The time I got drunk and played the cowbell.

So remember that post I wrote yesterday about getting back on track with the diet and being healthy? Yeah, about that. I got drunk last night.

Super d-r-u-n-k.

I haven't been drunk like this in probably like four or five months. I don't enjoy drinking anymore and I've been proud of that.

We went out to see a friend's dad's band play last night. I didn't plan on drinking anything, besides water. But a friend bought me a beer and I thought, eh one beer won't hurt. And then my glass kept getting filled up and disappearing again. And someone bought me a fizzy fruity strawberry drink. Oh and some girl that I don't know kept buying me shots. She also kept telling me I was pretty. It was weird. Before I knew it, I was playing the cowbell with the band. For reals.

So now I feel like shit today, I had to go delete some drunken Facebook posts, apologized for drunk texts and I'll probably eat like crap today because I feel like crap. And this has definitely convinced me that I'm just not cut out for drinking anymore. But I did get some amazing pictures out of the night.

I have no idea what this instrument was, but I played the hell out of it. 

How about some cowbell?

MORE COWBELL you say?

*If you're not currently dieting or trying to lose weight, this will probably be boring to you. Apologies in advance, this rant is mainly a way to kick my own butt into gear!


For the first month or so of dieting, i was all "OMG this is so easy, why doesn't everyone do it?" and then in month #2, karma stepped in to kick my ass. Yeah, it's not easy. The eating healthy part is pretty easy, the exercising part is easy, but the actual losing weight? It's hard.

You see, I've stalled. I feel like I'm still doing everything right, but I'm just not seeing the number on the scale go down as quickly as it was before. This makes sense I guess. But what you should know about me, is that I'm an incredibly impatient person. If things are working out without a hitch, I go full speed ahead. But the moment I can't achieve my goal right now, I start to slip.

So this explains why I got totally frustrated about the lack of weight loss, started eating way under my recommended calorie intake, and then binged all weekend because I felt so deprived. Not good. It involved eating a ton of pizza on Thursday night, snacking on a platter of fried food at bowling last night, an ice cream cone and other not-so-good things throughout Thurs and Friday.

Today, I'm feeling like crap. I'm SO bloated from all the excess salt, I'm sleepy and I can't poop. It's time to get back on track and break through this plateau in a healthy way. So instead of pouting about it and placating myself with calories (like I've been doing all weekend), I think I need to get ahold of myself and start over. So starting now (no, not tomorrow or Monday), I'm going to try to do a week of completely clean eating. Lots of fruits and veggies, low carb, high protein meals. No white flour or sugar (whew, the sugar thing is going to be hards, goodbye french vanilla Coffeemate). Four bottles of water per day (my bottle is 24 oz) and at least four days of cardio. Three days of weight training. And no depriving myself if I'm hungry. If I start to feel carb-starved and tired, I'll eat some brown rice or other healthy carb. I'm going to eat 6 small meals a day to try to get my metabolism back on track.

And here's the biggie. I'm not going to weigh myself again until Thursday morning. That will give my body some time to get rid of all that retained water, it will give my sore, sore muscles time to become un-inflamed (is that a word?) Because when I weigh myself after a day of hard weight-training, I'm always disappointed by the extra water weight. And I usually do my two hard weigh training days on Thursday and Sunday.

Sorry if this post was irrelevant to you. I just really needed to give myself a mental pep talk. For all of the internet to see ha.

Meltdown

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No, not the bad kind of meltdown, the spring kind! It's mid-February and I'm not naive enough to belief that this temporary burst of mild weather is going to last, but it's a nice reminder that spring is not too far off.

On Saturday, we decided to go to a local trail so that Frank could work on his half marathon training. That left me with the dog and my iPod and I couldn't have been happier. I crave the outdoors all winter long, and being able to walk for 45 minutes without needing a giant puffy coat and gloves sounded like heaven.

The trail is made of crushed limestone, so the melting ice mixed with mud and stone made certain spots feel like quicksand. It made for one muddy puppy belly and almost ruined my new boots. But it was worth it. Here are some pictures I took with my iPhone.

My Love-y Valentine's Day

Frank and I had our Valentine's Day date on Friday night. I wasn't planning on being around on Monday because I had to go home to my parents' house to take care of my dad following some surgery (I'll get to that part in a bit).

Since we're a) on a budget and b) on a diet, we decided to do something we had never done before, and skip the fancy dinner out. Instead, we cooked up a gourmet meal at home. It looked a little something like this:

A pound and a half of crab legs for me and a new york strip steak for him. We split a baked potato (CARBS!) and I made a spinach salad with blueberries, sliced almonds and vidalia onion dressing. With the mass amount of animal on our plates, we barely had room for the vegetable riff raff. I had a glass of Sparkletini and he had a wine glass full of Vitamin Water. We even got to eat dinner with a kitty on the table. You can't get that kind of service in a restaurant.

Then we settled in on the couch and watched a movie. I let Frank pick and had to put up with a Sean William Scott comedy called "Balls Out". He basically plays Stiffler in every movie since American Pie. I passed the time by making a crafty little banner for above our fireplace.

Then on Saturday, we headed out to my parents' house and Frank and his brother repaired the ceiling in their garage. We had lunch, visited with my sister and her fiance, and then went home for a long nap. That night, my best friend and her boyfriend came over. We made tons of apps, drank some beer, and watched Paranormal Activity 2. Cupcakes happened.

Sunday was gorgeous. We got up early and trucked it to the gym, where Frank submitted me to a lower body workout. Then, after an eye appointment, we went to a trail near our house so that frank could do his half marathon training. The trail was a mix of mud and ice, the limestone and mud mixture was like quicksand. It made for one muddy beagle and nearly destroyed UGGS. But it was so peaceful. It was around 50 degrees and I was almost tricked into believing it was the beginning of spring. I know better than that though. The sun was shining, the creek was rushing and you could hear everything melting. I took a ton of iPhone pics but will be making a separate post of out those.

On Sunday night, I drove out to my parents' house. My dad had just had rotator cuff surgery and is off of work for a few months while he recuperates. My mom works during the day so she wanted someone home with him for the first few days after his surgery. My dad is handicapped: he had polio when he was a baby so he has had braces on his leg and has walked with crutches his whole life.  So not having use of his arm is a bigger deal than it would be for someone who was more able-bodied.

I brought the dog with me and he was a TERROR. He was totally out of his element and just paced the house whining. He begged for attention every second and shit in the house twice! He has NEVER had an accident at home. Then on Sunday night, he got up and barked at every tiny noise in the house, so I slept for about an hour. I was supposed to stay until Tuesday but when Monday night rolled around I couldn't handle him anymore. My mom is NOT a dog person and his antics were causing some major tension in the house. I was completely exhausted, totally frustrated and cranky and I just started crying. 

My mom ended up telling me to go home, spend Valentine's day with my husband and get a good night of sleep in my own bed. We had realized that my dad was doing much better than we thought he would be and he really didn't need me there. I packed up my car and my obnoxious dog and left, relieved to be going home.

It was sleeting and cold. I stopped at Hallmark for a card and then at the gas station for a protein bar, bag of beef jerky and a vitamin water for Frank (this was his budget V-day gift). When I finally got home, it felt so good to be back at my own place. 

On the dining room table was a bouquet of red tulips (he knows I dont' like red roses), a box of chocolate covered strawberry and a bottle of Frambois (my fave). He was also totally stoked about his man gifts. I changed into my pajamas and then we ate the strawberries, drank the beer and vented about our day. 

After learning he had never seen it before, we watched "When Harry Met Sally". I had forgotten what a good movie that was. Then we went to sleep. It was the perfect Valentine's Day. My day went from tear-filled frustration to a perfectly comfy love-fest in a matter of minutes. It was our 9th Valentine's Day together.

Thanks Frank, for my favorite Valentine's Day yet :)

Feel the love!

Happy Valentine's Day! (From a recent ugly pajama party)

Day 4: 30 Days in Pictures

Ok, it might take me 300 days to actually finish this "30 Days in Pictures" thing but I'll get it done eventually.

Day 4: Your night in pictures:

I think I'm only supposed to do one picture but this iPhone is addicting.

I did my nails in this shimmery gold color from F21. Frank hates it so I put it on to annoy him.

My dinner = lame. Well it looks lame but it totally hit the spot. I didn't feel like cooking and just wanted to eat something light and snacky because we went to the gym after. Two hard boiled eggs, celery with ranch yogurt dressing, colby jack cheese stick, and light cheese puff things. They taste and look exactly like those Gerber puffy things (I babysit way too much.)

I babysat the neighbor's puppy for an hour so she could play with Wilbur and get some energy out. 

Then we went to the gym and I lifted upper body for an hour and twenty minutes. Any day now. I'm going to be totally ripped. Or maybe I'll at least be able to open a pickle jar by myself.

And finally, I dyed my hair. The roots were getting out of control and I don't want to pay a million dollars every time to get them touched up. Plus, I feel way more like myself as a brunette (my natural color).



And then we watched Jersey Shore, the end.

And now for a ridiculous and pointless post

I always see people do "outfit posts" on their blogs and I think "ooh what a fun idea!". And then I look down and remember that I'm wearing stretched out sweatpants covered in dog hair and a ripped Rolling Stones t-shirt that was one half of my Ke$ha Halloween costume.

But today! Today I wore clothes. Even if it was just for like two hours. So I took some awkward pictures.

Oh look, I have the posture of a 90 year old man. I was also going to wear cuter boots, but it's about 6 degrees here.

I even accessorized. 

Do you like the amazingly gorgeous iphone case I got (at Target!!)? And no i'm not sweating in this picture, the mirror is dirty.

So that concludes this horribly boring blog post. I'm tired. 

I guess I'm a Mac now?

Let me start this off by saying that I really feel bad that this happened.

Over the summer I realized that I really needed a smart phone. It wasn't very "professional" if I didn't answer an urgent work email because I was walking around at Target. I had gotten in too many situations where someone would call me and ask me to review some copy, but I was nowhere near my computer so I would have to drop what I was doing and drive home. Anyway, I was not up for my "new every two" promotion from Verizon, so my husband let me take his upgrade with the promise that he could take mine in February. I got a Droid Incredible and l-o-v-e-d it. Seriously, how did I live without a smartphone?

So Verizon's announcement that they were getting the iPhone coincided with the time frame when Frank could order a new phone through my upgrade. He set his alarm for 3 am on a work night and ordered the phone. It finally came yesterday and he was so excited. When he called Verizon to have his number transferred to it, they let him know that they had a contract with Apple that prohibited them from allowing number transfers. So whoever's name was on the upgrade was the only number allowed to be on the phone.

Sad panda husband. He told me I could have the phone and he would take my Droid but I said NO WAY, I don't want the guilt of taking his dream phone away. I told him to return the iphone and get a Droid because they are just as good. He told me that it would be dumb to do, since we already HAD a Droid he could use. So after making him promise that he would never guilt trip me about the phone since it was his idea, I said I would try it for a week to see if I liked it. Honestly, I was leery about it. I've always been a huge fan of the Droid, and getting used to the functionality of the iPhone is a learning process. After going a full day with it, I think I have decided to keep it.

Here's what I like about the Droid:

• Widgets: You don't have to go into the Facebook app everytime you want to go on facebook. You just scroll to the right or left and your facebook app is up.
• Integration with Google: I'm a Google fanatic, so I use gmail, google reader, gcalendar, etc. 
• More free apps. Seems like everything for the iPhone costs $ or is just a lite version for free
• My Incredible had an 8 mp camera, the iPhone is lower quality

What I like about the iPhone so far:

• Duh, it's an iphone. It makes me look cool.
• Syncing up with my MacBook and iTunes. I love that when I plug it into my computer, my photos are automatically loaded into iPhoto
• Better and more apps: although some of them cost more $, the apps in general are better. Facebook is much better, and Hootsuite (which I need for work) is really what sealed the deal. I can post from all my social media accounts on the go. The Hootsuite app for Droid was touchy.
• Even though the iPhone camera is supposedly less mp, I can't tell the difference
• Better quality video
• Two way photo taking makes taking narcissistic self-portraits that much easier

So, I'm asking your iPhone people for some help! What are some apps you couldn't live without? I'm particularly looking for a good RSS reader app and a blogging app. But any suggestions are good. 

And just for fun, this is what a typical conversation between my husband and I looks like. MaKES NO SENSE.

And now I can take even more ridiculous hipster photos of my dog:

House Tour: Living Room

So I've been wanting to do a house tour on here for a long time. Mainly, because I regret not taking pictures of all of the places that I have lived--one house, two dorms, and four apartments--so I'm making sure I document this house. It won't be our forever home, but it will definitely always be special because it's the first house we bought together. I love home design and drooling over my fave homies blogs (YHL, Bower Power, etc.) and magazines. Plus I'm cheap, and my husband's even cheaper, so I'm always trying to find ways to make my home look nice without breaking the bank. I want my home to reflect who I am, so that means minimal "manufactured art". I've also lived in between the mandatorily white walls of rented apartments for a long time, so I've gone kind of color crazy in my house. Caution: this post is super photo heavy! I'm starting the house tour with the living room:



A few things have changed in the living room since we moved in. The first thing that I tackled was changing the wall color. The beige on top is the original color, which I have been considering changing for a long time but still haven't made the move. The bottom color, below the chair rail, used to be forest green. Gross! I wanted something bold and crazy so I went with this aqua color from Behr, called WipeOut. It looks a little muted in the picture, but I called it "Malibu Barbie Beach House Blue".

The other thing we changed were the floors. They were carpeted before, but after much begging on my part, we decided to go with wood laminate. The laminate is GREAT and so much easier to clean, especially with pets. Plus, I really like the wide slats we chose. The natural texture makes it seem more "real" than other laminates we saw.

That black boxy looking thing is our fireplace, but it didn't really show up in the picture. We never use it though, because it makes our smoke detectors go off every time. Now that I'm looking at it, I'm thinking about painting the edges white and maybe putting some pillar candles in there.



This shows the dining room side of our living area. I dream about the day when we can have a separate dining room! It works for now though. That is also the patio door that goes out onto the deck. We face the woods and it's lovely. I also refinished that coffe table/chest. It was a beast to refinish but well worth it.


I bought this vintage reproduction of a tourist map of Paris when I was visiting my sister in Philadelphia. It's called Hello Home and it might be my favorite store in the world.



These are our throw pillows, which I bought on Friday. I have a PROBLEM with throw pillows. I have been searching for the perfect ones for literally years. A while back, I stenciled and sewed my own pillow cases (you can read the post here) and I loved them. The only problem was that the fabric I chose was kind of strange, and ended up being a magnet for pet hair. When people came over to the house, I would spend 45 minutes just trying to dig the pet hairs out which seemed to become woven into the fabric. So I threw in the towel and decided just to buy these ones, from GardenRidge. I love the patterns, but I could deal with less muted colors. Oh well.


Here is a better view of the display nook above our fireplace. I love this little area! I think everything in here except for the bronze stencil candle holders are from TJMaxx or Marshalls.


These are the framed prints that are above the loveseat. They are pages from a vintage atlas that I bought at an estate sale, for like, $1. I cut mats out of some bristol board and mounted them in these cheapo Ikea frames.

This is the view straight across from the couch. Our lovely tv (which came with the house because the old owners didn't feel like repairing the wall behind it where it was mounted, score!) Also, is it weird to have a framed picture of yourself displayed? Don't answer that, ha. I've been meaning to put a wedding picture in there but haven't had them printed yet. Yes, from our wedding, which was nearly three years ago. Don't judge. The tv stand is from Target, where I found it on clearance for $70. The mercury glass candle holders are also from Target. To the left is a glass vase filled with seashells and coral from our honeymoon.


I love these candle holders.

Well .. . . looks like I forgot to straighten the table cloth. Hoping to replace that ugly light fixture with this for my birthday (hint, hint Frank).

Stay tuned for the next installment of the house tour. Do you have a house tour on your blog? Leave a link! I LOVE looking at people's houses.

30 Days of Pictures - Day 3

This is my 100th blog post! I thought about writing something soul-searching and prolific, but instead, I give you this:



Day 3: A picture of the cast of your favorite show.

That's right, I'm coming clean with my unhealthy obsession. I love Jersey Shore. It's one of the few shows that I make a point of watching every week. Right now it's the only one. Let's be clear though, I don't respect them or think they're cool in any way. I don't typically hang out with people with poofs and Affliction t-shirts. And they definitely wouldn't hang out with me. I'd be way too boring, sober and pale. But I love them anyway.

Here are some of my other favorites that aren't on right now:

If you don't watch Eastbound and Down . . . you're f-ing out. Seriously, watch it.

True Blood . . . obsessed. When does this come back on?

Boardwalk Empire. I get lost on the storyline once in a while but the cast and the aesthetics of the whole show are just dreamy.


Anyone else watch Paranormal State? My best friend and I love it. We love paranormal stuff. Just watching shows about it, not participating in it, ha. Anyone know if this is coming back for another season? Plus Ryan is HAWT, in a nerdy ghost hunter way.

And those are the shows I watch. If I'm just flipping through tv out of boredom I usually land on things like "My Strange Addiction", "Hoarders", "I didn't know I was pregnant".

Puppy Joy

So I've been reading this book called "The Happiness Makeover" because I'm trying to make myself a more positive person. I'm a chronic worrier and a "glass half empty" kind of girl, and I really don't want to be that way.  One thing that I've learned so far is to enjoy the present, because it's all we're guaranteed. Being happy means finding the joy in little everyday things and savoring them fully. With that said, I leave you with some moments of joy that I found yesterday. Sorry for the cheesiness.


I made myself get up early yesterday. My reward? This gorgeous sunrise out my front door. Wish I had taken the time to adjust the settings on my camera properly, but a neighbor was staring at me in my unmatching pajamas and crazy-lady hair like I was a crackhead.



Is there anything as simply joyful as a brand new puppy? Our neighbors (who we're good friends with) got a new 8 week old German Shepherd mix and we introduced her to Wilbur last night. These pictures are grainy because of the low lighting and the fact that I had to bump the ISO up to 1600. But, enjoy.


Hot husband, cute puppy, nuff said. Please ignore the terrible facial hair that WILL be going away after the super bowl. Also ignore "puppy goods".