Almost There!

My last project for the semester (another group project) is due tomorrow and may even get turned in today. I'm very tense at the moment and I'm annoying my co-workers. Jeff has been working late these past few days and I think it's for the best.

After tomorrow I will have about 6 weeks of Freedom! My classes won't start again until January 14th. I have a huge list of fun things (fun to me) that I would like to do. I would like to workout each day and go for a nice relaxing walk each afternoon while listening to audio books. My reading list is getting longer and longer. Right now it includes Warm Bodies, Beautiful Creatures, Clockwork Angel, City of Bones, Zombies vs. Unicorns, Royal Romances, Annotated Persuasion, and Pride and Prejudice, and countless graphic novels. I want to visit my friends and do some serious cooking and baking, clean my house, get organized, improve my archery skills (non-existent at this stage), and work on some crafts. In reality what will happen is I will gain 5 pounds and have an unnatural familiarity with HGTV's daily schedule and jewelry on Etsy. Here's to good intentions (and making A's in both of my classes!). 

I'm No Twihard...

But I'm the only one in my small group of friends who saw Breaking Dawn 2 this weekend.

This seemed really weird to me and a little frustrating because I had no one (who had also read the books) to discuss the movie with. Mom was nice enough to tag-along with me to the movie but she's never read the books. I did explain some of the things she didn't understand in the movie but she didn't need much clarification. I went to a Saturday afternoon showing and there really weren't that many people there. The theater had plenty of empty seats. I don't want to give away any details or information because I don't want to alter anyone's experience of the film but someone better see it soon! And, yes, I will be buying the soundtrack.

Buy All The Twinkies!!

Remember that movie Zombieland where Woody Harrelson's character just wanted some Twinkies?  Well, it turns out that even Twinkies won't survive the Zombie-pocalypse. Hostess Brands is going bankrupt. That means no more Twinkies or Hostess Cupcakes (or numerous other cavity-inducing-artery-clogging items).

I remember enjoying Hostess treats with my grandparents and if you've never had frozen Twinkies you're missing out. Maybe it's for the best (I know Michelle Obama is happy) but thousands of people will be losing their jobs because an agreement couldn't be reached. The article (link above) gives the impression that the Hostess items on the shelves right now is all there will be. Go buy some and freeze them to enjoy later (and in moderation, all things in moderation). Pinterest is probably filled with at-home recipe versions for all the Hostess items or they will be in the next several months.

Bieber Fever

I was getting out of my car at the gym the other day and I noticed this in the car next to me. 

I had to take a picture. I'm trying to imagine the conversation that would take place between the driver and a friend getting into her car. 

Friend: "Is that Justin Bieber?" 

Driver: "It sure is!" (the driver kisses her finger and places it lovingly on Justin's face)

Friend: "I'll drive from now on."

Warm Sandi

Sandi loves the fireplace. We have to put a blanket or pillow down for her to lay on and enjoy the warmth. 

She's perfectly content to stay there all night no matter how hot it gets. 

Guess Who's In The House?

This was waiting for me when I got home yesterday. So, Young House Love is in my house, literally. It arrived with Better Homes and Gardens New Cottage Style. I flipped through every single page of both books last night. After that I watched two DVRd episodes of Design, Inc. (one of Sarah Richardson's many design shows). I was in design heaven. It was a nice distraction from all my school work. I was grocery shopping this weekend and I grabbed a copy of Cottage Style Magazine. It wasn't until check-out that I realized it costs $10! I was expecting about $3.50. Apparently they only publish about 2 issues a year. That's still $20. I get 10 issues of House Beautiful for $14. I asked the cashier to take the magazine off. It's still in the back of my mind though; I'm thinking I might cave.

Candy is the New Fruit?

Remember the lovely new fruit bowl my parents got me for my birthday?

This is the "fruit" that my husband put there this week. 

 

No wonder I can't lose weight!

Gross

Last weekend I left the house early on Sunday. I was headed to work to continue working on my school project. This was all over my car, not just the windshield.

It's disgusting bird poop. I don't know what about my car screams "Wildlife Toilet" but they dive-bombed my sweet little CR-V. As I was leaving work to head home my car still looked disgusting and I knew I had to get it washed immediately. At 9am on a Sunday morning there aren't many cars in Milledgeville. At 5pm on a Sunday afternoon there are tons of people out and about and I was too embarrassed to continue driving around in that filth. I found a gas station car wash (that wouldn't take my money at the machine so I had to go inside to ask for help). The attendant said, "Your car needs a wash BAD!" No kidding. Nine dollars later I was sitting pretty. It still needs a good scrub here and there but at least I don't have to park and then run away as fast as I can before someone sees that I'm the driver.

Where You Been?

This week I finally put some homemade artwork on the wall that I made before the wedding. That's right, I made them about 10 months ago. I've been a little behind on things since the wedding and school stuff. The house looks like a disaster area.   I was inspired by variations of sentimental map art on Pinterest. I used a great website to print the maps but I can't find it now. At first I tried to use some of our reference books and just make a photocopy but they were either too large or lacked details. I was born in South Carolina. Jeff was born in Florida. We met and began our life together in Georgia, thus E Us J. When I was cutting out the letters for this project I had different styles for each one. All the scattered letters looked like I was trying to spell Jesus. Ever notice how Florida kind of looks like a handgun?

Cooking

I've gotten out of the habit lately. I was cooking 3 to 4 days a week with enough for one night of leftovers. I was also only cooking weight watcher's meals. There are about 5 or so that I keep in a rotation (or a night of roasted salmon and asparagus--my favorite meal ever). It's hard to find healthy meals that both Jeff and I enjoy but WW has some really good ones. Jeff has been working many late nights so cooking hasn't been a priority. I did make this dish recently.

Shrimp with zucchini and tomatoes. It was delicious. Jeff wasn't fond of it because he still felt hungry after eating. I told him to have some bread or make a baked potato (2 items that should be avoided when possible on WW). I really liked it and the tomatoes added tons of flavor. Some of my other WW recipe favorites are: Quick beef and pinto bean chili, chicken and dumplings with sage (it's under community recipes on the WW site, I leave the dumplings for Jeff), Salisbury steak, chicken mushroom and brown rice slow cooker casserole (this used to be 6 points--I have the printout to prove it--but now it's 11 points which is too high for a meal in my opinion), and potato and Canadian bacon slower cooker chowder. I usually try out a recipe and make notes or toss it all together. We've had some bad ones but Jeff is always open to trying whatever I cook, bless his heart.