Presents and Polyvore

You gals made me laugh by thinking my last blog title was about X Couple coming to dinner. Trust me, X Couple will not be coming to dinner anytime soon. I'm quite certain they won't be coming to dinner until Thanksgiving and that's just fine by me. I do need to borrow X Baby for a photo shoot though.....

Today is my mom's birthday! I called her this morning on my way to work and wished her a happy birthday. Well, actually I sang in a ridiculous voice, but I know she enjoyed it. I opted not to send her a card, but instead will give her a card and present when she gets here tomorrow. I have part of her present, I just need to get the other part of it. My mom is tough to buy for, not because she's picky, just because she's a hard person to shop for.

Sara and I are having a good time (well I can't speak for her, but I'm having a great time) I'll update on that later and hopefully I'll have some pictures of us to go with it.

I still don't feel like it's fall yet. I'm not sure I'll really get that feeling here in Louisiana, but this 80 degree weather is throwing me off my fall vibe! It's hard to get in the pre-holiday spirit when you are sweating buckets in the heat. Bad mental image I know, but it had to be said!

Remember the perfect sweater dress I mentioned last week? I went ahead and ordered it yesterday. I've waited too long a few times and items have been out of stock on Forever21.com, so I bit the bullet and ordered it. Now I just need cold weather so I can wear it to work. I can't wait to get it in!

Have any of you ever been on Polyvore.com? It is amazing! I've been using it off and on for about a year now and it's just a fun little time-waster. You can design whole themes and schemes with clothes, backgrounds and accessories.

This is my Very Marilyn collection:


Very Marilyn by Melissa88

It's really fun, you should try it if you have a chance.

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?

I have officially met my first blogging friend in real life!

Sara aka When In Rome, is staying with me while she's at Fort Polk. I just met her and the adorable Jagger and she's awesome! I'm very glad for this opportunity to meet her.

This week is going to be hectic but fun. I've got Sara here tonight, my parents are coming in Thursday evening and staying until Sunday morning and Sean will be in the field off and on this week and the next since they are starting a rotation.

I've decided after reading Andrea's delicious scone recipe that I'm going to make those sometime this week. Who doesn't love cranberry and orange scones? I'm also making green enchiladas and spanish rice tonight and when my parent's are here I'm going to make Pioneer Woman's famous Marlboro Man sandwiches. If you've never tried them, you honestly are missing out. They are the best hot sandwich I've ever had. Hands down!

As I mentioned last post I took some pics of my friend Lauren and her husband's homecoming. She told me it would be ok to put these up, so enjoy!







That's all for me today folks, I've got some work to attend to! Oh...and I have a feeling I'm going to fall a bit behind on my blogging and commenting this week. Don't fret, I'll return soon!

What a Weekend!

This weekend was pretty jam-packed with constant action for me.

Thanks goodness I have today off from work (unexpectedly as of Friday) to try to get some more things done around here.

Friday I was off work early and as soon as Sean picked me up we went to rent a carpet cleaner for our home. I also swung by the commissary to pick up some things to make banana pudding.

The banana pudding turned out wonderfully! Just smelling it when it cooked reminded me of my Grandma's house.

The steam cleaning went well, but boy was it a process! We had to clear out every room we did, vaccum extensively and then spot treat it for stains. Only then could we steam clean it. I think it turned out well, but that steam cleaner was a beast to manuever!

Saturday was football day and more steam cleaning. Once that was out of the way I cleaned some around the house and made some chocolate chip cookies. I think this is my best batch yet. Sean grilled us some delish t-bone steaks and I watched my Oklahoma State Cowboys come away with a victory against the Missouri Tigers, now we are ranked #8 in the nation! I cannot ever remember being ranked this high and I am ecstatic. However, Sean is disappointed in his Sooners and their shoddy performance against the Texas Longhorns.

Sunday I was up early to go with my friend Lauren to her husband's redeployment ceremony. She wanted me to take pictures of their homecoming and I was happy to do it, but I have to say it was a little awkward standing among all the re-uniting couples snapping pictures. I got a bit emotional though, the whole thing just got to me. I'll have to post a few pics I took of her and her husband though, maybe tomorrow once I can edit them a bit.

As soon as I got back, Sean and I jumped in the car and headed to Lake Charles. He really needed some new clothes, so that was our main objective. That and eating neverending pasta bowl at Olive Garden. Sean ended up with some great stuff, we both ended up with full tummies and I even got a Jen Lancaster book that I've been dying to read so it was a very fruitful trip.

The only damper on the weekend was Boomer being sick, he had a few bites of my tuna steak on Friday night and I'm not sure if that's what made him sick or if he just had a little bug. At any rate he was a very sick puppy until late Saturday night and I babied him....alot. This is the first time he's been sick since we had him though, so I'm glad we all weathered it ok.

Now back to cleaning the house!

Battalion Picnic and Babies

Wow! Looks like everyone loved the sweater dress as much as I did! Thank you to everyone that responded to what color and style of shoes I should wear with it too. You guys were a huge help! I know who to come to now when I have a fashion question.

I do have another question for all of you out there. Maybe you can help.

I like to pull my hair back like this:



I don't know what it's called, but the little hair bump, whatever. Anyway, as much as I try to get it right, it never turns out like I see other people's hair turn out. It's got a slight bump to it where the hair isn't laying like it should or something along those lines. What am I not doing right? Is it my bobby pin placement? do I need to spray my hair before doing it? Any suggestions?

Last night ended up being pretty fun. I didn't get to watch Survivor as planned, but I did go to Sean's Battalion picnic and awards ceremony. As I had mentioned they had squad competition this entire week and last night was the wrap-up of it. Everyone was there and it was neat getting to see the entire battalion and their familes, although as usual, I was reminded of the fact that I appear to be the ONLY married woman who is not pregnant or has a child. It's a weird feeling actually to look around and realize that.

Of course, people had to naturally ask us (AGAIN) when we were going to have children. I finally just told them that neither of us were ready and that quite honestly I wanted to tour Europe for awhile without a child.

This is their response: "Why can't you tour with your baby?"

Me: "Because touring Europe with a baby is drastically different than touring Europe solo"

Maybe because they are men they don't quite understand? I'm not sure. At any rate I let it be well known that I'm not ready for a child just yet. Don't get me wrong, I love babies, I love holding our friends babies and I really want children...just not at the present moment. I am tired of people assuming that because I'm 25 I'm getting up there and should start immediately. 25 is not old! My own mother didn't have me until she was almost 28, I wish people would give it a rest.

Anyway, other than that it was a good time. Here are a couple of pictures from it.



That's Sean and his friend Robert.




This is Sean's, I'm tired and want to go home NOW face.

This weekend I am:

1. Cheering on my Oklahoma State Cowboys against Missouri. I'm really hoping we can pull out a win.
2. Going out to dinner with two other couples to a new restaurant in a neighboring town. Should be a good time.
3. Steam cleaning my carpets and extensively cleaning my home.
4. Going with a friend to her husband's welcome home ceremony (he's returning from being deployed) to take pictures of her and him.
5. Working out
6. Making my grandma's delish banana pudding. It's the recipe she uses for her basic pie fillings, you just use a little less flour for the pudding.

Here it is:

8-9 T. flour (9 for pie filling-- 7 for pudding) That's what I use.
3/4 + C. sugar (1-2 tsp. over 3/4)
2 C. milk
2 egg yolks
2 caps (2 tsp.) vanilla

1.Mix sugar & flour together; add eggs & milk & vanilla; beat with a jiffy beater until smooth
2.bring this to a boil (hard boil--lots of bubbles all over surface) STIRRING FAST CONSTANTLY with wooden spoon until thick.
3.Take off heat and stir to cool slightly
4.If making banana filling cool until only warm then cut 2 bananas into pudding.

It's delicious! My Grandma makes the best pies, I kid you not. She's famous for her pies back home and has people all the time putting in orders for her pies.

Weekend plans everyone?

The PERFECT Sweater Dess

I'm not even joking when I say I've found the perfect sweater dress.

Just look at it!



One question. What color/style shoes would you recommend for it?

Edit: This is on forever21.com, under new arrivals or just under dresses. I don't think they have any colors other than this color and cream at the moment though.

Shopping and Survivor

I think it's going to be a slow day at the office today. Our boss is gone to Texas for a hunting trip, so it's just me and another lady in the office. It's been slow around here lately, really not many lawsuits or claims coming in and I think today we'll probably be on the Internet a lot. Tough job huh?

Last night was pretty much a repeat of the night before. I went to the golf course to walk with Boomer, I watched TV, I cleaned. I think I've lost a little weight since Sean hasn't been around. When I don't have to cook for him I tend to eat less. It's his cooking on the weekend that always gets me. Steak, potatoes, other tasty grilled things. He says he has to feed me like that so I won't lose my butt. I assured him that losing my butt isn't something that will ever happen. I think it's here to stay.

Oh and if you love Target as much as I do, to not miss out on Wandering DC's Target Giveaway! She's giving away a Target gift card, so head on over to her blog to check it out.

I'm in the market for a colored passport cover. I saw some in Oprah's magazine one time and I've wanted them ever since.



I think I want a pink one or a turquoise one. Very cute aren't they?

I'm very excited about this whole moving to Italy thing, but I'm terrified of the plane ride there. There are a couple reasons for this.

A. I haven't been a fan of flying since 9/11, before that I loved it. After that I pretty much get panic attacks before getting on the plane.

B. I've had a long flight from Alaska to Chicago, but never flown to Europe. Visions of TWA Flight 800 dance in my head whenever I think about it. I know there are thousands of flights that nothing happens, but still in the back of my mind I worry.

C. I'm worried about Boomer making the flight. I'm terrified about him getting lost between the US and Italy! If something happened to him I'd be inconsolable!

That's really the only big hang-up I'm having about moving to Italy. Everything else seems like a walk in the park.

I found the cutest stuff at CATO yesterday. I don't often shop there, but I heard they have some cute jewelry so I had to investigate. Cute jewelry indeed! I'm always looking for some colorful stuff to punch up my wardrobe and I found a red beaded necklace and a turqoise braclet on clearance, as well as the cutest black purse!

It looks similar to this, but more simple.



The other day I found some cute shoes at Payless, although I haven't bought them yet and thought they looked familiar.



It's because they look very similiar to these J.Crew shoes that I had seen on another blog.



Survivor is on tonight! I missed it last week somehow between the vice-presidential debate and other things, but I'm not missing it tonight. I'm wondering what time Sean will be home though.....

Well, I hope everyone has a great Thursday! Only a couple more days until the weekend!

Whew...it's Wednesday!

Can I just say I'm glad it's Wednesday? Only a few more days until the weekend and then late next week my parents will be here. Yay!

So starting off today I would like to thank Positively Preppy in Pink for bestowing a blog award on me.



I'm going to break the rule though and not pass it on, as I did pass this award on a few weeks ago.

So thank you Postively Preppy in Pink! If you haven't checked out her blog, you should. It's on my daily reads and who doesn't love reading about her internship in London?

Last night, since Sean is in the field and won't be back until Thursday, I decided to watch all the shows I know he wouldn't want to watch. I fit in a little What Not to Wear (can I just say I love how Stacy London dresses? I want her wardrobe!) two episodes of Sex and the City and a little Will & Grace. I also caught a little of I Want to Work for Diddy on VH1. The people who want to work for Diddy are insane! I could never be someone's personal assistant and make their life more important than my own, especially in the case of Diddy. He's such a man-diva. If I could meet him face to face I'd tell him to give up on trying to stay in the spotlight with constant seasons of Making the Band. GIVE IT UP! You'll never develop another artist like Mase or Notorious BIG, time for you to stop trying.

Although it sounds like all I did last night was watch TV, I actually went to the gym for about 45 minutes for some cardio and I even fit in some cleaning around the house. With my parents coming in and another possible houseguest, I thought it wise to start cleaning now. So I cleaned the bathroom, swept the kitchen and dining room floor and even whipped myself up some scrambled eggs and peanut butter toast. I've noticed when Sean is gone I get a lot more done. I suppose because our routine at night is to hang out and watch TV together and when he's not there I don't feel obligated to do that.

I was playing around on Photobucket yesterday and found the coolest gadget. Remember my pumpkin picture?



Look what I did to it:



Halloween like isn't it?

I think I'm getting off work early on Friday. There is another parade that is going to be on our street. I've never seen a town that loves parades as much as Leesville. Who am I to complain though? It should mean I'm getting off work two hours early. That is something I can appreciate.

I need to steam clean our carpets this weekend. We've been putting it off for the last month and it's come down to I have to do it now. As long as I can pull Sean away from the Texas/OU game long enough I think we can get it done.