06/22

Friday Randomness…

In no particular order…

Random #1:  A couple weekends ago, my baby boy & I went to a food truck rally downtown.  I’ve heard of people spending the day hitting different food trucks and whatnot, in cool cities like New York or Chicago, but we don’t really have that here in Jax.  There are laws that prevent the trucks from parking and doing business certain places so the trucks end up all over the city in different spots.  They are hoping to get those laws changed and make our city a little cooler so they organized a food truck rally to raise awareness.  There were 10 trucks, in one location, $1 per person to participate (plus whatever food you bought).  The $1 participation went straight to the charity, Second Harvest of NE FL.  It was rainy that morning, but I really wanted to try some yummy food truck goodness so I decided a little rain wouldn’t hurt us.  My boy ended up loving it and we had fun trying some different foods, even though it was difficult trying to hold the umbrella and eat said food.

Below was my dessert for the day…a delicious white chocolate warm bread pudding served in a waffle cone from Monroe’s on the Go!  It was SO good!

Random #2:  You might not be aware of this, but there’s an internet craze going around lately called “no heat curls” or “headband curls”.  Basically, you quickly wrap your hair around a headband, keep it in for a few hours or overnight, and then in the morning you have gorgeous curls with minimal effort.  Sounds easy enough, ya?  Well, I tried them one night and my stupid hair wouldn’t stay in the headband.  I tried multiple times until my arms got tired of being in the air and I got too frustrated to keep trying.  I realized that I needed to do some more research and try again another day.  I found a couple more videos and knew what to change and try differently the next time.  Fast Forward to last weekend.  I was getting ready and really did not want to blow dry my hair out, so I figured I’d put it up in the headband, keep it in while I was getting ready and then see what it looked like.  Worst thing that could happen would be that I would just put all my hair in a ponytail…what did I have to lose?  Now, truth be told, they weren’t completely heatless.  Once I got all my hair wrapped I put the blow dryer on it for a few minutes to dry my hair the rest of the way.  I didn’t know how long I would be able to keep the headband in so I wanted to at least make sure my hair got dry.  Total time in the headband was about 1 hr.  I was so stoked with my results!

There are a ton of videos out there that show you how to do headband curls, but here’s one to get you started.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLeSKaPaUOA&w=500&h=375]

The video is pretty basic.  I found out after researching that you want to dry your hair mostly, but not all the way and you probably want to put some kind of product in it before hand.  Plus, when you get to the back, you might need some bobby pins to hold some of the hair in place and the back sections need to be wrapped around a few times until you just enough left to tuck in.  You’ll need to experiment a little and see what works for your hair type, but this is what I found worked for me.  It only took one try this time and they all stayed in place.

Random #3:  Traveling is stressful!  I’m about to leave on a trip to Washington D.C., with my girl for her end of the year Safety Patrol trip, and I’m fa-reaking out about packing.  I usually just pack everything & the kitchen sink, but I’m trying to pack light.  Plus, I’m flying there and she’s riding the bus (15hr drive) so I have to make sure she has everything she needs with her at all times.  I’m a little OCD about it all and I always (ALWAYS!) have to have a list.  I find that if I spend a day or two making a list and mentally going over everything we might need, then I’m less likely to forget something.  Most of the time it works, but there are the occasions that I forget an item or two.  Usually they are insignificant items though or items that can be easily purchased (i.e. lip balm, deodorant, shampoo, etc).  Every time I’m writing a packing list I am reminded of the fact that I should make a digital list and save myself a little time!  Then, I write my list, pack, travel and forget about it until next time…thus, the endless loop!  I thought it would be helpful (for me and you) if I made a digital checklist, but I started it kind of late and it’s not that great so I decided to work on it a little more.  No sense in giving you a crap list just for the sake of giving you something!  However, I did do a web search and came up with these nifty sites to help you pack next time you go on a trip.

This site is a complete website teaching you how and what to pack: http://www.onebag.com/list.html

This one gives you a bunch of items that you might need, you check all the ones that apply and then it will generate a checklist for you: http://www.independenttraveler.com/packing

This site asks you what kind of trip and for how long and then it generates the list that it thinks is appropriate:  http://upl.codeq.info/

Random #4:  I was watching the Kardashians last week (maybe the week before) and Brandon Jenner was on that episode and apparently he’s in a band with his girlfriend and they’re trying to make it big, yada, yada, yada.  I’ll spare you the play by play.  Anywho, they played a clip of one of their songs and it sounded really good.  Like, REALLY, good…like go look it up on iTunes good.  I was telling Eric about it in the car and I told him it reminded me of sunshine.  He laughed at me a little.  I’m not the best at describing.  lol.  It’s bubbly though and I like it a lot.  It’s called “Life Happens” by Brandon and Leah, but I’ll save you the trouble of looking it up…you can check out the video below.  🙂

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kyz6RiU6YQQ&w=560&h=315]

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06/20

April 366

Slowly, but surely getting caught up!  Only 2 months behind now.  🙂

April 2012 Highlights…

94/366 – We found out our girl made it into our magnet school of choice, La Villa School of the Arts!  She was so excited.

99/2 – Easter

108/366 – I made overnight oats for the first time.  Super yum and deserves a post all to itself!  I’ll write more about them another day.  🙂

116/366 – Started reading Fifty Shades of Grey series.  Loved, loved, loved them!

I missed one day this month and I’m pretty sure I’ve missed a few in the May/June time frame, but I’m still trucking along.  Can’t just quit because of a few missed pics!

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06/19

Happy Father’s Day!

I’ve been working to get caught up on my blog posts.  Albeit moving at a snails pace, but catching up nonetheless.  However, it’s super boring living in the past and although I have a ton of older stuff to share, today I’m sharing something recent.  😉

Sunday was Father’s Day and while my biological father chooses to not have a relationship with me, I have a wonderful step father who has been there since I was 6 yrs old and would do anything I asked of him.  There were a lot of times growing up when I wanted that connection with my biological father and chose to ignore the man who signed up for this job, not being bound by blood or obligation.  When, in fact, my step father was the one who has always been there for me, whether I wanted it or not.  I’m just sorry I couldn’t see that when I was younger.

Hopefully, my children will never have to go through that.  So far Eric (aka hubs) & I are 14yrs and going strong…so far, so good!  😉  Even if we weren’t together though, I’m certain he would never abandon his children.  He is an amazing dad.  He’s definitely the “fun” one of the two of us.  I’m the cuddle bug one and daddy is the one who you can have adventures with.  He’s very particular, so I usually just let him choose what he wants to do for his day.  Something else you should know about my hubs, is that he’s more of a morning person than I am.  I am a big grump in the morning.  I don’t like to get up early and if I have to, then I will not be happy about it.  So, you can imagine my mood when Eric came in at 8am on Sunday to interrupt my sleeping and cheerfully inform me that today was “his” day, here was the itinerary, we have to leave in an hour, get up!  O.M.G.  I tried to close my eyes and pretend it was a dream.  “Please be a dream, please be a dream”.  Alas, it was not.  In the back of my mind, I knew what I wanted to do…whine, be a grump, complain, etc.  However, being that he was right, today was “his” day and that his day included a whole day of family time that the kids would revel in, I decided to stuff my whining down deep, get up and start getting ready.  I was still a tad grumpy and I think I might have been called ornery as well, but I think I did pretty good considering I didn’t go to be until 3am the night before, I don’t like being woken up and I certainly don’t like surprises coupled with being woken up early.

So, like I said before, my day started with Eric abruptly waking me up (after only 5hrs of sleep!) and handing me this paper…

After OMG, I think, “Are you serious?”, was the next thing out of my mouth.  It was just a lot to take in 60 sec after being woken up.  As I mentioned above though, I sucked it up, took a mental note of what I needed to do to get ready and got started.  The above schedule was a parent itinerary.  The kids got a folder that looked like this…

Eric is awesome at thinking up fun stuff like this.  The kids were only allowed to see one item at a time and could only advance to the next item when we completed the one showing in the cut out window.  They thought this was a super fun game!  The anticipation almost killed them.  lol.

After eating breakfast and driving to our destination, first up was to hike/explore.  We visited Fort Clinch in Fernandina Beach and spent about 45min-1hr strolling around the fort and exploring.

Next on the itinerary…the beach!

The collage below pretty much sums up my beach experience…soaking up the warmth of the sun, being visited by a little crab and watching the fam play in the ocean.  One of my favorite parts of the day!

The only fault I found in Eric’s itinerary was that he had us eating lunch AFTER making an hour drive home and being out for several hours.  I knew this wasn’t going to cut it because we’d all be starving and he agreed when we started the drive home.  So, we changed it up just a bit and had some yummy Mexican restaurant goodness on our way home.

Part of our play at home time was finally trying the experiment of dropping mentos into diet coke.  It was super cool!  We all had a blast.  Next time we’ll buy more 2 liters and more mentos so we can do it several times.

We were all exhausted at the end of the day, but Eric had a great Father’s day so that’s what matters most!  Whatever ya’ll did with or for your father’s or husbands, I hope everyone’s day was awesome as well!

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06/13

March (yes, March!) 366

We’ve already established that I’m just a wee bit (said in my best irish accent) behind on my postings, so yes, I’m posting my 366 wrap up for March.  I thought I might do it a little differently than I have in the past.  Instead of just posting all of the pictures, I decided to highlight a couple of my favorites from the month.

63/366 – Hubby and I were invited to a Nerdy 30 Birthday party.  This was as nerdy as I got.  Considering I had no clue what I was going to wear, I think I did okay.

70/366 – My baby boy turned 9 this month.  I can’t believe it’s the last year that I will have a kid in single digits!

72/366 – I had my Instagrams turned into magnets.  How freaking cool is that?!

80/366 – Took Lucy-Lou to the dog park for the first time.

82/366 – I finally found some TOMS that look cute on my size 10 feet.

83/366 – Took the kids to Universal Studios Islands of Adventure!  Since I can’t ride roller coasters (motion sickness, remember?), ButterBeer from Harry Potter World was my favorite part of the day.  Other than the usual, you know, spending the day with the family, seeing the kids have so much fun riding rides, etc.  😉

91/366 – Ended the month with a bang…Hubs & I completed the Warrior Dash!  This picture is from before our race time when the skies literally opened up and poured gallons of rain down on us.  Fortunately, just before our start time, the rain stopped completely!  Thank goodness b/c the torrential downpour would have been awful to run in.

March 366 Wrap-up…

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06/12

Last, but not least…the Grand Canyon!

Be sure to check out part 1 & part 2 of my Vegas postings, if you haven’t already.  🙂

Day 5…we took a helicopter ride down into the Grand Canyon!!!  The highlight of my whole trip to Vegas.

Those who know me, know that I get motion sickness REALLY easily.  I can’t ride an airplane without taking dramamine, I can’t ride a roller coaster at all (even though I love them), heck, I can’t even passenger in a car if it’s a bad day.  So, as you can imagine, I was terrified that I wasn’t going to be able to handle a helicopter ride.  However, I couldn’t pass up an opportunity of a lifetime on the off chance that I might get sick.  I figured even if I got sick, it would still be worth it.

It was an early and cold freaking morning.  I was feeling alright, but a little nervous.  Once we got to the place where the helicopters were, I got really sick feeling and thought I was a goner for sure.  Determined to soldier on, I took my dramamine and popped a piece of ginger gum in every few minutes.  Thankfully, once we got into the helicopter, my stomach started to settle and I was able to enjoy the ride.  The view was absolutely amazing!  We even got to see the Hoover Dam on our ride into the canyon.

Flying in style…

Some photos from the helicopter of our ride in to and out of the canyon…

The Hoover Dam

Some cactus photos when we stopped to re-fuel…

Here we are INside the Grand Canyon!  It was super cool.  We got to have champagne and snacks while we hung out inside the canyon for 15 min or so.

Our pilot for the trip…a good ole southern boy.  Complete with tight jeans and boots.  😉

This was my last night in Vegas so we went to see Ka’ that night.  If you’re ever in Vegas and Ka’ is playing, definitely go see it!  It was awesome.

Finally, here I am about to leave for the airport.  So tired and chilly, but ready to get back home.

Shew!  Vegas posting is complete!  Now on to our regularly scheduled blogging…

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06/11

Vegas…Part Deux

Yeah, yeah, I know…story of my life.  This post is a REALLY late part 2 to the previous post.  I’m a sucky blogger…What can I say?  I hope to do better.  Maybe I should blog for a solid 30 days and then it will become habit.  :oP

Okay, on to part 2 of Vegas!  You know, since you’ve been waiting with bated breathe for 3 months and all, I’m thinking I ought not keep you in suspense any longer.  😉

On day 3, I went sightseeing solo.  My sister was in her conference all day, so I checked out our neighboring hotel, The New York-New York, and then took a ride on the LV Monorail.  I took the monorail to help me make my way to The Forum Shops at Caesar’s, but then decided to take the scenic route and walk down the strip back to our hotel, The MGM.  Let’s just say I was not lacking in the physical activity department that day.  😉

I passed the Paris hotel on my walk back to the MGM.  I love all the detail to all the hotels on the strip!

The M&M store was about 1 block from the MGM.  I didn’t stop in, but I’m sure the kids would have loved it if they were with me.  However, since I was kid free, I was pretty much avoiding all kids during my trip.  😉  I thought the huge Ka’ poster was appropriate since it was playing at our hotel and we would be eventually be seeing it while in town.

The Forum Shops at Caesar’s was so pretty inside.  I loved the all the statues!

Inside the mall was a freaking huge H&M…three stories!!

Annnnnd, this would be my ridiculously expensive lunch for the day.  A foot long dog, waffle fries and a tiny water.  Honestly, I wasn’t that hungry at the time, but figured I should eat something.  I only finished about half of my hotdog and 1/3 of my fries.  Definitely could have shared it with someone.

Back at the hotel…I was so happy to see this guy at the end of the day!

On to day 4…there was a huge photography conference (WPPI) coincidentally happening in our exact hotel at the exact time I was in Vegas.  Even though I don’t have a photog business anymore, I thought I’d check out the Expo and see what kind of photography goodies were on display.  Afterwards, I did some more sightseeing and hit up the Bellagio fountains & indoor gardens.  Since we were going to a dinner that night I figured I should go easy on my feet and wear tennies during the day.

The indoor gardens at the Bellagio were gorgeous!  These pictures don’t do it nearly enough justice.  I also got to watch the fountain show out front and I tried recording it, but apparently I don’t know how to use the record function on my point & shoot.  :o/  Note to self…learn your camera!

The Harley shop (and restaurant, I think)

There were plenty of street performers on my walk.  These guys were pretty cool.  When you dropped money in their bucket they would dance!

And these guys were one of the most annoying attractions on my walk.  They were on every flipping corner and there would be 3 or 4 of them!  They were handing out escort/boobie bar cards.  I wish I had gotten a pic of some of the cards.  In case you’re ever in Vegas, don’t take one of their cards unless you want to see some T&A.  😉

My pedometer steps for the day and my treat for walking my hiney off.

That night was a dinner at THEHotel and bar.  The food and atmosphere were awesome, but the bathroom was definitely the highlight of the night.  I know what you’re thinking…dang, she must have really had to potty!  After you see us all spiffy, I’ll explain the bathroom part.

Dun, dun, dun…..THIS is the reason the bathroom was the highlight!  You can use the restroom while overlooking VEGAS!  That’s right folks, floor to ceiling glass wall while you are sitting’ on the pot.  It was freaking awesome!  It was really dark inside, but this gives you an idea of what it looked like.

And this was the view from your seat.  🙂

Seriously, if I go back to Vegas, I will have to hit it up again!

One more post and I’ll be done with my Vegas posts.  Thanks for waiting so long for part 2.  I PROMISE it won’t be another 3 month wait for part 3!

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03/14

Vegas, Baby, Vegas!!

A month or two ago, I got a call from my sister.  Apparently she had a conference to go to in Las Vegas and she wanted to bring someone to tag along with her, but my BIL couldn’t make it.  Soooo, I was the lucky one that got to go!!  It was my first trip to Vegas and it was awesome!  Other than a trip to the Grand Canyon, I didn’t venture out past the main strip the whole time I was there.  I had fun just walking up and down Las Vegas Blvd and taking it all the sights. One of the things on my “must-do in Vegas” list was that I had to get a picture in front of the “Welcome to Vegas” sign.  It’s a corny, cliche pic…but it was a must!  Soooo, without further ado, I present my obligatory Vegas pic, complete with a showgirl!  😉 Okay, now that we got that out of the way, let’s get on to the rest of my trip!  Everyday I took pictures of all my outfits.  Geez, the fun things I remember to do and actually have time to do when there are no kids or a hubby around. Day 1 – plane ride & Vegas arrival outfit I didn’t get in to Vegas until 8pm.  By the time my sister’s plane arrived from Orlando and we got to our hotel, we were exhausted!

Muhammad Ali was making an appearance at our hotel today for his 70th Birthday celebration.  Coincedentally, my baby boy was doing a report for school on Ali, so I had to try and get a picture.  Unfortunately, when you looked at the ring in the main lobby that normally looked like this….

…looked like THIS after Muhammad Ali arrived!

But, eventually, I pushed my way through and was able to get a few passing shots.  Nothing great, but hey, I got to see Muhammad Ali.  Plus, Evander Holyfield as a bonus!  🙂

Afterwards, we headed to the Venetian hotel.  It was GORGEOUS!  It’s theme is Italy and it was complete with an indoor canal and gondola ride.

An example of the ceilings inside the hotel/main lobby…

This was our view inside the shopping area part of the hotel.  This ceiling looked so real!  It really felt like we were outside, in Italy.  Well, except for all the stores and tourists.  😛

This statue is an actual person.  Took us asking someone why there was money on the ground in front of her and why everyone was just sitting around staring at her for us to figure out that she was alive.  lol.  She was so still!

Annnnd, this was how I ended my night…winning $50 at the slots!  Don’t get too excited.  It was the most I won the whole trip and I lost more than I won.  I know what you’re thinking though, “but did you at least take advantage of your free drink while gambling?”.  And the answer would be, YES!  Every time!  Somehow losing stung a little less knowing that I was sipping on my free drink.  😉

Okay, boys and girls, I think I’m going to cap this post here or else it will be a super long, photo overloaded post.  Stay tuned for days 3 & 4!

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03/13

February 366

My month in review…and, yes, you are counting correctly…I have 30 pics.  I had a tie for one of the days, so I uploaded both.  🙂

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02/07

iPhone-ography – January 366

I am attempting the 365 project again.  I usually don’t make it more than a week or two and so far I’ve made it 38 days!!  Here is my month in review…in order from Jan 1st-31st.  🙂

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01/30

Monday Morning Randoms…take 2!

UGH!!!  I just spent 45+ min writing up a blog post, only for it to disappear on me!  :'(  Seriously annoying!  I know why it happened, and it’s completely my fault, but it doesn’t make it sting any less.  So, I’m trying again.

But, first I have to make my breakfast, since this could take another 30 min to remember everything I posted previously…

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Okay, I’m back and enjoying my pancakes while re-typing everything I lost.  *sigh*

So, I was saying that I’ve been a little scatter-brained lately and it’s driving me crazy.  I tend to be a thinker, not a doer…a procrastinator…a one track minded individual.  If I have something that has most of my focus, i.e. fitness, then the other things, like laundry, dishes & housework tend to be done on an emergency basis.  Last week I had some errands that I had to get done out of the house, so everything else was kind of pushed off until it was a *must-do* thing.  Which makes me crazy, I know, but I can’t seem to get it under control.  There is also a ton of clutter building up around here and it’s making me grumpy.  Eric, aka hubby, thinks I must love clutter since I seem to always let it pile up, but it’s really the opposite.  It’s usually the fact that I’m OCD about it.  You see, the clutter doesn’t have a place and I don’t know how to “properly” organize it, so it gradually piles up.  Plus…I’m lazy.  😛  So, internet, I’m letting YOU hold me accountable!  Today’s task is to clean off my mess of a desk.  Cluttered desk, cluttered mind!

Here’s a before…

Ridonkulous, right?  I’ll share my after tomorrow.  🙂

And, since I titled this post Monday randoms, here’s some more randomness for ya.

  • First up, BOOTS!  Like I’ve mentioned before, I’m not the trendiest dresser.  I like to think I dress nice, but it’s not really super fashionable or trendy.  Since I finally bought some skinny jeans and some leggings, I decided I needed some tall boots.  Who would have thunk that it would be so hard!  It might be because I’m kind of picky so that coupled with the fact that it’s kind of late in boot season, made my shopping a little difficult.  I ended up deciding on these pretties….the Antonio Melani Elena boot

Antonio Melani + Sale kinda sealed the deal for me.  I’m not in LOVE with them, but I like them well enough until I find THE perfect ones.  After trying on several, I think I have a better idea of what I want in the perfect boot.  I did some online window shopping this weekend and found this awesomeness to put on my wish list!

Frye Veronica Slouch boots!  Gorgeous!

  • And while I’m on a shopping tangent, check out this cool picture frame from Crate & Barrel…

I love the look of two of them together!

  • I adore this awesome ampersand pillow too.  When you flip it over, it’s white with a black ampersand.  😉

  • I’m going on day 30 of my 366 project!  Instead of sharing daily or even weekly, I figured I’d share a month at a time.  I’ve tried to do a 365 (366 this year!) project before, but I always put a lot of pressure on myself to make it an awesome picture every day, but in the end never ended up sticking with it.  This year I decided that it just had to be any picture from any camera.  All of the ones so far have been from my phone…Instagram to be more specific.  But that’s okay.  A picture, is a picture.  It still tells a story.

  • Annnnd, because you might be wondering about my LiveFit journey…I’m about to start week 4.  I am a little off on my workouts so I’m going to end week 3 with shoulders today and start week 4 with back & biceps.  I’ll try to do a summary of week 3 soon!

Gotta run since I’m seriously behind on my day due to my little blogging mishap!  Hope your Monday is great!

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