Belated Blog: Sunday Funday

Adam and I rarely get weekends off together. As a matter of fact, it's expected and to the point of comedy that when I have a day off, he has duty and vice versa. Well this past Sunday, the heavens aligned and we were able to spend good quality time together.

We started off with a drive; a morning adventure in search of delicious doughnuts. 26.5 miles later, we ended up in Suffolk at O'Doodledoo's. Adam and I bought a dozen of the most uniquely decorated and interesting/fun doughnut flavors one could possible imagine. (*See picture below*) Thanks Ashley for the scrumptious and brilliant idea! PS. The red velvet will change your life! Mmmm.

We continued to hop from place to place and despite the icy, soggy weather, we had a wonderful time. Garden Ridge had more dining room chairs (now we only need ONE more) and a fun canvas print for our laundry room. It sounds cheesy but I love our errand/adventure/exploration days where we just meander around town without agenda. Those are my favorites!

The following events happened recently but my brain is so muddled that I can't remember the time line, so forgive me if things seem a bit mixed up.
• I tried Indian food for the first time. I also decided that that particular flavor palette is NOT a favorite of mine. Too much...well, I'm not sure...but it was too much of something.

• Adam and I watched Skyfall, the newest Bond movie for those that have been living under a rock, and thought it was just okay. Then we had a debate on who is a more attractive Englishman; Daniel Craig or David Beckham. Results still undecided.

• We had a homemade pizza night.

• I got tons of Pampered Chef goodies from the party I hosted. Thanks everyone who purchased! I think I saved almost $400 in products. Now...if I could just learn to cook!! :-P

Time to read until I fall asleep.
Looking For Alaska.
By John Green.

Papillon Medium

I'm not entirely sure if I believe in "ghosts" as they've been portrayed by the media but I do believe in spirits and I most certainly believe that animals often have a special sense when it comes to noticing an unidentifiable presence.

Adam has duty tonight which means, with our crazy, criss-crossed schedules, we won't see each other until tomorrow night. It also means that I sleep alone tonight. Well, me and the guard dogs. As I'm getting ready for bed, I notice not one but BOTH dogs acting strange. They kept jerking their heads around, looking towards the windows and doors. (The rational part of my brain thought that maybe the pups were searching for Adam, since 99% of the time we're both home. BUUUT I have a highly irrational fear that someone is going to [eventually] break into my house at night when I'm alone and helpless, so you can imagine the unease the creatures were causing.) The quick glances to the doors and windows changed to both dogs now following around an invisible SOMETHING that, I'm assuming was a few inches taller than me. SPIRITS! Then the barking began. I tried calming them down but after five minutes of this I was slightly annoyed but mostly unnerved. What were they SEEING?!? Finally with a bit of force, many commands and a few ear scratches, the beasts were quiet...

UNTIL...

A giant fly buzzed right by my left ear, sending the dogs into mass hysteria. barkbarkbarkbarkbark. A fly. A FLY! Here I was, nervously assuming the halls of my 1989 suburban home are bustling with lost spirits when my brilliant, psychic papillons were actually being bug hunters.

Clearly I watch too much television and should NOT be left to my own imagination.

Lesson: learned.
Goodnight.

Pampered

I had a Pampered Chef Party last night that turned out to be a great time. (Yep, I'm officially OLD.) We had wine and got to use all kinds of kitchen tools which spun me off into my personal housewife fantasy where I dreamed of cooking delicious meals for a houseful of guests. Sadly, I still cannot cook but LUCKILY Carri (the PC Consultant) helped us make a super easy, amazingly delicious salad. (It's Paleo for those who were wondering and it's quite healthy for you without actually TASTING healthy...which makes the salad a winner in my book.) The wine wasn't enough to counter-act the good decision of eating a salad for dinner so we busted out a block (or two) of cream cheese and covered one with raspberry habenero sauce and the other with pineapple rum sauce. It was my first time ever trying those sauces but I have decided that I WILL make raspberry habenero meatballs sometime very soon. YUMMM! After preparing the food the girls sat down on my NEW dining room table. We had to use a hodge podge of chairs since we're still waiting on a new shipment at Garden Ridge but it was a great space and I was beyond thrilled to FINALLY use it! Adam spent the night on a bro-date with his friend at an Irish pub in Virginia Beach...so everyone was happy.

In other news, I started a HOME album on Facebook so I can finally share all of our updating and renovations with friends and family. I'll update it as often as we do work around the house.

Table Update

The doors opened at 8am and in the dash of people, I decided it was better to run. So I did. I snatched the tag off the table (the act one must do to "claim" their one of a kind token piece). Apparently, I failed to noticed I had been staring down a young girl, surely sent my her mother to grab the matching buffet I wanted. Damn her youthful agility! I looked at her white knuckles grasping on to her orange ticket for dear life and realized I was still giving her a look of doom. I apologized and went off to watch the other hoards of furniture crazed, discount-driven maniacs claw and climb their ways through couches and end tables. Halfway victorious, I paid for my table (sans the chairs, hence the phenomenal discount...only $250!!) and went to work. Even after my shift, I couldn't get this buffet out of my head. I went BACK to the base and found I could order a new one for 20% off. Not the BEST discount but I reminded myself tht the purchases were tax free and ordered away! Finally after a YEAR of an empty dining room, completely void of light and furniture, the Peeples will be able to entertain!

The table will be picked up tomorrow by Adam. The buffet can be picked up in 4-6 weeks. The chairs will have to be purchased from Garden Ridge and we'll pick out a light fixture and a paint color ASAP. Eventually, we'll get plates and glasses that match; instead of the hodgepodge, bachelor set we've had since 2006-2007ish.

Also, floors should be coming soon. Be prepared for a DIY rant.

:-D

Run!

I've never been one for Black Friday type sales. 1) I don't like waking up early 2) I hate dealing with other people and 3) I don't like being rushed when I shop. So naturally, it would make a world of sense that I'm currently standing outside at 7 in the morning, in the freezing cold, 30th in a line of God knows how many people ready to RUN and grab my dream dining room table. Oh yeh, and I have to work at 830. The navy exchange on Little Creek's base is having a sale. 50% off all clearance items. Adam said if I wanted my table bad enough, I'd wake up early and try as hard as I could.

So I'm here. In the cold. Waiting...

Pray for me, Internet! IT'S MY DREAM TABLE!

Motivated Monday

Today:

Started Looking for Alaska. Tangent: John Green has always been one favorite authors because his writing style is so vivid and lovely. The characters have so much depth and he comes across as intelligent, not pretentious; which is difficult to do. Green could rewrite Dickens and make even that tolerable. Unlike the last book. Poo.

Played fetch with the pups. Outside! In the yard. With NO jacket!! SPRING, HERE WE COME!!!

Inspired by the warmER weather, I went to Lowes and purchased almost a dozen flowering seed packets for my amateur gardener/landscaper husband. Also gave him plant makers that I had been saving to use for a certain occasion that never came around. Mr. HGTV was thrilled.

Made delicious crock pot pulled chicken. (My craving for decent BBQ was getting out of control and since VA has exactly ZERO worthwhile BBQ joints, I was forced to make my own. This was paired with rotel mac n cheese and sweet tea, naturally.)

Did many loads of laundry. It was probably the most interesting of all my daily adventures. Well THAT and, I suppose, all of my highly difficult tasks. Dishes, sanitizing counters, feeding the creatures, sweeping floors, straightening the living room...
Oh yes, that definitely makes me sound superwoman-esque. Right?!

Tried, unsuccessfully, to do a Pinterest-inspired cork craft. Apparently corks do not stick well with super glue as the bonding agent. Martha Stewart, I am not.

Abandoned hopeless cork craft for something that WOULD work with super glue. Buttons! See below for my Personalized Peeples Canvas inspired by our nautical themed guest bedroom.

It's my day off so instead of doing something productive, I'm lounging in bed (yes, at 10am) reading A Million Little Pieces, the book I'm trying to suffer through. I'm not 100% positive how it made Oprah's book club because it's horribly written but I've never been one to just abandon a novel, with the exception of the 50 Shades trilogy where the word "murmur" is literally used at least once every page.

I'll share if I end up doing anything more productive than this.

Also, blogging via iPhone is MUCH more convenient, for those interested.

Winter Storm Saturn

Since when do They start naming winter storms? And could They honestly pick something a little bit more relevant to the severe amount of wind and rain whirling around outside? I mean, honestly...how does one get the job of naming storms? Can I do that?!?

We're lucky enough to have maintained power but the wind has driven me crazy all day. Things are getting blown over every second and the noise sends my ankle biting guard dogs into furious bouts of protection-bark-rage. Once they're assured it's NOT an intruder coming to steal the favorite squeak toy, they calm down...for 10-30 seconds until a tree branch slams and scrapes a window or the trash cans blow over. Then. Joy of joys. YAPYAPYAPYAPYAPYAPYAPYAP. Watching them go to the bathroom has been one of the more humorous parts of my day, though. The mighty 12lb papillon frame is, apparently, not one for fighting gale-force winter storm winds.

Ah, wait! The beasts have quieted.

For now.

I might just get to sleep through this storm afterall!

Back in the Saddle

Okay...this isn't as foreign as I expected...

To say that it's been a while is a huge understatement. I can't believe it's been almost a YEAR since I've logged on and written all my thoughts out for the entire interwebz. In that year I've dealt with my first ever eight month deployment, become a bridal consultant, made friends, lost friends, gone on vacations, celebrated Adam's 30th birthday on the road and celebrated my 26th here in VA. There have been many ups and downs. I suppose that's life though. (Sorry you won't get an in-depth piece breaking down the past year. I simply don't have enough patience or time to do that.)
Some might say...Ain't NOBODY got time for that.

A friend recently shared that you have no idea how boring your life actually is until someone asks you what you do for fun. Well, with that being said: I'm hosting a Pampered Chef Party this month. Gosh, when did I get so OLD!? I mean seriously! Is this really what my age group is supposed to do?? Don't worry, I'm not planning on becoming one of those overly pushy consultants that goes door to door begging the public to buy my new or improved kitchen gadget. This is a one time thing. Of course, what would social networking be if I didn't tell you all of the fun things you could purchase? (Some of the stuff really IS cool and worth a look.) Visit my Facebook for more details or let me know if you want me to send you a catalog. Alright, enough plugging my old lady party.

Here's to hoping this round is as entertaining as one could ever hope. 

It's great to be back.