Twins game - last home game of the season... Steve and I have gone to the last home game for the past 3 years (this being our third)
Sept 29th - we are having a girls dinner - which is myself, the 2 above mentioned friends since 6th grade, and another friend of ours (all of us being friends with her for different lengths of time, but roughly around the same), Amanda. We get together once a month and while we used to take pictures, we really don't anymore. I'm just glad we've kept up on the monthly thing!
Oct 16th - boudoir photo shoot!
Oct 24th - Second annual Pumpkin carving! Last year Steve and I went to my friend Abbie's house and carved pumpkin with her, her boyfriend, and our friend Amanda. This year we're doing it again, but Pam and her boyfriend will be joining us as they just moved within a few blocks of Abbie! Can't wait - Steve showed me a picture yesterday of what he thinks a good pumpkin for me is.. and I can't help but agree!
Oct 29th - This year Steve and I are not going to the Anoka tent party, but making the trek up to Duluth for an annual Halloween party that we've never been able to make it to. Blake and Steph are hosting (Blake and Steve grew up together)... and it's sure to be the happeningest thing since... last years party!

After that we enter the Holiday Months... November, December (my birthday month!), and January! Holy cow this year is flying by!

Then of course (I'm obligated to do this for another few days) - If you haven't entered my giveaway yet, go here to do so now!

My weekend

2011-09-19T10:14:00.001-05:00

What have I been up to this weekend?
Friday I went to the dentist - no cavities! WOO-HOO!

Saturday - Steve and I rented a Boom Lift from Home Depot; this is not ours, but it's the exact same one (found the picture on Google Images).

and I got in that bitch... and spent the entire day up there - scraping trim, sanding trim, priming trim, painting trim. Here is a picture of me taking a break while mid-air (I was standing in it most of the day):

We seriously painted all day. We woke up and ate breakfast, I got a killer stomach ache, and we were out painting by like 10am, I think. We had to return it by 8:31pm, we didn't eat again until after it was dropped off - Perkins (breakfast) was dinner. I tried to drink a glass of wine afterwards, but it just put me to sleep.

Sunday was forecasting rain, so we planned to sleep in off the bat. There would be no painting this day (thank God!). Got up, ate breakfast, went to Dunn Bros. to get my first ever Pumpkin Spice Latte. I was a bit let down - I couldn't taste the pumpkin... Steve could... so maybe my taste buds are sick. Vikings game began and was looking good! Then, Steve went in the kitchen to start getting our dinner ready (ribs), but we had bad meat and by bad, I mean rancid. My smeller was obviously bad on Sunday, because I couldn't smell much; Steve wanted to vomit. Having his heart set on ribs for dinner, he ran to the store to buy more - upon his return he had a bottle of bloody mary mix and pickles! What a guy, right?!?!
2 bloody's later I'm feeling GOOD! He then decides it's time to switch to margaritas - the homemade kind (freshly squeezed lime juice, agave nectar, orange bitters, tequila, ice and a salted rim!) YUM. We had 2 of those as well.
All this while watching the movie 300.
Ribs for dinner at about 7:00 or so... Emmy's on TV... safe to say we had a pretty darn good day!
We were off to bed at about 9:00pm... probably to sleep around 10:00pm ;)

In all, it was a good weekend - productive and lazy all wrapped into one!

What did YOU do this weekend?!

Go enter my first give away and make me feel like less of a loser with the few followers I have.