Weekend in Review: Christmas is almost Here

I want to recap each of my Christmases separately (I have five this year)... so part of the weekend will include that.  I can't say this entry will really be that interesting in general... mostly not a whole lot went on this weekend.

Let's see... on Thursday night Dan was a sweetheart and grilled for us - delicious brats and hot dogs from Kenrick's.  Michelle came over and we exchanged Christmas gifts.  I really wasn't going to get her anything, but she's like the world's easy person to shop for and I found a beyond cute gift.  Plus she most likely losing her job soon... so it was I'm sorry your station was bought and Christmas gift.  She got me a board game that I'm excited to play.  We watched Project Runway together and by watched I mean we talked through most of it.

On Friday I met my dad for lunch and to pick up some Christmas gifts that he wanted me to wrap.  We went to lunch at First Watch - it was great to connect with him one on one before Christmas.

That afternoon Dan and I ran to a few stores and spent the night in.  We wanted a movie - The Purge.

Saturday Dan spent the day hanging out with his friend so I enjoyed a nice day at home by myself.  It was awesome and I didn't do much of anything, although I finished wrapping Christmas gifts.  I also did my cake balls - updated post coming on that as well.  After Dan got home we ate a low key dinner and watched Apollo 18 on Netflix.

Sunday was my dad's family Christmas.  After I got back from that we watched We are the Millers and headed to bed.  We haven't been doing as much lately (hey the cold weather will make you want to stay in!)

Favorite Christmas Songs

I thought it might be fun to run down a list of my favorite Christmas songs.  It's completely possible I've left something super obvious off the list... so... and I usually don't like to rank things, but whaddya know?  I went ahead and ranked them!

So enjoy this little bit of Christmas cheer!

#10)  I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas by Bing Crosby - It's a classic!!

#9)  All I want for Christmas is You by Mariah Carey - I know it's a stupid song but no other Christmas song gets stuck in my head quite like this one!

 

#8)  Rockin Around the Christmas Tree by Brenda Lee - it's a classic and upbeat

 

#7)  Jingle Bell Rock by Bobby Helms - see comments from above :)  I do think of these songs in the same realm and sometimes think of them as the same song haha

#6)  The Christmas Song by Nat King Cole - this is a classic and I think really describes Christmas like no other... sure no one really roasts chestnuts on an open fire, but really it's pretty sweet.

#5)  Christmas Don't be Late by Alvin and the Chipmunks - I love cutesy Christmas songs, and slightly different ones... you'll notice that theme in the top five.

#4)  Carol of the Bells by Trans-Siberian Orchestra - This sound is epic.  I love it!

#3)  Mele Kalikimaka by Bing Crosby - I love this Christmas song gotta love a beach feel.

#2)  Feliz Navidad by Jose Feliciano - I love how this song is upbeat.  It also reminds me of a Sesame Street Christmas thing where they are ice skating

#1)  I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas by Gayla Peevey - I love the lyrics in this song, so freaking adorable and much better than All I want for Christmas is My two Front Teeth.  Seriously my favorite.

Do you think I missed any great ones?  What are your favorite Christmas songs?

Merry Christmas!

Fantasy Survivor: Results

Another season of Survivor has come to an end.  Blood vs. Water was an amazing season.  Honestly in the beginning I wasn't really sold on the returnees competing against their loved ones... especially when there were so many twists.  But this season was amazing - top ten for sure!  I'd have a hard time ranking the seasons since I don't remember all of them... but it's been entertaining!

So we have to recap who won this edition of Fantasy Survivor.

Going into the finale were SEVEN possibilities (three of which were at redemption island)  Of those seven - two were Michelle's (Hayden and Monica) and five were mine (Gervase, Tyson, Tina, Laura M and Ciera).  About 15 minutes into the episode Hayden was gone so Michelle was down to one... poor thing!

Either way... who was the winner?  Did Michelle pull out an impressive win?  NO! The winner of Survivor Blood vs. Water was

TYSON!!

Some people probably didn't like how he came across on the show at times... but he absolutely deserved to win.  I was totally happy with this since I've enjoyed watching him on other seasons and he was probably the person I was most excited to see come back.  Sure, I didn't pick him first or even second... but sometimes I play the who Michelle won't pick game.

It's always bittersweet when a season comes to an end.  Love to see how it all finishes up but it's sad that it won't be on for a couple of months.

Next time we play the Survivor Fantasy game we'll have a new member of - Susan!!  I think it will make the picking and playing even more fun!!

Weekend in Review: Snow and Survivor

These weekends are going by pretty fast... can you believe there's only 2 more weekends in 2013... mind. blown.

These last few weekends have been pretty low key and this one was no exception.  I'll talk more about my Friday-day in another post (hopefully... I really want to take on a post about my mom's Christmas cookie baking problem... but I'm just not sure I will be able to... we shall see).

The bad news about Friday (and the 13th to boot) was that my car did not pass inspection.  I had this weird fear it wouldn't (I worry ok?) but I really didn't think there was any reason why it shouldn't pass... but it failed.  Turns out my car is leaking fuel from the top of the tank.  After I was annoyed and asked the mechanic office where I took it what was wrong and how it could be fixed the mechanic himself called me back to tell me he found information online that this might fall under a recall for my car.  He told me that I should probably investigate that before I put any money into determining and fixing the issue... so that's what I did.

I did remember that I got a letter back in March about a possible recall.  Basically they were fully recalling/fixing the problem in certain states... where it's hot and can cause the fuel tank to crack more easily.  In the other states they are fixing the problem if it comes up.  I called the dealership on Saturday and have an appointment for Thursday.  I'm hoping/praying that the issue is covered under the recall and I don't have to pay... You'd think a fuel leakage problem and a recall that involves fuel leakage would be covered - so I'm very hopeful.  The letter also explained things to look out for which include check engine soon light is on (mine isn't) and fuel smell in the car (never noticed that and no one else has mentioned it)... so I'm at least happy that there hasn't been any reason why I should have noticed this issue sooner... maybe happy isn't the right word, but yeah...  So stay tuned for the conclusion of this story.

That night Dan and I went to a concert of a band he knows at the Duck Room at Blueberry Hill.  It was nice... but I had a headache so that part wasn't as fun.  Nothing too interesting to report on this night.  It did start snowing a bunch, so that was fun to drive home in.  It was pretty to see the next day though.

On Saturday we did some random errands and including some online shopping.  I had a little helper...

Yep... Quina actually flew to me... and then sat on my shoulder for like 30 minutes.  She didn't even try biting my ear or anything... she just hung out up there... so that was nice.  I wouldn't say she likes me yet, but I'm calling it progress!

 

That night Dan made us dinner - we went to Schnucks so I was able to get a fancy cheddar onion bun.  Yum!  He also made bacon with brown sugar (so so good) and baked potatoes.  Nothing about this meal screams healthy... but whatever

On Sunday I didn't to a whole lot during the day - mostly cleaned and did laundry.  That night Susan and Michelle came over to watch the season finale of Survivor (I guess I owe you a post on that).  It was so much fun watching it in a group.  I ordered pizza and Susan brought over some amazing dips including Spinach Artichoke Dip and Caramel Apple Dip... so so good - I ate WAY too much!  I had a fun time hanging with the ladies though.  We are planning to get together for the premiere and finale again next season... and seems like Susan will be joining our Fantasy Survivor game!

Baking: Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies

I decided that I wanted to make a cookie with caramel... so I googled around and found these.

They are delicious!!  I need to get better about reading the full recipe (not just the ingredients) ahead of time... because I made the dough two Sundays ago, and then realized that the dough needed to chill... so that turned into finally baking them two weeks ago... and finally blogging about it today...

They were delicious!  They are a soft, bigger cookie.  The first one I ate I thought I had added too much salt.  But the ones I've eaten since then are perfect!

Ready for some craptastic pictures?

I thought they looked so adorable on the pan

In the cookie jar

Really yummy and totally crappy picture

You may be asking what is this a picture of?  Well it's the inside of the cookie duh!

I'll be making these again!

Weekend in Review: Family and Hockey

On Thursday night I was suppose to go to a late night happy hour with a couple of friends... but then the bad weather moved in... and we decided to postpone.  It made me sad I wouldn't be gobbling up food and sucking down beers with good friends... but I was happy to stay in on a snowy night and watch The Song of Music Live on NBC.  I love musicals and the Sound of Music is one of the best.  It's awesome when you know all the songs and it's just a big sing-a-long with myself... that would last for days let me tell you.  I'm still breaking out My Favorite Things from time-to-time.  Was the acting great? Not really... Did Carrie Underwood live up to Julie Andrews?  Absolutely not - but who in their right might thought that would happen?  It's Julie Andrews for crying out loud... let's set reasonable expectations here.  My expectation was I would enjoy it for what it was - and that's exactly what I got... well, I actually enjoyed it MORE than I expected... so bam!  And now I'll step off my soapbox...

On Friday, I decided to go ahead and brave the weather to take my grandma pajama shopping.  I'm not sure if I've talked about this before but ever since I was 16 I have taken my Grandma shopping to buy all the kids pajamas for Christmas (yes, I'm still a kid, I don't think I'll ever outgrow the getting PJs from Grandma thing).  It's our little tradition and I really do enjoy it... although Grandma has become less decisive over the years and I do try to force her to make decisions for the kids haha.

This year since the weather was more crappy and Grandma doesn't get around as good as she used to, I asked my sister to come along to help out.  She thankfully agreed and I have to say it was so much easier having her there.

We went to lunch first and then went over to Target and got all the PJs we needed.  Lindsey, Grandma and I had a lot of fun - I do enjoy spending time with Grandma and my mom told me later that Grandma really enjoyed her day with us too - so that meant a lot to me.

Friday night we stayed in... Dan actually grilled burgers (with bacon) (in the snow) and make mashed potatoes with Bearnaise (not Burmese) sauce.  It was awesome.  He's a great cook!!

Saturday was one of those days where it feels like nothing is really planned and then I suddenly have stuff to do all day.  My day started out with some cleaned and general chores.  Then I finally started my Christmas shopping.  It was fun to start purchasing all the things I've thought about getting.

After that I got ready and my dad picked me up.  He wanted help putting up their Christmas tree.  He was already in the neighborhood to pick up my Grandpa who would be staying with him.  So we headed up to my dad's and put the tree up while he stressed out over the Mizzou game on TV.

Around six my dad took me downtown to meet Dan, Kyle and Michelle for the Blues game that we bought tickets to earlier that day.  We got a fairly good deal and it was fun - especially to take Michelle to her first game... sadly the Blues lost... although we did get to see them score - so yay for that.

Sunday was a totally easy day... just lounged around the house.  I did some cross-stitching, grocery shopped and make Italian Beef.  I also made cookie dough (finally baked them last night, I'll be back to share about that).  I finished off the day by watching the Amazing Race finale.

Overall it was a wonderful weekend!!

O Christmas Tree

After two years of sitting in a cold, sad storage unit - my Christmas decorations are out and lovingly displayed around my house.

I actually did the decorating the weekend after Thanksgiving, but I'm finally getting around to posting about it.

I'm an artificial tree lover... I'm not sure why... just am... here's my new artificial tree I got from KMart for about $35... it's nothing fancy, but I didn't want anything fancy.  Also, when I was putting it together it really reminded me of the tree my grandparents had that I would help put together each year (with the color coordinated slots)

Did make me super itchy fluffing it though

 

Okay... here's were my side note is going to come.  This is what a tree should look like.  My tree is filled with ornaments that mean something to me, and over my life I plan on adding many more.  I don't think Christmas trees should be color coordinated or how some people call them 'my pretty tree'.  A tree should be filled with memories and fun things... not all gold balls or whatever... it's just my two cents, but it's one of those things I feel strongly about...

Isn't she pretty?  I had extra silver garland which is why the rest went into the camel.  Camels are sorta Christmas-y anyway

Another special note:  Almost three years ago we divided up my grandma's ornaments.  This was the first time they made it on the tree since they were in storage the last two Christmases.  Also, the garland is from my grandparents tree which I love as well.  It just makes me so happy to have so many memories in one place.

The other side... someday I want to make a pretty tree skirt.  Also since it's lit up you can't really see, but that's a Santa lamp

Every time I walk past the tree is makes me smile... I just stop and stare and think - it is perfect

Here's a close up.  I love the purple bird with the long neck and the spiderman and all the glitter

A different side - my ice skater from my Grandparent's tree and a beer can that Dan added

Somewhere along the line I got the peppermint candy lights - they are perfect.  I thought originally I wouldn't have enough to look good, but they are perfect

All lit up in the dark

RECIPE: Southwestern Stuffed Peppers

I was on my way home from work early on Thursday (they let us out early due to the inclement weather) and thought it was probably a good idea to have some food in the house... you know if it really did get that bad out...

I have the hardest time making up my mind on what to make for dinner.  I usually go with the same old things (tacos, pasta, frozen meal)... but I decided to make stuffed peppers... and not only that I kinda sorta made up my own recipe.

It is loosely based on this recipe... mostly because I didn't know times and such...

First I browned my ground turkey

Then I added some spices... paying zero attention to how much I put in... I also added a packet of taco seasons (not pictured)

Then added a can of black beans (drained and rinsed) and a can of Rotel (I didn't drain, but should have), and some frozen corn (not pictured) and added some water and let it sizzle together

Cored the peppers (yes, I got rid of those extra seeds that clung on for dear life

Arranged neatly in a baking pan



Filled up the peppers - it only used about half of what I made and baked them

Here's what they looked like out of the oven



Added some cheese and ate - yum!

Full Recipe:

1 pound of ground turkey
1 packet of taco seasoning
1 can of black beans (drained and rinsed)
1 can of Rotel (drained)
1 cup of frozen corn (or whatever looks right)
Cumin
Garlic Powder
Crushed Red Pepper
2 bell peppers
Mexican Cheese

Brown the meat.  Add the taco seasoning, black beans, Rotel, seasonings, and corn.  Add some water (whatever is on the back of the taco seasoning packet).  Cover and let simmer

Cut the peppers in half and core them.  Place in baking pan.

Fill each of the peppers with the meat mixture.  Add some water to the bottom of the pan (the recipe I linked to said 1/3 cup - I had a LOT of water left at the end, so I think a 1/4 a cup would be enough, maybe even less).  Cover the pan with foil and bake at 350 for about 45 minutes or until peppers get soft.  Remove the foil and add cheese and put peppers back in oven for 5 minutes.

Serve them up and eat!!  Like I said, I only used about half of my meat mixture.  The other half would be good for tacos, nachos, or anything like that.

Weekend in Review - Thanksgiving

Well, I didn't finish out the last couple of days of November... but really I didn't know what to write about - I really felt like I was stretching it towards the end anyway....

This post will be funny to me... because it was a long 4 day weekend... which should mean a long post, but I'm going out on a limb to say it's not going to be that long...

Anyways... on Wednesday night Dan and I went out to dinner to Drunken Fish.  I bought a deal awhile back from LivingSocial and we finally used it.  I like sushi, but I like normal not crazy weird sushi.  We ordered an appetizer of pot stickers (so good) and four different rolls - my favorite the philly roll, a superman roll (Dan's choice), a spicy tuna roll and BLT roll.

We couldn't leave without getting my favorite dessert either - fried strawberry cheesecake cut into cute sushi piece - OMG so good!!  (it didn't last long enough to take a picture!)

We didn't do any drinking or anything crazy like Thanksgiving Eves of the past... we just came home, watched TV and went to bed... I guess that's how 30 year olds (almost for me) roll

On Thanksgiving I woke up a decent hour, which meant I got to watch part of the Macy's Day Parade.  I like the beginning the best when they do Broadway numbers and the Rockettes dance.

We went to Dan's grandparent's house to celebrate Thanksgiving.  I brought some of our pumpkin cookies and they seemed to go over well.  It was fun being around his family.

On Friday Dan ended up being off work... so we did one crazy black Friday shopping trip... and by that I mean we went to Petco which wasn't crowded at all... (we needed dog and cat items).  We did get these free adorable antlers for the dogs... of course they won't sit still long enough to get a photo... here's the best one I got...

Yep... not even cute

We went to a couple of other places... and then we were done... we did make some excellent sliders for dinner... and by we I mean Dan.

On Saturday I woke up to my eye being all red, goopy, and sore.  I was pretty sure I had pink eye... which I haven't had since I was a kid.  It was so strange to go to bed feeling fine and wake up to red, nasty eye.  In hindsight I don't think it was actually pink eye... but some type of eye infection or something?  It was red all day Saturday and most of Sunday, but it's looking fine now.  I'm still just wearing glasses so I don't aggravate it... but it stopped being gunky by Saturday night... so that was relief.  That's all I'll say about Saturday, b/c it was that exciting...

On Sunday we did the traditional cemetery visits.  My family met at my house to see it (some hadn't yet).  Then we headed to Jefferson Barracks to see my grandpa, Lindsey's dad, Billy's grandparents, and my grandma.

Happy snowmen went on all the graves - this is my Grandpa's

We like to put something different than flowers or the 'traditional' grave site arrangements... plus this snowman just makes you happy don't you think?

We then went to the other cemetery - Shepard Hill - to visit my uncle, great aunts and uncles and great grandparents.  We finished off by going to Cracker Barrel, per tradition.  It was a lovely morning spent with family remember those we have lost.

After all the pancakes we went our separate ways.  My mom was nice enough to ride to a few stores with me to find a Christmas tree.  I found one at Target I wanted to get, but couldn't find it in a box anywhere... I ended up getting mine from K-Mart for $34... it's cheap, but all decorated it's beautiful (pictures to come in a separate post).  I also decorated for Christmas... of course I thought I had more decorations... but I don't, someday I will!!

That was my weekend... see pretty darn low key and uneventful for it being a long, holiday weekend!

Thankful

I live a very blessed life and have a lot to be thankful for on a daily basis.

I am thankful for the family I have.  They are truly amazing and care about me.  They make me smile and I honestly enjoy being around them.

More specifically I'm thankful for all of my parents... The older I am the more I realize just how amazing my parents are.  I am so lucky to have parents that care so much about me and specifically have THEM.

I am thankful for my friends - they make me laugh, they let me vent, they are really great friends and I'm lucky they are in my life.

I am thankful I found a house that I love so much.

I am thankful for a pretty amazing boyfriend who can always fix the house when it breaks.  He's so smart.

I am thankful for all our wonderful animals and each of their unique personalities.

I am thankful to have a job I like coming to.

I am thankful for delicious delicious food

I am thankful to have the Friday after Thanksgiving off for the first time in seven years.

I really hope that everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving - eat a lot of food!! Gobble Gobble.

Pumpkin Cookies

Last night we celebrated an annual tradition - decorating pumpkin cookies.

I know this is a repeat topic, but as far back as I can remember we have decorated pumpkin cookies for Thanksgiving.  Even though Keith wasn't able to be with us... my mom, sister and I forged ahead.

I brought over fake-meat chili and we decorated.  This is a tradition I can't wait to pass onto my hopefully, someday kids.

They always end up so cute and creative - it's fun decorating cookies!!

Weekend in Review: No Real Plans

This past weekend started by me not having any real plans - which honest was pretty awesome.  It was nice to be able to do whatever I wanted b/c I didn't have to worry about being here or there.

My weekend started out with Catching Fire on Thursday night.

On Friday I spent most of the day lounging around the house... and I don't care if it sounds lame - it was amazing!!

After work on my mom picked me up and we went to see my Grandpa who was at my aunt's house.  Sadly he fell earlier in the week.  He is 91 and in good health.  He was outside picking up leaving and lost his balance and took some stumbling steps forward and smashed his head into some rocks and broke his arm in two places.  He looks pretty terrible with all the cuts on his face (he had to get like 12 stitches in his head too).  He's going to see more doctors, but he's ok.  The longer we were over there the more he seemed like himself.

After our visit we got some dinner at Rich and Charlies and checked out both the Dollar Store and Big Lots.  It was a nice evening with my mom.  I went back home and hung out and then went to bed.  I got a phone call at like 2 in the morning from Dan asking me to come get him... someone had drank a bit too much haha.  So being the amazing girlfriend I am, I went and picked his butt up... of course I had to stop for gas... it's really cold out at 2 in the morning.

On Saturday we slept in, which we NEVER do... or at least Dan never does.  After we finally got up and moving we went back to get his car and had lunch with his friend Caleb at Quincy Street Bistro.  I've heard about this place a bunch and always wanted to go, but hadn't, so I was excited to try it out.  It was delicious!!  We ordered the onion peels (the batter is amazing) and I had the BLT.  The cure their own bacon there - the bacon is thick and awesome.

We headed back home and ended up spending the rest of the day/night at home.  I also made cookies.

On Sunday I met up with my mom, sister, and two aunts (Pat and Ruth) and went to the Lindbergh Craft Fair.  It was an awesome time spent with all of them.  We used to go to craft shows much more, but it kinda stopped, so it was nostalgic too.  I was also able to pick up a few gifts, including something for my dad who is always hard to buy for.  It was a lot of fun!!

I finished off the day by doing exciting things like grocery shopping and taking a nap.  Overall it was a great weekend!!

Baking: Chocolate Cookies (with Peanut Butter Chips)

I decided to try to bake some chocolate cookies... those just sounded good and different from what I've already tried.  My mom told me to look at the recipes because a lot of chocolate cookies can end up feeling dry, so I went for a 'chewy' chocolate cookie recipe to help with that.

So I did what I always do - google and pick the one I want... which in this case was the first one from food.com.

At first I thought I may have messed it up... I left the butter on top of my stove to soften, but left it there almost too long, luckily I realized in time (my oven heats up the top fast!)... I also added the cocoa powder to my butter and sugar mixture without thinking (should have gone in the dry ingredients).  I mixed it up the best I could, but it was dry with the powder in there, so I ended up making sure it was all mixed up by hand (totally messy but worth it)

I ended up cooking them a bit differently this time too - only one sheet at a time... I don't always plan on doing that, but was testing it out... that and I forgot to move my racks around while the oven was cool and I'm scared of ovens so I didn't want to do it when it was hot (yes this is a real fear of mine... a stupid stupid, but real fear)

Either way - they were great!! Probably the best cookies I've made - texture-wise I didn't over cook them and had a good balance of chewy and crunchy.  The peanut butter chips in them were awesome (although I will say that I didn't mix them up well enough in the batter as some had a bunch and others not so much... but I also kinda like the variety like that)

Dan seemed to like them too... he's been eating them since I made them.

Here's the recipe from food.com
1 1/4 cups butter or 1 1/4 cups margarine, softened

2 cups sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup cocoa

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups peanut butter chips (12 oz. pkg.) or 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (12 oz. pkg.)

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350°.
2. In large mixer bowl; cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well.
4. Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt; gradually blend into creamed mixture. Stir in peanut butter or chocolate chips.
5. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 8-9 minutes. (Do not overbake; cookies will be soft. They will puff while baking and flatten while cooling.).
6. Cool slightly; remove from cookie sheet onto wire rack. Cool completely.

Catching Fire

You may remember that I'm a fan of the Hunger Games trilogy.  It's great, if you haven't read it please do!!  I saw the first movie at a midnight showing with Rachel and Susan... and way back then we knew we wanted to do it again for Catching Fire.

A year and a half later Catching Fire was finally in the theaters.  We started making plans a few weeks ago... instead of Rachel (she moved to Des Moines) we subbed in Michelle.  First we picked a theater... and let me say this... the midnight release is dead folks.  Now it's the 8pm release, which just kind of loses it's cool factor a smidge.  We held out and found a 10:30pm showing at West Olive, which is now a fancy theater (more on that in a moment)

We met up around 7:30 (the plan was going to be 8:30, but we moved it up b/c we wanted to get our drink on) and went to Houlihans.  They do happy hour pricing pretty much the entire night - so it works out well.

They even do a mini trivia thing, which is fun and you don't have to pay for, so that worked out really well.  We drank some beers and chatted and ate food... it was the perfect girly night out.

We went over to the theater... and let me tell you I think it will be hard to see a movie any other way.  They had a bar - which would bring drinks directly to your seat.  We also ordered a fun dessert - s'mores pizza and some candy.  And let me tell you about the seat - ah-mazing!!  They have a foot rest and recline back... it's seriously awesome.

Oh... yeah... the movies :) It was great too.  I love seeing what I read come to the big screen and who doesn't love Jennifer Lawrence?

Overall it was a great night out with good friends - what more can you ask for??

Office Tour Part 2

Ready to see the rest of my office??

Here's my wall of doodles - I really don't see them much since they are behind my monitors

The one end of my desk - with all my random stress balls and such.  There's also a picture of me, my boss and an intern we had (he's in the center).  I also like my Mario mushroom.  There's a mason jar with flower pens and a balloon flower that still looks good (from almost three years ago)

This is more what I can see hanging - My boss game me that taco bell packet b/c she thought it was funny (says don't throw me under a bus).  Next to that is my paper bracelet collection - I keep them all that I get at concerts and whatever.  I write the name, date, and place on each as well.  There's also some random cards.  In the lower right hand corner is a lounge chair for a cell phone.

Here's a better look at my cards.  My mom has given me two of them (the ends), my dad gave me the one in the middle and Dan gave me the Snoopy ones.  The second from the left is the first card he gave me.  My boss gave me the Flowchart card on the lower part

This is one of my computer speakers - I looked at it for years and always saw a face so I just made it official.  Next to that is another cell phone holder, but this guy holds a cake instead... I even gave him a post-it note ring. (does this make me a loser I'm just not sure)

Here's the other end of my overhead thing.  You can see the second calendar I have.  There's also a random collection of animals I picked up here or there.  Dan got me the beanie baby platypus after a story I told him.  I have a Blues thunder stick from a playoff game (there's another one behind the desk) and my two Cardinals towels from post seasons.  I'll talk about the Cardinals stuff below.

My zoo calendar (#3) a work related thing I don't even use anymore and a map of the US with the states I've visited outlines... I now realize you can barely see the highlights - I'll need to change that!

Here's my Cardinals stuff - a Rally Squirrel, a Mr. Potato Head, a David Freese bobble-head, a baseball bat from the Louisville Slugger Factory, and a pretty photo print my friend Liz gave me. 

That's a fun little tour of my office.  Thanks for stopping by!!

Office Tour Part 1

NOTE:  Man, really did bad this weekend with the daily posts - bad Jenn!!  These will be post-dated but I failed the challenge.... I'll still get 30 posts during November - that's the end plan :)

I thought it might be fun to take a quick tour of the things I keep in my office as it's becoming more my space.  I am lucky to have my own office for the time being.  Actually I've had my own office for almost two years now... but in the grand scheme of things we won't be in this building forever (supposedly) and will have a brand new building in 2015 (we'll see).  At that point I'm not sure if I'll still have the comfort of my own office - but I'll enjoy it while it lasts!

This is the back of my door - I've started keeping all paper keepsake kinds of items here.  Sporting and Movie tickets - the fronts of programs and other random paper items.  It makes me happy to see my collection grow.

This wall has my standard government calendar - the Yellows are my off day, the pink is holidays and the purple are vacation days.  Also, you can see the away certificates I've received.  Top and bottom are shining stars (which is an internal award given by coworkers), the second from the top is my certificate for helping with the Golden Age Games and the other is an Excellence in Government Award which means less to me than the other ones.

Here is my filing cabinet.  On top you can see the picture of me and my sister.  My boss got a framed picture for everyone when we moved to this building.  The funny story about that is my brother is in it as well (same picture that's hanging on the front) but that was when I was going through my divorce and they didn't want to put a pic of my ex on there so he got cut out just to be safe.  They were sneakily finding pictures. 
The blue certificate holder and the glass block you can barely see in front of it is my award for being nominated for the Amber Blaze award as part of a team.
You can also see my collection of bows - I don't really collect them, but throwing them away just seems silly.
Then we have two pictures of me and Dan on the left and on the right is a couple of family pictures.
Below that is my trip magnets.  I got a magnet from everywhere I've had a work trip to (Denver, San Francisco, Baltimore, Las Vegas, San Jose, San Diego, Indianapolis, Tampa Bay, New Orleans, San Francisco (again), Atlanta, Los Angeles, Washington, DC, Salt Lake City, Miami, Las Vegas (again), San Diego (again), and Nashville.)

Here's a better look at the pictures.  The funny thing I want to note is the far right picture actually has my ex in between my mom and me - I cut the picture slide it over and taped it and you would hardly ever know he existed in that pic.

Here's the side of the cabinet - a magnet someone brought back for me (doesn't go in my trip arrangement) and a picture my cousin's kid, Abby colored for me.

Here's the edge of my desk... my water cup that has my name on it.  My pens, pencils, and highlighters in a glass mug that I was given at a conference including my two silly pens - Flamingo and punching glove, some thinking putty, and wax lips... and a deformed paperclip I've since thrown away.

Here's my metal for helping with the Golden Age Games - it hangs on my Dry Erase board which currently has nothing on it.

Here's my first monitor - I have my cute candy corn paperclip holder (I was given that by someone when I worked at AGE)  I have all my fortune cookie fortunes along the side and a quote at the bottom that helps with anxiety - "You fear something that does not exist"

This is my second monitor.  This includes two doodles of my name I liked.  A silly sticker that says "A phony smile is better than a real frown" and another quote I like that I got from my mom "It's not the thoughts or actions of another that influences the quality of your life; It's your own thinking that determines it"

Stay tuned for part 2...

Anxiety

I have it.

I'm not really sure what I wanted to say in this post... but it's something that I've thought about writing about for awhile... but wasn't sure what exactly I want to say.  I know that a lot of people deal with anxiety in varying degrees... it seems like everyone has a story or knows someone.

I am one of those someones... and I deal with anxiety.  I feel like I have dealt with it for a long time... social situations have always made me a bit nervous.  I knew this in school (both high school and college)... I didn't/don't like to raise my hand or answer questions... or even ask questions in some situations.  It's one of those things that I need to grow comfortable in order to be myself in a big social situation.

I always thought this was normal... that I was on the shy side... and honestly that's probably part of it.  But I would get nervous about ice breakers... like ones where you simply have to say your name and where you're from.  The entire time I have to wait for my turn the nerve build up and up and up... and I know what my name is... and I know where I'm from... it's just annoying.

The biggest place you can see my anxiety is my inability to call people.  I do not like to talk on the phone... I do not like making phone calls.  I have had this fear as long as I can remember.  Stupid irrational fear that makes about zero sense in my head however my body FREAKS OUT when I have to make a phone call... I honestly feel pretty stupid about it.

Over time I have been able to live with this anxiety.  I had my coping mechanisms... that either was push what I didn't like to do off on other people (especially when I was married) or just force myself through it... this worked for awhile.

About six months ago something changed...  I think I was going through a bit of a rough time dealing with some fighting with the boyfriend, an issue with a good friend and thinking I had to rehome my cats.  I guess I just didn't have time to cool down in between these incidents and my body FREAKED OUT.  I was anxious day in and day out... I was exhausted from my heart pounding all day long.  But when it came time to sleep at night I couldn't... it was difficult and I finally reached the point that I knew I needed to do something about it.

I ended up going to the doctor and starting some medication.  I know that some people have different thoughts about medication in these incidents... and I'm not sure what the right way of doing things is... but I've been on this medication for about six months and I feel so much better.

I still have anxiety... for instance I had to call the doctor's office and change an appointment and ask about a prescription... honest I sat here for awhile freaking out about it and coming up with tons of reasons to put off that call awhile longer... but finally just made myself do it.

I hate that this kind of stuff hinders myself and my life... I could go into many other examples of how I deal with it on a daily basis.  But I'm still fairly embarrassed by how I let it control my life sometimes, but the medication does help... and I've noticed that.

I have learned there a couple of different kinds of anxiety and I do think I have social anxiety (which I hinted at the beginning of the entry)  It's social situations that get to me and the phone is linked to that social-ness.  I hope that I continue to get better and find more ways to deal with it.  My doctor mentioned yoga and I have thought about that from time to time (other than my lack of flexibility).  I will say that people that can talk to people and thrive in social situations really make me jealous... I wish it came that easily to me.

I want to wrap this post up on a happy note... things are better and hopefully I'll continue to improve myself and my ability to be comfortable around people in all sorts of situations.  It's just hard sometimes to differentiate between it being a problem and normal nerves... haha.... I mean what IS normal?  Ugh... that's a question for another time I suppose.  Either way I'm feeling better and I'm happy I made the decision to get help... end of ramble.

Baking: Toll House Cookies

I decided to make cookies this weekend and decided to just make a classic - Toll House Cookies.

I did over cook some of them (sensing a trend) but I'm starting to get the hang of my oven

Side Note to the story... the stove/oven I have now is the same oven I had in my old house when I was married, so you'd think I'd have it down... but I'm a better baker now (I think, hope, pray) so I'm getting it...  One of these days I'll tell you my cookies were perfectly baked.

I made the first batch without any chips in it and added some candy corn M&Ms in the cookies.



Some of the best things ever!

But as you know (and I know, although didn't think too much about at the time haha) so I put three M&Ms per cookie when after they spread looked pretty meager... womp womp...

All the cookies after that I used peanut butter and chocolate chips - which are amazing... overall the cookies were pretty great!! (maybe just a bit crunchy haha)  The fun part was I used the same amount of chips for all the cookies even though I already put a batch in the oven... so they were extra chippy.

There are so many options in the store for different chips - so I might try these again with different chips - sounds fun to me!!



Somday I'll get good at the food staging :)

Weekend in Review: Dan's Sister's Wedding

Before we get to what the title of the post clearly spoils... let's start at the beginning...

Thursday night we hung around the house and watched two new episodes (finally) of Parks and Rec.  Then I watched Project Runway All-Stars - a nice relaxing night of TV.

On Friday I met Susan at the mall for some shopping.  I wanted to get a dress for Dan's sister, Amy's, wedding the next day.  Right before I left I tried on a dress in my closet that I've had for maybe about five years that I've never worn (that's how I roll)



So we shopped around although it was nice that I had a fall back just in case.  I did find a dress that I really liked (this one in case you're interested) and one I wanted to buy but knew I shouldn't spend the money (I was going to link to it but I can't find it - it was black with silver and gold sequins in like arch-y patterns - so cute!)

 

I didn't buy the one I liked just because seemed on the expensive side and we walked around the mall... along the way I was convinced I should just wear the dress I had at home... so we went into Payless looking for some shoes.

 

I ended up getting these booties - I used to be pretty against the trend, but I love it now, and seemed the like a nice thing to do - especially with a fall wedding.  They were actually pretty comfortable too!!

We stopped off at Charming Charlie and I got some jewelry too (Susan is much better at the accessories than I am!)

I ended up getting this bracelet (loved how it sparkled!!)

And earrings that aren't located online... think that gunmetal color but big earrings... I also got some fun Christmas earrings that I can't wait to wear!

We finished off our shopping trip with lunch at California Pizza Kitchen.  Luckily Susan and I both like the same pizza there - yay!!  It was a lot of fun shopping with her!!

 

I went home and had a bit of a sinus headache (darn thing would follow me around all weekend... boo) so I laid down for awhile.  Dan and I spent the night in with pizza.  It was nice.

 

Saturday was the wedding.  We had to be at the church at 1:45 for pictures (well, not me but Dan did haha).  I spent the morning relaxing and then getting ready... here are a couple of selfies I took...

More full body

And close up on the hair (and you can see the bracelet woohoo)

That second picture gives you a better idea of what color the dress is as the other pictures (in the spare bedroom) make it look more nude color.  My awesome sister let me try out her Magic Wand hair curler... it worked out pretty well and I loved how my hair looked.  I totally added it to my Christmas wish list... which is just becoming too long at this point...

We headed off to the wedding and let me tell you - we had a wonderful time.  There was eating, talking, drinking, laughing, and even dancing.  That's right my friends - Dan danced with me... slow and fast.  I did a fair amount of dancing without him too.  I really just can't express enough how much fun we had.

Escort Cards - made from maps

Dan's friend Kyle was the photographer  - so we got to hang out with him as well.  He did a great job... seriously if you're looking for a photographer he's wonderful - https://www.facebook.com/#!/BraunMultimedia

He was even nice enough to get a photo of us - probably our best one yet!!

Overall we had a great time at the wedding... so great in fact we spent much of Sunday laying around the house doing next to nothing (ok ok I baked some cookies I'll share with you tomorrow)

PS:  Amanda - I know you read this blog and wanted to tell you that Dan has two sisters - Amy and Amanda... how weird is that?!?