The Good & The Bad

Almost everyday when my husband comes home, we talk about the best part of our day and the worst part of our day.

Usually my husband goes the easy way out and will say the best part is coming home, worst part is leaving us. I rarely always pry a better answer out of him. :)

I thought I would share this talking point because it honestly can get people talking. (Maybe you have quiet kids and they come home from school with the usual "fine").

The best part of our week:

Side note: Ahem. We can't possibly list all of the good things that happen in one week, these are just some of the wonderful things. 

Is there anything more beautiful?

:: Snow! Seriously. When you don't have to drive anywhere, I think you appreciate it more. I finally got my snow and I was as happy as can be for a good 3 days..until it melted.

:: My husband surprised me and cleaned the whole house before church last Sunday. I was out jogging and called to wake him up when I was on my way back. He sounded..different..and said he had to go somewhere. I came home and he was dusting, vacuuming, and cleaning the toilet. Yes ladies-- he is amazing. No, he doesn't have any brothers. :)

:: I started walking the neighbor's dog across the hall. Fenway is a super sweet lab puppy. Not only am I getting my "puppy fever" fix, I have decided I never in my life want a big dog (that sheds). I'm sorry, I don't know how you people do it! Big shout out to owners of large dogs. :)

Note the water bottle. We love it! More on that back here.

:: Snuggles. Nothing better than seeing my two boys cozied up!

...And the bad:

:: When it first snowed, we were super excited to walk the dogs and see how they would react. First time they loved it and we could not be out there long enough (half hour was my limit). The second time? After twenty minutes Cocoa started limping and shaking. I assumed she was having a seizure (she's epileptic) so I stayed calm and we walked toward the stairs. Wrong! Then I noticed Oreo doing the exact same thing! By this point I assumed the salt to melt the snow was slowly killing my kids (hey-- they're all I've got!). After a frantic phone call I figured they simply got too cold, and that was their reaction. The moment we got into the stairwell they were completely normal-- chasing each other up the stairs and growling/biting each other. Really? Is it necessary to give your mom a heart attack?

Five Question Friday-- January 25th

Thank goodness it is Friday. It has been one of those weeks and I am so glad the weekend is almost here. It snowed yesterday and while I loved it, the dogs got too cold and I thought I was killing them both (literally). More on that later. . maybe.

Oh and I just started walking the dog across the hall and long story short, it's not going well. He destroyed their house (ate a toothbrush, got into nail polish/mascara, and even opened up some makeup). Yeah, I am going to ask for a raise.

This weekend we just have a few things that need to get done. Hopefully everything can get accomplished today after work so we can relax all weekend..yeah, right.

Hope you guys have a great weekend! 

1. Do you have a car seat for your dog? Don't you know that's dangerous for her to ride in the front seat? (From this post..ahem).

No, we don't.

2. What did you think of Zero Dark Thirty?

It was good! Besides me panicking the entire time (more on that back here) I enjoyed it. We had free movie tickets and that was the only movie my husband and I could both agree on. I cannot stand action movies and slept through The Dark Knight so I was prepared for a snooze fest, but it was much more than action.

3. What game show/reality show could you totally win?

Hmmm. Family Feud? Not sure. I'm not so good under pressure.

4. What is one thing you buy no matter what every time you go to the grocery store?

Easy peasy. The jalepeno chicken Lean Pockets. Seriously amazeballs. I have 1 for lunch almost every day and stock up when they're on sale for $2. If it's not Lean Pockets it's probably Cinnamon Toast Crunch or yogurt.

5. Do you really get up and get ready/dressed everyday even though you work at home?

I talked a bit about this back here, but for the most part, yes. There are some days (like when I had my chin thing last week) that I will wear sweat pants and a hoodie all day but I feel like a bum. Plus, it's a little embarrassing to take the dogs on a walk looking like a bum!

Most days I make it my goal to be nice and cute at least before my husband gets home. Trust me, it's not always easy-- it just feels so nice and it puts me in a good mood.

Wordless Wednesday-- January 23rd

Cocoa and my husband have had this super cuddly thing going on lately. Love them both to pieces!

Happy Wednesday! xO

Life Lately-- January 23nd

Okay, people. After 3 people emailing to make sure I was alive last week (seriously), I figured you deserved an update on life. 

Remember a few weeks back when I posted about my goals? One of them was to ship this bag. Well, here it is. 

There really is no excuse. Besides the fact that it's 24 degrees. Kind of sad that the package that is being mailed has Christmas wrapping paper on it. Shame on me.

We found this in the street on a walk. 

I believe my mom sends me little signs (hugs) from Heaven and I think she sent me this heart. She always went all out for the holidays and for Valentine's Day she would get me cozy socks (to this day I buy myself a pair for every holiday just like she did), candy, and whatever else. 

So maybe this was my Valentine from Heaven?

Put your hands in that position (above) up to your mouth and say "girl". It makes a funny sound and on this particular night I had a lot of energy (and clearly my husband had a lot of patience) because I made the noise the whole way home from dinner. 

My neighbor made this for me before I went to explore downtown on my own. Seriously? It is such a blessing to have great neighbors. Be kind to your neighbors, people! 

I'm obsessed with Will Smith (read more about my obsession here). 

No, I've never heard of make up. 

Extremely long, long, long story short-- my MIL came into town. I had to have a small tumor removed from my chin for the second time and I needed a driver. 

Not only did we have lots of fun (more on that later) but my chin looks lots better. Before I looked like Jay Leno (Can't find a before picture). He he he. 

My dad was worried I was going to overdose on pain pills so I sent him this.

My MIL came with extra Christmas presents and my SIL made this for me! I'm obsessed with it-- she's in a pottery class in high school. 

I've been using it for ice cream, cereal, snacks, and just drinking out of it. It's super cute!

Keurig

And this fancy schmancy guy! We love it. My in laws are coffee people and as y'all know I'm trying to kick the Diet Coke habit so this is perfect. 

I should probably dedicate a whole post to our new coffee life but it is wonderful. We have this machine and definitely recommend it.

And of course we couldn't leave the store with just the machine. . . Some of our favorites right now are Cafe Mocha (my husband), Pumpkin Spice, and Lemon Zinger tea. Everything is so tasty & warm!

I found the wire basket at Target on clearance for $8-- not bad. 

My sister found this for my husband when she was here. He uses it at least 3x/day. 

The sleepytime tea came with our Keurig and it was tasty! I may buy it again.

And with that my MIL had to go back to regular life. We miss her! It was a super quick visit but they will be back soon! 

Okay the next picture has some back story. Don't they all? 

My husband hates shots. Or needles. Or something. It could be blood. Whatever it is, he was very firm that he didn't need a flu shot. 

I would watch the news and freak out because people are in the hospital from it. I am a worrier. And a nagger (sorry). 

So when my MIL was here I told her how freaked out I was and she agreed he needed the shot.

That little mama's boy! 

No, I never get my way so yes, I had to take a picture. (Please don't take the seriously, I do get my way but a photo was necessary). 

Afterwards we went to see Zero Dark Thirty and it was good. It was the first movie we went to since the stuff in Colorado so I watched every person who got up and left. It was exhausting. Yes, I am a worrier. I prayed and prayed and only half paid attention to the movie. 

Chalkboard basket

I'm not really sure when this was captured but seriously? How can you not eat that guy up? He's always getting into things. The other night he got a pair of socks out of my drawer and then just hopped right in the drawer. 

Saturday morning we walked to Target for more k-cups (hard to believe) and we stopped at Petsmart on the way back.

This is one of those times where I got my way. 

Our Petsmart has some day care or something where the customers can watch the dogs play. 

Love the gigantic Great Dane in the mix..

It looked like so much fun and this guy didn't look like he wanted to be there. Poor guy. Hey-- at least he has a job, right? 

Clearly some dogs would rather be at home too.

Okay, that's all folks! xO

Papi Visit

Sorry for slacking! Yikes. And to think one of my 2013 goals was to post 5 times a week..sorry.

Okay, let's see..

My dad came last Friday and we went to our favorite place, Good Stuff. My FIL got me into this salad so I've got my dad hooked now, too.

Saturday we drove 30 miles to look at some new apartments. Since I get carsick in the passenger seat, I rocked the back seat and was like a small child-- snacks, drinks, and a magazine. 

I'll update more later on the apartment search, but we had fun nonetheless. 

We went to the "biggest restaurant in DC" Saturday night and that was fun. I pretty much ate nothing to save room for my favorite dessert item-- Cheesecake! Note that I couldn't hold off in taking a bite before the picture. Ahem. 

My dad like Chinese massages. I don't know, it's his thing. So my husband & dad got a foot massage and I got a back massage. One part I was so ticklish I said the Hail Mary prayer 4 times.

Sunday morning my husband had to work so my dad & I were on our own. We decided to go downtown to the Eastern Market (sort of like a farmer's market meets art festival) and have breakfast/walk/sight see. 

It was super foggy.

Blueberry pancakes after I was done. Tasty! 

Clearly my dad didn't give me a chance to take a picture..

By the time we were done eating my husband was done so I dragged them to the Botanical Gardens. It was okay and I'm very thankful it's free. 

The orchids were so beautiful but it was so hot and humid (Hello, that's how orchids thrive!). All 3 of us were hungry and we had walked about 8 blocks to get there. In the rain. Whoops. 

..And this is what my dad and husband thought of the place:

We walked to the Capitol (because that's where my husband had parked) and admired it's beauty! And we watched them prep for the inauguration. They were testing the sound, it was quite fun! 

Bored much?

Had to take a photo of my fancy new Uggs. We had to throw out my first pair after I stepped in dog poop. Seriously people, pick up your dog's poop.

Okay, so many more updates coming soon. I promise! xO

Five Question Friday-- January 11th

Woo hoo it's Friday! :) My dad is coming later this morning so we are excited to see him. Of course he wants to buy us groceries (more on that back here) so I'm sure we'll be doing that on top of going out to eat, watching shows, and getting pedicures.

My dad  doesn't leave until Sunday evening, so I won't be getting a ton of errands done but I would love to get our oil changed. It needs to get done and my husband loves putting it off. Love that man. ;)

1. Do you really fill your dogs' water up with a beer pitcher? More on that back here.

Yes. It's a souvenir from our trip to New York for St. Patty's Day. It's a pretty big holiday there, hence the pitcher.

I get a lot of comments on it while watering plants and filling the dogs' water bowls.

2. It seems like you have a lot of people visiting. Do you get annoyed of this? 

LOL! Yes, seems like we always have someone here and no it doesn't get annoying. We love it. I love seeing my dad once a month. Nathan's mom is coming next week and I am so excited I'm making two kinds of muffins and she'll only be here for 2 nights.

God is probably laughing at me because before we moved, I told my husband I was worried people wouldn't visit us. I would pray about it at night. What a silly worry.

3. Where did you get your dogs from? Breeder? 

Cocoa was my mother's and I got her when my mom died. She got Cocoa from a neighbor who couldn't take care of her any longer.

Oreo is from a rescue in Florida that we love. We're pretty opinionated when it comes to breeders and while I would never openly share my opinion, we just choose to rescue. If I liked alcohol I would probably get drunk and share my opinion on breeders. Not today. :)

4. What is the goal you will have the most trouble with? (Here's my 2013 goals list).

Good question! The "unplugging" at night. Definitely. We are really struggling with this!

5. Where do you escape for peace and quiet? 

Hmm. I love jogging so if something is on my mind or my heart, I'll jog. I also like to read so I'll sit by a window on the floor with a bunch of pillows. Ahem. The reading rarely happens. When it does,  I'm usually in bed literally dozing off.

Wordless Wednesday-- January 9th

Yup. Enjoy your Wednesday! xO

Goodbye Christmas

Christmas is officially over. Most people are back to work and daily life craziness..I don't know about everyone else but I was ready to start 2013 and get organized for the new year. Anyone else feel that way?

Saturday morning I took everything down with some help from my husband. He took lots of "breaks" and I would find him on the computer, so I tried not to nag. :) Luckily it only took about 2 or 3 hours and the house was clean.

Bad news is we discovered our vacuum is not doing so well. Seems like we buy a new vacuum every year and I wish we would splurge on my dream vacuum. Who knows.

In other bad news our house is super bare. But clean.

Told you it was bare. Like my $4 banner? It's from Target. I snuck that bad boy in the cart when my husband was ooohing and ahhhing over some candy. 

Now almost every fiber of me wants to run out and get stuff from Pier 1 or Etsy (Like I did for fall) to fill the gigantic-ly large space where our peace lily is and our mantel, but I'm not. I'm holding back, and I'm okay with it. 

I need to constantly remind myself, but I'm content with what I have. I don't need anything and if I find something I absolutely love, I'll think about getting it. But for now? It's not necessary. I'm definitely not going to buy something just to buy it. 

And while taking the Christmas stuff off our mantel I noticed that the plant I had up there (picture of the plant at the bottom of this post) must have leaked, things have scratched the mantel, etc. We already were told we'd have to pay for a ding in our door..fabulous. Hopefully they will just let us paint over it. 

Maybe this means I should buy more crap for our mantel?

I couldn't part with the cards just yet. . it's on my weekly goals to take them down. We'll see about that. :)

Love those coffee cups. 

Umm, so I'm a little embarrassed about the dining room table. I'm not one of those people who can dress up a dining room table very well, as you can see. I would like to get some candy hearts and fill the jar, but that's the extent of this area. 

Oh! We did put the pink candles from our wedding shower gift in the candlesticks for our 1st married Valentine's Day. Kind of excited! 

But even bigger news? All the Christmas decorations fit perfectly in our office closet. 

How, you ask?

Timberrrrrr

Ahem. Not even sure who's idea this was, but we moved a few things around and I'm very pleased with it!

My husband has turned the closet into his locker room..awesome.

My favorite spot. 

So it's by no means perfect but it is 100% better than what it was (in my opinion). 

Just thankful it's done! 

Weekly Goals-- January 6th

I'm doing it! I'm here and I'm posting my weekly goals. That has to mean something, right? I said I would try to post weekly goals and here I am. Woo hoo!

This week I need to get a lot of stuff accomplished because next week will be crazy. I don't want to jinx it, but this week should be relatively calm. Shh, I didn't say that.

:: Ship the red bag that's been hanging on our closet door for two weeks. Yup, I'm that lady..the one who has to hang things in a place I will see them to force me to do something with them. And if I'm lucky it will get done tomorrow.

:: Order/ship birthday gifts for 4 friends/family members. January is a seriously popular month!

:: Change the state our phone numbers are registered in. Apparently we are charged more per month because we don't live in the same state as something or other . . I don't really know. We cannot change our numbers right now, so I'm hoping this is a fairly simple process.

:: Run/walk 5 times this week. I love jogging by myself in the mornings, but lately my husband and I have been walking together. That is more fun to me because it's the only time we are actually together just us without distractions. It's so nice.

:: Read for 30 minutes 3 times this week. (The book I'm currently reading is kind of short so I don't have to read every day). My goal is to read 1 book per month (more on my 2013 goals here) so I want to have it throughout the whole month!

:: Write a letter to my pen pal. 

:: Meet with banker. I'll post more on this if necessary, but we are just getting some accounts changed around.

:: Take down Christmas cards.

:: Post on the blog I VA for 5 days this week. 

Okay, it doesn't seem like a lot which is nice! But of course I also have: work, insane dogs, crazy awesome husband, ironing of crazy awesome husband's uniform, making crazy awesome husband's lunch, and answering my phone that never seems to stop buzzing. xO

Five Question Friday-- January 4th

Thank goodness it's Friday! It has been a weird week (again) having Tuesday off and a regular work week the rest of the week.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend! It's not on my to-do until next week but I'd like to start taking down our Christmas stuff. :( It makes me sad but it has to happen. On the plus side, putting the Christmas boxes away will force me to re-re-reorganize our office closet (Yes, for the 3rd time).

1. Do you clean a lot/Why do you clean so much/How do you keep your house cleaned? 

This seems to be a top question. Along with How do you find time to clean? I don't clean a lot I just don't let it get messy. Each morning I "tidy" up the place (3 minutes, max) by: making the bed, putting the dog beds back, and putting away cereal bowls.

Because we have 2 dogs I worry that our house will smell so I'm constantly spraying, lighting candles, vacuuming (they don't shed but in my mind vacuuming makes our place smell better), and wiping down countertops. Please don't think our place is unusually clean. .

Seems there is always someone in our house (Ahem, my dad, sister, and friends), so I want it to look nice.

2. Do you have a routine or schedule? 

We try to, ha. It's not perfect but it seems to be working for the time being.

3. Do you really only own 6 pairs of pants? (See middle of post here).

Yes. We really are minimalists. Our apartment is not gigantic (1120 square feet) and unless we use it or it has sentimental value, it doesn't stay.

I have 2 cute pairs of skinny jeans (Actually, maybe only 1), 2 leggings (brown & black), dress pants, and some regular jeans.

Plus I work from home and don't need work clothes. Some days I wear yoga pants, but I'm trying to get out of that habit (more on that here).

4. Do you have a Facebook? Can I be your friend?

No, sorry! It's private.

5. Do you recommend any good blogs to follow?

Hmm.. Well you didn't share what niche you're looking for, but some of my favorites are: 71 Toes (I love her photography, my husband loves their house, and did I mention she is my role model?), Money Saving Mom, Little Baby Garvin (Fabulous chalkboard/home ideas), House of Rose (amazing home ideas) & Jenni from the blog (Sweet blog). 

Life According To My Phone-- January 3rd

These days, Cocoa's rockin' a $3 chevron sweater. What do you think? She only had a "fur" coat and it was too heavy for inside, so I snagged this from Target. 

At what point do the dogs say, "Yeah! Let's dig through the recycling!"?

Snuggle buns on Christmas morning. 

Don't act like you can't see it. . .

Oreo wasn't a fan of the snow. :( Cocoa, on the other hand, couldn't get enough! I knew if I didn't take a photo, nobody would believe me that it snowed. Here's your proof, people!

So we're terrible doggie owners and got the dogs "chewies" (AKA: anything that will keep them occupied for several minutes) for Christmas. 

Some days if I'm on the phone or would like to SHOWER without so much as a whine or heaven forbid, a dog jumping in, I will give them chewies. I know you are not supposed to reward bad behavior. I know they can choke. I don't give them chewies and light the place on fire and leave..Please don't send me emails. :-)

Regardless, we got this chewie for Cocoa and a different one for Oreo. As you can see hers was pretty large for her ittie bitty mouth. Well instead of eating it, she just sat there and "protected" it for a few hours. Anytime we'd go by the bed (or try to take it) she'd snatch it up. Finally she ate it. It was so cute though. PS-- She's finally mastered how to eat them since this pic was taken. 

The dogs are petrified of the dishwasher. Cocoa sits here and Oreo sits by the closet in our room. They will not leave the room-- I've tried coaxing them with potty, treats, whatever. Poor things. 

Can I join your picnic? 

How sad is this? My husband is the top, I am the second one down. Really? 11 pants for him and 6 for me? I need to go shopping.

I love doing my Bible reading and writing in my journal (more on that back here). On this particular day it was expected to snow so I would peek out the window every 33 seconds. 

We love the Green Machine and recommend it!

The other night we left our bedroom door open and the dogs had a field day all night. They probably didn't sleep and ran around with: the recycling (pictured above), presents, toys, and a bunch of ornaments at the bottom of the tree. Awesome. They also had 2 pee accidents. 

I took the above picture because my husband never cleans up accidents. He was so nice to do this while I took them out and screamed at them. Never again will we leave the door open. Oh, and they slept like babies the next day. :)