What Peeves You?

I'm supposed to be on a low carb kick right now. I'm trying to drop a few pounds and I figured that would be easier if I didn't have pasta or potatoes 6 nights a week. Well, today started out with a Chick-Fil-A biscuit. Who can say no when an amazing co-worker offers to pick up breakfast? Then Jimmy John's for lunch. Hey, it was free lunch, I didn't pick the place, and who can bring themselves to get the "unwich" when their french bread is so amazing? Not this girl. I decided to go all in and have baked spaghetti for dinner.

That's when this random thought popped into my head. It drives me absolutely insane when people call all pasta spaghetti. There are SO many types of pasta. How can you call them all spaghetti? We don't address all people as "person", can't we show one of the best foods EVER the same respect? Haha. 

This, my friends, is spaghetti.

These...are NOT spaghetti!

Of course, this made me think of the other things that drive me crazy. Why do some people call all cereal Corn Flakes. I grew up around a ton of people who did this and I just don't get it. Lucky Charms > Corn Flakes people. How could you call them the same thing?

Then that lead me to think about a million other pet peeves of mine...

- People not using a turn signal

- People leaving their turn signal on for a mile and not turning

- People driving slow in the fast lane

- People who stop in a traffic circle to let people in

(Notice a trend here? People drive horribly here.)

- People who sneeze/cough in their hands

- Honey Boo Boo

- Taylor Swift songs
- People who text or answer the phone at dinner

I'll stop now, so I can go get that delicious bakes spaghetti out of the oven. 

These are the types of random thoughts that cross my mind on a daily basis.

What drives you insane?

Snow Day, Round 2

I mentioned in my Friday Favorites post that we got some snow Wednesday night. Well, we got some more yesterday! 

Most of what had accumulated melted, but there was still a little left. We got another inch or so, so we probably had about 1 1/2 inch-2 inches this morning. Not a lot, but enough for Bailey to have fun in. She is such a snow dog. Even though I know she gets cold, she never wants to go inside when we play in the snow. She has snow shoes and a hoodie, but I didn't put them on her today. Her shoes are great for walking, but she usually runs out of them when we're playing. 

 Waiting patiently for me to throw her toy...

 Then she found her own toy. She loves tearing up pinecones.

Playing tug

And finishing off with a little fetch.

We have certain toys that we only let Bailey play outside with. This way, she gets really excited about playing with them. We used to let her play with her outdoor toys inside too, but she got bored with them faster that way. We played with her Kong AirDog Fetch Stick today. She loves that thing, and it's so easy to throw! It's perfect for playing tug too!

Mason Jar Soap Dispenser...With Tutorial

I love mason jars! I grew up drinking out of them, and I still do today. They're cheap, they're versatile and they're so sturdy. My dish detergent dispenser has been driving me insane since about a week after I got it. I wan't ready to go back to just having a Dawn bottle on the sink, so I decided to try a different approach. A mason jar dispenser!

My old dispenser started leaking. I would have to wipe the outside of it almost daily, or it looked like this...

Gross!

This was a ridiculously easy project. It probably only took about 10 minutes.

Materials:

Mason jar with lid

Soap pump

Drill

Drill bit 

Dish soap

I used a 5/8 inch bit, but this will depend on the size and type of soap dispenser you use. 

 To make drilling easier, I put the lid on my mason jar

 This drill bit made the perfect sized hole.

Now that you have your hole, take the lid of to fill up your jar, replace the lid and stick your soap pump lid in the hole.

So far, I love this soap dispenser. Not only does it not leak, but it's SO much easier to fill up than my old one...and it's cute!

On a side note, Dawn Ultra Hand Renewal in Pomagranate Splash smells amazing! I usually just get the blue stuff, but I got this free with a coupon and I love it!

Friday Favorites!

1) Date Night - Saturday night was date night for us! I LOVE date night. We try to have at least 2 a month, and we have done very well so far. We usually have more unless we have lots of visitors or if we travel a lot. Thank you, Groupon! Somehow, it still doesn't seem like enough though. Haha. We went to Talara in Baltimore. It is in a very nice area of Baltimore (yes, Baltimore actually does have a few nice areas). The food was great and we really liked the atmosphere. After dinner, we came back home and just talked for a while and played games. I got my butt handed to me in Scrabble, but we had a really great time. I'm glad we decided to leave the TV off Saturday night. It was very nice to just focus on each other. :-) 

2) ANOTHER Ravens win - I'm so excited, the Ravens are going to the Super Bowl! The game this past weekend was great! I don't like the Patriots at all, so that made it even better. Josh was off work Monday, so I was able to sleep in, meaning I could actually watch the whole game without being exhausted all day Monday. I believe this will be the first time ever that I care who wins the Super Bowl! Usually, I don't have strong feelings for/against either team and I just pick someone at the last minute, then I don't care after the game.

3) Nikki's Baby Shower - As I mentioned in my diaper cake post, I have a friend who is having triplets soon. Her baby shower was Sunday and it was HUGE! I've never been to a baby shower with so many people. This is the first time I've seen her in a few months, so she has grown a LOT! She's not due until May, but she expects to deliver sometime in March. I can't imagine how big her baby bumb will be by then! I'm so very excited for her and I can't wait to meet her 3 little girls!

4) Snow - We FINALLY got some snow! I haven't been paying attention to the weather, so I didn't expect it at all. I opened the door to take Bailey out and...SURPRISE! Bailey loves snow, so she was even more excited than I was. I took her out to use the bathroom and play in the snow a bit. She loves to try to catch snow balls, but the snow was SO dry, I ended up just throwing handfulls of snow at her. She loved that just as much. Since it was still dark outside, I decided to run in and grab her laser pointer. She LOVED chasing her red dot in the snow!

5) We paid off our last student loan!!! - This is HUGE for us! We're both SO excited to have this out of the way. Our original goal was to pay our student debt off within 2 years of getting married. Obviously, that didn't happen. We knew it wouldn't after we bought the house. It's OK though, we made it in less than 3. Now, the only interest bearing debt we have is the house and car! We still have a credit card with a balance, but there's no interest on it, so it's not a worry. We will pay it off before it starts to accrue interest. YAY!

Diaper Cake with Tutorial

I mentioned in a previous post (at least I think I did) that one of my friends is having triplets. Her baby shower was this past weekend. With 3 newborn little girls on the way, I knew she would be going through diapers like no other, so I wanted to get her some diapers. I didn't want to just roll into the baby shower with a box of diapers though. I decided to make her a diaper cake. There are so many fun ideas out there on Pinterest. I considered several others before going back to the cake. This was my inspiration:

She is doing a jungle theme, so when I saw this one, I knew I wanted to make something similar!

Materials:

- Lots of diapers (I used 86 newborn diapers)

- Lots of rubber bands (1 per diaper, and several more)

- A paper towel roll or toilet paper rolls taped together

- A round, cardboard cake base (mine was 12")

- Ribbon

- Your choice of baby items

Directions: 

First, I started by rolling the diapers and wrapping them individually with rubber bands to keep them closed. 

(Please ignore my desperate need for a manicure.)

Using a rubber band to keep them in place, I placed diapers around the toilet paper rolls. Next, I put another rubber band around that row, and inserted more diapers to fill in another row. The bottom tier of the diaper cake has 4 rows of diapers. I repeated this process with 2 rows on the second tier and 1 row on the top tier. You could always keep going if you want a bigger cake, but I was out of diapers and the cake was slightly hanging over my cake base, so I called it quits. 

This is just 2 rows of the bottom tier.

The next thing I did is wrap ribbon around each tier to hide the rubber bands. For the top and bottom tiers, I just wrapped the ribbon around and secured it on the back side with double sided tape. For the middle tier, I tied the ribbon in a bow. Then, I started playing around with how I was going to place items around the cake. To keep them in place, I just used double sided adhesive dots, found at any craft store.

I had several items I needed to put on the cake. I had 6 teething toys, 6 washcloths, a set of 6 baby utensils (spoons and forks), Desitin and various bath items. I decided to make "lollipops" out of the washcloths and utensils. You can find the tutorial to those here.

The final product!

Back View

I was originally going to make the palm tree and have 3 monkeys hanging from it. With the size and weight of the monkeys, it would have had to have been a pretty big tree and pretty sturdy. I thought it would look funny, so I skipped that part. I attached the other 2 monkeys to her diaper bag and filled it with lots of wipes, full sized bath items and hooded towels. I wish I would have thought to take a picture of these, but I didn't. In hindsight, I should have done the palm tree and just attached all 3 monkeys to the diaper bag. Either way, I'm still pleased with the way the cake turned out. It's super cute. 

Friday Favorites!!!

1) Saturday's Game - Last Saturday's game against Duke was great! It was a very exciting game to watch all the way through, and it makes it even better that Duke was #1! Let's hope we can hang on and do it again when we play in Cameron!

2) Another Ravens Win - I can't believe they did it, but the Ravens beat Denver! Since the Seahawks are out (and they went out in such a horrible way!), I only have the Ravens to pull for. So, Go Ravens! Here's to a great last year and one more ring for Ray Lewis!

3) NCSU v. MD Game - It was horrible, possibly one of the worse basketball games I've ever been to. We still had a good time though, and I I'm glad we went. This was our first away basketball game and our first ACC game since we graduated, so it was very different from what we're used to. 

4) Eating Habits - I really want to focus on being healthier. So far, I'm eating really well. I've cut out the majority of junk food (which used to be about half my diet). It was really tough at first, and sometimes when I'm upset or in a bad mood it still is (because I'm an emotional eater), but it's much easier now. I've been leaving the chocolate in the break room alone for the most part and it has been several weeks since I've had a soda! Another struggle for me has always been portions. I've always felt like I have to eat everything on my plate. I've gotten so much better about only eating until I'm full and not snacking out of boredom, only when I'm actually hungry. Now I just hope I can keep it up! 

5) TV Shows - I'm all caught up on all of my TV shows! Right now I'm into Revenge, Once Upon a Time and Pretty Little Liars. I'm finally all caught up with all of them. I got caught up just in time for the new shows to start! 

6) It's Friday!!! - Obviously, but I'm so glad! It's been another long week, so I'm looking forward to a productive weekend and a date night!

Baby Washcloth "Lollipop" Tutorial

I have several friends and some family having babies this year. 6 to be exact. Yes, 6 babies in one year...and it's only January! Needless to say, I've been looking for ideas and trying to find creative ways to give gifts. I didn't want to just throw a bunch of baby supplies in a gift bag.

I saw this idea on Pinterest a while back and I just knew I had to make them for the next baby shower I was invited to. They are a very cute way of presenting a practical gift for any new mom. 

Materials: 

- baby washcloths

- baby spoons or forks

- ribbon

- tulle

- scissors

Directions:

Cut your tulle into squares. You will need one square per "lollipop" I did not measure mine, but they were approximately 6x6. 

Cut a piece of ribbon for each lollipop you will be making. I cut my to about 9-10".

Now, you're finished with your prep and you're ready to start. Fold a washcloth in half 3 times, until you have a long, narrow piece, like this.

Now, roll the washcloth up as tight as you can get it. It should look something like this.

Next, place the washcloth over the utensil. While holding it, wrap the tulle around the washcloth and utensil tightly. While holding it, tie a knot around the utensil using the ribbon. Finally, tie a bow with your ribbon and trim any excess. You're done! 

***You may find it easier to wrap a rubber band around the tulle first. I did not want to worry about having to hide the rubber bands and I wanted to use a thin ribbon, so I did not do this.*** 

I'm very pleased with how these turned out. What do you think?

Friday Favorites!!!

Woo hoo!!! It's Friday again!

1) NC State Basketball - We didn't get to watch the game Wednesday, but we got to see most of the one on Saturday. I'm super excited that we won both! Now I'm just hoping we can pull off a big win against Duke tomorrow afternoon!

2) More NC State Basketball - We're going to the game at MD Wednesday night! It will be our first away basketball game, so we're both pretty excited about it.

3) Playoffs - Overall, I'm very excited about the outcome of the playoffs so far. I'm SUPER excited about Seattle winning! I'm very happy for Russell Wilson to have a playoff win his rookie year! And a Redskins loss is a plus (Although I feel really bad for RG3. I like him, just not his team). I'm also very excited for a Ravens win! With Ray Lewis retiring this year, it's a really big deal here. Of course, I'm pulling for Seattle to go all the way. They not only have Russell Wilson, but Sweezy and Hauschka. That's 3 former Wolfpack players v. 0 for the Ravens...and the Ravens have a Carolina player, so that's like -1. I do hope they do well, and if the Seahawks can't pull it off, the Ravens will definitely be my backup team to pull for. Here's to hoping for a great game in Denver this weekend!!!

4) Shooting Range - We finally made it back to the shooting range, and this time we had some instruction. We shot several guns, and I did pretty well with all of them.

5) Meal Planning - I have gotten out of meal planning for a few months, but I've picked it back up. Hopefully I will stick with it now. It is so nice to come home and just know what's for dinner. No rumbling around in the pantry and fridge to figure out what I'll throw together. We've had some delicious and more healthy meals this week too!

6) Productivity - We have been pretty productive this week. I mentioned in my goals that I wanted to make more manageable to do lists and I'm doing well with that so far. Rather than making a ginormous list that will never get completed, I've been making more realistic daily goals. I have accomplished most of them, and in some cases, more than what is on my list for the day. I've also been more relaxed. After I accomplish my goal for the day, I move on to dinner and we sit down and eat together. If I have extra time before I need to cook dinner or while dinner is in the oven, etc, I can work on an extra project. I actually feel like I'm getting more done. I have ADD when it comes to projects (big or small). I will jump from task to task and not finish any, making me feel defeated. This way, I don't feel like I failed at all. 

We have lots of projects coming up this year, but I'm determined to take them one at a time. This weekend, we will be working on finishing up the bar after we replace a water damaged board around our door frame. 

2012 Review

Happy New Year y'all!

2012 has been a great year for us overall. Here are some of the exciting things we experienced this year.

January

We celebrated New Years with our friends in Raleigh.

I shot my first handgun. Unfortunately, I don't have pictures to share.

Josh got Lasik. No more glasses or contacts for this man! This also freed up about 25% of the space in our medicine cabinet! 

February

We got our TV for the State Room!

March

We celebrated our 11th dating anniversary!

We had an amazing weekend horseback riding and going to Atlantic City.

April
My family came to visit us for Easter.

We went to our first horse race.


I started my new job!

May
I got the WORSE haircut ever!


AJ and Kristen came to visit.

We went home for Natalia's 5th birthday party...


Our 1 year anniversary in the house.

Then we went to Miami to visit the Martins.

June

We celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary :-)


Bailey went fishing for the first time.


Our car was totaled when a tow truck rear ended me.

We lost power for 2 days during the weekend we were car shopping.

July

We got a new car!

We spent July 4th in Raleigh with friends.


Brittany and Lee got married, and we had a great weekend in the mountains of NC!

August

We traveled down to Atlanta for the football season opener.

September

We went to our first MLB game. 

We spent and amazing weekend in VA.

October
Nikki and Bryan got married AND announced that they had triplets on the way!


We got our bar to a usable state.


The Martins came to visit and we had a GREAT time with them!

Hurricane Sandy visited on my Birthday and messed up our roof a little.

November
Hutch came to visit and we went to the aquarium.

We went to NC for Thanksgiving and a football game!

December
I got a Kitchenaid Mixer!!!


We went to NC for Christmas.