Savor the Small Things

Feather Wreath

2011-10-13T16:06:00.001-04:00

Y'all. Look at this wreath. Is it not so pretty??? I was browsing the West Elm website and came across this gorgeous feather wreath and it's only $19! I know Christmas is still a solid 2+ months away, but I already can't wait to decorate for the holidays. This puppy is going to take center stage and will be hung with some pretty ribbon on the mirror over my fireplace. Who knows, I may even dress it up by pinning a little cluster of holly leaves or something on it.

I already can't wait for this to show up on my doorstep, and I know it's going to take all I have not to hang it up now. I love that it's something I'll be able to leave up through the winter and not a decoration I have to pack away with the ornaments and stockings.

Here's some other wreaths hanging on mirrors that I think are pretty.

via

I kind of want to make one of the ball wreaths for the front door - I just may have to add that to my fall DIY list.

I know I'm crazy for already thinking about Christmas decorating...but seriously...I love Christmas more than I love chocolate. And that's saying a lot.

Anyone else looking forward to Christmas decorating already??

Tasty Tuesday: Skillet Lasagna

2011-10-04T11:06:00.000-04:00

{via}

I'm a lasagna nut; it's been one of my favorite foods since I was a little girl. But a real lasagna takes so much time and effort to make! I found a recipe for skillet lasagna and made it for the first time last night. It was delish! I modified the original recipe slightly, since cottage cheese scares me, so the recipe below is my slightly modified and oh-so-yummy version!

Ingredients:

1 lb lean ground beef
1 small onion (chopped)
3 Cloves Garlic (minced)
1 can diced tomatoes (undrained)
1-1/4 cup water
1 cup tomato sauce
1 tbsp dried parsley flakes
1 tsp dried basil leaves
1 tsp dried oregano leaves
1 tsp salt
2-1/2 cup noodles (you can either break up lasagna noodles, or use penne like I did)
1 cup skim ricotta cheese
1/4 cup fat free grated Parmesan cheese
Dash Basil and Pepper (optional)
1 egg
Shredded fat free mozzarella cheese for garnish

Directions:
In a large skillet, brown beef with onions and garlic. Drain. Add tomatoes, water, tomato sauce, parsley, basil, oregano, and salt. Stir in uncooked pasta. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes or until pasta is tender.

Combine ricotta and Parmesan cheeses in a bowl. Mix in the egg. Sprinkle in basil and pepper to taste.

Drop cheese mixture by rounded tablespoons onto pasta mixture. Cover and cook for 5 minutes more. Sprinkle with shredded mozzarella and serve.

Number of Servings: 6

Enjoy!

Insert "Corn"y Joke Here

2011-10-03T07:30:00.000-04:00

Fall has definitely arrived in North Carolina and I, for one, am so glad it's here! The weather was G-O-R-G-E-O-U-S this weekend - you couldn't ask for a better first day of October! Perfect for that corn maze I was so excited about :)

Let me begin by reporting that adults were not allowed in the bounce house. Major disappointment for me...but probably for the best!

This picture looks like we were way out in the country, but the maze was actually just outside of Raleigh.

We passed this sign in the maze (several times) and it cracked me up so I had to get a picture.

There were ten numbered spots in the maze that you were supposed to try to find...we found seven of them before calling it a day.

Yep. That's (a lot of) corn behind us...

On the way home from the corn maze, we stopped at the pumpkin patch near the house and got some great pumpkins and gourds for fall decorating. Pictures to come this week! When we were loading the trunk with the loot, a bus pulled up and it was a bride and groom and their wedding party! They had stopped to take pictures at the pumpkin patch on the way to the reception - how fun is that for a fall wedding??

Weekender

2011-09-30T07:30:00.000-04:00

This weekend is one of the only ones this fall where I won't be a) going to a wedding, b) going to a UNC football game or c) hosting friends in town. I'm looking forward to having a fun fall, but the weekends are going to be go-go-go!

I'm going to take advantage of this non-booked weekend and enjoy some downtime.

Saturday will of course be filled with watching some college football. LSU plays Kentucky at 12:20, and UNC is at East Carolina at 8pm.

I bought a Groupon last week for a corn maze, so we're going to do that on Saturday afternoon between football games! I did one several years back and had a good time - it's a fun fall activity, and they have other stuff to do too (hayrides, pumpkin patch etc.). The weather is supposed to cool off (finally) and be in the 60s so it will be perfect for something like this!

The best part is it was only ten bucks for two people with the Groupon! Wait, scratch that. The best part is they have a bounce house. Please oh PLEASE let adults be allowed to jump. That would seriously make my day. (And would probably land me in the hospital with a broken arm. But whatever.)

I also want to get my fall decorating done! There's a great pumpkin patch just down the road that has all sorts of unusual pumpkins, gourds and other fall decorating goodness, so I plan on stopping there this weekend to load up on some decor. Pictures to come next week!

Do you have anything fun planned for your weekend?

Scents for Fall

2011-09-28T07:30:00.000-04:00

As the days start to cool off, I'm beginning to think about fall wardrobes and accessories. While technically not an accessory, a good perfume can definitely step up your presentation a notch! My absolute favorite is Vera Wang Sheer Veil, but it's a very light scent.

It's great for spring and summer, but I'm looking for something that's not quite as floral and fresh for the fall and winter. I always have the hardest time picking out new scents! What are your favorites for fall that I should try out?

Tasty Tuesday: Pumpkin Spice Bread

2011-09-27T07:59:00.001-04:00

One of my favorite things about fall is the flavors! Pumpkin, in particular...simply deeeelish.

I made this Pumpkin Spice Bread over the weekend and brought a loaf to some friends we visited in Greensboro who were kind enough to have us over to watch football before going to a wedding Saturday night. The other loaf I kept, and let me tell you, it is some kind of good.

Pumpkin Spice Bread

Ingredients:

1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree (make sure you don't accidentally pick up canned pumpkin pie mix!)
4 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup applesauce (sweetened)
2/3 cup water
2 cups white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour three 7x3 inch loaf pans.
In a large bowl, mix together pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, applesauce, water and sugar until well blended. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger. Stir the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture until just blended. Pour into the prepared pans.
Bake for about an hour. Loaves are done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Makes (2) 8x4" or (3) 7x3" loafs - or you can make muffins instead!

I'm linking up again today to Neely and Amber's Fabulous Fall Challenge. Their Fall Recipes topic for today fits perfectly with my Tasty Tuesday theme!

Enjoy!

Fall TV Lineup

2011-09-26T09:20:00.000-04:00

I'm linking up today to Neely and Amber's Fabulous Fall Challenge! The topic is Fall TV. I'm excited about all of the goodness that is this fall's TV lineup. I love always having something new to watch on my DVR list! This fall I'll be watching some old standbys and trying out some new shows as well.

Oldies but goodies:

Modern Family: Love, love, love this show. Cam and Mitchell are my favorites, they always have me rolling on the floor laughing. Last week's (two!) season premiere episodes were no exception.

Parenthood: I started watching this show last season because my parents watch it (ironic, right?), and love it. I think Erika Christensen is great. She just seems real.

New shows I'm going to try out:

Up All Night: I watched the pilot last week and thought it was a keeper. Will Arnett and Christina Applegate are hilarious together.

New Girl: Saw the pilot for this one too last week and decided I'll keep on watching. I think Zooey Deschanel is adorable. A lot of fluff, but hey, sometimes that's what TV is for right?

Whitney: Looks like it could be entertaining?

Suburgatory: I know, I know. It's ridiculous that I want to watch this. It premieres Wednesday so I'll make the call on whether or not it keeps a DVR spot or not after that.

What's on your fall lineup? Anything I'm missing?

Fall is for Football

2011-09-25T15:39:00.002-04:00

You know fall is underway when football season is in full swing.

My LSU Tigers played an awesome game last night against WVU - they just might earn themselves a #1 ranking after last night, but even if they stay at #2 for now, well...I suppose I can live with that.

Source

Unfortunately the Tar Heels didn't fare so well...they hung in there but ended up losing to GA Tech. Oh well. You win some, you lose some.

Source

Who's your favorite college team to pull for?

Fall Reading Challenge

2011-09-23T09:16:00.000-04:00

I participated in a fall reading challenge a couple years back over at Callapidder Days, and thought I would participate again this year to help hold myself accountable to some the books on my to-be-read list!

Below is the list of books I'd like to read this fall - the challenge runs September 23rd - December 21st, so I have about three months to get 'er done. I'm going to stick to what is actually reasonable for me...I could list about a hundred books I want to read (and, after clearing the shelves at a Borders going out of business sale a couple months back, I have a to-be-read stack that's about as tall as me). But, I've got lots going on this fall (trips...weddings...football games...countless DIY projects), so in the interest of having a life AND getting in some good reading, I'm keeping it manageable :) If I had a beach vacation coming up, I'd whiz through all of these in a matter of days, but sadly, sun, sand and nothing else to do just isn't on the fall agenda.

Hopefully I'll be able to make it through these, and if I find I have more time on my hands than I thought and get through them all, I will update my challenge and add more books! Be sure to check out the other participants in the challenge, it's a great way to find out some new books to add to your reading list!

The Joy Luck Club / Amy Tan - I've wanted to read this one for years, and finally picked it up when the local Borders store closed a few months ago.
Water for Elephants / Sara Gruen - Will definitely have to see the movie after I finish the book!
The Ragamuffin Gospel / Brennan Manning - I heard about this one from someone at my church, and it is supposed to be a great one - we're all ragamuffins and anyone who says they aren't is straight up lying.
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan / Lisa See - This is another one I've been wanting to read for years and finally got around to buying at the Borders clearance.
The Girl Who Played with Fire / Stieg Larsson - I read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo for my book club earlier this year, and want to finish the trilogy (this is the second book in the series).

As I finish the books, I'll be posting updates!

What's on your nightstand right now?

SUYL: Favorite Places to Shop

2011-09-23T00:24:00.000-04:00

Today's SUYL over at Kelly's Korner is favorite places to shop. Give me a million dollars, and I'm going to want to spend it on home stuff, not clothes. But hey, I can't go around naked so a girl's gotta have some clothes too.

My job is very casual (I wore shorts and flip flops most of the summer, and I was the most dressed up person in the office on most days), which is great, but it gives me little incentive to look stellar during the week.

Ann Taylor Loft is always a go-to for me, both for work and play clothes. They have stylish clothes that aren't too trendy (let's face it, I'm not a style trendsetter), and are reasonably priced, especially if you use one of the coupons they're always offering.

I also am a fan of Target - I wore this dress to a wedding at the beach last weekend:

I also like Gap and Old Navy (though they are hit or miss, both with finding cute stuff, as well as with quality). I like the no-button cardigans in the fall, like this one from Gap.

A new boutique called the Clothes Hound just opened up down the street from me; they've been online for awhile and this is their first actual store. I went in and bought a couple dresses last weekend, and am excited to wear them! Most everything in the store is under $150, and the dresses I got were about half that - isn't this one cute? (I'm not trendy enough to wear one sleeve out though...I'll have both arms covered up!)

If I'm in the market for a great classic party dress, White House Black Market never lets me down. A good pair of jeans - Nordstrom. There are some things you just can't skimp on.

Just a couple weeks ago, I stumbled on a local "designer resale boutique" and ended up finding a like-new pair of Seven jeans for fifty bucks. I've never bought any clothes from a consignment store before and always sort of turned my nose up at the thought, but this place may have me converted - they had all sorts of high-end stuff in great condition at really good prices. I'll definitely be paying them a visit again.

What about you? What are your favorite places to shop?

Stripe Colors Picked!

2011-05-04T21:03:00.002-04:00

I went to the paint store on Monday to get a few sample cans of paint before embarking on my downstairs half bathroom striping project.

I am not one of those people who can just hold up a few paint chips and pick a color. I have to actually see the paint on the wall. Which means I have a plethora of paint samples in my garage (do you think I could sell these on Craigslist??). The fact that I only bought four sample cans for this room that requires two colors has to be some kind of record.

Anyway, the winners are...

Benjamin Moore Cloud Nine

Benjamin Moore Seashell

They're both in the same paint color family; Cloud Nine is a shade lighter than Seashell and I think they will complement each subtly, but nicely. Cloud Nine looks pinkish in the MyPerfectColor picture above, but it's really just a nice cream.

I've been doing some prep work tonight - I took down the mirror, towel racks and random two stick toilet paper holders (Seriously, who does that? Don't they realize this type of holder goes sideways!??) and have been working on spackling the holes and sanding down imperfections.

I'll head to the store tomorrow at lunch to buy my paint, and tomorrow night hope to get the base coat on and maybe if I'm lucky, get the stripes taped. That will definitely be the hardest part of this project!

I'm excited to get this small but important room finished!

Shoe Bargain

2011-05-03T09:34:00.001-04:00

Last week, I was cruising Target last week looking for some inexpensive cute shoes to wear to the wedding I went to this past weekend. Sadly, I had no success on the wedding shoe search, but I did stumble across these adorable shoes on clearance for only $5.74. That's right...less than six bucks!

They're still full price on Target's website, but a whole pile of them were on clearance in my store.

I love the slight wedge - the hint of elevation is flattering for the legs, and they make my feet look dainty! I got a black and a cream pair (I think the cream will look great with jeans for a crisp spring look). I love the blue and red, too - and they also have yellow and pewter!

Beware...they do run a little small; I'd recommend getting a 1/2 size bigger than you normally wear.

Anyone found a good fashion bargain lately?

Wedding Weekend

2011-05-02T18:34:00.000-04:00

I attended two weddings this weekend - one for British royalty, and one for my beautiful commoner friend who looked every bit the princess as Kate. I honestly had not gotten into the whole Royal Wedding hype - I didn't obsessively watch every Will and Kate special on TV, I didn't care what she wore - heck, I actually thought the wedding was on Saturday. But then, on Thursday night, some friends started exchanging e-mails about the wedding, and I began to think that it was maybe something I should pay some attention to (once I found out it was on Friday, not Saturday...).

I got up Friday morning and turned on the TV at 6am, right as Kate was getting ready to walk down the aisle (perfect timing!). And let me say...she looked beautiful. I absolutely loved her dress - I thought it was such a timeless look.

My favorite Royal Wedding moments:

When Harry turned around before William to see Kate coming down the aisle.
William telling Kate she looked beautiful after she finished the loooooong walk down the aisle
The hymns - beautiful music choices
Kate saying "Oh wow" when they first stepped out of the balcony at Buckingham Palace
Two smooches on the balcony

I went down to Charlotte this weekend to see my beautiful friend, Day, get married. What an amazing weekend! Day and I have been friends since middle school. A handful of my closest friends from growing up were at the wedding and it was so fun to all be together again since we're now scattered across three states. This is a picture of two of my amazing friends before leaving for the wedding. It felt like prom, all of us getting dressed up and having one of our parents take pictures! One of our other friends, Leigh, was a bridesmaid, so I got to be her boyfriend's date to the ceremony, ha!

Day was a stunning bride - absolutely radiant. She was smiling so big during the ceremony that she could barely get the words out. I was an idiot and didn't take any pictures at the actual wedding, but I did get one of all of us with the bride at the rehearsal reception on Friday night. I love these girls so much!

Have a great week!

(Fern)tastic

2011-04-28T23:52:00.000-04:00

Since the day I moved in, my mom has been eyeing the fake hanging plants on my front porch that the old owners didn't take with them (I wonder why?) Quite honestly, while I did agree that they were rather ugly and also hung way too high, it didn't bother me all that much. I mean...I've lived here almost four months and just now have gotten around to taking them down and replacing them with something a bit more aesthetically pleasing.

I scooted over to Lowe's today at lunch and picked up a couple of Boston Ferns for $9.97 a pop. I spy a curious kitty inspecting the new greens...

I did a quick dismantle of the old baskets and chucked the fakes in the trash. Thankfully, the hooks already installed were heavy-duty enough to hold my ferns, so that made things easy. I did take off the S-hook and chains from the old hanging baskets to use to attach to hooks on my plants, which makes them hang at an appropriate length. I hung them up, did a little trimming and fluffing, and I was done!

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Mom will be happy!

The Walls...Came Tumbling Down

2011-04-27T20:42:00.000-04:00

Well, not the walls, technically. It was actually the ceilings. But Def Leppard sang about walls tumbling down, so that's what I'm going with. When I was house-hunting, I had only one major criteria that had to be met: NO POPCORN CEILINGS. I hate them. They are my nemesis. I know they don't offend ~~some~~ most people, but for me, they are just u-g-l-y and icky and date a house. But guess what. I went and bought a house that had popcorn ceilings. And they had. to. come. down. Unfortunately, I don't have a great before photo. Bad blogger, I know. But just imagine a ceiling looking more pimply than a thirteen year old boy.

For anyone who has ever tackled popcorn ceiling removal, you know it is one of the messiest projects on the planet. If you haven't tackled it, allow me to tell you. It is one of the messiest projects on the planet. Because of this, it's something that is much easier to do when there is no furniture in a room than when all of your stuff is settled. So, being that I was moving into a new (to me) house, I had a small window of time in which I could go crazy and make a mess without having to worry about my belongings getting dirty.

If you're not familiar with how popcorn ceilings are removed, it goes a little something like this:

Wet the entire ceiling. Not delicately dampen it. Soak it.
Using a scraper, gently scrape the gooey wet texture off the ceiling. It should come off in sheets as you scrape against the sheet rock.
Find out there are all kinds of imperfections in the ceiling sheet rock that need to be spackled smooth.
Spackle. Let dry.
Sand. Sand. Sand. Create the biggest dust storm imaginable. In your house. (Wear a mask!) - Note: if your house was built in the 1970s or earlier, have a sample tested for asbestos before you start bringing down the ceilings.
Prime. Paint.
Bask in the glory of smooth ceilings.

After forking out a lot of dough at closing, the last thing I wanted to do was spend another small fortune on getting popcorn ceilings removed. But remember, I loathe them. With every fiber of my being. They absolutely had to go - there was no way I could live there with those ceilings hanging over my head.

The day after I closed, I had a couple of companies come out to give me quotes (a lot of painting companies do popcorn / textured ceiling removal). I nearly had a heart attack at the estimates they gave me. Then I had about an hour of insanity where I thought, I can do this! It's not that hard! Aaaaand then I came to my senses. I decided if I wanted it done before I moved in, I had to pay someone to do it. It's do-able as a DIY project, but not with my timelines. I went with a company who had a lot of experience doing the removal (you want to make sure you work with a good company, because you really don't know what you're going to find under the popcorn and you want to make sure they will know what to do, no matter what they find hiding underneath the texture.)

Here's a poor quality shot that I snapped with my phone one night after the workers had left for the day and I was checking out the progress. You can see that the ceilings are down and the sheet rock and joint tape are exposed. Excuse the freaky shadows cast by the ceiling fan.

Even with a team of professionals, it still took about three and a half days to get everything done. It was the biggest mess imaginable - it looked like a crime scene. There was plastic covering all of the floors and walls, and I am STILL (three months later) cleaning up dust. Being a DIY girl, I really hated to pay someone to do a project that I theoretically could do. But in reality, it just wasn't something I could get done with my timelines. So I paid a pretty penny. But it was worth it. Sooooooo worth it. Look at these beauties (this is the tray ceiling in the master bedroom - you're looking at four separate ceiling surfaces in this picture).

I could lick them.

Stripe Inspiration

2011-04-25T12:59:00.000-04:00

I've been contemplating what I want to do with my downstairs half-bath. It's so drab and builder-blah right now. I don't even have a good picture, but imagine basic white walls, boring fixtures, and a standard unframed mirror above the pedestal sink.

Lately I've been loving the stripes look:

Young House Love

Apartment Therapy

I think if I decide to do stripes, I'll do a cream-on-cream, kind of like the Young House Love pic above. Subtle, but gorgeous. Maybe I'll get some paint samples this week...

The Great Exchange

2011-04-24T11:46:00.000-04:00

My sin. His holiness.

My sorrow. His joy.

My works. His grace.

My shame. His glory.

My wounds. His scars.

My selfishness. His kindness.

My pride. His humility.

My self-righteousness. His gift of righteousness.

My rebellion. His obedience.

My clenched fist. His open hand.

My wandering. His seeking.

My running. His pursuit.

My failed attempts. His finished work.
My brokenness. His healing.

His death.

My life.

His resurrection.

My eternity.

Borrowed from here.

He is Risen! Happy Easter!

Happy Earth Day!

2011-04-22T14:30:00.001-04:00

I will be the first to say, I am not as "green" as I should be. It's something I'd like to work on though. Don't tell anyone, but I didn't even recycle when I lived in my apartment. Since I've moved into my house, I have started recycling, which at least is a small step. Having a bin in my garage makes it easy.

One product I do use, which I love because they're not only eco-friendly, but stylish too, are these cute reusable shopping bags called hotSACKS. I sometimes get funny questions from the cashiers and baggers about the "hotSACKS" name, but everyone seems to think they're fun. Way better than the boring ones you can buy at the grocery store!

Something I'd like to look into is a rain barrel, now that I have a house and a yard. I'd love to start a little vegetable garden, and am wanting to do some flowers in the front yard. A rain barrel would be great for watering! Young House Love did a post today on rain barrels, and it has inspired me!

Happy Earth Day!

House Tour

2011-04-21T16:30:00.001-04:00

It's time for a little house tour! All of these pictures were taken before I moved in, when the house was empty except for a few hideous staging pieces (we actually had to call the seller's agent on closing day when we did the walk-thru to tell them to come get their junk out of the house...they had completely forgotten about it!). I've already made lots of changes, which I'll share piece by piece in further posts.

On with the tour!

Here's the front door and little porch. Don't you love the fake-leaf wreath with a random ribbon hanging on it they had on the door, as well as the fake hanging and potted plants?

The front door opens into the living room. This was somewhere that I had to make a little compromise - I wanted a true entryway / foyer, but some things you just have to let go. I've been able to sort of section off the living room area with furniture, so there is at least a defined entry space. Pictures to come :) The living room runs across the front of the house. I love how much light this room gets during the day. Note: the walls are no longer green!

Behind the living room, along the back of the house is the kitchen and dining room. It's not a formal dining room, but it's a little more than an eat-in kitchen. The kitchen is a little smaller than I'd have ideally liked, but it's plenty sufficient, and it's open so doesn't feel too small. (And again...the mustard yellow is already gone, and those "accent pieces" are all (awful) staging items.) The whole downstairs is hardwood, which I love!

Next to the kitchen is the dining "room", which also connects to the living room. There's a sliding glass door that leads out onto the deck. Don't be too jealous of those gorgeous curtains I inherited.

Off behind the kitchen is the pantry, powder room and laundry room. I'm excited to have an actual laundry room, and not just a dinky closet! I've got big plans for updates to that space.

The laundry room opens out to the two-car garage. The previous owners put random shelves, hooks and odd posters all over the place in the garage! So strange.

Now...up the stairs. At the top of the stairs, there's a split. To the right is the bonus room. Right now, this room is the place where all of the odds and ends that haven't found their home currently live. There's no furniture in there. It's also where the kitties do their biz-ness, so it's out of the way. The plan for this room is to make it a space where I can do all sorts of fun DIY projects. I want to get a big table in there so I can have a good work space. Maybe getting this room done will inspire me to break out the sewing machine I just had to have for Christmas two years ago, but have never used.

At the top of the stairs to the left are the bedrooms. Out of the three bedrooms, two have gotten paint makeovers already, the one that I'm using as a guest room and the one that I'm using as an office / library. The master bedroom is below, and it will be getting a color makeover in the very near future. I love the tray ceiling! It looks out over the backyard.

And the master bath with walk-in closet, double vanity, and a separate tub / shower...

The other two bedrooms (i.e. guest room / office) aren't too exciting pre move-in and look pretty much the same - although the guest room does have a lovely pastel child's fan :)

There's a bathroom for the two extra bedrooms to share, and a linen closet in the hallway.

Here's a (not so great) shot of the backyard - it's not huge, but that's fine with me, because the lawn service = ME. Before I moved in, I'd never used a lawn mower in my life (that's was a brother chore!). Thankfully, my sweet dad gave me his old lawn mower, which is still in great shape, since after my brother went to college, he decided it was time for a lawn service and hasn't used the lawn mower since! I have a small deck, and one day would love to build out some sort of patio behind the house, so there's more space for entertaining. I've already done a bit of work in the back clearing out some of the brush in the island, but it's an area where there's still a lot of work to do (again...the random furniture and accents were 'staging' pieces).

And last but not least, one more shot of the front. You can see I'll have my hands full here too with the landscaping on the front of the house, which needs some work and pretty colors! Ick.

That's it for the pre-move-in house tour! I'll be doing individual posts for each room, so you can see everything I've done so far.

It's almost Friday...yay!

Home Sweet Home!

2011-04-19T21:55:00.002-04:00

I finally finished the house search! On December 28^th, I closed on my very first house, and I moved in on January 6^th! After seven long months of looking (I started the house hunt way back in March 2010: see this post), I found a place in Raleigh in October and put in an offer. After a long weekend of going back and forth with the sellers (who didn’t speak much English, and had already moved to California at the time they put the house on the market), the house was mine! I love it. I hated house hunting, but the search was so worth it.

The house was in the same neighborhood as another house that I had looked at earlier in my search. I really liked the neighborhood when I first saw it, but for various reasons didn't love the other house. So, I was keeping my eyes open for other listings in the neighborhood. I initially overlooked this house because it was listed as a 4BR. Um, hello...it's just me. I don't need four bedrooms (do I even need three?)! One day, I was talking to a co-worker about it and he said, "So...you're telling me there's a house you like, in a neighborhood you like, that is within your price range, and you're not going to consider it because it has TOO MANY BEDROOMS????" With my tail between my legs, I made an appointment with my (very patient) realtor to take a look, and ended up deciding that it was the one. At this point in the search, I honestly was so over the house hunt that it was almost a "yeah...whatever, sure, this one will do". Not to say that I didn't love it, but I got my heart crushed over another house that I let myself fall in love with, only to have it snatched out from under me by a sneaky buyer during the negotiation process. Ever since that incident, I told myself that I absolutely would not let myself get emotionally attached to another house until AFTER I was under contract. So, I didn't! (But now, I'm attached!)

For the record - when we went and looked at the house (well, really when I just took a closer look at the listing), I realized that it wasn't really a four bedroom house...it was three bedrooms plus a bonus room, which they could technically count as a bedroom since it has a closet. For most buyers, a fourth bedroom is a positive, but for me, it was a negative since four bedrooms is WAY more than I need. Even though it has three bedrooms and a bonus room, it's not huge - right around 1700 sq ft., which is perfect for me.

I'll do another post this week with a pictures of the inside. Lots of changes have already happened, so I’m excited to share those DIY projects! Let me just say…I have been a painting FOOL. I’ve painted the living room, dining room, kitchen, guest room and office already – all. by. myself. And before you go thinking I have no friends or family who will help me, know that’s not the case! I am just SUPER anal about painting and would prefer to do it myself, so any imperfections are my fault. How snotty, I know. But if I mess up (which…I’ve definitely had some oopsies), I know it’s all me and I can’t blame anyone but myself. And, I actually enjoy painting. I tell people this and they can’t believe how anyone could actually enjoy painting. Call it an illness, I don't know. But I love to paint!

To the very few kind souls out there who follow my blog, even though I consistently let updating it fall off my radar...thanks for hanging on. I say it every time I come back after a reeeeeally long break, but I really do hope to keep up with posting, especially now that I have a lot of new blog topics, what with the million house projects on my to-do list!

Stay tuned for a tour of the inside!

21 Houses in 2 Days

2010-03-15T23:16:00.001-04:00

The house hunt is ON. I saw 21 houses over the weekend, and I have it narrowed down to 2 (both townhomes). They are in the same neighborhood and the same floorplan, just small things in each that are different. This is so hard. I'm going to visit the top 2 tomorrow afternoon back to back and I pray that God will steer me to the right one. I know I'd be happy in both, it's just a matter of choosing! My sweet mom came up this weekend to look with me, and it was so helpful to have here there as a second set of eyes - she also took about 400 pictures (ha!) over the 20+ houses, so I have great documentation of the details of each place, since after you look at 20 houses, they all start to blend together :)

So, I don't have too much to say at this point, other than I am beyond exhausted - house hunting is mentally, physically and emotionally draining.

Because of that, I'm going to BED!

I Heart Make-A-Wish

2010-03-13T08:33:00.000-05:00

Today’s Show Us Your Life theme over at Kelly’s Korner this week is favorite charities. My favorite charity is the Make-A-Wish Foundation. I’ve been volunteering for Make-A-Wish since last year, and it is such a fantastic organization. I wish I’d started volunteering a long time ago.

Make-A-Wish is a non-profit wish-granting organization that is recognized nationwide, but I feel like there that there are a number of misconceptions about the organization. I think the most common misconception is that the foundation grants the wishes only of terminally ill children. This can be the case – but not always. The criteria for a child being approved for a wish is that they must have (a physician-documented) life-threatening medical condition – i.e., a progressive, degenerative or malignant condition that has placed the child’s life in jeopardy. So, it does have to be a life-threatening condition, but not necessarily one where the child is terminally ill (does that make sense?). These kids and their families go through so much, and the Make-A-Wish Foundation is able to bring them a slice of joy in a world filled with frequent trips to doctors offices and hospitals and everything associated with those visits.

After a child has been referred to Make-A-Wish (this can be by a doctor, social worker, or even a parent), the foundation confirms their eligibility with the primary doctor of the child. Once a child has been determined to be eligible, a team of Wish Granters (that’s me!!) is assigned to work on the wish. The Wish Granters go out to meet the child and their family to learn about the child and find out their one true wish. Wishes fall into one of four categories:

I want to have…

I want to go…

I want to be…

I want to meet…

So, a child could want to have a puppy, go to Hawaii, be a fashion designer, or meet Brad Pitt…or anything else! Those are just some examples of what I would wish for :)

The Wish Granters capture the child’s wish, then relay it back to the local Make-A-Wish chapter. The chapter pulls everything together (makes travel plans, arranges for the celebrity meeting, whatever the wish may be), and then the Wish Granters get to ‘deliver’ the wish to the child. It’s such an awesome sight to see how happy these children (and their families) are when the wish is granted.

If you’re looking for an organization to donate either time or money to, I’d highly recommend you look up your local Make-A-Wish chapter and see how you can help. You’ll have fun while contributing to a great foundation!

New Kitchen Obsession

2010-03-11T20:35:00.001-05:00

I recently got the coolest kitchen accessory and just had to share! My mom gave me a "Rub-Away" stainless steel bar of "soap" that eliminates yucky food odors (like garlic, onions, fish, etc.) from your hands...and it totally works!

I tried it for the first time tonight after chopping up an onion for my beef stroganoff (I'll have to share this recipe for for a Tasty Tuesday post - love it). I have such a problem with my hands smelling like onion (or garlic) for DAYS after I chop the fresh stuff. No more with this little guy! You just "wash" your hands with this bar of "soap" and the odors are gone! Something about the ions neutralizing the odors when combined with water...I don't know. All I do know is that it works and I love it. And, it looks cute next to my sink! You should definitely try it out - worth the seven bucks (and no, I'm not getting paid for this post!)

Like my blog title says...it's the small things in life! Ha!

Glad tomorrow is Friday! Any big plans for the weekend? I'm house hunting!!!!

Tasty Tuesday: Salsa Chicken

2010-03-09T22:17:00.000-05:00

Today's Tasty Tuesday post is yet another crockpot recipe...yum. Even though the weather is starting to get warmer, crockpot recipes are still a great go-to. This is one I love to make, and it is SO easy, and healthy too!

Salsa Chicken
Ingredients:
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 packet of taco seasoning
1 cup salsa or picante sauce
1 can reduced fat cream of mushroom (or chicken) soup (like Campbell's Healthy Request)
1/2 cup reduced fat sour cream (optional)

Directions:
Place chicken in slow cooker. Sprinkle taco seasoning over chicken. Add salsa and soup. Cook on low for 6-8 hours or high for 4 hours. Stir in sour cream before serving (optional). Serve over rice!

Yum! Enjoy!

Scrap Exchange

2010-03-08T20:52:00.001-05:00

Over the weekend, I went to the coolest store, the Scrap Exchange. I'd heard about the Scrap Exchange and had been meaning to take a trip downtown to see what it's all about for awhile, and on Sunday I finally did. LOVE IT!

The Scrap Exchange is a store that collects donations of all kinds of materials - everything from fabric remnants to glass vials to bottle caps - and sells them (for super cheap)...there is some awesome stuff there for those with a crafty bone!

Here's my haul (close-ups below):

Burt's Bees Baby Bee bottles ($1.25 each) - how cute would these be filled with pretty colored liquid soaps / body wash in the bathroom? I need to find some sort of lid / stopper for them if I do this.

Ribbons for wrapping (the blue and the bottom tan are raffia) - $1.00 each

An "M" that was $1.00 (actually, I think it's a W...) - I figure I can paint and distress it, or Mod-Podge it to make it cute (my last name starts with an M)

These are wallpaper remnants - same pattern, one is light blue, one is tan. Only $0.50 each! I thought these would be pretty in black frames (maybe in a bathroom in my HOUSE??)

Mini chalkboards ($0.75 each) - not sure what I'm going to do with these, but I've seen so many cute chalkboard ideas on blogs that I'm sure I can find something to do with them! Definitely will need to paint the frames.

What a cool store - I can't wait to go back!

The House Hunt Is On!

2010-03-07T22:31:00.001-05:00

I've decided to take the plunge and go full speed ahead with house hunting - EEK! I met with a realtor this weekend, got pre-approved for a loan, and even looked at a couple of houses! I can't believe I'm actually moving towards buying a HOUSE! Three months from now, I'll (hopefully) be a homeowner!

On Saturday, I met with a realtor who came highly recommended to me by some friends who bought a house with her help a few years ago. She had chosen a couple of homes / townhomes in my price range in the area of Raleigh that I'm looking to buy in, to give me a taste of what's out there. Below are pics of three of the four that we looked at this weekend.

Townhouse #1 (built in 1995)

This townhome is in an established neighborhood that has a good mix of townhomes and single-family homes. It was a cute, 2 bed / 2.5 bath house with hardwoods downstairs and a great wooded area in the back. But, it had popcorn ceilings, which I despise. I know they can be removed, but ugh...I really do hate them. The HOA fees in this neighborhood are really high (like ~$200 a MONTH!), which I have to factor into the price.

Townhouse #2 (built in 2003)

This townhouse is a bit newer, so things were a bit more updated than in townhouse #1. But, I felt like the neighborhood was a little too cookie-cutter for me. It also backs up to another row of townhomes, so you don't have any privacy in the back. Not a huge fan, but it was still a cute place.

Single Family Home #1 (built in 1998)
I hated this one. Nothing good to say. It did have a garage, but that's about the only plus. Definitely not interested in this one!

So, that was what I saw on Day 1, just as some options my realtor had selected to get my feet wet. I'm supposed to be going through the MLS listings posted online, and I can let her know what ones I'm interested in going to visit. I'll probably go out with her next weekend to look at a bunch. I think my mom is going to come up to help me do some searching the weekend after next, so I may bring along a friend this coming weekend for a second set of eyes and opinions.

This is a very exciting, but scary time! I can't wait to see how it all plays out.

Have a great week!

A Day In The Life

2010-03-05T23:17:00.000-05:00

I'm participating today in Show Us Your Life over at Kelly's Korner today. Today's theme is "What is your typical day like?" So, here's my typical day (sadly, not too exciting!):

7:15am - Wake up, beautify myself (sometimes this includes a shower, but in full disclosure...sometimes it does not!). Before I leave for work, I have to feed my 2 kitties, who will cry until they are fed! Ever since Jackson had "problems" back in November, I've had to feed them wet food, which is so much more of a pain than dry food (and so much more gross).

8:15am - Head out the door to work, which is about 15 minutes from where I live. Very little traffic because I'm heading the opposite direction of most commuters, so that's nice!

8:30 - Get into work, check my e-mail. I'm not a big breakfast person, so I usually try to bring something in to eat while I'm at work, like some dry cereal and fruit, or something like that.

8:30 to 11:30 - Work, work, work! I'm a Project Manager for a computer software company that develops systems used to manage data in clinical trials. Sounds boring, I know, but it's actually pretty interesting! I snuck a pic of my cube today with the camera on my phone when no one was around (sorry for the poor quality). My co-workers hate the overhead lights, so we keep most of them off, which makes it a bit dark...I do have a lamp and a light under the shelf (and there's windows all around), but it's still a bit dark for my tastes! Part of the picture got cut off, you can't see my laptop docked on the left-hand side of the picture, and there are a bunch of binders on the shelf you see on the right-hand side of the picture. I had to be quick and sneaky taking this so someone didn't happen upon me and think I was a total loser for taking a picture of my cubicle, ha! (It's not exactly something I think I'll remember fondly 20 years from now!)

11:30 - 12:30 - Lots of days (like today!) I go out to lunch with friends - I have lots of friends who work within 10 minutes of me, so it's easy for us to meet up for lunch. I am trying to be better about bringing lunch though, since it's cheaper and healthier. Just not as fun :)

12:30 to 4:30 / 5:00 - Work, work, work! I usually leave around 4:30 or 4:45, which is nice - my job is pretty flexible with hours, and since I have a work laptop, I can always do stuff from home if I really need to.

My after-work routine varies. On Thursday nights, my girlfriends and I all get together and do something - whether it is going out to dinner, or for drinks, or just hanging out and watching TV and chatting at someone's house. If I don't have anything going on after work, I usually come home, pull dinner together, then spend the evening catching up on blogs, surfing Craigslist for furniture to re-do, and watching TV! And, if I'm really being good, I sneak in a workout before dinner. Sadly, that hasn't been happening recently (I've been so bad, ugh).

I usually go to bed between 10:30 and 11 - I always try to read my daily devotional before going to sleep - it's a good way to wind down the day.

So, that's it! My typical day...not all that exciting, but it's a good life :)

If you're stopping by from Kelly's Korner, welcome! I'd love to have you as a follower!

PS - I took another little blog hiatus in the last 2 weeks of February, but my entry count for February was over twice what it was in January! Here's to March being twice February's count!

Valentine's Weekend Recap

2010-02-15T22:30:00.001-05:00

For the first time in 7 years, I was Valentine-less on February 14th. But, I had a fabulous weekend nonetheless! My very best friend, who recently moved from NYC to Florida came to visit me for a long weekend. She got married last June, but her husband had to be out of town this weekend so she decided to fly up for a visit...we had the best time! We meant to document our weekend in pictures, but that was an epic fail.

Let's see...Friday night we went to a wine tasting and then out for a yummy Italian dinner (it snowed here AGAIN on Friday night).

Saturday brought massages in the morning, and a trip into Raleigh to watch the UNC vs. NC State game with some of my friends (thank goodness UNC won!) in the afternoon. Saturday night we saw the movie Valentine's Day - I thought it was cute, but I also was nauseous the whole movie because the theater was SO crowded and stuffy - that wasn't so much fun.

Sunday, we headed to brunch and then did some quality shopping at Home Goods (love that store). We also checked out some open houses on Sunday afternoon, since I'm considering buying! We had a cozy V-day evening (ha) watching movies and eating yummy takeout.

All in all, a great Valentine's day weekend, even if there were no boys involved!

How about you? What did you do for V-day?

Look for me on TV tonight, yo!

2010-02-10T16:36:00.001-05:00

I'm super stoked to have 10th row seats tonight to one of the biggest rivalry games in college sports...UNC vs. Duke basketball. Unfortunately, the Heels aren't having a great season, but I will say...when it comes to this rivalry game, it always has the potential to be a good one, even if one team is having a crappy season.

I miss being able to go to Carolina basketball games...it's something you really take for granted when you're a student! So, I always jump when I get the chance to go now that I'm all grown up and don't get free student tickets. (I live in the next town over from Chapel Hill, so it's easy for me to go...when I have tickets.)

And best of all, my baby bro will be going with me! He's a senior at UNC and was able to get a student ticket, but these will be better seats so he gave up sitting with his friends to sit with his big sis. Awwwwwwwwww :)

Anyway...ESPN at 9:00 PM EST...check it!

Tasty Tuesday: Lemon Chicken Deliciousness

2010-02-09T21:29:00.001-05:00

One of my favorite bloggers, Kelly, posted this recipe several months ago when she hosted a blog tour of favorite dinner recipes. I thought it looked fabulous and I've been wanting to try it - so tonight, I did! Turns out it not just looks fabulous, but tastes great as well (and, major bonus - is healthy)! She didn't name it, so I took it upon myself to name it "Lemon Chicken Deliciousness", ha!

Lemon Chicken Deliciousness

Ingredients
6 tablespoons olive oil
2 lemons, 1 thinly sliced, 1 juiced
4 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
3/4 lb green beans (can use canned, fresh, frozen...whatever you like)
8 small red potatoes, quartered
4 chicken breasts

Directions
Preheat oven to 450. Coat a large baking dish with 1 tablespoon olive oil. Arrange lemon slices from 1 lemon in a single layer on the bottom of the dish. In large bowl combine remaining olive oil, lemon juice of 2nd lemon, garlic, salt and pepper. Add green beans and toss to coat. Using tongs, remove green beans and arrange them on top of lemon slices. Add potatoes to same olive oil mixture and coat. Arrange on inside edge of dish on top of the beans. If desired, add lemon pepper for extra flavor. Place chicken in olive oil mixture and coat. Place chicken in dish. Roast for 40-50 minutes. Remove chicken and continue roasting potatoes/beans if necessary.

(Please excuse the gaping hole in the left chicken breast...I have a phobia of under cooking chicken, so I have to poke a thermometer into my meat to assure myself it's cooked through...)

Enjoy!

Feeling poopy

2010-02-08T19:34:00.000-05:00

I woke up this morning not feeling great, and it's gone downhill from there...I think I'm finally catching the crud that's been going around my office for the past few weeks. I have to go pick up my brother from the airport in a few minutes (he was in France visiting his girlfriend, who is studying abroad - how cute is that and how jealous am I?), then I'm heading to bed early.

Blah!

Book Review: Julie and Julia

2010-02-07T18:02:00.000-05:00

So, I finally finished up Julie and Julia, by Julie Powell. I started this book way back in November over the Thanksgiving holiday. I read about half of it then, but have only read a chapter or two here and there since. I read the last couple of chapters this weekend and can now file it away on my bookshelf.

Thoughts? It was ok. Not great, not my favorite. In case you've been living under a rock for the past year and have missed the movie promotions, it's about a blogger who cooks her way through Julia Childs' Mastering the Art of French Cooking cookbook in a year. Kudos to her, don't get me wrong. That's a heck of a lot of fancy cooking. But, I just didn't totally dig it. I did appreciate the honesty with which she wrote and the journey that she traveled while she in a sense reinvented herself.

Maybe it was because it read like a blog, with each chapter a separate entity detailing a different cooking pursuit, as opposed to a novel where there is little distinction between chapters (making you more compelled to continue reading to see where the story goes), but it was easy for me to put it down for days or weeks at a time.

Julie has a blog that she keeps up (although not the same one from the "Project"), which I think is neat because it's a little blogspot blog just like I have and not some fancy publisher house blog.

I've put off seeing the movie until I finished reading the book, so I do plan to pay a visit to the RedBox soon to check it out. I've heard it was cute.

I'm not sure what my next read will be, but I better get on it because I want to meet my goal of getting through two books this month and February is a shorty month! For tonight though, it's Super Bowl festivities...I'm heading out to a Super Bowl party - I'm bringing my yummy spinach and artichoke dip. I'm going to cheer for the Saints, but really all I care about is the commercials (shhhhhhhhh!) and of course, all the food :)

My first blog award!

2010-02-04T16:43:00.001-05:00

About two months ago, my sweet blogger friend Bernie gave me my very first blog award! I had to go to google translator to figure out what the award translates to..it's Portuguese for "This blog is super cute"! I'm so happy to get an award, and am excited to pass it on to these great bloggers:

Tasha @ Biology Gal
Brittney @ Running in High Heels
Danica @ Chic Runner

Congratulations ladies - I love each of your blogs! Pass it on to your favorite bloggers!

Please be sure to visit Bernie's blog - she is such a talented photographer and I love dropping in and seeing her pictures. Bernie, I'm so sorry I didn't pass this on sooner - I obviously have been a bad blogger all around the past couple of months!

Cheers!

Dumpster Diving - Fab Find

2010-02-03T20:17:00.002-05:00

On Monday, I was leaving my apartment to head into work when I swung by the dumpster to drop off a bag of trash. As I was driving up, I saw a girl walking that way with a big glass vase in her hand. When I got closer, I saw that she had set three big glass vases and one tall wooden vase beside the dumpster. Hello DIY project! I loitered around until she left so she wouldn't think I was a nutso, then I swooped in and picked those puppies up. I'm not a fan of the color / design of them (they just wouldn't go with my decor), but I like the shape of the vases - with a little DIY upgrade, I think I can make them into something great!

Here's my loot:

I'm pretty sure they're all Pier 1, because one of them has a Pier 1 price tag on the bottom ($45!) and they all match (except for the random wood one). Score one for me on the dumpster dive!

I have no shame that I pulled these from beside a dumpster. It's not that bad if I saw the person actually put them there, right?

Stay tuned for what I decide to do with them!

Tasty Tuesday: Salsa Turkey Burgers

2010-02-02T18:05:00.002-05:00

In an effort to make a healthy dinner one night last week, I went in search of finding a turkey burger recipe that actually tasted good. I found a nice base recipe then added my own little twist!

Salsa Turkey Burgers

Ingredients
1 lb ground turkey breast
1/3 cup seasoned bread crumbs
6 tbsp salsa (use chunky if you want bits of veggies in your burger)
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions
Combine all ingredients in a bowl until well mixed.
Add salt and pepper to taste.
Divide into 4 patties.

Cook either in a frying pan (spray with non-stick cooking spray and cook approximately 10 minutes, flipping once), or on an indoor or outdoor grill. (I did mine on a George Foreman type grill indoors, and topped it with a slice of provolone cheese - delish!)

Makes 4-5 burgers.

I have to be honest, I was skeptical of the turkey burger, because when I think burger, I think RED MEAT...huzzuh! But, there were really good. I ate one for dinner and one for lunch the next day, then I froze the other two patties for eating later.

Try it, even if you are a turkey burger skeptic - I promise it's yummy!

To buy or not to buy?

2010-02-01T20:07:00.001-05:00

To buy or not to buy...that is the question. For the past few months, I've been seriously turning over the idea of buying a house. I've lived in my current (one-bedroom) apartment for almost three years, and while I absolutely love it, I'm starting to feel a little cramped and I'm getting the itch to own.

The lease on my apartment is up at the end of May, so I need to make a decision in the next couple of months on what I want to do. Obviously, the real estate market is shaky at best right now. But, if I were to find a place before the end of April, I would qualify for the $8,000 first-time home buyer credit, which would be a nice plus.

Let me back it up a bit...I've always kind of had it in my head that life would work out like this: graduate from college, get married, buy a house, have kids. That's just what happens, right? Well...I'm learning that life doesn't always work out like you planned (and that's ok). I haven't really blogged about it, but I got out of a (very) long-term relationship about 7 months ago. I'm in a really good place right now, and happier than I've been in a long time. But, I'm nowhere near getting married. So, at 25 with the likelihood being that I won't get married for another several years at a MINIMUM, I hate to think about throwing away money on rent for who knows how long while I wait for my perfect marriage-then-house scenario to come along. The thought of buying a place alone is scary, but if it's something I can do financially, then I think it might be the wise choice. And, if I should end up getting married and needing to move in with a hubby in the next several years (trust me, I'll pulling for this scenario!), then it's smarter to go ahead and buy now so I can maximize my time in the house and have the best chance of recouping my costs, rather than wait another year or two to buy, and then have to sell a year later because I'm getting hitched.

At this point, I'm thinking townhome over single-family home, becasue a) they're cheaper b) I wouldn't have to maintain the outside lawn, etc., and c) as a single female, I think I'd feel a little safer in a townhome than in a single-family home. I'm still wrapping my head around everything and keep going back and forth on what I want to do...it's a really big decision.

Any advice on buying a first home??

February is the new January

2010-01-31T21:05:00.000-05:00

Ok...where the HECK did January go? I am absolutely flabbergasted that the month of January is over. Really...how did that go by so fast??

I obviously have not been holding up my ~~resolution~~ goal of blogging regularly, seeing as my last post was on January 5th. Shame on me. What about my other goals?

Read at least 2 books per month - this definitely did not happen. Still slogging through Julie and Julia. It's a book that's easy to read in "pieces", so you can put it down for a week and not be on the edge of your seat wondering what happens next. Which means I'm less motivated to read it than something with a more gripping story line. That's my excuse, as least.

Find a church and attend regularly - I'm happy to report that I've been doing this. I went to church 3 of 5 Sundays in January - I planned to go today, but had to skip because of the snow storm that blazed through NC this weekend - services were canceled and the roads were not pretty.

Get involved in new activities where I can meet new people - haven't done this yet. Ditto for sewing, although I did get my new machine out of the box yesterday and played with a little. Do I get half a point for trying?

To make things easy, I'll just lump all of my "health" related goals together....because NONE of them have happened yet. None of them. At all. Not even bringing my lunch to work, and that should be an easy one. Sigh.

So...February is the new January. Tomorrow is February 1st, and it's time for me to turn up the heat on these babies. FOR REAL.

Get ready, because I am coming out of hibernation!

Tasty Tuesday: Slow Cooker Creamy Italian Chicken

2010-01-05T21:23:00.001-05:00

When it's cold outside, I absolutely love doing crock pot meals. I tried out a new recipe this past weekend, and it was super yummy!

Slow Cooker Creamy Italian Chicken

Ingredients
3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 pkg Good Seasons Italian dressing mix
1/4 cup water
1 medium onion, chopped
1 tsp garlic salt
1 - 8oz pkg low fat cream cheese
1 can 98% fat free cream of chicken soup (such as Campbell's Healthy Request)
3 cups cooked white, long grain rice

Directions
Place chicken in crock pot
Mix together Italian dressing mix and water. Pour over chicken.
Add chopped onion and garlic salt.
Cover and cook on high for 3-4 hours OR low for 6-8 hours (recommended)
Mix together cream cheese and soup in separate bowl.
Carefully remove chicken from crock pot to plate.
Pour cream cheese/soup mixture into crock pot and mix together with dressing in bottom.
Return chicken to crock pot and mix gently to shred the chicken.
Cook on low until heated through.
Serve over rice.

Makes 6 servings.

Enjoy!

Guilty Pleasure

2010-01-02T16:37:00.002-05:00

I have a confession....getting massages is my guilty pleasure. I don't indulge often, but boy are they FANTASTIC! A friend and I headed to the spa this morning and started our day / year off right with a little relaxation. Love love love! What's your guilty pleasure??

2010 Goals

2010-01-01T22:16:00.000-05:00

Welcome to 2010! Instead of New Years resolutions, I like to do goals. 2009 wasn't the greatest year for me, so I'm optimistic that 2010 is going to be fabulous. Here's a rundown of my goals for this year, in no particular order. If I think about it, I want to check in on myself a few times over the course of the year to see how I'm doing and make sure I'm on track to reach my goals. I've broken them down into mini categories, since some are related.

Self-Improvement

1. Read at least 2 books per month

This is a lofty one. I'm a fast reader, but most nights when I hetad to bed, I just turn out the lights. I want to make it a point to read before going to sleep more often.

2. Find a church and attend regularly

This has been something I've wanted to do for awhile now. I grew up going to church with my family, but when I went away for college, I stopped going except for when I was home from school. And now I've been out of school for almost four years and I still haven't made the effort to find a church where I now live. I miss it and have decided it's time to make the effort to make this a priority in my life.

3. Get involved in 2-3 new activities / groups, etc. where I can meet new people

While I have a FANTASTIC group of friends whom I love dearly, I want as many opportunities as possible to meet new people and expand my connections.

4. Learn to sew

So domestic, I know. I actually asked Santa for a sewing machine for Christmas, so now I want to know how to use it! I want to be able to do basic clothes repairs, and also be able to sew cute crafty things...pillows, etc.

Health

1. Lose 10-15 pounds

I had a goal in 2009 to lose 20 pounds. At my lowest point, I got 15 down. I've gained some back (sigh), especially over the holidays (in fact, I'm too scared to get on the scale right now...I'm waiting until Monday morning for that!), so I think I kept off about seven pounds. I have a goal weight in mind, and depending on Monday's weigh-in (which is going to be my weekly weigh-in day), I'll need to lose 10-15 pounds to meet my goal. The next three goals play into this one.

2. Bring lunch from home at least 4x per week

Saves money and is much healthier than eating out...

3. Cook dinner at home at least 4x per week

Same concept as above. (Boxed mac n' cheese does NOT count!)

4. Exercise at least 5x per week

I really need to get back on the ball in this department. Even though I managed to get through a 1/2 marathon three weeks ago, I have barely been exercising the past couple of months. And it's starting to show...

Lastly, as it's own category...

Keep up with my blog!

I've enjoyed starting a blog and have "met" some great people in the blog world. I slacked a bit in December, and I miss it! I want to regularly update my blog - it's an outlet for me, and just plain fun!

So there you have it...this is what I'm going to be working on in the coming year!

What goals do you have for 2010?

2009: Year in Review

2009-12-31T09:09:00.000-05:00

As 2009 draws to a close, I wanted to do a recap of the highlights of my year.

January - Bridesmaid in a good college friend, Sarah, and her husband Tripp's wedding (Charlotte, NC)

April - Cooper River Bridge Run 10K (Charleston, SC)

May - NYC for my best friend Annie's bachelorette celebration

June - Bridesmaid in my best friend from growing up, Annie, and her husband Greg's wedding (Georgetown, SC)

July - Quarter-century birthday (eek!)

August - Spent a week lounging on the beach with my family (Kiawah Island, SC)

September - Started volunteering for the Make-A-Wish Foundation as a Wish Granter

October - Hosted a Halloween party in my tiny apartment

November - Out with the old, in with the new...quit my job and started a new one (I downgraded from my own window office with a door to a tiny cube - yuck! The job itself is definitely an upgrade, though!)

November - Jackson had surgery, and now is a healthy guy again! (See his front legs where they had to shave the middle part for the IVs? It looks like he's wearing Uggs!!)

December - Ran my 1st half marathon in Kiawah Island, SC

I can't wait to see what 2010 has in store! What is your favorite memory from 2009?

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-25T16:21:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas to my blogging buddies! I know I've been MIA for the past month, but I promise to be back in the new year with regular posts!

May your holiday be filled with peace and the love of those around you!

Weekend Recap

2009-11-22T21:41:00.001-05:00

This weekend was a busy one! My parents were in town to visit, so I spent a good bit of time with them, which was nice. I also took the plunge and got one of the new Motorola Droid smart phones...I LOVE IT! I debated back and forth between the Droid and an iPhone, but since I'm already on Verizon, I decided to go with the Droid instead of going through the hassle of switching carriers for an iPhone. It's got some really awesome features. And best of all....my new company will be footing the monthly bill. Woooooo!

This morning, I had planned to go on an 11 mile run - the 2nd to last long run before my 1/2 marathon in December. It was a total FAIL. I ended up going 9 miles, and I'd estimate that I ran about 5 of those 9. Something was messed up with my knee and it was killing me. My feet were hurting too. It was pretty terrible and I'm worried about the 1/2. We'll see how next Saturday's run goes (planning for 12 miles).

As an update on my fluffy man...he ended up back at the emergency vet last Wednesday night, and after talking it over with several vets, it seems the best thing to do is going to be for him to have the surgery. Jackson is scheduled to have surgery to remove his boy parts (OW!) next Wednesday (and when I say boy parts...I'm not talking about what's removed when they get neutered...that happened a long time ago). He's been doing great this weekend, and I hope he can hang on and stay out away from the emergency vet until his surgery date. It's tough to make the decision to go ahead with the surgery, especially when he seems to be feeling good, but I think it's for the best in the long run. We went in for a "surgical consult" Friday morning, and they were ready to do it then, but when the nice surgeon saw how I was stressing about the upcoming week and the Thanksgiving holiday where I'm supposed to travel (but obviously couldn't with a post-surgical cat), he suggested trying to hold off until Wednesday when I head out of town, and then they can keep him and care for him over the holiday until I get back on Sunday. It was such a relief to come up with this plan - I had not thought about this as an option. So, it looks like I will get to travel down to South Carolina to see all of my family this week as I had planned and stuff myself silly with yummy food, and Jackson will be in good hands after his surgery (honestly, I'd rather them keep him for a few extra days, because apparently it's a pretty rough road for a little while after the surgery, with the first few days being the worst). I'm very thankful for this plan.

Also - the new job is going well! Everyone seems really nice and I'm going to be working on some interesting stuff. I'm ready to start feeling settled in though - I hate those first few weeks where you're trying to learn the ropes and everything feels a bit uncomfortable.

Hope you had a good weekend....have a great Thanksgiving week!

Clothes Finds!

2009-11-18T21:04:00.001-05:00

Ok, so here are some of the things I bought this past weekend! I had a 30% off Old Navy / Gap / Banana coupon that was burning a hole in my pocket, so I was able to get 30% off everything at Gap and Old Navy, which always makes things nicer! Unfortunately, that coupon was only good through Sunday. BUT...there is a Gap discount for 25% off your online purchase, valid through now through November 22nd if you're in a Gap mood!

Ann Taylor Loft Shirred V-Neck Cardigan

Reg. $49.50, on sale for $20 (I got two...)

Use this coupon now through Sunday to get 30% off your entire Ann Taylor or Ann Taylor Loft purchase, including sale items! This would make the cardigan only $14!!! I also bought a couple of Loft clearance t-shirts with pretty fabric detailing at the neckline that will look good under this cardigan when wearing it open.

Gap Ruffle-Front Henley Sweater

Reg. $44.50

Gap Rugby-Striped Shawl Cardigan

Reg. $69.50, on sale for $49.99

This was super comfy and I thought it would be good for bumming around with jeans on the weekend.

Old Navy Cable-Knit Shawl-Collar Sweater

$34.50

I also got a couple of cute longer-length turtlenecks from New York & Company that I can't find on their website. I think they'll look good paired with a thick belt like this one that I have in my closet:

Forever 21 Wide Elastic Belt

$8.00

Have you found anything cute lately??

Fall Reading Challenge Update - The Postmistress

2009-11-16T18:40:00.002-05:00

Book two of my Fall Reading Challenge was finished this weekend while I was watching over Jackson during his recovery. I finished up The Postmistress, by Sarah Blake. This was an Advance Reading Copy that I got through Barnes and Noble's First Look Book Club. It's a story about love and loss during World War II. I was pleasantly surprised with the book - I don't normally choose wartime reading. The author intertwines the lives of a young American reporter covering the war in Europe with the lives of those in a small Massachusetts town - a postmistress, the town doctor and his new wife. It's a story on fate, and the way that the smallest actions can postpone - or completely change - fate. All in all, a good read. The final version will be published in February 2010 if you're interested in reading the book.

My Fall Reading Challenge List

~~The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls~~

Sag Harbor, Colson Whitehead

Running with Scissors, Augusten Burroughs

Julie and Julia, Julie Powell

The Last Lecture, Randy Pausch

~~The Postmistress, Sarah Blake~~

The Christmas Box, Richard Paul Evans

Five more to go before December 20th. I'm moving on to Julie and Julia now...should be a pretty quick read, I think. I'm hoping to get this one and at least one more read (if not two) by the end of the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. I'm determined to meet the challenge that I set for myself!

First Day of Work Outfit

2009-11-15T20:33:00.006-05:00

My first day at the new job is tomorrow...eek! Here's what I plan to wear:

I did a little shopping this evening (um...retail therapy from the stress of Jackson's emergency situation this weekend?) and found some cute things at Ann Taylor Loft, Gap, Old Navy and New York & Company...I'll share some of my good finds later this week!

Jackson is doing much better tonight, and I feel ok about leaving him alone tomorrow. He's back to his old spunky self.

Have a great week!

Not The Weekend I Had In Mind...

2009-11-14T22:13:00.000-05:00

I came home from work yesterday - my last day at my (now!) old job, ready to have a relaxing evening - perhaps some wine and a movie, and then I had plans to spend time with friends tonight before diving into my new job on Monday. When I got home and opened the front door yesterday after work, I immediately knew something was wrong because Jackson didn't greet me at the door. He ALWAYS greets me at the door. I came inside to find him sitting in the doorway to my bedroom, and even when I called to him, he didn't move. I bent down to pick him up,and he cried out...not a good sign. I called my veterinarian's office, and they told me to bring him in right away so that they could take a look at him - they told me that this sounded like something that couldn't wait until the morning. Thank goodness they are open until 6pm.

I won't go into all of the gory details, but it turned out that he had a complete urinary blockage, which is a very serious condition. He wasn't able to urinate at all, and when this happens, it causes the toxins in the urine to back up into the bloodstream and kidneys, which will kill the cat if it isn't fixed quickly. After spending about an hour at my vet, they sent me down the road to the emergency vet so that they could continue to work on him and monitor him overnight. They told me that there was a possibility that he would need surgery (a very expensive one...) to fix the problem, but it would all depend on how he did overnight. I left him at the vet for the night at about 9:30pm. I barely slept a wink because I was so worried about him (and also because the vet called at 1am and again at 7am with updates, which I of course appreciated). He did really well over the night and started to *tinkle* on his own, so they said that he wouldn't need the surgery. I was able to bring him home this evening, and I'm currently camped out on the bathroom floor with my laptop and a book so I can keep an eye on him. Sweet Saturday night, huh?

I'm so relieved that he seems to be ok. There's a pretty good chance that this will happen again at some point (could be tomorrow, could be years from now), and that he will need the surgery if / when it happens again, but I feel more equipped to deal with the situation now if it arises. I had no idea what was going on yesterday, which made everything that much more scary. The nice vet tech who discharged him today told me to look around and find a vet who does the surgery so I would know where to go if he has to have it in the future, because she said it would probably be $1,000 cheaper if I got it done at a regular vet clinic as opposed to the emergency clinic. $1,000! That is crazy! I can't even go into how much I spent on this incident in the past 24 hours. Vet expenses, especially in emergency situations are outrageous. I'm seriously wishing I had opted into the pet insurance back when he was a kitten. I'm seriously considering it now, even though it probably won't cover this condition in the future, since it would be considered "pre-existing" at this point, but holy geez if anything else happens, I don't want to be hit with thousands of dollars in vet bills!

Do you have pet insurance? What are your thoughts on it if you do?

I'll leave you with a pic of my little patient. He's recovering nicely :)

It's The Most Wonderful Time....

2009-11-12T11:49:00.000-05:00

OF THE YEAR! Why? No, not because Christmas is finally within sight (although that does make me giddy, because I absolutely love Christmas). It's the most wonderful time of the year, because it's time for THIS:

Yep, college basketball season has officially begun. And my Tar Heels have kicked if off right this week by beating Florida International on Monday and NC Central last night. (For those of you who don't follow college basketball (are you crazy?), that's UNC's coach, Roy Williams. Love that man.

I am a die hard, down and dirty Carolina basketball fan. I've been known to throw couch pillows at innocent nutcrackers by the fireplace when we lose in triple overtime. (Yes, this actually happened once when I was home for Christmas in college. My parents were a little taken aback.)

I was lucky enough to be a student at UNC when the Tar Heels won the national championship in 2005. It was so much fun to be a part of that. I can still remember watching the last seconds of the game tick down (it was a close one), and then we popped some Andre and ran up to Franklin Street where we became a part of this crowd:

And saw people jumping through bonfires in the street...

It was such a fun night and one of my favorite college memories. What about you? Any favorite memories from when you were in school?

GO HEELS!

Bag Love

2009-11-11T06:27:00.004-05:00

~~As a reward to myself for my new job~~ Since I'll be doing some traveling for my new job, I'll be needing a good bag that I can carry on the plane and to the meetings I'll be attending (which means it will need to be big enough to accommodate a laptop). I've been doing some hunting on eBay, and this is what I've come up with. Except I can't decide. Black or brown?? I tend to like bags in the brown / neutral family more than black, but most of my work clothes, including my suits, are mostly in the black and gray family. And when I travel, I'll be attending meetings where I'll need to wear a suit. So black seems like it would get more use, if I want my bag to coordinate with my clothes.

What do you think? Please forgive the not-so-great photos. They're swiped from eBay and since these are past season bags, I can't find a better picture online.

Black Coach bag?

Or brown Kate Spade?

Don't judge me, but I'm considering getting both. Or maybe buying one now and asking for one for Christmas...

Tasty Tuesday: Baked Ziti

2009-11-10T07:55:00.000-05:00

There isn't much more to say about this recipe other than it is THE BOMB. I absolutely, big time heart it. It's a recipe that I found on AllRecipes several years ago and modified a little bit to improve on the original, if that is even possible.

I made it for a group this weekend, and everyone asked for the recipe. It makes a TON, so if you're cooking for 5 or less people, I would half it. This recipe easily feeds 10.

Baked Ziti
Ingredients:
1 pound (1 box) ziti pasta
1 onion, chopped
1 pound ground beef
(2) 26-oz jars spaghetti sauce
6 oz. sliced provolone cheese
1.5 cups sour cream
6 oz. shredded mozzarella
Parmesan cheese

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees; grease 9x13 baking dish.
Boil a large pot of water and cook ziti according to box instructions (about 8-9 minutes); drain.
In a large skillet, brown ground beef and chopped onion over medium heat.
Add spaghetti sauce; simmer 15 minutes.
Layer ingredients in baking dish as follows (listed in order of bottom to top layers): 1/2 of the ziti, 1/2 of the sauce, provolone slices, layer of sour cream (spread over provolone slices), remaining ziti, remaining sauce, shredded mozzarella. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.
Cover and bake in preheated oven 30-45 minutes, or until cheese is melted and all ingredients are warmed through.

Enjoy!

Ice Baths...I'm a Believer

2009-11-08T18:41:00.000-05:00

In my blog hopping, I've seen a number of people post about taking an ice bath after a long run to help with recovery of the leg muscles. My initial thoughts were that an ice bath sounds absolutely horrible. Why would you want to do that to yourself?!?!? I did the requisite googling to find out more about it, and had to admit that the theory did sound convincing. But the thought of actually doing it...not so much.

I went for a run yesterday and did 10 miles. My legs were feeling pretty sore in the last couple of miles of the run, and I could tell I was going to be feeling it for days. When I got home, I thought...what the heck. Let's give this a try. If it's horrible, I don't ever have to do it again. But.....IT. WORKED. I'm a believer. I now completely understand why people will subject themselves to this torture. I felt like a new woman after spending 10 minutes with my legs submerged in freezing cold water. I'm not going to lie. It wasn't the most fun I've had in ages. But honestly, it also wasn't that bad, once you get past the initial shock.

My method was to crank up the heater so the air around me was warm, and wear a sweatshirt to keep my upper body warm. I filled the bathtub about waist-high with cold water, sat down and submerged my aching legs. Then...I added a big bag of ice. Painful, but necessary. I set the timer for 10 minutes and read a book to try to get my mind off the fact that the lower half of my body was freezing. When the 10 minutes were up, I gladly drained the tub, took a hot shower and was no worse for the wear.

I'm telling you...it worked WONDERS. Usually, when I run that far (not that I've done it all that much!), my legs ache for days. Within an hour of finishing the ice bath, my legs felt great. They were a little sore last night, but much better today than they normally are the day after a long run. If you run longer distances and get sore when you do it, try this. Just once. I don't think you'll be sorry you did, once it's all said and done.

If you want to learn more about the theory behind how the ice bath helps with muscle recovery, there's a good explanation here.

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Show Us Your Life - Thanksgiving

2009-11-07T16:27:00.000-05:00

I'm linking up to Kelly's Korner for her "Show Us Your Life - Thanksgiving Recipes and Traditions". Thanksgiving is one of my FAVORITE holidays!!!

I think I've mentioned it before, but my mom's side of the family has been going down to Kiawah Island, SC for the past 21 years. It's a tradition that my mom's parents started when they lived in Charleston and wanted their three grown kids (my mom and her brother and sister) and their families to all get together for Thanksgiving. We decided to rent a big house at Kiawah (which is about 30 miles outside of Charleston), and the rest is history - we've done it every year since, and even though my grandparents are no longer alive, the tradition stands and it is because of them that this wonderful Thanksgiving vacation happens every year. It's a time filled with golf for the guys, a spa appointment for the girls and lots of good laughs and great eats for everyone!

Our Thanksgiving menu is the same every year:

Turkey and gravy

Creamed spinach

Baked cheese grits (don't bash 'em until you try the recipe below!!)

Cranberry sauce

Sister Schubert rolls (YUM)

Homemade jello salad

Lemon Tea Bread and Pecan Pie for dessert

I'm going to post the recipes for the baked cheese grits and the Lemon Tea Bread. Grits are a southern thing, but if you're from the north and have never tried grits, I promise...you will love these. People generally think of grits as a breakfast food, but we serve it with our Thanksgiving dinner and BOY! are they good!

The Lemon Tea Bread is a recipe that has been passed down through several generations. It is so yummy. The recipe makes one loaf, but we always make three because it's so popular with our family. I have to be honest - I probably consume about a loaf all by myself in a matter of a couple days. It's not the most healthy recipe, but it's worth it. I'm just keepin' it real.

Baked Cheese Grits

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups Quick Grits

6 cups boiling water

8 oz Cracker Barrel Sharp Cheese, grated

1 stick butter

3 eggs, beaten

2 tsp salt

3 tsp seasoned salt

Dash of Tabasco sauce

Directions:

Add grits to boiling water. Cook for 5 minutes (covered) and remove from fire.

Add cheese, butter, eggs, salt, seasoned salt and Tabasco sauce, stir well.

Pour into baking pan and cook at 250 degrees for one hour, uncovered. If desired, sprinkle paprika on top for pizazz.

Lemon Tea Bread

Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
6 tbsp butter, softened

1 lemon (1 tbsp grated lemon peel (2 tbsp if you want a more lemon-y taste) needed, and the juice from the lemon is also needed)

2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 cup sifted flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

Directions:
Cream sugar with butter in large bowl. Add grated lemon peel. Beat in eggs. Mix dry ingredients together in a 2nd bowl. Add the dry mixture into the wet mixture, alternating with the addition of the milk. Pour batter into a greased 9x5x3 loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.
After removing from oven, while bread is still hot, mix 1/4 cup sugar with the juice of one lemon. Heat the mixture until the sugar dissolves. Pour warm glaze over bread and let cool.

Enjoy!

Are there any special Thanksgiving traditions that you and your families have?

New Job!

2009-11-05T23:23:00.001-05:00

Well, this week has kind of gotten away from me. I think I'm going to forego the Halloween recap because, well, Halloween has passed us by. (The word "forego" makes me think of The Bachelor every time I use it...you know, forego the individual rooms and stay in the fantasy suite...) But it was fun, my party was good, and my DIY decorations were super cute! I will post one pic of the jack-o-lantern jars I made using this tutorial:

Cute, right!

SO! The past week has been a bit of a whirlwind. I've been on the job hunt for awhile now, but I will admit, until the past couple of months, it was a sort of half-&*$ search. I finally reached a point where it really was just time to move on. Without going into details, my current company has had some struggles in the past year due to the economy, and morale is really at a low. Combined with the fact that I've essentially maxed out in terms of growth at my current company, it's just time to move on. So I kicked it up in the past couple months, polished up my resume, and stalked Indeed.com. I actually got two offers in the past month, and accepted one of them last week. I put in my two weeks notice last Friday! Yowza!

My last day at my current job will be a week from tomorrow. There is SO much to do before I leave...I have to get all of my work transitioned to the people who will be taking it over, and there are a lot of things that I've had on the back burner for awhile that I really should tie up before I go. Ugh, the pains of having a conscience. Some people would just leave a lot of loose ends, but not me. I want things to be in order before I leave. So needless to say, this week has been a busy one, and next week will probably be even busier.

I'm excited but nervous about my new position. It's in the same industry (pharmaceutical research), but it's a big step up in terms of responsibilities. I am going to be a Project Manager for a company that has several different technolgies that are used to collect data in clinical trials. I'll spare you the details! I'm excited because I'm going to be the one in charge of everything on my projects, which is great but scary too, because I have to make all the decisions - people will be coming to me for everything, and I can't pawn off the tough stuff on anyone else like I can in my current position!! I know I'll be fine, but anything new is a bit unnerving. I'll also get to do some traveling (including international), which is exciting for me. If I'm ever going to be able to travel, it's now, before I have a family, etc. And why not see the world on someone else's dime??

I start on Monday, November 16th, so I will definitley be posting updates as I get rolling!

Oh, and major sad part of this - right now, I have my own big office with a window (I know, who gets that when they're 25?) which I love, and I'm going to be moving into cube land. UGH. It's going to take some getting used to, that's for sure.

And, is it bad that one of my biggest fears is that Gmail will be blocked at my new company and I can't Gchat during the day? Pathetic, I know.

5 Quick Things

2009-11-02T23:00:00.001-05:00

It's been a few days since I've posted, so just wanted to do a quick post to prove I'm still alive and kicking!

So 5 quick things:

1. I hosted book club on Friday night (The Glass Castle was the book of choice - host gets to choose) and a Halloween party on Saturday- pics to come later this week! I was a fairy :)
2. I GOT A NEW JOB!!!!! Details to come :)
3. I have a bum neck. I was doing some last minute shopping in Target on Saturday before my party, and I got a weird pain in my neck, then within a couple of minutes, it hurt so bad that I couldn't even hold my purse on my shoulder on my right side. I STILL can't turn my head to the right. When I change lanes when driving, I practically have to do the robot to see if anyone is over there. It's a pain in the neck. Literally. I've got a moist heat pack on it now as I write this. Not cool.
4. I've totally slacked on my running in the past couple of weeks and I'm worried about my upcoming 1/2. After my impressive showing a few weeks ago where I ran 10 miles, I have only run a peasly couple miles twice. WTF? Not ok. This needs to stop.
5. I'm hating the time change. Being dark prior to 6pm is really not my cup of tea. This is not going to help the running issue in #4. It's not so much fun to run in the dark (and cold). I will say, though, that it does make my nights feel longer, which I enjoy.

Stay tuned for more updates!

Bedroom Lust

2009-10-28T22:32:00.001-04:00

I really want to make a few updates to my bedroom. Nothing major (reminder...I live in an apartment so I can't do anything drastic...like paint), but I'd love to get a new duvet set and a new fluffy down comforter to snuggle up in this winter. My down comforter is probably about ten years old and at this point, it barely has any fluff left in it.

The main color scheme in my bedroom is green, and I want to do something that will work with the green so that I don't have to change out my curtains, accent pieces, etc. My current duvet cover is green, but I'm considering a change to brown, with cream, brown and green accent pillows. Any thoughts on brown?

I love love love this look (bedding by Restoration Hardware) - even though it's not really green - and it's even on sale right now for a somewhat more manageable price, but...:

I already have a cream bed skirt and matching Euro shams that I'd like to keep, and the bedding above has white in it, not cream (as does most two-tone bedding). I think I'm going to have to go with a solid color if I want to keep the bed skirt and shams that I have now.

I also am loving this lamp for the bedside table:

Crystal lamps with white shades seems so fresh, light and airy to me. Me want. Even though I guess the white shade wouldn't really match my bedskirt and shams, either...

What about you? Anything you're looking to spruce up at home right now?

Tasty Tuesday: Spinach and Artichoke Dip

2009-10-27T10:14:00.001-04:00

I went to a get-together this past weekend and everyone was supposed to bring a dish. I've made this spinach and artichoke dip in the past and it always gets rave reviews, so I thought I'd share the recipe here! There are a few things you can do to make it a little healthier, but if you want to go all out, then by all means, do so!

Spinach and Artichoke Dip
Ingredients

1/4 cup butter
1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, partially thawed
1 (14 ounce) can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 (16 ounce) container sour cream
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 tsp minced garlic
salt and pepper to taste
dash of Worcestershire

Instructions

Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Mix in garlic. Stir in spinach and artichoke hearts. Cook for approximately 5 minutes. Mix in cream cheese and sour cream. Add salt, pepper and Worcestershire to taste. Cook, stirring occasionally for 10-15 minutes.

Enjoy!

It's a super easy recipe that takes very little time to prepare, and it always draws a crowd. Last night, I made it with neufchatel cheese, which is basically a lower-fat cream cheese. I also used reduced fat sour cream. I guess you could do the non-fat versions of both, but I think it's ok to have a little fat :)

After cooking it, I transferred it to my handy little crock-pot and it stayed warm all evening. If you don't have one of these baby crocs, I HIGHLY recommend getting one. If you're only cooking for one or two people, it's great for crock-pot meals, but it's also great for keeping dips, etc. warm at a party, like I did this weekend. I think this is the newer version of what I have:

I like that it not only has low / high settings, but it also has a "keep warm" setting. Think on it...you won't regret it!

Cute & Easy DIY Coasters

2009-10-26T13:05:00.005-04:00

I've had this set of glass photo coasters sitting around for ages (with nothing in them...):

While I think the idea of photo coasters are cute, they lack a sort of sophistication. They kind of scream college to me. I decided to give my coasters a quick re-do, and I love how they turned out! Best of all, it took me all of 5 minutes to do this project. All I did was insert some pretty scrapbook paper into the photo openings, and voila! Sophisticated coasters!

Close-up:

So, if you have a set of glass photo coasters sitting around and want to give them a facelift, give this little project a try!

Weekend Recap

2009-10-25T22:00:00.003-04:00

It's been a busy few days around here, and I haven't had time to sit down and blog! My mom came into town for the weekend and stayed with me. Every October, my dad goes on a golfing trip with his buddies so it's the perfect excuse to have a girls weekend! My parents live about 2.5 hours from me, so it's an easy trip.

We went out to eat at a yummy cajun restaurant on Friday night - growing up with two parents from Louisiana, cajun food is a favorite in our family!

Saturday, we did some shopping. My mom loves to go to Home Goods whenever she is in town since there isn't one near her. I heart Home Goods too! So we did that, but somehow escaped the store without buying anything. Still not sure how that happened!?

Since both my brother and I went to UNC for college (he's actually a senior this year), and I live right down the road from campus, my mom wanted to go get a new UNC flag to hang outside her house. Even though I can be on the campus of my alma mater within 15 minutes of walking out my front door, I am in Chapel Hill shockingly little. When I go, I get so nostalgic! I absolutely love the campus - it is so beautiful. Unfortunately, it was raining when we went on Saturday, but the leaves had started to change and it was still so good to be there! Being on the campus brings back so many memories. The picture below was taken on Franklin Street, which is the main street on the edge of campus - where the bars, restaurants, and shopping is located. Obviously, this is not a good picture, but I had to snap it quickly since I was standing in the rain!

Franklin Street is also the location of the famous Chapel Hill Halloween celebration, which has attracted up to 80,000 people in recent years! It's crazy. Honestly, when I was in college, I hated Halloween because SO MANY people came from all over the place (literally, there were people that would drive from different states to come to Chapel Hill's Halloween celebration). This year, I'll be hosting a Halloween party, and we won't be going anywhere near Franklin Street! I'll post more on my party later this week. :-)

After our shopping expeditions, we went and got manicures and pedicures. Sooooooooo relaxing! Our Saturday was capped off by an amazing dinner at the Melting Pot. I love that restaurant! So much fun. We did the whole thing - cheese fondue, salads, entrees and chocolate fondue. And a bottle of wine! It was a lot of fun to spend some one-on-one time with my mom and have the chance to catch up and just hang out.

Today, a friend of mine had a group over for some food, football, beer and pumpkin carving. I brought a super tasty spinach and artichoke dip to share - maybe I'll post the recipe this week for my Tasty Tuesday, if you're interested (it's good, I promise! And I made some substitutions to make it healthier!). Five of us carved pumpkins, and I thought they came out pretty good!

In the dark:

(Please ignore the pumpkin on the far left. In case you can't tell, it's a hand with it's middle finger up. John thought it would be funny? I don't know.)

The pumpkins with their respective carvers:

Here's a close-up of mine:

So that pretty much wraps up my weekend! With my mom in town, coupled with the rain, I didn't get to go for a long run this weekend. To tell you the truth, I pretty much took the past week off from exercise of any kind. Oops. I'm going to have to get my butt running this week so I can tackle 10.5 or 11 miles next weekend!

Have a great week!

Fall Reading Challenge Update - The Glass Castle

2009-10-21T23:23:00.002-04:00

I finished the first book of my Fall Reading Challenge - The Glass Castle. The Glass Castle is a memoir by Jeannette Walls that takes the reader through her tough and rocky upbringing. Some of the stories that Walls tells are so outrageous that you almost can't believe they are real; that people actually live the way that her family did. The family dynamic is so dysfunctional yet Walls tells her story with humor and grace. Jeannette's mother is an artist, and her father the town drunk. She and her brother and sisters are left to fend for themselves throughout their childhood, and the resilience that the children show is inspiring. Reading this book definitely made me look back on my childhood with gratitude. I actually chose this book for my book club read this month since it's my turn to host, so I'm looking forward to hearing the other girls' thoughts on the book next week when we have our discussion.

My Fall Reading Challenge List

~~The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls~~

Sag Harbor, Colson Whitehead

Running with Scissors, Augusten Burroughs

Julie and Julia, Julie Powell

The Last Lecture, Randy Pausch

The Postmistress, Sarah Blake

The Christmas Box, Richard Paul Evans (waiting until December on this one)

Six more to go before December 20th to meet my goal. I think I'm going to read The Postmistress by Sarah Blake next. This is one that I got through the Barnes and Noble First Look Book Club, which is a program where you get copies of books before they are released (for free!). Sag Harbor by Colson Whitehead, which is also on my list, is a B&N First Look book as well. Any suggestions on good books that you've read lately that I should put on my to-be-read list?

Tasty Tuesday: Chicken & Broccoli Casserole with Cheese

2009-10-20T21:39:00.004-04:00

I like the idea of doing "Tasty Tuesday" posts, so I think I may make that a regular thing. The recipe below is one that my mom used to make when I was growing up, and now I make it as an adult. Casseroles are such a great comfort food! This one can actually be tailored to be pretty healthy, by using Campbell's Healthy Request soup and a low-fat shredded cheese.

Chicken & Broccoli Casserole
Ingredients:
2 rotisserie chicken breasts, shredded (you can use regular chicken breasts and cook them then shred them, but it's so much easier if you get the pre-cooked chickens from the grocery store, and just pull the breast meat off...it's already cooked and juicy and yummy)
1.5 - 2 cans cream of chicken soup (or cream of mushroom)
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 tsp curry powder
1 broccoli crown / head
Shredded cheddar cheese

Instructions:
In a bowl, mix soup, lemon juice, mayonnaise and curry powder.
In baking dish, put broccoli on bottom of dish. Put chicken on top of broccoli.
Pour sauce mixture over chicken and broccoli.
Bake at 350 degrees for ~30 minutes.
In final 5-10 minutes, sprinkle cheese over top of casserole to melt.

Enjoy!

It's State Fair Time, Y'all!

2009-10-18T21:47:00.001-04:00

One of the best things about living where I do is that the State Fair is just down the road every October. Who doesn't love the opportunity to indulge in every imaginable food sin and watch the astounding assortment of people who show up to this event?? My...I don't even know where to begin.

I went to the fair this evening with a group of friends (sorry the pic above is a little blurry). I'm pretty sure I consumed about 20,000 calories. Here's a rundown of my gluttony: a hot dog, followed by a roasted ear of corn dunked in butter and slathered with seasoning, a fresh-squeezed lemonade, and a funnel cake. And I had a few bites of a blooming onion dipped in ranch dressing. And a bite of fried cookie dough. I can practically feel the grease oozing out of me. That is so gross and I can't believe I'm admitting everything that I ate tonight!

The people-watching at the North Carolina State Fair is truly a gem. The most popular fashion choice at the fair was leaf-print camo, by far. We even saw a family of four all wearing matching camo jumpsuits and hats. Style at its finest. Also spotted: multiple people missing teeth, and children on leashes. Most inappropriate sighting: the "Kids Photos" booth that had a Michael Jackson CD blasting. I also enjoyed the cops outside the entrance gate who had a huge fire going in a metal barrel to keep warm. I bet they had moonshine in their cups.

My favorite part was the cake competition. There were a bunch of cakes on display in the expo, and some of them seriously could rival Ace of Cakes. I tried to get a good picture, but none turned out :( I didn't go on any rides (because really...I think I would have puked after everything I ate), we just kind of walked around and took in the sights. I think I'm getting old. But, it was a fun time...once a year is enough for me, though! I am starting to feel seriously ill after all that eating...I think tonight may be a rough one. Ha!

In case you were wondering, donkeys bite...

Have a great week!

Double Digit Miles!

2009-10-17T18:01:00.003-04:00

Today, for the first time EVER, I ran 10 miles! I've never run double digit miles before! I went with three of the girls that are also doing the 1/2 marathon, and I dominated 10 miles! There is a great trail not too far from where I live, and it's a good place to do long miles because it is flat and shaded.

Before today, the farthest I had run was 8.7 miles, and that was two weeks ago. Last weekend, on my Saturday long run, I had planned to do 9 or 9.5 miles and I TOTALLY bonked. I was struggling after the first mile, and knew there was no way I had at least 8 more miles in me. So I gave up, turned around, and came home majorly defeated. Major fail. I ran 6 miles on Wednesday of this week so I told myself that last weekend was just a fluke, but I was still nervous going into today's run. I was so happy that it went well. I ran a 9:30 mile pace for 10 miles. I'm not going to lie...the last mile was ROUGH. My body was begging me to stop, but I turned up my iPod and just kept going. I really don't think I could have gone 5 more yards after I hit 10 miles. But I did 10, and that's what matters...I don't have to worry about going farther until next weekend. :)

Here's a picture of where I ran today (swiped from WRAL.com, a local news channel website). It's called the American Tobacco Trail. There are mile markers every half mile (every 0.25 mile in some parts), so it's really easy to keep track of how far you go). The section we ran today was packed gravel, so not as hard on the knees as pavement. I think it really does make a difference.

These Saturday long runs take. it. OUT. of me. I am so worthless for the rest of the day. I really don't know how people training for a marathon do it. I just have no energy left! So, I've got a lovely evening of laying on the couch and watching a movie planned. Lame Saturday night, but that's the best I can do right now!

Also - I tried a new kind of energy chew today on my run - Luna Moons.

They were really good! I can't do the whole gel thing - just the thought of swallowing a flavored shot of gel while I'm running makes me nauseous. I've been doing the GU Chomps (a different kind of energy chew) on my 8+ mile runs, and they're not too bad. But I really liked the Luna Moons. I think these will be my go-to! I had the pomegranate flavor today...yum. Ok, couch is calling...

Two Months Until 13.1

2009-10-14T20:32:00.002-04:00

I can't believe that my first half-marathon is only two months away! Actually, less than two months - it's on December 12th. I'll be running in the Kiawah Island Half-Marathon. Kiawah is on the South Carolina coast, not too far from Charleston. I'm so excited for this to be my first 1/2, because Kiawah holds a special place in my heart. My mom's side of the family has been going to Kiawah every Thanksgiving for over 20 years and it is a vacation that I look forward to each year. Kiawah is one of my most favorite places in the world. Kiawah has been named one of the top 10 beaches in the United States...see how pretty it is??

I've signed up to run the race with 8 friends, and we've all been training for the past couple of months. We're going to rent a big house for the long weekend, and I'm really looking forward to it. As far as the training, my weekly long runs are currently up to 9 miles (I'll be tackling either 9.5 or 10 this Saturday), so I think I should be able to get up to 13 by December. It blows my mind that I can even run nine miles. A year ago, I would have struggled with two.

One very cool thing is that I will actually be at Kiawah (for Thanksgiving) two weeks before the race. My training schedule has my long run that week at 12 miles (and then the final week before the race is a taper week, so the longest run is 5 miles). This means that I can do a trial run of the course! I think that running 12 miles of the course beforehand will really help me on race day because I'll know a) what to expect, and b) that I've done it (or most of it) before!

Any runners out there have tips for the big day?

Tasty Tuesday: Low-Fat Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

2009-10-13T21:28:00.003-04:00

I realized today that I had some bananas that were getting really brown and nasty. As I was going to throw them away, it dawned on me that I could make banana bread with them! I've never made banana bread before, so I went searching for a recipe. By some miracle, I had all of the ingredients on hand (which NEVER happens to me), so I thought, why not? Let's give it a whirl. It came out pretty darn good! Here's the recipe that I used - I kind of combined elements of a few different recipes that I found online to make my own recipe.

Low-Fat Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
Ingredients:
2 cups flour (you can use white or wheat flour - I had both on hand, so I used 1 cup of each)
3/4 cup Splenda (you can use sugar, but the Splenda will reduce the calorie count a good bit)
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup applesauce (this is where you really cut down on the fat, since you don't use oil)
1 1/2 cups mashed bananas (about 3 bananas)
1/3 cup chocolate chips (optional)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease loaf pan.
Mix dry ingredients in one bowl.
Mix wet ingredients in one bowl.
Combine the liquid mixture with the dry ingredients. Stir well.
Pour batter into greased loaf pan.
Bake for 50-55 minutes. Use toothpick to ensure it is done (toothpick should come out clean).
Let cool for 5-10 minutes. Use knife to separate the loaf from the pan before transferring to a plate.
Slice and enjoy!

I put some "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter" on my slice, and it was quite tasty! I'll definitely be making this again!

The BlackBerry Dilemma

2009-10-12T20:50:00.001-04:00

Two years ago, I decided that I absolutely needed a BlackBerry. You know, so I could have access to the important things in life at all times. Important things like my personal Gmail account and Facebook. So I took the plunge and got myself a cute little BlackBerry Pearl and a monthly phone bill double what I was previously paying. Fast forward two years to today...I'm paying 80 bucks a month to Verizon and don't even come close to utilizing all of my phone's features.

Verizon has a "New Every Two" deal where you get a $50 credit towards a new phone every two years. (Which is totally lame because it used to be a $100 credit. Don't think you can fool me, Verizon.) My two years is up, and if I want to get a new phone, I can cash in on my $50 credit. The dilemma is......do I go back to a regular cell phone or get another BlackBerry?? (Or...switch to AT&T for an iPhone?) As much as I love rolling over in bed each morning when I wake up and checking my Gmail on my BlackBerry, or using the google maps application when I'm hopelessly lost, which I admit is really nice, is it worth an extra $40 a month? I'm thinking no. So with that, I think I've made my decision. It's back to a ho-hum cell phone for me. No bells and whistles. Time to get moving on my research to see what's out there!

DIY Frame Makeover

2009-10-11T17:19:00.002-04:00

I've been trying to figure out what to do with these frames for months. I bought them when I first moved into my apartment (2.5 years ago...) because the reds and yellows matched my decor and I needed something to spruce up my dining "room", but I was never a big fan of them - too "poster"-ish. The frames fit the space though, so I wanted to keep them and lose the wine "art". (There's a pesky thermostat smack in the middle of the wall that makes decorating hard.)

Roeshel over at The DIY Show Off featured some great ideas for using burlap and jute, and she inspired me! I finally figured out what to do with my frames!

Here's what they looked like before........

And here is after!!!

A close-up:

And the set hanging on my wall. See the thermostat I was talking about??

I'm pretty proud of myself. I used the original art piece as my base and hot glued the burlap to the background. Then I glued pieces of jute over the black framing that outlined the wine bottle. I bought some faux onion grass and the red flowers at Michaels, and I went to town with the glue gun to make my focal point.

Total cost of my updated art: $13, and I have quite a bit of burlap to spare for another project!

Now, to figure out what the next project should be!

Office Wedding

2009-10-08T22:51:00.002-04:00

I love Jim and Pam. Well, mostly Jim. And they're finally married! So fun. I'm not exaggerating when I say that I cried no less than seven times in the past hour while watching the wedding episode of The Office. And then one more time when I rewound the DVR to watch the ending again.

I absolutely could not believe that NBC did the wedding entrance to Chris Brown's "Forever"! A bride and groom in St. Paul, MN did this earlier in the summer for their wedding, and it was all over the internet. In case you missed the original, here it is:

How awesome for this couple! I know they've been featured on tons of talk shows, etc., but to have The Office use your wedding entrance for one of their biggest episodes ever? I'm jealous!

Cheers to Jim and Pam :)

Retail Therapy

2009-10-07T22:26:00.002-04:00

I had a rough afternoon at work, so what better way to brighten up my mood than some retail therapy? I did some serious damage today. I headed out to find some cute fall clothes, and ended up with four bags of stuff from Old Navy and Marshalls.

How cute is this sweater "swing coat" that I got from Old Navy? I actually got it in a cream color which was all they had in the store, but I'm seriously contemplating buying another color online. It's so cute on and will be perfect for a chilly day!

(Old Navy Sweater-Knit Swing Coat, $30)

I also got this sweater dress:

Old Navy Cowl-Neck Sweater Dress, $30

And this shirt in not one, not two, but THREE colors - it was only $8.00! An eight dollar shirt speaks to my heart. I couldn't resist.

Old Navy Bubble-Sleeve Top ($8)

And that wasn't all. A couple other things made their way to the checkout as well. Then I headed over to Marshalls for some more bargain hunting. I came away with a pair of brown Nine West knee-high boots and two shirts (one was BCBG for only $25!). In my defense, I've been looking for a pair of brown knee-high boots for the past several years and have never been able to find ones I like that aren't huge around my calves. These were tight enough and only $49.99, so I feel like I got a really good deal! And last but not least, a New Balance athletic zip-up jacket that should be great for running outside as it gets cooler (that's a legit need, right?).

Yikes. Pocketbook pain tonight. But at least I'm going to bed happy :)

Loverboy

2009-10-06T19:51:00.001-04:00

Sadly, I'm not writing about some prince charming that came and swept me off my feet. Yep, this is a post about a cat (I'm that cool). Jackson is my silly, crazy man kitty. While he lives like a king now, he had some pretty humble beginnings. He was found living under a dumpster outside a Goodwill store with his mama and siblings about two and a half years ago. A wonderful rescue group, Independent Animal Rescue took in the kittens and their mom when Jackson was just a few weeks old, and found them all homes.

The person who rescued Jackson works at my vet and they treated him before he was adopted, so they've known him longer than I have. I called a few weeks ago to make an appointment (because, who doesn't like paying 30 bucks every year for a rabies shot for a cat that never goes outside?), and when I told them I was calling to make an appointment for Jackson, the receptionist said, "Oh! Loverboy!!!" Every single person on the staff at that vet knows exactly who he is, and they all parade by to visit him whenever I bring him in. The cat has never met a stranger. I seriously think he was supposed to be a dog. This is going to sound way lame but I'm going to throw it out there anyway. I actually look forward to bringing him to the vet, just because I love how much the staff dotes on him. That's so pathetic, I know. I'm guessing this is how people with kids feel?? You want to show them off and get people's approval? Ha!

Anyway, here's Jackson making himself at home while we were at the vet this afternoon.

Toy box for the kids? Yes, please.

Exam table? Don't mind if I do!

So that's my little 'loverboy'. I'll do a post on Macy at some point, but she's not really one for the limelight.

Oh, and Jackson did great until we were about a 1/4 mile from home. Then he pooped and peed in his carrier. Awesome.

:)

Fall has fell

2009-10-05T19:52:00.001-04:00

Fall is officially here in my book. I made my first pot of chili tonight, which growing up was always the kickoff to the fall season in our house. Like...it was an event.

Yummmmm. Nothing says fall like a big hot bowl of chili! Love it. But, I'm not gonna lie. I used McCormick chili mix today instead of my usual French's Chili-O mix, and I was sorely disappointed. The flavor wasn't that great. If it ain't broke, don't fix it, right?

I heart fall and am so happy it's finally here. Here's my list of fall favs:

changing leaves

jewel tones

new episodes of my favorite tv shows

open windows

cardigans and cute flats

football

candy corn

What's your favorite part of fall?

Nerd Alert

2009-10-04T16:08:00.000-04:00

Ok, I admit it. I'm a nerd. I really like to read, and the satisfaction I feel when I finish a book can't be beat. I have this weird obsession with always buying the books that I read (no library fuss for me), and whenever possible, buying them in hardcover. (Because I don't make millions, I accomplish this by surfing the used books on half.com / ebay / amazon to snag them on the cheap - I can usually find them for less than the cost of a new paperback.) I live in a small apartment but dream of the day when I have a big house with built-in bookcases where I can show off all of the books that I have read over the years.

But I digress. Katrina over at Callapidder Days is hosting a Fall Into Reading challenge. I'm late to the game, but basically, the challenge is to make a list of books that you plan to read between September 22nd and December 20th. For me, we're going to say October 4th - December 20th.

Below is the list of books I'm challenging myself to read between now and December 20th:

The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls

Sag Harbor, Colson Whitehead

Running with Scissors, Augusten Burroughs

Julie and Julia, Julie Powell

The Last Lecture, Randy Pausch

The Postmistress, Sarah Blake

The Christmas Box, Richard Paul Evans (waiting until December on this one)

I think I should be able to get through these by December 20th. If I find that I'm zipping through them, I may add some more to the list, but I won't take any off. I'll post updates as I check each book off the list.

Happy reading!

Beginnings

2009-10-04T15:14:00.000-04:00

I decided yesterday that I needed to get back on the blog train. I started a blog earlier this year, made a few posts, and let it go down the tubes. I love reading other people's blogs and want to have my own place to journal my life or whatever random thoughts I might have. So I've created this blog with the full intention of keeping it up...even if no one but me ever reads it.

A little bit about myself...I turned 25 this year and am getting used to being in my "mid-twenties" (I feel so old!!!) I live in North Carolina and work in project management for a pharmaceutical research company. I have two kitty babies, named Macy and Jackson - both two years old. Macy is a diva and Jackson thinks he's a dog.

I'm currently training to run a half-marathon in December with some friends, and I am really enjoying the running. I like to read, and always have a book beside my bed. Seems like I never have enough time, though, to get in as much reading as I would like. I recently got out of a long-term relationship, so I'm trying to figure out singlehood - something I haven't had to do in a very long time.

I titled my blog "Savor the Small Things" because I think it is so important to step back and realize that it's the little things in life that make it what it is. So often, we focus on jumping from one big thing to another without slowing down to enjoy the small things along the way. I try to make a conscious effort to savor the small things, and hope you do too!