Monday, August 31, 2009

Friend Makin' Monday ~ 20 Questions


I'm still having a bit of a bloggy brain fart, but had no problem answering the questions posed by Amber for this week's FMM! So without further ado...
{Please pardon the spacing on some of my questions ~ Blogger is being stupid and I can't seem to fix it!}

1. Do you cook every night?
Oh this is funny. I don’t cook at all. I am fortunate to live with a fabulous cook who doesn’t mind making dinner every night as long as I do the dishes. Works out pretty well for me ~ I get to eat delicious Italian cuisine almost every night and only have to spend a minimal amount of time in the kitchen.

2. What kind of laundry detergent do you use & why?
Tide powder for our regular laundry, probably because it’s what my mom used, and Woolite for the delicates, again because it’s what my mom always bought.

3. Do you do laundry every day or loads at a time?
Loads at a time. Usually two or three, depending on how ambitious I feel.

4. How often do you eat out per week?
Too much. Usually two or three times at least.

5. Where do you usually eat out?
Jack in the Box, any number of the yummy teriyaki restaurants in our area, Applebee’s, Olive Garden

6. What is your favorite retail store?
The Limited & Express

7. What’s your favorite thing to drink?
Cranberry-Pomegranate Crystal Light

8. Do you take vitamins? What kind?
Nate and I just started taking adult gummy vitamins last week!

9. What percentage of the household chores to you do?
I do all of the chores except for the cooking and the garbage (most of the time). It probably ends up being about 50-50 when you consider the time that Nate spends cooking vs. the time I spend doing everything else.

10. Do your children do chores? {Or will they, did they, etc}
No kids yet, but when I have them, they will do chores!

11. Do you go to church?
I wish. We haven’t been able to find a place we both like, but I am hopeful that we will eventually.
12. Do you have a housework schedule?
Nope.

13. Do you keep a working budget?
Not really, but every payday, I divide up my paycheck to various accounts {as a bank employee, I have accounts for everything ~ bills, my student loan payments, savings, gifts, wedding fund} ~ whatever is left over when that is done is what I have to spend on food and other extras for that pay period.
14. What do you do at night as a family?
We eat dinner together every night, watch TV or a movie, take Argentine tango classes, visit other family, and walk Daisy

15. How do you prepare yourself for a new week?
Nothing really, just enjoy the weekend as much as I can.

16. What do your mornings look like?
Nothing too crazy ~ I get up between 6:05 and 6:10, take Daisy potty if she looks like she needs to go, get in the shower, do my hair and makeup, get dressed, brush my teeth, and head out the door so I’m at work by 7ish. {I’m very lucky ~ work is less than two miles from home.}
17. What time do you get up in the mornings?
The alarm goes off at 5:45 but I usually hit “snooze” until 6:05 or 6:10.

18. What time do you go to bed at night?
11ish

19. How do you manage all of the paperwork that floods into your household? {bills, school work, magazines, ads, etc}
I put the bills to be paid in a divider that we keep on the counter and try to recycle everything else as quickly as I can to cut down on the clutter.

20. How do you keep your household organized? {calendars, charts, etc}
I’m pretty good at keeping track of everything in my head. Although that will probably change once we add kids to the mix.

Happy FMM!

Thursday, August 20, 2009

A Few Fun Awards!

I have gotten several awards over the past few months and for whatever reason, I haven’t taken the time to “accept” them until now. I’m a horrible bloggy friend, I know! I promise to try to be better from here on out!

The first award ~ The Love Ya Award ~ is from my best bloggy friend, Mrs. Soup. We’ve bonded over our shared love of life in the Pacific Northwest, our history of dance, our love of books, and too many other similarities we’ve discovered to list here. If you haven’t visited her adorable blog yet, get on over there and say hi. She is fabulous, and she has the cutest little daughter who she posts pictures of on a daily basis!


The “Love Ya” Award states: These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award.

Mrs. Soup {I know it’s cheesy to give the award back to the one who awarded it, but I can’t help it. I love Mrs. Soup!}

Vivienne @
The V Spot

Amber @ {aefilkins}

Lins @ Goodbye, Martha

Christy @ Pop Rocks for Breakfast

Tanielle @ The Polka Dot Daisy

Xazmin @ This Is The Year

Becca @ The Texas Darlings


~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Mrs. Soup also gave me this award:



I’m suppose to list 5 obsessions I have and then tag 5 others.


1. My beautiful little puppy, Daisy. Yes, I know she has four legs and a tail, but I adore her just about as much as I would a child. I didn’t think it was possible to love an animal this much, especially one who can be such a handful! Last week, she actually peed on the living room floor in protest when I refused to share my ice cream cone with her!

2. Ribbon. This comes as no surprise to anyone who reads my blog regularly. I LOVE ribbon, and have a little bit of a problem when it comes to purchasing it. I can’t stop. Boxes of beautiful ribbon in new colors and patterns arrive at our house several times a week. I try to pretend that I don’t know WHY these companies keep sending me ribbon, but Nate stopped falling for that long ago. At least I have a fabulous selection for garter~making!

3. Growing my garter business. I have dreams of one day making garters and other wedding accessories full~time. I would love to be my own boss and support myself by doing something I love. Garters are almost always on my mind ~ I am constantly thinking of new ideas for garters and ways I can increase my sales as I inch closer and closer to earning a decent living from my little business.

4. My iPod. I have it with me at all times, and panic if I temporarily misplace it. Life at work is pretty lonely for me ~ I am on the opposite end of the floor as the rest of my department and don’t get a lot of human interaction throughout the day. To combat this, I listen to audiobooks while I work. I haven’t worked a day without my iPod in four years, and have even driven home to get it after discovering that it didn’t make its way back into my purse after being used at home. The idea of sitting in my quiet little office with no kind voice reading to me from my iPod makes me shutter!

5. Getting married. I am OBSESSED with tying the knot. Probably because I am rapidly approaching 30 and still have a ringless left hand. And I’m sure working on wedding garters every day and attending multiple weddings a year with Nate while he DJ’s doesn’t help. I cannot wait to make my own wedding preparations, to have my dad walk me down the aisle, and to start wedded life with the man of my dreams.


I would like to give this award to:

Tina @ Bitter Sweet Moments

JenJen @ Tatertots and Jello

Becca @ The Texas Darlings

J.J. @ I'd Rather Be Laughing

JennyKate @ JennyKate's Spot

I still have one more award {this one is from the lovely Miss Tina @ Bitter Sweet Moments} to accept and pass on, but I am holding off on that one until next week.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful week!

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Did You Know My Boyfriend is a Fabulous Photographer?

Just feeling the need to brag. Nate's taken some amazing pictures lately and I'm so proud of his work. You can check out his work at Sado Photography. He also takes all of my garter pictures {without complaint!} ~ it is great having a photographer in the family!

On a side note, I miss all my bloggy friends so much. Wedding season is in full swing and I'm up to my ears in garter orders. That, combined with the fact that I can no longer log into Blogger or even visit a website with "blogspot" in the address at work, has made it hard to get caught up on my favorite blogs. I'm sorry for the neglect and hope things slow down just a little bit soon!

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Getting My Butt Back in Gear

For reasons that as yet remain unknown to me, I have completely fallen off the healthy living wagon over the past few months. I have had little to no desire to work out or attempt to eat healthy, despite the moans and groans I make every time I walk past a mirror in my underwear and see that my butt has not gotten any smaller and my thighs have gained another dimple or two.

I did get back to Pilates this week and started eating salads again for lunch, but my attempt to reestablish a healthier lifestyle has been less than wholehearted. But I am pleased to announce that that is all about to change! Nate’s brother, Johnny, and his fiancĂ© are getting married in four short weeks from today, and I am determined to lose five pounds and tone up by then. Weddings have been particularly hard for me lately, probably because of my strong desire to have one of my own, and I’m anticipating that this one will be no different, especially considering that Johnny’s bride shares my first name and thus will be claiming my {potential} married name before I can. Don’t get me wrong, I love them both and am excited to participate in their upcoming nuptials, but I am not afraid to admit that jealousy is one of my faults. But I think that the day will be so much more enjoyable for me if I look and feel fabulous, and one way of ensuring that that happens is to get my butt back in gear!

No more random snacking, no more delicious, fatty poppyseed dressing on every salad {let’s be honest ~ adding fatty dressing to your salad kinda defeats the whole purpose of the salad regardless of how yummy it is}, and no more lazy nights on the couch. I have four weeks to get some definite results and I am not going to disappoint myself!

Thursday, August 6, 2009

My Embroidery Machine is Finally Out of the Box!

Just eighteen short days after its purchase, my embroidery machine made its way out of the box. I took a user’s class last week, and am pleased to announce that I can thread my machine, wind a bobbin, AND embroider words on satin ribbon! We’ve been really busy with the wedding last weekend and I’ve been working hard to get caught up on garter orders, so I haven’t had time since my class to play around with the machine since the class, but it feels great to have the machine actually out of its box and know how to use it. I think the monogramming itself is going to be pretty easy ~ once you have the ribbon or whatever it is you’re embroidering on in place and the pattern you want programmed in, all you have to do is hit the start button and the machine does the rest. That being said, I think the trickiest part is going to be getting the machine and ribbon all lined up correctly so the embroidery ends up where I want it. Hopefully that won’t be nearly as difficult as I expect and I will soon be on my way to making monogrammed garters and ring pillows!

My machine came with five rather boring fonts, but lucky for me, there are tons and tons of gorgeous monogramming designs available for download on the Internet. Here are several of my favorites ~ which do you like best?





Tuesday, August 4, 2009

My Boyfriend, AKA Survivorman~in~the~Making

Nate and his brothers {he has one who’s 14 months older and another who is 7 ½ years younger} have a great relationship and love to spend time with one another. They go paintballing several times a month together, and have been known to spend hours outside in the snow building an igloo. It’s so much fun to watch the three of them together ~ they turn into little boys whenever they get together, and really have the kind of relationship that every mother dreams her children will have.

For some time now, the three brothers have been talking about doing a survival expedition, ala Survivorman or Man vs. Wild, somewhere in the forest in our area. The girlfriends {and Nate’s mom} figured {and hoped!} that the little trip our boys had planned would never come to fruition. Alas, we were wrong. The boys are leaving on their little adventure Thursday afternoon and plan to return sometime Saturday. They will be embarking with only the supplies they would have on a day hike, and plan to “live off the land.” Each boy is bringing a video camera so we will all be able to watch footage of their expedition when the return. Fingers crossed that they manage to avoid eating poisonous berries and are able to catch at least a fish or two so they don’t waste away to nothing out in the woods. I have a feeling they will be returning very hungry and very ready to sleep in a soft, warm bed…