Friday Five

1. Both Rusty and I had dentist appointments this week. Mine was for a new crown and Rusty's was for a tiny cavity. I would rather have had his appointment.

2. I have wanted a lable maker for years. I found one at Target last Saturday for $18! Yes! I'm so excited to label, well, everything! Hee hee. It will especially come in handy...

3. When I organize our new filing cabinet today. I hate filing, but I love organizing! And yes, there is a difference.

4. Project Runway All-stars started last week. Luckily, they replayed last week's episode tonight right before the new one. I love this show! :)

5. Last, but certainly not least, I have a sweet friend, Thelma, that is posting a series on her blog called The Gap about her journey (with her husband) through infertility to living joyfully as a complete family of two. It's amazing, just like her.

Friday Five

Oh my. Pinterest is taking over my life. And I love it. I now have crafting ideas, recipes to try, and new blogs to follow. Here is some of what I’ve fallen in love with:

1. Painted wall art from Two Girls Being Crafty - I have a great idea using this basic idea. I really hope it turns out well. I'll keep ya'll informed.

2. Skinny Taste

3. Slow cooker Baked Apples from Skinny Chef

4. Magic Sauce from 101 Cookbooks

5. I’ve pinned lots of different ways to wear scarves. I love scarves…and it’s just about the right weather to pull them out again. Woot!

Friday Five

1. I need to finish up taking pictures for the photo scavenger hunt that I'm participating in. I only have a few more pictures to take. I'm a little stuck on a few of them and will probably end up with non-creative pics. Oh well. Guess you can't win them all! It's still been a blast.

2. I need to paint my toenails. I think I'll go with the aqua polish again. It's so fun and summery. I know you wanted to know that. So, you're welcome.

3. My friend, Andrea, made my Beef Noodles recipe yesterday. I know she's been eyeing it ever since I first started looking for recipe tips. She and her hubby loved it! Yay! I'm so very happy to share the noodle love.

4. Last night on So You Think You Can Dance...the top four dancers were announced and they are my favorite four dancers! Since when does a reality show actually put MY favorites in the top? That never happens! I was sooooooo excited. LOL. It's the little things, folks.

5. Speaking of reality shows, Project Runway just started up again. Woot! I love that shows. It is hilarious and fascinating. I think of myself as a creative person, but I've got nothing on the designers. Nothing! They come up with some amazing things out of unconventional materials. Of course, there are a fair share of train wrecks, but I still couldn't do what they do.

One for One

Rusty bought me some shoes for my birthday. How very kind of him to be so philanthropic.

What’s that? You are wondering how Rusty buying me a pair of shoes makes him such a humanitarian? Oh, well that’s easy. Rusty bought me a pair of adorable red/white stripped canvas wedge TOMS.

Every time someone purchases a pair of TOMS, a pair of new shoes is given to a child in need. One for one. My friend, Tina, bought a pair in California and I saw and promptly fell in love with the wedges.

Shoe shopping for a cause. Cool, right? What could be better?!

Adorable, no?

Friday Five

1. We had a few days of HOT weather this week. Happily, today's high is 80 degrees. Woot!

2. I found two swimsuits last weekend that I actually like! What are the chances of that happening? It’s amazing, don’t you think?

3. I am now REALLY looking forward to going to California and Virginia Beach this summer. Yes! I have the swimsuits, cute cover-up, big hat, and some cute summery clothes. I’m all set.

4. The show So You Think You Can Dance started last week. I love it. And no, I can't really dance. Certainly not like the people on THAT show can.

5. I just saw a commercial for avocados. I have one word for you. Yum. Seriously. I adore avocados and guacamole. Soooooo good. My hubby, however, can't stand either and makes faces when I have it. Silly man. Do you love the delectable and creamy cool fruit like I do?

Friday Five

I did not Friday Five last week. I know you were shocked and dismayed. I am sorry. I was vacationing and these things happen sometimes when one is vacationing. I shall try to make this week’s post extra awesome to make up for last week’s neglect.

1.  We went on a little vacation. Joy! Background: My BFF, L’s, family lives in IN and we go there at least once a year for Rusty to go to a Notre Dame football game with L’s uncle. Well, we out this last weekend so they guys could go to the Indianapolis Colts vs. Tennessee Titans game. They had a great time - with Rusty wearing the only Titans jersey, much to his enjoyment and every else’s dismay.

2.  What did the girls do while the boys were at the game? I am so glad you asked. We went shopping. And then we shopped some more. And then did just a little more shopping. Some of my favorite purchases were an awesome sweater, wide black belt to go with the sweater, and small silver wristlet purse. This is my new favorite date night outfit when paired with my dark wash skinny jeans and awesome gray boots. Hotness!

3.  My BFF’s aunt got in the wrong van this weekend. It was hilarious! We were in two vehicles while shopping. Aunt M was riding in her niece A’s van. Those of us in the brand spankin’ new Saturn Vibe watched as M opened the side door to a van that did not belong to A. We started yelling though the windows, but she did not hear us. Then it looked like she was going to get in the van and sit down. We were laughing so hard we could do nothing other than watch in horror. She had actually realized that it was the wrong van and was looking for the close button like her van has. There was no button. So she walked away…with the van door wide open. Oh gracious, we were howling with laughter as we screamed, “Close the dooooooooor!” A second later we looked over to see the door closed. How did that happen when there was no one in the van?! We still do not know. ROTFL!

4.  My long awaited camera is on its merry way to me. I should have it in my impatient little hands on Monday. I am certain that there will be a lot of posts with pictures to come. You’re welcome.

5.  I suffered some serious vacation brain at work on Wednesday. Seriously. It was awful. I managed not to bite anyone’s head off, but I was sorely tempted. And then I had computer/email issues. So not cool. And THEN there was terrible traffic on the way to the gym. I did not want to work out, but I did. Work outs often improve my mood. It did not do that for me on Wednesday. Sigh.

******BONUS******

Because you waited so patiently…

6.  I weigh-in tomorrow. I have not been to weigh-in for three weeks. Yikes! I am sure that my weight will be up from three weeks ago, but down from last week. So, all in all I will call that a win. I made pretty good food choices this week and went to the gym twice. Win!

Friday Five

1.  Our dryer stopped drying. It runs, but does not heat. Great. Wonderful. We have been having to air dry everything. I went to Target to buy a second drying rack. I was shocked to see how much those suckers cost. $40? No thanks! I managed to find one for about $15. Anyway, we have wet clothes hung all over our house and they are taking forever to dry. When we get back from Thanksgiving we have to figure out what to do next. Get a new one? Risk fixing it and paying just as money as if we did buy a new one? I hate appliances.

2.  One of my coworkers gave me a jewelry party catalog. Some of the stuff is nice, but man is it pricey! $130 for a long silver necklace?! Um, no. I did, however, find that I really wanted a long silver necklace all of the sudden. I went to the mall and found an awesome necklace for, wait for it, $6.35. Yay!

3.  To scan or to pat. That is the question. Or so we thought. We decided to go ahead with the body scan. No touching me please! We arrived nice and early, ready for long lines and lots of waiting. Sure enough, the security line was long. We stepped into the queue at 5:45 am. The line moved surprising fast. As we got closer to the front, I saw that there was only one of the body scanners. Ah ha! This may be good news for us! We put everything all the belt (bags, shoes, coats, belts...basically everything) and were waved to the regular x-ray thingy. PTL! No body scan or aggressive pat-down for us! We were through the security line by 6:00 am. Only 15 minutes! Wow. Just, wow! That was really fast. I applaud you BWI. Good job.

4.  It has been great to be with my family, even when one person is playing a game on the computer, one is watching football, three are looking at Black Friday sale papers, one is working on scheduling for homeschooling, one is playing games on her phone (me), two kids are reading books, and one kid is playing in another room. :) Of course, just a short time later we started up a rousing game of Apples to Apples. Love that game!

5.  I get to meet Esther Okerson today! It is amazing how you can become such good friends with people online. I never would have thought that so many of my closest friends would be started online. Any by online I mean HP, er, Hannah's Prayer (for you non HPers).

Friday Five

1.  This last weekend was great. I found some great clothes, including (gasp) skinny jeans! I never thought I would be in a pair of skinny jeans. I'm telling you I was surprised when I was able to pair them with the right shirt/sweater and they looked great on me. Yes!

2.  I'm so happy that today is Friday. I'm not feeling too hot today, but at least the rest of the week is done. Over! Wheh! Executing an event for almost 200 coworkers is not easy. When you add in 5 games for 14 teams of 5 people each to compete in...well, that is a bit like herding cats. And when I say a bit, I mean it is exactly like that.




3.  When I watched the cat herding commercial again, I realized what company it was for. Oh, the irony! I work with these people. LOL!

4.  Rusty's mom is in the hospital. Poor thing. She will be ok, but it will be several more days before she goes home. Rusty has been there every night this week visiting. I did not go on Wednesday because I had a migraine.

5.  I've been a verrrrrrry busy girl this week, as I am sure you can tell by the neglect of my blog. I mean, no Taiwanese Tuesday?! Yep, I was swamped if I missed that. I haven't cooked this week either. Poor Rusty would kill for a homemade meal. I guess he'll have to wait until tonight.

Friday Five

I saw an idea I really like on the awesome Gitzen Girl blog called Friday Five, where you simply list five things about your week. I love it! :D Want to join me?

1.  It rained the last few days. A lot. It rained so much people were making ark jokes. The storms were so bad we had tornado warnings. Not tornado watches, mind you, the really bad warnings that mean tornadic winds are churning. The loud speakers at work told us all to take cover. Yikes! Roads closed all over the region due to flooding. The winds were whipping the rain around, rendering umbrellas all but useless. I’ll say it again (because no other made up word quite describes it correctly)…it was cray cray.

2.  Rusty has blood pressure issues, but is otherwise very healthy! YES! That makes me one happy woman. :D

3.  I can not believe it is October already. Yowzers. The weather today is overcast and cool. Perfect sweater weather. Woot! I am ready for cozy fall clothes and boots. I love boots.

4.  Next weekend we are going to Elkhart, IN, to visit some friends. Rusty will go to his annual Notre Dame football game (go Irish!) and I will go shopping. Woooooot! I could use a few new articles of clothing since most of what I have been wearing is way too big. Awesome. I will be hunting for things to go with my awesome boots, such as, skinny jeans & pants, skirts, dresses, flowy tops, boyfriend cardigans, belts, a scarf or two, and textured nylons. I’m so excited to be getting a few new rockin' trendy things for a skinnier me!

5.  Rusty and I want to go to a cabin in WV sometime soon. We have identified a few weekends that might work, so I will start checking out accomodations this weekend. We really need a weekend getaway. Badly! We are looking forward to playing Wii, watching movies, snuggling, possibly a fire place, and generally relaxing it up.

Boot love {bitter disappointment}

I went to the awesome DS.W today on a quest for boots. I bought one pair, fell in love with another, and was disappointed with a third adorable pair.

These are the ones I bought. They will look so great with jeans. I ♥ the buckles!

They are a bit darker brown than pictured here.

The second pair are gorgeous! I had looked online before going to the store and I expected to love the brown ones, but it was love at first sight with the gray. They didn't have wide sizes in the gray, which is what would fit best, so I may order them online. I don't think I will be able to forget these boots. They aren't super practical and I may have to end up buying some new pants/jeans to wear with them. But how can I resist this gorgeousness!

Rusty said I could order them! :) They are on their way to me as I type. Wootles!

The picture doesn't really do them justice.

The third pair is where the bitter disappointment comes in. I really could use a new pair of boots to wear in snow. After the record amount of snow we had last winter, I am trying to find a good pair. Of course, we probably won't get any snow this year, but...whatever. I saw these adorable boots and immediated wanted them. The bottom of the boots are perfect; they come up to my knees; they are cuddly, warm, and soft; and they are adorable! As soon as I zipped them up, however, I was so very sad. They were snug on my bare leg. How would I ever get them over pants, let alone jeans?! If I get new snow boots, they will have to be able to go over jeans.

Bummer.