Another Weekend Gone!

Thank goodness for short weeks. Dean & I will be off Thursday & Friday so we'll have a nice long weekend to get all of my Christmas decorating done.

Saturday, we went to our neighbors to watch the LSU/Ole Miss game. I made a taco cheesecake for the first time. It was really good. I forgot to take a picture of it when I finished making it but here's part of it.

I guess everyone liked it. Yes I left it in the pan because this was my first attempt at cooking in a spring form pan & I was scared to open it for fear of the cheesecake falling into a million pieces.

The game was boring. LSU won 52-3. It was a real snooze fest. Friday we play Arkansas. That should be a good game but hopefully not too good.

Yesterday, I went & played with Logan for awhile. His mom & dad went to Mass & grocery shopping so that means Logan was in charge. He's not stupid & knows who the sucker is in our family.

I thought this was hilarious the way he had his leg crossed. He's eating a fudgesicle in his playroom. I told him he needed to sit at the table to eat it. His response while walking away from the table was "I not do it". Um ok, I guess.  It was before lunch but he'd already had half of a peanut butter sandwich so I figured this was dessert.  After this he went to the fridge & pulled out sausage. Well, I might be a sucker but this sucker wasn't going to feed him sausage after he'd had peanut butter & a fudgesicle. I'd already cleaned up after the dog threw up, I didn't need the kid throwing up too. Oh & when he pulled the sausage out? That knocked the mayo out of the fridge which landed just perfectly on the bottom shelf in the door of the fridge, which in turn knocked the entire shelf & it's contents to the floor. Thankfully, nothing broke. Logan looked at me like "what did you do that for?". Then he stepped over the bottle of wine that was laying in the floor & grabbed the milk & chocolate syrup & handed it to me.

I had just asked if he wanted to take a nap. I was tired.

He wanted to play with my phone & I told him he had to smile for a picture first. I took the pic & he took my phone & somehow managed to post something on someone's Facebook page. HA!  We had a good time.

Sunday afternoon was Book Club. Joni hosted this time. In keeping with our reputation as "The worse book club ever" we basically had a Scentsy party. Joni just recently started selling it & I needed some new scents so out came the box & everyone ended up smelling & buying. I think Wendy's the only person that truly wants it to be a book club. The rest of us are fine with just hanging out & eating. Speaking of food. Vicki brought this AHHMAZING dip!! It has cheeses & all sorts of stuff & then a thin layer of raspberry something that looks like jelly over the top of it. She bought it at a local AG store in town. So, so, so good!

After we stuffed ourselves like it was our last meal we had to do a Starbucks run. After all it was the last day of buy one get one free with the holiday drinks. 4 of us went so it worked out perfectly. We all decided that the Caramel Brulee Latte is better than the Gingerbread Mocha. Well, I guess we didn't all decide because Allison & I have never had the gingerbread but anyway.

After Starbuck's I went by my cousins to bring birthday gifts. We visited for a bit & Brooke opened her gifts & then I finally made it home. I was & still am really tired!!! Like I said, thank goodness for short weeks.

Toodles!

Busy Busy!

I made it through the first weekend alone! Dean left bright & early Sat. morning for Alaska. Allison & I headed to the lakes to do our 4 mile walk & day 1 of C25K. I'm so excited that I was able to do it. I know I'm just beginning but I did it & it wasn't too hard. I do wish I could do something about the way I look when I finish. I get soooo red in the face. It's awful. If anyone knows of a sweat proof makeup please let me know! Once we were done we needed a refreshing drink. You guessed it, ice green tea please! Then it was back to my house. I was hosting "the worst book club ever". I made pasta salad & everyone else brought stuff. We had a sandwich tray from Subway, fruit, leftover wedding cake & chips. Not great for the diet but it was fun. We ate & hung out in the pool.

After book club, Vicki & I were going out to dinner & to see Crazy, Stupid, Love. We went to La Caretta & then to the theater. Our plan was to see the 7:15 feature. Yeh, well, we couldn't even get in the parking lot so we decided to go down the street for the 7:40 feature. EPIC FAIL. The line was a mile long & it was very close to 7:40. We weren't too worried because you know they show 20 mins. of previews. It's FINALLY our turn. SOLD OUT. Seriously? How hard is it to make an announcement as to which movies are sold out or mark it on the sign. Who knows how much time we would've saved. We tried to get tickets to The Help. Also, sold out. So annoying. We went to Starbucks. This is becoming a serious problem I think. At this point it was 3 days in a row & twice in one day. We went to Borders & picked up a couple of books. We also went to Ulta. I've heard a lot about the Macadamia Hair Mask & I wanted to try it. They were sold out of the big container so I got a sample size.

I also bought this conditioner.

I've heard some people talk about how much they like it. I'll try both & decide which one I like the best.

Sunday, Allison & I were supposed to walk the lakes again but Allison had a late night Sat. so we didn't. I'd set my clock to make sure I didn't oversleep before I knew we weren't walking. I woke up & the clock said 8:15. We were meeting at 8:00. I jumped out of bed & grabbed my phone so I could let her know what was going on. That's when I saw her text & noticed that it was 4:15 AM. Apparently, I did something wrong!! HA! Needless to say it was difficult to get back to sleep.

Since we didn't get to see the movie Saturday night we decided to try again Sunday. Allison met Vicki & I & we were able to get tickets & being that there is a Starbuck's right there I got a green tea to bring in the movie. 

It was really good. I liked it a lot. It was funnier than I was expecting.

Today, I'm exhausted. I didn't sleep good at all last night. I don't know if it's nerves from being home alone or my subconscious thinking about screwing up the alarm clock & being late for work or what. I was awake a zillion times last night so that leads to waking up with a headache. Today is day 2 of C25K. I expect to be in bed EARLY tonight. Surely, as exhausted as I am, combined with the run I'll be able to sleep.

Toodles!

Something Borrowed

Saturday was a crazy day. Not in a bad way though. It started out with a 3.5 mi. walk with Allison. The weather was great & it wasn't  too unbearably hot. After the walk it was home to shower & get dressed. I was meeting  Allison, Wendy & Jennifer at the movies to see Something Borrowed. I love Emily Giffins books but the Something Borrowed/Something Blue series is my favorite. We've been waiting for this movie to come out for a really long time. On the way to the movies I stopped & picked up Mother's Day gifts. Yes, I know I waited until the last minute but I've known what I was getting & I knew that the stores were on  my way to the movies.  The movie was great!! It's been several years since I read the book so I don't remember everything that happened but the movie seemed to follow the book really well. I plan to read it again soon. I generally like to see the movie before I read the book. That way I'm not disappointed in either. I definitely recommend the movie. Even if you haven't read the book it's great. I hope Something Blue comes out fairly quickly.  After the movie I was off to the mall to pick up a graduation gift. Then I headed to Vicki's house for our book club get together. As usual there was tons of good food. I tried to refrain but the little pinwheels get me every time. Then Vicki made this blackberry cobbler stuff that was really good & she had cake balls. I thought I'd be able to resist the cake balls. They seem to be all the rage around here & to me they're just ok. Well, someone was eating a chocolate one & she commented that they weren't like cake balls she'd had before & that there was a lot of icing. Here we go. I have a thing about icing. I LOVE IT! I can't ever have too much. Now, not just any icing. Butter cream icing is THE BEST! If I go somewhere that has cake & it has that whipped icing I'm really disappointed. Vicki bought chocolate ones & "white" ones at the bakery. I tried a white one. O.M.G.!!!!! It was like a little ball of wedding cake! ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS!!!! I ended up having 2. That doesn't bode well for losing that pound I gained last week but I couldn't help it. As usual we spent more time talking about other stuff than we did talking about books! HA! We spent a lot of time demonstrating Yogalates moves & talking about the movie.

Toodles!

Want to read??

I know everyone is in the whole resolution mind frame but I'm not. Not that I don't have about a million and one things I NEED to do this year but I know me & I know saying I have a resolution doesn't mean a thing. I've had them in previous years & it's always been a colossal fail. Except maybe 2003 when we got married & I wanted to lose weight. Between having all 4 of my wisdom teeth out & stress I was the thinnest I've ever been & it wasn't difficult, but I digress. Anyway, no resolutions, just a "to do list". I do better with a list.  I have lots of house stuff on it & I'd like to read more books. My good friend Wendy started a book club a couple of years ago. This is Wendy & her oh so adorable baby, Miss Emily.

How cute is that flower?? I found that the day I went to Market. I also got her an adorable little hat. Can't wait to see a pic of her wearing it.

Too cute! Anyway, back to the book club. You may remember it, "The Worst Book Club Ever" as dubbed by Andrea after attending one of our get togethers. We don't talk a whole lot about books & we don't all read the same book.  Shockingly, the book club is still in existence. Probably because of the reasons we're the worst book club ever! Anyway, the first year the goal was for everyone to read 50 books. No problem. Well, for me anyway. I read  almost 100. In 2010 it was decided that everyone would set their own goal. Mine stayed at 50 since I'd far exceeded that the previous year. Well, due to lots of different factors, mainly Words With Friends & reading blogs, I did not meet my goal. I really enjoy reading & now I have a Nook which I completely & totally LOVE & I also have several bags o' books from Mrs. Joyce (my MIL). I've come up with a system to enjoy both. When I'm at home, I'll read the actual books & when I'm away from home (work, car, etc.) I'll read my Nook. At least until I can get through some of the stacks of books which will help me on another item on the to do list, de-clutter! The only time things will be different is when I have a book loaned to me from the Nook & that's because you have 14 days to read it. The Nook is so great for traveling or just to keep in your purse for anytime you find yourself waiting. So, why am I telling you all this you ask? Like I said, I know everyone is making resolutions & goals for the year & if one of those is to read more books I have a series that you might enjoy. The High Heel Series! Good friend Wendy turned me on to this series. Thanks Wendy! These books are too funny, even though they're mysteries & someone seems to always end up dead. They're a lot like the Stephanie Plum series written by Janet Evanovich except Maddie has much more fashion sense than Stephanie. She's a shoe designer! Gemma Halliday is the author. I've read some background on her & she was an actress before she became a writer. She didn't make it big time but she's been in a couple of movies that I've seen. Another plus is these books are only $3.99 on the Nook & they're lendable. This is working out great for Wendy & I. She buys a book & lends to me & I buy a book & lend to her. I finished the 3rd book yesterday. BTW, this weekend had to be the laziest weekend I've ever had. I didn't feel so great. This merry go round weather is killing my sinuses. Anyway, I laid around & read pretty much the whole weekend.  It was positively glorious!

What else is on my "to do list"? House stuff mainly. I'm also going to attempt to cut back on my Dr. Pepper intake. I say that as I sip on my 32 oz. D.P. from lunch. I was at Sam's & it was .87. I couldn't resist!

Toodles!

The Evil Genius

Saturday morning Allison, Cael & my mom came to swim. It was really hot & the water was soooo great!  It was actually a little chilly when we first got in. That's unbelievable being that it hasn't been cooler than 97 this week. Cael had a great time!

I don't know how many times he jumped off the side. Sometimes with floaties, sometimes without. He wanted us to catch him. After the first few times of that we figured out to back up when he jumped so we wouldn't be injured! He'd go under, come up & say "I don't want to go under" & then do it all again. It was hilarious!!! Unfortunately, we didn't figure things out soon enough & I have a bruise that's a lovely shade of purple on my stomach & my arms are killing me from all of the catching!

Finally, he let us take a break & he played with Dean. They took turns throwing the diving sticks & going to get them. Here's Cael giving Dean instructions.

Cael was worn out. When we got out of the pool he asked us for a "soft place to sleep"!!!

Last night Wendy hosted "The worst book club ever". We certainly didn't do anything to dispel this name. At one point we were all playing Words With Friends with each other on our iPhones. We pretty much laugh & eat the entire time. It's sooo much fun!!!When Brea said that we're "kind of unconventional. We all read what we want & talk about everything besides what we've read!!" she nailed it. Last night we spent a lot of time talking about Andrea's unconventional engagement, something called "Uncrustables" that I'd never heard of & the "Evil Genius" that is Andrea. Notice a pattern here? Andrea is right in the middle of it all! I can honestly say she's the funniest person I know. This was Allison's reaction to something Andrea said.

 She's going to KILL me for posting this picture BUT it'll be worth it. It's a fantastic picture!

Toodles!!

It's Relevant Cause I Don't Know

Today was another good start to the weekend. I had lunch with my friends at work Stan & Aaron at The Chimes. I've been craving crab cakes for several weeks & I was finally able to have them today. They were soooo good. Being Catholic in the South is never a sacrifice during Lent!!

After work I went to the mall. I need to pick up something for Logan for Easter. I can't show it here because his mom reads the blog & lets face it, he's 10 mos. old so it's as much a gift for mama as it is for Logan. I had some coupons for Penney's so I went to see what I could find. I got this cute Liz Claiborne top.

The color doesn't show up very good in the picture but it's purple. I can wear it to work or I can wear it with shorts or jeans. Very versatile. Regular price was $36 & by the time I used my coupons I got it for $16. I don't remember what brand this one is.

I think it's just a store brand but I thought it was so cute with the embellishments on the shoulders. It's a pretty blue coloer. This one was regular $30 & I got it for $10.50. Not a bad deal.

I went to Borders & picked up a couple of books. Once again I had a coupon, Border bucks & a gift card! After my shopping trip I was off to the big city of Watson for our book club get together. Watson is kinda far out but from the mall I'd say it's a 30 min. drive. Well, on a Friday evening it turns out to be an hour & 15 min. drive. Needless to say I was late. Lucky for me we're the worst book club ever so it doesn't matter. We had lots of good food, crab dip, cheese & these fabulous little pinwheels. I'd eaten two when I realized that what I was eating wasn't seafood. Yeh, it was bacon & ham. Hmmm. I didn't eat anymore & figured it was ok since I didn't realize what I was eating.

As usual getting together with this group leads to a lot of laughs. Like a whole lot. I think I laughed off all the calories I consumed. We did talk about books but somehow we always get off track. I'm not sure how it happens. We always start off so well & then BOOM! Someone is talking about "being Jewish or just Jew-ish?", someone else is commenting about someone being prettier from "the head up", someone says they "want to kill Nicholas Sparks because his books make you cry & cry & then drink because you've cried so much" & yes, someone did utter the phrase "It's Relevant Cause I don't Know". The next thing you know people are being recruited for a Yoga class. Very weird but very fun! This is Adrienne & Brea.

 This is me & Andrea. She's the funniest person I know & I would love to be her in my next life. You cannot be around Andrea without laughing yourself into a stupor. HI-LARIOUS!!!!!!

Here's a picture of Wendy. She has 3 weeks left until we all get to meet little Emily Hope. In the last 2 weeks Wendy all of sudden looks pregnant. Her entire pregnancy she hasn't looked but a teensy bit preggo & now look! It's the weirdest thing. She's very excited!

I'm going to bed now. I get to see Logan in the morning!!!

Nite Nite!