Sunday Quote of the Day

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In yo face

{scource unknown please let me know so i can credit}

Well I am going to add another life changing event to my list of changes within the last year.

1.) Graduate
2.) Move out of my parents
3.) Get married
4.) Move in with my husband
5.) GET NEW JOB

As much as it pained me I ended my nearly 3 yr career with my old employer and started my new career with a new company in my old field. There were a couple reasons why I decided to take this position

a.) The commute is 15 minutes away (no highway)vs. 35 minute commute (on a good day) ALL highway
b.) I don't start till 9AM meaning I dont have to leave till 830. vs. I had to start at 730 meaning I had to get up by 515 to leave by 630. I get an additional 2 hours in my day per day.
c.) Its very challenging work. Nuff said
d.) I wont be behind a desk all day. It will provide me chance to get out a little.

Obviously it wasn't the easiest decision but the pros definitely outweigh the cons. I am looking forward to getting to that place where I come and just know what I need to do but I understand that it will come in time.

Yay for a challenge, Yay for taking a leap of faith, Yay for everyone cheering me on. I have an amazing family, amazing friends and amazing old co workers who all have been cheering me on the whole way. Love you guys!

Home Inspiration: Spring is in the air!

With spring around the corner - one can only hope. I am looking to some inspirational photos to spurce up the home. Here are a couple of my home inspirations that have caught my eye

WOW this color purple on this couch is stunning! Not to mention the amazing lamp in the back. Love.

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There is just something about a pure white room that looks like so clean and inviting.
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My love for purple is very clear, so to have this beautiful purple walls display these wonderfully organized pictures makes my heart sing!

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The Day We Met Pioneer Woman!

A couple years a go my mom introduced me to a blogger called The Pioneer Woman, you may of heard of her (hah!) She talked about her transition from city to life to finding the love of her life and moving out to the country to have 500 of his babies. Her blog is a collection of confessions on the ranch, to cooking, to her self-taught photography skills, to home-schooling her children, to home and garden - and recently her tasty kitchen website where people across the country and share and exchange their favorite recipes. I've already used two recipes from that site - delish! Her story is quite interesting and the woman freakin does it all. How she does it all is beyond me. Not only has she written a best selling cook book but she very recently released her real life love story around Valentines Day and is currently on her book tour. The other day I was looking at her tour sites and unfortunetly none of them were in Michigan, but she had 2 in Ohio - the closest being Columbus. My mom and I decided it would be a fun road trip to see her. I asked Mike to join us since it was our day to spend together and what a good sport he was. He not only drove us down there and listened to us the whole ride there and half way back reading from her book but waited over 4 hours while we got through the line. Yes 4 hours. I do think he is eligble for Saint Hood after that! Here are a couple pictures from the day.

Sunday Quote of the Day

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Product Review

I have a lot of hair. It's thick and heavy. Lately i've noticed that my hair has been loosing it's natural Oomph. I tried changing up shampoo's and conditioners, I tried teasing the crap out of it, I tried - everything. Nothing worked... my hair would fall flat within a matter of minutes. Until I came across this beauty.


This is by far the best volume spray (or Volume ANYTHING) I have EVER used. BA BAM! my hair is voluminous and stays that way for a long time - longer than any other product I have used. Basically after you jump out of the shower and towel off your hair grab this spray and pump the mist around your hair making sure you evenly coat it.... DONT OVER DO IT! it will leave your hair realllllly heavy and kind of oily. Let it sit for a minute... maybe brush your teeth real quick, apply some primer on your face then dry and style away. Be advised, this product is no cheapy a 4.2 oz bottle will cost you anywhere from $15-22 dollars depending on where you get it. I ordered mine from Amazon.com and it was fine.

Great product and a couple side perk is its a vegan product and are biodegradable! Highly recommended :)

Weekend Scenes

Friday I went out with the hubby and some family to celebrate my fabulous news. Which I will get to this week. We went to Red Lobster for a ridiculously huge meal. Afterwards my bro in law came back to the house with us and we Karaoked it up with a few drinks.



On Saturday I woke up and Skyped with my Aunt in England for an hour or so. Afterwards got ready and headed to Downtown Birmingham with my parents. We went to Panera for lunch, Starbucks for a coffee and of course people watching. Afterwards we went to see Blue Valentine - not a big fan to be honest. After the movie we went to Le Petit Prince bakery and picked up a few little treats



Sunday Mike and I celebrated Valentines Day with each other by hanging out, watching movies, ordered out favorite pizza, and vegged out. It was great. Mimi enjoyed hanging out with us as well all day. She is too cute.






How was your weekend?

Sunday Quote of the Day

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Confessions

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1. I feel happiest when the sun is out.

2. I have some BIG news to share on Monday.

3. I've moved on. And Damn it feels good.

4. I giggle at the most inopportune times.

5. All I want in life is a gay guy best friend to tell me like it is, to go on lunch dates and to play with my hair.

Tik Tik

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What makes you tik? What makes you heart sing? What is it that makes you feel alive?

Lately I have realized (with some help of my ever perspective mother) that I need to live each day with a purpose. Even if the purpose of the day was to finish my laundry, or scrub down the kitchen or tidy up the living room. Sometimes I find myself getting caught up in the "I worked my ass off this week, I deserve a day to relax" and yeah although that may be true - the days I allow myself to relax are days that leave me feeling lethargic, useless and unmotivated. All of a sudden I find myself on couch and 6 hours later have gone by and I haven't moved a muscle! I need to constantly be moving and bettering myself and my day to day life. I am no longer going to get sucked into the blackhole that is my comfy ass couch.... I am going to do things that make me happy and alive....

So what makes me tik?

- A clean house
- A Venti Iced Chai from Starbucks
- A beautiful sunny day with my windows down
- Taking photographs
- Learning something new
- Sleeping in and waking up with my own internal clock and the sun beaming in through the windows
- A fresh manicure and pedicure
- Eating a piece of Dove Milk Chocolate
- An organized purse
- A full tank of gas
- Paid bills
- Going to see a movie
- Sipping wine
- Laughing with family and friends
- Text messages with sweet messages
- Massages (professionally and non professionally)
- Flipping through Magazines
- Finishing a book
- Fresh flowers in a pretty vase
- Receiving/Hearing good news
- Trying a new recipe
- Grocery Shopping
- Long, deep, meaningful conversations
- Wearing flip flops
- Feeling inspired
- Writing out my thoughts
- Shopping
- Expensive Makeup (sorry Mike)
- Traveling (near and far)

These are a couple things I can do and feel that make me instantly happy and alive. I am going to work everyday to do even one little thing to change my mood. I am going to make the best of each day I am granted. This is my one life, might as well make the best of it, right?!

The Weekend That Wasn't

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99.9% of the time I have all the good intentions of the world. I make lists, I plan, I think about things - a lot... I would say I am a very introspective person. However, sometimes, life happens.... and I dont mean in the BIG altering kind of way. I mean life in the every day sense happens. I had plans this weekend. I planned on getting out of the house, I planned on having some good meals, and seeing good movies, and getting shit done. You know everyday house stuff - Laundry, dishes, dusting. I was going to have a fun yet productive weekend. Well, it was an epic fail.

Friday however, was a good day (but hardly consider it my weekend since I had to work). I got some good news, I got things done at work and I sold out Tank less Water Heater through craigslist and made the swap in a parking lot. I went out to dinner with my Husband and brother law and later went over to my sister in laws for a girls night where I stayed out till 1am. It was a good day, yes.

Saturday I planned on having a hearty breakfast, a lazy morning then use my prize loot with Mike. Well around 2pm the snow started falling. I heard we were supposed to get some snow but it was coming down - hard. As I saw how quickly the snow was accumulating, I told Mike we should go to the store now to get our Super Bowl food since I new it would be difficult later or even Sunday. Once we got out on the roads - it was terrible. Like white knuckle, sweat beading, lip biting terrible. By the time we got to the store - my nerves were shot. And I quickly came to the realization we were not going to be able to go out for our little adventure. Sad face. Instead we stayed in - which isn't so bad considering how much of a home body I am. But I ate like shit that night and just felt yucky from being so stressed and eating crappy and not really moving. On top of that I pretty much slept my Saturday away... talk about unmotivational!

Sunday I woke up and looked outside and realized we no longer could go through this winter or future winters without a snow blower - our $10.00 shovel just wasnt cutting it with our mile long driveway (exaggeration but still) Luckily with our unplanned money we got from the craigslist swap we were going to put that toward the snow blower which we will hopefully get today. So throughout the day I felt in a funk - couldn't get out of it. I even tried to make some Chocolate Chip Cookies to brighten me up - no luck. So with my best effort I got ready and headed over to my in-laws where they had a great spread of food (as usual) and enjoyed watching my nephew run around with Mimi not far behind. The game was great and the commercials were hilarious. These two were my favorite





Mike and I left early because of the weather and because we had a 5am wake up call (which ill never ever ever get use too) by the time we pulled into our sub we got stuck rounding a corner and inevitably got stuck in our own driveway (awesome)By the time I got it inched up enough I wanted to cry. Maybe it is the Winter Blues, or the fact that I didn't live up to my potential this weekend... whatever the case may be - It just wasnt what I wanted or needed it to be.

But I am going to make this week a good one. I am going to be productive by doing the following:

1.) Going to my Weekly Zumba class on Monday
2.) Keep up with my God-forsaken-Laudnry
3.) Read my book for the month of February
4.) Take more pictures
5.) Start writing out what i'm grateful for
6.) Put healthy things in my body
7.) Laugh more
8.) Not let stupid people get under my skin
9.) Do things for me and FORGET the haters
10.) Smile

Was your weekend what you wanted and needed it to be?

Weekend Agenda

TGIF! I cant believe the weekend is almost here. This is was an odd one for me - esp with the blizzard in the middle of the week which left me feeling like Thursday was Monday.... aye!

I am looking forward to this weekend.

Friday I plan on getting organized and catching up on some reading



Everyone has been talking about it, I am only on Chapter 3 and so far - I like it!

On Saturday I plan on sleeping in a little, enjoying a lazy morning and having a date night with the hubs with a prize I won. If you're in the metro-detroit area, on Channel 95.5 there is this competition on their morning show called "Smarter than Shannon" where they ask you 5 pop culture questions and who ever gets the most wins, if you tie you loose. Well I got 4/5 right and she got 5/5 right - BUT i still got a prize. It was dinner certificates and movie passes at the Emagine. I really want to go see



Sunday is of course the BIG GAME - Steelers vs. Greenbay Packers



I dont care too much who wins, but I AM looking forward to all the food and of course the commercials! ( what a girl thing to say!)

What are you up to this weekend?