I confess...that I'm thankful it's Friday!!

So, it's Friday. And since I haven't joined the lovely Leslie (seriously how does she look that good at 33 weeks preggers?! I need her secrets before I have kiddos of my own) in a while, I've decided that now is a perfect time for a Confessional Friday!

I confess...that the second season of Scandal is finally out on Netflix, and I can't WAIT to watch it. 

I confess...that I would kill to be sitting on an ocean beach right now. 

I confess...that if I could, I'd go to cosmetology school. Too bad I just am nowhere close to being able to afford it. :-/

I confess...that I sometimes get nervous about contacting other bloggers, or saying nice things to them on Twitter because I'm afraid it might come off as creepy. 

I confess...that I love the show Suits, but I hate the current story line they've got going with Louis and Nigel. I mean, cat custody? Really?? 

I confess...that I sort of miss working in a cubicle. Isn't that totally lame?? Yes, it is. But it's still true. 

What do you have to confess today?

Gourmet tongue. Or something.

I'm feeling very creatively stilted lately, if you haven't been able to tell. Every time I sit down to write something, it's like everything just stops, and I can't write anything. It's really frustrating!

But, since I really wanted to write something, you're stuck with whatever random nonsense is currently taking up space in my brain. I'm sorry, and you're welcome. All at the same time. 

- Despite my creative slump, I somehow managed to completely revamp my "About Me" page. 

- One day, I will have a large, beautiful kitchen, and I will have people for whom I can cook. Don't get me wrong, I can cook a little bit for me and Boyfriend right now, but we have a tiny little kitchen, without a lot of space for ingredients or kitchen tools. So I can't quite cook or bake the way I want to yet. But once I AM able to?? Ooooh, look out, I'm gonna be cooking all ze time. And I will get le fat. And I will love it. (P.S. Did you see how I threw a little weird French in there? Yeah, that's me pretending to be an awesome French chef.)

- I didn't watch the VMA's last night, but judging from the Twit and the blogosphere, only two things of note happened: number one, 'NSync reunited for like, 2.2 seconds. And number two, Miley Cyrus made a complete and total fool of herself and Robin Thicke and also made every single person who saw the debacle for which she was responsible extremely uncomfortable. Oh, you missed it, you say? Well here's just a tiny little moment of what you missed. Again, I'm sorry, but you're welcome. But now that you've all seen it, maybe somebody could explain what in the HELL is up with Miley and her ridiculous tongue. Did something happen that has made her physically unable to keep it in her mouth anymore?

-Moving on. Does Blogger ever just really suck to use for any of the rest of you? Cuz right now, this formatting stuff is ridiculous, and is basically making me want to just throw my computer out the window and forget the whole dang thing. 

- Blogging can be tough, speaking of it. It's weird, because there's all this discussion about how there's like, this great wonderful community, and people can make all these great friendships, and all of that... And while I'm not going so far as to say that's not true, because I have "met" a few great people through blogging, I will say that it's not quite what I was expecting. I guess I just know like, what I would do if people reached out to me from my blog, or bothered to send a nice email out of the blue or something, and I think I just expect everyone else to think and respond in the exact same way that I think I would. Which is not a real bright idea, so  I really ought to get over that. 

- And actually continuing on that line, I have a question: I was having a discussion yesterday about whether or not letting go of expectations constitutes giving up on something and/or settling, or if it is just a way of accepting that sometimes, the expectations we place on others to think/behave/react in a certain way can often be the biggest cause of disappointment in our lives. I'm interested in what the blogging world thinks about this. Weigh in, people, and let's discuss. 

- I've got Dance Moms on in the background right now. Holy train wreck, Batman. I haven't watched this show since I left Vegas, and I had somehow managed to forget how crazy the drama is. I honestly don't know if the moms and Abbey are really as psychotic as they look - and I have a hard time believing that they are because, uh, hello, they're CRAZY, and who would want to even ever be around that nonsense? - or if they're faking it for the sake of television. I'm leaning a bit more towards the latter, but either way, it's just crazy. The little girls are really cute and talented though, so props to them. 

- I've decided I am going to participate in a couple new things for the month of September. Number one, I'll be participating in "Blogtember", with Jenni. Jenni also orchestrated the "Blog Every Day in May" challenge that I did, and I really enjoyed it, so I'm looking forward to doing this as well. 

AND, even though I'm really not a runner at all, I was inspired by Kenzie's post to show solidarity to another Kenzie during the month of September. So now, in support of Kenzie, I will be joining in on the #runningforsupernannykenz campaign. You can keep up with me on that via Instagram, if you feel so inclined. You'll probably see a lot of pictures of me looking about like this: 

Annnnnd that about does it for me. Hopefully my brain will feel better in the coming days/weeks/months, and I'll feel more inspired to write, and to write things actually worth reading. We'll see what happens! 

Top 10 Best Things About Being Unemployed

Okay, so basically, I'm pretty sure everybody knows that (at least for  the moment), I'm not unemployed anymore. But I was unemployed for a while, and I gotta tell you..as much as it really pretty much bites the big one to not have a job - see also, no income - there are some pretty okay things about it. 

So here I have broken down for you the top ten best things there are about being unemployed. Should you ever find yourself in such a position, re-read this list and be grateful. 

--------------------------------------------------------------

1 -You get to sleep late. For someone like me, who really isn't a morning/get out of bed happily person like at all, the ability to sleep until you wake up naturally is pretty dang nice. Plus, you have the added option of getting to wake up, and then realize you don't have to be anywhere, so you can roll over and snuggle under your covers and go back to sleep. Who doesn't love that? 

2 - You can binge-watch TV shows. Netflix makes it possible to watch entire seasons of awesome TV shows without the ridiculous expense (and inconvenience) of having to change out of your pajamas to go to the store and actually purchase said television show in DVD format. Plus, when you finish one season and really really really have to know what happens after the cliff-hanger season finale, you can just easily start watching the next season without having to get up off the couch or out of bed to switch a DVD. Laziness at it's finest, y'all. 

3 - You can read a lot. Reading is basically the coolest thing since sliced bread, people. Actually, I think it's cooler than sliced bread. I love getting new books, getting to know the characters, trying to guess the endings, etc. And sometimes I learn new words, which is awesome, and I get all kinds of inspiration for things to say, conversation starters, ways to win arguments, etc. Having enough time to read as much as you want is basically bomb.com. 

4 - You have no reason to adhere to standard meal times if you don't want to. Lunch at 2:30pm? Sure, why not? Dinner at 11 at night? Absolutely. See, the reason you can do all this and get away with it is because you can sleep in late in the morning, so you can stay up late at night! Eating at 11pm and going to bed at 2am is no different than eating at 7pm and going to bed at 10pm, so there you go. Eat whenever your little heart desires. 

5 - You can take your sweet time getting ready for things. No need to rush around in the morning trying to make yourself look presentable. No having to worry that you snoozed your alarm one too many times and now you might not have time to curl your hair just right, or put eyeliner on. No worries now, mate! Take a long, hot shower, and just enjoy all the free time you have to primp. 

6 - You can save a lot of money by not eating lunch out somewhere every day, or stopping on the way to work to grab some Starbucks, or breakfast. I mean, yeah, you don't have any money coming in, so saving is just the smart thing to do anyway, but still. You're far less likely to waste money you don't have on things you don't need if you don't have a steady paycheck coming in. 

7 - You have workout freedom! I don't know about you, but I always hated the idea of working out on my way home from work. It's such a busy time at the gym, so there are always people around (and I hate working out around people), plus it's just annoying to have to work all day and then anticipate a workout between work and being able to go home and turn off your brain for a while. Also, you can forget about me getting up early to work out before work, because getting up earlier than you have to is just silly to me. But now, since you're unemployed, you can have a work out in the middle of the day if you want! The gym will be less crowded, there won't be as much traffic.. There are a lot of positives to this point. 

7 - Happy hour can start early. Who wants to wait until 5pm to start happy hour? Not you, no sir. You're not working, so having a beer at 3pm is completely acceptable. Pop that top and get to it. 

9 - You can social media the heck out of everything, all day long. No one is going to care if you spend your day chatting it up with people on Twitter than actually attending to the pile of work on your desk. There's no reason to use incognito windows in your browser, or make sure that your mouse hovers over the "Switch to Desktop" area so you can hide your Facebooking from your boss. 

10 - No one is going to be upset if you promise a list of ten things but only deliver nine actual things. 

So yes, though you may be sans productive job at the moment, there are still all kinds of things for which you can be thankful. Enjoy it!! 

What do you think are the best things about not having a job??

Who Wants To Go To Europe With Me?

Hey guys! I don't know about you, but I absolutely love to travel. I have all these big dreams of travelling, and going everywhere. "I'm gonna shake the dust of this crummy little town off my feet, and I'm gonna see the world!" (Ten points to you if you know what AWESOME movie I just quoted.) But, as well all know, travel is expensive, and can get complicated, so I often get overwhelmed just at the thought of trying to plan something. Thankfully, the blogging community has lots of travelers, so I can get a lot of great ideas from them about where to go and how to do it!

To that end, I am really excited to introduce you all to Patricia. She is a super-sweet little blogger who packed up and moved to France for true love right after college. Apart from being sweet, hilarious, and totally down to earth despite her extreme popularity in the blogging world, and a fantastic storyteller (this girl has the best bad-date stories ever), this pretty little lady is also chock full of fabulous and helpful advice.

Today, she is taking over my blog and sharing some awesome advice about how to travel through Europe! Take note of her little tips and tricks, and I'm sure you'll be confidently traveling abroad in no time. And hey, maybe you'll even find someone to date while you're in a foreign country, too! I hear it's good for you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hi there All the Small Things friends.



I'm Patricia and I blog over at Kisses & Croissants. Jordan is one of my very kindest new blogging friends, and she was nice enough to give me the opportunity to guest post. I'm an American girl who studied abroad in college, fell madly in love with a man who barely spoke English my first week there, and moved to France after graduation to marry that hunk. I sound kind of corny already, don't I?

Before I settled down with Monsieur Right, I was just a happy, stupid adventurous 19 year old, who dreamed of seeing the world beyond Po-dunk, Nevada. Naturally, while studying abroad, I decided that I would blaze a new trail by doing exactly what every other college aged student does while studying abroad - Backpacking through Europe. I know. I should win a prize for my originality.



Nowadays, Monsieur Right (he gets the honor of this corny nickname for privacy reasons), is totally freaked out by the idea of me traveling like this. Which I guess is a legitimate fear, since I did almost get kidnapped once.

That's Us!

I was so excited about running around Europe and sleeping in crappy hotels! The only problem is that you need quite a bit of money to just "take off" around Europe.  I was living off scholarships at the time. FYI: If you're leaving one country to visit another, you can expect the train ticket to be at least $150. Then when you get there you need to pay for hostels and food. It's not nearly as cheap as they make it seem in the movies. There is no way that some kid with 20 bucks, no credit card, and a passport is just going to be able to hop around 10 different countries with nothing but his backpack.



However, if there's a will, there's a way. Let me tell you how I traveled around Europe as a student for cheap! Feel free to take these tips with a grain of salt and travel at your risk.



1. I faithfully scanned those European discount flight websites almost everyday... 



... and just happened to stumble across plane tickets from my city to London for 5€ from Ryan Air! It was fate, so I signed my awesome Polish roommate and I up right away. I also got a flight from Paris to Rome for about $40 from Easy Jet. It helps if you check often and are willing to go anywhere.



2. I accepted the first offer that came via Couchsurfing. 



I was too poor to stay in a hostel every night. So somehow both my roommate and I decided that it would be okay to sleep in some random 50 year old man's flat in downtown London. We'd never met him, but he had great reviews and we were cheap. Turns out he was awesome and bought us real American-style blueberry pancakes in the morning.

3. I always book my hostels ahead of time.

I've heard of people paying $30 a night or more for a hostel, and that's just ridiculous. If you book ahead of time you can usually find hostels right down town, or right next to a major train station for about 5€ a night. I should warn you though that hostels can get pretty crammed and/or crummy. I once slept in a hostel, in a room with 20 other girls. No kidding. The beds were stacked three high. See photo. It was fun. But you really have to have the patience and the personality to travel like this. You also can't be a light sleeper.

Tip: I always made sure that all my important belongs fit inside a pillow case. That way I could wrap them up in clothing, stick them in my pillow case, and sleep on them. Unfortunately, not every hostel comes with lockers, even if they say they do on their website.

Looks safe, doesn't it?

3. I searched online for "Free Stuff to Do in [Insert City's Name Here]"



You'll find tons of things to do! Heck, I almost always ended up doing the free stuff. I preferred splurging on one or two activities, than wasting my money on a lot of random little things. I promise, there is so much fun stuff to do and see for free in Europe. You just have to know where to look.

Like checking out The Beatles' recording studio.

Or getting your picture taken at King's Cross Station - Platform 9 & 3/4, if you're a Harry Potter nerd like me.

In France there are certain days of the month where all monuments and museums are free. Plus, there are some cities like London where public museums are always free!



See? You can still travel cheap and have a lot of fun!



A big thanks to Jordan for letting me guest post today! She's awesome!

Summer Bucket List Revisited

So. Summer is almost over, huh? How silly. Actually, I don't even really feel like we got much of a summer in Minnesota. It was only warm for like, two weeks! Anyway, since it's the end of summer and all that, I'm going back over the list of goals I had made at the beginning of the summer, and assessing my activity. Clearly, I still have some work cut out for me. 

1.       Watch The Count of Monte Cristo. Also, finish reading the book if possible, but if not, at least get through the movie.

I still haven't finished the book, but I did at least watch the movie. It was fabulous. 

2.      Write more often – my blog, my personal journal, emails, etc.
I didn't write too much in my personal journal (or at all, actually...sad.), but I did blog at least fairly regularly. So I'm counting this as completed. 

3.      Take more pictures of everything. (This will involve finding my camera, which is currently packed somewhere in a storage unit in the desert southwest….. so I guess I’ll just do the best I can with my phone and go from there.)
I found my camera, plus I have been making an effort to take more pics on my phone, too. I could still do better, but I'm at least halfway happy with what I've gotten.

4.      Visit a state and county fair.
Well - it's too late to make it to any county fairs now, so that's a bust. I think we are going to go to the State Fair in a couple of weeks though, so that will be fun.

5.      Go to a drive-in movie.
Nope, this hasn't happened yet, either. One of these days....

6.      Go to a country musical festival.
I think I'm giving up the dream on this one. I'd settle for just a country concert at this point.

7.      Create a “Life Goals” list, with info about where I want to go with my life, and how I plan to get there. Could be published, or not.
Cripes. I suck at life, because this actually is only half started, i.e. it's kind of started in my head, but not at all written down anywhere. 

8.      Write some poetry.
Nope. 

9.      Take a road trip and visit one of the restaurants featured on Restaurant: Impossible, or Man vs. Food.

Uh, no. There are some restaurants from these shows in the near vicinity, though, so if I can get my butt in gear and figure out what/where they are, this is actually still a viable possibility.

10.     Write and submit a book proposal.
Hmm. Yeah, I've kind of nixed this idea at the moment. It would be fun, and interesting, but I just don't have the mental energy to put towards it at the moment. 

11.      Go to a food festival.

I'm honestly not even sure how to do this one. There is kind of a festival thing downtown on Thursdays in the summer here, and there are food trucks and sidewalk vendors and stuff...so I guess I could just go to that one of these days and say that that counts. 

12.     Take a walk at least 4x per week.

I haven't always been going exactly four times a week, but I'd say I've maintained a pretty good average. So I'm going to count that one. 

13. Watch fireworks as often as possible.

I'm not sure how to quantify this. I've only seen fireworks once though, so I'm going to say that this is a goal not completed. Poo. I love fireworks, so I am going to need to find a way to fit more into my life. 

Here are some things that weren't on the list that I have completed. This makes me feel a little bit better. : )

** Go to a water park (Boyfriend made this happen when he took me to Noah's Ark for my bday!)

** Take a solo trip (Rented a car and drove to Milwaukee to visit my mom and sister on my birthday weekend)

** Paint something I'm actually proud of

** Try something new (tubing on 4th of July weekend!)

** Bake something new (Fruity Pebbles/White Chocolate Chip cookies!)

** Get a job (Sort of - it's only a temp job, but who knows how long it will go?!)

What have you accomplished so far this summer? 

What do you still want to get done before the season officially ends? 

For Lack of A Better Title...

Oh hi. How's it going, everybody? I have been kind of MIA for a few days, I know. So sorry about that. Sometimes you have all these epic plans for blog posts and stuff, and then life happens, and all your plans get shot to bits. And that's pretty much what happened, so there you go. 

Moving on..

I made these cookies tonight. They're basically amazing. I have had the itch to bake lately, so when I saw this recipe today, I knew I had to make it. I'm a loser blogger, so I don't have my own picture at the moment. I will put one up soon, but in the meantime, I'm stealing a picture of the batch that Erin made so you have an idea of what I'm talking about. 

Um, yeah. Amazing? I think so. Thankfully, I can bring them into work and pawn them off on everybody 

there, so I won't have to eat them all myself. Which we all know I would do, because apparently I have the self-control of like....I don't know. Something that doesn't have any self-control. 

Also, if you're reading this because you're actually ON my page instead of on a reader or through an email subscription, then you'll notice that my page is currently in a bit of a state of disarray. And that's kind of putting it mildly. BUT I am super excited because I have officially hired someone to make me a custom page design! Yay!!! 

And um, other than that, I don't have a whole lot to say today. Except that I'm kind of proud of myself because I make a whole list of post ideas, so one of these days when I have my act together, I should be able to sit down and write out and schedule a few of them! 

Oh, AND...I have some awesome people who are going to be doing some guest posts for me coming up, so you'll definitely want to stick around for that. The girls who are going to post for me are totally awesome and I can't wait to make sure all of you guys know them, too! 

But at the moment, I'm tired, and I need a shower (my second of the day, which we all know I hate), so I'm signing off for now. 

Peace out, girl scout. 

Review: SlimFast Sexy Summer Drinks!

As someone who struggles quite a bit with weight, I have used SlimFast shakes in the past for a quick, nutritious meal replacement. My favorite is their Chocolate Royale flavor. So you can imagine how excited I was when I was invited to try out their new drink recipes that use SlimFast shakes as the base! 

I received a Strawberry Creme shake, which I didn't love on its own, but tasted pretty good in the drink. I made a Sassy Strawberry Colada, with rum, pineapple chunks, and strawberries. 

The drink was pretty good! I followed the recipe exactly, and it actually made enough for two drinks, not just one, so that was a nice surprise. It tasted pretty good, too, although I would personally have added a little more pineapple, and some orange juice to get a little more of a fruity flavor, and I would have added a little grenadine, as well. 

The really great thing about this box, too, is that not only did it come with its own cute little martini glass (I mean seriously, guys, how cute is that?), but that all of the drink recipes also had non-alcoholic versions, as well! I love that I could use these recipes to create a fun smoothie when I'm in the mood to have a drink, and when I'm not. 

Overall, I would make a SlimFast drink again. I thought it was a really great idea, and I loved having the opportunity to try it! 

Disclaimer: I was given these materials in exchange for my review. All opinions are my own. 

You need to meet Sarah! :)

Hey everybody. I'm off enjoying a lovely lake vacation, so Sarah is taking up my slack! Guys, I am so excited to introduce you to her. She is SUCH a sweet heart. And, she has some excellent blog advice, family friendly drink recipes, and collections of DIY home decor ideas! Please take a moment to hop on over to her blog and get know her...I know you're going to love her as much as I do!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hello friends! I am Sarah from To Be Mrs. Collier and I am so pleased to be guest posting for my girl Jordan today! I write about all things random from new recipes, to frugal/simple living, home decor diy projects, marriage, fitness, pinterest projects, & bucket lists. I blog about my curious life. I blog about things that I do that I think that you might find interesting or uplifting. And I hope you like it, because I really like writing it for you to read.

Stop by soon and say,"hello!" I love to meet new friends through blogging. You can also connect with me on pinterest, facebook, twitter, instagram, & bloglovin'.

Sometimes I get really down about life. I'm a graduate student and feel like I've been in school For-Ev-ER. And sometimes, I just need a little bit of inspiration to get me motivated. Hence, I'm bringing you some motivational pins from interest. I hope they bring you a little happiness and brighten your day!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

These are such great quotes. I struggle sometimes with a lack of inspiration/motivation, too, so I really enjoyed reading these quotes and refocusing my brain a little bit!

Never. Ever. Ever.

It's Tuesday again, so you know what that means! That's right, it's another edition of "Never, Ever, Ever"! 

Let's get to it......

Never, ever, ever....

...will I be bummed out if Boyfriend surprises me with Chipotle for dinner. 
...will I enjoy watching golf (in person or on TV).
...will I think a long walk at some point during the day is a bad idea. 
...will I not be ridiculously impressed by the people who arranged and choreographed The Bella's final performance in Pitch Perfect.
...will I understand a mindset that doesn't think work is a good idea. 
...would I date someone who dealt drugs. 
...will I not love pasta. 
...will I not hate having to take two showers if I work out after I have already showered once. 

Monday, Monday...

Oh hey, happy Monday, everybody. Who’s ready to party this week?!

I totally am, because I get to go on a vacation this weekend to a lake that I thought was in Nebraska, but apparently is actually in Iowa. Either way, I’m freaking psyched. More on that after the fact, I would imagine. But I mean other than that, this is basically how I felt about this morning: 

...Especially because I had such an awesome weekend. On Friday, I started my first day at my new (temp) job. I really enjoyed it, which is always nice. It was a pretty tiring day, just because of all the learning I had to do, but overall, not a bad gig. Friday night, Boyfriend and I had a delicious dinner, and then nice time walking around the city, taking in some of the sights. It was such a nice date night….Yay for relaxing quality time with my favorite boy! J

On Saturday, we went to the library for a few hours in the morning. Boyfriend had some OT work he needed to get done, and I just went for the fun of it. We were planning to go to the beach afterwards, but then the sun went away and it was kind of cold, so we nixed that idea. We tried to go to a pet store to play with puppies, since I kind of have puppy fever right now for some reason, but apparently, there are no pet stores in this town that actually sell puppies. Not sure if I buy that, though, so we are going to keep looking.

Saturday night was spent drinking and painting at one of those wine and paint places. Oh, what fun we had! You can see the photographic evidence of our incredible talent here, and here, and here. I may or may not have had three glasses of wine on an empty stomach and been a wee bit drunk by the time the night was over, too. When we were walking back down the street to the car carrying our paintings, we got stopped by some ladies who wanted to know all about it, so we got to show off a little bit, too. Then we Boyfriend watched “Horrible Bosses” (for the first time ever) while I fell asleep on the couch at like, 10pm, like a loser cute puppy.. 

On Sunday, I was up crazy early for some reason, but it worked out okay because I was able to read a whole entire book by like, noon, yay for me. Then we did the three loads of laundry that had been piled up in the corner of the bedroom because we have been lazy lately and not at all on top of things like stupid laundry. And then I went to the mall for a few hours, while Boyfriend stayed home and watched baseball (or something equally boring). I got myself a new black maxi skirt and a white shirt that I can wear to work, so that was fun. Then we went and played some Frisbee golf, which was sort of fun. Definitely not a game I think I would enjoy playing again, but I only actually threw on two of the holes, and then I just wandered around behind Boyfriend while he did the rest, and that was fun, so I think I could get on bored with tagging along in the future, at least.

Sunday night was totally lazy – we watched “Horrible Bosses” again (and yes, I slept through the middle part, again), and flexed our culinary muscles by making frozen pizza for dinner. I know. We are amazing. Actually, Boyfriend taught me that broiling a frozen pizza for like, a minute after they’re done cooking makes the top of it crispy, and makes the entire thing ridiculously delicious. Go try it right now. I’ll be sure to pass along your compliments to the chef when you come back to rave about how freaking good broiled pizza is.

And that, my friends, pretty much sums it up! How was your weekend??

 

 

Schooled on Saturday {Link Up}

Following a blogger and asking these questions before determining whether or not to sponsor someone is a great idea.

If you study abroad, make sure to follow Patricia’s advice for ways to make it awesome.

Image mapping is really important. I had no idea what that even was, but thanks to Sarah, now I know what’s up.

Chloe offered some great tips on how to design and set up a blog to have repeat readers. This is some really great advice!!

What were the most helpful posts that you read this week? Grab a button and link up, because I want to see them too!

Yikes.

I'm not sure I have anything remotely interesting or useful to say at the moment. But I feel my insides bubbling up like something needs to be said, which is usually an indication that I should sit down and write something, so my head can figure out what the heck is going on. So here you go. 

Good news - I got a temp job! It's only for a couple of weeks, but it's full time, and will give me something to do to get out of the house/make me feel like I am once again a (mildly) productive member of society. It actually starts tomorrow. I'm looking forward to it, though I am not at all psyched about the fact that I will have to get up and be presentable by 7:30 in the mornings. Because in case you've missed it, I don't do mornings. 

Boyfriend and I took advantage of the sunshine and somewhat warmer temps today and went to the pool for a couple of hours in the middle of the day today. Playing hooky (or going along when someone else is playing hooky) is always fun, so that was neat, plus I got a little color. Which is awesome, cuz the weather has been ass backwards and cold lately, and this lil lady has been losing her tan. Not cool, Minnesota summer. 

Here's a picture: 

I really, really miss my sister's dog. Who isn't actually named Snarfles, but I call him that anyway. 

We are going to The Melting Pot for a belated birthday dinner tomorrow night. I'm ridiculously excited. I plan to eat and drink far more than is necessary, and generally feel like absolute well-fed crap for the entire 90 minute drive back home tomorrow night. It. will. be. awesome. And also, it's even more awesome because this was a whole big birthday surprise thingy, and I had thought that Boyfriend's bday thing for me was taking me to Noah's Ark last week, but then he added The Melting Pot (aka my favorite restaurant of all time) into the mix, and I totally swooned. 

I think I actually put together a pretty cute outfit today. None of you get to see it, since I have yet to jump into the #ootd pool, but I was pretty proud of myself. Maybe I'll wear it again one of these days and post it on Instagram. Ya'll will have to follow that if you wanna see it. 

Sometimes in life you just need a grape soda. I had one last night and it was glorious. Oh, and I also made jalapeno popper grilled cheese last night, which I think I was inspired to do because of a blog post I saw floating around recently, but I really can't remember, so if it was you and I'm not properly giving credit, I'm really sorry, it's not intentional. Anyway, I was kind of excited at the prospect because a.) grilled cheese, and b.) jalapenos, and c.) grilled cheese again, but I was kind of disappointed in the final result. I think it could have been because I made them with cream cheese mixed together with a Mexican blend cheese with diced jalapeno, and I'm not always a huge fan of cream cheese just out there like that.... but it also could have been because I'm extra-terrible at making said sandwiches in the frying pan, instead of on my handy-dandy George Foreman Lean Mean Fat Reducing Grilling Machine (holy long product name, Batman), which is currently residing somewhere in my storage unit in Vegas. Next time I make jalapeno grilled cheese, I'll just dice up the peppers and throw them on top of some Velveeta slices and call it a day. 

I think that's about all I've got for you today. Since I really didn't say anything at all of substance, I'll just leave you with pictures of the two cutest children I've ever seen in my whole entire life. 

          Cheers.