What I'm Loving Wednesday!

I can't believe it's already Wednesday!  This week has flown by.  

Here are a few things I'm loving today...

I'm loving that there are only 6 weeks of law school left!  SO ready for it to be over.

I'm loving that I'm actually sore from working out last night.  I did some P90X lower body, and being this sore probably means I'm about as in shape as this old lady in the flowery shirt, but hey, it's a start.

I'm loving that I made all of our dining reservations for our honeymoon at Disney World!  I think I'm most excited about the California Grill (in the picture above).  It's at the top of the Contemporary resort and I made a reservation for a time that we can see the Magic Kingdom fireworks while we eat!

I'm loving that it's supposed to be a beautiful weekend, and hopefully this will be my view starting on Friday!

Link up over at Jamie's blog and tell us what you're loving!

Ten on Tuesday!

Thanks as always to Chelsea at Roots and Rings for getting this thing together every week!


1.  What is your cleaning style like?
Y'all, I chuckled when I read this question.  My cleaning style?  Turn on the Roomba, shove things in drawers that shouldn't be hanging out on the table/countertops/couch so that I can frantically wonder where I put them later, and maybe wipe down counters and tables.  That's really it.  Sad.


2.  What is you favorite thing to add to an outfit to take it from casual to classy?
Again, I'm feeling like this is assuming that taking an outfit "from casual to classy" is something within my skill set.  Lord.  I mean, I suppose cuter shoes?  That aren't my beat up Rainbow leather flip flops or moccasins?  Also maybe earrings.  I do have a few pairs of big, crazy earrings that I wear when I'm feeling extra fancy.


3.  Do you like stormy weather?
I'm not terrified of storms, but I'm not a big fan either.  When I was little and stayed with my grandmother, whenever there was any kind of summer storm, we'd have to go get the weather radio out, gather up the flashlights/battery lanterns, and sit on the stairs to the basement.  And also we'd have to be quiet, I guess because the storm might otherwise find us?  So I never enjoyed storms then because a) my grandmother was scaring me about how we were likely going to be blown into the next county and b) it always threw a kink in my plans to play dollhouses or run around the house naked or whatever else I did at her house as a kid.  I guess that same attitude holds true for me today.  Not a huge fan.


4.  What is your favorite cold treat on a hot day?
I love ice cream.  Especially ice cream sandwiches.  I could eat 900 ice cream sandwiches and not think twice about it.


5.  What is your favorite warm treat on a cold day?
Let's be honest, I love treats.  I'm worse than the dog - you say "treat," I come running.  I would be predictable and say coffee, and I do love coffee but I don't usually consider it such a treat because I drink it all the time. Instead, I'm going with Chinese food.  There's nothing better than some wonton soup when it's freezing cold outside.


6.  Who is your favorite animated character?
Ariel from The Little Mermaid.  I went through a pretty big phase as a kid where I'd only answer to Ariel.  And I still want to be a mermaid.  Trying to work out how to do that exactly, in lieu of getting a real job when I graduate.


7.  What do you keep your jewelry in?
When I moved into my house, my grandmother bought me an amazing new bedroom suit, and the dresser has two felt-lined, shallow drawers at the top, perfect for jewelry.  Mom also got me a jewelry tree for my birthday that I keep my more "every day" jewelry in.

8.  Do any of the rooms in your house have a theme?
Early rental?  Dorm room?  I mean...I guess I do have trees in my living room.  So maybe we'll say the living room has a forest theme.  Probably I should get some mounted squirrels for added effect.  

You like how I left stuff (including Twyla) on the couch when I took that picture?  Nice.

9.  Do you watch any interior design TV shows - if so, what is your favorite?
Clearly I don't watch a lot of design shows - I mean I have trees in my living room, come on.  Though I do love to watch HGTV when they do the tour of the dream home you can win.  Still trying to figure out how to win one of those in the near future too.


10.  When was the last time you did something risk-taking?
Uh.  I jumped off the second level of the dock at the lake house last summer?  I went zip lining and parasailing in Mexico right after I graduated college?  Last week I bought a new flavor of CoffeeMate that I'd never had before?  Take your pick.  I'm SO adventurous, obviously.

Book Club!

I'm going to join up with the Bookend Bloggers this month for their reading of The Pioneer Woman's Black Heels to Tractor Wheels. 

I have to admit, I bought it on Kindle about a week ago and I'm about 90% done with it, so I'm a little ahead of schedule already, since the first discussion questions are going to be posted this Sunday.  Whoopsies.  Jumped the gun a little.

But I'm still going to be participating, because it's a sweet, happy little book and I'm enjoying it so far!  If you want to join up, grab a copy (or a Kindle download, whatever the case may be) of P-Dub's book and get cracking!  It's a fast, easy, happy read - perfect for sunny spring days when you don't feel like reading about anything sad.

Hope some of y'all read along!

Sunday Mish Mash

Y'all, I have been SO LAZY today.  This whole daylight savings time thing really got me off kilter.  I'm going to complain about not being used to the time for about month, I'm going to refer to "real time" (aka before-Daylight Savings Time time) and "this stupid time it's supposed to be now," but then I'm going to be eating my words because of the glorious daylight we'll have in the evening.  I really hate getting out of class, or just having a busy afternoon, and feeling like the whole day is over at 5pm because it's super dark outside.  Daylight Savings Time means glorious runs in the evening because it's still warm out, dinner on the screened porch, and working in the flowerbeds and getting my spring planting done because it just seems like there's so much more time!

Yesterday, we went to a family cookout and bridal shower for my cousin and his soon-to-be-wife.  I wish I had taken pictures, because my cousin S hosted it and did such a great job.  Marinated chicken kabobs, salad, fruit, fancy cheese, and the cutest little individual cheesecakes in flower-shaped baking cups that I have ever seen.  I love to cook, and I love to make baked treats that I slave to make delicious, but I very rarely make pretty food.  It's something I need to work on.

Speaking of food, I made orange dreamsicle cupcakes the other night.  I was quite proud of them, because they're sort of my own creation and I have to say, they might be one of my favorite desserts, ever.  You might have seen my post about orange birthday cake for PB's birthday last year, and these are similar.  But y'all, when I make these cupcakes, I fill them with vanilla pudding, and I make cream cheese frosting.

I took them to a cookout that we did with PB's family on Friday night, and I didn't come home with one. Single. Cupcake.  Not to toot my own horn (I hate self-horn-tooting), but you gotta make these, because people will want to build a shrine to you.  And they are easy-peasy.

Cupcake Ingredients:
1 box yellow cake mix (has just got to be Duncan Hines)
1 2/3 cup orange juice (I always use the high-pulp kind)
3 tsp orange zest
1/2 cup oil
3 eggs
1 box instant vanilla pudding mix
1 tsp vanilla

Mix all cake ingredients together with an electric mixer.  Pour into muffin pan lined with cupcake papers.  Bake at 350 in preheated oven for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Meanwhile - mix together two cups cold milk and another box of vanilla pudding.  Let set in refrigerator while cupcakes bake.

Then, use a pastry bag with a big star tip to fill baked cupcakes with vanilla pudding.

Make any cream cheese frosting you like (butter, cream cheese, powdered sugar, vanilla) and frost completely cooled and filled cupcakes.  I didn't post a frosting "recipe" per se because I really don't use one anymore - it's basically just half a stick of butter, a pack of cream cheese, creamed together, then add 2-3 cups powdered sugar and a teaspoon or so of vanilla.  If it gets too stiff, add a few teaspoons of milk.  Wait, that kind of sounds like I just articulated a recipe.  So, yeah!  Make it like that!

And these darlings are what you come up with:

I promise, promise, promise - they are amazing.  

Please don't think you are going to make them better by skipping the cake mix and using flour.  This is an unfortunate mistake I have made before. Let me make you a promise because I like you and I don't want you to waste time.  Unless you are making a sponge cake or a pound cake, USE. A. CAKE. MIX.  I hate to be all bossy, but take it from a girl who has wasted time and flour thinking she was overachieving with "from scratch" cupcakes.  They don't taste as good.  They ain't as impressive.  They get crumbly.  Use a cake mix.  

I was horribly disappointed with the last cupcake I had that was bought from a baker - and I know it was because homegirl worked real hard and didn't use a cake mix.  Dry, crumbly, no bueno.  So there's my speech for you for the day.  Like I said, hate to be bossy, but it has to be said, 'cause ain't nobody else gonna say it.

Anywho.  Last night we went to T and J's house for delicious steak, mashed potatoes, Velveeta shells (I could eat a whole box of those), salad, and garlic bread.  That huge meal, combined with a few glasses of wine, combined with daylight savings time, made me wake up to see 10:15 on the clock this morning and make me feel like a huge slob.

Time to go for a run, so that I can earn my viewing of Sister Wives, and some spaghetti with homemade sauce which involves Italian sausage.  Super excited.  Happy Sunday, y'all!

Until next time - love from PB and Peg!

An Award? Me?

Adrian over at Happy Girls are the Prettiest Girls was sweet enough to give me my first-ever blog award!  Thanks so much, Adrian!

  

Rules:
{each  blogger had different rules, so I'm doing both!}

1} Thank and link back to the lovely ladies who gave me the award, gotcha!

2} Write 7 random facts about yourself/answer 10 questions

3} Pass this award along to a few other bloggers

4} Leave the a note letting them know about the award

7 Random Facts About Me

1)  I hate cold syrup on pancakes or waffles, and I hate sandwiches.  Syrup has got to be from the fridge, or at the very least, room temperature, before it's tolerable.  And I might eat a fancy sandwich from a place like Panera, or a burger - but plain white bread out of a bag and lunch meat?  Cannot stand.  I know, that's weird and probably makes  me a Communist.  I can't help it.

2)  I picked out my own engagement ring.  It's not something I advertise to a lot of people, because I hate justifying it, but it makes me happy.  I picked it out probably nine months or so before we ever got engaged, and I had no idea when we would, but I knew how much PB had saved, and I knew what I wanted, and he didn't, so it just made sense.  I figure that you wouldn't let someone else pick out your wedding dress that you'll wear for one day, so why would you let someone else pick out your engagement ring that you'll wear every day until forever?

3)  When I buy new clothes, even if it's just a $10 top from Target that I happen to really like, I'm terrible about not wearing them.  I'll think I should save it for a "more special" occasion, or that I don't want to spill something on it, or wear it out too quickly.  So that's why I end up wearing the same 5 ratty t-shirts all the time.  Probably this speaks to some greater psychosis I have.  

4)  Speaking of being psychotic, I'm afraid of balloons.  I always picture that they're going to pop suddenly and fly in my face and it's going to put my eye out or something.  I know, not rational.  But I really can't watch that TLC Show, The Unpoppables, because of it.

5)  My favorite part of my house is my screened porch. I've never lived anywhere before that had one, and I'm just obsessed with it.  It's quickly becoming one of my major requirements in any house I might ever have in the future, much like a washer and dryer or say, a bathroom.

6)  I have WAY too many shoes.  Like 40 pairs too many.  But I wear all of them occasionally.  It's something of an addiction.  I don't want to talk about it.

7) I am in love with my new MacBook.  Really, all things Mac.  And I have a pink keyboard cover and a pink hard shell case on my MacBook.  One of the 1Ls in my Civ Pro class made a comment about how she liked it but wouldn't get one because it was "probably not professional enough for law school."  I laughed in her face and this makes me a bad person.  But I love my pink, and homegirl has a lot to learn if she thinks there's such a thing as "not professional enough for law school."  Maybe she hasn't seen me grunging around some days in sweatpants.  And I think they're still gonna give me a J.D., y'all!

10 questions:

1} Why did you create this blog? 

I really have no idea.  I started it a long time ago, probably because I was so enjoying reading some other blogs.  I abandoned it and restarted a few times, but no worries, I'm here to stay.

2} What kinds of blogs do you follow? 

Goodness, everything.  Pretty sure I have over 300 unread items on my Google reader right now, so if you haven't been seeing comments from me lately, I apologize!  I'll get to you.  But I follow everyone from college girls to engaged girls to young married girls, to girls with a few kiddos.  I don't discriminate! 

3} Favorite makeup brand? 

Love Bare Minerals.  Does anyone NOT wear Bare Minerals anymore?  I swear I think everyone I know does.  But I love it, it's light and doesn't get all cakey and have lines.

4} Favorite clothing brand? 

If I had a million dollars? Anthropologie.  But y'all, I am SO CHEAP when it comes to clothes.  I can honestly tell you that as much as I like some things from Anthro and J. Crew, I dont own a single item from either one of them.  My wardrobe is pretty much Target and Old Navy.  But I really prefer to have a big variety of things to wear rather than just a few more expensive things.

5} Indispensable makeup product? 

Definitely mascara, hands down.

6}Favorite color? 

You read the part about my pink MacBook, right?  I can't grow out of the Lisa Frank stage, apparently.

7} Favorite perfume? 

I got some Burberry perfume for Christmas two years ago and have been wearing it ever since.  Wait, probably two years is too long to keep one bottle of perfume.  Or not?  Who knows about this?  Opinions, please.

8}Favorite Film? 

Probably Pulp Fiction.  Seen it a million and one times.

9} What country would you like to visit and why? 

Would loveeeeee to go to Greece, because it looks amazing and I've been obsessed with it ever since I made PB take me to see Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.  Really anywhere in Europe, especially England - I'm a big history buff, I'd love to go see some historical sites!  (Nerd alert.)

10} Would you rather forget to put blush on one cheek, or mascara on one eye? 

Definitely rather forget one side of blush.  Because mascara is vitally important, and you can always wipe that blush off the one side real quick so as not to look so strange.

Okay, time to hand out my awards!  Gah, this was hard.  Not only are these some of the blogs (out of many) that I love, I think a few of them may be blogs that y'all are not reading yet!  So go check them out!

Of course, to *Lia at BTDoubleyou

*Garnet at Mining Garnet

*Brandi at Take These Chances

*Jessica at Life.

*Claire at Bicoastally

So, repost, answer the questions or do the random facts (or be like me, overachieve, and do both, ha!)  And then the hard part, pick a few blogs and pass it along!

What I'm Loving Wednesday

It's midterm week, and thus I'm not on my normal schedule, and I have my days of the week all screwed up, which almost caused me to forget that it's Wednesday and thus time for...

I'm loving that my silver glitter TOMS finally came in the mail on this gross, rainy day!

They added some much-needed sparkle to my day. I even went so far as to rock them with black pants for my midterm hypothetical negotiation. And I got my fake client a lot more money than I thought I could have, even though I am a notoriously terrible negotiator. I think they're officially a good luck charm.

I'm loving that there is a big pot of red beans and sausage in the slow cooker, to eat over rice for dinner.

Perfect for a rainy night in!

I'm loving that Peggy Sue is not fussy when it comes to the rain. She has not let it disrupt any of her outdoor wiener dog activities. She doesn't seem to care that she is soaking wet.

She just thinks she is going to get more sausage from the crock pot.

I'm loving that PB knows the laundry is stressing me out and promised to help me tackle Mt. Washmore this afternoon.

Thank goodness.

I'm loving that I decided to blow dry my hair despite the rain. And I didn't get soaked, and my blow dry survived.

Yay!

What are you loving this Wednesday?

Wedding, wedding, wedding!

It's been awhile since I updated you on the wedding planning, and since we got a few more big things checked off the list, I decided we were in need of a wedding post!

A few weeks ago, my maid of honor, J, and my mom went bridesmaid dress shopping with me.  Because J is the only in-town attendant I have, I figured the easiest thing to do would be to go to David's Bridal, so that my other girls wouldn't have to worry about finding a shop that carried a certain designer and other complicated issues.  Otherwise, I'll tell you - we wouldn't have been at David's.

When we first got there, it was of course packed because it was a Sunday afternoon.  Our mistake.  We were patient though, and contented ourselves to browse the racks of dresses while we waited for our name to be called for a fitting room.  Mom was trying on a few mother of the bride options too, and so Mom, J and I were all walking around, grabbing dresses in different styles and sizes, so we could have a good selection when we finally got a fitting room.

Cue the David's Bridal employee, who came up to the three of us, and said in her little sorority voice, "Um, actually we have a rule that limits you to trying on three dresses per person."  And then she kind of gave us a blank look as we all stood there, holding our eight-or-so dresses apiece.  Now cue Mom's head beginning to slowly rotate on her shoulders and her eyes narrowing to a squint.  "Well, we are here to buy dresses.  I don't know how we're supposed to buy a dress from you people if you won't let us try them on."  The David's sorority sister employee responded with, "Wellll, it just makes it too hard for us to have to put dresses away if people have more than three."  Mom's head is now almost in full-on exorcist rotation and she's getting louder when she says, "Do I need to give you $20 so you can do your job and let us try on some dresses that we're planning to buy from you?"

So me, Ms. Anti-Confrontation-Cower-in-the-Corner, is trying to shush Mom, people are looking, I'm horrified that attempting to try on dresses has somehow turned into what is quickly becoming a duel situation, and the David's bridal sorority sister finally scuttles away, back to the front.  I think the conversation that ensued up there must have been something like, "There's a crazy lady back there who's going to go postal if she doesn't get a fitting room, and probably they're also going to take every dress we have off the racks and throw them in the floor if they're alone for five more minutes."  Whatever it was, our little temper tantrum had been effective, because we got a new, perkier David's representative, and we got not one, but two fitting rooms.

Poor Mom and J must have tried on fifty dresses, some of them in multiple sizes, some of them multiple times just because I wanted to see them again.  Well, finally we settled on a bridesmaid dress.  We took our dress of choice to the front, waited in line at the register for another 20 minutes, and J tried to order her dress, only to be told, "Who told you this dress came in your color?  It doesn't come in your color."

No worries, I thought, we had had a hard time picking between two dresses anyway, and I quickly offered up the back-up dress.  J once again tried ordering our color and her size and told the cashier that she needed to order it in extra length because J is 5'10" and gorgeous and we don't want her looking like she is getting ready for a flood even without her heels on.  Foiled again.  Cashier lady says, "Oh, didn't you see the catalog?  You have to get one with a plus symbol next to it to be able to have extra length, this one doesn't come in extra length."  Indeed, there are only about five long dresses that they carry that come in extra length.  None of which were dresses we had tried on.  Oh. My. Lord.

So it was back to the fitting room, back to pulling dresses, and thank goodness, the first dress with extra length available that she tried on looked lovely.  It came in the correct color, it's (hopefully) going to fit, and I put all of our options in the computer so everyone can find them.  And here they are!

The upside to having all that extra time waiting around on a fitting room meant that we also got to play around in the shoe section.  J spotted these awesome shoes, and even though I was just going to tell people to wear whatever since we have long dresses, these shoes stole my heart.

You know, classy-stripper-fabulous.  And they're similar enough to my shoes that I think they're going to make for some great photo opportunities.  J swears they're super comfortable, and I figured everyone could use a good pair of hot silver sandals to wear out with jeans or a cute dress.  Mandating bridesmaid things still makes me feel like a bridezilla, and J keeps having to talk me down from going all hippie and telling everyone to wear whatever and just show up.  I love what we picked though, and I can't wait to see how gorgeous everyone's going to look!