What I'm Loving Wednesday.....

Things I'm loving today.....

(one)

I'm loving that it was 35 degrees today and that it's going to be 40 degrees tomorrow!  For a Minnesota girl who hates winter, that's great weather for December!

(two)

Modern Family..... This show seriously cracks me up!

  

(three)

Sleeping in!  With my class being on Winter Break, my boss tries to mix up my schedule a little bit.  This is actually a great thing because usually that means that my day is shorter and I get to sleep in a little bit.

(four)

Mr. and Mrs. T Bold and Spicy Bloody Mary Mix.  I recently fell in love with bloody mary's and this mix is AAAAAAMAZING!!

(five)

I'm lovin' that it's JEANS WEEK at work!  There is something about wearing jeans that simply makes the work week that much better.  I don't know what it is...it just is!

(six)

I'm lovin' that tomorrow is my FRIDAY!!  Praise God for two three-day weekends in a row!  We should do this every week!

A Flurry of Activity!

Flurry....Get it?  'Cause of all the snow?!?!  Yes, I know.....not funny!

Seriously though, I cannot even begin to describe how busy the past couple weeks have been!  I realize that it's the holidays and it's a given that people will be busy but let me just say.....it's been a crazy couple of weeks!

Last weekend, I came home from babysitting the cutest twins ever to find my kitty had thrown up.  No big deal, this happens from time to time.  I cleaned it up and got ready for bed.  Well it turns out it WAS a big deal.....a VERY big deal.  We were up on the hour for the rest of the night because she was so sick.  By morning, she had vomitted about twenty-five times and once a piece of string came up.  Knowing that this wasn't a good thing, I got ready to take her in to kitty urgent care.  Thankfully, just before I was leaving, Bekah called and caught me and sent me to Innver Grove Heights where there was a vet open (read: cheaper).  The vet said she was dehydrated and that they were going to keep her overnight to monitor her.  I picked her up the next day, paid the hefty fee of $560 and thought to myself "momma's not getting those cute shoes for Christmas afterall!"

We got home and she immediately vomitted again and proceeded to continue vomitting in the middle of the night and twice the next morning.  Back to the vet we went where it was determined that she might have string in her stomach.  For those of you who don't know about cats and string, it's VERY dangerous!  The string acts like a saw and can cut through the intestines and bowel, eventually killing that cat.  Due to the potential string in her tummy, the vet decided to do emergency exploratory surgery.  Two very long hours later, the vet called and said there was indeed string in her tummy and had we not done this surgery, Chloe would have passed away by Christmas!  Instead, I got a Christmas miracle for the low, low price of $1,825.88

She got stitches AND 10 staples in her tummy

Next up, it was off to Christmas in Wisconsin.  This was our first Christmas at my parent's new Bed and Breakfast and it was a lot of fun!  Between shopping, decorating gingerbread houses, playing hide-and-seek (yes, we really did this!) and eating it was a fabulous weekend that ended far too quickly for my tastes! 

This gingerbread house took hours (literally!) to complete! :)

My little cutie in her Christmas outfit!

Now it's time to head back to work, work, work!  I'm a little sad that the holidays are over.  I really feel like they flew by too quickly and I didn't have the chance to enjoy them as much as I would have liked.  But as the saying goes, "there's always next year!"

Here's hoping you and your family had a wonderful Christmas as well!

Putting life into perspective.....

Today was one of those days.....you know, the type where despite what you do, EVERYTHING seems to go wrong.  I woke up late (thus my beauty regime turned into pure chaos as I raced out the door), my class was out of control, the Christmas tree randomly fell over by itself, I totally misplaced one of the secret santa gifts I was going to give, my family can't seem to decide if we're going to be able to get together for Christmas, etc, etc.....  Trust me, the list goes on.  Like I said, it was one of those days. 

But as I was driving home from work tonight, traffic suddenly slowed to a stop.  Looking ahead, I could just make out what appeared to be a lot of flashing lights.  We creeped along until I was finally alongside the accident:  a car seemed to have spun out of control and hit the cement wall dividing the highway.  After seeing the car, I cannot imagine how the driver could have made it out alive.

I also just heard of a teacher who's husband went out to shovel the snow on Saturday.  While shoveling, he suffered a massive heart attack that took his life before the ambulance could even make it to the house.  He was 56 years old.

Right now, I'm feeling thankful.  For as bad as my day was today, there are people out there that had an even worse day.  In a little while, I will go to bed and tomorrow, I will wake up to a fresh start.  For other people, today's bad day will carry on into the rest of their weeks, months and even years.  What horrible things to have to experience right before the holidays.  My heart goes out to the families involved. 

I'm thankful that I was able to make it home okay tonight.  I'm thankful for my kitty who greeted me ever so enthusiastically when I walked in the door.  I'm thankful that my bad day is something that I will be able to put behind me tomorrow. 

And most of all, I'm thankful to God for helping me put my life into perspective tonight.

It's Bloody Monday!

Can you just hear the British voice that title demands?  Or rather, can you SEE an incredibly hot Brit saying it?  I picture someone like this:

Yes Please! :)  I need to find me a British man!

This post though, has absolutely nothing to do with the British....rather, it's Bloody Mary Monday in this household!  And that, in itself, is something to be celebrated!  Mondays are simply no fun and thus we have decided to declare Mondays "Bloody Monday!"

In other news, I have decided that Mondays would also be a good time for a confession session.  Afterall, after a full week and the weekend, there are always things that I need to get off my chest.  So here we go with the first "Confess Sesh"

1.  It snowed a lot this weekend and there are LARGE piles of snow everywhere.  Everytime I see one, I find myself wanting to throw on snowpants and boots and climb that sucker!  Maybe it's reminiscent of my elementary school days and playing king of the hill?

2.  I may or may not have showered at all this weekend...... Yes, that's right....I was a dirty little greaseball.....and I'm not ashamed to admit it! (okay, maybe a little)

3.  I write things in my planner and on a to-do list after I've done them.  There is something seriously satisfying about being able to cross things off!

4.  I am seriously addicted to Christmas music lately.  In the car, in my room, at work....doesn't matter where, I'm listening to Christmas music. 

5.  The Vikings are playing today and I'm secretly hoping their defense sucks it up....this may or may not be because my fantasy football QB is on the other team.  

6.  I'm secretly starting to wonder if teaching is the right career for me.  More on that later.....

7.  I laugh EVERY SINGLE TIME the Geico commerical with the pig crying all the way home comes on.  Seriously, it cracks.me.up!

8.  I really don't have an 8....I just didn't want to end on an odd number because I really hate odd numbers.

Happy Bloody Monday! :)

The Blizzard of '10

Hello from my warm and cozy couch located smack-dab in the middle of the great Minnesota blizzard!  Ohmiword is it snowing out!  For those of us old enough to remember the "blizzard of '91" (hey now, I was only six!) this is quickly starting to compare!  As of an hour ago, the airport had 14 inches of snow and has been closed.  All around the state, snow is accumulating, people are stuck indoors and MNdot is pulling plows OFF the roads.  You know it's bad when the plows aren't even working anymore! 

As for me, I've had to cancel my annual Christmas party, which was due to start at 7pm.  With friends having to drive an hour or so just to get here it just doesn't seem safe anymore.  I'm waaaaaay disappointed as we haven't all gotten together since this Halloween and I was totally looking forward to seeing everyone.  Did I mention that I had already purchased all the food and had about half of it already made?  Not that you need to worry about it going bad.....nope, Mal and I are more than willing to ensure that my money doesn't go to waste!  Pretty sure we've been eating all day!

I made Oreo Snowballs which are pretty much the best ever!

I suppose the upside to all of this is I'm getting a MUCH NEEDED lazy day.  You know, the kind where you sit on the couch watching movies in your pjs all day.  Yep, one of those.  And I have to say, it is A.MAZ.ING!  I haven't had a day like this since.......well it's been so long I cannot even remember when I had one! 

Well, the movie Elf and a bottle of wine are calling my name. 

"The best way to spread Christmas cheer is by singing loud for all to hear!"

Winter Hair...

One of the the many downsides to living in Minnesota (yes, there are more than one!) is having to deal with static electricity in the winter, better known as the dreaded 'winter hair.'  

Cute eh?

Winter hair can creep up on you when you least expect it.  You can take all the time in the world in the morning ensuring that your hair is just so but the second you go to finish getting dressed or put on a jacket, wham!  The static creeps in and you suddenly look like you've just touched one of those static balls. 

So NOT the look I'm going for!

Now I've heard of a few different remedies but before I try any, I figured I'd ask your lovely advice first!  I've been told to take a dryer sheet and lightly rub it over hair.  This just seems incredibly weird to me......  I've also been told that I need to use less hairspray (THE HORROR!) because it dries out the hair.  And finally, I've been told to switch shampoos to an even more hydrating one. 

What do you know about this?  Please send your fabulous ideas my way because I'm getting close to simply chopping all my hair off (okay not really....not after it's taken a year for it to grow this long!)!

Maybe I should just move to the Caribbean? :)

Yep!  I think so!

Well so much for Minnesota nice....

Everyone always talks about "Minnesota Nice."  "Minnesotans are so nice.....always willing to help out....always smiling."  Well Minnesotans ARE nice......but not when they're driving!  I don't know if it's the cold weather, the fact that Christmas is quickly approaching or simply that people are just crabby but driving lately Is. Not. Fun.  Take tonight for instance.  I'm driving to work and my exit is approaching in about 2 miles.  I turn on my turn signal in hopes that someone will let me in.  If Minnesota nice applied to driving then I'm sure I would have been let in.  In fact I can see it now:  the lady next to me would have slowed down, gestured for me to by all means, please go ahead of her and she would have smiled and waved.  I would have smiled and waved back and everyone would have been happy.  But alas, Minnesota nice does not apply to driving, I was not let in and I ended up missing my exit.  This wouldn't have been much of a problem except for the fact that I was already running late (now there's a surprise) .....and the next exit wasn't for another five miles.  Eventually I made it to work (a record five minutes late!) and put it behind me.

Until I was driving home and got cut off.  THREE DIFFERENT TIMES.  By THREE DIFFERENT DRIVERS. 

So I guess it's time to just face the facts.  Minnesota nice simply does not apply to driving! :) 

I need a new job to support my shopping habit!

Seriously.  It's true. 

I headed off to the Mall of America yesterday with big plans to begin my Christmas shopping.  I purposely headed out at about the time the Vikings game started with hopes of there being less crazy people there.  As I pulled into the parking ramp, I found an unbelievably awesome parking space.  Seeing this as good fortune, I eagerly headed into the mall.  Without a plan.  When there's not a plan, the plan quickly becomes to simply wander around, hoping an idea for a perfect gift will magically pop out at me.  Well, things DID pop out at me.  And I DID buy Christmas gifts.........for myself.  Awwww the shame!  But let's face it ladies, it's not everyday that the most amazing pair of jeans or perfect shirt comes along.  And if it just so happens that they both come along on the same day....well then, so be it!  You have to seize the good shopping days because the next time you go out, there will probably be NOTHING!  Nothing!  And that's just sad.

So see, it's okay that I bought Christmas gifts for myself.  And I got AMAZING deals to boot!  Which pretty much just means that I don't feel guilty.....at all! :) 

Except for the fact that I still don't have any Christmas gifts for anyone......  

Once upon a time....

Once upon a time, I was an avid blogger on a little website called Xanga.  I could not even tell you if that website still exists but I do know that floating around somewhere in cyberspace are the random musings of an unsure college girl.  After taking a five-year hiatus from blogging, I have decided to dive back in, full-force!  I'm not an unsure college girl anymore.  I am now a twenty-something chica living in the COLD lovely state of Minnesota.  I love all things girly, working with children and most importantly, my beautiful little kitty, Chloe. 

At this point, I am simply trying to figure out what to do with my life.  College may give you a degree, but it simply does not prepare you for the real world.  With the amount of change I have been through in the past three years and the sheer pressure of making choices that will affect me for the rest of my life, I sometimes wonder if I'm even facing the right direction!

Despite all of this, I try to live life to the fullest and always have a smile on my face.  As frustrated as I may get with my life, there is always someone out there with bigger, scarier problems and I am thankful for what I have. 

I am excited to be back in the world of blogging!