Super Bowl Party!

One thing I love to do? Entertain:) I absolutely love having a house full of people. I just love the sound of all of my friends laughing and talking and having fun! So of course, I was all about a Super Bowl party. Derek, Billie, Justin, Jes and Tim came over to watch the game. Poor Lindsy was sick so she stayed home. We missed her:(

Jonathan told me I couldn't go overboard on making food (like usual), but we did have some delicious stuff. Some Chili and cornbread...

Some Queso... I got the recipe from The Real Housewife In Minnesota.

And some cute cupcakes on a football field plate:) that NONE of the boys ate! Not that I'm annoyed or anything... (And can you believe Lindsy made cookies when she was sick??)

Here are the boys lounging watching the game... classic boy pose.

Little Eli studying the football game...learning everything to know about the Super Bowl!

The girls:)

I'm so thankful for such great friends and fun parties!

Not Me Monday: TV Saga

I have never participated in a Not Me Monday, but I just couldn't resist this story, so here you go.

On Thursday I was not talking to my mom on the phone about the Super Bowl and how we usually have people over. I was not complaining that for at least the last 3 years our TV's (it's a dinosaur that takes up my living room and is so big it actually sits on the ground) color goes black or yellow every 20 minutes while watching anything HD. Nope, not me. I wouldn't complain about such things. Nor would I be embarrassed about such things happening when company is over. Nope.

After the call with my mom, I did not promptly invite some friends over to watch the Super Bowl. When Jonathan walked in from work I told him that I invited friends over. He walked into the living room and he did not say that he didn't think we'd be having friends over. WHAT?? Then he did not say the beautiful words... "We don't have a TV". When I heard those words, I did not get all excited inside but kept a straight face and said, "What honey?" (I didn't want to spend the money on a new TV, but how nice would it be to get rid of that enormous thing in my living room??)

You see, my husband worked at Best Buy full time during his college years and when he graduated in 2002 he gave himself this "top of the line, latest, greatest, 47" plasma" for a graduation gift. This TV has been through it all. And technology has advanced quite a bit since 2002, if you weren't aware. This TV was 36" deep! Seriously...took up my whole living room. And it has ROLLERS on it, if that doesn't tell you how antique it is.

{side note} When Jonathan and I were "just friends" my roommate and I wanted to watch the Super Bowl on someone's big screen TV, (and I'm sure I was loving a reason to call for an invite) so I called Jonathan to ask about watching his TV (then I get to see him...see how that works?) Well, the day of super bowl he told me that something had happened to some pixels and it was broken and luckily it was within the 3 year warranty by like one month so he was going to have it fixed. Well, being the girl that I was, I totally thought he was just trying to put me off so he could have other girls over... but of course i didn't care since we weren't dating..."just friends". RIIGHT. I did care. I just couldn't let him know that! How embarrassing! But come to find out, his TV really had gone out on Super Bowl! Ironic that this many years later it finally died 3 days before Super Bowl? humm..

Back to the topic. Jonathan did not get right on his phone to call up the manager at Best Buy who he used to work with. And we did not find out that there was only one more delivery time available in the days before Super Bowl! So, no we did not get in the car that instant (well actually after I changed out of my PJs) to go to Best Buy.

After many hours...ok so maybe not that long, but it felt like that to someone who thinks that all the TVs on the wall look the same so just pick one already! "We" choose which TV we want, which surround sound we want, and all the cords and accessories we need to get out of the dark ages of technology and into the HD age. (You know...one thing leads to updating another.) After all of this, the Best Buy guy did NOT tell us that the TV we wanted had already been sold and they were all out until Wednesday! Are you serious? So Jonathan did not walk back out on the floor, and find an open box of the same brand we wanted...just a little nicer one that we had picked out. (Well, by nicer I mean that the original price was $1000 more than the one we had picked out!) But since it was open box and the guy helping us was really nice, he discounted the open box TV a bit more and we did not end up only paying $100 more for a $1000 nicer TV. Hey, some things just work!

Then it was time to find a console since we will not be hanging the TV due to the fact we want to move within the year. After walking into just about every furniture store in town and nothing coming close to the Pottery Barn console that I'm trying to find for a Walmart price, we were frustrated! So on our way home when all the stores are closed, we did not see that Pier1 was still open and drop in. We didn't even know if they sold TV consoles, but guess what? We did not find almost EXACTLY what we were looking for at all the other stores... for WAY less than the cost of the Pottery Barn one that I really wanted!

Here are some pictures so you can really visualize!

Jonathan shedding a tear over his "baby".

Here is the before pic (make note of the key on the wall). Notice that the two shelves were necessary to hold all of our components and movies.

Here is the "after". He's pretty much in love with his new baby. Can you tell? Do you think I need to move the key to a different wall?

Look at all that stuff that we needed to store and hide!

This was the only console that had space to hide all of our crap!

Here is a picture of the depth of the old one! That's how much of my living room was taken up with that stupid thing!

This is the "after". Oh the beauty of technology.

So that's the story of how I reclaimed my living room! Hopefully we won't need to upgrade for another 10 years:)

College Girls and Snow

This past weekend, some of my old college friends came back to town to visit. We went out to a Hibachi grill on Friday night and had so much fun. I forgot how much we laugh when we are together. My stomach and cheeks were hurting by the end of the night from all the laughter! It seems so crazy that it's been so long since college. Wow, I feel old! But it's fun when we all get together and remember the "good times" and catch up with each other. There were nine of us that ended up going to dinner on Friday night. Then we went to one of my friends' houses so we could continue the laughter. Its wonderful to be blessed with friends like that! Here are some pics from our night!

Ellen, Sarah, Angela, Jessica, me, Michelle, Jessica, Tina, and Jessica (Yes, 3 Jessica's lived in one apartment with me!)

Angela and Jes. Man, I love those girls!

Angela and me. The last time I saw her was at her wedding in May in Florida! (do you remember my post about it?)

Why is it that girls always congregate in the kitchen?

Jess and me. Yes, she is prego with her THIRD baby!!! How exciting:)

Our attempt at a self-timer picture... a little off centered, but it's cute anyway:)

Ellen, me and Michelle

It started snowing Friday night and when we woke up on Saturday, we had a few inches of snow! It was so pretty! Jonathan got dressed first thing to go shovel the driveway (such a wonderful man!) while I made us breakfast. (I'm supposed to go run every Saturday morning...but not in this weather!) We had a great time hanging around the house organizing the office. Then after the UK game (we won!) we left the house to run errands. Jonathan even took me out to dinner...we'll call it a DATE! :)

Jonathan all dressed and ready to brave the snow!

Dakota enjoying the snow!

The view out our front door!

All in all, it was a great weekend. This week is a pretty crazy week at work for me. You might just find me under my desk sucking my thumb. But I will suck it up and put on a smile and get it done! At least I know this craziness only comes around once a year!

Winner Winner!

The winner of this adorable ring is...

Crystal!!!!

Congratulations! Email me with your address and this cute ring with be in the mail to you! :)

A New Candy!

Today I got home to find this package in my mailbox (well it was actually on the counter since Jonathan had already gotten the mail)! Can you tell where it's from?? It's a package from Canada! From my blog friend Sue who lives in Canada!! Sue was one of my first blog friends. We met in the comments of our favorite author, Kristin Billerbeck's blog. We've never met in person, but maybe one day we will... I just love reading Sue's blog. She's real and always leaves such uplifting comments. You should head over and check out her blog. You won't regret it! She's just so sweet:)

I know you're dying to know what was inside my package! Well, first was this absolutely adorable card! Is this me or what? With the sweetest note inside! Then there were these: A week or so ago, Sue blogged about her favorite candy called Smarties. But they are nothing like the American sour candies. They are kinda like M&M's but different. I left her a comment and told her I was intrigued with this weird candy, so she asked for my address and told me she'd send me some! How sweet is she? So, I've tried them and I think they are a bit crunchier than M&M's and quite delicious. I mean...how can you really go wrong with chocolate?? :)

Jonathan saw the box when I opened the package and broke on into it and shoved a few in his mouth and he was surprised to find chocolate. He loves any fruity candies and thought they were the American Smarties:) HA! That'll teach ya to get off my chocolate! Just kidding honey! i love you:) You can have some Smarties if you want!!

Thanks so much Sue, both for the fun package (its always fun to find something more than bills in the mail) and for your friendship and encouragement! It was a great way to end a busy Monday!

**Don't forget to enter my giveaway in the previous post!**

Blogaversary and a Giveaway!

Today is a day of firsts and I'm so excited about it!!! It's my FIRST Blogaversary! Whoohoo! On one hand I can't believe it's already been a year since I started blogging, but on the other hand I feel like I've known a lot of my blog friends for way longer than a year! I started blogging because I've always been bad at writing in a journal and I needed a way to get my feelings out. I had no clue that I would have actually kept with the whole blogging thing this long:)

In order to celebrate my blogaversary, I'm going to show you the fun jewelry I got in Toledo last month at For Love. (If your mall has a For Love store...please shop there all the time for me since I have to stock up each time I visit my parents!) Then I'm going to do my FIRST giveaway of a cute cocktail ring from For Love!!!

First off, lets get one thing straight... I know that the pictures are horrible! I had bad lighting and don't have a fancy camera. Second of all, please excuse my lack of a manicure and the fact that my hands look way ugly this close up in pictures! I'm not a hand model! OK, on with the show!

First are these cute rings. This ring is my absolute favorite right now! It just seems to go with everything and is a great size! It was $3.80!!

This ring is a dark metal color and I just love it! It seems to go with anything and is nice and small for an "everyday ring". It was $3.80.

This ring is a bit big but I think it's fun for something different! I never wear gold, but I'm trying to integrate it into a couple outfits, so I needed a cute gold ring. It was the most expensive thing I bought! It was $7.80. And yes, I realize it takes up my entire hand.

This ring is super fun! All of the little silver balls move around and kinda jingle. Not great to wear to work but fun for a night out! This was $3.80.

Next is this cute gold bracelet. Again it's a bit over the top but fun for a night out:) It was $5.80. (Don't you love how my arm looks like a ghost?) I am loving big earrings like these! I've been wearing them with my scarves and they help me feel trendy even if I'm not:) These silver earrings were $4.80.

Some gold earrings to go with my gold ring and bracelet:) I wore these to church this morning with a brown sweater and loved them:) They were $3.80.

These are a bit heavy but I think they are worth the "pain":) They were $5.80.

I got this cute headband (but I have yet to wear it...I have to find the perfect place!) I can't remember how much it was but I know it was between $5-$7.

I mean, how can you not go crazy in an accessory store with prices like that??

And last but not least, I'm giving away this cute ring (sorry the picture is blurry I was having technical difficulties!) It is silver with a pearl in the middle and is a size 7. (I bought it and got it home and I realized I grabbed the wrong size and this one is way too big. For Love doesn't take returns, but the next time I was in town, I got one in my size and I love it and get TONS of compliments on it!) Please remember that my hands are freakishly small (seriously...I have to wear kids gloves it's ridiculous!) so it probably won't look quite as bulky on your hand:)

In order to be entered for the drawing, leave me a comment! About anything:) (That goes for you lurkers out there too who never leave comments!)

You can get an additional entry by blogging about the giveaway.

You can get another entry by tweeting or Face Booking about the giveaway with a link to my blog.

So there you have it! 3 chances to win this adorable ring!!

You can enter until this Wednesday, January 27th at 7pm and I will announce a winner on Thursday! Good luck:)

Now I understand the hype

I'm not sure why I haven't shared this with the world wide web already... but... we got iPhones! Let's just say that I was extremely attached to my ...um... crackberry. Anyone who knows me knows that it was by my side at all times. It was good to me (except when it would wig out and I'd have to take the battery out and put it back in to reset the phone). I was also about as proficient typing on it as I am typing on my computer keyboard. And boy did I love that little flashing light reminding me I had a message or email...
I had always looked at people with iPhones and thought that yeah, they look cool, but I like my blackberry. Well, then apple came out with the newer iPhone version and Jonathan said that when our plan was up for renewal we were going to get them. I was excited. Who's not excited for a new toy? But I was also already in mourning for my blackberry.

So the week after Christmas we were out returning Christmas items and I was totally oblivious until Jonathan parked in front of the AT&T store! "OH! you mean, you want to get them now?!?" I could tell he was excited but I was less than enthused. The man asked for my beloved blackberry so that he could transfer my contacts (which of course only transferred phone numbers so I had to transfer all other info ie. addresses, emails, birthdays). When I handed it to him, he pretty much had to pry my fingers off of my phone. Less than 5 minutes later he presented me with my new white iPhone. I had never even really played around on one so while the man was switching Jonathan's phone and they were in a deep conversation about phone stuff that I could care less about, I started pushing buttons... or should I say touching buttons.

And then it happened...by the time we walked out of the store, I was hooked on my new iPhone. The entire way home I was like, Oh, and it does this and this and this and poor Jonathan was trying to see all the fun stuff I was doing while he was still trying to drive safely. I totally thought I would hate the keyboard, but you know what? I might not be as fast, but it's really not as bad as I had pictured. And my phone really does do some pretty awesome stuff! I feel like the world is at my fingertips! I love that it automatically connects to wifi! So much faster than Edge!

Now I can track my weight loss, find a restaurant in the area, find a recipe, make my grocery list, keep track of my membership cards, order movie tickets, play interactive scrabble, play an iPhone version of guitar hero (totally addicting btw), listen to Air1 or Pandora, check the weather, google reader, facebook and twitter, take pictures and videos and guess what... It EVEN has a PHONE!

What can I say, I'm in love? What else could explain an entire post about my new phone??!!??

{We're too cheep to pay for apps so all of those described in this post were FREE!}