A Funny To Get You Through the Week...

Earlier this evening I was wasting time on Facebook, and I ran across this picture I had posted and tagged my dad in:

Yeah, you read right.  My dad has Facebook.  The day I got a friend request from him was probably one of the 10 most awkward days of my life.  But, I digress.

One rainy November evening (insert "November Rain" or Guns N' Roses comments here) I discovered this highly entertaining website called Face-In-Hole.  I discovered this website because my best friend Cathy posted a picture of me "with" Justin Bieber - I found this uproariously funny and decided to spend my entire evening putting my friends in pictures.

I have long thought that my dad resembles Hulk Hogan, and this Face-In-Hole opportunity was golden.  I put him in the picture and promply uploaded it to Facebook, tagging him in the picture so it would appear on his profile.  About 10 minutes after I posted it, I got a call from Dad saying that he appreciated me tagging Hulk Hogan as him and that was really funny.  It took me about 30 seconds to figure out that Dad didn't realize that was his face in the picture and not Hulk Hogan's.  We argued on the phone about this for a good 15 minutes until I told him to have June, my stepmother, take a look and verify for him that it was, in fact, his face.  Even after this, Dad still didn't believe it was him on the screen.  20 minutes later, he finally conceded that it was his face on Hulk's body, only after he saw the birthmark he has on his cheek in the picture.

SHEESH.

And people wonder why I am the way I am?!

My new favorite game?

I believe that I have inadvertently stumbled upon what may become my new obsession....my new favorite game...and probably ultimately my downfall.

You see that?  Yeah, that's what you think it is.  That's a stack of coupons.

I have never been one to clip coupons.  Not because I don't see the value in it, but because I don't usually plan out my shopping trips more than 5 minutes in advance.  Typically, I will drive to Target, pull into the parking lot, and think what do I need to get here?  I make a list on my phone, and I'm off.  This also happens at the grocery store, and just about every other store I go into.  Not very conducive to couponing.

But I'm going to be a wife now, you know, and this means I am going to have to learn how to plan shopping trips.  Specifically, trips to the grocery store, because stopping at Kroger every night on my way home from work and buying a box of macaroni & cheese is not going to cut it anymore.  I have embraced this change and in trying to make myself get used to looking for coupons, I was looking through the ones that came in the mail the other day and I stumbled across a $3 off coupon for Nivea bodywash.

I use bodywash, and I thought, well, that's a pretty big coupon, so I cut it out.  I had to make a trip to Wal-Mart today for groceries (just for one dinner, mind you, I don't have the meal planning thing down yet) and I thought I would check out the Nivea bodywash while I was there.  So imagine my surprise when I only found one bottle left on the shelf (this should have foreshadowed what was about to happen.)  I smelled it; not my favorite scent but I could live with it.  I look at the price tag to see how much I'm going to have to pay for this and the tag says: Rollback!!  $3.00.

WHAT?!?!?

I blinked about 20 times and realized that yes, the bodywash had been on sale for $3.38 but was on sale for $3.00, and my coupon was for $3 off....which meant.....surely not.....that bodywash was FREE!  I about died right there in the aisle.  Is this what it feels like to be an extreme couponer?!?!

Now don't get me wrong, I don't think I could ever be like those women on the show.  First of all, I think it's counterproductive to have to buy 45 bottles of mustard in order to get 30 of them free.  What am I going to do with 45 bottles of mustard?  Or 45 bottles of anything, for that matter?  I am not a hoarder and I'm not going to become one in order to become a couponer.  However, I definitely now see the value in looking for coupons (for the things I need only) because clearly it could save me some dollars.

Of course I know what will happen....I'll start buying stuff I use, but don't immediately need, just because I have a coupon.  So if you see me at Target, Wal-Mart, Kroger etc. and I have a cart full of junk, please stage an intervention immediately.

What I'm Loving Wednesday

It's Wednesday, and that means I'm linking up with Jamie at This Kind of Love to tell the world what I'm loving this week!

Sanuk Yoga Mat flip flops - Seriously, run, do not walk, and get yourself a pair of these stat.  I have never felt anything more heavenly on my feet.  I'm pretty critical when it comes to flip-flops - I don't like ones that are too thin or ones with plastic straps that rub against the tops of my feet.  These flip-flops are the best of all worlds - yes, the bottoms are made out of yoga mat material.  Soooo cushy and supportive, even when you wear them for an extended period of time.  I could probably run a marathon in these.....okay, maybe not, but only because you will never see me running a marathon, not because these would make my feet hurt.  The women's shoes are called Yoga Mats, and the men's shoes are called Beer Coozy (no, fellas, buying these won't make you any less masculine.)

This fella.  Okay, I promise this is not going to turn into a mush-fest, but I really just have to give my man some love this week on the blog.  I have been going through some pretty big life changes recently (hence the reason for my blogging hiatus - more on this later) and he has been nothing less than amazing.  So supportive, patient, understanding, and caring - I could not ask for anything more.  Really, if this is what the unconditional love of marriage feels like, this is the best decision I have ever made.  (But honey, I would appreciate it if you would put the toilet paper back on the holder when you get out a new roll instead of sitting it beside the holder.  See, it's not all hearts and sparkles in my eyes......I kid, I kid.)

Chicks, Ducks, & Bunnies - version 2.0.  These Sweettart jellybeans were an accidental discovery, originally purchased during a moment of desperation when sugar was essential and no CDB's were to be found.  And my oh my, what a discovery.  Not only do these jellybeans come in 6 flavors instead of 3 flavors like the CDB's, but you can also eat a lot more of these before your mouth starts to get raw.  They might have less calories too, I can't say that for a fact, but jellybeans are generally lower-calorie so we'll just go with it to make ourselves feel better.  I encourage you to try them ASAP, and I'll trade you my yellows for your purples.

Giovanni's Pizza.  Oh hello delicious, how are you today?  You Ashland people know what I'm talking about.  Giovanni's Pizza, for those of you that don't know, is hands down the best pizza in the world.  Greasy, thin, and smothered in toppings, you just can't beat it.  I believe Giovanni's is a regional delicacy but I was so happy to discover that there is a Gio's in Winchester.  Sometimes it's just nice to have a little reminder of home.

What are you loving this Wednesday???

Crazy Things We Do For Love...Red River Gorge

I'll be the first to admit it....I'm not what you would call an "outdoors" kind of girl.  Far from it.  In fact, other than my newfound interest in gardening, my idea of "outdoors activity" is lounging by a pool in the summer....and don't even think about suggesting I do anything outdoors in the winter.  If there's one thing I hate more than green vegetables, it's cold weather.

That said, you can imagine the predicament I found myself in this past summer when Daniel suggested we go camping one evening with our friends Scott and Amanda at the Red River Gorge.  Are you kidding me?  Camping to me is, let's go to a creek and run around for awhile, maybe roast some hot dogs, definitely make s'mores, and then we can go home to sleep or go to a hotel, as long as there's indoor plumbing and a bed.  Unfortunately this does not align with the male idea of camping.....so it was sleep in a tent, or disappoint Daniel, neither of which I really wanted to do.

Luckily I remembered that due to a prior commitment, we had to be somewhere that particular morning and so there was just no way I could spend Saturday night in a tent.  I agreed that we could leave early Saturday morning and meet Scott & Amanda to hang out for the day and come back to town that night.

I'll be honest with you, camping wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be.  Although according to everyone else, I didn't go camping, I went "camping" because it's not really camping unless you stay in a tent.  I beg to differ.  But I did learn a few things that I would like to share with you now:

1.  Old Navy flip flops are not made for walking in a creek.  While I love a good pair of $3.50 flip flops, the thinness of these flops do not provide for a particularly enjoyable experience while walking on rocks in a creekbed.  However, going barefoot is not really an option either as that hurts even more.  I know, I tried doing it both ways.  The solution?  Wear the cheap flops long enough to get you to a clearing where you can sit down on a towel, and park it.  There's no need to be walking around in a creek anyway.  Unless you are trying to catch crawdads, in which case....

2.  Make sure you bring appropriate wildlife-catching equipment.  Amanda and I quickly discovered that catching crawdads, while a good way to pass the time and have a friendly competition, is just not possible with your bare hands.  I spent about two hours trying to catch a minnow and I just gave up.  We sent the boys to the "general store" to pick up some things and they came back with a net.  Bingo!!!  Amanda & I started catching all kinds of stuff.  I will caution you that if you decide to temporarily keep your wildlife in a container, make sure you cover it, for crying out loud.  I finally caught one of those fish and he jumped right out of the container.

3.  Don't wear scented lotion, unless it's scented with citronella.  Yes, I know, I really should have thought about this, but while fulfilling my desire to have soft skin, I turned myself into a one-woman bug attractor.  It was insanity.  I've always had a problem with mosquitoes but this was absolutely ridiculous.  Trust me on this one, just skip body lotion for the day and you'll be fine.

I thought perhaps I had escaped any future camping trips, but as it turns out, Daniel & I are getting married so I'm guessing this is going to be a yearly adventure for me.  I'll be ready...as soon as I buy some of those rubber-soled water shoes.

You Like Me....You Really Like Me!

I apologize for my two week hiatus from blogging.....I really do.  You might have thought I was running around doing fun wedding planning things, but....not so much.  No, I've been spending my time at the ol' workplace, working some fabulous 13 hour days, and a strange daily schedule to compensate for said 13-hour days.  Yes folks, it's Telefund time, which for those of you who don't know is my station's longest annual on-air fundraising pledge drive.  It lasts for 16 nights and while I don't have to work every night, I have to work enough nights to make me cuh-razy.  Although I will say, the little bit of wedding planning I have started to do has been a real eye-opener.....but more on that later.

It's pretty amazing to me that even though I have been MIA for two weeks, I still received another blog award!  You guys like me...you really like me!  A big thank you to sweet Jessica at Running Through Life in High Heels for my Stylish Blogger Award...if you haven't checked out her blog, make sure you take a look - it's so cute!

Here are the rules:

1. Link back and thank the person that gave you the award.
2. Share 7 things about yourself.
3. Award 5 recently discovered blogs.
4. Contact them and tell them about their award.

 

Without further adieu, 7 things you may or may not know about me:

1.  I have a strong aversion to green vegetables and will avoid them at any cost. Strangely enough, I do like lima beans and peas and those seem to be vegetables most people hate. 

2.  Although I was raised in Ashland, I was born in Huntington, West Virginia (my mom's obstetrician was there.)  Sometimes I cheer for WVU since technically I am a Mountaineer by birth (do I like to admit this?  No.)  I like to say I have dual "state-ship" which is not quite as glamorous as dual citizenship.

3.  I am a dog person - cats are okay, but they are so creepy. Say you're doing your makeup in the morning - you can hear a dog coming up behind you and sticking their nose in your business. Cats, on the other hand....you turn around and they have been sitting there watching you for like an hour and you didn't even know it. CREEPY.

4.  I am an only child. Once I got to high school, I started wishing I had an older brother so I could date his friends.

5.  I have a small scar on my chin where I fell on a gas can and cut myself when I was 2.

6.  I have a major sweet tooth, but can easily pass up chocolate cake, chocolate ice cream, and oatmeal raisin cookies.

7.  If I don't watch the Today show while I'm getting ready for work in the mornings, I feel totally lost and my day usually turns out to be bad.

I am passing this award on to:

Shea

Allie

Amanda

Scott

Kelly

 

Make sure and check out all of their blogs....well worth the click!  Thanks again to Jessica!



It All Comes Back to Sweettarts.

Friday was a typical day for me - I went to work, came home, kicked my shoes off, and plopped on the couch to play Angry Birds for a minute to rid myself of work stress for the weekend.  The only thing that had happened out of the ordinary was that I received my Yoga Mat flip-flops I had ordered (you'll hear more about them on Wednesday because, let me tell you, I am loving them.)  I called Daniel to see what he wanted to do for dinner and we decided I would drive over to his house and then we would pick where we wanted to eat from there.

I get to Daniel's house and nothing is amiss, so of course I had no idea what was about to happen.  We sat and watched TV for a few minutes and I kept trying to get him up and out the door because I was hungry.  Finally he got out of his chair and I got up to get my purse and car keys together so we could leave.  Just about the time I am starting to get really impatient, Daniel says to me, "I have something to give you before we go eat so stand here and close your eyes."  I reply, "Did you get me Sweettarts?"  I knew my beloved Chicks, Ducks, & Bunnies have hit the store shelves (let's be honest, I've already been through two bags) and I thought I was about to get a sweet surprise.

As it turns out.....I didn't get Sweettarts, but I did get a sweet surprise:

I opened my eyes to find him on one knee with that amazing rock.  That is an awful iPhone picture and I am not lying when I tell you it doesn't even come close to doing my ring justice.  I was stunned silent.  That never happens.  But what an endorsement for Sweettarts - did I think I was getting an engagement ring?  Oh no.  This girl just wanted some Chicks, Ducks & Bunnies.  I hope someone from the Wonka Company reads this story and sends me a check. 

After asking Daniel about 500 times if this was really happening and making sure that I was not dreaming, I realized that he really had just asked me to spend the rest of my life with him.  A flurry of phone calls and two hours later, we finally went out for dinner....although for some reason, my appetite was gone and my mind was elsewhere!

So here I am on Sunday, a fiancee.  I can honestly tell you I have never been more happy or excited in my life!  I don't know how I got lucky enough to be able to spend the rest of my life with the best person I know, but here I am.  Daniel is truly my teammate and my other half and I know it's rare for people to actually find their soulmates in this crazy world.  And he did such a wonderful job - not only is my ring more than I could have ever asked for, but he designed it himself and pulled the whole thing off without me ever finding out about it.  That's the real miracle here because I am quite the detective when I feel like something strange is going on!

I will not be turning this into a wedding planning blog because, let's face it, there are a billion of those, and why would you want to read about tasting cakes and trying on dresses when you can read about mullets?  I am sure though that my adventures in wedding planning will provide some great stories for this blog!



What I'm Loving Wednesday!

It's Wednesday, and that means I'm linking up with Jamie at This Kind Of Love to tell the world what I'm loving this week!

The Amazing Race - it's back!!!!  I have waited since December for my favorite show to start again and here it is!  I'm not sure I'm sold on the whole "Unfinished Business" season thing though.  Some of these teams I didn't like seeing the first time around and so to see them again is kind of a bummer.  My favorite teams are the cowboys (I hope they don't get eliminated this Sunday!), the Globetrotters, and Margie & Luke (the deaf guy.)  My least favorite teams are Amanda & Kris (they are not very smart) and Kent & Vyxsin.  I honestly think that Kent wears more eye makeup than I do - he is a guy, and that is not okay.  I am curious about one thing though - I had read back in December a list of the teams that were supposed to be on this season and some of them are not on - the cops (Michael & Louie), the home shopping hosts from last season, and also the Asian guy & his dad from last season.  Does anybody know any gossip on what happened here???

and

Spring treats.  It doesn't exactly feel like spring outside yet, but I know the sun & humidity will be arriving soon as both Girl Scout cookies and Chicks, Ducks, and Bunnies have arrived!!  I could have sworn I only ordered two boxes of Girl Scout cookies this year but strangely enough my bag had three boxes in it...hmm, wonder how that happened?  Oh well, I'm not complaining.  And Chicks, Ducks, and Bunnies...now that is how I got hooked on Sweettarts.  You have to be careful with these though - each piece is roughly the size of two Sweettarts and so they make your mouth raw a lot faster.  Also, they only come in pink, blue, and purple so that's kind of disappointing as I also enjoy the green Sweettarts - but clearly, this is not stopping me from eating them.  Let me offer up a word of caution - as you get towards the bottom of the Sweettart bag, many times the pieces will be covered in Sweettart dust - do not inhale as you put these in your mouth!!  You will choke and cough your head off for approximately 30 minutes, leaving your coworkers to ask you an unnecessary amount of times if you are okay.

Another spring treat - my new Dooney & Bourke.  I usually buy one new Dooney a year and my dear boyfriend made this year's purchase for me as a birthday gift.  I love Dooney's duck pattern and I am so excited for it to warm up outside so I can finally carry this colorful gem - it has been in my closet since September!  I know the bright colors are going to be an instant pick-me-up whenever I need it, and as a bonus, it's huge - perfect for all the random stuff I like to keep in my purse.  I hope I can make it until April!

This guy.  Meet Sawyer, Daniel's Great Dane.  I have started to claim him as mine, but only when he is behaving and/or does something cute or good.  When he's bad, he's 100% Daniel's dog.  Sawyer and I have what you might call a love/hate relationship - I think he loves me most of the time, but he hates me when I make him behave; and I love him most of the time, but hate him when he's sassy.  And boy, is this one sassy dog - I have never heard a dog backtalk someone like Sawyer does.  If you aren't giving him what he wants, he likes to get up in your face and do this sassy half bark-half yelp noise.  It's quite interesting what happens when a dog the size of a human decides he wants to "play" - I will admit that Sawyer & I have had quite a few physical altercations and usually I'm the one who ends up hurt or bruised.  However, I am loving Sawyer this week because he really is starting to calm down and behave better and I think we have hit a new high in our relationship.  I'm definitely a dog person, and I had forgotten how nice it is to have a dog around - I mean, look at that face...then he tries to bite your feet and the cuteness somehow disappears.

What are you loving this Wednesday?