What Matters Most

My high school ring is in an old bracelet case somewhere.

I think.

Obviously, it is so important to me.

Today I ordered a class ring.

And I was so excited.

An actual, real, University class ring.

For whatever reason, it meant so much more to me than the last class ring order I placed almost 5 years ago.

Probably because I've had to work my butt off to get here.

High school was a breeze so I guess that ring didn't seem like a big deal.

I couldn't even tell you the last time I put on my high school class ring...

Did I ever even wear it once? sorry about that waste of $ Mom!

But this one...

I'll totally be proud that I have it, and I do plan on wearing it. (and hopefully I'll keep better track of it) ;)

Its funny realizing things like that.

Its nice knowing I know what truly matters to me.

Safe Food?

Give us a loaf of fresh bread and some Cinnamon Honey Butter, my boyfriend and I could call that dinner.

But I'd like to step it up a little bit for our guests...Especially because the guest is his mother!
The problem isn't that I cant cook, its that I don't know what to cook.
Everyone has their personal preferences on how they like their food served and most importantly what the food is!
More spicy, less butter.
Less pepper, more salt.
No cheese, no dressing.
More cheese, more bacon, more butter. (yes that's me)

I don't want to be to extreme.
I'm not making a 5 course meal but, I'm not serving Easy Mac either!

I know I definitely will not want to serve a Mexican dish, Sure I am confident in my burrito making abilities but I'm sure they don't compare to hers! I can not compete, I don't even want to try to serve a Mexican dish because that is one category of food that has way too many opinions on how it tastes best! (the salsa is too spicy, the tacos are too crunchy or too soft, blah blah!) It would be like making my own pasta from scratch and serving it to a famous Italian chef.

What are some safe meals?
What I mean by safe: liked by all, not too odd/out of the ordinary, not too complicated to eat/prepare.

The only possibility I've thought of so far is spaghetti or some type of pasta.
I feel like its generic enough and also a simple one dish meal, so I wouldn't have to stress about figuring out a meat, side dish and veggie...

I wonder if homemade pizza would be too casual?

Sure, the inner hostess in me wants to go all out and serve apps and pretty drinks and bake bread from scratch...
But to be realistic, I just want/need to serve a good meal.
**************************
So if you happen to stop by this old mess of a blog, I would love to hear any suggestions of an appropriate meal to feed a somedayfuture mother in law!
******************************************

The drinks are so pretty I would serve them just for that reason!

Possibly Pasta....

Maybe a Stiry Fry?

Brownie Cookie Dough Sandwiches (I would be happy with these!)

I better come up with something,

or else I'll resort to serving grilled cheese robots!

;)

Funny And Not

Not Funny:
I was early to my class today.
6 minutes til class started and it was still completely empty.
I was in room 103.
Instead of room 130.
I struggle!

Funny:
I somehow find the most random things on YouTube, and I thought this "yellow" video was too funny not to share. Get it? The song yellow, yellow set. Sandra Lee isn't my absolute favorite Food Network Chef but I thought these two videos were hilarious, especially her outtakes/bloopers!

Copy Cat

I pinned this awhile ago, and I just now wrote it on my whiteboard =)

Source: homegrownhospitality.typepad.com via L on Pinterest

Unfortunately for me, there are boys in the first grade that have better handwriting than I.

Also, a dry erase marker just doesn't compare to a good old pencil/pen.

It was one of the first attempts. No way comparable to the 'original'.

I'll still try to improve, but, not bad if I do say so myself!

Its OK Thursday

I always love reading Neely's blog so I was happy I found the time to post for this link up! There are a ton of things I can say "its ok" to so this was perfect :)

its ok....

To buy pink and green staples because it makes an otherwise plain white paper a bit more fun...

If you blog inconsistently...

If you hate listening to commercials on the radio...

If you always keep your air conditioning on in the car, I know I'm not the only one dealing with high temps!

If you never use Twitter because you cant stand the app for it on your regular phone and would much rather use it on the itouch...

If you wish writing checks was still popular nowadays just so you could use up your old cute personalized ones...

To ignore the empty ice tray that needs refilled...

To buy a pink lint brush roller...

To cry because you lost your most *favorite* pair of sunglasses that you had forever...

To be bossy to your boyfriend when it comes to how he should do his hair, its ok to tell him if he misses a spot...

To only go to Wendys for the frostys...

To stare and see what everyone has in their basket when at the grocery store...

To be annoyed when people block the whole aisle in the grocery store because their cart is in the middle of the row...

To buy jeans now because their on sale even though you wont wear them for months...this is ok, right!??

To never ever remember what series your printer is/what type of printer ink you need.

To look on Pinterest all day...

To want school to start already...

To be excited for a vacation that's not until January.

Oh, How Pinteresting!

Thought I'd give a disclaimer that I'm a first time linker upper :) I just finally got the hang of Pinterest so I am assuming/hoping I'm qualified enough to participate! ;)

But yeah Pinterest is amazing right! Linking up here!

I <3 Wisteria ;) Gorgeous background and you know it smells so good there!

Love the color and the rosette strap :)

Tanzanite from Tanzania, how pretty is that!?

{everything found here} Happy Wednesday!!

Over Night

It must be karma that my boyfriend now works overnight.

Remember my old complaints of having to deal with it for just one night in this post.

I thought one night was bad.

Now, its his set schedule.

Not to brag, but I feel like I am a trooper.

Our sleeping schedule is all out of wack.

But its summer anyways.

And we make it work.

=)

So just warning ya, dont be creeped out by a comment on your post at 4 in the morning, I have nothing else better to do :)

Source: spearmintbaby.com via Ae on Pinterest

Going Without

Hi hi hi!

Yes its really me, I'm here :)

Anyone still coming across this page I hope you are well and have been enjoying these summer months! As for me....after living under a rock, I'm back :)

♥ Pinterest ♥

I finally "got into Pinterest." Figuring out how to install the 'pin it' thing to my toolbar took me a good minute, I seriously thought I would never figure it out and when I finally did I was like huh, simple! I see how its so addicting though, its too easy to gather up a million ideas for just one project. I never do anything crafty/DIY but thanks to Pinterest I plan to start soon.
(my Pinterest)

♥Freeloading♥
Living here, we didn't bother setting up a cable/Internet account, (that explains the blogging break, yes!?) we were busy enough without all that so it was just as well.... But yes, I am one of those people. No judging, borrowing Internet is no indication of my personal integrity. ;) We were lucky enough to enjoy a near neighbors free Internet for awhile and man it was good while it lasted. I was able to keep up with Gossip Girl, Modern Family, and then BAM, NO INTERNET ACCESS. No cable now no Internet? Movies it is then. Needless to say 2011 officially became "Year Of The Movies!" I would pay to get my hands on our Redbox rental history, even though I might faint after seeing the bill because it has to be a ton. Movie recommendations needed, please come to me, we have seen it all, good, bad, really bad and really good! Anyways, the other night I tried my luck and BAM, INTERNET ACCESS. I was in shock for a minute, I thought it was unreal and too good to be true. We didn't know where to start! We had missed so much so we had too many options, but we quickly caught up on Pretty Little Liars. Sooo I am enjoying it while it lasts and who knows how long that will be. I would love to pay for Internet but unfortunately schoolbooks take up most of that budget!

♥I Miss Blogging♥

Not blogging made me miss it even more, of course. I thought of my blog as an old ignored attic that needed to be cleaned out, organized, and made over a little bit! Haha. And I don't want to really "get into blogging" again because then I'll be just as sad when the Internet cuts out again! Oh well I'm happy with what I have for now! (but I miss you guys!)

♥TV♥

Yes I know the Gossip Girl finale is like 'sooo 3 months ago', but I'm all caught up now and I just wanted to say, wow that was a good episode! Anddddd I finally get why everyone has been listening to Adele!

♥More TV♥
Way back when, when we first started just thinking about moving out, and thinking about things (ie:bills) that would be important, cable was at the very top of my list. I'm not a total lazy couch slob but I admit I love me some TV. I just knew I would die (extreme I know but really how I felt) without cable. Turns out I didn't :) (though, I cant say what would happen if we didn't at least have Redbox rentals.) If we have kids I hope I don't ever hear them complain about TV because the first thing I am going to say is "your Dad and I went a year without cable and we were perfectly
fine!"

Source: fredflare.com via L on Pinterest

♥No Complaints♥

Funny how going without taught me to be more appreciative that's for sure! I laugh when my Mom says she barely watches her (huge) flat screen TV with 100+ channels in HD with DVR. She has the luxury of any show at her fingertips but ignores it. I thought I would give anything for TV, but turns out I'm ok without it. (not really, I am sooo sad I missed a WHOLE season of Toddlers & Tiaras ;) And I'm not sure how much longer we could have gone/lasted without it! (plus, I know 1$ rentals add up!) We're moving again, so, soon we will be thrilled to be proud owners of *cable* at the end of this month! Definitely appreciatin that being set up! We will surely be glued to the TV ;) and just in time for fall shows to return! Parenthood anyone? Like I said, I don't ever want to hear my future kids have any complaints about TV! I cant wait to say 'Kids, your father and I weren't always lucky enough to have cable...' OH! And, who knew I could add something to my 'Bucket List' just to be able to cross it off!

Bucket List:
- 1 year without cable

Shoes & Crazy People

I'm not really a "shoe girl." I cant walk in heels. Sandals are my favorite. Not ashamed to love my Uggs. If I had a free $500 to spend, the first thing I would want to spend it on definitely wouldn't be shoes. Maybe a purse, but probably most definitely jeans.(good ones!) Anyways, even though I am not a shoe girl, I wouldn't mind a new pair or two, a few in particular! I would be super stoked if I owned any of these...

I am partial to the rubber rainboot trend. They seem practical but I feel like they would look really stupid on me, which is why I have yet to buy any. I think little kids are the only ones that can successfully pull off a rubber rainboot perfectly, they look so cute on them! But I've seen some really cute ones that make me consider having them in my wardrobe. These Gucci rainboots though...well I just don't see how anyone could look stupid wearing them. I think about them frequently, their definitely on that "maybe one day" wish list!

Love Coach.
I haven't had new sneakers in a while. I'd love to have a simple everyday pair.

I've actually never worn Tom's or Sperry's so I'm totally hesitant on them, not sure if I'd even like the fit, but they sure are cute.

Thats the end of the shoe candy! :)


On another note, is anyone watching Celebrity Apprentince? I've never watched any of the other seasons but I think I'll tune in for this season just because Gary Busey makes me laugh! The crazy things he says are hilarious!
Speaking of TV, this was also the first season I watched The Bachelor. Sooo love it! And as much as everyone hated Michelle, she was one of my favorites! Just like Gary Busey, her craziness made me laugh! Hah.

Have a great weekend! :)

A Letter

Dear Blog,

First I have to say, its not you, its me! I used to totally love this blog. It was easy to think of things to post about...it was easy to publish those posts...it was easy to read other posts and comment on them. But all that has changed.

I basically skated through highschool and my junior college. Now that I'm at a University I'm realizing what its like to be an actual student. For junior college I think I could use my hands to count how many times I did homework. Now, I'm realizing homework is a must and studying is essential. Since I'm paying an arm and two legs to attend this school, I definitely have to put my education first. But I miss you little blog. I'm always thinking of funny stories I could share but its so hard to find the time to open Blogger. I usually clear out my Google reader daily though--it is sooooo handy to have that app on my phone!

I don't know if anyone still comes by this blog. But I think about it often. I just cant put the effort into keeping it updated. Things always change though so maybe in the future I'll dust it off and start posting more often.

Until then,
Wish you the best!
-L

Winter Break/Feelings!

My feelings have changed so much since I wrote this post.
I'm happy to say that I'm happy to be living where I am.
Happy to start a brand new year in a brand new place.
I mean its not brand new technically we've been here for 6 months but it still feels new.
♥
I visited home over winter break.
I flew out days before BF did.
He was staying behind for a few more days to work.
It was going to be the longest we've spent apart.
It was really hard for both of us but more so him than me.
At least I was a tiny bit happy I was getting to go see my family.
So through this all I got to experience some new feelings!
One bad, one good.
Bad;
Walking away from my boyfriend at the airport.
Ummm that hurt my heart, alot!
Its really weird to look at a person, and know its the last time you'll be able to see/touch him/her for a while. I'd never experienced it before. I mean yea when I moved out/left home, but its way different leaving your Mom than your boyfriend.
I was so excited to pick him up at the airport!
I would have drove down a day earlier just to wait for him, I was that excited.
Driving home with him was one of the best feelings ever.
Everything around us could have been falling apart but we wouldn't have noticed or cared cause we were just so happy that we were together, everything felt perfect because of that.
♥
I once saw this card at Hallmark that read "Home is where my Mom is".
That explains how I used to feel.
My Dad always tried convincing me that Hallmark was wrong because actually home is where you make it.
But I was team Hallmark all the way and I really missed 'home'.
Even after moving states away, I couldn't help but feel like home was still in CA and that was the only place I could be happy.
But when I was there at 'home', I realized something, that I missed my other home.
My little apartment, my boyfriend, the pets, that was home now and I couldn't believe I was missing it.
All that time spent crying about it, and now I was missing it.
It was a crazy feeling, being ready to leave CA especially since that was the only place I had wanted to be for so long.
I'll probably always be a little California girl and sure my dream is to live there forever, but not before I see other places, point is I'm happy that right now I live somewhere else.
♥
Overall though it was a great vacation.
It was sooo nice to see my family..
BF got to do some laughing when I started to get irritated with my Mom. (which secretly started the 1st day ahahaha)
Happy to visit my old hair stylist while in town! (was very much needed)

I was happy I had the time to do a dinner with my girlfriends!

I've met people here but nothing compares to the friends you've kept from high school.
It was nice to see that things were pretty much the same, I hadn't missed much.
I'm so happy that I'm happy with my decision to move :)

Winter Break

I love the Google Reader app on my phone! I can read blogs anywhere. Maybe Ill be posting more and visiting blogs when I use my actual computer though, after the holidays when I have more time. Maybe. Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas! :)

Can We Keep Her

We went downtown to walk the dog and look at the big tree and lights they have set up at the River Center.
We were walking back to the car.
I heard a super weird noise.

I heard it some more.

I handed over my dog to BF as quick as I could.

Then, I took off and walked over to these bushes on the side of the house we were walking by.

Its a babyyyyy! I squealed.

I kneeled down and tried to get a glance at it.

But it was so scared it kept trying to go back under the house.

It was a kitten.

A tiny tiny kitten.

It was wild or feral or whatever because it was hissing like crazy and it had a mean old meow.

But it was so tiny. The picture I have is pretty close to the size of the one we saw.

It was black and brownish.

I'm a huge animal lover, I stop my car for all dogs who look lost, but kittens are my weakness.

Cars driving by us were probably creeped out and wondering what I was doing.

I spent a good 15 minutes just kneeling down trying to get her to come out, come near me.

Her tiny little meow was sooo freakin cute.

BF was standing a few steps back keeping an eye on me.

I turned around and whispered to him, "babeeee I want her!" (all kittens are girls in my book)

He then went on to gently explain we couldn't, because we cant really afford her and the cat that we do have wouldn't be too happy about a new member, and this kitten is pretty wild.

But shes soooo little. She's all alone.

How could I not keep her?

But there was a tiny % of my brain that understood that we really couldn't keep her.

#1, she wouldn't even let us close enough to her to catch her anyways and #2 it really wouldn't be fair to our other cat.

So I walked back to the car, trying not to act childish.

But as soon as I sat in my passenger seat, I started crying.

BF hates seeing me cry and it was kind of funny how fast he changed his mind.

He stood there telling me he didn't know what to do, he didn't think we should keep her but if I was that upset, did I want to try catching her...

But I was a big girl.

I listened to that tiny % that knew we couldn't have another pet in our house, and I kind of knew deep down she was super crazy and even if we tried hard we wouldn't be able to catch her anyway. Do I really want a crazy cat.

Even though she was tiny. And cute. And living under a house when its 40 degrees at night.

So we got in the car and drove away.

We drove away to a gas station.

My boyfriend went inside.

He came out with two cans of cat food.

We went back to the kitten.

I tried to bribe her out with the open can.

We watched her take a few bites.

Found a plastic container and put some water in it for her as well.

We told her that's all we could do for her.

Merry Christmas.

Then we left.

Yes I cry over stray cats. I worried about her. Then I remembered there are like 50000 like her in that situation. At least the house she was living under was next to a law firm, and that plastic container we found was an old cat food thing, maybe the people at the law firm heard her crying too and tryed to rescue her or at least feed her one time.

My heart broke a little. Actually alot. I am kind of known for bringing stray animals home so BF kept telling me how proud he was of me, that he couldn't wait to tell my Mom he actually got me to walk away from an animal. If I was rich, I would have a house full of pets. Or even better, a house just for my pets. I would no doubt visit the pound and be like, "yes please I'll take all of them."

6 Things In 1!

Hiiii there. Hope this post find you doing well :) Yes I know I cant believe its already December either. I have a bunch to say and I suppose each of these topics could have been a separate post but I don't have time for that its easier throw everything together and that's how I like it, so here's whats been going on in my life!

Inconsistency: Soooo I have pretty much proved to everyone that I am not good at blogging on a regular basis! The 14 Days Of Christmas Challenge sounded so fun and I did real good for a couple days but I have finals going on right now and it really wasn't fair for me to be posting instead of hitting the books so I kind of stopped participating. But I've been enjoying reading everybodys posts, and theres still a couple days left for linking up!

Finals & School Related Things: I have come to the conclusion that I hate group projects. I really do. I don't mind working with people I don't even know, it can be fun meeting new people sometimes, that's not the problem. The problem, for me, is that your working on somebody elses deadline. The group decides that they want to have a meeting and have the project finished by a certain date. That doesn't really work for me. I like to do my work when I want to. Maybe I have other stuff going on in my life and I don't plan on working on this project til the day before its due, which is fine if its my individual work, but I cant really pull that off in a group project. So yea the group work thing is not really my favorite deal. Which leads me to my next topic...

Procrastination: I don't know what my problem is, but for school especially I have always been a big procrastinator. I start off really good, then it basically all goes down hill and come time for finals, I'm struggling figuring out that I need to get an A on the final in order to pass the class with a C or B. I wouldn't need to cram so hard if I would just do good all semester. But it never fails that during the last few weeks of the semester, I try my hardest to become a wonderful student again. I don't know why I procrastinate so bad and wait until my grades are actually in danger to start worrying about it. It leaves me with so much more work, trying to raise my grade by doing extremely well on just one test. I wish I would have just worked a little harder overall during the semester instead of slacking off/taking it easy, then I wouldn't be working double hard now. You think knowing this I would take my own advice and fix myself but I'm pretty sure next semester I'll be saying something similar to this! Ha!

Sad Movies/I'm Old: Rebox had nothing else we were interested in so BF and I rented Toy story 3 . Ummmmm saddest movie ever!? Not not really ever but why the heck was it so sad!? Ok wait and I just Googled 'Toy Story 1 release date' and I cannot believe what I read!!! 1995!? That is not possible. That would mean I was 7 when I first saw it, and 11 when the second one came out!? Umm well if I ever felt old, its now! Someone please tell me I found the wrong information and that the first one actually was only released a couple years ago! That's what it feels like, I remember it like it was yesterday! (cheeseball) So I'm dying to know if kids thought it was sad!? I had a little bit of watery eyes and I'm sure Moms did too but I wonder if the little ones watching it got any sense of "aww how sad" during the movie. I guess Ill have to check with my nephew.

I'm A Bad Girlfriend But I Found A Coupon To Make Up For It: I was soooooo extremely proud of myself the other day!!! BF's family sent him a gift card for his birthday and he debated for a while what he should get. A nice pair of sunglasses? I shot that down because he works inside all day, there are times he doesn't even get to see the sun so that is not really a practical purchase. Shoes? Sure, but when the heck are you going to wear them since they have red on them they will not match your work attire and that's the place you frequent the most wouldn't you want a pair you could where there? An airsoft gun. Ummm ok well how often are you going to use that, wouldn't you want a gift you could use alot instead of one that will just sit and collect dust? Yes, I am a horrible girlfriend and I tell my boyfriend what he should get himself as a gift. I cant help it, I had to say something about the idea of sunglasses which I thought was ridculous! I even went as far as to say "girls are the ones that are supposed to want nice sunglasses and I'm at school 80% of the time outside walking to classes so if anyone should have a nice pair its me!" Girlfriend of the year award over here. (If I owned the sweet pair of Tiffany & Co. shades I saw in the sunglasses store the other day, I might not have had anything to say ;) So after I made him feel stupid about wanting impractical gifts, I made it up to him by being as excited as I possibly could over a video game. A video game. Now thats a good idea, something practical he can use that wont go to waste. If you haven't heard the name "black OPS" then I'm guessing you either a) live under a rock and haven't seen the commercial they have for it because they play it every 10 minutes or b)don't have a boy in your life that cares about video games. Its a super fun shooting game or something. So he was deciding between that and Madden11 or what not. I of course had to throw my opinion in again and said "I think you should get black ops but that's just cause I might wanna play it." He was sold, he said "ok then I'm going to get it cause I want you to play too!" Ummm what did I just commit myself to!? I tried to play Madden with him years ago, it was exciting to see myself somehow score a touchdown by pressing all the buttons at once and getting lucky that it worked. But that game was freaking hard so knowing that, sure I'd choose shooting at some cartoon figures over trying to figure out how to "pick a play" and throw a football with a video game remote, anyday! Back to the point of this story. It just so happens that the day we are looking for this stupid video game is actually Cyber Monday, you know, the black friday of online shopping. BF had no idea what that was. Anyway, I scored free shipping from the site I ordered it from, and before I "checked out" I decided to do a quick Google search in hopes for a coupon/promotional code I could use. Well I found a few that had bad reviews of them not being valid, then I found one for a % off and I hoped, hoped, hoped it would work! I tried it and whispered "ohh my godd no way" when I saw that it did in fact work and I had just scored 6$ off BF's stupid video game! Go me! Yay for Google. Moral of my story, a quick search for an online coupon code actually worked and saved us $$ off the total! Maybe I'll have more time to blog now that BF will have a new game to obsess over...

I Love Cheap But My Hair Does Not: I love drugstore make up, they have great eyeliner. I can buy shampoo at Wal Mart. I love cheap stuff. I love good deals. Sure I would love to use the best most expensive product for everything but I cant, I don't. I don't mind using inexpensive products on myself. I don't. I don't mind, but you know who does? My hair. My hair handles inexpensive shampoo just fine. Aussie, Herbal Essence, Redken, those are all ok for getting my hair clean. But give me a conditioner that was less than $10 and my hair is like "Umm no what is this crap that you have on me? I don't like it at all, I'm staying tangled foreverrrr, hate you rawrrr!" So I'm like, "come on hair, I don't mind the inexpensive stuff why cant you just like it and behave like you like it!?" And then my Mom throws in her two cents (sense? idk!) and is like "you cant skimp on your hair, your gonna be mad when it all falls out, you cant get it back! You'll wish you would have treated it right!" Ok ok fine, I give in to everybody, the hair wins. BF just got paid and I'm using my line on him; "I like cheap stuff but unfortunately my hair doesnt, and you don't want an even more hideous looking girlfriend do you? Then we need to buy expensive products babe!" That's basically what I said and we were off to find a salon or store in the mall that carries what I was looking for. I could make a whole entire post of what products I love and why their so great, but let me just say I love Aveda. (My Mom is to blame for that cause shes the one that introduced me to it!) Anyways, I pick out my conditioner (glad I let the girls working talk me into trying a new extra super moisturizing one) and am as happy as a clam. So is my hair, it hasn't been this soft since who knows when. I made sure to thank BF at least once every 5 minutes and every other hour thrown in a "my hair thanks you too." He is so sweet he was like "I knew you said it was gonna be expensive but when I saw the price I was like oh wow she wasn't joking." Nope, no jokes; $24 for a tube of conditioner, I'm completely serious about the price and serious about the fact that it was soo worth it.

p.s. Anyone else on Twitter?! I use it alot sometimes, @loves20

12 Days Of Christmas Blog Challenge Day 5

Favorite Holiday Movie/TV Show Special

This one was easy for me! Imagine that...Elf is great, but it seems like they play it on TV everyyyy other day during the holidays day so sometimes I get burnt out.

All time favorite holiday movie: Home Alone 1 & 2! Love them both, I cant decide a favorite between the two! I liked seeing Kevin lost in New York in the second one but the first one is so classic and the part where hes walking home in the snow and his groceries bust out of the bag gets me every time, lol!


Runner up is The Santa Claus with Tim Allen, such a cute movie! When I was little I used to watch it like every day in December ha. And honorable mention goes to The Polar Express, it was weird at first but I really liked it.

Link up here!

12 Days Of Christmas Blog Challenge Day 4

Tips/Tricks to a Budget Friendly holiday season

Keep track of your $:

*Know how much your gonna spend! So important to budget. (unless you've got it like that and don't need to budget with your visa black card ;) If you have $700 to spend on 6 people, know that you can spend just a little over $100 on each person!

*Keep track of everything! On paper, notebook, whatever, document that you have spent 45 out of that 100 and can only spend 65 more until your over budget on that person. Sometimes you spend more on your nephew than your Dad, or more on your significant other than your grandma. Being able to see the "math" of it all has really helped me in the past!

Shop Smart/Careful:

*Take advantage of shopping online! Free shipping is amazing, and look for sites that offer a % off your purchase.

*Also be careful of online shopping, its tempting to spend an extra $25 just so you can qualify for free shipping but is it worth it, will it mess up your budget?

*Shop for more than one person at a time, especially online! If you can get gifts for 3 different people in one store, perfect! Saves you extra shopping trips.

Have a plan, don't just shop:

For me, the holidays is the worst time to just "go shopping". If I don't have a set plan, I'm going to end up wandering around the mall, trying to come up with ideas for gifts for others as I'm walking, but in the end, I'll be shopping for clothes for myself, eventually spending money on a pretzel and sitting down with a drink from Coffee Bean because I was frustrated and didn't know what to buy or who I was shopping for. So before you go to the mall, know what stores you need to hit. At least have an idea of who you can get a gift for and in what department, don't just browse! You'll waste time (&possibly money) thinking of things you could have had figured out before you got there!

Thats all I've got! Link up with Aly & Molly!

I Love Grocery Stores

I love grocery shopping.

No like I really love it.

I like it more than any other kind of shopping, clothes, shoes whatever.

I'm curious to know how much time I could actually spend enjoying a grocery store, taking my time, no time limit.

I love looking at everything.

Things I need, things I don't need.

Different brands of the same thing.

Comparing prices.

"Ooh this looks good!"

"Ooh I wonder how this is."

And I'm a pro at navigating the store, I know where things are.

I've asked BF to run to the store for me, and he ends up calling me cause he cant find the cream cheese.

"Its by the other types of regular cheeses but not by the lunch meat."

Yea, I know my grocery store!

Every type of item, I don't discriminate.

Food, non food.

I like to look at all the different types of Febreezes.

I also like to look at the various types of breads, rolls, tortillas, etc.

Sure I spend more time on certain aisles. (cough cough ice cream and cake mixes cough cough)

But if I could, I'd look at everything.

Its great if BF can push the cart while he reads a boy magazine, then, I feel like I have more time to look at things I'm not buying.

But that's not what he usually ever does.

He usually pushes the cart then stands there watching my every move, therefore making me feel like he has a stopwatch and I need to just grab everything quickly so we can go.

There have been numerous incidents in the store where I get an attitude because I am feeling rushed and hes swearing that its fine to take my time.

Argument on aisle 7! Ha.

Of course I don't believe him.

I know its not his favorite thing to do and if its longer than 45 minutes, then he's really hating life but trying to be nice and not show it.

Ive told him before how I feel bad for him.

Some girls like purse shopping best, I like grocery shopping the most.

Breaking Routine. I Hate Nightshift.

In December, I'll have officially been being ('been being' sounds so weird, grammar police help?) a girlfriend for 3 and a half years.

3 & 1/2.

At times it doesn't sound like its a long amount of time at all.

Sometimes it feels like its been really long, longer than 3 years.

Other times it feels like it sounds like a short amount of time.

So what I'm feeling right now, tonight, I'm not sure how to describe it.

Sad I guess.

For some reason they have my boyfriend working over night tonight, 10-6.

Like, he gets off at 6 in the morning.

Yea, took me a while to actually process that happening.

But it is happening.

Call me a baby.

Go ahead really, I already talked to my Mom tonight and that's what she said, she thinks me feeling this way is somewhat funny. If I weren't me maybe I'd be laughing too.

I don't know what I'm going to do.

I don't know if I'm going to sleep.

I cant imagine being able to stay awake all night.

But I also cant imagine sleeping without BF.

I loveeeeeee sleeping, but going to bed without him just doesn't sound good at all.

At night, I hear lots of noise like cars going by with music, somebodies dog going through bushes, the house shifting/settling.

But it is very hard to convince me that those noises are not burglars, psycho killers yelling, break ins/robberies, wild animals.

But BF does a great job of that convincing and he's always been right, no burglars.

But I'd much rather be alone during the day.

3+ years spent going to bed with the same person.

One night alone during these particular hours feels so weird.

But don't worry I'm toughing it out somehow :)

*(if you are laughing at me going crazy over just this one night, please feel free to stick around and next month you can laugh at me panicking over the thought of spending 6 whole days/nights away from him)

12 Days Of Christmas Blog Challenge: Day 2

Black Friday/General Shopping Tricks & Tips

Black Friday: I've only ventured out for it one time. With my sister to a Saks 5th ave outlet. It is craziness but a fun thing to do. So I don't really have any super amazing tips for Black Friday, I'd just suggest:


*Bundle, dress warm, its so cold that early!
*Have lots of patience for finding parking, managing crazy crowds.
*Make sure you have enough energy/are not too tired. (I was gonna go last year & tried to stay awake all night til Macy's opened at 5 but I "napped" and never woke up to go ha!)
*Don't buy it just because its a good deal because its BF (black friday, not boyfriend :) One of my great purchases from BF, I only wore once.
*Keeping track of how much you spent on each person and what gifts you've bought, makes it easier to decide if you can buy that nice big present for someone, and you'll be able to tell how much you have if you need just one more small gift for someone at the last minute.
*PLAN! If your going to the mall, know which exact stores you need to hit. Target/similar stores, have an idea of who you can get a gift for and in what department.
*And always, dress comfy! So irritating to want to stop shopping because your too hott, too cold, don't have a jacket, or you wore the wrong shoes and your feet are tired!
*Shop online too/instead. If your looking to buy a talking Transformer from the toy store, look online too, you might find that it is cheaper/better/a bigger selection.
*Try to shop for more than one person at a time. For example, I can get NFL slippers for BF, a NBA shirt for my Dad, and a MLB coffee mug for my grandma, all off of the same website! Knocking out 3 gifts in one store, so good!

link up here!

12 Days Of Christmas Blog Challenge: Day 1

Day 1: Christmas/Holiday Traditions

Cookies & Milk tradition- Not anymore of course but when I was little. Am I the only one that did this?! I have a really good memory of one year my Mom helped me make cookies and leave a plate of them and a little note saying hi Santa or something. I was soo very happy when I woke up and saw that the cookies had been touched and "Santa had wrote back" oh my note saying thanks for the cookies! That Christmas I was just in awe that Santa had really, truly ate some of the cookies I made. Yes, there were actual half bitten into cookies left by Santa. I probably had a million questions and I remember wanting to know why he didn't finish them all and my Mom telling me that "he couldn't finish all the cookies cause he'd be too full". My Mom Santa rocked that year.

My family is pretty horrible at sticking to a plan flexible with everything, so we don't always eat Christmas dinner at the same time or always open presents in the morning. One tradition we do always follow though is to open one present (I always try for more than one though ha) on Christmas eve. I love doing this cause it seems to make me even more excited for the next day. Why and how did this become a tradition? Probably because I'm so very impatient and my Mom cant say no to me ;)

Christmas has changed since my nephew came along! It used to be me and my sister having extravagant "lists", we could for sure count on unwrapping something from Sephora and if we were lucky, something Juicy Couture or any other nice name brand. Now days,I'm happy if I just get a new pair of pajamas Christmas is more catered to my nephew, he's the one who can get away with the long list thing and Christmas is still new to him.

We do have somewhat of a routine though, it consists of Christmas eve dinner hosted by my sister. Then on Christmas day we do presents (stockings first!) in the morning/as early in the afternoon as possible. Then we relax and spend time filling up on Ruffles w/ranch dip hanging out with each other till dinner is ready.

Other little traditions include:
*Helping to put up lights on the house
*Helping decorate the tree
*Christmas candy in our stockings
*Fuzzy socks in your stocking-The past 2 years my Mom has been pissed she hasn't been able to find said socks for us though haha.
*Going to see the neighborhoods Christmas lights (some people go all out)

So thats it. Were not super duper all out must follow every tradition, but we do have a few, and I love it :) I also cant wait til I have a family of my own to start traditions with!

link up!