Back In the Saddle

I have survived the stomach virus from hell. I think. Wish me luck as I am back at work today. The Netflix subscription that Andy bought me paid for itself ten times over in the past few days. Mad Men = new obsession. I want to look like Betty Draper. And it's Friday, which is wonderful, aside from the fact that I have a test this afternoon. This week has really been something else.

How appropriate is this article after my post on Monday? I was dying laughing through the whole thing.

My beloved Christian Grey is being made into a movie. If they do not cast him correctly, I will be inconsolable.

How often do you trim your hair? I always wonder if I'm doing it too often or not enough. The always lovely Reagan lets us know the professional protocol.

I'm loving these short cuts, but I'm telling myself NO NO NO because I am growing my hair out yet again after a hasty chop a few months ago.

I like this pillow. A lot. Diego is a wonderful name for a cat. I would have to buy some pug friends to keep him company.

Can we talk about how I couldn't breathe when I was reading this? Tears were streaming. From laughing so hard, of course.

If you are in the Omaha area and looking for a cutie dog pet, over 60 Chihuahuas were rescued this week from unsanitary conditions, 20 of them being puppies. You should have a look at these little babies.

What are your thoughts on yellow kitchens? My parents have a yellow kitchen and I love it. I think the yellow would really pop with our white cabinetry.

Dogs don't need hats. But if they look this cute in them, I will put hats on dogs. Especially the pug kind.

I think these are fabulous. I have no idea where I would put them though.

What are your plans for the weekend? I'm going to focus on getting better and maybe throw in a little yard work if I'm feeling up to it. I'm planning on taking pictures of our yard for a post on Monday or Tuesday, so you can look forward to that ridiculousness.

The Last Thing

Hey lovelies. I'm linking up with Jenna over at The Life of the Wife today for The Last Thing Thursdays.

The Last Thing I Bought For Myself:

Target's Emeline braided sandals. I bought a silver pair last year and wore them out! They are the perfect everyday sandals.

The Last Thing I Ate (That Was Bad For Me):

Andy brought me a chocolate cupcake from Whole Foods last night to make me feel better. I only had a bite, but it was delicious.

The Last Thing I Ate (That Was Good For Me):

My favorite. These are super high in protein and they have no fat! I love Chobani.

The Last Thing I Pinned:

A list of cute, free fonts to download.

The Last Thing I Crafted:

Um. Nothing. Not feeling too creative on my sickbed this week.

The Last Thing I Felt Nervous About:

Missing so much work because I've been so sick this week. I am going to be so far behind it's crazy.

The Last Thing I Swooned Over:

Don Draper. It's been Mad Men city up in here while I've been sick.

1st Quarter Check In

Pretty flowering trees in the neighbors' yard.

I talked about my new years goals here in January. Here's an update.

Well. If you are reading this, then you know the answer to this one. I am still blogging and loving it. The people I have met through blogging are incredible. I consider them my real friends, not just internet friends.

I think I have been fairly successful with this one. We had a rough start to 2012 over at the Bungalow with a myriad of issues plaguing a fresh start to the new year. Some heavy stuff that I didn't want to get into on this here bloggity blog. But, I stayed true to my feelings and I am much happier for it. So I'm going to start the 2nd quarter fresh this time around with this one.

FAIL. FAIL. FAIL. I have been a grand total of zero times this year. I did a few rounds of Wii Fit Yoga though. Does that count?

Ehhhh. This is controversial. I feel like I have been writing much more creative posts, but I think what I was going for was more in the arts and crafts department for this one. I have made nothing since Christmas. So. There's that.

Duh. Winning. With our healthy eating kick lately this has been a no brainer. I've been cooking 5 nights a week with regularity. Add in a dash of meal planning and consider this one a success.

Have you been successful so far with your New Years goals? What are you up to this lovely Wednesday? I'm on day two of some sort of horrible virus so I've been doing a lot of Netflix watching. How did I not know Mad Men was so good?

Hanging Out With Giraffes

I am obsessed with giraffes. They've been my favorite animal since I can remember. I identify with their tallness, I think, but I am nowhere near as graceful. Andy's parents' friend is a giraffe zookeeper at the Omaha Zoo. If you are ever in the area, you need to go. It's consistently ranked in the world's best zoos every year. I was lucky enough to go behind the scenes of the giraffe exhibit last year and meet some of them with Andy.

All the bumps on this dude's head are from getting in fights with other giraffes. He was the biggest giraffe and obviously in charge.

Feeding this little lady some carrots.

Where those people are behind the glass is where you normally get to see the giraffes from.

Last week one of the ladies gave birth to a baby giraffe. I can't wait to go meet it. Hopefully next weekend we will be able to go.

Meeting the giraffes was probably the coolest thing I have ever done and a dream come true. Never in a million years would I think that I would utter the words, "I need to wash my hands. I have giraffe spit on them". They were the most beautiful creatures and very gentle.

Have you ever had a "dream come true" experience?

We're the Kids in America, WOAH

This weekend was exactly what I needed. I had a really rough week at work last week and I needed some serious downtime to recover for the week ahead. Plus, it's really looking spring-y around here and that makes me happy.


Red Bud tree in the neighbors' yard getting tiny purple flowers | Our peach tree in the backyard is blooming (and oh hey Neck Tattoo's house)

We had some friends in town over the weekend and Friday we went out for some delicious sushi downtown.

I could eat sushi every single day if it wasn't so expensive and I wouldn't go crazy from mercury poisoning.

The Bella cat is really something. She has adopted a new way of sitting on the couch, as seen last week. I caught her again this weekend just chillin'.

Belly Fat. The best nickname ever for this cat. Andy also calls her Hells Bells.

Andy, of course, worked a ton, which left me to my own devices. I should have been doing homework, but I did this instead.

Clueless is one of my favorite movies ever. Please ignore the dusty table on the left.

I walked around the house for the rest of the day singing, "We're the kids in America, WOAH, we're the kids in America, WOAH!" Andy loved it when he got home.

We grilled out last night and enjoyed the beautiful weather.

Sirloin steak that broke in half for Mr. Andy and a turkey steak wrapped in bacon for me. Yum.

While hanging out in the backyard I realized we have an infestation. Of green onions. They are growing everywhere!

Please excuse our sorry excuse for a backyard. It's a work in progress. I will document it in the near future.
Then the always lovely Neck Tattoo and his harem of ladies decided to celebrate the end of spring break in their backyard. It was loud. Real loud. We had all windows open in the house so we didn't have the air conditioning on. It was either or. Windows open or air conditioning on. With all the noise, we had to put the air conditioning unit in upstairs so we could shut the windows. When we moved in last August, the unit that came with the house promptly crapped out on us the first day there. We have central air, but it doesn't work really well upstairs so we need a window unit to supplement. Andy's parents had an old unit that they weren't using, and thankfully let us have it. While she is not the most beautiful thing I have ever seen, I love her for her effectiveness and free-ness. One of these brand new would cost around $500-600.

Yep, that's tape holding the cover on.
So that's what we were up to this weekend. What did you do? Anything exciting? Have any neck tattooed neighbors ruin your open window fun?

Kourtney is My Least Favorite

He is the most sane of all of them.

I had a dream about blogging last night. Is that weird or normal? I woke up extremely confused. Also, I had a dream about a home invasion. Let's just say I'm tired this morning. AND I'M SO GLAD IT'S FRIDAY!

Oh, and I made a Tumblr yesterday. It's like a constant stream of my thoughts. Andy said that may or not be scary. I like to think funny is what I'm going for. You can check it out here or click on the link on my sidebar.

Polka dot nails are so cute, but I could never figure out how to do them. This tutorial makes it a breeze!

It's flip flop season already here in Omaha. I know, in March! These are my go to sandals for all occasions. I discovered them in Hawaii a year and a half ago and I now own them in black, brown, and silver. I am wearing the silver ones as I type this. Most comfortable flip flops EVER.

Ashley over at Hudson's Happenings is awesome. Her son, Hudson, says the absolute most hilarious things. You have to read his latest antics.

I love everything about this. Especially the floor!

Chevron throw blankets? Want right now.

If you haven't seen Young House Love's big kitchen reveal yet, man are you missing out.

I'm kind of obsessed with April from Money Pit Love's new light fixture. Just saying.

If you're a fan of all things modern, I have a feeling you will like this. Andy loves modern architecture and about fell off his chair when he saw that fan. 

Any one else as excited as me for The Great Gatsby movie with Tobey McGuire, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Carey Mulligan? Here's a first look at the movie poster. I think it's going to be phenomenal.

I had a friend in high school that used to make these for our cross country meets. Totally NOT on my healthy eating plan, but I think making them would be worth the splurge. 

If you haven't signed up to be an April sponsor, there's still time! Check out all the info here.

What are your plans for the weekend? Andy's friend is in town from Columbia, MO so we will be out having a good time with him and his girlfriend. Last hurrah of weekend fun, next week starts the yard work! Bleck.

Addicted

What my computer screen looks like this morning.

I have an addiction. This time it isn't Starbucks. I am addicted to technology. I walked into work this morning and the first thing I heard was, "Email is down". Cue mass hysteria. We all flipped out. How in the world am I supposed to communicate with people?! Actually CALL them? No way.

If I forget my cell phone somewhere, I feel like I have lost a limb. I go into meltdown mode. Where is it? Where did I last see it? When can I go home to get it? NOW?!

I have four email accounts. Blog, work, school, and personal. If I go more than a few hours without checking all four accounts (with the exception of overnight) I feel like I am missing out on something huge that could be happening.

I spend a crazy amount of time with my bff Kindle. I thought I would hate the Kindle because turning pages is just so satisfying, and the smell of a brand new book is amazing. But I love love love that Kindle.

Facebook... I'm kind of over it. I used to check it constantly all day long, but now it bores me. With the exception of a few friends and family members, I've hidden most people from my news feed because I don't need to know every time you go for a walk with your dog or you had a good day at work or the sun is shining. I check in every once and awhile, and I maintain a page for my job, but it's no longer exciting to me.

Twitter is a different story. Mostly because my Twitter is full of my lovely blog friends. If I am having a down day, I can always count on my blog buddies on Twitter to cheer me up. But Twitter has become my new Facebook. I feel like I need to be caught up on Twitter at all times.

And my newest addiction, blogging. I try to post every weekday and keep up with every blog that I follow. Which is a lot. I follow like, 50 blogs maybe? With others that I check in on every so often. I love the blogging community, so this is an addiction that I don't see myself giving up anytime soon.

I spend about 9 hours a day at work on the computer. I go home and spend more time on my computer for school or reading blogs, catch up on my DVRed shows, read Kindle, or mess around on my phone (Twitter, Draw Something, etc.). I read this article in our local paper two days ago and it made me think. I know that my job and habits are making my neck and shoulders a mess, but I didn't think about how bad it really was. I went and got a massage last night, and holy cow is my neck and back messed up. The therapist said it was one of the worst he's ever seen. You name any spot, it's tight and angry in my back. I am sore today, but the good kind of sore. He really worked some of them out. I'm trying to work on my posture and am taking regular stretch breaks to loosen up my stiff muscles. My seemingly "innocent" addictions are causing me pain!

Are you addicted to technology? Over Facebook like I am? Totally Twitter obsessed?

April Sponsorship

I'm very excited to introduce a new way of handling blog sponsorship this month. I've joined Passionfruit and holy canoli has it made my life so much easier! Last month I was scrambling to get all the code entered for my monthly sponsor swap, and it had me so stressed out. Passionfruit has taken that stress level down to zero. They take care of everything. It even rotates my ads so that everyone gets equal screen time! The sheer simplicity of their system has also enabled me to ad a large sponsor spot for $5 a month. You get your own sponsored post and a 250 x 200 ad, compared to the 150 x 150 sponsor swap ad. Even though the listing says that sponsor swap ads are $2... just enter the promo code "swap412" and you'll get it for free, or $2 off the large sponsor post. Questions about this awesomeness? As, always just comment or email me and I will get back to you. 

You can post your ad for April by clicking the buttons below, or by visiting my Sponsor page.

Gray

It has been SO gray here lately. After a beyond gorgeous weekend it has rained non-stop and it doesn't appear to be letting up until Friday. This morning when I walked outside to my car, it smelled overpoweringly like worms. NASTY.

Gray skies and puffy clouds.

For me, it's hard to find motivation when it's gross outside. I had a rough day at work yesterday and all I wanted to do was go home and read on the couch. Andy came home and cooked me dinner (love him) and I drank some wine and read. It was glorious. Here are some other things that have been making me smile during these gray days.

Sorry for the blurry picture, I had to catch her before she moved. I came home from the grocery store to find her chilling on the couch like that.

Thanks Courtney for getting me freakin' addicted to these things. I even went two different places to find them!

Pineapple banana smoothies for an afternoon pick me up at work.

Sneaky cat loves twist ties. She was plotting its impending doom here.

Kindle. I love that guy.

What picks you up on a gray, rainy day? Or are you one of those people that love them?

My Other First Love

I told you guys about my first love last week, which is reading. But today I thought I would share a little about my first love that involves a boy. He is a little known creature known as the Justin Timberlake.

In early 1998, I saw a video for  a song titled "I Want You Back" by a group called *NSYNC on TRL (remember TRL?!) after school. The harmonies, the dancing, the hottness, *NSYNC had all of that. Especially this young fellow:

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I was in full blown love. When I was at the grocery store with my parents, I would beg them to let me get the newest Tiger Beat with his face on the cover. *NSYNC released hit after hit featuring his dulcet tones. Even when he tried to pull off cornrows, I still loved him.

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Then the pop world collided. He started dating Britney Spears. I figured it was best case scenario if I couldn't have him myself. My favorite girl singer and my favorite guy singer together forever and ever? Sure.

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Seriously guys, that's a lot of denim. Canadian tuxedos at their finest.

Then they broke up. It was sad, but I figured maybe I had a chance now. If he just knew that I existed... that was the only problem. He shaved his signature curls, and I think I fell even more in love.

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*NSYNC broke up, and he embarked on his now successful solo music career. He started his film career and was in the movie Alpha Dog (which is actually really good, JT or not). He continued to look gorgeous.

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My sister and I saw him in concert while he was on his FutureSex/LoveSounds tour. It was probably one of the greatest days of my life.

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He is always quite funny. Have you ever seen him on SNL? Hilarious.

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He started dating that dang Jessica Biel and again my hopes were dashed. We would never be together. They're engaged now, and Justin is sporting my all time favorite JT look, I call it "hipster JT".

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I like my men a little scruffy.

Who was your "first love"? And your current celebrity crush? Mine has remained the same all these years, devoted to my Justin Timberlake.