Mother's Day....

{Mom & Dad <3}

...ain't got nothin' on my momma!  Because today is her birthday, and I think it's only right to share with you how amazing my mother is, especially on her birthday.

Here are some things you know about my mother:
1 -awesome.  No.  Doubt.  Doesn't even need an explanation.
2 -fun.  This lady knows how to throw a party AND make a night at home the best time you've ever had.
3 -her joy is contagious.  You could be having a terrible day and a phone call to her will make everything different.  How does she do that?  Must be the Mom Magic they give you in Top Secret Mom Training.
4 -creative.  She may not be musical, but I SWEAR that my best ideas came from mommy brainstorming sessions.  She is the most creative person I know.

{Me, Sister, & Mom wedding weekend, 2011}

Here are some things you didn't know about my mother:
1 -she sacrificed her education for ours, and wouldn't change it for anything.  She's recently graduated from college and has plans to change the world.  We're exceptionally proud.
2 -can offer unbiased advice on those really hard life questions.  Even if you're embarrassed or afraid to ask them.
3 -laughs hysterically at my (VERY) inappropriate life commentary.
4 -drags me to zumba 4x a week, where I pretend to not want to go.  ;)
5 -would rather mow the grass than take the afternoon off.
6 -passes no judgement when you're being excessively selfish, inexplicably angry, or just plain ol' hurt, and loves you all the same for all your indiscretions.



So here's to you, Mom, on this perfect day of your birth.  The world is a much better place with you in it.  I love you so much!

So friends, when you read this post, send a thought of love out to your moms for all of their Mom Magic, and leave mine a happy birthday wish!  :)

Game Planner

I am a lot of things (like, for example, a fraidy cat and only somewhat impulsive and obsessive...and....well, we'll just leave it at that, shall we?), but organized and put together are two adjectives I would no longer use to describe myself.  That ended when we moved to Bloomington and my life exploded.  It did.  Ask anyone and they'll tell you that Bloomington made me weird.  Anyway, that's not the reason for this post.  *ahem*

I see all of these extraordinary women in my life (and on Pintrest) who have their "lives together" and are "uber organized" (btw -if we're EVER going to be friends, don't use the word "uber" ok?  It's a tool word.  Just saying) and I think in my whiny adult mind, "why can't I be like this person with their amazingly organized life?"  Or, more often than not, it's, "why can't I have an amazing creatively decorated house and have amazing ideas like this person (on pintrest)?"  Whine whine whine!  Well pintrest (and some of my closest friends and family) has (not intentionally) pushed me to my organizational limit.

I am turning over a new leaf!

I'm starting a-fresh!

I'm a revolutionized, streamlined, and organized woman!

I'm.... concerned....

I feel like I've said this before...yes?

Hmm.....

Yes, now that you mention it... this does sound oddly familiar....

Oh, RIGHT!  It's familiar because I've said it a gazillion times.  *slaps forehead*  Silly me....

There was a point of time in my life when I could decide upon something and stick to it but that time has WAY passed.  The train has left the station.  The groupon has expired.  Now I'm into the, "I can't successfully accomplish anything unless it's decided upon impulsively and can be finished within the time constraints of my attention span" phase.  Currently, my attention span is between two and three hours.  So if I'm going to get anything done it has to be planned and completely executed WITHIN that time frame.  Normally I would freak out about this new and undesired phase.  But for the thought of it, I just can't seem to stop laughing hysterically about it....

Or is that crying hysterically about it?

You do realize that there's a fine line between the two, right?  I mean, you can start laughing and before you know it, you're crying and everyone in the grocery store is looking at you like you're crazy.  NOT that that is anything that I've ever done....  Or even felt like doing or...or anything like that.  OR you're crying and before you know it your husband's done something completely humiliating and you're laughing at him even though it's really only funny to you.

Regardless of your personal situation, it always feels good to be determined to do something.  Right now, in the wee hours of the morning (before I've had a chance to sleep off my determination), I've decided to give those ladies on Pintrest a run for their money and get myself organized.

That'll show 'em.  *nods*


Happy Day, friends!
*hugs*

Big Fat Fraidy Cat

Ok, people.  I have a terrible secret that I have to tell you.  It should be alright, though, since it's ABSOLUTELY the ONLY bad thing about me and my personality.  *cough*  *giggle*  But seriously -are you ready for this earth shattering secret?

I am afraid terrified PETRIFIED of the dark.

I'm 110% serious on this.  It's ok if you want to laugh.  I would understand, because it's completely unreasonable.  I realize this.  So, if you don't mind if I continue while you're laughing....

I'm writing this post out of shame, ultimately.  Since I am reaching my "late 20's" and haven't mastered my childhood fear (thank MOSES I stopped being afraid of the Big Bad Wolf at age nine or else I'd have to write about that too...) I feel that I might as well share it with the world in the hopes that someone other than me finds this funny instead of embarrassing.

I'm at my bonus sister's house, visiting, creating trouble, and spamming her facebook, when I realize it's 11pm and I should probably go home (side note: I've been crashing all my friend's houses because I'm in VA and my husband is in IN and have no one to give me the constant attention my high maintenance self requires.  This, however, is not something I would consider to be a personality flaw or anything, just in case you were wondering).  I'm not big on picking up on social cues from my besties and do better if they just tell me to do something.  So since it seemed late, I just decided that I should leave.  I abruptly gave them hugs and apologized for overstaying my welcome (to which they laughed  and told me I was silly).

I charge up the stairs to go to my car and literally almost fall off their front steps.  When I arrived, it DEFINITELY wasn't this dark outside, I hear myself thinking.  Was it?  Did I walk across that yard IN THE DARK and NOT notice?  Impossible.  I'm much too sensible and...sensible to walk across the yard in the dark.  Psh -only crazy people walk around outside in the dark.

So I stand for a few seconds *cough* with my back to the door *cough* and finally come to a reasonable conclusion.  I am not ashamed to ask for help...right?  Right!  So help I shall seek.  I mean, come ON people!  It's the mountains of Virginia where the stars are ALWAYS sparkling and we have all sorts of varieties of hunt-in-the-dark animals.  When I say it's dark, I mean it.

So I did what any reasonable fraidy cat would do!  Call for help -DUH!!!

*In loud whiney voice*  Uhmmm -can someone come up here and stand in the door so I can walk to my car?  Please?"

Maybe, just maybe I should have specified my helper.  Because instead of my BS's husband coming to help me, I made my bonus sister climb the stairs from the basement quickly (probably because I sounded so panicked...seriously IT IS DARK HERE!) with her due date TODAY to WATCH me hop and jump to the car.

I want you to close your eyes for a minute (after you finish reading the next paragraph, of course!  You can't read with your eyes closed!  Silly reader...), because I want you to have a mental picture of what a fool I am.  Are you ready?  Oh good.  Here we go.

Imagine walking on the sand as a kid.  Remember that funny walk-hop you would do because the sand was hot?  And then add the sound effect "hoo-hee-hee-hoo-hee-hoo-hoo...etc" because the sand is burning your feet (if you know my grandmother you know EXACTLY what this sound is like.  If not, just improvise, ok?)?  Are you with me?  Are you doing this out loud wherever you happen to be reading?  hahaha...busted!  :)

That was me....

The only sad part about this is (if you exclude the fact that I made my friend climb the stairs AND I'm a fraidy cat), is that it's NOT the beach, and it's not hot.

*sigh*

But before you completely pass judgement on me, I have to tell you that I would SWEAR on my favorite big-bitty sports bra that I heard someone say from the darkness, "fraidy cat" as I climbed into my car.

Now who's afraid of the dark?!? HUH?  HUH????


Maybe some day when I grow up I'll be able to be in the dark.  But for now, I am who I am!  :)


Happy Friday, all!

*hugs*

Motivation

Hey, everyone!  I realize that I've been a bad poster lately, taking an unannounced hiatus from blogging.  I'm looking for my motivation, so when I find it, I'll be back to tell you lots of funnies and share some exciting discoveries with you.  :)

Happy Monday!

Dinner and A Show

Hey, friends!  Sorry I’ve been gone all weekend (and most of last week!).  We were busy entertaining, crafting, and carrying on with some friends.  :)  

Very rarely to the husband and I have visitors.  This past weekend, we had visitors ALL weekend, and it was the most amazing time!  Suze and her husband R have been friends since college, and it feels nice to have friends visit with no pressure.  They’re probably the easiest people to be around, and we really enjoy just being with them.  Suze writes a fashion blog, so vintage shopping was definitely part of our amazing (and too short) weekend!  You can read her here.  

Anyway....  Because we never get to play host, we like to pull out all the stops.  Suze & R came in on Friday night, and we made fried chicken, french fries, and fried pickles because who doesn’t love a good southern dinner on a cold night?  So with the husband manning the oil, we’re drinking wine, laughing and catching up.  Our kitchen has terrible ventilation, and because of that we’ve dismantled all the smoke alarms around the kitchen.  So when the smoke started...we really didn’t notice.

Then, the smoke started to get really bad, and we kind of all casually looked over towards the stove as my calm-as-a-cucumber husband started yelling profanities at growing oil fire.  

Did you know that oil can bubble over?  Yeah -we didn’t either.

So the first logical attempt at putting out the fire was to blow on it.  The husband, doing his best tuba player impression put a good dent into the flames for about...two seconds.  After those two flame free seconds, a huge splash of oil jumped out of the pot and landed on the stove.  I'm sure you can imagine not only the size of his eyeballs, but the amount of fire that we were all staring at.

In a flurry of activity, I was instructed to get the baking soda (it sounded a little like, fu-gruhh-bauhhh---baking soda!), and the day was saved.  

The fried pickles were a little over fried, but the chicken tasted great and the homemade ranch was a perfect side kick.    

I hope y'all had a great weekend, too!  Crafting pictures to come.  :)

My St. Valentine

Happy (late) Valentines Day, friends!  I hope each and every one of you had an amazing day full of those you love, and maybe some well thought-out gifts.  ;)  I spent my day at work, while the husband worked at being a professor.  I can't explain how lucky I feel, even though I am terrible to him poke fun at him all the time, to have such a saint for a husband.

This man drives to PA to teach (now) every week so that we can have a better future.  Sure -it's difficult, and sometimes sucks (especially on such a "romantic" day as February 14th -who decides these things, anyway?  I think I want March 7th to be romantic, now what?) but I know that this guy is the best thing that's happened to me (besides being born, of course), and I appreciate the gift ever day (even though, like I said, he is often the subject of my stories.  Just so you know -he laughs).

As I was falling asleep on the sofa last night, awaiting the return of Mr. Galliant himself, I was running through all of the sacrifices we've made together, and the even longer list of sacrifices he's made just for me.  I fell asleep before I reached the end of the list.  When he woke me up, he gave me a small box that had the most beautiful leaf earrings.  He said to me, "one of a kind earrings for my one of a kind wife."  *Swoon*

Happy St. Valentines day to you and yours!

xo-

Mac and Cheese Marvelous

So in my last post, I mentioned that my photography class started.  I'm WAY excited to get someone who knows their stuff looking at my photos.  Maybe one day I'll have someone pay me for them, but for now, I want to improve for my own well being!

So one of my favorite bloggers, Ashley Sisk, is hosting a tutorial that falls directly into my first photo project for my class.  Of course, you know me, it's of FOOD!  Woohoo.  I love me some food, especially down home comfort food.

So here it is -my first try at my first assignment!

Who doesn't love mac and cheese?  I hope you do!

Hope over to Ramblings and Photos to see everyone else's photos.  They're all really great!

Happy photo-day!  :)

Cookin' Up Some Cool....

Due to an amazing virus I picked up, courtesy of Karma, the blog has been kinda quiet!  Sorry, friends!  Unfortunately, I don't have anything exciting to report BESIDES two things.

First -my photography class just started.  :)  HOORAYY!!!

Second -I have an amazing weekend of crafting, blogging, style, and fun planned with a girlfriend from college who is coming in with her husband for just this occasion.  Maybe it'll become a tradition?  I don't know!  But if you want to pay her a visit, she runs Suze Wears Clothes.  It's a great style blog, and a place where I steal outfit ideas because I'm fashionably inept.  :)

Some of the things on my list this weekend areeeee:
Reversible Bag!! -for a friend's (belated) birthday...
An amazing blog planner -because we all know I'm the MOST disorganized person in the entire world (something that happened AFTER I got married....Hmm.... *evil grin*)
And this amazing infinity scarf, because this lady LOVES herself some lace.  :)

I do hereby solemnly promise to take some photos (because I can use them in my class!!!) because sometimes I like something that I've made, and then can't remember how I made it.  :)


Happy Tuesday!

Sleepy Saturdays

I'm not sure about you, but where I live, today is a rainy, cold, icky day.  I would like to report that I'm feeling better, and that the poor weather is an excuse for a lazy day, but honestly, I'm not.  But in through the rain and ick, I'm thankful to have another day to just be sick.  It gets messy when you've got to worry about work!

And the weather -it makes the sleeping for healing stretch out a little bit longer (no complaints here!).  Naps in between cleaning and sewing projects, naps in between organizing and folding laundry...you get the picture. And the best, of course, are the naps with my favorite napping buddy!  One who never complains, steals the covers, OR gets too hot.  Everyone needs one of those.


That's right!  The Daphnie Cat!

So I hope that whatever you're doing today involves just a little bit of naps with your favorite napping buddy.  :)

Happy Saturday!

Karma

Warning: long post that reads really quickly.  Now go, enjoy yourself.

I should really know better, by now.  I have terrible karma, honestly, and I should have KNOWN that my posts about the husband complaining and being sick would come back to bite me.  I'm sick as a dog, and deserve every bit of it.  But, because you know me so very well, there's a story go go along with it.  Are you ready?

Timeline:
Sunday: begin random eye pain.

Monday: call eye dr and get appointment for Tuesday.

Tuesday: Scene: eye doc's office.
Me: So, it feels like pink eye, but when I press it like this, it really hurts.
Assistant: How hard are you pressing?  (she think's I'm hurting myself...weirdo!)
Me: I'm just touching it.
Assistant: Ok, because it looks like you're pressing.  Put your chin here....
*Annoying puff of air*
Me: Oh!  That hurts.
Assistant: Yeah, we hear that a lot.
20 minutes later....
Dr.: (after shining light in my eyes for five minutes straight) So it looks like you've got allergies.
Me: I came in here, and you're telling me I have allergies?
Dr.:  Well, yeah.  And a virus.  You've definitely got some sort of eye virus.
Me: what is an eye virus, exactly?
Dr.: Well, it's not bacterial.
Me: right, but is it like, going to eat my eye, or what?  Is this normal?
Dr.: *thinking*  No, I'd say it's not normal, but you'll be fine.  Just go get these antibiotic eye drops filled, and you'll be fine.
Me: antibiotic eye drops?
Dr.: yep.  They'll get you fixed right up.
Me: for an eye virus?
Dr.: Yep!  Now we rate ourselves as being the standard for eye care here in Bloomington, so if you have any other concerns, you come back and see us.  Have a good day.
*pushes me out the door*

I get an antibiotic eye drop for an eye virus?  Anyone catch that?  Weird...?  But it gets better.

So I fill my $60 eye drops prescription and head home.  I decide that it's time for a nap, because after you've had your eyes poked at for 40 minutes you'll want a nap too.  It was an amazing nap.  I slept really well, and was feeling great (in my napping state), until I woke up.

That's when I knew.  Karma had finally caught up with me.  I had every symptom in the book, if you look under miserable.  Headache, sore throat, coughing, runny nose, stuffy face, ear aches, verdigo (because I get that, don't hate!), swollen neck, and sore body.  ALL OF THEM -in under two hours.

THAT JUST DOESN'T HAPPEN!  At least to normal people, who don't make fun of their husbands.

So I suck it up, and go work my evening shift.  I have the next day off, so I can make it six hours of miserable before crawling back to my bed.

Fast forward: Wednesday morning.
Me: Murphy, I need to go to the dr.
Hus: Well, call them and I'll take you
Answering service at doc's:  If this is a medical emergency, call 911.  If it is a Wednesday, we are not open.  Please leave a message.
OF COURSE THEY'RE CLOSED!!!!!
Me: they're closed
Hus: bummer.  Can you wait until tomorrow?
Me: NO!!!!!  I'm DYING OF THE BLACK PLAGUE.  (not really, but I HATE being sick.  It means I can't taste my popsicles!)
Hus: so prompt care it is, then?
Me: yes.
Fast forward again, TWO HOURS
Dr.: So what is your primary concern today (after reading the excessive list of symptoms I gave to the nurse -seriously, I wasn't kidding about having ALL OF IT)?
Me: Throat, ears, sinuses, and lungs.
Dr.: ok.  Let's hear you breathe.  *breathing*  Yeah -no pneumonia, so that's good.  You've just got a string of viruses.
Me: plural viruses?
Dr.: yeah.  We're seeing a lot of that.  I'll give you some scripts for things that should help you out.
Me: Ok, but my ears really hurt.  Are you sure I don't have an ear infection?
Dr.: *sighs* Yes, I'm positive.  You're just swollen and have lots of fluid.  But I'm worried about the vertigo.  Is that normal for you?
Me: Yes, especially when I have fluid.
Dr.: Well don't drive.  *she leaves the room*

I look at my husband.  I don't know what to say.  This woman was of ZERO help, and I can still be found under miserable under the dictionary.

This is why it's not good to make fun of people.  If it weren't so easy and fun, I'd stop.  But since I obviously don't care about consequences and karmic punishment, you'll see me here again soon, writing something funny about my poor, very innocent saintly husband.

So until then -I'm off to take some of the completely pointless drugs the doctor gave me.


Happy Thursday, everyone!

My Sweet Husband...

...just called from his first day as, "Professor Priester" just to say this:  Oh my God, babe.  It's...it's...it's....
Me: It's happening...?
Prof P: Yeah.  I mean...it's...I'm ....I'm here...I have a job.  I do.  I..I...I...*garble garble excited garble*  HOLY CRAP!


I hope everyone's Monday is as good as his.
*Hugs*

Fashionista In The House!

It's true.  I am finally getting with it where fashion's concerned.  I bought my very first pair of REAL leggings this summer with my girl Suze, from Suze Wears Clothes, I have ordered a pair of jeggings AND a pair of moccisains.  I'm on a roll.

And next....THE WORLD!  Mwaahahahaha.

Just kidding...only partly.  You see, it's been really stressful trying to wear clothes that fit me and make me look good.  Embrace me, instead of make me look more like Humpty-Dumpty.  I've been to ON, and tried on THREE sizes and styles of skinny jeans and they just looked horrible.  Baggy here, muffin top there, too much at the calf.  It's ridiculous.

But it's over now, I've stepped into the land of fashion and am leaving those ill-fitting skinnies behind.

Adios, poorly-made-wanna-be's!

Hello faaaabulous me!  :)

Happy Sunday!

I Felt Sorry For Him Until...

So my fabulous husband, you know -the one who was recently very sick and just broke his arm? -has like, a million jobs.  He works for half a million orchestras in the state of Indiana, some in Pennsylvania, teaches in PA, AND plays for Pittsburgh Opera, on top of being a campus bus supervisor for IU.  So the guy has a crazy schedule, yeah?  Well this hilarious story is a product of his schedule!  Enjoy!  :)


So I'm sleeping really terribly (not a trend I am a fan of), and I'm finally all taco-ed up in the blankets.  Do you know what taco-ing the blankets is?  Ok -side explanation.

The bed taco: when you are sleeping by yourself and are always so bloody cold, you lay on your back, and turn allll the way to one side and tuck the covers underneath you.  Then, you repeat on the other side, making yourself into a nice little taco.  I am frequently known as the "Briana taco" at our house.  IT'S AMAZING and WILL change your life.

Ahem, anyway....

I'm finally somewhat asleep, all taco-ed up, when all of a sudden, *WHAP*!!!  I have have been smacked in the head by the guilt-causing-cast-of-doom (you read that right.  This is no normal cast!!!).  The cast that is attached to the husband, who is coming in from a late night bus shift...at 1:45am.  It's not enough that I wake up every morning clutching it all white knuckled out of guilt -like I pushed the fates juuuust a tad too far, and they decided that in order to get him to see a doc for his cold, they had to break his wrist.  You know what I'm sayin'?  So I've just been brained by the cast....

Uhm -OUCH!  Bloody, gosh darn OUCH!

I mean -sure, it may be dark, but GEEZUS!  Wife sleeping!  I was feeling sorry for the guy, especially about hating on his being sick and stuff, until he just busted into the bed like a bull in a china shop, waving his cast around like mad man, hitting me on the head.  This is NOT a Bunny-Foo-Foo/Field Mice situation.  No fairy's going to come down from Fairy Land and save me from this maniac.  What am I to do?

What does a faithful, somewhat recently unsympathetic wife to do?  What to do....

Here are the choices that I came up with at 1:45am:
First: punch him back?  Not wise -I don't want to hurt his feelings...again, you know...and he is wearing a fiberglass cast.... PASS!
Second: give him my absolutely perfected death stare?  No...that just makes him giggle, darn him.
Third: mumble some profanities and roll back over?  YES!  It is never too early for a well mumbled, unintelligible curse or two.

So after sticking it to him, (haha...) I finally decide to lay back down, grumble about being un-taco-ed and get back to sleeping.  My shift only starts at 5:30 in the morning....

I wish I could tell you that he got the memo, but while I was drifting back to the glorious bliss of being taco-ed, he turned the light on.  At 1:45am.

Don't worry.  He's still alive.  Good thing he has that cast on his wrist.....


Happy Friday!  :)

Infinity DOES NOT Equal Patience!

If we're buddies on Pinterest you know that I am OBSESSED with all of the fabulous infinity scarves everyone is pinning.  I mean -they keep your neck warm AND they look fab.  I'm totally down for having both of those things!  Well, I decided that I HAD, absolutely, without a doubt HAD to make one for myself.

So I get home and harass the saintly husband into trying on EVERY pair of pj pants he has.  After selecting two that are particularly funny (holes in juuuuust the right places, and just not enough space for the getto booty...), I set to work.

I start cutting and snipping, while chatting away to my AMAZING sister on Skype, who lives in NC.  I was listening to her talk about work, life, decorating her home, and just being DIY fabulous.  I PROMISE I was listening.  I always listen...I swear.  *cough*  So I'm realizing that...it's quiet.  She's not talking anymore.  She's just staring at me.

"Briana...what are you doing?"

"Oh -well I'm just going to whip out an infinity scarf!"

"Cool, but...do you have a plan?"

"What do you mean?  I plan to make a scarf from these pj's!"

*Eye roll*  "No, Briana.  Do you have a plan?"  At this point, I'm realizing that she means for the cutting and sewing.

Feeling completely useless with my fun yellow scissors, I look at her and say, "I'm just going to cut here, and sew here."

*Another eye roll* and 20 seconds later, she has a perfect pattern drawn for me, and as I'm staring at the computer trying to figure it out, my light bulb finally turns on!

Measure twice, cut once!  Ahhh-ha!  Easier said than done.

Three hours later, my sister has gone to bed, I've broken two machine needles, but gosh darn it my scarf is amaaaz....wait....why is that...inside out?  INSIDE OUT???  BLOODY INSIDE OUT?

*sigh*

I'll just stick to story telling. :)

{This post is dedicated to my amazing sister and my mother who tried to teach me to measure twice, cut once, and always iron your seam.  I'm 25% there!  Aren't you proud?}

Allow Extra Time...

....to get into your amazing new sports bra.  It should be a competition in the olympics, as far as I'm concerned.  I'll explain.

Remember last week, when I posted this about sports bra's?  If not -you should go read it.  It's pretty funny....

Well, they've come in (*happy dance*) and I've finally put them to good use.  They're SUPER hard core. They look a little like this:

Sorry....  I couldn't make the picture any smaller.  That's what happens when the big bitties need an intense sports bra.    

ANYWAY...

So I'm getting ready to do some zumba.  I've gotten this AMAZING zumba DVD kit in the mail and I'm excited to get started (wouldn't you???)!!!  So I head upstairs after my morning shift at work and dig this puppy out of it's nicely wrapped package.  I undo the back (because the big bitties need EXTRA hooks...) and start to put it on.  I wiggle and jiggle, squat and groan, and FINALLY it goes over my shoulders.  Is that my right arm tingling from lack of circulation?  Nevermind....

So I take a breather.  A couple of seconds and I'm back in the game, walking myself in circles trying to hook the back.  Too bad bra wearing isn't considered the work-out.  I was seriously starting to sweat it!  Before I realized that I had a little extra room than just a second ago, *SLAP* the bloody strap HITS ME IN THE FACE!!!  I don't know about you, but I started looking for a ninja...  *chuckle*  Just kidding about the ninja, but I did look around to see if anyone saw it hit me in the face...in my house...in the bedroom...where I'm all by myself.  *cough*

So I sigh and take a closer look.  These straps are VELCRO!  GENIUS!  Big bitties + velcro = most amazing idea in the world.  Because while you're fighting with the back everything can just hang out (as in: chill, hang tight, relax..etc...get my drift? heh heh...) until you've gotten that part hooked.  All 6 hooks...that's right!  SIX.  So I'm dancing around in circles trying to get the back hooked.  FINALLY I get it hooked.  Now huffing and puffing, I look down to assess the strap situation.

One side of the most intense sports bra in the world is hanging down, and the other side is velcro'd up so high that my shoulder is rubbing my ear lobe.  Chuckling, and thinking that I'm a genius, I just undo the other side.  Instantly realizing I had made a poor decision, I began to consider my options.

First: call for help and be ridiculed by my husband (whom I have recently ridiculed about being very sick...)?  NO WAY

Second: consider laying down and taking a nap, and just dealing with it later?  Perhaps...

Third: bend over, stick my butt in the air and grab for the straps?  DING DING DING!  WINNEEERRRRRR!!!

So I'm dangling upside down, still huffing and puffing for air, grabbing at straps.  First one, then the other, then one must do the, "I'm wearing a harness" jump.  If you don't know what that means, it goes something like this:  Lean over ridiculously far, shake like a wet dog, and then pull on whatever you've got and do a little jump.

EURIKA!!!

I've done it.  I've gotten the world's most intense sports bra on.  And it only took me TEN WHOLE MINUTES.

Next time, I'll just plan on putting on and taking off the sports bra five or six times, and that should have me covered for the day's exercise.

Someone please tell me I'm not the only one....  Please?  :)

Happy Thursday, y'all!

{JINXED!!!}

Oh the agony -oh the sadness -oh the TERRIBLE WIFE-ING I have been doing!!!

Remember in my last post, how I complained about my husband's whiny sickness?  Well it's come back to bite me in the booty, because I think I've jinxed us!

The Michael was finally feeling better today, so he went to work.  He spent the entire shift de-icing and scraping off busses, and putting up with skittish drivers.  Then he comes home, gets out of his car, and BOOM!

HE FALLS!!!

I get the text message as I'm leaving work, and it's only three miles home, but it was THE LONGEST three miles of my life.  Poor guy!

So I get home, feel his wrist and for sure, something's out of place!!!  I rush him to prompt care (while, by the way, he's carrying on normal conversations and laughing about my ridiculous jokes), tell the lady that he's hurt, and we wait.

Once the waiting has been done, we go back to the exam room, and they take his temperature.  I'm pulled out of my stupor by her response, "Well my dear, you sure HAVE had a rough day.  Hurt wrist AND a fever of 101?"  My mouth drops open, "NO WAY!"  Of course she's a judgemental nurse and she replies with, "you've know he's been sick for how long?"

UGH!  What a witch!  What a....what a....what a terrible wife!  I've spent the week telling him that he's fine, and now -NOW he's got a broken wrist AND a sinus infection.

*sigh*  Full blown wife failure.

Next time I'll just take him straight to prompt care so he doesn't have to break his wrist just to get my attention.

Tomorrow we treck to the hospital for casting.  I'm voting for the pink cast, but somehow I know that my opinion won't be important tomorrow.  Say a prayer for me -I'm gonna need it.


Happy Saturday, to you! ...and, mind the ice!

When He Said, "I'm sick."

I am one luck gal!  I have a saint for a husband.  He's amazing -he listens to me chatter endlessly about silly things, supports me when I'm feeling down, and even makes me giggle by going out of his comfort zone to be silly.

But you know what I dread?  Those three simple words....

"Babe, I'm sick."


UUUuuuughhhh!!!!  *cringe*  Nooooo!!

Men are the WORST sick people ever.  When I'm ill, I curl up in a warm snuggily place, take lots of drugs, and drink 7up-zero until I'm feeling human again.  Do you think that I could be so lucky in that my husband does the same thing?

Nope!

Let me give you an example of how "sick Michael" is around our house (this can be a little like "where's waldo").  Where is Michael?  Is he in the bed?  Nope.  Hmm....is he in the bathroom?  Nope.  Is the Michael on the sofa?  Nope... Hmm....  What's that I hear?  The SICK Michael is practicing the bass?  The sick Michael is writing to our congressman?  The sick Michael is on the phone...WITH HIS MOTHER?

*face palm*  There's NO hope!

Please allow me to fill you in on how the week of sickness has been....  *clears throat for story telling*
Tuesday night: endless coughing, so bad he gets the hiccups!  Then, instead of taking some meds, he wants to cuddle.  You read that right -I said CUDDLE...with the hiccups...and the plague.

Wednesday night: drug induced bliss -I convinced the guy to take everything we could find (don't worry -he's still alive...and coughing...).  I made it through with only one elbow to his ribs to roll over and stop snoring.

Thursday night: "cough-cooooooughhhhh-uuuughhhh-coooouuughhhhhh-cuuuuhhhhh-huuuuuhhhooouuughhh....." THE ENTIRE NIGHT.  The man doesn't understand the concept of polite coughing!  Uhm -hello -ANGRY LADY TRYING TO SLEEP, HERE!  Also, we have a perfectly nice and comfy sofa.  It didn't call his name until 7am, when I had to get up anyway.  *sigh*

So he says to me this morning, "Babe, don't be mad at me!  Be mad at the cold"

I almost punched the saint in the face.  How's that for compassion?

Sick husbands are the worst!


Happy Friday!  :)

Christmas on Elm

Happy (late) Christmas (what did you expect...you know me better than this!)!!!!

This year, husband and I spent the holiday at my in-laws.  I'm not sure if that will ever happen again, but it was definitely very nice for a one-off holiday.  My in-laws are amazing people, but it just didn't feel like Christmas.  My sister and I talked, because my parents deserted us and WENT ON A CRUISE, and decided that we'd fight tooth and nail to be together again for Christmas.  Anyway -here are some photos of our VERY quiet, and peaceful, Christmas.  Enjoy!

{Christmas Blocks I made for Jayne last year!  This one says, "Believe"}

{The Daphnie Cat vs The Dept. 56 Ice Skaters}

{Molly, the Springer.  She belongs to my in-laws}

{The Saphira -our sweet Sussex Spaniel}

Hope you had a wonderful holiday, and a great 18 days of 2012!!!


Keep on keepin' on!

Body Bar Strength {Sports Bra NOT Optional}

I don't do resolutions.  I figure, if I'm going to do it, I don't need a time marker, or a new year to get started.  Well, it just so happens that the new year coincided with a significant schedule change, (finally) allowing time for exercise.  This is wonderful, since I've gained like...80-trillion pounds.  This sounds like an exaggeration, but I'm not joking.  It's bad news bears.

Anyway -so today, I venture to my first exercise class at IU's rec center.  I was prepared for lots of skinny sorority girls flocking to the exercise room, so I wasn't surprised to see multiple shades of pink, lots of cute work out pants, and...wait -what was that I just happened to see?  Sports bra's.  INTENSE sports bra's.  This gets me thinking.....

This class is called, "body bar STRENGTH, right?" I ask one of the skinnies.  She stares back, body checks me (you know about the body check, right?  Skinny girls do it to fat ones, and think that we don't realize it happens.  *eye roll* -anyway...), and replies, "yeah, like -totally body sculpting."  And walks away.

EXCELLENT!  Body sculpting...not cardio.  I'm not convinced.  You see, I'm worried because I'm wearing one of those cheep-o sports bra's from Wal-mart.  It's like a bra-shaped t-shirt.  You know the type...??  I've outgrown ALL my others, and if I shimmy into this one, they stay ok for things like...walking and riding the bike.  I'm good at those.

So the teacher comes in, we get our stuff, and get started.  WITH SQUATS (what a warm-up!).  I'm panicked.  I check the clock -in despair, I see that I've only been exercising FOR FIVE MINUTES.  *Insert inward groan*  "Ok, lets ad in some cardio.  We're going to add a hop in between the bicep curls"  WHAAAT?  A HOP?  WHYYY????  She's all smily in the mirror with her itty-bitties, hopping all around.  She looks like she's made to hop around.  Gasping for air, I turn and look at my reflection.  In horror, I see my big-bitties moving more than THE REST OF ME.

OH THE SHAAAAMEE!!!!

I was not meant to hop!  I was specially designed to...do ANYTHING but HOP!  I am not a hopper -I do things like...Warrior 1 and 2, and I'm EXCELLENT at Child's Pose!

So after we were finished (and I'm completely exhausted), I crawled myself to the exit (oohhhh blessed exit!), got to my car, and called my mom.

"MOM!!!"
"What, baby?"
"You'll NEVER guess what just happened to me.  Are you sitting down?"
"Yeah -why?  Are you ok?"
"Yes, it's just that the funniest thing happened to me in a non-cardio body sculpting class...."
*Insert 30 minutes of ab-shaking laughter*

Two special big-bitty sports bra's are currently en route to my home.




Happy Tuesday!

The "Perfect" Friend

{Warning -this sounds a little looney-tunes, but if you read it with sarcasm, you'll get my drift!  ;)  }

Who has one?  C'mon -raise your hand.  I TOTALLY know that you do...and I bet she makes you crazy?  Mine sure does!  Did yours send out a Christmas card?  Are you shaking your head?  Well -if she didn't, keep reading.  I'll share my "perfect" friend with you, and hopefully some laughs, too!

So here's what you already know:
First: I'm coming off of full time student status, the husband is too -Christmas cards were sent AFTER Christmas!
Second: I can't ever manage to get anything done (especially on time...)
Third: I can't stand people who are perfect on the outside -there's a bigger, undiscovered crack on the inside (if you didn't know this, you do now.  Apply directly...)!
Fourth (OK -you didn't know this one, but it's true): She's not a perfect friend.  She considers herself too busy to even respond to a text message (they're not weird or anything!  I PROMISE.  They say things like, "hey!  Just thinking of you!  Hope you're well"  You'd respond to that, RIGHT???)

So -I get a Christmas card from a college friend.  Actually, she used to be more than just a friend, but that's a different story.  I open up the card, really excited!  She hasn't bothered to write/call/text back, so getting a Christmas card was VERY exciting.  So I open it and see six pictures of her and her husband smiling back at me.  I start to fume....

These aren't just ANY pictures -these are PERFECT pictures.  WHO DOES THAT???  They're staged -lighting is perfect -their clothes match -and they're in idillic places.  I REPEAT -WHO DOES THAT?  I seriously can't manage to get myself put together, let along arrange to have my picture taken perfectly AT LEAST six times.

Anyway.

So I look over at my husband, who's staring at me (probably afraid for his personal safety, at this moment in time...), and say, "don't judge me!" as I rip the card into as many little pieces as I possibly can.  HA!  This perfect little photo Christmas card, with a bunch of little smiling faces is now floating through the air back down towards my grinning face.

A girl can only handle so much, you know?

So as I'm prancing around the dining room, shuffling around the pieces of this perfect little photo card, I start to feel a little guilty.  The card stock was really nice -I could have reused it!!!  I mean, this girl is NEVER going to know that I got some joy out of ripping up a little piece of "perfect", right?  It's not like I'm gonna call her (and leave a message like I would normally have), and say, "hey!  So thanks for the card, I ripped it up and danced on it.  Yeah -what's that?  Well...I did it because it made me feel better."

NOT GONNA' HAPPEN!

So -don't give my secret away, ok?  Not that she'll ever find my blog, call me back, or anything....  It can be our little world wide web secret!  ;)

HAPPY MONDAYYYY!!!!!

Crisis Averted!

So remember last time...when I posted about how I was having a blog-dentity crisis?  I think the crisis has been averted!  I'm going to call myself a "lifestyle blog" and write about whatever I want.  :)  Doesn't that sound exciting?  So you lucky ducks will get to read about funny posts, photo related posts, and anything else that happens to cross into my path.  Sometimes...(get ready for it!!!)...I even CRAFT!  *gasp*  So basically, I'm going to be the same as I have always been, but hopefully a little bit better!

Are you ready for the blog you never knew you needed to read?  The blog that will make you laugh so hard, you pee you desk chair?  Yeah -be ready.

Blog-dentity Crisis!

Every time I post in my little corner of cyber space, I am surprised at how long it's been since my last post.  When did my life go from zero to 100mph (I forget that this happens when you have a 3 hour drive to school every day!!!)?  There's good news, though!  I finished my coursework and between now and June when my internship starts I'll be back to a "normal" life (whatever that means for me!).  This means working full time, managing my home once more, cooking and meal planning, and just getting my feet back on the ground.  My own brand of normal.

So all of this is amazing -exciting -wonderful -and....well...and a little overwhelming.  But I'm ready!  Now I have time to sit, time to think, and time to spend more time being me and less time being the student/wive/classmate/coworker/friend-a-pist/cheerleader.   The ultimate question here is what to write about...what to focus on...what do I actually want to say?

Do I hear you asking me if I'm having a blog-dentity crisis?  So nice of you to ask, and the answer is ....  *drum roll*

Why yes -yes I am!

While I'm enjoying everyone else's blogs, I find myself thinking, "WOW!  I want to do that!" or, "Oh man!  I need to do a post on _________ (fill in the blank with lots of different things like: photography, fashion -DON'T LAUGH, Haleigh..., crafts like sewing, cooking, bread making, and music making).  All of these things are a part of who I am, and I just can't decide.  It doesn't keep me up at night very long yet.

Originally, I started this blog because I was in a situation where I needed a place to feel validated -you know, a place I could always go that made me feel good, didn't argue back, and thought that I was wonderful.  For that period of time, it really served it's purpose.  If you're still a reader, you know that I went back to school for my passion, and I'm pretty sure that Priester's Peace deserves a little credit for empowering me to follow my heart.

So back to the blog-dentity crisis.  What to do...what to say....  My vote: sleep (or not sleep...) on it!  :)  Maybe this little cliff-hanger will draw you back, yes?  :)  I hope so!

Keep on keepin' on!