Five Question Friday-- November 30th

Happy Friday! TGIF. Today was literally the most tiring day for me in a long time. I feel like I may crash just like I did after cooking Thanksgiving dinner..

Ha, okay maybe not. I seriously cannot believe I just put that picture on the internet.

I hope you all have a great weekend and get everything done that you need to get done! I'm sure you are all prepping for the holidays if you're anything like me.

1. Do you and your husband have any dietary restrictions?

Nope.

2. Are you a "tell it like it is" person or a sugar coater?

Tell it like it is, sorry. I'm pretty honest. Sometimes I'll sugar coat for people I would feel bad hurting their feelings (people I really care about).

3. What apps do you have on your phone? Recommend any?

Interesting question!

Let's see: Twitter (@livegivesave), Facebook, Instagram (@elboese), Paypal, banking/credit card ones, Emojii, Pandora, Pinterest, My Verizon, iFunny, Words with Friends, spider & regular solitaire.

I really don't have a ton. Definitely recommend the banking ones if you're into that sort of thing. I love Emoticons and use them all the time! iFunny is great to keep you occupied in waiting rooms, etc. Spider solitaire is also fun.

4. Would you ever get a house keeper? 

Like a cleaning person? No, we don't. I feel like that's part of my job... maybe if we had money coming out of our ears I would consider it.

5. Do you color your hair?

No. LOL I really wonder where these questions come from! I love you all but really?

Husband is Home, Black Friday, & More!

So if you read my Thanksgiving post, you know that my husband was able to come home and eat turkey with me!

I keep trying to upload a video but it's not working correctly. Hmm. Well my husband was more excited to see our dogs than to see me. I wish I was joking, but I'm not. He insisted I video tape their "reunion" and it was pretty cute. The dogs were literally crying as they ran down the long hallway to meet him. 

And what kind of wife would I be if I didn't have some presents waiting for him?!

After presents we kind of just relaxed, called our family, watched movies, etc until dinner was ready. We did eat our backup pizza for lunch (more info. on that back here). 

To say they were excited would be a giant understatement.

Side note on the dogs: My MIL sent that throw and I've been sleeping with it. The moment I opened it, the dogs (mostly Oreo) wouldn't stop rolling it in and sniffing! I'm not sure if it's the material, but it's hilarious to watch. Not to mention the blankie is super cozy!

If you follow me on Instagram (@elboese), you probably saw this picture. 

This was by far the biggest hit! Hubby ate the M&M's and I had no problem inhaling the candy corn before he got here. Awesome. You can even see the extra dish to the side mostly filled with candy corn. Sweets are my thing. Ahem. 

PS-- What is the white/clear thing in the center of the candy dish? We don't know. I think I ate it. Whoops. 

After dinner we walked to Target to see all the crazy Black Friday shoppers. There was a giant line outside of Best Buy but Target was already opened. We just walked through, saw some deals on TVs, grabbed more candy/drinks, and left. 

We headed to our favorite spot downtown. We were really bundled so I ate an entire bag of Swedish Fish while my husband picked out specific colors of the Skittles. Yum! 

The next morning we woke up and headed to the mall. 

Besides the charm for me and a few shirts for my husband, we got a few Christmas presents. Mostly Bath & Body Works and some other stores. Totally regretting putting off this holiday shopping. It's got to get done within the next 2 weeks!

To say I had a lot to do on Sunday and Monday would be an understatement. 

And if you look super closely you can see our newest family member! Can't wait to post about our elf. Keep your eyes out. 

..And yes that is a Diet Coke. I suck.

PS-- Yes, that is most definitely a lighter on the floor. Awesome. 

Wordless Wednesday-- It's Never a Bad Idea to Have..

That was our Thanksgiving backup. You can read more about our Thanksgiving here. 

Our Thanksgiving 2012

My husband was able to spend Thanksgiving with me and it was absolutely wonderful! I'm so glad we decided on a whim to have him be here with me.

I asked him multiple times what he wanted for Thanksgiving Dinner, and he kept saying turkey & ice cream cake. Don't worry, we ate more than turkey & ice cream cake. :)

By this point I was wishing we could just go out for dinner. Glad we didn't, though.

The picture above was taken moments before the platter just collapsed. Fantastic! Luckily we got a ton of beautiful platters for our wedding so I quickly replaced it. 

I'm not a chocolate person but my husband is-- these are just box brownies and break and bake cookies. I know, I suck. 

Our favorite! 

Yup, that's 1 stick of butter just on the top. It wasn't a low fat day. 

I wish I was better about taking photos of what we ate. Whoops. Clearly you can see where my heart is-- dessert and mashed potatoes. Ha. We had turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn, rolls (burnt by yours truly), and lots of dessert. We also had a cheese ball for an "appetizer" that I believe I ate on my own. 

While I slaved away in the kitchen, my husband did a lot of this:

He was all hopped up on eggnog.

And this..

(Facetime/phone calls with his parents)

My husband is such a sucker for Cocoa's begging. It annoys me to no end that he will give her turkey like that! Judge us all you want, but please don't send me any emails or comments about it-- my inbox is overflowing. :) 

The aftermath..

My friend mailed me the white candles for our first Thanksgiving. Love her!

Keep an eye out for another post on what else we did! xO

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving! 

I hope you and your family are having a wonderful day! I also hope you have many things to be thankful for this year.

3 years ago my husband and I went with my Dad & stepmom to the Macy's Day Parade. It was absolutely perfect.

We were so little and cute! 

This year? It's just the two of us at home. It will be nice to have a holiday with no stress and fuss.

I avoided the "30 Days of Thanks" on Facebook because I knew I would not keep up, but here are some things I'm thankful for this Thanksgiving!

:: My wonderful husband who supports me, loves me, and deals with all my weirdness.

Hope he doesn't kill me. ;)

...And I put up with his weirdness, too. 

:: My little angels! These dogs really do complete our life. They give us purpose, they need us, they love us more than we will ever know. They also give their mother a heart attack at least once a day. Hey, it happens.

Can you tell Oreo is a mama's boy? 

:: I'm so blessed/thankful for our wonderful parents. I know my mom is so happy that God sent me a MIL to have as a mom after she passed away. Our parents are the best. Even though my dad will always love Nathan more than me, that's OK though. ;) I'm also thankful that we are able to see our parents often. My dad comes and visits a lot, so does my FIL, and I was able to go to Florida quickly a few days ago. I'm also thankful for my stepmom, Becky, who is the best doctor in the world. I'm sure she enjoys my weekly/monthly calls concerning anything from a bump to a cough. :)

:: Seesters! 

:: I'm so thankful for both our jobs, and that I get the "pleasure" of working from home. 

:: Except my minor little "incident" last week (I might write more on this later), we have been healthy this year. We are very thankful. 

Okay I will not bore anyone with anything else! Enjoy your Thanksgiving! xO

Wordless Wednesday-- I'll Sleep Here, Mama

I promise I'll be good and won't go through the hamper again. 

Dad & Flat Stanley Visit DC!

I think if you click the photo, it will get larger.

My dad came up to accompany me to a doctor's appointment (maybe I'll post more on that later?) and we always have so much fun together. 

I need to be better about carrying my gigantic camera, small camera, or just taking photos on my phone. I only got a few photos! 

Oh-- and Flat Stanley came along with us. That little stinker-bell has been hanging on my "to-do" list for too long. We snagged one hilarious photo and I can ship Stanley back home to Florida tomorrow. 

Should I share the reason why I said "we snagged one hilarious photo"? 

I didn't think of the step idea at first. I had my dad holding him by the very tip and I was able to not get my dad in the photo. It looked okay, but not great. My dad was standing there holding Flat Stanley and someone shouted..

Flat Stanley!! Flat Stanley!! 

My dad said I turned all shades of red. :) 

I'm sort of obsessed with fall trees. We didn't get those colors in Fl!

That was me in the passenger seat. :)

I don't think the Pentagon gets enough respect!

We had lots of fun.. Besides that pesky doctors appointment. He even took me out for steak at the top of a building! It was wonderful. 

Love you, Papi (He loves when I call him that. Ha).

Life According To My Phone-- November 20th

Cocoa loves "living on the edge" and sitting on the top of the futon while I work. I spend an extra 2 minutes every morning bringing blankets & pillows to the futon and she would rather sit on the very top! 

My dad came and he loves to buy us groceries. He likes my husband more than me so he gets stuff he knows my husband will only eat-- brownies, special crackers, fruit snacks..

PS-- Our pantry has never been that full. Ever.

That jacket makes me laugh after seeing this pin on Pinterest. 

I had to run to Orlando for a funeral and stayed with my in laws for 1 night. I fell in love with my nephew, sweet Dash!

I'm 99% sure Dash would have come home with me.

When we were pulling out of Orlando Airport a guy stopped breathing and the woman behind me saved his life! She was a dermatologist who had never used a defibrillator or done CPR on a real person before. 

Why haven't I taken many photos lately, you ask? Because my phone completely stopped working. My dad came with me to the Apple store and ten minutes later I walked out with a completely free new one. :) xO

Attempted Holiday Photo {Fail}

It was going to be perfect. Simply perfect. 

All I wanted to do was recreate a photo I saw on Pinterest. It's pretty cute, right?

I thought how adorable it would be to have a photo like that and a wedding photo on our Christmas cards. Perfect.

Ha, not so much.

I made the signs as kind of a "test". If the photos turned out, I would either photoshop better signs in, or make better signs. Glad I didn't spend much time on them looking back!

Someone always has to start playing and ruin the picture.

Then it developed to full on wrestling. Screw pictures. 

That was the best I could get. Oh well, we tried. 

I wanted them in the same picture, and they just don't look happy! Ahem. Cocoa was petrified of the sign. 

This was about as close as she'd get. Dumb sign. 

So that was a giant fail. 

Grooming & A Tick

So I've talked before about how bad my babies need to be groomed.. I was trying to put it off so they would look cute all throughout the holidays and especially for a holiday photo. 

Clearly God had other plans for us! 

Yesterday I posted on my personal FB that I was pretty sure Oreo had a skin tag. I felt something bizarre behind his ear and everyone said not to worry. It was black, which is the color of his skin, so I really didn't think much beyond that. 

In the middle of the night I woke up for some water and saw something on the floor. Naturally I picked it up and it was the "skin tag". 

.. Except it was a dead tick. Never seen one in my life but Google told me so. 

I'm still a little confused why he got a tick on him when we're paying $15/month for both of them to get flea/tick/heart worm medication. 

Alas, he's fine. But I still felt better knowing he could go to the groomers and get everything chopped off. I'm still worried about my baby, but at least now I can see his skin better. 

Yup, that's a hair clip. Cute, huh?

My little ragamuffins. The groomers were so great and took them at 10AM (2 hours after I called)! 

3 hours and $130 later they looked like this..

Sorry, that's a phone photo. They were running like crazy when they came home! 

I love Oreo's bandana-- it's red for Veteran's Day. Cocoa has the funniest looking bows. Here's a closeup. 

Our little princess!

Some questions that I know will come to my email so I'll answer them now:

-- Don't you have to clean everything? Yes, everything is being washed.

-- Shouldn't you get Cocoa checked? Yes! She got a (expensive) tick bath as well.

-- How did your dog get a tick? I have no idea! Virginia is a common area. Because we haven't had our first hard frost yet, bugs are still around outside. 

That will save everyone some time. :) Also! If you have any tick medication that you recommend definitely comment below or email me! xO

Quitting Diet Coke *Update*

So remember when I mentioned having to quit Diet Coke? (You can read more about that here).

Yeah, it's tough. 

So tough that I am still drinking Diet Coke. I know, judge me, I don't care.

At least I'm only having 1 a day? And usually that lonely one is "downed" by noon. Ahem. Again, judge me, I don't care.

And when I go to bed at night, I think about the Diet Coke I get to have when I wake up. 

That is sad. 

If you can't tell, these are little guys-- I think 10 ounces. 10 ounces is a lot better than 50 ounces, people.

So it's improving, right? 

A neighbor suggested I buy some naturally flavored seltzer water. It has a strong after taste but it gets me through the afternoons. Bonus? It's $0.79/liter. Compared to $5 for 8 10-ounce bottles it's practically free! 

Someone else suggested Coconut Water. I don't know, kind of freaks me out. I know it has calories and I'd rather not drink my calories. 

My in-laws have had Fresca and I like that. I just can't remember if there are chemicals in that as well?

Oh, and please keep in mind I do drink my water. We have giant tumblers and I'll down about 10 of them a day. I love water. :) 

..But I love Diet Coke more.

So, readers, please share some drinks you suggest! I do tea, it's nothing like soda. I cannot get black coffee down. Blech. 

Okay, all for now! xO

Friday Question Friday-- November 9th

TGIF! Am I the only one who cannot believe 2 weeks from today is Black Friday? Will any of you be out shopping? We will be out early! I am excited. :)

This week was fairly normal-- work, cold, turning the heat on/off, and trying a few new recipes. You'll just have to wait and see if anything turned out!

And like I said 2 weeks ago, I've been answering questions from my inbox--

1. Why do you have to stop drinking Diet Coke?

I didn't have to per say, but it's something that should be done. My doctor did not like how much caffeine I was drinking plus the chemicals in Diet Coke are not pretty. I'll probably write up a post on my progress of quitting.. It's hard!

2. Were you a bridezilla when you got married?

You might want to ask my husband, MIL, or my dad for their opinions! LOL.

Honestly, in my opinion, no. I really didn't care. You can probably tell from my 100 Real & Honest Wedding Tips that I was very calm and just wanted it to be fun, beautiful, and memorable. And it was.

3. What kinds of meals do you make for dinner, lunch, etc?

I like to cook all sorts of things! Sadly, my husband is very picky to the point where I used to get offended. My mother was a gourmet cook and taught me everything I know. Don't worry, I don't get offended anymore!

We have the usual stuff for breakfast and lunch-- cereal, fruit & yogurt, fruit & granola, sandwiches, grilled cheese, etc. My husband still likes cereal for 5 year-olds but I deal with it. :)

This was a text from a while ago, but you get the point.

For dinners we'll do pasta with veggies, lasagna, soup (a lot of them this time of year!), chicken cordon bleu, etc. I really don't eat much meat besides the occasional chicken (And who doesn't like a well cooked steak?). It doesn't appeal to me very much! I usually make everything homemade but some nights I just cannot. That's when we resort to Trader Joe's or take out.

4. Do you play Words With Friends? Can I play you?

LOL, awesome question. Yes, but I don't get on all the time so don't be upset if I don't play right back! My name is elboese6212.

5. If you had 1 hour for yourself right now what would you do?

As in 1 hour of free time? Probably go get my eyebrows and nail does. Maybe a pedicure. Or a hair cut. Or I'd get the car washed.

Wordless Wednesday-- I love laundry

Life According to my Phone-- November 5th

 How can you resist that face? 

Because it's been so cold out, the doggies do not liking getting out of bed in the morning. It's super cute-- they will stay cozy for a good hour after I get up. They don't even want to get up to go potty! 

This was a week ago today (Monday, October 29th). I guess Sandy didn't really "arrive" until late Monday night and early Tuesday morning, so this is what it looked like most of the day Monday...Not too exciting!

You can read about our Sandy adventures here. 

My neighbors know about my love for Diet Coke..

Because we had no power, I left for the mall. I got these super cozy boot-type slippers and Oreo found them before I could put them away. Brat. 

While doing Hip Hop Abs I noticed this.. Awesome. In case you can't tell, the water drips all the way to the floor. I don't believe this is from Hurricane Sandy, but who knows. Our apartment people don't seem in a rush to fix it. I took down our beloved chalkboard and cried a little. :)

We were super happy when the power came back on! 

I got this bad boy out because hey-- you can never be too early for Thanksgiving! Right now it's just sitting on top of our fridge, but it's ready for turkey in less than 3 weeks! 

Love my Papi!

PS-- If you have someone write on the back of a dish (like above) and bake at 200 degrees for 1 hour it will stay on for good!

Not cool, people, not cool. I left the pantry door open for literally 3 minutes while I walked someone out and came back to this. I was ticked! 

I should note that literally 33 seconds after I cleaned everything up, I dropped a glass on the floor so had to get the broom back out. Not cool.