The verdict is in!

And this new camera is SO worth it. If you want a nice SLR but have second thoughts about gettting one, DON'T!

I have no freaking clue what I'm doing and these pictures are already light years better! Take a look at my two cute guinea pigs:

What do you think?

I cannot wait to play around more with our new addition to the family over the weekend. And I hope to actually be able to finish reading my owner's manual and understand the settings so I can finally take it off 'automatic'. And I am SO happy to say goodbye to the blurry/overexposed pictures I used to post :)

HAPPY WEEKEND EVERYONE!

Say Hello

To our beautiful new, shiny kitchen appliances! They are finally installed and ready to be used photographed and admired. :)

Click here to see the befores.

(all photos are taken with the new camera, of course :)

The amazing fridge I am in LOVE with.

Happy Wednesday all!

Cooking Shows Are Not My Style

Cooking shows are so overrated. Anyone else with me? This weekend I actually fell asleep watching one. Food channels really bore the crap out of me.

*I need to be entertained*. Yelling BAM! at your salt doesn't do it for me. Cussing out your chefs-in-training doesn't humor me at all. And describing your ingredients as textures like they're wallpaper or something doesn't make me hungry.

I mean, if you possess the skills to cook/bake/some-other-cooking-adjective-here then I'm sure these shows are super helpful with their fancy, gourmet recipes chock-full of ingredients I've never heard of, let alone own. But for the more... novice chef like myself, watching these chefs chop/dice/some-other-cutting-adjective-here is totally a bore.

You can't smell the food, they don't even cook in real-time (ingredients into the pot to simmer and WHAM! they pull out an already simmered sauce to fit the 30 minutes time slot) and worst of all, you can't taste any of it. WHAT'S THE POINT?

I know, I know. Who am I to criticize world-renowned chefs when, no, I can't cook but my apron is fabulous... BUT i CAN do something they can't! I can start a mean kitchen fire, make a terrific mess, explode various meals with such force they leave holes in the ceiling and grind up a fork in the garbage disposal like it's my job. That my friends is *talent*.

And while my meals might not always ever turn out, there is at least some action! and drama! and often, comedy! happening in MY kitchen.

Anyone want to come over for Thankgiving dinner? I won't even charge you admission to see my cooking in action. :)

One Heck of A Halloween!

Hello lovelies! Hope you all had a wonderful weekend! I sure did!

Halloween is by far one of my favorite holidays! The simple act of dressing up and getting my make-up done is reason enough to love it! ;) Not to mention that our party was a MAJOR success. So, let's go straight to the pictures, shall we?

[party host and hostess]

[Miss Universe 2009 Contestants]

[with my baby boy]

[funfetti cookies were the bomb dot com!]

[with my PRETTY BESTIE <3]

[Miss Ireland, Miss Greece, Miss USA, Miss Brazil]

[with my hubs!]

[love her!]


[our cute little hippie neighbor baby]

[making sure I didn't contract the swine]

[best costume of the night, hands down]

[all 8 of the Miss Universe contestants!]


[pumpkin carving battle 2K9]

[my drawing of Charlie's face :)]

[charlie thought mama did a good job :)]

[of course hubs' pumpkin HAD to be sports related]

An Open Letter

Dear Immune System,

I miss you. You should have left a note before you decided to take a permanent leave of absence. Not only did I start not feeling well a few weeks ago, but this sore throat is the worst I've ever had in my life. And between the angry throat and the vengeful sinuses alone, this week has been not be so great, to put it mildly.

So, contrary to what you may have read in whatever magazines you subscribe to in there, human beings need air to breathe. I think it's okay for me to speak for the rest of my body when I say...

GET TO WORK. DO YOUR JOB. STEP IT UP. THIS ISN'T GOING TO CLEAR UP BY ITSELF!

Also, if you could please explain to everyone that has been forced to be around me this week, why 1) I have been unable to function and 2) Why I have wet hair, no makeup, and look like I have been run over by a train...that would be cool.

Kisses.

Your host,

Edited to Add- I thankfully don't have h1n1, it's a respiratory infection treatable by antibiotics.

Random Thoughts!

Since my brain is still in post-vacation mush right now, today's post will be a hodge podge of all of my loves & hates currently.. Enjoy and share with me some of yours! :)

Love: Went out with my girlfriends last night for drinks and dancin'. The reason why I heart bachelorette parties is that they are always a guaranteed good time. We had très fun!
Hate: Dare I out myself as a boring old lady and admit to my headache this morning after only a couple drinks...

Love: vacation!
Hate: that my vacation ended last week.

Love: eating ice cream for breakfast
Hate: feeling sick 30 minutes later

Love: The house and all the work we have done to it.
Hate: The thing that starts with an “mmmm” and ends with an “ortgage.”

Love: This glorious sunshine!
Hate: The beautiful weather comes on workdays, and the rain comes on the weekends.

Love: The new recipes I have been trying out.
Hate: That I haven’t posted any of my recipes! I suck!

Love: Reality T.V.
Hate: The new season of the Real World.

Love: Having friends of every phase of my life
Hate: friends being far away

Love: My husband for rubbing my feet every night without complaint. And I’m not even pregnant or anything! He is just nice like that.
Hate: That I have been putting off scheduling my pedi and it's already mid-July!

Love: My fabulous and thoughtful and nice and gorgeous blog readers. I know I don’t reply to all your comments these days but just know that you are way too nice to me and I totally plan on keeping you around :)
Hate: That it is already Sunday night... It simply can’t be, because my gigantic laundry pile is still teasing me from the other room: “Wash me…or go to work without underwear tomorrow!”

Now tell me your loves & hates, dolls!

Why I Love My Husband.

{A few blast from the past pictures!}


I have been in a very lovey dovey mood lately!

***So warning: this post is mushy mushy***

And if you stop reading now, I will understand. :)

_______________________________________

He inspires me. He is so smart and gifted. I just love to watch him think.

He's a good listener and he never gives up on me. He always makes me feel like the best is yet to come.

He is balanced. He helps me stay reasonable and level-headed. (which for me is always sometimes hard)

He is the hardest working man I know. This man seriously never complains…ever. He always has some project going, and it exhausts me just trying to keep up with him.

He is so committed to making our marriage the best it can be. He reminds me all the time that he has promised to love me unconditionally-- through his words and actions. There's nothing like being reminded every single day that you are loved and adored.

He's not intimidated by my success. He supports my every passion and applauds my achievements, no matter how big or small they may be.

He compliments me every day. And he means it. Even things I do horribly. Like cooking. He is so encouraging.

He believes the best about people. He never jumps to conclusions, he gives people a second (third, fourth, fifth) chance, forgives quickly and encourages me to do the same. "You never know what kind of day they had," he says all the time. I really hope to adopt this attitude some day.

He never takes life too seriously. He smiles a lot and is always laughing and joking. His laughter and optimism is contagius!

I am so thankful for my babe. <3

Happy Wednesday everyone!

Boom Boom Clap!

Hubby and I got tickets to go to the Cleveland Cavs basketball game tonight, and I am excited with a capital E!

::::::eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee:::::

We are huge Cavs fans. We have been on all of our lives. And yes, we are fans of all Ohio teams, Indians, Buckeyes, Cavs, and even the Clowns Browns.
So this may be one of the very few times in our lives that we attend a sporting event with optimism and leave without crying :)

You see, we live in Ohio, and while our state is really good at some things, like deciding elections, sports is not one of them. Cleveland sports teams usually do not fall under the ‘really good’ category. They don’t even fall under ‘good’. Normally, we are just 'plain pathetic'.

So the reason why two undying, passionate Cleveland sports fans like hubs and I are SO pumped to see the Cavs is because they are actually pretty good this year!!! :)

I will be back with plenty of pictures from the game for you all! Oh and please keep your fingers, toes and anything else crossed that we come away with a "W".

Happy Friday everyone and happy Memorial Day weekend! We have a ton of housing projects to get finished, including finishing our deck and completely redecorating/painting our bedroom, so we will be busy. :)))

Weekend Recap!

Our weekend was very busy, and it’s hard to believe that it’s already Monday!

Friday:
I once read that 'If the eyes are the windows to the soul, the eyebrows are the window treatments.' To me, great looking eyebrows never go out of style. It’s one accessory your face can’t afford to skimp on, unless of course, you favor the whole Sasquatch look. Or the pencil thin, overly plucked, tweezer happy look. Thank Heavens, I’ve grown out of both of those stages. Seventh grade uni-brow… Or the senior year of high school no-brow yeeow. (anyone with me?!)

So, Friday my sissy-in-law Kimmy came over and right away I noticed how amazing her eyebrows looked. She recommended eyebrow threading. I have heard of this before, and have wanted to try it for some time, but never had the guts to do it. So, I bit the bullet Friday and went! And let me tell you, it was painnnnnfulllllllllllll. Very painful. But the results are worth every pound ounce of pain! And I can honestly say that I am never going back to plucking or tweezing!

For those of you not familiar, threading is a hair removal technique that uses a cotton thread. The 100% cotton thread is twisted and rolled along the surface of the skin entwining the hairs in the thread, which are then lifted out from the follicle. It is said to be more precise than waxing.

Anyone else ever tried this procedure and if so, what were your results?

Saturday/Sunday
Hubs and I went home to see my parents Saturday and stayed through Sunday afternoon! My family is Christian Orthodox, and since we follow the old calendar, our Easter fell on this Sunday. My Mom had everyone over for Easter brunch Saturday, and we attended the Church where I grew up Sunday morning.

It is such an amazing feeling to go home and be surrounded by so much family. I am very lucky to have a loving, close-knit family, who loves us unconditionally :) I cannot wait until the day when I can pass this on to my children.

Here are some pictures from Easter.

Hubby and I with my Goddaughter, Mimi :)

Our Easter Basket!

Mommy, Mimmi, and my Sister.

The most adorable girl in the world :)

And a few pics of, whom else, Mr. Charlie! :)

(his new hoodie)

We're Back Ya'll!

Did you miss me? Did you? Did you? Actually, on second thought, don’t answer that :)

We got home pretty late Sunday to a towering pile of junk mail and an even bigger one of laundry, so I am sorry I have been mia.

Anyway, we had a great, great time in Nashville! Our b&b was lovely, and much bigger and nicer than we were even expecting. Ahhh, I wish I was still there. Our room was fantastic and from our balcony, we could see the city skyline! Not to mention that our hostess made the most amazing breakfasts and we ate a LOT. We were also able to truly relax and rest while managing to squeeze in some sightseeing and bar hopping time! And the reason for this is because we had a PLAN. Yes, a PLAN. Normally we are totally plan-less - the blind leading the blind and wondering aimlessly - when we travel, so this was quite exciting for us!

I will post pictures from our adventures tonight, so make sure you check back. And I have some good ones! Including one incriminating photo of the hubs in a mullet wig. Thats by far, my fave.

But as wonderful as our mini vacay was, we were thrilled to reunite with our Charlieman, who was having the time of his life while the rents were away. In fact, I think that he pretty much ate his own bodyweight in treats while we were gone. Silly doggie.

But right now, I honestly don’t want to do anything because it’s so cold and rainy outside. Seriously, I had to turn on the heat as soon as we got home. I hate this state.

Hope everyone had a good weekend!

A Friend is someone who knows all about you and loves you anyway :)

This weekend was very productive and very eventful [in a good way.]

One of my close friends Kristen has been back in town from Colorado for several weeks, and I finally got to see her Saturday! There is nothing I love more than catching up with my girlfriends, and this one I miss every single day of my life. I miss the days when we used to see each other every day… [these are a few pictures from way way way back in the day, so be nice ;) ]

But one wonderful thing that I love about our friendship is that we can always pick up right where we left off, no matter how much time has passed. And we had a lot of catching up to do because talking on the phone is neither one of our strengths not to mention that it has been over a year since we had seen each other. And let’s face it, facebook creeping can only get us so far.

So, she came over around 4 on Saturday to get ready. After that we headed downtown to a small, cozy Greek restaurant that serves the most amazing Gyro’s in town [I am not just saying this. It had been voted the best gyro restaurant in the city for the last 6 years.] The restaurant was packed, but well worth the wait. Their wine selection is superb and the food, of course, is to die for. After we had gorged ourselves and downed more wine than anyone should clearly overstayed our welcome [we were there for almost 4 hours!], we headed to the local strip of bars for some much needed bar hopping and dancin’. We stayed until last call, very typical, and my lovely husband came to pick us up! We came back to our house, and stayed up another two hours just gabbing away. It was terrific.

Days like that make me realize just how lucky I am to have such great group of friends, and Kristen is certainly at the very top of that group! And as easy as it could have been for us to lose contact and never talk again, I am SO glad that we have stayed so close. And when she left Sunday morning both of us shed a little tear, and I hope that it’s not another year before I see her!

Sunday I totally slept in. I love getting up late and lounging around in my bed under the covers slowly letting my body awake from either a night of debauchery. There are few things in life that bring me pure, unadulterated, relaxing, happiness and lazy Sunday mornings are one of them.. So sunday I spent the day doing errands and chores for the house. And even though that may not sound like a lot of fun, I always enjoy it. I even like the most mundane of errands, like standing in long lines at Trader Joes to get my groceries or speeding frantically to my dry cleaners to keep my clothes from being donated to the cleaners by actually picking them up. The rest of the day, hubby and I just spent relaxing...

Hope all of you had a fabulous weekend and are having a good week. It’s SNOWING here today. Bahahaha.

Aaaaaand i’m done. Phew that was a long one. (Thats what she said ) ;)

Please Excuse This Interruption To Your Regularly Scheduled Program

But I have breaking news..

Our very good friends and neighbors had a beautiful little baby boy this weekend. The baby and mom are both happy and healthy, and of course, everyone is over the moon [including me, eeeee!]. Hubs and I are creeping going over there tomorrow to see the little guy, and I cannot wait. I want to steal love little babies. I baked them cute little blue 'its a boy' cupcakes and Matt is going to stop at a florist tomorrow to buy flowers. I will have pictures soon for everyone, I promise :)

Edited to Add: On another note, I now for the first time, ever, am starting to get a very *mild* case of baby fever. *gasp* I don’t know why, but lately, being around all these kiddies, I want one of my own. Seeing our friend with her baby bump made me want one. I don’t know what it is, but I think as soon as i turned 25, my biological clock which I thought was missing completely, started ticking. Weird!

[disclaimer: this does NOT mean that we are trying or that we WILL be any time soon. I am completely content with my furbaby Charlie right now. But just had to throw it out there.]

I clearly spend too much time blogging.

Today, I want to take a moment and say THANK YOU to all of you who have avidly followed my ‘little blog’ over the past three months.

I just checked over on my Google Analytics, because it was more fun than preparing for my meeting, and I have over 100 followers! This means that on average 100 people daily care about my life? Awesome!

When I originally began this adventure, I really did not expect anyone to actually read it. In fact, I thought I would make it like a month before I gave up completely.

So, thank you, my dear readers, for reading my blog, for caring about what I write, for laughing at me with me and for taking time from your beautifully busy lives to stop by.

I heart you all :) ♥

So I cracked

and bought a scale this weekend. I haven't owned a scale in over a year. This means that I won't be able to make false claims about my weight anymore. I'm actually going to have to hold myself accountable.

Also, just this morning, I ordered this butt kicker DVD which came in highly recommended by a few friends and coworkers.

It's a 20 minute workout every day for 30 days. I will probably do it every morning before I go to work. Easy enough. Right?

Probably not. From the reviews I read, this is grueling. [For ex: "This is an all out balls to the walls fitness regime that is very painful, grueling and intense."] Did they just say balls to the walls? haha.

So my copy should be arriving in the mail next week. And once I get started, I will keep you posted on my progress. My temporary inability to squeeze fit into my clothes will hopefully be just that: temporary. Fingers crossed.

There you go! My new and improved tush kickin' workout plan!

Now if any of you have any good healthy recipes that you are willing to share, my thighs I would appreciate it. :)

Edited to Add:
Why am I doing this? A lot of people kind of rolled their eyes at me when I mentioned embarking on this 30 day program. I'm know I'm not overweight, and I don't think I'm fat. I'm a small person. That said, I can't button some of my favorite jeans, and that makes me mad. I also cannot make it up three flights of stairs without getting completely out of breath. I don't necessarily want to lose weight, but I want to have a more defined and more toned shape. I'd like to have a great body and I want to be healthy.

Our next adventure!

After talking about it for a while, we finally booked our next trip- Music City, here we come! We’re taking a long weekend in April and driving to Nashville [about 6 hours]. But here is the best part: we’re staying in a bed & breakfast! Neither of us has ever stayed in one, and I can’t think of a better way to experience southern hospitality. Here are some pictures:

This is a picture of our room. We will be staying in the Valentine Room, oh la la. [Description from the website: A romantic, French provincial suite with queen size bed and a tub right in the room itself. Adjoining sitting area with day bed. You'll feel like you're in another place in time.]






I’m so excited!!!

Any recommendations on what to do/places to see/eat? So far we’re thinking of seeing a performance at The Grand Ole Opry, checking out the Parthenon replica, and touring the Country Music Hall of Fame.