Weekend

I wish I could say I had a super exciting weekend, but this weekend was just not one of those weekends. I must say, it is nice to have a relaxing weekend sometimes. I work from home, so usually by the time the weekend comes around I am ready to get out of the house!

 Friday night, Jeremy and I went to Applebee's for happy hour and then went to see the movie Silent House. It was TERRIBLE! It wasn't scary at all and I had it figured out in the first 15 minutes. I did enjoy seeing what the Olsen twins would look like if they didn't weigh 90 pounds.

Saturday, Jeremy worked on his truck and I read the second book of The Hunger Games trilogy. I am in LOVE with this trilogy. I've had the first two books downloaded on my Ipad since November, but didn't start them until last Wednesday. I wasn't sure if they would be the type of books that I like, but I am hooked! Saturday night, we went to dinner at a new restaurant in town with Jeremy's dad. It was a nice, relaxing Saturday.

Sunday, I had a super secret (from Jeremy) photo shoot with my friend Katrina. She is working on building her photography business and I wanted to do something fun for Jeremy's 35th birthday, so we did a boudoir photo shoot. I was so nervous at first, but after a few pictures, outfit changes and of course a few glasses of wine, I was having a great time! I am so excited to see all of the pictures. I may share some later and ask which ones y'all like best for the book I am going to make Jeremy.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

The Last Thing Thursdays

Since I am so terrible at blogging, I decided maybe doing a weekly link up might make me blog a little more regularly. Well, at least once a week. :) Thanks to Jenna at The Life of the Wife for helping me blog at least once a week.

The Last Thing I.....

Read:
I purchased The Hungers Games on my Ipad about 4 months ago and FINALLY started it last night.   

Pinned:
Mexican Chicken Casserole. It looks super yummy and is pretty healthy! That's a win, win in my book! I am seriously loving all the recipes on Pinterest. 

  You can follow me on Pinterest here

Blog Post I Read:

Sydney's (The Daybook) Awkward and Awesome Thursday! Her blog is one of the first blogs I started reading religiously. If you haven't read her blog, be sure to check it out! 

 TV Show I Watched: 

American Idol! I admit that I am highly addicted to reality tv competitions. The Bachelor, The Voice, American Idol, Dancing with the Stars, So You Think You Can Dance... It's a sad addiction, but my husband and I are very entertained by them. 

Candy I Ate:

I'm not actually sure what the last candy I ate was. I've been exercising and dieting and haven't been having much candy lately. Gotta look good for the big 3-0 this month! Since I can't remember the last candy I ate, I will just go with my favorite: gummy bears!!! 

Did For Someone Else: 
I sent my mom a Valentine's box full of goodies. My mom doesn't really have the money to buy cookies and candy, so my mother-in-law and I baked some cookies and filled a box with cookies and candy. 

Baked:
Peanut butter cookies with reese's cups in the middle. They were sooooo good! I used my grandma's peanut butter cookie recipe and added the reese's cup. 

Bought & Loved: 
TOMS ballet flats!!! They were a belated Valentine's present. I have been looking all over for them, but every store was sold out in my size and they are back ordered online. I was out shopping with my mother-in-law this weekend and one store actually had them in my size. I was so excited!!! 

 Have a great Thursday! It's almost the weekend, YAY!!! 
 

 

 

 

30th Birthday Outfit

My 30th birthday is 6 weeks from yesterday! Yikes! I am both scared and excited for 30! I sometimes don't feel like I have achieved everything I should have by the age of 30, but then also feel like I've achieved WAY more than I ever thought I would. I have a great husband, a comfortable home, great family & friends, four adorable fur babies, etc. Isn't that all that matters? Anyway, we are going to Vegas for my 30th birthday and the husbands 35th birthday. Yay!!!

So.... I think I need an outfit similar to this

Things I want to do in 2012

This year, instead of resolutions, I decided I would just make a list of some things I wanted to do. I rarely ever never stick to my New Years resolutions, so I figured this would be an easy way to set some goals and hopefully stick to them. Here goes...

1. Live a healthier lifestyle. Including eating healthier and exercising more. I know this is usually number one on everyone's resolution list, but this year I really want to stick to it. My resolution is usually to lose weight, but this year I decided not to focus so much on losing weight and more on just being healthy.

2. Cook more meals at home. Thanks to Pinterest, I've already been pretty good about this.

3. Be a better homemaker. I have a bad habit of waiting until we have company coming over to clean the house.

4. Learn to knit or crochet.

5. Read at least one book per month. Recommendations please!!!

6. Blog regularly. I am SOOOO bad about this. I get on a roll for a week or two and then feel like I run out of things to say and end up just reading all my favorite blogs instead. 

And on a more fun note...

7. Go to Vegas for my 30th birthday! Yes, 30! Eek!

8. Spend a week in Missouri visiting my family and friends.

9. Take a wine tour on the wine train with my girlfriends.

10. Go on a random weekend vacation with the husband.

I'm sure there are more things I will add to this list over time, but for now these are my "resolutions". Wish me luck!!!





 

An Interesting Story

How did your New Year start? I hope the way mine started isn't an indication of how the rest of the year will be.

We had a great New Years Eve with friends!!! We sipped champagne, did a little bar hopping and ended the night watching How I Met Your Mother. It was legen - wait for it, wait for it... DARY!!! Since we had quite a bit of bubbly, we decided to spend the night at our friends. We woke up around 8:30 New Years day and headed home. When we opened the door, we saw part of the wood paneling around our door laying on the floor. I said, "Did we get broken into?" and the husband said, "Looks like it.". We looked around the living room and it didn't look like everything was missing. I was freaking out because our pets (two dogs and a cat) didn't come running to the door like they always do. I yelled for them a few times and finally they came running into the living room. We could tell they were traumatized, so I took them outside to calm them down. I came back inside to see where Jeremy was and make sure there wasn't anything missing. I walked back to our bedroom to find Jeremy standing on his side of the bed and a guy in a tuxedo standing by my side of the bed. My immediate reaction was, "What the #$&*?!?!". The guy had no idea where he was or how he got here.The guy actually said, "Look at my shoes, I don't think I kicked the door in." And then he tried to bribe us with some pot.  I called the husband's parents (who live across the street) and they came over. He had the audacity to tell my mother-in-law that we were lucky it was just him and not some bad guy. I called the police and within 5 minutes there were about four officers at our house. They checked the house and everything looked fine, so it was basically up to us if we wanted to press charges or not. The officers said most likely the guy would get off either way since he was so wasted. He blew a .12 at 10 A.M., so who knows how wasted he was when he broke in. He offered to repay us for the door and emotional stress, so we decided to just let him walk. So off he walked in his tuxedo and plaid fedora.

It's pretty funny looking back on it, but it was very scary at the time. So now you know, if you ever break into our house you better be wearing evening attire. No t-shirts and jeans here! We only accept tuxedos and evening gowns.

PRAY FOR JOPLIN, MO!!!

The town I lived in before moving to California was hit by a major tornado yesterday. I am still in shock and disbelief. Looking at the photos and the coverage, most of the town is unrecognizable. The town I once knew like the back of my hand is now a place of mass destruction. The apartment I lived in before moving is gone. It is so scary to think of all the times my roommate and I heard tornado sirens while living in that apartment. Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Walgreens, many fast food joints and restaraunts... GONE!!! Just like that. It is so amazing to me how something can come through and cause so much damage and devastation in such a short time. I lived in the area for 26 years and never witness anything like this. Many of my friends have lost their homes and loved ones. So many lives are changed forever.

I first got news of the tornado on facebook and immediately text my mom and my old roommate. My mom lives about 20 miles outside of Joplin and was fine. My old roommate lives literally blocks from most of the devastation. Her and her husband were so lucky that only a tree was ripped up out of their yard and his car has some minor damage, but they are fine and their house was untouched. She said the damage is just unreal and it like a bad dream. I saw my cousin's facebook status stating that their house just got hit by a tornado, but they are fine. The cell phone towers are down, so there is hardly anyway to get in touch with many people. I got a text from another family member saying that my cousin's neighborhood is completely demolished and her and her boys were unaccounted for. I immediately freaked out and started trying to call every family member even though I knew I wouldn't be able to get through. About half an hour later, the missing cousin's brother found her and her family walking down the road. Her and her whole family piled into the bathtub just in time before all the windows started shattering and the roof flew off of their house. Luckily, they are all ok!

The picture above is a picture of my old roommate taken by a local photographer. She was searching for her parents who had told her they were going to Wal-Mart before the storm hit.

What used to be a residential area

Wal-Mart

St. John's hospital

Here is actual footage of the tornado and the damage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XT7CtF5ljxY&feature=share

Aerial video of the damage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWNwZ1IY2p0&feature=player_embedded#at=50

Today show: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/43133516#43133516

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/24/us/24tornado.html?_r=2

My heart goes out to all of my family and friends and the town that I love so much and will always consider home. 

For Katrina

"And so the lion fell in love with the lamb" - Edward
"What a stupid lamb" - Bella
"What a sick, masochistic lion" - Edward Twilight

So, I've decided that I want to keep a little anonymity with my blog and not let people know who I really am. But, I'm going to give people very obvious names, so that if they do run across my blog they know who they are.  I will name people things like Couple friends, Couple wife and Couple baby. I will also write up a little list of everyone's names and a little description about them. Because you can't tell who someone is by a description right? Right? Also, I'm going to write about peoples kids, pets, etc. I will post pictures of things I have done and things I have done with other people, but I will cut mine and other peoples heads off in the pictures. You can't tell who someone is when their head is cut off in a picture right? I will write detailed descriptions of things I have done and things I have done with other people, but I will use their "nicknames" so no one will know who I'm really talking about.

Ok, I am totally joking! Actually poking fun, and maybe it's not so nice to do that, but it is so darn fun! We actually know a girl that has a blog just like this. The funny thing is, she thinks no one knows about her blog. If more people knew about her blog, she would definitely have a lot less friends. She talks some mad crap sometimes, and it's actually pretty funny to read since you know exactly who she's talking about.  I guess maybe she likes being "anonymous". I figure if I'm going to have a blog and let people in on my life, I'm just going to be me and let people see who I really am.

How do you guys feel about anonymous blogging? I love reading all of your blogs and getting a little glimpse of your life!!!