"Cinco De My-Oh-My They're Good!"

 First, does anyone recognize the quote in the title? If you know where it's from leave a comment!

I can't believe its been over a month since I last posted! How is that possible! It has been pretty busy over here and I have a lot to post about. I guess I've just been too busy adventuring to take the time to slow down and write!

Today, in honor of Cinco de Mayo, I've got a great  recipe for you for nonalcoholic margaritas (or you can add alcohol of your choice of course)! As a  matter of fact, we just made them with our Cinco De Mayo nacho lunch (check out the Butter Ball Nacho recipe here)! Turns out margaritas are super easy to make!

Butter Ball Frozen Strawberry Margaritas!
Ingredients:
1/2 lb frozen strawberries (we bought a 1lb bag and used about half of it)
4 or 5 ice cubes
1/2 a kiwi (sliced) (we just happened to have this in the fridge so we threw it in, but this would also be great with some sliced mango, peaches, melon, whatever you have on hand)
4-6 oz Mr. & Mrs. T Margarita Mix (or Margarita Mix of your choice. We got this one because they had it for a good price in the soda isle of the supermarket)
1 lime (you really only need a small lime wedge, lemon would work too) for salting the rims of your glasses
margarita salt

Directions:
(1) Pour half a pound (half a bag) of frozen strawberries, a handful of ice cubes, kiwi (or any other fruit you want) and about 4 to 6 oz of margarita mix in a blender and get a big strong man to blend it for you because you don't like the loud scary noise that the blender makes...oh wait...just me?

(2) Salt the rims of your glasses. This is surprisingly easy to do. Just cut a small wedge of lime and rub it around the rim of the glass. Then turn the glass upside down and twist it into the margarita salt container. Done!

(3) Pour your frozen margaritas into your salt rimmed glasses and enjoy!

Happy Cinco De Mayo!

Do you have any favorite margarita recipes? Share in the comments!

Something I Thought I'd Never Do

My Boy and I went on a pretty crazy adventure today thanks to his dad...

Last month my Boy's dad gave him a pretty cool birthday present. My Boy has always been interested in airplanes so when his dad got him a flying lesson for his birthday this year he was beyond thrilled! I, on the other hand, was extremely nervous. Although small planes are cool they can also be very dangerous and I tend to ere on the "better safe than sorry" side of life. When we got up this morning and drove out to the airport I was secretly a bit of a nervous wreck. I came along to the lesson in hopes that they would let me stand off to the side somewhere and take pictures (and that somehow me being there saying a flurry of silent prayers would keep my boy safe). I fully anticipated one of two situations: (1) that they would say I could stand off to the side somewhere so I could take pictures as long as I didn't interfere with the lesson, or (2) they would say I'd have to wait in the office or in the car. When we got there and checked in for the lesson I was definitely not anticipating scenario number (3) that they would offer me the opportunity to sit in on the lesson and hop in the plane to go along for the ride. My first reaction was No No No! And then the instructor said "it's a once in a lifetime opportunity". For some reason this morning that really hit me. 

So twenty minutes later...

Pushing the plane out of the hangar

My Boy flying a plane! 

 Taxiing to the runway

 In the air! 

Coming in for a landing

Back on the ground safe and sound! 

What a crazy experience! There were a couple times I grabbed the bottom of my seat with white knuckles and I was definitely nervous when we were taking off but My Boy did great! It was a really smooth flight and definitely worth a try. Also... I got to wear this sweet headset! 

 

   
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

4 Years Old!!!

2009

We're 4 years old!!!

So that statement probably doesn't make much sense to you if you don't know me very well, but what I mean is that yesterday was My Boy and my 4 year anniversary. It's funny how these things sneak up on you. One day you're nervously getting ready in your dorm room to go out on a first date with your best friend and the next you're a working adult talking on the phone while you commute to work and planning out your Anniversary celebration for the coming weekend. Its amazing how quickly time flies when you're having fun! Meeting this boy has really changed my life in so many wonderful ways and I thank God for sending me such an amazing companion. I can't imagine my life without him!
In honor of our 4 year anniversary, here are 4 lessons that I've learned from My Boy:

2010

(1) It's OK to be silly! I've always been a pretty serious person. I think part of it has always been due to being very introverted and shy (two different things by the way, but I'll get to that later). I've never been very comfortable with being silly around other people. My Boy has taught me the amazing lesson that there are times when it is not only OK to be silly, it is necessary! I know when he reads this he's going to laugh because I'm constantly saying and doing ridiculous things in front of him and immediately saying "I didn't use to act like this before I met you! What have you done to me!" but we both know I love it.

2011

(2) Sharing is Caring! Somewhere along the lines I got the idea that when it came to friendship, being agreeable was the key. I would consider myself a pretty laid back and easygoing person and I like just about everything, so letting other people pick where to go to dinner, what movie to watch, what to talk about, etc. just seemed natural to me. Letting other people's opinions be more important than my own always seemed to make them happy (aka make people like me) and I usually didn't not like what they suggested so going along with people made sense. I'm not by any means saying that my friends are inconsiderate or anything, quite the opposite! My friends have always been wonderfully supportive and caring and I always enjoy every minute that I spend with them. It's just that somewhere along the lines I developed this habit of not having opinions about things and just going along with what other people liked. When My Boy and I started dating, an amazing thing happened, when he would ask me questions about what I wanted and I would turn the question around at him he would just turn it back to me. Instead of accepting my "I'm not sure, what would you like? Lets do what you want to do?" he would turn it back at me with a "No, we're going to do what you want to do. What would you like? What would make you happy? Today you have to make the decisions." Through his gentle persistence I learned the lesson that not only am I encouraged to have opinions, It's a requirement to a healthy relationship! I've learned to share my interests with him and he shares his with me. And it's amazing to see how each of us sharing what we think and know and love even when those things are sometimes different, actually brings us closer together.

2012

(3) Communication is Key! As I previously mentioned, I'm pretty introverted, so I tend to keep my thoughts and feelings to myself. And right here my sisters are laughing because they know I can be a big drama queen when I put my mind to it. I know, I know, I'm a Marianne. But when it comes to people outside my family and close friends, and quite honestly, most of the time within my family and close friends, I tend to keep my feelings and thoughts to myself. While this may work out OK in friendships, it can turn into tension in relationships when one person closes up and shuts out the other. Even though My Boy is also very quiet and introverted he's always been very good in our relationship about stressing the importance of communication. Something that never really occurred to me was that the other person isn't going to know what you want if you don't tell them, and part of being in a relationship is learning to listen to each other's needs. Not only do you not have to handle everything alone, you're not supposed to!

2012

(4) Love doesn't have to be work! Before I met My Boy, I didn't have too much experience with relationships but from the limited experience that I did have, I learned the lesson that relationships are about constantly working to hide your flaws, showering the other person with attention and affection (even if they completely take you for granted), and above all, never making a mistake. I learned that love (romantic love) is reserved for those whose makeup looks perfect, who never say the wrong thing, and who always dress like a model and act like the life of the party. Luckily, My Boy came along just in the nick of time to save me from my self destructive spiral and help me to unlearn all of these so called lessons and learn the truth. Real love doesn't require you to put on an act or work your butt off to be something you're not (physically or emotionally, although for me it was mostly emotional torture...I have a lot of feelings guys). When you love someone you love them FOR who they are, not in spite of who they are. When My Boy and I first started dating, I was a mess. I was exhausted from putting on a forced persona of cheerfulness and perfection but without that mask I was too self conscious and down on myself to go out in public. There were literally days (only once or twice because they were so traumatizing) when I didn't wake up early enough to go through my whole hair and makeup routine before class (which took about an hour and a half by the way) and I was too embarrassed of myself to look people in the eye. I would walk around all day on the verge of tears, looking at my shoes and hoping that no one would notice me because without the makeup and without the time to blow dry my hair and pick out the perfect clothes and jewelry and perfume to hide behind, I didn't believe I was worth talking to anymore. When My Boy and I started dating he had the privilege of witnessing one of those days. The funny thing was that where I looked in the mirror and saw only my flaws, he looked at me and saw a person, finally! When he got up the courage to casually bring up that he thought I looked prettier without the makeup I was stunned. Since that day I rarely wear makeup. Its mostly reserved for special occasions or the occasional day when I'm really tired and want something to pep me up for work. I've learned my lesson though, and many more lessons besides. When I was forcing it and faking it and trying so hard to be perfect, he somehow managed to see through it all and to love me out of my fears and into myself. Since we've been together, I say a lot more idiotic things, I make bad jokes, I have bad hair days and breakouts and sometimes I wear clothes that don't match. I openly read and love sci fi novels and I'd rather watch a Muppet movie than college basketball (blasphemy, I know). I've also been more free, more myself, and happier than I've ever been!

When I think about 4 years I can't believe it's been that long already, but when I think about the time spent with My Boy, I can't believe that in only 4 years he's taught me so much and we've grown up so much together. I love you Mine

Best Wishes and Congratulations!

Showing off the Ring!

So a couple days ago something very exciting happened...one of my best friends (who I've known forever!...aka since elementary school) got ENGAGED! Can you tell that I'm excited for them?
Since yesterday also happened to be my friend's birthday, My Boy and I met my friend and her Fiance at a cute little cafe in the city for brunch. We had bit of an impromptu photo shoot (aka I pulled out my camera and got bossy!)

"Pretend to be casually thinking while really showing off your ring..." - Gosh I'm good at giving directions!

water glasses got in the way but still a cute picture!

I love this one...it's like my camera can read my mind when it's deciding how to focus.

The happy couple

But seriously guys...

Congratulations and Best Wishes!

When you grow up with someone and you've been there for all of the excitement and heartbreak that life can bring, it's amazing to see them so happy! We're so happy that you two found each other!

The New Norm and Update on Things to Come

So I'm about two weeks? Actually I think it's closer to three weeks behind on blog posts which brings me to an interesting point. I've been thinking a lot lately about something that one of my coworkers said at the beginning of Lent. He argued the point that people can handle a Lenten resolution for 40 days but completely fail at a new years resolution after only a couple weeks because Lenten resolutions are just one thing. This idea intrigued me because I've had this problem so many times. With Lent, we say "I'm going to give up chocolate" or "I'm going to not watch tv" or any number of things, but usually there is just the one rule. For new years people tend to get a lot less specific. We'll say "I want to lose weight" or "I want to exercise more" or (for someone like me) "I want to focus more on spending time with friends". While it may be one idea, it is neither defined, nor specific. Maybe the question we should be asking ourselves is "How can I meet this goal with one task?" or even "how can I break this up into manageable chunks?"
Over the past few years I've had so many goals and ideas that never came to anything and I think a major cause of this was the simple fact that I stretched myself too far. My new years resolution this past year was  a list of about twenty things I wanted to do. As you can probably tell from this post so far, trying to start about twenty new habits all at once didn't work so well. As a matter of fact I can't even remember half of them at the moment. I've talked about it before, but this all ties in to the tendency that I have just noticed in myself fairly recently to make rules for everything. I'll define and make rules in my head for everything in my life and then I end up paralyzed. I'm trapped in a box of my own rules. So here's a new guideline "one rule at a time". Maybe that's the way I need to go. For Lent I gave up watching TV on weekdays. That was a rule that I could follow because it only involved one simple decision.
I like having goals. I like having something to work up to, but I've found that too many of then can result in less getting done rather than more. For my blog I came up with a rule for myself that I would do weekly updates, but the first time that I got too busy, I ended up skipping it. And then by week two, I had an enormous number of pictures and stories that i wanted to tell and it just looked like biting off more than I could chew. I got overwhelmed and ended up freezing up and producing nothing.
So here's my new norm: I will write when I want, about what I want. No rules, no structure.

On a less serious note, I've been keeping really busy in the past few weeks with lots of fun stuff I've been meaning to share. Here's a quick look at posts that I will probably write in the furture:

Butter Ball Indonesian Chicken

 How To and DIY Review - Vinegar as a Green Cleaner

How To -Homemade Nail Decals

Chicken with Artichokes and Olives

Father-Daughter Bonding and the Beginning of Summer

 Sushi Making Made Easy

 

Easter Traditions

Best Wishes and Congratulations!

 

Spring Fever! Aaah! (and Monday Manicure)

So between the crazy weather (totally a good excuse for anything) and just being busy, I'm about two weeks behind on blog posts. On the plus side, this means that I don't have any shortage of things to write about! 

To start the recap, I thought I would do a nice Monday manicure recap:

So two weeks ago, I was going for spring time colors. 

Tooth pic Design Hearts

This turquoise color is one of my favorite nail polishes. It took me ages to track it down in stores last year! I was going to take some pictures of the process for drawing the little heart, but I didn't have anyone around at the time to take pictures and I haven't yet figured out how to grow a third arm. So the next best thing...I'll just give you some steps:

First, what you'll need:

two nail polish colors

basecoat and topcoat (recommended but not really necessary)

a tooth pic

 

Step 1: Paint your nails with your base color (apply basecoat first if you're going to) and let it dry completely.

Step 2: When you pull the nail polish brush out of the bottle of your accent color you want to get as much polish off it as possible. This works best if the brush is a thin one. What you really want is just the teeny-tiniest drop of polish on the tip of the brush. 

Step 3: Make two little dots of polish right next to each other on your nail. You want them to be overlapping very slightly.

Step 4: Take the tip of the tooth pic and very gently touch it to the very top of one of the wet nailpolish drops. You really want to just be touching the very top of the little nail polish bubble. 

Step 5: With a little sweeping gesture you want to use the tooth pic to pull the extra nailpolish from the top of the bubble to the outside of your nail and down. This is when you're drawing the sides of the heart. 

Step 6: Repeat steps 3 and 4 on the other side. 

and Voila! you're done. It takes a little practice but when you get it down it's really quite easy! Now wait for it to dry all of the way before applying topcoat or else you'll smudge your colors together!

So here's where we get to the part about Spring Fever:

I love snow and winter time...but there comes a time when you're just ready for some spring weather. This past monday we had what will probably be our last hurrah for winter weather. It looked something like this:

Monday Morning Snow

It was beautiful and snowy and wonderful...but we only really got two inches and it didn't ever stick to the roads. Also the weather has been so weirdly fluctuating that it was 100% melted by the next morning. I think I'm ready for spring now. This was the most snow we've gotten all winter and I'm a little disappointed. Seriously Wintertime...my feelings are hurt by your stinginess. I'm going to have to spend some time with spring and summer to cool off before we can talk again.

Which is how this whole Spring Fever thing started. Now that I've decided I'm ready for spring I'm starting to get impatient. I read this blog post from Sarah @ Married to Med School and it made me think about all of the things that I do to get ready for Spring, or at least to try to encourage it along with signs of soladarity. 

I started out the week by painting my nails with my favorite color...YELLOW!

Sunny Yellow Polish

What better way to say "Welcome Sun! We've missed you! Please don't burn me this year...that was really quite rude of you last summer." than with bright yellow polish! Oh, and sparkles! For a little extra pizazz (still trying to decide if I like this word), I added pink sparkles to my ring fingers. I love this sparkle polish from essie. It's great because it has varying sizes of glitter which makes it more complex than your average glitter polish. The small, medium, and large glitter pieces help to cover the space in a more interesting way and bring extra pizazz (I guess I do like this word) to your regular nail polish routine. 

Awesome essie LuxEffects Glitter Polish

The yellow nail polish put me in a nice springy mood, and after reading Sarah's blog post about getting ready for spring it made me want to get ready too. One of the first things I thought about was candles. I love candles! When I thought about warm weather my brain automatically went to my two candles that I had in my apartment over the summer. They both smell amazing and they're both very special. 

The Charleston Candle from My Boy

Those of you who know me know that I had the opportunity to spend the summer in the beautiful and fascinating city of Charleston, SC. The one downside of this was that I hardly got to see my family and my Boy all summer. Before I left for Charleston, My Boy gave me the most beautiful present. He found me a Charleston candle. It smells amazing! The company that made this candle perfectly captured the lingering and mesmerizing scent of the hidden fenced gardens and window boxes of the historic SNOB and SOB neighborhoods (that stands for Slightly North of Broad and South of Broad, referring to Broad Street... if you're wondering). While I was away from home and my loved ones for so long I brought my candle with me to remind me to get outside of myself and enjoy the chance I was given to live in the city, as well as to remind me when I felt lonely that the people I loved were back home thinking about me and loving me too. 

(yeah...I know...you're thinking "that's a pretty serious candle"...Darn Tootin'!)

My second spring candle is one that I found in a Charleston boutique. 

Rewined Riesling Candle

These candles are made in Charleston by a company called Rewined. They take old wine bottles and recycle them into beautiful candles. They smell amazing too! The scents are all designed to mimic the scent of different varietals of wine! I got the Riesling one.  I love the light fruity scent of this candle. It really brightens up a room and makes the environment smell and feel bright and creative and happy. 

After I got out my candles, I started to think about other spring things and my mind immediately went to the lotion I had this summer. The first time I went to the beach this summer I was so careful with my sunscreen...or so I thought. I was really proud of myself when I got back to the house for not getting a sunburn...until I caught sight of my back in the mirror. My entire backside from the nape of my neck to the back of my heels was burned...apparently I missed a couple spots. The funny part was if I stood sideways to the mirror you could see the line down the side of my arm and the side of my leg where I transitioned from completely pale in the front to completely burned in the back. Clearly that spray sunscreen isn't so easy to aim at your own back. 

Needless to say, with the backs of my legs terribly burnt, walking and sitting and wearing long pants to work was not fun, which necessitated the purchase of some aloe lotion. I bought the largest, cheapest bottle of after sun lotion that I could find, and ended up loving it! It smelled like coconut and orange!

Have You Seen This Lotion?

With my Spring Fever kicking in this past week and my dry skin still not recovered from winter weather, I went on a quest to find my beloved summer lotion. The problem is that I can't remember what I did with it. I have a vague memory of putting it away with the summer pool stuff when I moved back home, but now I can't seem to find it anywhere! I'm starting to worry that I might have forgotten it when I was rushing around packing up to move back. My wonderful smelling lotion might still be in Charleston waiting for the next summer renter to take over that awesome little apartment. 

So, seriously...if you see this lotion anywhere, let me know! It is my new quest of the season to hunt down this lotion. One of the pharmacies around here has got to have it...right?

What do you do to get ready for spring? And do you have any fun manicure ideas you'd like to see me try? Let me know!

The Liebster Award - Getting to Know the Blogging World

So the author of one of my favorite small blogs Sarah @ Married to Med School just nominated me for something called a Liebster Award. Being that this blogging thing is new to me, there are all kinds of things like this that I am suddenly hearing about! Blogging really is a fascinating global society with it's own set of rules for communicating and all kinds of special social events. So here's to new experiences and learning how things work in the blog world.

According to Sarah's blog post, bloggers can nominate other bloggers whose blogs they enjoy for the Liebster Award. In order to be nominated your blog must have under 200 followers. The idea is that bloggers nominate other people with small blogs as a way to spread the word about some of their favorite small blogs and as a way for bloggers to get to know each other.

Thank you Sarah for taking the time to nominate me and thank you to everyone who takes the time to read my blog posts! I really appreciate all of your support!

Now that I've been nominated, in order to be eligible for the Liebster Award I have to do the following:
(1) post 11 facts about myself
(2) answer 11 questions from the blogger who nominated me
(3) nominate 11 more people (which will be interesting since most of the people probably have never heard of my little blog)
(4) and ask 11 questions of the people that I've nominated

Whew...lets get started!

Part 1!
11 Facts About Me

(1) I love love love Jane Austen novels. When my sisters and I were little, my mom would make a tea tray with a pot of tea and little cookies. We would sit and sip our tea and spend hours watching Jane Austen movies. Before I could read I knew all of the Jane Austen characters like they were my older sisters.

(2) It took me a really long time to learn to read. When I was in elementary school I hated reading, not because I hated stories but because I wasn't good at it and I was very stubborn. It was only through the extraordinary effort of one very special teacher that I learned to read and to love reading. When the private school that I went to wanted to "ask me to leave" because I was so far behind the rest of my grade in reading, this teacher volunteered her time to stay after school with me almost every day to teach me to read.  I knew that I was one of her favorite students and she was the nice lady that taught me to read and always had snacks (Oreos and goldfish were the best!), but it wasn't until senior year of high school that I learned the rest of the story and why I had to take all of those extra reading lessons. It was through her extraordinary dedication to teaching and love for her students that I was able to graduate from such a wonderful school and write this blog post for you today. Thank you Mrs. Reid! (wow, I just realized how funny that is...)

(3) I spent 13 years at a small private, Catholic, All-girls school (kindergarten to 12th grade just to clarify) and I loved every minute of it. It was an amazing place and an amazing community.

(4) Two of my best friends are girls that I met in elementary school there and I can't imagine my life without them. They're the best!

(5) When I was a kid I loved Beauty and the Beast for two main reasons...(1) Belle was an awesome Brunette princess and (2) Maurice was a genius. I wanted to grow up to be an inventor just like he was!

(6) I'm an introvert. What this basically translates into for blogging purposes is that if we were sitting down and chatting over a cup of tea and you asked me about one of the crafts I made and posted about, my response would be something like this: "well...um..I made it. It was fun." Whereas, when I'm writing on my blog I can go on for pages about one subject. According to the book I'm currently reading Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking, by Susan Cain, that is because introverts tend to get very nervous in any situation where they feel like they might be appraised in some way and they are more comfortable expressing themselves through writing. Suddenly my entire life makes more sense.

(7) I really am not good at coming up with random facts about myself. Does that count as a fact? We're going to go ahead and blame that on me being an Introvert.

(8) I have a giant fuzzball of a dog (well, she's not really giant for a dog, she's just giant for a fuzzball). She is an Australian Shepherd and she is very sweet. Technically she's my family/my sister's dog. She says "hi", and also that she has to go to the bathroom even though I just took her out 5 minutes ago.

(9)  My boyfriend and I love to cook. When we first started dating (almost 4 years ago now), one of the first dates we had was baking peanut butter cookies with Hershey kisses in the dorm kitchen. Now, after 4 years of cooking together we type up all of our favorite recipes and include a picture of one of us holding a plate of the finished dish and print them out to keep in a binder. It's always fun to flip back through the pages and see all of the funny haircuts and outfits I thought were a good idea throughout the years. Priceless

(10) I'm a huge Disney fan. Nothing gets me pumped up in the morning like listening to a new episode of my favorite Disney podcast, WDW Radio! If I could have any job in the world, I would be an Imagineer for the Disney Company.

(11) I'm a new blogger. I had toyed with the idea in the past of starting a blog, but I never really knew what to write about. I'm still figuring all of that out. Thank you so much to everyone who takes the time to read these posts. I'm really grateful to all of you! (that totally counts as a fact)

Part 2!
Now I have to answer 11 questions from Sarah @ Married to Med School

1. What is your favorite category on Pinterest? - "DIY & Crafts" - I love crafts!
2. Who is your favorite Disney princess? - Belle!
3. What's the best book you've read recently (or not so recently)? - I'm going to have to cheat for this question. I'm currently reading Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking, by Susan Cain (non-fiction, obviously) which is really good so far, but I've also gotten really into the Amelia Peabody Series by Elizabeth Peters (I'd call it Historical Fiction, but I'm no librarian) and the Vorkosigan Saga (another series) by Lois McMaster Bujold (Science Fiction).
4. Are you more Pottery Barn or West Elm? - I just googled West Elm. That was a poor decision because I now want to buy everything. So, I guess I'm more West Elm.
5. Do you prefer cold weather or hot weather? -  I've always been a cold weather kind of girl. The clothes are cuter and I love layers and I'm a huge fan of snow.
6. What is your favorite tv show? - Another tricky one. For the sake of avoiding listing every tv show I've ever watched, I'm going to go ahead and say Gilmore Girls. It's an old favorite that I love to watch over and over.
7. Audrey or Marilyn? - Audrey. She always seemed classier to me (but what do I know)
8. Were you in a sorority? Why or why not? - I was not. I thought about it and there were definitely times when I was jealous of people who were because it seemed like they always had such a huge tightly bonded friend group, but I just didn't feel like I had the time for all of the events. Also, the idea of all of the interview type activities involved with rush terrified me since I tend to be really shy around strangers.
9. If you could instantly learn any language what would it be? - I took years of Spanish classes and I'd love to be more proficient in Spanish (mostly because I really want to go to Spain), but recently I've also wanted to learn Japanese. I just find the culture fascinating! And EPCOT Japan is awesome.
10. Why did you start blogging? - My sister started a blog and told me I had to start one also. Just kidding! (a little bit) I wanted to start one for a long time just as a way to express myself. Being a naturally more reserved person, its much easier for me to share the things I love in writing than talking.
11. What food could you eat every day if you could? - probably bacon...or ribs!

Part 3!
Time to nominate! Check out these awesome blogs!

Sarah @ Married to Med School

Elisabeth @ Made for First Grade

Lex @ The Wunder Year 

Reese @ Reese Kistel
Katie @ DC Yogi
Adam and Andrew @ Disney Hipster Blog
Estelle @ This Happy Place Blog

OK, so that's not eleven blogs, but I don't know that many blogs. Also they might not all be under 200 followers. I can't figure out how to find out. So basically I just listed a bunch of the blogs I read on a regular basis. If I listed your blog and you're now saying "Hey wait a minute...I have way more than 200 followers! I'm offended!", please don't be offended. I only listed you because I think you have a cool blog!

Part 4!

Question time!

1. Why did you start a blog?

2. What do you want to be when you grow up? (you're never too old for this question)

3. What is your favorite food?

4. What was the last movie that you watched? Was it good?

5. What is your favorite movie of all time?

6. What is your favorite book of all time?

7. If you could be best friends with one fictional character, who would it be? Why?

8. If you could go anywhere right now, where would you go?

9. Do you / have you ever played any musical instruments? Which one(s)? Why?

10. Do you have any pets? What kinds?

11. What is your favorite hobby (besides blogging)?

 So... that's it... I think. Thanks again to everyone who's read my blog!

Weekly Recap - Farm Adventures and The Birthday Boy

As I mentioned in my last post, I had originally intended this blog to be something that I worked on a couple days a week or even daily, but it turns out that with everything going on and with all of my efforts to get out and have adventures I've been having a hard time finding the time to sit down and write. When I bemoaned my failure as a blogger last week because I only wrote one weekly blog post, my wonderful boyfriend helped me to get a new perspective on the situation. Most podcasts do weekly shows and people love them, so why not a blog? While I felt like I had taken the easy way out last week with my weekly recap, The Boy loved it because it reminded him of his favorite podcasts where they do a weekly show that is divided into weekly segments. As he put it, it's more exciting that way because you listen to the show (or in this case read the blog) and you get familiar with the weekly segments and you learn your favorites and each week it gives you something to look forward to and get excited about...

So...my new blog philosophy...I'll have my adventures and enjoy them (and hopefully get better at taking pictures) and then I'll do a weekly blog post to keep you guys updated! Because I'm a rule-aholic though, I'm making a new rule that there is no weekly update rule....that is to say, if i want to do a blog post in the middle of the week, I can...

Here are my ideas for my weekly segments (let me know what you think):

The Weekend - A segment just about the crazy wonderful weekend Adventures I have with my family and friends

Monday Manicure -My weekly artistic pursuit of the perfect manicure (or pedicure...don't want the toes feeling left out)

The Tuesday Experiment -  Arts, crafts, cooking, maybe some science experiments in there if I feel like it...whatever inspires me that week - I'll try to bring you some good DIYs

Wonderful Wednesdays - Covering two of my efforts to bring a little more energy into my life - taking the time to socialize with friends and making the time for exercise

Think Tank Thursdays - Since Thursdays are my errand running night, I had originally designated this night as a night for Finances and Facials, which I still fully intend to do, but since this tends to be such a busy night I thought this would be a good section for musings, book reviews, and sharing any other random thoughts that run through my head.

As I mentioned above, I love making up idealistic rules for how things should go...so here's another rule about rules...the sections that I just listed are  more like guidelines...I can write whatever I want in any section under any day! Sorry if it's confusing...being in my head often is...welcome!

I hope you are all as excited about this new blog style experiment as I am,

So without further ado...here's my weekly update:

 
The Weekend - The Farm Adventure
Monday Manicure - Manicure of the Week and Baking Soda Adventures Part II
The Tuesday Experiment -The Best Chocolate Pound Cake Ever
Wonderful Wednesdays - A Birthday Tribute to My Favorite Boy
Think Tank Thursdays - The Ten Year Reunion

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The Weekend - The Farm Adventure

Before I start talking about my weekend adventure at The Farm, there were a couple of other notable occurrences this weekend that I thought I should share. First, The Boy and I spent a lovely weekend relaxing at his apartment and decided to make a big plate of one of our favorite not so healthy lunches...nachos! This recipe is one that we ended up making up a few years ago as the result of a bit of a misunderstanding...I had a three layer nacho cheese dip in mind that I wanted to make and he had a more traditional nacho recipe in mind that he wanted to make and we each thought the other understood our recipe perfectly. So basically we got home with a mishmash of ingredients which we combined to make the perfect nacho recipe which we've been using ever since. Now, this is a pretty complicated recipe so pay attention!

Butterball Nachos

Ingredients:

1/3 to 1/2 bag Tortilla chips (get the round ones...they're the best! and I recommend Mission brand)

1 can Hormel Chili (No Beans!) - Other types of hotdog chili work well too, but I recommend getting a brand that you've tried before because some of them are a little bit bbq-y and that can get gross with nachos after a while

1 ripe avocado

1 can large black olives, pitted (or you can get sliced)

1/2 bag Mexican shredded cheese

a large microwave safe plate, or a cookie sheet for making them in the oven (in which case double everything)

 

This is the good stuff!

Step 1: Get a large microwave safe plate (or a cookie sheet if you want to make it for a party (set oven to 350)) and line it with a layer of chips.Then open your can of chili and start spooning it on. It’s OK to just plop it on in spoonfuls, it doesn’t have to be pretty. It will still turn out delicious.

Step 1 - Chips and Chili

Step 2: Add your cheese. Make sure you sprinkle on plenty of cheese. This is where you want to try to cover all of the chips evenly.

Step 2 - Add Cheese

Step 3: Repeat steps one and two to add another layer to your nachos (or two more layers…your call)

Step 4: Microwave on high for 1 minute. When you open the microwave you want the cheese to be all melty and delicious. If 1 minute doesn’t work in your microwave then add another 30 seconds, but don’t microwave it too long, you don’t want the cheese to burn. (If you’re doing this on a cookie sheet, put the nachos in the oven for 5 minutes and then check.)

Step 5: Add your toppings. For ours we sliced our avocado into cubes and added a generous layer of avocado cubes, jalapeno slices, and olives. (We’ve also tried pineapple chunks before for a little variety which was pretty good if you’re in the mood for something out of the ordinary). Make sure you save about half of your toppings (or 2/3 if you’re doing 3 layers).

Finished Product - Yum!

Step 6: *This is an important one!* Eat layer one of the nachos, and then add more toppings! There was a reason why you saved your toppings and that reason is that after eating about half of the nachos you’re going to run out of toppings. This is when you stop whatever you’re doing and for goodness sakes go add those toppings! While running out of toppings is not a complete disaster (your nachos will still be delicious) having enough toppings just takes these nachos to a whole new level of deliciousness.

Second, I got a really bad headache this weekend so I decided to take a nap to see if that would help (it did, thanks for asking) and my wonderful boyfriend surprised me by making me a delicious Indian curry dinner while I slept. I should have taken a picture, but I was too hungry. And another fun surprise was that I woke up with a cat on my lap and The Boy took some funny pictures. 

My Little Fuzzy Protector - "Nothing to see here. Move along."

kitty cat bonding

father daughter bonding time

Ok…here’s what you’ve been waiting for…The Farm

A Special Piece of Farm History - My Boy's Papa's (grandfather not father) Favorite Hat left at the Farm, his favorite place, in remembrance.

View of the Farm from the House

I’ve alluded to this in past posts (I think) but The Boy’s family has a family farm that’s been passed down for generations. While it is a working farm and there is a tenant who lives there year round and tends to the crops, its primary purpose for the family is as a quiet retreat for bonding and hunting. It’s always fun to hear stories about The Boy going to the farm as a kid and bonding with his father, uncles, cousins and friends. It serves as a special place for the men of the family (and women) to bond and pass down their wisdom to the next generation. The house is a cute little old farm house that has been transformed by generations of men into a miniature hunting lodge. Both upstairs bedrooms are filled with bunks and bunks line the back wall of the dining room for large hunting parties. The bedroom closets are filled with camo clothing that all of the men of the family just keep at the farm. The large pantry in the kitchen has been turned into a storage room for boots and waders. The living room has an enormous picture window that looks out on the fields and the river complete with binoculars for watching the local wildlife. The shelf by the couch is filled with action movies and videos on hunting and fishing with names like “Dogs, Ducks, and Decoys”, and the old fashioned wood stove keeps the house warm in the winter. 

The Wood-burning Stove

When The Boy and I first started dating we went down to the farm with his dad for a weekend. We climbed trees, made a bonfire on the beach, and filled empty water bottles with water to put out in the field for targets so The Boy could teach me how to shoot a rifle. While we were getting ready to go to the farm this past weekend I was thinking back about the last time we went to the farm and realized that that was almost four years ago! Time flies when you’re having fun! 

I can't believe this was almost 4 years ago!

This past weekend we went down to the farm again which turned into a bit of an adventure just driving down…we made pit stops at every Wall-Mart along the way looking for clay pigeons and ammunition, and we even stopped at a tiny hippie store along the highway to pick up a birthday present a friend of The Boy’s stepmother who has a birthday coming up. The hippie store was so cute and fun! I indulged and got myself a little present…it was calling to me!

My New Leather Hippie Cuff Bracelet

Doing the Hippie Dance Outside the Hippie Store : )

Heading to the Farm! My Boy and his dog, trying out the new hearing protection he got

We finally made it down to the farm in the afternoon and the men set up the clay pigeon launcher (I’m sure there is a correct name for this but I don’t really know). 

Arriving at The Farm

The Farm from the driveway.

The Boy and his dad both took turns taking aim and displaying their skills. My boy even got two clay pigeons launched at once with a pump! It was pretty impressive! I tried once but it was too much recoil for me. 

My boy taking aim at one of the clay pigeons.

A hunting dog happy as can be in his natural environment

The men talking tactics - "yeah I'm thinking we should shoot the clay pigeon" "yeah me too" (just kidding)

After that we set up some old water bottles in one of the fields and an old paper target and had some target practice with the rifles. These ones I could actually shoot!

I forgot to mention that it's very important to wear proper hearing protection!

Taking Aim

Can you guess which one is mine? I'll give you a hint - it's inside the second smallest diamond

A gopher trail at the farm...completely blew my mind. I thought these only happened in Winnie the Pooh!

First Flowers of the Spring!

High Tide on the River

Monday Manicure - Manicure of the Week and Baking Soda Adventures Part II

So after the dark brown nail polish I used a couple weeks ago my finger nails were a little bit stained…as in they had a bit of weird orangey tint to them that wasn’t attractive. Because I was lazy last week and I was painting them a solid turquoise I didn’t bother to try to do anything about it, but this week I knew I wanted to use more of a translucent base color so something had to be done. I’d seen on Pinterest a while ago that a paste made out of hydrogen peroxide and baking soda will take off nail polish stains.

So…here it goes…

You’ll need baking soda and hydrogen peroxide, a small bowl, and a spoon. 

What you'll need: Baking soda & hydrogen peroxide

The Pinterest recipe was two parts baking soda to one part hydrogen peroxide, but I tried this a little while ago and it didn’t really work so I figured I’d try it my own way. I made more of a soup. I didn’t really measure but the proportions were probably more like two parts hydrogen peroxide to one part baking soda.

Then I just submerged my finger nails (after taking off the nail polish) and waited for about ten minutes.

After a few minutes the baking soda settled to the bottom of the bowl so it looked kinda crazy with the bubbling hydrogen peroxide. Also, if you have any paper cuts it will sting very very slightly but its ok because hydrogen peroxide kills germs, so it’s actually good for your cuts!

Weird and fizzy!

And here are the results. It wasn’t the brilliant dazzling white that all of the Pinterest pictures showed, but the stains were lighter. Does anyone know how to make this work any better?

For this week’s manicure I decided to do something a little different. I really liked the multicolor look I did a couple weeks ago so I decided to go with some of the same colors and do a little bit of a different multicolor look. What do you think?

Pale pink base coat with colored triangles

The Tuesday Experiment - The Best Chocolate Pound Cake Ever

This Tuesday experiment is a short one...I forgot to take pictures. Since The Boy is not a big fan of traditional birthday cake, I went on a mission a couple years ago to find the perfect birthday baked good to make him. Since he prefers plain cake without frosting, my first thought was pound cake and this is the recipe I found. It is the best pound cake I've ever had. It will keep for a couple weeks without going stale if you wrap it in plastic wrap in the fridge and if you microwave a piece for about ten seconds it tastes like a dense warm chocolate bar! Yum! This is our new tradition for The Boy's birthday.

Just a heads up, this recipe makes about three pounds of pound cake (I put it on a scale last year because I was curious).

Chocolate Pound Cake

Wonderful Wednesdays - A Birthday Tribute to My Favorite Boy

Twentyfour years ago today my best friend was born...I've seen the baby pictures...so cute! And four years ago today I was having my heart melted by the amazingly gentle, unconditionally loving friendship of the boy who ultimately stole my heart. I'd just like to say Thank You right now to the parents of that little boy for raising such an amazing man. Since I've known him I can't imaging living my life without him.

My Boy with his older brother and his cousin on his 4th birthday (or was it his 5th?) - he hasn't changed a bit

My Boy (on the right) and his older brother - I think this makes my point

So today I just wanted to say, Happy Birthday, Love! You always know how to make me laugh and make me smile.Your crazy goofy energy makes us all just love you so much more - After 24 years you've still got it!

Think Tank Thursdays - The Ten Year Reunion

So, for The Boy’s birthday I had the brilliant idea (and by that I mean that he mentioned it to me months ago) to get tickets to the Finch 10 year anniversary of their first cd reunion tour! The concert was Thursday night (hence me talking about it in my Thursday post), so the night after The Boy’s birthday so it was perfect timing for a birthday present! For those of you who are not familiar with this band, basically what happened was that they had two CDs in the early 2000s that were popular among the crowd that listened to that type of music (Hardcore Emo Rock maybe?…not so good at categories) and they really pioneered the genre, but after a few years they had different interests and they broke up. This past year they came to the decision to get back together for one show in CA just to celebrate the 10 year anniversary of their first CD. The show sold out in less than 30 min! Since it was so popular they decided to add a couple more shows and it turned into a tour...we got lucky enough to have a show play moderately near where we live and the day after My Boy's birthday...talk about meant to be!
Unfortunately I don't have pictures from the show because I was scared to get my phone out because I didn't want to loose it if the crowd got rowdy or I suddenly had to throw my hands up to avoid getting kicked by a crowd surfer (only happened twice thank goodness). But it was amazing! The venue we went to was tiny...probably like 150 people, maybe less and we were front row - literally leaning on the fence they had up to keep people away from the stage.
The opening bands were both pretty good. I actually like one of them a lot - The Almost. Finch was awesome! They sounded just like the CD. It's amazing that after ten years and being broken up for so long they were able to come back and do such a great concert! And they seemed like they were having an awesome time!
It was a funny crowd though. Since the band was mainly popular ten years ago, the crowd was all in their mid twenties to early thirties, so a little older than most concerts that I've been to (although I'm a little older now too so I guess I shouldn't be talking). It was funny to go to a concert where most of the people were wearing these...

Wrist band for everyone over 21

 ...instead of black "X" in sharpie on their hands. Also it was funny going to a concert where the only people younger than you were the first opening band. 

We got some awesome T-Shirts though! 

Now that's a happy boy! - Mission Accomplished!
 

Happy Birthday Lovie!

Random Thoughts of the Week:

Am I a Marianne trying too hard to be an Eleanor?

It has been brought to my attention that on occasion I have the attention span of a farfalle (which if you don't know is a particularly cute pasta)...I actually love this description of myself because its a weirdly flattering (they are shaped like bows after all and I love bows)way to describe how easily I get distracted when I have too many exciting ideas in my head (for example when I take hours to write one blog post I keep going off on exciting tangents and have to stop to research things. If I ever start another blog I might have to work this into the title..."Pay Attention, the Farfalle is Speaking"..."Musings of a Farfalle"...."A Farfalle's Attention Span"...what were we talking about?