Turkey Week Adventures

This week my parents are here as guests in my home. I couldn't be happier. They arrived last night and already we have eaten out at a fabulous BBQ restaurant where we all stuffed ourselves silly with ribs, brisket, corn bread, bread pudding and more and then spent time catching up on the last 11 months of our lives. They "slept in" this morning (although by their body clocks, which are in the Mountain Standard Time, they weren't really sleeping in) and woke up to fresh coffee and Berry Cream Muffins. Yum!

We have so much planned for the week that they are here. The plan involves nothing less than shopping, touring two other states besides TN, attending a football game and eating a lot of food (I mean, it IS Thanksgiving week after all). I'm so excited to introduce them to this wonderful town where we've spent the last 3 months of our lives. We will be busy busy busy but hopefully, our week will include a lot of rest and relaxation for everyone too. This is a vacation for all of us (well, except for poor DJ who will still be working all week).

What a great time the holidays are!!

Friday Fingerprints

Best friend Joy and babies in Lake Tahoe - our womanly adventure

Best friend Mom and I in my favorite place, the Black Hills of South Dakota

Best friend Desi and I hiking the (HOT!) La Luz trail

Best friend and husband DJ and I in Los Angeles

Best friend Colleen and I at my bridal shower

These are pictures of God's fingerprints in my life. Lest you think I call everyone my best friend, I will tell you that in fact, these truly are all my very best friends. God has blessed me abundantly with people that I can call, with great confidence, my BEST friends. People that I have fun with, can be goofy with and share special moments with. These pictures represent some times we have shared life together. Without them my life would be very lacking and I know God placed each one of them in my life to show His love to me. They are so SO special.

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This is once again a post to participate with pamperingbeki's blog tradition! To see more fingerprints, go here!

Serotonin Shot

Don't you just love when you are doing a mundane task, whether it be housework or paperwork or picking your nails, and all of a sudden, you get a shot of serotonin? You know, the stuff that makes you happy in your brain? And all of a sudden, all is right with the world and you have the motivation to accomplish any task on your to-do list and the energy to tackle a mountain. I LOVE those shots. I wish there WAS an actual shot you could inject that would do this anytime you wanted but unfortunately I don't think there is. I guess it just makes those natural "shots" that much better. They're kind of unexpected.

For me, these shots are usually caused by something. I don't always know exactly what it will be but there's usually something that will trigger that boost of happiness. Just recently, it was Christmas music and coffee. I absolutely love Christmas music, especially when I am listening to it on Pandora and I get a great variety from tons of different artists and then I LOVE coffee, especially the sugary fattening stuff from Starbucks. Combine those two and that's my "shot"!

What has given you your "happy shot" lately? Does this even happen to you? Or is just me? No, actually I believe everyone gets these shots, some more frequently then others and probably in different ways then others, but yes, I think this must happen to everyone. But tell me, what does it for you??

P.S. If you haven't gotten a happy shot lately, you should leave a comment on my craft post for the giveaway! Just think of the happiness you would experience if you won something from the fantastic people at Right on the Wall!

Crafting Fever

I've been in quite the crafty mood lately and it's all a result of having a blank canvas to work with - my new house. So many blank walls and spaces combined with a tight budget make for a thrifty innovative gal. It could also possibly be a result of reading some great blogs lately which are written by very crafty innovative women and because I am a feeder, not a leader, as in, I feed off the energy, creativity, motivation, etc, of others, I have been enlightened. I'll leave that leader-schmeader stuff to those other women.


Here's one of the feeder ideas I've tried recently...




Three old mirrors turned into pretty chalkboards.

I quite like these.

I wish I could get the pictures bigger but for some reason the resolution is really bad when I enlarge them so sorry 'bout that.

These were really easy to do and are now very functional pieces. I could put these almost anywhere in my house but for now, they are in my kitchen and are labeled as such.

I'm amazed at what these three small former mirrors were able to do in terms of cozying up my little dining area!

The next project was something I was VERY excited about. I found this idea while looking for baby nursery ideas....for my friend. (Almost had ya' didn't I?) My friend needed some cute ideas to go with her ladybug nursery theme and I stumbled upon this idea of vinyl word art.

A company called Right on the Walls produces easy-to-apply word art that just about anyone with two hands can do. You can get to their website here or by finding and clicking on the Right on the Walls button on the right side of this page. Trust me, you will almost certainly find something you just HAVE to have.

I found about 50 things.

And their always posting new products. This is one of them...

This is the first piece (of many) that I chose. And yes, I knoooow, that frame looks ridiculous because I haven't put a picture in it yet but I just couldn't wait to show you! Picture coming soon.

I WILL say that the application of this piece was a liiittle trickier than perhaps others might be because that bottom line is actually supposed to sit on top of the top line but they came on two different pieces of paper and you can't see through the top paper in order to see if it's where it should be. In other words the brown "Martinez" is supposed to act as a shadow of the blue words but because DJ and I are very much amateurs at this home decorating bit, the blue line sits lower.

Trust me, this was a learning process for us and not just for decorating reasons. We learned the importance of communication, the ability to laugh in stressful situations, how not to react to an oops! moment and the importance of crating your dog while attempting to hang something in a precarious place when both hands of both people are needed. (Again, this is probably easier than we made it but we're perfectionists to top it all off. Go figure.)

But in all fairness, the actual application of the letters was EXTREMELY easy. We had no problem adhering them to the wall. The best part is that they're temporary so we can take it right off when we move.

So do you like this enough to want it? Or at least something like it? Do you? Really? Well alright, I guess I'll just have to give one away!

I am giving away your choice of any item valued at $40 or less. To be qualified, leave a comment telling me which piece of art you would get if you win the giveaway and where you would put it in your house. I will choose a winner on November 29. I hope you all win! (I wish that was possible! But you can't ALL win. Only one of you. I only have one.)

Creeping Doubt

I'm having second thoughts about this whole NaBloPoMo thing.

I'm running out of things to say! I really didn't think that would be a problem.

So I'm beginning to doubt whether the prize at the end of the NaBloPoMo yellow brick road is really worth it.

And actually the more I think about it, it's not that I've run out of things to say completely. It's just that I don't want to ramble and bore the heck out of you.

I was thinking about different topics I could discuss today and they all just sound like rambling to me. Today is Friday the 13th - anyone got any superstitions? Not me. There's a football game tomorrow - anyone going to watch it? (And I mean of course the ever-important Tennessee game. Any other game is moot in my mind.) I am. Yeah, all ramblings of a bored accountant.

So I'll end this post here. If you waaaant to, you could suggest some topics that you would like to hear about. I mean, there's probably nothing but just in case, leave a comment and tell me what you want to know! I might just do it.

OMG!

I almost didn't post anything today!

Done.

That would have completely disqualified me from NaBloPoMo. The horror. I gotta win me some prizes!

Tomorrow's Friday!! Be happy!!

A Challenge

I saw this on Megan's blog yesterday and wow. It's a really good visualization. And something I've been thinking a lot about lately.

How far into my life do I allow people?

How hard do I try to affect other people's lives in a positive way?

God is showing me that I need to start practicing some flips and jumps on my balance beam.




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And for all those men and women out there who have served our country, I want to take advantage of today and say thank you. Thank you for the great sacrifice of your time (and lives, for those that have lost loved ones in war) to our country. We are deeply indebted to you and appreciate you tremendously.

Sloppy Goodness

I was pleased to be informed last night that I have discovered a favorite of DJ's. Not just any favorite but a food favorite. It's not often that this happens so I was very flattered. We eat these probably about once a month at least. I am going to share the receipe with you! You lucky ducks.

They're called Emily's Sloppy Joes but I think we'll just change that to Nichole's Sloppy Joes. I'm sure my version is better than Emily's, whoever that is...

1.5 lbs Ground Beef

1 onion, chopped

1 red pepper, chopped

1 can tomato paste

1 cup of water

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp vinegar

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 Tbs chile powder

3 Tbs brown sugar

Brown the ground beef. Add the chopped onion and red pepper. Saute for an additional 5-7 minutes. Drain the fat.

Add the tomato paste and water. Mix until paste is dissolved.

Add the rest of the ingredients and let cook for 5-10 minutes until the mixtures is thick like a stew.

Serve on buns!

Photo: Sloppy Joes

So easy and so good.

Hostess with the mostest

I love entertaining. Most people that know me already know this little factoid. I love having parties, planning parties, hosting overnight guests, hosting casual get-togethers, etc, etc, etc. Whatever it is, if it involves planning, at least one person (hosting animals doesn't count - it's probably not the same, but since I haven't done that, I'll withhold my critique), and the opportunity to spread the love, then count me in.

Our last apartment was definitely not conducive to hosting. I still did it a few times, but certainly not as often as I really wished I could.

We had some friends over for dinner a couple of times. Both times I looked my pride in the eye, kicked it out the door and invited our friends to pull up a chair to our...er, t.v. trays. They were good sports and sat right down. That's the great thing about great friends! They can overlook the small things like having no dinner table at which to eat our dinner.

And my brother came to stay with us for a week. We set him up in our cozy and not the least private......living room. On a comfy......air mattress. Where he could place his bags......in the middle of the "dining room." (That's what it was supposed to be, but it was really more of an extended living room in our case.) He was woken up each morning to the smell of fresh......poo. Maia poo, lest you think we are barbarians. Maia was still a small puppy and had not yet been fully potty trained so she, uh, went in her crate each morning. Looking back, I feel kind of bad for Chace. I'll have to make that up to him one day, I suppose. But maybe not. I mean brothers are brothers for a reason. They just deal with stuff like that because they love their sisters. Right? (tap, tap...is this thing on??)

Anyway, now that we've moved out of that good-for-nothing hosting apartment, we've moved to a luxurious two-bedroom, two-bath split-level town home. Oh the joy! Problem is, I moved into this place 2,000 miles away from the friends and family that I would invite to any party or gathering I may decide to host! Oh the irony...

But it's ok. I'll make friends. One day. In the mean time, we are welcoming our first house guests in two weeks! My parents and my brother are coming to stay with us and I couldn't be more excited. Granted, it is still a little rustic (read: no bed, one bathroom to share (the second bathroom doesn't have a shower), and minimal furniture) but hey! a hostess wouldn't be the hostess with the mostest without a little challenge to really make her talents shine right??

I'm going to make those air mattresses be the homiest, coziest, most lovely air mattresses a person could ask for and that bathroom will work. I mean we're family. We've had to share a bathroom before. It'll work. It will. (I'm still in the panicky, "is this going to work", trying-to-convince-myself stage of the hostess with the mostest challenge... but if you've ever seen reality t.v. you know, it always seems to work out in the end. Somehow, against all odds. And that will be the case here too. It will.)

Sunday Siesta

Today is supposed to be a day of rest. So I am taking the liberty to make this a very simple post today.

Take advantage of today and rest!!

Spend time with your family!

Take a walk!

Read a book!

Relax your mind, body and soul!

Are you curious...

...what I'm doing today?? I am working on making my Christmas gifts! Remember how I said I was trying to add some June Cleaver homeliness to our humble abode? Apparently, what I actually meant was I am trying to be June Cleaver. It seems that I have decided to just jump right on that Holly Homemaker bandwagon.

Things like...

(re) learning how to sew,

can jam,

bake bread,

repurposing junk (I'm not sure if this is something June would put on her resume but it's definitely not something I could imagine any of the Housewives of Orange County doing... you know...the antithesis of June Cleaver...).

Anyway, these things are all on my to-do list. Probably not all on today's to-do list but.... well, maybe they should be all on today's to-do list. That's what June would have done right? I mean she's superwoman!

Is that the face I'm supposed to perfect too? If so, I'll pass. That's not really what I'm going for.

I am finding that I enjoy this Cleaveresque kick quite a bit. In fact, one can be quite creative when it comes to being a housewife. Who knew? Those feminists always make it sound like you are losing a part of yourself and succumbing to a stereotype of "meek little mouse" or something if you choose to embrace the title of housewife. But what they forgot was that some women actually like that sort of thing and so really those feminists are the stiflers. Rather than the stifled. Phew! Can you say tangent? Where did all that come from? Anywaaays....

Does anyone else want to be June Cleaver? Or at the very least, do any of you share some June tendencies? If so, do share! I would be interested to know what you do that makes you feel like you live in the 1950s. (I tell myself that I would have really liked to live during that era, but what I really think I like is the simplicity that the 50s seem to embody. Ahhh, the simple life... I think, in reality though, I would really miss the luxuries of the 2009s.) So what do you do that's oh-so-June?

Friday Fingerprints

Of course, pictures never offer a true picture of nature. Sometimes they come close, but that's when you have a fancy set-up of the latest and greatest Nikon SLR 54000 macro lens with optimum blah blah blah.

I have a point and shoot, nothing fancy about it. So when God gives you

WOW!!!! (said in a BIG GIANT voice)

instead, you get

wow. (said in a little pipsqueak mouse voice).

All that to say, this rising full moon was a definite WOW!!!! in person and since all I had was a little ol' camera and not a way to put the actual moon on this post, you'll just have to trust me.

But it's still something! And it is definitely a godly fingerprint if I've ever seen one, so there you go!

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Thanks again to pamperingbeki for her blog tradition of Fingerprint Fridays! To see more fingerprints, go here!

Blue skies to start your day

I've taken to looking up through my sun roof (or is it a moon roof? I was never sure of the difference between those two...). I try not to do this when I'm driving though.

Mostly just at stop lights.

It was, however, especially tempting this week. As you can see why above...

Aren't those skies beeeeautiful??



Ahhhhh.... It's like drinking a cold glass of water.

Do you feel rejuvenated now?

Refreshed?

Ready for a brand new day?

No?

Here's one more... Just drink it in....

How 'bout now???

Alright!!

Go get 'em tiger!!

November Blessings

As it is November and November is Thanksgiving month and Thanksgiving means to... well, give thanks... I have decided to focus on things that I'm thankful for. Even the smallest of blessings serve as a reminder that I will always have something to be thankful for. Even if the world seems to be imploding on itself and I can't seem to find a lick of blue sunny sky amidst the gray stormy clouds (figuratively speaking of course), I will always have, at the very least, small blessings. And sometimes that is exactly what we need. SO I'm going to start focusing on these things even now, when the sunny skies are quite plentiful and the world is holding up just fine (at least in my little bubble)...

(Note that these are in no particular order and are just appearing on this list as they pop into my head... please remember that, lest you think I treasure my car more so then my husband or my dog more than my own family. And, of course, this is not a complete list because otherwise I could never finish. If you really put your mind to it, there are millions, yes millions, of things to be thankful for...)


Health (cliche? perhaps. But truly, this is something I can never take for granted when there are so many ways these days to be ill. Pig flu anyone?)


My car


Good stable job


Cute puppy (And this really is a blessing more for her, because if she wasn't cute, she'd be outta here!)


Two parents who love each other


Two parent-in laws that love each other


A Husband with a vast amount of patience (Thank you God!!)


Ability to remember


A free country


Ok that's all for now. What are you most thankful for this Thanksgiving?? Come on, tell me! I know you can think of at least one thing!

Look what I found!

Do you know what these are??

Care to guess now?

How bout now?

Give up?

They're mushrooms!

Have you ever seen a mushroom that looks like this? They're huge! I didn't even pay attention to them for the longest time because I thought they were garbage or fluff or something. But then I took a closer look because they kept getting bigger and I realized that they were gargantuan 'shrooms. Would your life had been complete if I hadn't shown you these pictures? Probably. But I had to show you anyway.

I find excitement in the smallest (or largest?) of places.

Fall Decor

I've been trying desperately to add some June Cleaver homeliness to our humble abode. I decided that part of that endeavor would be to head out to the forest that is Knoxville and bring some of it inside.

Maia and I set out on our nature acquiring adventure one day after work. Our first stop was a hillside that I pass everyday on my way to work. I have watched the trees on that hill change little by little and finally I couldn't stand it any longer. I had to go on that hill and bring some of it home.

I left with a whole bunch of red, yellow, orange and pretty shaped brown leaves. I also discovered some sticks that I might go back for. They were all rusticy gray with lovely little moss patches all over them. I just don't know where I would put them. I do have a place for the leaves though.

We made one more stop and then headed back home with my bag of nature. And this is what I did with it. See the leaves???

I feel like me and June might be kindred spirits. What do you think?

First Day

Well this isn't looking good. It's the first day of NaBloPoMo and am already resorting to posting something worthless. Dun dun dun.

Happy November!!