3 Day weekend, holla!

I love 3 day weekends from work, especially lately because my office is so understaffed and at the same time growing like a weed. This economy is certainly very stressful on a non-profit mental health organization, let me tell you. So yes, again, I love 3 day weekends where I can lounge around the house for a whole day (A WHOLE DAY!!) and not worry about my to-do list for the weekend because I have an extra day to make that up.  It's fantastic!! Because of 3 day weekends, I feel Saturday always becomes the lazy day. Do I need to buy groceries? Yes. Am I doing that today? Absolutely not. Instead I am using all the gift cards for Amazon I've saved up since Christmas and buying myself the super indulgent item I've been lusting after for months, but refused to buy yet because I couldn't justify it. As of Tuesday, I'll be the proud owner of the Silhouette Portrait for all the craft projects I've been pinning on Pinterest and seen in magazines and other peoples' Facebook photos. I want to make crafty things too dang it! If I were being extremely indulgent, I would have opted for the Cameo instead of Portrait, but I'm not confident in my craft skills yet.

To be honest, I'm not THAT crafty. But I really want to be!! So that's why the portrait was a good decision for me. I've had the portrait in my wish list for about a year. When I originally added it, it was $150. Yes, that is a doable price, but it still was not low enough for me to bite the bullet and get it, especially since we just purchased this mondo house in September, so our mortgage is over twice what we used to pay in our condo. It was a BIG adjustment for me, that I'm still trying to get used to. I just checked my wish list out yesterday and saw that the price dropped to $119. Yes, that was a way better price for my taste and because of gift cards, I only paid around $30 because I also signed up for the trial of Amazon Prime, so free 2 day shipping for this girl!
 (I have a confession: I love Amazon Prime, but I hate paying the $80 something dollars for it a year. I did that once and I noticed that I did not use it to make paying the eighty bucks worth it. So what I do is when I get something saying I'm eligible for Prime with a 30 day trial, I say sure I'll sign up for Prime..but then a day or so after I'll go into where you can manage your prime account and there is a place that says when your trial ends and you'll be charged and it gives you an option to continue it after that date or choose to not continue. I always choose to not continue. I don't know if that's cheating, but it really helps me out by saving the shipping fee.)

Update on savings plan

Week 5 done! Woot Woot!!

I haven't really been following my exactly on this day of the week I will deposit this much amount into my savings. I've been basically doing 2 weeks at a time when I get paid. Hey, do what works for you. This works for me.

Thick Hair problems

Am I right?

I have thick hair. When I say thick, I mean, I have to get it thinned out every time I go in for a trim because if I skip it just once, the migraines set it from the weight of my hair. It was much worse when I had longer hair.

I absolute hate washing, drying, straightening my hair. It is my least favorite thing to do. Just recently I've found a few things to help with this process though!

First up is Kenra Professional Platinum Blow Dry Spray. I was introduced to this product by my hair stylist. He used it after washing my hair and before styling. It reduces blow dry time to about half AND it protects against heat damage. Kill two birds with one stone!

I also swear by dry shampoo for those days where I wake up late and washing and styling my hair just will not happen even though I really should (like today). Spray that stuff in my hair at the roots, put it up while I continue getting ready for the day, take my hair down and start finger brushing/make my hair a crazy beauty pageant contestant's volume. I basically just keep going back and forth like you would to create volume until the white powder disappears. It will add volume, but not crazy lengths when you're finished which is nice.

  I don't have a favorite brand yet, I'm not too dry shampoo savvy yet. I got a trial size of Tresemme's version with my hair spray and I really like it. I also got a groupon for a buy 1 get 1 free of Batiste original dry shampoo. I'm not a big fan of Batiste's smell, but oh well, I'll live. I use both interchangeably. Basically whichever one I find first in my stash of clutter is what I use.

I'm attempting this for the new year

It's sort of a New Years resolution, but mostly I just want to see how long I can do this for... I deposited my first week yesterday, so I got to check week 1 off the table!

I input all the weeks in my calendar and if my math is right, if I make it the whole way I should be done the week before Christmas. 

As usual, I'm late on this. Merry belated Christmas!

Tour of our new home!

I just realized that I hadn't taken any photos of our house post-construction. I would like to say that this is real life and my house isn't pristine. Please take note and no judging! Shall we begin: 

Here is our entry way. 

Dining room

Living room

Here's where the no judging part comes in. Kitchen. 

Other half of the kitchen. 

1/2 bath at the bottom of the stairs 

Laundry room at the top of the stairs

Master bedroom

Master bathroom

Other side of master bathroom. 

Bedroom #2. This will eventually get organized into my sewing/craft room. It will also be the nursery when the time comes. 

Bedroom #3. We use it as the office. 

Bedroom #4. The guest room. 

Media room. 

Media room. Hubs used my scarf for the USA v. Panama MLS soccer game we went to this summer as decoration. This is his sports themed room. 

Media room

Media room. Everything hanging has been signed. 

And that's our home! We still have some decorating and organizing to do, but we have the rest of our lives to do it. 

My favorite parts are the media room and the master bathroom. I love using that bath tub!

2013 is going by so fast

Can't believe it's already November! This year is flying by!!

Vacation was fabulous. I did not want to return. It was so great to be in 80+* weather. It was NOT fun to come back to Washington State to this:


Total buzzkill.

Here are some photos from my trip:

My cousin's wedding in Darlington. This plantation has been in the bride's family for...ever? Absolutely gorgeous. 

First dance of the happy couple!

Driving across the border into Florida and you get fresh squeezed orange juice!

Our condo in Orlando. 

Tree of Life at Animal Kingdom

Me at Magic Kingdom

My brother and oldest nephew watching the characters outside Magic Kingdom. The boys did amazing at Disneyworld. Not one meltdown and both boys had ear infections, the youngest had molars coming in a Luke (the one above) is autistic. 

Grandma pushing Warren on the swing. 

Also, since I've been home, I've been cooking a little just to clean out our pantry and fridge so I can stock up on groceries sometime this week. I've been slacking, but this is what I've made lately and it's delish:

Pulled pork stuffed sweet potatoes - The Novice Chef

Baked pumpkin pie oatmeal - Budget Bytes

Cheesy Chicken Bacon Broccoli and Rice - Kevin and Amanda

I also have this in my crock pot for tonight's dinner. We'll see how it tastes!

Today I do day 4 of Insanity. I am so sore from the first two days, I could barely do my workout last night. Hubs has done this workout program 2 times all the way through already and is starting his 3rd time this week. He says that the workout I do tonight will help my sore muscles...I hope he's right. I can't pull myself up the stairs anymore! I'm okay when I'm walking, it's sitting down and getting up that has been killing me. I feel good though, have more energy, which is what I really wanted. That and a 6 pack....