Sunkist Dreams

Whooo-wheee!!!

What a doozy of a week!

I have a FANTASTICAL recipe that I experimented with over the weekend, but right now my mind is going in about 6000 different directions. Thanks in NO SMALL PART to the aforementioned "doozy" that was the week!

Also...

I may or may not have dreamed about THE DUCHESS having the second Royal Baby last night. It was CRAZY. The countdown is ON, my friends. Is it a GIRL? A BOY? There are definitely some differences this time around, but it is MAKING ME CRAZY (-ier?) waiting to know!

What is it? TELL ME KATE I HAVE TO KNOW!!!!

Oh Katie. You sly chickadee, you.

Speaking of the Royal Bambino, the "rumored" due date according to a "source" (aka a TRAITOR!) is April 25th.

DO WE REALIZE THAT IS LESS THAN TWO DAYS AWAY?

***

On my dream earlier...yeah, what I DIDN'T mention was that, in my dream, I WAS TOTALLY THERE. As in...I and a friend (not sure who? I never saw their face) camped outside of the Lindo Wing in our oh-so-classy tailgate chairs and a cooler filled with Sunkist.

WHY the Sunkist, I'll never know. But there's GOT to be some sort of significance, right?

QUICK! Someone look that up and tell me what orange represents in a dream!

Does it mean she's having a girl??????

Moving on. In the dream, Faceless Friend and myself were chatting with our Sunkists in a back alley near the Lindo Wing when, all of a sudden, a BLACK SUV pulls up beside us and (very quietly) The Duchess steps out, heels and clutch and all. I was speechless. Faceless Friend goes to take a picture and I said something like:

"No! This is private moment! Plus they'll see us, you dork."

#class

But they DID see us!

For some reason, The Duchess became tired on her walk from the SUV to the hospital door, and requested a chair to sit in before moving any further. And they brought her a TAILGATE chair. YES. A TAILGATE CHAIR.

{side note: This is sounding more and more ridiculous the further I get into this story. I promise I'm not AS obsessed as I may seem. Thank you for your time.}

As she sat, she looked RIGHT AT Faceless Friend and myself!

Faceless Friend elbowed me and said "Say something!"

But I choked.

Like, literally. Right there on my Sunkist.

Apparently I swallowed wrong or something.

And all I could do was hold my hands around my neck in the typical "I'm choking" manner.

And all I could THINK was "I'm LITERALLY CHOKING right here in front of The Duchess!!!"

And then I woke up.

...

Moral of the story?

Do NOT drink Sunkist in a tailgate chair whilst waiting to see Royalty.

I canNOT make this stuff up.

That is all.

Happy Thursday, friends!

If You Give A Girl A Checkbook

If you give a girl a checkbook,

She’ll likely pay her bills.

But she’ll start some online shopping,

Her budget keeping, still (WINK!).

She’ll remember there’s a gift card,

She received it long ago.

She can use it for this purchase,

And save her money, WHOA!

“But where is this card?”

She’ll ponder to herself.

OH, it’s in my old purse,

In my closet on the shelf!

So she’ll put down her shopping,

To the closet she will race,

To find that that old purse,

Is no longer in its place!

She’ll clean off the shelves,

‘Til her closet she has purged.

She will search through EVERYTHING,

And hopes that purse will emerge.

She’ll find old clothes and shoes,

That she no longer wears,

And toss them into storage,

To get them out of her hair.

But then she’ll see how messy

Her apartment has become.

She’ll surely trip o’er everything.

“Enough!” she’ll say, “I’m done!”

The time is right, she’ll think,

To take a trip to Target.

She’ll grab her keys and scurry,

With her debit card and wallet!

And Target, oh that magical place,

Let’s all its praises sing!

For its clothing, groceries, STORAGE BINS,

And all the sparkly things!

A girl will gather what she needs,

Especially storage supplies.

She’ll go home and get to business,

To get that closet organized!

She’ll work and she’ll work,

For hours upon end.

Sorting, searching, cleaning still,

This night’s for sure a win!

But when the closet she has finished,

That purse she hasn’t found.

She cleans her bedroom, kitchen, her living room too,

And everything else around.

But once there’s nothing left to clean,

Or organize or sort,

“Oh my!” she’ll say, “It’s 1 AM!

My mission I must abort!”

So as she lies that night in bed,

She’ll think of the time she took.

A seven-hour search for just one thing!

And it all started with a checkbook.

...But I wouldn't know anything about that ;)

A Friday Survey

Okay Party People! It's FRIDAY afternoon and I have {finally} HAD MY COFFEE so we're about to have some fun! My sweeeeeeet friend Natalie posted a survey on her blog today and I pretty much loved it. So I copied it. And now we have a SA-WEET blog post thingy.

So without further ado -- here's your friendly neighborhood random Friday afternoon blog post!


What is the last thing you watched on TV?

I really don't remember. But it was probably King of Queens or something last night, because it's basically how we usually end our days. I know the TV was definitely ON last night, and that I was in front of it --- but so many things were bouncing around in my mind I really didn't realize what was on in front of me. Oops. 

When did you last step outside? What were you doing?

Earlier when I was coming back from lunch! It was the first time in weeks that I've actually left for lunch (THANK YOU LORD FOR THE SUNSHINE), and it was GLORIOUS Spring weather outside.

I was just coming back from grabbing some lunch and delivering a cup of coffee to my friend Christy, who's been having a rough week. I know how she feels (ha), but it's wonderful how just a few minutes catching up with friend can brighten a day. I think it did both of us a world of good.

Not to mention, you know, CAFFEINE.

What is on the walls of the room you are in?

Um...carpet?

And a random giant cord. I'm not sure what it is connecting.

I'm in a cube.

If you became a multi-millionaire overnight, what would you buy?

I'd go to my people and pay off their bills for that month. Then I would buy a vacation home or a beach or an ISLAND OH MY WORD I WOULD BUY AN ISLAND!

Tell me something about you that most people don’t know.

Like Natalie, I'm extremely shy. And I mean overwhelmingly shy, and I have yet to overcome it. I love being around people, but at the same time the thought of being in a large crowd makes me want to curl up in a corner and disappear.

For example, a few years ago, I attended a conference out of state and hid in the bathroom, almost hyperventilating, during the many "networking breaks," which only lasted about 15 minutes.

...but give me a microphone and a stage and it's exhilarating.

Also, bonus fact: I would really love to work in television. And when I was little I wanted to be a stand-up comedienne. (<- ????)

Who made the last incoming call on your phone?

On my work phone -- my organization's marketing department.

If you could change something about your home, without worry about expense or mess, what would you do?

I would have a house on the water. A private lakehouse and a couple of kayaks? Jackpot.

What was the last thing you bought?

Coffee for Christy and myself. It was a drive-by coffee date, ha.

Would you go bungee jumping or sky diving?

I'm not sure. Possibly sky diving if I was strapped to a professional with approximately 10 backup parachutes.

If you could eat lunch with one famous person, who would it be?

Jimmy Fallon! I love the guy! I'm convinced we'd have a blast and laugh a ton.

For example:

I laughed ridiculously hard.

Which store would you choose to max out your credit card?

Maybe GAP or Banana Republic? Unless I wasn't paying for it, then I would say ALL THE STORES.

Actually, maybe Academy and/or Dick's. Because WORKOUT CLOTHES ARE COMFORTABLE.

Is the glass half empty or half full?

On a good day, it's half-full of something sparkly and delicious!

What’s the farthest-away place you’ve been?

Hawaii :)

What’s under your bed? 

A few giant, broken-down boxes that we didn't want to part with, because we knew we would eventually move. And most likely a pair of shoes or two.

Excuse me now while I crawl in a corner and cry because I've now realized how boring I am.

What is your favorite time of the day?

10am and 4pm. At 10am, it's still mid-morning but the day is still new. At 4pm, the day is young but everything starts to slow down a little.

What Inspires You?

Talking to and reading about people who absolutely love and are passionate about what they do. I so want to feel that way.

Girl Weekend

Living with a boy definitely has its advantages.


Something on the top shelf? He's got it.

Heavy box to lift into the closet? Easy.

Sixteen bags of groceries to take up to our third floor apartment? Nooooooo problem.


Hubs is no doubt my best friend. And living with him is great. But one of my FIRST and longest best friends was (and still is!) my cousin Kayla. We've been talking for months about her coming up for a weekend stay, and this weekend IT TOTALLY HAPPENED.

Girl time is oh-so-good for the soul, my peeps. I assure you this.

Hubs had to work late on Friday, and by the time Kayla got to the apartment, I was just finishing up supper. So we put on comfy clothes, ate chicken and dumplings (down South we just call it "dumplins"), and chatted the evening away.

The Hubs got home and we all talked and talked some more.

Until around 11:30 that night when we decided it was high time to BAKE SOME CUPCAKES.

Clearly, the passionate love for cupcakes DOES IN FACT run in our family.

They were oh-so-delicious.

Saturday morning we slept late and ate cupcakes AGAIN before heading to a late breakfast at our FAVORITE BREAKFAST PLACE EVER.

(outside of Cracker Barrel, I mean. Because Homegirl loves her CB.)

You guessed it! I do love the Broken Egg with all of my whole little heart!

The weather was even in the 60s again so we could eat on the patio!

Many a beignet, omelet, and potato were consumed, but not before we could have our annual struggle to take the perfect picture!

Regardless, the girl can't take a bad picture. Seriously though, isn't she gorgeous???

We spent the rest of the day shopping - because Kayla is my ultimate shopping buddy, and then Saturday night my friend Christy and her husband came over for dinner. But because I'm lame I neglected to take any and all photos so please forgive me and enjoy this photo of Miniature Goat that I want kind of badly!!!

Blog writer FAIL.

Then Sunday we all went to church, came home to our PJs, and consumed EVEN MORE CUPCAKES while watching Father of the Bride.

Parts one AND two, mind you.

Do we know how to party or WHAT.

But in all seriousness, this weekend was just oh-so-lovely and warms my heart to its very core.

I've said it before, but there's just something about being around family that just makes everything okay. We got to hang out, catch up, talk about all sorts of stuff like girls do, and just be together.

So this post really doesn't serve much of a purpose other than to reiterate my belief that best friends, famliy, and cupcakes make everything a-okay. Hope your week is getting good at this point, friends :)

Happy Wednesday!

Because It's Snowing in Kentucky

Well folks, we woke up this morning to cloudy, rainy skies with a very mild chance of snow but a very large chance of sleet, which set in around 8:30 a.m.

By the time I hopped out of the shower this morning, I had a missed call and a voice message from my grandmother, which kind of scared me because A) she never calls that early and B) she's NEVER left a voice message on my phone.

Thankfully, everything was fine. But the conversation that took place was pretty hilarious.


"Lisa-BELL!" she said when she picked up the phone (it's what she's called me since I was a baby). "You better NOT go into work today!"

"What do you mean?" I knew this was about to get good.

"You better stay OFF those roads, baby. This weather is CRAZY!"

I looked out the window. Slight sprinkles of rain.

"Umm...?"

"Those roads are dangerous! It's SNOWING in KENTUCKY!"


I love my grandmother. So, so much.


"It's so bad, people are stranded. STRANDED! The Law is having to come get 'em out!"


Down here, "The Law" = cops, ambulances, fire truck, all emergency response teams.


"Well, over here it's not too bad..." I'm trying to hide my giggles. Seriously.

"No no! I've been watching the NEWS ALL MORNING and it's BAD! Don't go to work and get stranded in the snow!"

"I love you, MawMaw. You be careful today."

"I love you too, honey. Just stay off those roads!"


My grandmother loves everybody. Even that mean old raccoon they found in the woods once that looked homeless, so they put him in a cage and took him home until he hissed and shook the cage with all of his body weight. I love that she cares so much about all of us that she stayed glued to the TV all morning, watching the weather to make sure her babies were safe.

My grandmother is amazing in so many ways. Especially since Jackson, Mississippi is still "so far North" to her; even though my hometown is only three hours South of here.


And most days, it seems so far away to me too.


Y'all be safe out there today! And if you're in Kentucky, my heart goes out to you as you wait for The Law to come get you out.

Things We Love More Than We Should

This is a silly and very pointless post.

Unlike all of my other meaningful, inspiring posts :)

But the truth is, it's Monday afternoon and I'm waiting for a few things to be finalized before I can leave work. So here we go!

Awhile back, I read a post on Julie's blog where she mused about all the things she loves way more than she should. While it was a funny post, it stuck with me, and since then I've noticed a lot of things that I really, really like and love WAY more than I should. For example.

Post-Its.

I currently have 12 Post-Its hanging all around my cube. Not counting the 3 full stacks that have yet to be used.

It's how I function. I'm a list-maker by nature, so to have various Post-Its to compartmentalize various projects (color-coordinated, OF COURSE) helps me to work more efficiently.

The more Post-Its, the more productive and on-task I am. BONUS POINTS if they are AMAZING COLORS like TEAL and PURPLE.

Sadly (kind of), Post-Its are not the ONLY thing for which I have an unusual adoration. Here's a list, because as we've just learned, that's just how I roll :)

• Post-Its
• Warm homemade bread (includes my grandmother's yeast rolls and my mom's biscuits :) )
• Candles
• School/Office supplies (the smell...aaahh the smell of new supplies!)
• Making lists
• New pens after old ones are out of ink
• Cracker Barrel coffee
• Cracker Barrel anything
• Homemade spaghetti sauce
• Glitter (<- be still my HEART)
• Sequins
• Writing vs. typing
• Chapstick
• Pictures of pretty cakes (????)
• Going out of town
• Splashing salt water IN MY OWN FACE at the beach (weird right??? I've convinced myself it makes my skin softer)
• Drinking basically anything out of champagne or wine glass (water? orange juice? apple juice? FILL ME UP)
• Being barefoot
• Brunch (oh, brunch. How I love thee)
• The smell of sheets, fresh out of the dryer (I've been known to sniff my pillow for several minutes)

And that's just a taste of my weirdness.

What about you? What are some of the things you love more than you think you should?

Friday Thoughts

We made it! It's FRIDAY and the work week is done!

Sort of. I have to work tomorrow but it involves FOOD so WHO CARES?!

I'll be sure to report back when fun has been had. :)

Meanwhile --- a list for Friday!


---


ONE. Remember last week when I said I was doing a midnight experiment for the Mister's work party and then proceeded to talk about Gilmore Girls in a rather loopy fashion?

Well, people -- we had success.

Thanks to Pinterest, a last-minute Kroger run, and an inordinate amount of CHEESE, we pretty much made the easiest and most successful dish in the history of our short marriage.

Let me present to you...THE Pizza Bread.

If you're in a bind and need to bring some kind of appetizer/side dish/wow factor/etc. to a party or whatnot, please believe me when I tell you that THIS IS IT. Thankfully I grabbed a small bite before Hubs took it to work, because there was NONE left when he returned. I found the recipe on Pinterest, but you can find the original pinner HERE.

TWO. I'm trying to convince everyone around me that me getting a dog is ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY right now despite the fact that we are in an apartment and still house hunting.

A friend of mine accidentally adopted a dog when it wondered into her yard and needed a home, but my friend cannot keep it at the moment. OF COURSE my puppy fever has reached an all-time high, thus convincing me that I NEED THIS PUPPY and now it's all I can think about.

Not to mention the fact that I cry and feel the need to rescue any animal I see that doesn't immediately have a human at its side.

Except for snakes, of course. Snakes are evil.
And owls. But we won't get into that.

THREE. I feel about 30 years older than I really am. Not in terms of maturity - gracious, no (HA) -- but physically. I bought WRINKLE CREAM a few weeks ago (???). I'm tired and ready to go to bed at 8pm, which means usually I reallllly want to eat supper at 5:30 p.m. Early bird special, anyone?

I also keep hearing myself say things like "I just don't understand kids today" and "Wellllll when we were their age we didn't have {insert nostalgia here}!!!"

Plus, DID I MENTION THE WRINKLE CREAM?

My life is a party, I tell you this.



FOUR. Someone called me "Linda" today in an email. I have no idea where this came from.



FIVE. I made these Red Velvet Pancakes from Southern Living magazine recently and WHOA. As someone who's not a huge fan of pancakes, I kind of inhaled these. What a great recipe.

Also, I'm a lousy blogger and deleted the one picture I took of them. So this puppy picture will HAVE to do.

Yes. A puppy is A MUST right now.

Lauren Graham will ALWAYS be Lorelai Gilmore

It's midnight, and I'm baking again.

But it's okay because GILMORE GIRLS IS ON TV TONIGHT!

Not Netflix (even though I hear it's wonderful) - because we are NOT that awesome (read: modern). It's SOMEHOW made its way to ABC Family!

I should stay up this late more often. Maybe I shouldn't, because I'm actually an old lady that can't function past 9 p.m. Plus there's that whole "real world job" thing that really comes in handy when you want to buy a house and puppy. Preferably not in that order but hey, TOOOO-mato, tahhhh-mato.

Where you lead!
I will follow!
Anywhere!!!!
That you telllll meee toooo!!!!

My rendition of this theme song and its accompanying interpretive dance is CRAZY GOOD, my people. Just trust me on this.

So back to the oven.

Did your parents ever pick on you while growing up about coming home and announcing that you suddenly have a science project due the next day?

I got that ALL THE TIME.

And tonight was payback for those "sudden" announcements as a child, I suppose.

While perusing The Pioneer Woman's cookbook for her AHHHH-mazing Corn Chowder recipe, Hubs reminded me that his work is having some kind of "food thing" tomorrow and that he was supposed to bring a dish.

I looked in the fridge, and we literally had fish and frozen vegetables.

We're trying to eat healthy again. And this doesn't work well for work functions, mind you.

And the RED VELVET OREOS that Hubs brought home yesterday? Well. They're MORE THAN HALFWAY gone and therefore unsuitable for said word function as well.

Oops.

So I started cooking and Hubs made a mad dash to the store to buy a few things for a little experiment we're concocting.

WHY I always gravitate toward a brand-spanking-new recipe for big events, I'll never know. Stay tuned for the results and maybe we'll get a post out of it.

NEWSFLASH. I've just realized that Paris was the Gilmore Girls' version of Sheldon Cooper. I can't be the only one thinking this. Moving on.

And OH MY WHAT the Mom from Happy Days is Granny Lorelai!

Oh Gilmore Girls. Where have you been the last few years? Lauren Graham is my spirit animal.

And that is all. G'NIGHT EVERYBODY!

The One Where My Car Started Smoking

This post could alternately be titled, "I Need Coffee".

Or maybe "It's Only Tuesday."

But probably a better one would be "God Is Good."

Because He is. All. The. Time.


This weekend was glorious - beautiful weather, a walk-slash-run with the Mister, and a little bit of house hunting (WHAT!!!!).

We had a nice spread, too, on Saturday for breakfast. I mean, can you PICTURE cinnamon roll French toast?

I didn't think so. So here's a fancy schmancy picture for your eyes to enjoy.


((fooled ya! picture coming soon!))


On Sunday, the weather was so gorgeous we decided to take a drive over to a nearby neighborhood and rolled the windows down to enjoy the sunshine. I love how our conversation primarily centered around how pretty it was that day despite the stink of our city.

I distinctly remember it going something like this:

"Wow this area smells bad. Is that really outside or did we leave food in here last night? It smells like eggs!"
"It smells like maple syrup!"
"Like BURNED maple syrup!"
"Did we eat anything with syrup?"
"I spilled shrimp and grits on pants last night." (<- seriously)
"But it doesn't SMELL like shrimp and grits!"
"Was there syrup in the grits?"
"No, but there was honey on your chicken!"
"I ate all my chicken, though."
"IT'S THE CAR! IT'S RUNNING HOT!!!! TURN ON THE HEATER!"***


Detectives, that we are.

Let me tell you how GOOD the Lord is. This neighborhood was right across the highway from AutoZone. The car died at a stop sign but we were able to crank it enough to coast into the parking lot as smoke started coming from the hood.

My poor little car. Poor, poor thing.

Our AutoZone guy checked it out and was able to help us fix it enough to get us home, but told us there was a bigger problem and that a mechanic needed to see it ASAP.

Monday's verdict? (according to Joe the Mechanic)

A CRACKED ENGINE BLOCK.

CRAAAAAACKED.

Basically, my little Honda baby needs a whole new engine. So back and forth we went, weighing the options, trying to decide what to do. Hubs so graciously offered to be my chauffeur so OF COURSE I immediately picture a scene from Driving Miss Daisy because THIS IS HOW MY MIND WORKS:

Feel free to click HERE if you'd like some audio to go along with this visual.


UPDATE: I've JUST DECIDED that the Miss Daisy tune is the theme song for our morning commute. Things are about to get crazy, people. We know how to party.


So needless to say, it's been an interesting couple of days. Those of us that do not fully understand the language and the workings of the car (read: me) and those of us who better understand such things (read: Hubs and Joe the Mechanic) have had some decisions to make. Nothing really felt like the right thing to do, and it's kind of stressed Those Of Us Who Do Not Understand out.

Earlier today I just said a quick little prayer, asking the Good Sweet Lord if he would show us what to do, because I sure didn't have a clue.

And then I called my dad, because he's a pretty swell guy. And because that's just what I do when I'm confused. He talked me down, told me to get back to work and everything would be fine.

And you know what? It was fine. Things got better than fine.

Because less than an hour later, we find out that my car has an EXTENDED WARRANTY that will cover the replacement! Despite the overall warranty being expired, there's a place in it that says the engine is covered for things like this.

God's timing is perfect. PERFECT.

Stay tuned for the rrrrrrrrrest of the story in the next update.

I hope you have a happy Monday Thursday Tuesday (or whatever day it happens to be now).

But for everything else, let's remember to take our burdens to the Lord. And leave them there.

Joey+Rory: Leave It There

***Side note: If your car ever starts running hot, it helps to roll down the windows, then turn the heater on. Wise words from my padre.

TWO THINGS

HAPPY FRIDAY!!!!!!

I seriously cannot WAIT to get this weekend started --- I have a feeling it may involve some MAJOR fun times...but more on that later because SUSPENSE.

But most importantly....

THIS:

I have a feeling that THIS is the thing that will, in fact, break the Internet.

I'm pretty sure I've watched this approximately 47 times in the past 8 hours. I'm not proud of how many times I watched it yesterday.

But THIS MOVIE! The first one is for sure one of my favorites EVER --- and while I'm always skeptical of sequels....I'm REALLY pumped for this one.

I mean --- couldn't you just listen to a cappella "CUPS" forever? Gorgeous.

...maybe while sitting around a fire roasting marshmellows?

And don't get me started on my girl crush on Elizabeth Banks. Fantastic actress and producer --- now director.

"They HATE us!" "The whole WORLD!"

Oh, and....

"She actually speaks EIGHT languages, but 'loser' is not one of them."

I'll likely be quoting this for awhile. Come onnnnnnn May 2015!


ALSO.

Have you TRIED these????? (< Chandler voice! Because my life is filled with "Friends" references)

My new obsession. I have NO IDEA why I am JUST NOW putting peppermint in my coffee. NO IDEA!!!!

What else am I missing out on in this world????

That's it! I'm out! Happy Friday!!!!!!

"Crushed it."

12 weeks = CHECK.

Folks, we made it.

We've reached the 12-week mark and our 5am boot camp IS OVER!

No more 4:12 a.m. alarms!

No more 4:20 a.m. alarms!

I can SLEEP until 6:30 a.m. again!

...or 7:20, but who's counting?

We made it. It's over and YAY-YEAH!

I'll admit, it was tough. Especially around the 7- to 8-week mark, when we had a good bit behind us but the end was still so far away. But I'm so glad we did this. Really, I am. I feel so much better than I did when we started this thing on Labor Day. Like I've mentioned before, I've done this program a couple of times in the past, and each time it's been a huge challenge both mentally and physically. But to be honest? I've never regretted it.

Even the mornings that were the hardest to get up and go -- the mornings our whole team knew would be some of the hardest -- after the workout was over, I was so glad I had this opportunity. It's literally one of the hardest things I've ever done physically (they may not say much about my sense of adventure ;) ), but I'm so thankful we made it!!!!!

I really do wish I had some hard-core pictures of us working it out over the past few weeks - but we leave everything behind once we hit the field (read: no phones). Plus, pictures would not have been pretty anyway --- I don't know anyone who looks exactly radiant at 5 a.m. ;)

So here's a funny picture of a really, really excited cat instead!

Ok so here's some happenings as of LATELY....


one. Hubs and I are on a soup kick - so we're basically experimenting with every soup known to man thanks to this freakishly cold weather. Our top pick so far?

The Pioneer Woman's Potato Soup!

So. Much. Goodness.

I used turkey bacon and cut the recipe in half for the two of us and WOW. I'll take this with a side of Texas Toast any day!

two. Who's listening to Christmas music already? The way I see it, the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas is MUCH shorter than usual this year, so I say BRING IT.

Although Hubs cannot even fathom putting up the tree until AFTER Thanksgiving (understandable...I guess). So meanwhile I'll just keep listening to Michael Buble on repeat.

ALLLLLL. DAAAAYYY. LONNNNNGG.


three. Nutella Hot Chocolate happened in my kitchen a few nights ago.

I'm just gonna let that sink in for a minute.

Oh yeah, it's a thing. Check out the recipe on the "Beautiful Mess" blog :)

Topped with homemade whipped cream and chocolate shavings from THIS DELICIOUSNESS???

It was a wonderful night. Promise me you'll try it sometime, okay? Just say yes :)


four. OH! And HERE'S a funny story:::::: We're going to run a 12k on Saturday!

The last time I was sprinting running I almost threw up. True story.

The sad thing is, I never caught up to the taco truck :(

KIDDING.

Maybe.


five. Please tell me you've seen THIS VIDEO of Jimmy Fallon lip synch battling with JGL and Stephen Merchant. PUH-LEASE. If not, DOOWITNOW.

Aaaaaaaand THIS ONE of Jimmy and Kevin Hart riding a roller coaster. I giggled A LOT.


That's all for now, people! Happy Wednesday!!!!!

Dance Your Cares Away....

Happy Wednesday Party People!

For the past few months, I've told myself that if I can make it to Wednesday night, then I can FOR SURE make it through the rest of the week. Wednesdays start around 4 a.m. and end around 11 p.m. over here, and once my head hits the pillow I know that there's only one more crazy morning workout ahead of me before I can coast through to Friday!

And folks, it's mid-afternoon here on Wednesday, and so far, so good!

In other news, a few days ago our neighbors' Bassett Hound tried to follow me on my walk and gave me the sweetest Bassett Hound kisses known to man, and now my puppy fever is at an OFFICIAL all-time high.

You may reference THIS POST to get a glimpse of when said fever began.

We're in an apartment right now, but maybe ONE DAY we'll have a place with yard and - let's face it - YARDS NEED PUPPIES and that, my friends, will be a situation to be remedied :)

PUPPIES!!!!!

((source))

Flashback

A couple of days ago, I found a clip of FREAKAZOID (<- FREAKAZOID! Can you believe it?! I'm so excited I had to alternate between bold print and italics!) on YouTube and CRACKED UP at the memories that it brought back. My brother and I used to watch this A LOT when we were younger, and when I sent it to him he pretty much flipped out as well.

PLEASE tell me you know what (and WHOM) I am referring to!

It's what Saturday mornings were made of.

Not to mention, Looney Tunes, TINY Tunes, Garfield, and so many more.

It wasn't long before Hubs and I started YouTube-ing all kinds of shows we remembered when we were younger.

For instance....

DUCK TALES, anyone?

DARKWING DUCK???

LaunchPad was my favorite.

Even though back then I thought his name was LunchBox.

...I always was a fan of food, you see.

FRAGGLE ROCK!

GUMMI BEARS???

RESCUE RANGERS?

...and TALESPIN!!!!

Ohhhhh EEEEE-AAAYY!!!!

Oooohhh EEEE-OHHHH!!!!!!

Aaaaahhhhhh....those were the days. Kids today just don't know what they're missing. I miss good TV like this!

Okay folks, what did I miss? What shows did you watch when you were younger?

Wheeeeeere did he go???

That Invisiboooooo!!!!!

Allllllll About that Bass

Aaaaaaaand....now it's in YOUR HEAD too!!!!

I already liked this song (<- anybody dancing right now?), but I've been singing it ALL DAAAAY LONNG today because the CMA Awards are tonight - and MIRANDA is singing this with Meghan Trainor!

Normally I'm not fond of pop crossing into my country...but at this point Miranda can do no wrong so I say BRING IT!

In all honesty, I wrote a post LAST WEEK - an oh-so-LOVELY post, at that - featuring a fantastic fall dish that I love and adore: Turkey and White Bean Chili. However, once I finished going on and ON and ONNNNN about said chili, I realized that I'd ALREADY POSTED THAT RECIPE and it was therefore POINTLESS for me to post the exact same thing about a year later!

I just felt like I needed to confess that to you. Glad THAT's off my chest. I feel MUCH better. I'm glad we had this talk.

So TODAY I'm absolutely PUMPED because A) this morning's Workout ROCKED and my calves are CRAZY SORE, B) COUNTRY MUSIC, and C) I'm FINALLY starting to conquer the BEAST that is my job.

OH.

And maybe a little bit because of THIS:

AY KAY AY, the BIGGEST COFFEE I've ever seen. EVER.

Although, if we're being QUITE honest, we all KNOW I've only drunk about half a cup out of this. I've said it before, but my system just won't let me have more than that!

Yet I'm STILL feelin' the jitters!

Aaaaaaaand I'm feeeeeelinnnnnn'.......GOOOOOOOOOOOOD......

{click me!}

Truth?

I've been STRUGGLING with various parts of my job for awhile now. I knew going into a new field meant a learning curve but WHOOOOOOOO has it been a doozy!!!!

But you know WHAT????

Today marked SUCCESS for this girl.

Even if it's only a small success in the grand scheme of things, it's a big deal TODAY!!!


Crazy Complicated Web Program = 0
This Girl = 1


That, combined with the fact that a co-worker gave me an AWESOME new recipe today, is a cause for celebration!!!!!

I want to go home and fry chicken and make mashed potatoes and biscuits and pull out ALL OF THE STOPS and just celebrate!!!!!

However, tomorrow is weigh-in day at The Workout - so I'll probably just go eat some vegetables.

But I WILL leave you with this ROCKIN' celebratory playlist instead!!!!!!

Happy Wednesday errrr-body!!!!! Friday is ALMOST HERE!!!!!!

Happy Day Playlist

You Make My Dreams - Hall & Oates

Build Me Up Buttercup - The Foundations

Jump in the Line - Harry Belafonte

Sweet Caroline - Neil Diamond ("IIIIII love Neil Diamond!!!")

Uncaged - Zac Brown Band

The Wind - Zac Brown Band

All About that Bass - Meghan Trainor (you KNEW that was coming)

Any Way You Want It - Journey

p.s. Fingers crossed for an AMAZING new recipe soon!!!! #experiments