Update of months!

Are you pretty sure I'm dead?  You're wrong.

I'm alive, still looking for a new job, still hating my current one (even more now), still loving my boyfriend, still waiting on that ring ;), still as beautiful as ever.


What has been my life for the last couple of months?
Well... in recent weeks, we've been gifted a brand new king size bed and a kitchen-aid stand mixer.  Amazing, right?
The bed is wonderful.. we're still breaking it in - do you know you're supposed to rotate a mattress every 2 weeks while breaking it in?  Well, it's important, after the first 2 weeks there was an obvious difference once we rotated it.  We're making our second rotation this weekend.  King size sheets are not cheap, btw.

We've yet to use the stand mixer, but I figure once fall/winter rolls around and we're using the grill less, we'll have time to make some pizza dough and yummy sticky lemon rolls!  God, I love pinterest.

I've joined 2 fantasy football leagues, this is my first year ever playing FF.  So far, I'm 0-2 on one league and 1-1 on the other.  I lost week 1 on both leagues.. BUT, I've since brushed up on WTF I'm doing, so... I have high hopes for the weeks to come.

We watched season 6 of Dexter!

We booked our trip, using the first class tickets that Steve won at his Christmas party last year.  We're headed to Cancun at the end of January!

I joined Curves.  I've gone once, been a member for 18 days.  While I really want to shed some of this weight, I'm really not digging Curves after my first workout, and I'm sure I'll get over it if I just go.  The first, and only time I went, it was old ladies talking about flax seed recipes.  It just made me feel really old, and not in-my-30's old, but like straight up 70's old.  I almost went again yesterday, but... came up with an excuse to go home.  My bag is in the car, hopefully tonight.  I'll never know if they talk about anything besides flax seed unless I go find out, right?!

My niece turned 5 in July - have I told you that?  My little brother is going to be 1 next month!

I went to the Minnesota State fair and didn't eat as much as I normally do - so good and bad I suppose.

OMG - how could I forget this?!  I was driving home one day a few weeks ago and on the side of the road stood the HITCHHIKER!  For those that are new around here, follow the link and read up on hitchhiker boy.  If my blog serves me correctly, I haven't seen him since 2010 - WOWZA!  I'm beside myself knowing he is still alive, and hitchin'.  I called Bob right away to tell him about it, but he wasn't quite as excited as I was.  Not sure if I should be happy or sad that he's still a hitchhiker... I had big dreams for him, as I'm sure he did too!

Enjoyed a relaxing Labor Day weekend.

Took a door off our storage room in the basement and we're going to use it to make a headboard... I've failed to take before pictures, but I'll be sure to post some pictures once it's finished.

I photographed a wedding this past weekend!

Steve and I started Kettlebells last Wednesday - I was super sore all day Thursday and Friday!  I can't wait to do it again - we're all signed up for once a week until Jan 9th, 2013!  Shit will kick your ass, lemme tell ya!

I'm probably forgetting a few things, but I think that covers it.

Paint

I feel the need to paint.  Sometimes I get this itch...

Oh, I don't mean paint a portrait... I'm no good at that, I just mean paint color on a wall; I'm a pro in that area.

So... here are my thoughts and if you have any feedback, I'd love your input or even thoughts.
In December we painted our kitchen a shade of Green that wasn't exactly what we wanted, but we've lived with it and while we still don't love it, we no longer hate it as much as we did.  We've also picked up a backsplash that we're hoping will help us like the kitchen more.

Seem like I'm off topic?  I'm not.

Turns out buying a gallon of paint for the little bit of wall we have in our kitchen was WAY TOO MUCH.  So we have almost a full gallon to use yet!  Oy vey.
I'm thinking it might make sense to somehow use it in our spare bedroom.  Right now that bedroom has had very little attention from me/us; the walls are pink and have been for the year and half we've lived there.  Here is a pic from when we first moved in:

So.. I'd really like to avoid painting the entire room that green (click through the link above to see the green) and leaving it all just ... green.  Being that we weren't crazy about it taking over our kitchen, I really don't want it taking over this room either - regardless of how much time we don't spend in that room.  So I'm thinking either some neat technique or maybe an accent wall in the green... the question then becomes what other colors(s) to use with it?  Keeping in mind it's a guest room, I want it to be welcoming yet colorful is okay in my book.
I'd like to avoid using gray or blue as those colors are already in rooms upstiars.

Any thoughts or input on what colors to match with that green ... or what/how to pain the room to use up some of that green and not make the room look exactly like our kitchen?

Day 9 of Birthday Month

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!

A few things I've done

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

Weekend 10/15-16/11

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 First Giveaway

Anyone who has followed my blog for any period of time knows that I like to take photos... and I have lots of them!
Another thing my loyal followers know is that I'm not here to blow smoke and give praise to a product I don't fully believe in - I agreed to give my honest review of My Memories Suite and, while I may have received this product for free, I intend to do just that.


Have you ever used a digital scrapbooking software?  I've barely scrapbooked... but the few times I have, I enjoyed it.  I think the concept of this - especially for a blogger - is pretty cool; why not present my readers with pretty looking scrapbook pages rather than just a picture here and there?


Off the bat I noticed that their products (kits, themes, albums) are relativity inexpensive, kits as low as $.99 and some things for free!  I couldn't find anything more expensive than $9.99 - with a lot costing just a few dollars!  You can make photobooks, calendars, and so much more!


Upon installing the software, I opened it and felt VERY overwhelmed... and then I got my bearings.  So I decided, since we just got back from Milwaukee, that I'd create a page about it - to give the software a fair run and be able to show you how {un}creative I am.  I even downloaded some of the free paper backgrounds to use (just to test how easy it was).  I will tell you I had some major issues finding the paper I downloaded and had to use the sites FAQ to figure it out.  Once I found them, I was kind of on a roll.  
I tend to have a problem thinking outside the box - and that's why I like scrapbooking, it forces me to do just that.  So I'm not sure if you like the look of cluttered pages or if you like things a bit more simple... but here is the first page I came up with - which I created very easily and was able to turn it into a .jpg in about 10 seconds.

Not too bad, eh?  I think it turned out cute!
So then... I just had to do a Hawaii page - because we have no plans for travel this winter and I'm already sad about it.

You can start with a blank canvas (I began both of my pages with a blank canvas) or you can pick from a zillion layouts and insert your own pictures.  You can even say 'use these pictures' and the software will place them for you!  In my ... hour or so of playing with the software, I felt pretty comfortable with it.  I don't know much about scrapbooking but I guess that's one of the perks - you don't need to know anything, you just do what you think looks good!
They have paper/backgrounds, embellishments, shapes, wordart, you can even add music!  All of the things are customizable as well - like you can adjust the opacity of the paper backgrounds, you can make the wordart any font and any size, and you can rotate anything!


If you have kids, or if you don't, maybe you just like to take photos?  Maybe you want to renew your passion for scrapbooking or maybe you want to give digital scrap-booking a shot?  Regardless of your story; this product is for anyone!  I'd recommend it!


The giveaway is for a copy of My Memories Suite - a digital scrapbooking software.

Rules for entry:

(Please leave a separate comment for each entry)

1. (Mandatory): you must be a follower of Football, Sushi, and The Pursuit of Happiness - comment and tell me your favorite item in the "dollar store" on My Memories.

2. Tweet about this giveaway, please include your Twitter handle.

3. Follow MyMemories on Twitter; leave a comment telling me you're following them.

4. "Like" MyMemories on Facebook, leave a comment telling me you've done so.

5.  Blog about this giveaway; leave the link to your post in the comments.

The winner will be decided using random.org and will be announced the morning of Monday, September 26th (because winning something on a Monday is an awesome start to anyone's week!).

Can't wait for the giveaway to end?

Get yourself $10 off My Memories Suite (which will get you the software for under $30!!) AND a $10 coupon to the MyMemories.com Store (that's a $20 value!) just use code: STMMMS57536 on this link and get started now (I will post this code again after the winner is announced). 

**I received a copy of this software in exchange for my honest feedback; all opinions and feedback are my own.  I did, however, lose many hours of productivity while playing with this softare - which is okay in my book!**

House: Outside

As promised.. here are some photos of the outside of the house:

First of all, the only picture I have of this huge change is from winter - back before the house was purchased - this huge tree was leaning in front of the house and it was ug-ly:

A few weeks ago, Steve's dad and brother came over and took it down:

Big hole!

Hell YES!  Looks WAY better.  Then, you'll notice all those bushes along the ground... well, those are all in the process of coming out and/or being replaced.

Some of the bushes remaining

Bushes gone along the front of the house!  The remaining ones in this picture have been trimmed to be the same height

My mom has been coming over and helping out with weeding and the planting of new stuff:

Hostas, Lupine, and Azaleas :)

So, we're slowly but surely filling in the empty spaces.

We're also in the process of scraping, sanding, priming, and painting out exterior trim (which is taking WAY longer than we hoped, because it sucks!), so ignore how awful the trim looks :)

Here are some other pictures from the exterior of the house:

Garage, patio, side door (the door we come and go from)

Side door and current 'patio' area

view of the 'patio' from the yard - see what I mean about this not being the ideal patio?  The table in the back is just sitting between the garage and house, can't look out to see much...

This is looking into our 'backyard' from the patio

From the back of the patio

again

This is still from the back of the patio, but looking at the back of the house, towards the park

Just another of the front of house

Beyond our yard is a park

 

Sidewalk leading to the front door - 

From a bit farther back

There is no path/sidewalk that leads from the garage (where we park) to the front door, so we never use this door.  This would be where we want to put a real patio.

This is the view from the park side of the house, that is our front porch, which you enter if you use the front door

 

still from the park side, just further over towards the neighbors house.  All those ground dwelling bushes up near the house are the same as what was in the front of the house - those will be coming out at some point as well.

This is what used to be our backyard, now it's our neighbors driveway.  Not much room  for anything.