Back to the grind!

I'm back! I had a wonderful staycation and feel rather refreshed about life in general. It's amazing what a good week at home can do. I knocked a lot off my to-do list, but I could still use another week or five. Who couldn't?! I've missed y'all and I'm finally getting back to catching up on blog reading. Back with more later...

Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

I hope you all have a wonderful and safe holiday weekend. May you have safe travels if you're leaving town. We are staying put but I'm so excited to have a 3-day weekend. I'm a big believer in the 3-day weekend. Two days are just a tease.

We have no major plans, but we do have our 5k Monday morning! I am getting really excited. We're going running at the park again tonight - it will be our 4th time. I can see major improvement in myself every time we go. Plus the trips to Tutti Frutti after make me push on through. I am mental! Oh funny story... this morning one of my girlfriends emailed me asking for a little *styling* help on her daughter's 1st birthday party. She said she'd treat me to yogurt at this new yogurt shop she's heard is good but hasn't been to just yet. I was like, um... you mean Tutti Frutti and yes I can vouch for its goodness as I've been 4 times in the last week. I really do have a problem, y'all. But OMG yesterday we got a coupon in the mail (awesome - as if I needed an excuse to go!) and it had the real skinny on the calories. So here is the deal - it is 17 calories per ounce. And fat FREE! So my jumbo 8 oz cup is only 136 calories! Well I add a bunch of fruit, but hey - it's fruit. I'm in love.

Anyway, so the 5k on Monday and then that afternoon we're going over to a cookout at our friends' house for some burgers and bocce ball. So that should be fun! Other than that, we really have NO plans this weekend. Which I love... because that is rare. Tomorrow we have deemed as "Basement-Cleanout-Day!" I'm hoping we really make some progress there because our basement is embarrassing. It's a freaking disaster. I love having a basement so you can store junk down there - but it has just become a total dumping ground. Half of what's down there just needs to be thrown out. So that will be Saturday.

Sunday morning we'll head to church - we haven't been in the last few weeks so I'm really itching to get back. I feel very out of touch if we miss too many Sundays in a row - just seems like we've been all over the place lately! So I'm looking forward to that. And I'm sure we'll throw another run or two in the mix before Monday a.m.

So in other news - I had my annual yesterday with my OB/GYN. I was catching her up on the last year's fun with surgeries and whatnot. I've mentioned it before - but she referred me to my RE and he was actually her specialist when she was having trouble conceiving years ago. I'm currently reading her book (yeah I know I've mentioned that before too but I can take forever to get through a book) and she was like, you know Dr. Toledo (my RE) is the hero of my book, right?! She had very similar infertility issues as I have so that makes me love her even more. Anyway - she goes on and without me even bringing it up, she throws out the idea of trying acupuncture along with everything else. I was like OMG I have totally been researching this lately! She was like yeah, we have no idea why but it has been proven to increase bloodflow to the uterus. And for whatever reason it seems to help some with endo. So now I'm like totally sold. And then I'm on the phone with my mom afterwards telling her all this and she's like, well you know I did acupuncture for my hand, right? Um, nooo... I did not know that! I seriously expected to get an eye roll from my mom at the mention of acupuncture but she was all for it. Who knew?! My doctor gave me a name of someone here that used to be an anesthesiologist and is now a full-time acupuncturist (is that a word?!). Because of that, my doctor said this chick would fully understand my "issues" as my doctors do. So that's exciting...

Well I'm counting down the hours till the weekend... I hope you all have a fabu holiday! And my heart and prayers go out to all of you remembering those lost in the war and wars past. I'm so very proud of our military and all those who have served in the past. I hope everyone takes a moment to remember them inbetween the beer and burgers! :-) Be safe and have fun!

Table Numbers and more weekend fun...

Two more days till April 15th!!! I got a lot of work done Friday and Saturday so I'm feeling pretty good going into Monday. Should be fairly smooth workwise through Tuesday - I'm sure there will be those "emergencies" that pop up, but I think I'm in good shape. And I am SO looking forward to getting past it and enjoying the rest of the week - which I've planned out for the most part! Wednesday I've got a hair cut appointment and a brow wax (to make up for the already overdue one I missed last week). Thursday I'm meeting two girlfriends for lunch here. I also need to get my all-over color done... may try to squeeze that in somewhere this week too. I don't regularly dye my hair, but usually once a year I'll go darker. My hair's pretty dark anyway, but I like to go even darker in the summer. It'll be DEAD at the office after the 15th, so it's a great time to get all this stuff in.

Today was a great day. We went to church, then finally hit IKEA. If you gotta go on a weekend, first thing Sunday is totally the time to do it. Virtually empty at first... I went in feeling good and had a cup of coffee and was enjoying myself. But as usual, by the time we left I was completely irritated and fed up with the place. I've decided that's just inevitable. Plus the clothing racks I went to get turned out to be complete crap. They weren't sturdy at all. So I got this even cheaper $5 one that I like a lot better. The hub's going to try to round up some racks for me, but if we need more, I'll grab a few more $5 ones there. I'm sure he'll get the job done though... he has this amazing ability to get his hands on the most random things when he decides to.

While we were out, I met up with one of my brides and handed off some table numbers I did for her. She wanted something different than just a typical table number on a stand or a tent card. I suggested doing these vases and she loved the idea. It is uber cheap to do, yet totally chic. Cheap yet chic - my favorite. It makes a statement without being too overbearing or taking away from your centerpieces. These could be put to many uses, so I thought I'd share how to make them. It doesn't require too much explanation, but I'll give you the quick 1-2-3...

Stamped Vellum Vase Wraps

You'll need:

-Clear cylinder vases (I used ones 6" high with a 3.5" diameter)

-Vellum sheets (usually 1 per vase, depending on your vase size - anything larger than 3.5" diameter will require a larger sheet - i.e. bigger than 8.5x11)

-Paper cutter/scissors

-Glue dots (the teeny ones are best, but you can trim to fit)

-Number stamps (or whatever image you're using) - these are the ones I have, but you can get some anywhere.

-Pigment Ink pad (regular dye pad will not take to vellum)

-Clear Embossing powder

-Embossing tool or hairdryer

First you want to trim your vellum to fit the vases. For the particular size vase I used, I took 8.5 x 11 sheets and trimmed them to 6 x 11. After trimming, you can stamp your image directly on the vellum. This ink will stay tacky and wet to the touch until you emboss, so be careful not to smudge. If you've never done embossing with stamping, it is super easy. I only do it with these because the ink will never dry on vellum until it's embossed. It works like glitter... sprinkle it onto the stamped image and remove the excess (back into the bottle). Use an embossing tool if you have it - but a hairdryer also works fine. Apply heat to the image and you'll see it start to raise within seconds.

Once embossed, you can wrap the vellum and secure around the vases with the glue dots. I use three dots along the seam. Glue dots are freakin' awesome if you've never used them. When Hobby Lobby puts them on sale I go bonkers. Anyway, that's it! Drop a candle down in your vase and you've got a fabu table number. This 'W' one is for the bride and groom's sweetheart table...

Fun! OK so back to today's activities... Once we got home I got going on laundry (and I'm still going). I put together the $5 rack and continued to organize my swap items. I'm getting so excited about my swap. I have tons of stuff! Here's the rack I got... not so bad for $5.

And more swap goodies...

And did I mention the hub getting a razor thingee on a whim to do DIY dog grooming? Well we usually have our doggies shaved in the warmer months and he suddenly decided he wanted to get the tools and do it himself. He did Belly first. After a couple of touch-ups, she was looking pretty darn good. Charlie was a lot easier to do - his brindle coat kinda hides any mess-ups. Gertie got hers today. So we have 3 shaved puppies. This will help cut down on the tumble weeds for sure. And they are uber frisky now. I must say I have an entirely new appreciation for dog groomers though. Holy crap you should have seen the hair. I tried to get some pics of the dogs today, but of course no one wanted to be still. The golden is Bailey - my parents' dog whom we're keeping over the weekend.

This last one cracks me up - doesn't it look like Charlie's head is on some other dog's body? Hehehe...

OK and one last thing (is this the most random post or what?)... I grabbed one of the Lilly dresses at Costco today for my girlfriend who is adopting from China. I love this print. OK, yeah... I totally got one for me too. Couldn't help it.

Alright... I hear the dryer buzzing! Duty calls!

Home Inventory.

I know, I'm working - for real, I am. Just need a quick break to munch on some carrot sticks and tell y'all about this cool product I read about last night while updating our Quicken stuff (evidence of my Type A half). Quicken has all kinds of different software products, but I think this one is totally cool and very useful. It's called Quicken Home Inventory Manager and you can download it or buy the software in store anywhere. It basically helps you create an inventory of all your belongings with photos, receipts, appraisals, etc, etc... so you have it all in the event of an emergency and for insurance purposes. And they let you back it all up on the web so you can access your info from anywhere, anytime.



Taking an inventory of our stuff has been an item on our to-do list forever. (Somewhere around that one about cleaning out the basement.) One of our good friends works with a major insurance company and she's always stressed how important this is. She said if nothing else, go around your house with a video camera and capture everything you own. She said to even go in your closet and make sure to get those nicer pieces on camera and quote the price as you're taping. We really saw how vital this kind of info can be when a couple very close to us lost their home in a fire a couple of years ago. It was a total freak accident... a contractor had been to the house to do some work and left. An hour later the house was on fire. Everyone was fine - the dad was the only one home, but they lost everything. They were literally left with their lives and the clothes on their backs.

Dealing with insurance was such a hassle for them. I mean nothing is easy - but y'all would not believe how they nickel and dime you! An insurance dude - an assessor I guess - that came out to the house was literally going through (what was left of) their kitchen cabinets and taking note of everything on hand. He was like "OK... bottle of soy sauce, half consumed, so that's about $0.99 to replace..." Soy sauce... are you freaking kidding me?! So if they're like that with your pantry, imagine how they are over belongings you actually care about!

I feel like this has become a public service announcement all of the sudden! But yeah, point being, everyone should set aside time to take a real solid inventory of their belongings. Furniture, clothes, jewelry, china... everything. You obviously don't need software to do that - but sometimes fun tools like that get me motivated, so I thought I'd share. At the very least, I think the video camera idea is a good start. I hope none of us ever have to face such a scare, but better to be prepared for one. I think I'll bump this one up a few notches on the list...

A peek in my "someday closet."

I told y'all earlier today about my productive weekend. I'm still so excited about all that I got done. So while going through all the junk that had accumulated in the nursery, I came across some fun stuff. First, my childhood bear, Lisa, who is NEVER to be thrown out! My dad got her for me in New York City when I was a baby. We've got pictures of me and Lisa together in my avacado green playpen. We go way back.

As you can see, she needs a little repair. Poor girl has been stitched up so many times!

I also came across both of my prom dresses and had a good laugh. Oh those were the days... This is my junior year prom dress. Made famous by Alotta Fagina in Austin Powers. (I totally wore it first though.)

And then here's my senior prom dress. Pretty killer, huh? Damn right, it is!

I mean, the midriff bearing lattice was so ahead of its time...

So you can really appreciate the effect, here's my mid-section alla 13 years ago...

I wish I had a better picture to show so you could fully take in those candy apple red acrylic nails!

Also buried back in my someday closet was my wedding dress. I still have yet to get the darn thing cleaned and preserved - how horrible is that?! Do I still have a chance of getting the stains out? It's been - eek - over 5 years! Did anyone else wait a long time to do this and still have success? It's been on the to-do list for years...

Anyway, so here is the FINISHED product - a newly restored someday closet! I can actually see the floor now, along with all my fun treasures!

Obviously I'm not looking to don my prom or wedding gowns again someday, but here is the bulk of my "someday" items...

Sweet little girl Lilly dresses. I got them all at Costco for stupid prices. Not all at once though. I'd get one here... two there... then I sorta just went nuts. They're timeless, so I'm not worried about whether or not *I* ever get to use them.

And then... yes... my maternity wardrobe. What started as a clearance piece here and there, turned into... an unhealthy obsession! No worries - I'm fully cognizant of my mental shortcomings.

Isn't it a fun closet? So colorful and happy! And CLEAN!!!!!!!!!

Happy Green Beer Day!

This is one "holiday" that pretty much gets overlooked by me... I even totally forgot to wear any green today! (And I've already been pinched once.) Thanks to tax season, I've never really been able to celebrate it. Not that I really care - I'm not huge on going out and drinking, which really, what else is this holiday for but to down ridiculous amounts of green beer? And I don't even like beer. But have one for me if you're feeling lucky today!

So our Dawgs - this is NUTS - won the SEC basketball championship this weekend that I mentioned earlier. I don't follow college basketball at all (we're a football school), but I know enough to know that we suck at it. So winning the championship is insane! A true worst-to-first Cinderella story. Pretty cool. Go Dawgs!

Well this weekend I stayed in - as I promised myself I'd do - and I got SO much done! I was one domestic diva. I was especially productive yesterday from the time I got up till the time I got in bed. I only sat down to eat. OK, and for a little while to blog yesterday... but I was eating at the same time! But listen to what all I got done!!! I completely pulled everything out of our pantry and reorganized it. I threw out four bags of trash - just from the pantry! It looks so amazing now. I love it. Then I went upstairs to my office and got that picked up. It had become a total disaster. Paper and ribbon scraps all over the floor... omg it was a mess. Bills and junk scattered - made myself sit down and go through all those and get them sorted or tossed out. And then I (finally!) completely cleaned out the "nursery" - which had become the full room version of a drunk drawer over time. We've always referred to that room as the nursery because we designed it as such when we (meaning the builders) built the house. So yeah, I was rockin' out to my ipod and tossin' stuff left and right. I came across some fun stuff that had been buried in all the rubble. I took a bunch of pics - I'll have to post those when I get home tonight.

And while doing all this, I was running laundry non-stop. I had 2+ weeks worth and it was bad. I'm still not quite done. A couple of more loads to go... But yeah, I got so much done and felt so good about it. I opened the door to the nursery before I left this a.m. and just sighed a happy sigh - it feels so good to see the floor in there!

Alright, back to work. Yoga tonight. Then I'll catch up with you all later!

New idea... A clothing swap!

OK so it only took one night's good sleep to realize hosting a party - any kind of party - in the middle of busy season was a BAD idea. And with my gpa's situation in the mix, it's just a doubly bad idea. No worries - it'll remain on my to-do list. I've been just itching to plan something though. I always like to be planning something - even if it's way off in the future by normal people's standards. I mean I started thinking about my 30th birthday party when I was like 27. Anyway, another idea I had been throwing around for a party was to have a clothing swap. I like to go through my closet every 6 months or so and get rid of stuff I'm not wearing anymore (or can't wear anymore). We just dumped off a huge load to Goodwill right before year-end. But I still have a nice stack of stuff I was planning to take to Plato's Closet. But instead, I've decided to host a clothing swap this Spring! And I am soooo excited about it!

There's actually a ton of information online about planning and hosting a clothing swap. Have y'all ever been to one? You basically have everyone bring their old stuff that they want to get rid of, have some cocktails, set up shop and it's pretty much a free-for-all. Any leftover items will go to Goodwill or a women's shelter. I am *super* excited about this. I'm going to hold it in late April - after the tax season mess, and just in time for a good Spring cleaning! I already emailed some of my girlfriends to save the date - so it's officially on. If you've ever hosted one before, I'm open to advice. Several sites I've read said to set a minimum number of pieces that each girl needs to bring. I mean we don't want freeloaders here... I'm going to work on rounding up some clothing racks. If I can't find any second-hand ones, I saw that IKEA has rolling racks for like $14.95 - sweet! That involves a trip to IKEA though.. ugh. That will definitely have to be a lunch run one day because I refuse to set foot in that place on the weekends. It's a zoo. Anyway... I'm all pumped now that I have something to plan. If it goes really well, I think it's something I'll want to do a couple of times a year. Too fun! Yay - I'm so glad to have a party on the calendar to think about while crunching numbers...

In other news... our small group is meeting back up again tonight after an extended holiday hiatus. We're starting a new study that I think will be really good. The boys are reading this version. Should be interesting! And of course I took a peek at the boys' book to see what the heck they were saying about us girls - and inside they had a "warning" to women looking through the men's book. Funny there was no warning to men in the women's book.... hmm... because the men do well enough to read their own book - like they have the time or care to go snooping through ours! Hehehehe....

Bow chica bow bow!

Guess who (FINALLY) got a positive reading on her ovulation test this morning!!! Fingers crossed applesauce, ladies. Not counting on anything, but hey - it's the first time we've been "allowed" to go for it in about 6 months - so we're gonna give it the good ole college try!

We still haven't gotten the full report on my HSG results yet from my doctor. We see him early Thursday morning - so we'll learn more about all that then as well as whatever the next steps are for us. I'm hoping all news is good and that we can be pretty much on our own from here on out, but who knows? Hopefully we don't have to resort to IUI (the turkey baster method), etc - but if we do, we do. Positive thoughts for now!

In other news... I barely made a dent into my closet project this weekend. We ended up running around so much on Sunday that I seriously had only a 2 hour window to get anything done. I did get started though and made sure to get some "before" shots - so more on that later...

Closet clean-out!

Well my Paige maternity capris came in yesterday (though I didn't notice them on our front porch till this morning - the poor things must've been freezing!) and they are awesome! And Awesome with a capital *A* since I only paid a whopping $43 for them! I tried them on and they're perfect. Which for me, is so rare with jeans since I have SWBB syndrome (that's Small-Waist-Big-Booty syndrome, for you skinny minnies). They fit great and I have a little room to grow too when I get preggers. So after getting these jeans, I am suddenly inspired to clean out my closet and do a major overhaul on my wardrobe.

Now my closet stays pretty neat and organized for the most part, but just beyond the borders of my closet is a disaster of dirty clothes, unmatched socks, and clothes to be dry-cleaned. None of these piles ever seem to fully go away. (And I won't even go into the perfect storm that is the hub's closet.) Also, in our spare bedroom (which I'm hoping will be a nursery someday soon) is my "someday closet" - which is a total mess. All kinds of crap is thrown about in there. It's pretty much a junk closet right now and it's driving me NUTS. The junkiness is contaminating my cute someday pieces! And the room itself is empty but for some random crap on the floor. A bag started for Goodwill... more sweaters to be dry-cleaned... gifts we received for Christmas last year that haven't been put away/put to use (holy cow are we a little behind or what?!)... etc, etc. That room has kind of become the dumping ground, and I'm just over it. There's also a bathroom in there that the hub likes to sneak off to - so the room is a dumping ground in more ways than one. There are also bathroom fixtures we bought forever ago at the Pottery Barn outlet that are still sitting in their boxes on the floor by the tub. So there's a lot of help needed in this room! And for some reason, I'm suddenly inspired to get all of this done once and for all!

This weekend, I'm going to go through my closet - item by item - and pull out stuff for Goodwill and also stuff I think they might take at Plato's Closet. I have some Paper Denim & Cloth jeans that I wore all of one time before wondering why the heck I bought them (they didn't fit great). I'm sure they'll take those. Much of my other stuff I'm sure they'll think is too "old lady" for their teeny-bopper clientele, but maybe I'll find some stuff. There's just so much in my closet that I never even touch - it's time to give myself some tough love and part with it.

So I'm getting this out now so I can hold myself accountable! This is my major to-do for the weekend and I will take some before and after shots so you can appreciate the madness. We've also got to do the same overhaul with our basement, but that's a whole other, truly embarrassing issue. Baby steps...