Weekend Update!

Hi folks -
I know my posts of late of been a bit morose. I am not big fan of the month of March for a lot of personal reasons, but I am very excited and upbeat today because it is officially SPRING!

It is raining outside and thundering and I am loving every second of it! We even turned off the heat and have the window open, letting in the crisp, fresh air! I had a pretty fantastic weekend too (completely ruined the diet, but hey - I will start again tomorrow) and thought I would share -

Friday Night: Nothing too crazy, hung out w/ the 'rents and Brandon watched some basketball with his dad. Panera and a low key night.

Saturday: Started off bright and early at the dog park w/ the girls! It was the perfect day for it!!! We spent about an hour there and then the girls were pooped. We came home and they crashed. :) Sophers snuggled up with me while I finished reading a book. I am currently in the middle of The Devil's Highway, and it is pretty heavy, so I picked up a quick, smutty, brain candy book which while I thoroughly it, will not be reviewing :)

In the afternoon I went to the mall and power-shopped. I was there for an hour and hit up 5 stores. I got a pretty new dress from Charlotte Russe. 2 pair of cute flats for summertime from Payless. A cute dress for work from Macy's (only $15 since I had a leftover $15 gift card from Christmas). I got a plethora of new undergarments from Victoria's Secret at a great deal thanks to a $10 off coupon, a Free Panty coupon, and a $10 off any bra coupon! Score! I also got some goodies from Bath and Body works, since my friend AlliFerg told me about the free tote and lotion they were giving away from 1pm- 5pm on Saturday only! I love the scent of the lotion I got for free (Country Girl- I think) and the new Peach Bellini foaming hand soap. I was looking for a new body splash scent for summer, and ended up getting Orange Sapphire, but I gave it to my mom-in-law today because I was not a fan of it on me this morning. Too strong, not enough orange . The tote is... plastic. lol It is a clear plastic thing w/ a floral print. Eh- it was free. I will probably use it as a gift bag for someone.
Then, when I got home, I took the dogs for a mile-long walk.

Saturday evening consisted of grabbing a delicious, yet rushed dinner @ Cabana Charley's - an island themed restaurant by our apartment - with Brandon's brother and his girlfriend. Then, we rushed over to the movie theatre to meet up with the parents for the movie The Adjustment Bureau. The movie was OK - the previews led me to believe it would be all action-packed, but it was more thought provoking than action-y. 

Sunday: We headed to church this morning, made a quick Target run for some necessities and a new pillow for me - trying out memory foam for the neck and headache issues. We spent the rest of the day lounging at the parent's house, watched Bambi, and Brandon got us some new iPhones! When we got home, we took the dogs for another mile-walk during sunset. They are off sleeping somewhere now. I suppose I will need to finish up some laundry and dishes before heading into another busy week.

I hope everyone else had some fun-filled weekends and some down-time! I really feel rejuvenated and hope I can carry this with me throughout the week!

God of My Days

We sang this song on Sunday and it has been in my head the past couple days. I am in love with the message in this song.
You are Lord of my Laughter and Soveriegn in Sorrow - what a beautiful message that God is with us in times of joy and in our darkest times of grief.

A Perfect Storm

This past week has been a really, really terrible week, all culminating (for me) to today. Every year this is a hard day for me. 14 years ago today, my sweet mother lost her 7 year battle with cancer. I have struggled with her loss more as I have grown into a woman than I did when I was a young girl. I think now, I see more of the friendship I could have had with mother that I am so terribly angry I have missed out on. She did leave me with so much to aspire too - she was the strongest woman I have ever met.

Our senior pictures 

Only this year, the week leading up to this day, has been so much worse. First, and least importantly, the weather. Spring feels so far from reach and it is incredibly dreary - to put it eloquently - March sucks.
There is world-wide unrest and tragedy all over the news - riots in Egypt, Libya, and this devastating earthquake in Japan. 

Then, last week, I had to go to the funeral of a vibrant, charismatic 24 year old man - a husband of one of my friends. There is just so much wrong about that. 
What made it a Perfect Storm for me today - was church service. It is rare that the anniversary of my mom's death falls on a Sunday. I was not expecting to be overly emotional - usually I am not (really.). But due to some things I have been struggling with in my personal life and the combination of this past week's events, I just broke down.
Our Pastor was preaching on insecurities. I was nearly in tears during the skit they did prior to the sermon. They did a skit of God chiseling insecurities and imperfections out of a man. The first flaws 'God' mentioned were anger and pride, which are the two things I struggle with the most. It was all downhill from there. Matthew taught about where insecurities come from, where they originate.

1. Instability in the Home
2. A Significant Loss
3. A Rejection
 
Any time in life these can result in insecurities, but they have the biggest impart at a young age.  They cause people to buy into negative thoughts of being unlovable, unworthy, and that little voice constantly telling them they are no good.
It was a powerful sermon and as I looked around many people were crying. It made me mad - knowing that these people had all experienced these things in their lives, or even the trifecta of those awful experiences. It makes me sad because this is not how God imagined our lives- it was not His intention for his creations, his children who He loves, to experience this heart-wrenching pain. Not only a moment of pain, but a lasting pain that effects people long after the moment has passed.
It's heart-breaking. But you know what - we are made in God's image. We are his children and He loves us - imperfections and all.
I heard this song on my way home - and through my tears it made me hopeful.
Pink - Perfect
* there is kind of a graphic scene in this video for any sensitive viewers

Post- Christmas Mantle

I know this has been a long-time coming, but I only recently got it "just right". After the Christmas set-up:

So festive!
Well, since this was a new edition over Christmas, I hadn't really had anything lined up to go on a mantle so for quite awhile it looked pretty sparse. There was nothing up there but the candlesticks and some pine needles. Sorry no photos available of that depressing look. Then, as I continued to tweak, it looked like this for a little while:

I still was not thrilled with it. at. all. I was living with it though. Then, after I re-did the Warren Cupboard, a lot of the things that were on the mantle migrated over the the top of the cupboard. Then I was left with a bare mantle again. Well, here is the final product, which I am finally happy with. 

It is pretty much a Nana-philosophy that putting some tulle and lights on anything will make it look better, and she's right. I picked up the light green frame on the far left at Home Goods on clearance for $5 and the green bottle in the middle for $5. The frame in between the two Home Goods items was a Target Clearance item for $3.50 I think. I like it. What do you think?

Oscars Red Carpet!

Ah the Academy Awards. The grand daddy of awards shows.
Not gonna lie folks, I was a little disappointed.... no, not in the terrible hosts or lackluster broadcast, but in the fashion. Everyone did SO GOOD. It is so much more fun when the celebrities bomb. Alas, we do have a new category: Honorable Mention. Not everyone can be a best, but so many people looked REALLY good that I decided to add in this category for the Oscars.

I will begin with the Honorable Mentions:

Amy Adams - your hair is amazing, make-up was flawless, dress - smoking hot. Why did you ruin the whole thing with that stupid necklace?

Anne Hathaway- you actually looked great in all 8 dresses you wore, but I was embarrassed for you and your hosting skills.

Halle Barry - you may be one of the most gorgeous women on the planet. You look amazing, I just feel like your dress is a little confused...

Natalie Portman - for some reason I have this huge dislike of her, but she's preggo and adorbs in this dress. (at least there isn't a giant red rose on the front of it) 

 Alright, now here is a looooooooooooooooong list of Bests:

Reese Witherspoon. Hands down- Best Hair of the night. And you can't go wrong with classic black and white!  (I did wear this dress to my freshman homecoming though... well a much-less expensive version of it :))

Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardiem, Ok- the dress doesn't wow me, but they get my Cutest Couple award for the night. I also would like to point out that she gave birth a mere 4 weeks ago. Wowza. 

Sandra Bullock. Classic Hollywood Glamour.

Jennifer Lawrence. Best Dressed Newbie. She is smokin' hot in this dress!

Jennifer Hudson. Love the color, Love the dress, not so much the hair, but she rocked it.

Gwyneth Paltrow - she can do no wrong for me these days. I think people will be split love or hate on this dress. I, for one, LOVE. 

Hailey Steinfeld. Now, I am really disappointed in this picture. It is not doing this dress justice at all. She looked so cute, so glam, and so age-appropriate for a 14 year old. I loved it!

Helen Miren. This woman is a Grande Dame of Hollywood. So elegant.

Mandy Moore. This is another really terrible picture. This dress took my breath away when I watched the red carpet. Here it looks pretty dull. Go youtube a video of her on the carpet. It looked so great on TV!

Hilary Swank. Just love it. 

And, drum roll please........
Worst:

ScarJo- No no.

Mila Kunis- now this doesn't look THAT bad here, but I was so concerned that there was going to be a wardrobe malfunction! Her girls are held in by little details of lace. LACE people!! She was jiggling around all over the place.

Now, I was going to leave Helena Bonham Carter off of my list of worst, because she does it on purpose. Then I found of picture of her doing this:

Really?

Cate Blanchett. Now, she looks stunning. I just wish the top half of the dress was not stiff and un-moveable. The circle it forms around her torso confuses me. I love it from the waist down, but can't support the top half.

Melissa Leo- probably the most interesting acceptance speech at the Oscars. First person to ever drop the F-bomb on stage... even Christian Bale poked fun at her for it. But this dress.... maybe I just dislike architectural dresses, but the lace and the mirror-ish material underneath were just not cute. There are so many other beautiful dresses out there she could have worn.

Nicole Kidman. EPIC FAIL. Hugely disappointed. What was she thinking????

Warren Cupboard White wash

After being more than irritated with my after-Christmas living room, I was inspired a couple weeks ago as I was walking through Home Goods. I LOVE shabby-chic distressed furniture. I coveted pretty much everything in the darn store, but left with just 3 small things that were on clearance and basically free (Thank you Chase rewards)... I will show you those at a later date. Ha!
Today is all about the Warren Cupboard. We call it that because our friend Warren gave it to us for a wedding gift, and Nana called it that once, and it stuck. :) Anyway, it was a very dark brown wood color, and worked great in our last living room. See:

But was not doing it for me in our new space.

See how it just blends in to the background? Not so cute.

I decided, after my Home Goods adventure, that I was going to take the plunge and just paint the darn thing. I got a kit from Micheal's called "Distressed Ivory" by American Accents. Following Papa's instructions, I "roughed it up a bit" then wiped it down and went crazy. I am not really impressed with the paint I got, it was VERY watery. And I mixed people! I mixed! I even kept mixing randomly as I was painting and it FINALLY thickened up a bit, after I finished the first coat. I was kind of worried after coat 1. Here's what it looked like.

Coat 2 did better though- full coverage! Yippee! I let it dry overnight and then after a failed sanding attempt (to "rough it up" some more) I just slapped on the stain, and wiped off with a dry cloth. It took me all of 10 min to do the staining and can I just say, I LOVE IT. It coordinates so much better with the entire living room now! Yay!

I also gave those old barn-wood frames the same treatment and hung them on removable hooks, since I had liked that look so much with the wreathes at Christmastime. :)

My next white-wash project will be our TV stand, but it will have to wait until I can recruit some help getting the darn TV off of it! haha, but stay tuned for a mantle-revamp! :)

Cupcake Confessions

Here we go with another fitness/health post. I am happy to report that my chiropractic sessions have been helping immensely with my lower back pain! We are still working on the headache issues, but major progress has been made!
Well, with all of that progress - I can go back to the gym! yay.... I no longer have a legitimate reason to not work out. boo. I know I should be more excited about it, but I have never gotten to that point were I enjoyed working out. I dislike sweating all together and would just rather curl up with a good book or Season 2 of Modern Family (a.maz.ing. show. If you haven't seen it go rent it now. right now. go.) Well my dear sissy Heather got me logged onto a new website. My Fitness Pal. It is like a social network for losing weight and being healthier. You can put on your profile your inspirations for losing weight and there is a little ticker that keeps track of your progress! The best feature of this website for me has definitely been the calorie counter. I input all of my food for the day and it totals up my calories, carbs, fats, and proteins for each day. Now, the first few days I went over my calorie goal without fail. My numbers were red and in my face bad. I have been logged onto it for about 2 weeks now, and I am much better at being aware of what I am putting into my body. I have been eating a more balanced diet, but I do struggle sometimes. I kind of have a giant sweet tooth. On Valentine's day I ate a piece of chocolate cake with lunch AND a huge cupcake (you know, the kind you get at the grocery store covered in frosting). The thing is, they didn't even taste that good!!! These were not quality sweets people... but I could not make myself put them down! Oh the shame... I am proud to report that I have been pretty good this past week (except for Sunday- Mom-in-law made shredded beef and mac and cheese).
This website has been a great way for me to be accountable to myself AND I can have friends on the site, so other people can encourage and support me (Ashb_86 is my username!)! I am probably irritating the heck out of the people around me, because I am forever yammering away about my "calorie goals" but that's how I remind myself that I really don't need that bagel or brownie or latte. So go ahead and get annoyed people- I am not shutting up!
My new, and probably really hard goal, is to stop drinking pop and more specifically caffeine. (eek!) Now, this can't go into full swing until next week (this week is crazy at work, can't give details), but I did theoretically drink my last Mountain Dew today. I had a 12 pack in my fridge and that last one is gone as of today, so I will not be buying anymore and I am going to grow some willpower to not drink them anywhere else. Wish me luck!
And just for fun: