Wordless Wednesday - Wearing RED for CONNER

Wearing red for Conner today!

So Far, So Good

Today is my fifth day on WW and I'm happy to report that so far, so good! When I was complaining on Friday about how hungry I was, it has to do mostly with the fact that I actually worked out that morning, so my metabolism was doing it's job. However, I have not worked out since then so I haven't been as hungry. Ha! Not working out has nothing to do with the fact that I'm just too lazy, but more to do with the fact that I mysteriously hurt my foot over the course of the weekend. I'm also going to bed WAY too late at night, which in turn makes me WAY too tired to get up early enough and make it to the gym. It's a vicious cycle, I tell you! ;)

As for my foot, I don't know what happened. It started hurting Saturday night out of nowhere and I didn't twist it or hit it and no one stepped on my foot. But I'm pretty sure I have a hairline fracture. It hurts to walk, it's swollen once I get home from work because I've been on it all day and it kept waking me up last night when I was trying to sleep. I think it's just from me being on my feet Friday/Saturday/Sunday getting ready for the party and cleaning up after it all. Who knows, but I sure hope it gets better because I've been having to wear flats to work all week and I feel so short and frumpy!

I'm pretty excited for tonight because Rescue Me comes back on! That's one of Kevin's and my favorite shows. It was such a cliff-hanger when the season ended last season, so I can't wait to see the first episode of the the season tonight. I also love the opening song to the show. The song is called "C'mon C'mon" by the Von Bondies. It gets stuck in my head every time!

On July 1st, starting at 12am, there will be a Blogging Day of Silence for Cohen. Click the link for more information about it if you'd like to link up and participate. I know I will be participating! :)

Also, please keep the Jones family (from Not So Bright and Shiny) in your prayers. Their first-born son, Conner, went to be with Jesus on Thursday the 24th at the age of seven. He can now breathe easy and no longer has to suffer at the awful hands of CF. Conner's story is truly amazing and the strength of his mother and family is something to be admired.

Pino Palooza Blastoff – Preparations and Decorations!

I didn’t start really getting into the preparations and decorations for the party until Friday night after work – which was a BIG mistake on my part because I was up until 2:30 Saturday morning getting things ready. Then got up at 9 and continued to decorate and get things ready until 1 when I finally got in the shower (and guests were due to arrive). But, it was all worth it because I got a lot of compliments on the house and decorations – which makes me happy :) Here is some documentation…

My special chalkboard tray. I love updating this with whatever is going on at the time!

Before the party, I wanted Kahlua to be festive too, so I was looking through all the pet stores around my area to try and find a 4th of July collar, but none came small enough. So Friday night I decided to just make my own!

I took one of Kahlua’s old collars, and luckily it was black so any screw up wouldn’t be as noticeable.

I found this cute ribbon at Michael’s and hot glued it to her collar and just wrapped it around from end to end.

Here is Kahlua sporting her “new” collar! I couldn’t really get a close-up, but I think it’s adorable and only cost me $0.30!

I made cake balls. I looked high and low for red velvet cake mix but none of the grocery stores around here sell it – at least not right now. Unbelievable! But, I think it turned out for the best that I didn’t use that mix after all. I ended up getting milk chocolate cake mix instead and I’m glad I did. One of my blog readers suggested to be careful because sometimes cake balls can be really sweet. So I was a little concerned about that, and I ended up choosing the right cake mix because they turned out just right!

It was a challenge dipping them in the almond bark, but it wasn’t too bad. As you can see I piped some designs on them to make them a little more festive. These things were such a hit! Everyone loved them and kept asking me for the recipe. I kept them in the refrigerator the whole time because it was so hot out that I didn’t want them to get soggy or the almond bark to melt, so it was a nice, refreshing dessert that everyone could just pop in their mouth and enjoy! I think these will be my new specialty ;)

Silverware container with some festive stuff.

Entryway

The island before all the food. This white tablecloth was super great. It’s waterproof and stain resistant, so I didn’t have any problem using it for the BBQ. Plus, it kept the counter from getting damaged (since we have untreated, black granite countertops).

I put some confetti wire around the chandelier.

I wanted to make a table runner out of some 4th of July fabric for the center of the island, but I ended up not being that motivated. So I just sprinkled 4th of July confetti on the island instead. Ha!

Little 4th of July dude.

I had meant to find red, white and blue candies to put in my glass containers, but I completely forgot. So I put these mini American flags in them instead. I thought it turned out cute.

The keg area in one of the cubby-holes in the backyard. I set up the cups with a marker so everyone could right their name on them (and we could save on wasting cups and garbage). It worked out great.

Little American flags along one of the flower beds in the backyard.

Sparkly decorations in the potted plants.

We pulled out our bar (that usually stays in the laundry room, covered up and used for storage). It came in very handy!

A few more decorations for another cubby hole where the ice chest was full of sodas and water.

  The front of the house. It’s hard to see all the decorations so here are some close-ups…

I found this metal flag at Home Depot.

I got this at Michael’s on sale for only $1.99!

Also got this at Michael’s – not on sale though (boo).

Found this at TJ Maxx!

I was very pleased with the way it all turned out :)

Pino Palooza Blastoff!

Was a success! We had a great turnout, great food and fun games that included Cornhole and Ladder Golf. I think we had a little over 20 people. I took a lot of pictures so this post will include the party itself. I’ll do another post of the decorations and such.

I was very proud of this picture because I had the idea to use the self-timer. Genius! ;) This was some of the group later on.

Guests enjoying the spread.

Little brother!

Kevin’s boss, Russell, and his wife, Alexis.

Kevin’s co-worker, Elizabeth, and her little sister, Catherine. Kevin and another of his co-workers, Andrew.

Kyle, Bryce, Matt (Kevin’s brother) and Kahlua!

Kevo and me!

Cornhole! This game is so fun!

Kahlua got a lot of attention that day!

Shots, shots, shots-shots-shots!

Christina, Quinn and Kahlua!

Jeff, Matt and Kyle being silly

Jeff, and Kevin’s co-worker, Kaitlynn.

Matt and Kyle posing prom-style with a bottle of Maker’s Mark (yuck!).

Kahlua was so exhausted by the end of the day! She was glad anyone would hold her!

I swear I do have friends, and I did invite them, but none of my girlfriends could make it :( That just means we’ll have to have another one! Ha!

Decoration pictures coming up next! Hope ya’ll had a great weekend!

Procrastinating

It's what I do best (besides clean). I have a paper due in about an hour and 45 minutes and I DO NOT WANT TO DO IT! Now I know why I was so relieved when I finished my Masters two years ago. I don't like school! I am grateful that I get to take this class and my company is paying for it, so I can't complain too much. ;) I think what is making this all the more difficult is that it's about 90 degrees (88 degrees to be exact) in our house right now, and it's after 10 at night! Our A/C has decided to continue to not work and it's made today so miserable. My computer makes the office incredibly hot (because it's old) so I've waited until this evening to start my paper in the hopes it'd cool down. Didn't happen. So I took Kevin's work laptop outside and started on it in the backyard where it was cool...until the bugs decided to join me.

So now I'm back inside writing on the island in the kitchen - with a fan in my face. I swear I've been a ball of sweat today. I'm going to take a nice COLD shower before I get into bed tonight to help me cool off so I can attempt to sleep peacefully.

Our BBQ yesterday turned out wonderful! We had a great turnout, awesome food and fun games. We couldn't have asked for a better party. I'll post about it tomorrow when I don't have a paper to write and it's (hopefully) not so hot.

I've been waiting for summer to get here forever because it seemed like winter never wanted to leave. Now I'm pretty much eating my words. I'd much prefer winter over this ridiculous heat any day. I think Margaux would agree with me too ;)

Well, I guess I should resume writing my paper. I only have a closing paragraph and bibliography left to do, so it's not that bad. But like I said, I'm good at procrastinating!

Day 1

Today is my first day on Weight Watchers and .... I'M HUNGRY! Ha! I know, I know. All you WW rookies out there are saying I shouldn't be hungry. But I am. It's only my first day so I'm still working on eating foods that are "filling" and finding snacks that are no points. But as of today, I've been starving 24/7. Also, I used to eat really big portions, to the point that I was overstuffed, and pretty much still full when it was time for the the next meal to come around. But now, the portions are tiny (a.k.a. reasonable and healthy ;)) and I'm hungry about an hour after I eat and it feels like FOR-EV-ER until I can eat my next meal. It'll get better though, I know it.

The good thing was that I wasn't surprised at my weight when I weighed in yesterday. It was exactly what I thought it would be. It probably helps that I've had a WW scale at my house and it's good to know that my scale and the WW scale at the center work the same. It'll help me with no surprises each week when I go to weigh in.

I have no less than 61,853 errands to run and things to do after work tonight to get ready for this party tomorrow. I went to Lucky last night and can you believe that they didn't carry red velvet cake mix!? I was flabbergasted (I really like that word and the fact that I was able to use it in this sentence just now! ha!)! They also didn't have any cute flowers (because ya'll know how I love fresh cut flowers when company comes over). So tonight I'm going to Safeway to see if I can complete my search of these last few things.

Tomorrow morning I'll post pics of the decorations before everyone shows up. I have a hard time not going overboard, and last night I went to the $1 Store and they had a ton of 4th of July decorations and I had to restrain myself and actually place things back on the shelf (regretfully) so I'm not overdoing it just for a BBQ.

What's everyone else doing this weekend???

20 Tid-Bits

I thought I'd give you 20 tid-bits about me...

1.) I like to clean. A LOT. I will usually clean our house once a week (dust, vacuum, sweep, mop, scrub kitchen counters and bathrooms). About every three months I'll do a deep clean which involves the floorboards and blinds. I figure it'll just save me time cleaning whenever we decide to move again. And about every six months I clean the windows. I do my best thinking when I clean! Ha!

2.) I was a ballet dancer for 12 years. I started when I was six, and stopped when I went off to college when I was 18. I also did jazz, hip-hop and a little tap and competed in competitions. I wasn't professional or anything like that, it was more of an after school activity. I met quite a few friends during that time and still keep in touch with some of the girls to this day. If it weren't for Alicia's mom, Denise, (Alicia is my best friend, Michelle's, sister), I would've never started ballet. Denise took Michelle and I to ballet every week. Thank you Denise! :)

3.) I was also a ballet, jazz and acrobats instructor for three years. I'd teach little girls from the ages of three to seven. The three-year-olds were absolutely adorable!!!

4.) I bite my nails. I hate this habit! I think it's gross, but I can't stop :( I stopped for a while after I broke a tooth biting a nail once (pathetic, huh?), but started up again. I usually bite my nails when I'm anxious or nervous about something. But, I'm trying to stop again. Ha!

5.) When I put deodorant on, I always put it on the left armpit first, and then the right one. And I always do five swipes on each armpit, and I count them each time. LOL!

6.) I HATE when I'm wearing socks, and I step in something wet. It angers me to no end! One, it's gross because you never know what you step in (dog pee, egg yolk, juice, etc.). And two, it's a waste of a pair of socks!

7.) I was a cheerleader for three years in high school and I still miss it so much! However, there's no way at this point that I could do any of those moves today. However, I can bust out a move every now and then ;)

8.) I love to bake, but I'm not a very good cook. Make sense?

9.) I LOVE ranch dressing on almost anything. I'll eat it with potatoes, fries, pizza, tacos, chili, hot wings...you name it, and I'll probably want ranch on it.

10.) I have the exact same routine every single morning (well, on work days). I get up, shower, dry off, put my hair in the towel, put lotion on, use a Q-tip in my ears, put face lotion on, brush my hair out and put a headband on, put my makeup on (except mascara), wash my hands, blow dry my hair, hairspray my hair, brush my teeth, put deodorant on (see #5), put lipstick on, get dressed, put jewelry and perfume on, then apply mascara. I do this exact same routine every time I get ready for work! On weekends I'll deviate every now and then ;)

11.) I cannot fall asleep unless Kahlua is curled up on the left side of me at night.

12.) I HAVE to wear earplugs and an eye mask every time I go to sleep. Otherwise, I'll be laying there wondering what every little sound is outside or in the house. Once we have kids, I won't be able to do that anymore, though. :(

13.) Most of my friends live pretty far away from me. Either on the other side of the state, or out of state altogether! I miss them all a lot, but thank goodness for Facebook and blogs!

14.) I would've been the oldest of three children. My mom was pregnant between my brother and me, but she miscarried. :( I always wonder if I would've had a sister, or a second brother. It would've been nice to have a little bit of a bigger family, but I love my family the way it is now too.

15.) I DO NOT like roller blading! One time I went with Michelle and her parents to Tahoe and we stayed in a condo for a few days. It was during the summer so we decided to go roller blading down this dreadfully steep hill (I was probably 10 at the time). Michelle was really good at roller blading so she takes off and I try to follow. Well, I was afraid to use the brakes so once the end of the hill came I didn't know what I was going to do so I decided to just drop and roll my body to a stop. Ouch! Needless to say, I never attempted roller blading again.

16.) I'm not a fan of the beach. I would much prefer to lay out by a pool. The sand at the beach just seems dirty to me and gets into every little crevice. I also do not like the ocean. Party pooper!

17.) I'm pretty shy in public settings. I don't like to draw attention to myself (why was I a dancer and cheerleader then???) and get embarrassed really easily. When I think of getting married I get so anxious because I don't want everyone looking at me as I walk down the aisle. LOL! Weird!

18.) I LOVE BABIES! I've mentioned this on my blog before, but I really do. I love reading about girls who are pregnant and see all their prego pictures. And then when they have the baby I can't get enough of the baby pictures. My friend Maygan's sister is due to have a little girl in about four weeks and I'm so excited I can hardly contain myself! I'll get to see baby Kyra in August. It can't get here fast enough!

19.) I've had five surgeries: I had my adenoids removed when I was two (I think), I've had two sets of tubes put in my ears, I've had my tonsils removed and I've had knee surgery. Hopefully there aren't any more surgeries in my future because I DO NOT do well with the anesthesia.

20.) Kevin and I hardly argue. We will bicker at each other, but we never get into fights. It makes for a peaceful home :)

That's me!