Fab Find: The Slanket

I am always cold.  Always.  I run my space heater at work in July (and I get a lot of crap for it.)  I have no boundaries when it comes to what I will do to stay warm.  I will wear long underwear, spend $200 on a winter coat, wear dorky snow boots - anything.  

I am sure you have all heard of the Snuggie.  When I first saw a commercial for it, I knew it was made for me.  I was going to ask for one for Christmas, but as I usually do, I searched for reviews on the product before I made my official request.  While searching reviews, I came across the Slanket.

The Slanket is a high-end Snuggie basically.  I immediately requested one from Santa.  Sure enough, Santa delivered and I am now the proud owner of a gray Slanket.  I have compared the Slanket to the Snuggie and I will say, the Slanket was well worth the extra money.  It is thicker, softer fleece and there is much more blanket.  The sleeves are also longer, which is slightly annoying, but nothing that a few safety pins can't fix  

Oh how I love my Slanket, I am actually thinking about getting a second one for work - like I said, I have no boundaries. :)

You can find the Slanket here: http://www.theslanket.com/

Fab Find: Cuisinart Grind & Brew

Um... I've been slacking on the blog posts lately... Sorry!  I hope you all had a fabulous Christmas, Bryan and I sure did!!!  Our families were beyond generous to us!!!  I definitely got some very Fab Finds under my tree this year.  The first of them is the Cuisinart Grind & Brew coffee maker.  

Bryan is what I call a "coffee snob" and we can only drink freshly ground coffee beans, not the pre-ground stuff. I admit, the fresh ground does taste better, but the whole beans annoy me for two reasons.  1.) I find it the biggest pain in the ass to grind the beans in a grinder, and then transfer them to the coffee maker.  It adds a full two minutes to the coffee making process and I am far too impatient for that. 2.) They cost about $10/bag/week.  I am far to cheap for that.

Well, one of my annoyances has been alleviated. Enter Cuisinart Grind & Brew, the 12-cup PROGRAMMABLE coffee maker. (Our old coffee maker was not programmable, so this is very exciting to me.)  With this coffee maker, you put the water, filter and beans into one machine, press the button and *poof*  The coffee maker grinds the beans FOR YOU and then MAKES THE COFFEE.  ALL AT ONCE.  NO TRANSFERRING BEANS!

It's a little on the pricey side, $99, but I find it totally worth the investment that Santa made. :)

You can find this Fab Find here: http://www.cuisinart.com/products/coffee_bar/dgb-550bk.html

Recipe: P.F. Chang's Lettuce Wraps

As I get more and more domesticated, I am enjoying making good meals.  So, I am going to start posting recipes that Bryan and I enjoy for my groupies.  



P.F. Chang's Lettuce Wraps

CHICKEN FILLING

• 1 cup water chestnut
• 2/3 cup mushroom
• 3 tablespoons chopped onions
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 4-5 leaves iceberg lettuce

SPECIAL SAUCE

• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons ketchup
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1/8 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon hot mustard
• 2 teaspoons water
• 1-2 teaspoon garlic and red chile paste

STIR FRY SAUCE

• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon rice wine vinegar

Directions

SPECIAL SAUCE

• Make the special sauce by dissolving the sugar in water in a small bowl.
• Add soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, ketchup, lemon juice and sesame oil.
• Mix well and refrigerate this sauce until you're ready to serve.
• Combine the hot water with the hot mustard and set this aside as well.
• Eventually add your desired measurement of mustard and garlic chili sauce to the special sauce mixture to pour over the wraps.

CHICKEN FILLING

• Bring oil to high heat in a wok or large frying pan.
• Saute chicken breasts for 4 to 5 minutes per side or done.
• Remove chicken from the pan and cool.
• Keep oil in the pan, keep hot.
• As chicken cools mince water chestnuts and mushrooms to about the size of small peas.
• Prepare the stir fry sauce by mixing the soy sauce, brown sugar, and rice vinegar together in a small bowl.
• When chicken is cool, mince it as the mushrooms and water chestnuts are.
• With the pan still on high heat, add another Tbsp of vegetable oil.
• Add chicken, garlic, onions, water chestnuts and mushrooms to the pan.
• Add the stir fry sauce to the pan and sauté the mixture for a couple minutes then serve it in the lettuce "cups".
• Top with "Special Sauce".

Or you can visit the web site where I got this recipe

Christmas Tree Part Duex

Your eyes do not deceive you, yes, that is a different Christmas tree than we originally had.  Here's the story:

This is my first Christmas with a cat.  In all fairness, Bryan did try to warn me that Wrigley would think the tree is a giant toy.  But I have had dogs in the past who messed with the tree and even had one pull the tree on top of them, so I thought "Oh, it won't be THAT bad..."

I was wrong.

So very wrong.

We put the tree up on a Saturday afternoon and then left that evening to go to a movie. Upon our return, Bryan opened the door, closed it, looked at me and said. "You should probably just stay out here."  I pushed my way past him to find EVERY ordainment, candy cane, snow flake and even the star on the TOP of the tree was now scattered all over the living room floor.  You could even see where he had JUMPED to the top of the tree to get more ordainments.

 I hit the roof.

 Hard.

 I was threatening to take him back to the shelter, I was SO mad!  Bryan calmed me down (that's the short version of that portion of the drama) and the next day we put the tree back together and began putting Wrigley in the back room when we couldn't watch him. (With his litter, food and water of course... That didn't matter, he still meowed up a storm while he was in there.)

This strategy worked for a few days, but we left for a week-long trip to Phoenix that Wednesday and so he couldn't be locked in the back room while we were gone.  So the tree got locked in the back room.  As you can imagine, moving a tree to the back of the house caused the decorations to get just as messed up as when Wrigley attacked the tree.  

The whole reason behind putting an artificial tree up was so that it would last 5 weeks. (We put it up the weekend before Thanksgiving because we were in Phoenix until the 30th and I didn't want to deal with putting it up when we got home.)

 Well, deal with it I did.  Since I already had to re-decorate my tree, we went out and got a real one, something I never had as a kid but Bryan did have and loved.  I have to admit, I love how much taller it is.  It's not the fullest, but next year we'll spend more time picking it out.

 As for Wrigely and the new tree... Well, stay tuned, I have a good story about that too. :)

It's Begining to Look a Lot Like Christmas...

I am so not afraid to admit that I LOOOOVVVEEEE Christmas!  I love the decorations, the food, the shopping and of course, the presents!  I am not, I repeat NOT one of those crazy people who put their decorations up as soon as Halloween is over.  I normally wait until the day after Thanksgiving, however, this year, Bryan and I will be in Phoenix until the 30th, so I wanted to get it done since I know I will be tired once we return.

This year is especially fun because we are in our new house!  I already had plenty of decor from apartment living, but a new house calls for new decor, right?...  That's what I thought too! Above you'll see the outside of our house... I am thinking we need to add more to it though... Maybe some lights on each pillar? Yeah, that's what I thought.  Next you'll see my tree.  You can see my holiday colors of choice are red, silver and white.  It just so happens to match our curtains too!  I think my favorite part of my tree is my tree skirt... It is actually just a red flat-sheet because I couldn't afford a real one when I was in college, but I love how full it looks compared to a regular tree skirt, so I've kept it!

Next is our entertainment area, easily my favorite area I decorated. I got the "Ho,Ho, Ho" sign at Target for $2.50!!! Score! I also have some candle holders that were not done in time for the picture that I will post some other time that I Love! ... Yes, there are four stockings and two humans in the house... I am that crazy person who gets gifts for their pets. Deal with it.

I love ball ordainments.  I love how simple and classic they look.  I also love how it is a huge decor trend right now! So, this year I threw them in wherever I usually use vase filler.  Easy AND cheap!!!

More ordainment decor... The bow is too big, gonna have to change that.

A close up of the entertainment area.

Let the Holidays begin!!! (Bryan and Wrigley refused to pose for the picture, so it's just JD and I.)

New Moon Review

I will probably get stoned to death by Twi-hards for saying this, but I thought the first Twilight movie was horrible!  I am not sure why they didn't put more money into it to make it a better film, with the following that the book series has, any person with a pulse and a half a brain would know that Summit Entertainment would make their money back ten-fold.

Thankfully, Summit put their money where their mouth is for the sequel, New Moon.  I will admit, I was one of the crazy fans in line for the midnight showing last night... Not because I was just DYING to see the movie, but it just sounded like something fun to do.  (The next day at work?  Not so fun.)  

The movie was of course cheesy and sappy at times but the two male leads were easy on the eyes and this installation of the Twilight series provided some comic relief at just the right points in the movie.  I thought there could have been more fireworks between Edward and Bella, just didn't sense the passion that they seemed to have in the books but I was happy that the acting seemed far less awkward than the last movie.

Overall?  Two thumbs up!  Probably won't see it in the theater again, but because I am a nerd, I will probably buy the DVD. :)  

Black Friday

Black Friday is like a drug for me... I love all the sales, I get giddy and my heart starts to race just from the thought of saving 50% on ANYTHING. But I know I should not go, I know Black Friday is NOT good for me.   Usually I don't go.  Because if I were to go shopping on Black Friday, I would shop for me and not for people I need to buy Christmas presents for.  I save all my shopping for the day after Christmas.  However, Bryan's sister-in-law sent me this AWESOME web site this year that you simply MUST check out.  It's called Live Black Friday and it has all the Black Friday advertisements ALREADY!!!!  Now you have a good week to map out your Black Friday strategy and to prepare yourself for all the crowds. Enjoy!

http://liveblackfriday.com/ 

TextsFromLastNight.com

Enter my absolute new favorite web site: TextsFromLastNight.com.  This site is beyond HI-larious.  The site is exactly what it says: people send in their random text messages from last night (or whenever).  The randomness is what makes it hilarious.  Most of the text messages have something to do with drinking too much or indulging in, ahem, "special" brownies or similar smokeable grasses.  But many of the texts contain an underlying sarcasm, which, if you know me, I find hilarious.  

To add your own text (or forward a text you got) all you have to do is include your area code - no names or anything tying you to the message.  GENIUS!  

Here is a little sampling:

• (516): Thank God they found balloon boy, I was afraid that Michael Jackson was ordering take out from heaven.
•  (630): all i remember is you climbed in a garbage can and said you were trashed
• (774): i just walked into a room at this party and someone yelled "dibs!"...
  

My New Lover er Computer

Yes, you've probably figured out by now that I have a lot of Love's in my life.  Here is one of my newest: My MacBook Pro!  That's right, I ditched my PC for a Mac and L-O-V-E it!!!  

Here are the things I love the most about it:

1. iPhoto - so easy to upload, organize and find pictures
2. Numbers - incredibly easy to organize my finances as well as track them with charts and categories. 
3. iTunes - I've never used iTunes before, I always used Limewire, but will never go back!  iTunes is so fast and easy and I love how it organizes my music, with album art. 
4. Safari - I stopped using Explorer when I started blogging because Explorer... Well, it just sucks.  I had been using Firefox, but Safari is much easier to navigate and much faster. 
5. Speed - there are only 14 known viruses for Macs at the moment, unlike PCs which are susceptible to... Well, a lot more (I don't know the number.)  Therefore, Macs are much, much faster.
6. Size - I travel for work about every 6 -8 weeks or so and lugging my 10+ laptop around, plus it's cords and everything else was not fun.  It made my back hurt and frankly, I just dreaded it.  My Mac weighs 4.5 pounds.  I carried it through the airport today and it was much, much more pleasant.  
7. Battery - My battery lasts 7 hours!!! Yes, 7!  Traveling today, I was able to pull it out at multiple times to use it without pulling out the cord with it!  Those of you who travel a lot, especially for work, understand how wonderful that it.  
8. Sleekness - You know me, things have to be cute! And this is cute!  So sleek, modern and hip looking.  Love walking around with it. :)

There are many more things that I love about this wonderful machine, but I will stop with my list there.  The only con to my Lover is the cost, you can definitely get a PC for half the price.  However, if anyone asked me before buying a PC, I would totally try to talk them into a Mac.  It was worth every cent!

I'm in Love

I have to thank my friend Stephanie for this next find I have... I can't believe I've gone so long without knowing about it!  Have any of you guys heard about "Real Simple" magazine?  Um, I haven't!  But I have now!  I have been pursing their web site all afternoon and have so many things I am going to be trying around our house!!!  Check out their web site: RealSimple.com, so many great tips!!!

Life with Puppy: Week One

We survived our first week with our puppy!  Bryan said  to me today "I think you should get paternity leave when you get a puppy!"  That would be nice... Doubt that will ever happen though. 

I think the first week went pretty good though!  Potty training is going... OK.  I thought it was going well at the beginning.  At first, he would go to the back door and bark if he needed to go out, which I thought was just amazing!  However, he has since figured out that he really doesn't like cold and rain (which we've had a lot of lately) and therefore, finds it much easier to just pee wherever he might be standing, which is most often a carpeted area.  So, we've got to get him broke of that, I'll let you know how that goes.  We only had one major accident this week and that was because we tried leaving him in his kennel for 9 straight hours - not a good idea at all!  Our wonderful parents have offered to come over on their lunch hours though to let him out until he gets older so we don't have to deal with a smelly mess and batheing him every night - thanks Parentals!!!

So far he hasn't chewed anything of extreme importance.  I learned VERY fast to pick up my shoes as well as my purse - anything is fair game to him!  He loves his squeaky toys as well as any type of bone.  We started putting peanut butter in his Kong, however, I don't think that is agreeing with him tummy, so that has stopped for the time being.  He and the cat are developing a love hate relationship - JD loves to chase Wrigley and therefore, Wrigley hates JD.  However, we did see Wrigley try to play with JD once this week, but that was before JD caught him in his mouth... Poor kitty.

He is not quite sleeping through the night yet which is making for two very tired masters.  We're keeping our fingers crossed that it is coming soon though!  He loves sleeping in our bed with us and we've made the mistake of letting him in the moring between his 5 a.m. potty break and when we get up.  Now he thinks if he barks long enough, we'll let him up.  So that too has stopped. 

Even thought we're tired and a little frustrated with the potty training, Bryan and I LOVE having him around.  He is so funny to watch and has such a little doggie personality!  We start puppy classes on November 3rd, hopefully he'll be the smartest kid in the class. :)  I'll give you guys another update when there is something more to report on that his bathroom habits.

Introducing Jack Daniel aka "JD"

So, I finally won the battle of getting a puppy!!! :)  After months of BEGGING and quite frankly annoying the living hell out of Bryan, we picked up our 12 week old puppy on Friday afternoon: JD, which is short for Jack Daniel - Bryan's favorite thing in the world (next to me of course.)
 
We had a great first weekend at home with him, he is doing great with potty training, 85% of the time he will go to a door and bark when he needs to go out. Hallelujah! He is also doing very well with crate training, he didn't like being in there the first night, but by Sunday, he was going back to his kennel just to take a nap with the door open! It just warms a mother's heart! :)  

JD also met mom and dad's dog Sadie this weekend.  Sadie does not like other dogs and proceeded to show her teeth everytime JD got too close.  But Sadie is such a froo-froo dog that it was more funny than anything.  He also met Bryan's parent's dog Maggie.  Maggie is a pit-bull/terrier/beagle/boxer mix and VERY territorial.  She decided to claim all of JD's toys as her own and not let JD near them.  She snarled at him a few times which caused me to freak out and Bryan to laugh.  They'll be good friends though once the whole territorial thing has been established.  Which is good, cause we're going to need puppy-sitters! 

JD also met our cat Wrigley this weekend.  Wrigley has never encountered a dog that was not afriad of him, so he's not really sure what to make of this dog who is not intimidated by him at all... JD thinks Wrigley is there solely for him to chase... Which is pretty entertaining to Bryan and I for now, but we should probably break him of this.  

I'll post some more pictures of JD as he gets bigger, at 12 weeks he weighed in at 18 pounds!!! He is going to be a moose, his paws and ears are gi-normous!

Mother of All Make Overs: The Outside After

So - I am going to let the after pictures speak for themselves :).  Stay tuned, my goal is to have the entire house posted this week, trust me, you don't want to miss the inside. 

South side of the house - no more rotting siding!!

East side / back of the house - fully covered with siding

A quaint little porch is now on the front

Mother of All Make Overs: The Outside After

Looking to the south

Back yard, the tree right in front of me is actually a cherry tree!!! So pretty in the spring and the cherries make great pies.

Back corner of the lot

Looking to the east

Side yard

Mother of All Make Overs: The Outside

First off, sorry it was like two and a half weeks between posts... Right after I posted last, I hit the road for work with back to back trips and then threw being in a friend's wedding in there as well - it's been a busy month to say the least! Anyway, I wanted to get started with what I am calling "the Mother of All Make Overs."

In February Bryan decided to buy a house from his parents. His parents had bought the house in December with the intention of flipping it and renting it, but the more they worked on it, the more Bryan liked it and the more it became clear that it would be the perfect starter home (for him, not me, I still have my own apartment.)

When they started working on this house, saying it was rough would have been extremely nice. This house was worse than a sh*thole. It was disgusting, there was stuff growing in it and living things roaming around. Let me make this clear though - there were people living in the house up until the day possession switched!

The first pictures I am going to show you are the befores of the outside of the house. We hauled out 9 truck loads of heavy limestone, 12 truckloads of brush (packed down), cut down 19 trees and over 20 bushes... When I say "hauled out" I mean we removed from the back yard and moved to a friend's farm. Yeah. I had lots of blisters by the time this was done and we were all extremely sore - the best work out you could ever ask for!

Anyway, enjoy the befores!

East side/back of the house...

Front door

The gutter situation

Side yard... At one time that was a sand box turned giant kitty litter box

Front of the house, lovely red color :)

Another view of the side yard

South side of the attached garage

Stay Tuned... Mother of All Make-Overs: A Multiple Part Series

Wanted to give all my blogies (my new word for Blog Groupies) a heads up that I will be starting a multiple part series this weekend on the before-s and after-s of Bryan's new house (which I kind-of-but-don't-technically-live).

Seriously, stay tuned, you DO NOT want to miss this!!!

Heritage Days 2009

For those of you unfamiliar with small-town life, every respectable small town throws a little party every year, normally ending with the word "days". There is Sauerkraut Days in Lisbon, Watermelon Days some where up north, Old Settlers Days in New Virgina, well, in Mount Vernon, we have Heritage Days.

Every year, everyone that grew up in Mount Vernon or has some kind of tie, tries their best to make it back... Why you ask? Because its always a blast! There is a street band, a mid-way, lots of carnie food and of course, beer!

This year was especially fun for Bryan and I. Heritage Days kicked off on Thursday night with a fireworks show right across the street from Bryan's new house, so we had people over for a bon-fire and watched the fireworks. The rest of the weekends events take place in uptown Mount Vernon, which is where my new apartment happens to be located. So I threw a little housewarming party on Saturday night before we all headed up town.

Its always fun to see people you haven't seen in awhile and especially fun to be outside on a summer night, listening to music and enjoying a few beers. :)

Already looking forward to next year...

Goals for Summer: One Month Down

So, I thought I'd give you all a little update on how I'm doing with my goals one month into summer. (FYI, I consider summer to be the months of June, July and August, so I have until the end of August to get these done.)
Goal #1: Create Art
I am happy to say I've actually done this one!!! Quite a bit of it too... In fact, my dad the other day said to me "When did you become so crafty??" I took it as a compliment. Ideally I would put pictures of the art I have created here, but it's not all done... One of the projects I did I am going to completely re-do, another is almost finished and the final one... Well, I just haven't gotten around to taking pictures. Soon though, I promise!
Goal #2: Start Scrapbooking Again
Well, my first scrapbook project is going to be a before and after book of Bryan's new house. The house isn't finished yet, so I don't feel like I can start yet. I want to have all the pictures I am going to use before I begin. His house-warming party is tentively set for August 8th, so it will need to be done by then!!!
Goal #3: Back-up Digital Pictures
Haven't even thought about it... I still have two months.
Goal #4: Plant some Plants
Haven't done this one either, however, my house warming party is in less than two weeks, so I might try to get it done before then. If I don't, I might scrap it for the year because then it's kind of late in the season. In my defense, we had a REALLY cool spring, then all of a sudden it jumped from like 60* to 100* within a week and now, three days before the Fourth of July, it's 63* at this very second. Not much time to get into the gardening mood.
Goal #5: Plan out Meals
I am very proud to say that I've been doing pretty good with this one!!! Bryan and I have cut WAAYY down on how much we eat out and I've been going grocery shopping once a week. It's helped my wallet too, however, that's just fueled my shopping addiction.
Be sure to check back, I will hopefully have pictures of my new place after this weekend!!!

Congrats Mr & Mrs Hansen!!

Over the weekend, Bryan and I's friends, Jamie and Troy, tied the knot! Bryan and I met Jamie while working at Highway and Jamie and I hang out a lot outside of work. :) The wedding was in Riverside and reception in Richmond. The day started off extremely hot and muggy, it down poured almost the second after everyone left the church and the evening ended cool with no humidity. Jamie looked beautiful - all her hard work on the wedding definitely paid off... Although, I am not sure what her and I are going to email back and forth about now at work...

On a side note, the following day was utter hell for me as I think I drank about ten too many beers... I have got to remember that I can not drink like I used to!!!

Whew!!

It's been awhile since I've posted!!! The past month has been slightly crazy. I moved back to Mount Vernon on June 1 and I've been busy working on my projects to make my apartment a home for myself. I plan on taking pictures as soon as I have everything in place and will be sure to post them. While this is not the nicest place I've ever lived in (I don't think anything will ever top my Chicago loft) it is the place I have put the most effort into and I have to say, I truly enjoy it the most out of any of the places I've lived.

I have also been busy helping Bryan with his house. In fact, last weekend I was roofing!!! Yes, me, on a roof with a nail gun. :) He is hoping to move in next weekend and of course, I will post pictures.

Goals for Summer 2009

Maybe if I write these down and publish them, I will actually achieve them... Probably not, but hey! It's worth a shot!
GOAL #1: Create Art
I am moving to a new apartment on June 1 and am determined to fully decorate this apartment (this will be my 8th apartment I've lived in since the begining of college) I always start to decorate, but after I've moved in and the excitement has worn off, I lose interest and move onto other projects. I have ideas for three art projects/wall hangings that I hope to have complete by mid June. I'll post pictures as I get them done.

GOAL #2: Start Scrapbooking again
I love pictures and I love the way scrapbooks look. When I was in high school, I made a scrapbook for every year, but once I went away to collage, I lost most of my storage space and therefore, lost interest in scrapbooking. My first scrapbooking project is going to be creating a scrapbook of Bryan's house renovation from start to finish, then I hope to create a book for each year again. I have research some new scrapbooking ideas/trends and have also researched cute/creative/functional ways to store/display scrapbook materials.

GOAL #3: Back-up all digitial photos
Yep, like I said, I love pictures, but my pictures are all stored on my computer, in a very unorganized fashion, with no back up. I plan to organize all of my photos into labeled digital folders and back them up on to CD's or jump drives and in the process create more space on my computer's hard drive.


GOAL #4: Plant some plants
I've never been a friend to plants, I tend to kill them rather quickly. I hope to change that this summer. I want to plant a couple of potted plants outside my new apartment and maybe ever plant some in Bryan's new yard. I love the way plants look and hopefully with a little practice I can turn my thumb green.

GOAL #5: Plan out meals I'm horrible with this, I never plan out what I am going to eat and therefore end up either eating crap or eating out. With moving back to Mount Vernon in the near future and the fact that the only grocery store in town is extremely over-priced, I am going to start planning out my meals and hopefully save some money in the process. If anyone knows of any good/healthy cookbooks, please let me know!

I'm Officially Old...

So, last Thursday night (April 23rd) Bryan and I went to Iowa City to the Iowa Memorial Union for a Dierks Bently concert. The IMU as most of you know is on the U of I campus, so, as expected there were lots of college kids at this concert, probably about 80% college aged kids.
So, walking up to the concert, I immediately felt old watching all the 19 year olds strutting around in their cute barely-there outfits since it was the first nice day in about a month and a half. However, I must say, I don't think I ever wore anything that skimpy.
So, there we are, standing in line with a bunch of kids, wearing basically what we wore to work because neither of really cared what we looked like. All of a sudden this cute little cupcake taps me on the shoulder and says "Ma'am, can you please take our picture?"
........
MA'AM!?!? Am I that old now that I am called Ma'am!? Until that point, I had always thought that I could still pass for someone in college. I think I look pretty young, I take pretty good care of myself, I don't fake bake in order to avoid wrinkles. Even though I was dressed in jeans, flip flops and a plain white tshirt, I thought I still looked half way cute, I mean, it was a nice white tshirt from Express. Not like Hanes or anything. Bryan at this point is just cracking up.
So, we get into the concert, which is a standing room only concert, and there are these two twenty-somthing year old boys in front of us, completely hammered. The one is trying to keep his friend from wandering off and in the process, they start wrestling around. I let them step on my feet a couple of times before I had had enough. I looked at the one who was trying to corral his friend and said "Look, I know you want your friend to stay here, but I don't appreciate my feet getting stomped on. So if you're going to wrestle, can you please take it outside?" He looked at his friend and said "Dude, you gotta calm down, this lady just yelled at me."
Fabulous. Now I am the lady that yells at the drunk kids. I used to be these kids!!!
In my defense, I think I would have said something to those boys had I been their age, no girl wants their toes stepped on.
By the time we left the concert, I have to say I was a little depressed. In recent months I have traded in my all weekend drinking binges for quiet weekends watching movies, working out and sleeping late. I no longer go out for a couple of drinks during the week because I don't like being tired at work the next day. I am now no longer concerned about having enough money to go out on the weekend, but more concerned about saving money to buy some new furniture. I could care less about looking cute on the weekends unless we have some where specific we're going. Make up and picking out clothes require far too much effort, I would rather stay in my comfy clothes all day and skip the make up. I am not quite sure when all of these changes took place, but after Thursday, I finally accepted that my early 20's have in fact been over for well over a year now and I am closer to being 30 than I am 20.

NKTOB Baby!

So, last night a childhood dream of mine came true when I saw New Kids on the Block in concert at the I-wireless center in Moline. :) Yes, I am a giant nerd who loves almost all boy bands, I don't know why I do, I just do. The concert was so much fun and was well worth the $35 we each paid for our tickets. The Kids definately catered to their audience which was compromised mainly of chicks my age re-living the 80-'s. They stuck mainly to their older songs (such as Hangin Tough, Step by Step, You've Got It (the Right Stuff)) but also played their hits off their new album. I must say, aging has agreed with them! I hope I can dance half as well as they can when I am in my 40's and look half as good! However, growing up, my favorite was always Jordan (even though he had a rat tail) but now I must say I definately favor Donnie... He was freakin sexy in his sparkly Boston hat. :)