Favorite Vacation Link Up

I know I haven't been around lately - great way to start off a blog huh? Unfortunately life is kind of in the way right now, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity for a link up!

I don't have too many vacation stories. When I was young we didn't take vacations. I'm not sure if this because my parents didn't have the money to spend, or they just didn't WANT to spend it. Either way, our big vacation every summer was to take the two and a half hour drive down to Columbus and walk around Ohio State. My dad would stop by his fraternity house and take a trip down memory lane. Then we would spend a few days staying with one of his friends who still lived in Columbus. Real fun and exciting huh? 

So when I was a freshman in high school, one of his friends had moved to Florida and he decided the family could take a trip to Disney. I was 13 and my sister was 11. We spent one day at the Magic Kingdom, and one day at Epcot, and then we spent the rest of the week at his friends house. Again, not so much fun. I guess at least we weren't in cold Ohio at the time, but the warmest it got when we were down there was 60, so it definitely wasn't beach weather.

 (And obviously it was COLD!!)

And the next most exciting vacation in Stephanie's world was Italy my senior year. It was seriously amazing. If asked where I would want to travel I would most definitely answer ITALY (again). But this isn't the top of my list for several reasons. 
1 - It was a school trip. For art class. We had official tours for EVERYTHING. 
2 - I didn't have any close friends in art class. So while it was great, I didn't get to experience it with someone I was close to.
3 - Pretty sure this trip is the sole reason I have problems flying today (anxiety!!)

(It was pretty fantastic though) 

Finally, my absolute favorite vacation - Hilton Head my sophomore year of high school. Every year my dad took a "business trip" to Hilton Head. I knew this meant he played golf, but since it was with customers, work paid for it. Well luckily for us, the trip fell on our spring break that year, so mom convinced him we should go as a family.

(First trip to a Japanese Steak House. And I'm the pickiest eater in the world. I think I hate plain white rice, but still had a blast!)

It was by far the best vacation in my mind because of the time we spent together as a family. For starters, I had never experienced my dad so relaxed and fun. My parents, my sister, and I were all in one hotel room, but it was a suite. We had a kitchen, and I got to sleep on the pull out couch and watch TV all night. When you walked out the hotel room the pool was RIGHT THERE. And we went to the beach. And we played putt putt. And we really got along as a family. Even though we drove down, and I almost killed my sister in that 16 hour trip, I spent some amazing time with her that trip, and really appreciated her as my sister. Even after she took this picture.

Several disclaimers here. 
1 - I was a swimmer. Grew up in a speedo 24/7. For me to wear a "two-piece" was extremely out of my comfort zone. I SEARCHED for one that covered my big boobs (hence the sports bra style).
2 - Because I wore a speedo all the time, my stomach had never seen the light of day. But I was determined to turn into a "real" teenager and wear that damn "two-piece."
3 - What you can't see is my hand print on my stomach because I didn't rub the sunblock in well enough. 
4 - Yes, I was a teeny tiny twig with a super cute body and had no idea. . . . If only I could go back. 


And that pretty much sums up my vacations for my (almost) 30 years of life. If you didn't already notice, I haven't had any vacations since I've been an adult. There is a good reason for that - It's too EXPENSIVE. Well I guess the real reason is anxiety about getting on a stupid airplane. . . . . I will take a nice RELAXING vacation one day. It will just have to be in driving distance. Or after I've taken a sufficient amount of Xanax. 

Now go link up with Holly and Amy while there is still time left!!

My Garden, A Bark Box, and An Injury

Does anyone else have a garden? This is my second year attempting my own veggies, and it's already going much better. All of a sudden I had a TON of romaine and spinach. I planned my dinner Monday around the garden, and then I discovered that someone enjoyed my spinach while I was at work. Out of 4 plants this is how many leaves I was left with:

The good news is that the "heart" of the plant was left. And since Monday night (when I put up the Fort Knox of chicken wire around the garden) the spinach is growing back. I guess I learned my lesson - Peter Cottontail will come steal your veggies!!


I did get to enjoy some of the romaine. I grilled a seasoned chicken breast, tore up some of my fresh lettuce, and threw some carrots on top. It was seriously the best dinner I have had in a long time. The lettuce was so tender and fresh I almost didn't need dressing (but my inner fatty demanded the ranch). 

And I just recently discovered how to make the collage pictures on my phone, so I may currently be obsessed. 

Next up - the monthly Bark Box. Have you heard of it?? A subscription gets you a box full of goodies delivered to your door each month. A portion of the cost goes to shelters, and everything that is in the box is made in the USA and only all natural ingredients. It really is fun because I have no idea what's going to show up each month. And some of Coop's favorite toys have come in the box. 

So I attempted to get a picture of him with his box to send in, so his picture could be featured on their facebook page. This is the best I got:

Apparently that big bone was a little tempting. . . . And Luthor had to inspect everything too

Obviously there is something good in there!

And for the final randomness of today's post, I don't know how to walk. I mean I know I have some eye issues (basically blind, no night vision, and bad depth perception) but in the past 3 days my eyes have been telling my brain I don't have a left leg. 

Two separate injuries, two days apart. The scratch on the bottom is from my couch - I reupholstered it about 4 years ago, and there was a stray staple sticking out of the corner. Of course my eyes told me I wasn't as close as I was so I ran right into it. 

Then last night, I was organizing my garage (obsessive I know) and walked way too close to the car and crashed my leg into the part of the bumper where the license plate sticks out. So now my obsessive anxiety ridden mind is saying, "Is there something wrong with your eyes making you think you don't have a left leg?" Or, "Do you have a brain tumor throwing your body off balance?" Or maybe, "You are a HUGE klutz!!"

Either way, my left leg hurts! Enough randomness for now, hopefully things will slow down at work so I can get my brain back!

A Week of Travel (or 2 Days)

Ugghh - if you already haven't figured out, my job is either 100% slammed, or 100% dead. Of course, since I got up the courage to start this blog, I've been 100% slammed.

Anyway, I had to travel again for work last week. Second work trip in two months, and before that it had been almost a year since I traveled. I don't travel well. Period. And me traveling on an airplane? EVEN WORSE. If I don't have to go right from the airport to work, I drug myself and handle it with ease well enough. But when I have to go right to work I'm afraid to take drugs and embarrass myself or just plain pass out at the meetings. AND, this was my first plane trip in over 2 years. So when I say the two days of travel felt like 68492 days, it really was in my mind.

I was pretty proud of my "liquids bag." That thing was SCREAMIN, but I made it work! 

When I travel in a car, I have a "snack bag" along with a jumbo purse, my luggage in the trunk, and my computer bag (and maybe a cooler, depending on who I'm traveling with!). I actually did get a compliment from a co-worker, saying this trip was the lightest he had ever seen me pack!

And after a quick day back in the office Friday, my puppy was sick Friday night, all day Saturday, and Sunday morning :( 

Let's clarify - he's not a puppy, not even close. He's 12 and a half. He's old, and he's my life. So when he gets sick and acts just slightly abnormal I tend to freak out. He's had a rough couple of years with tummy issues, but has been doing much better lately. So when he got sick and refused to lay down, my plans to watch the move I've been waiting to see for 2 years fell through. Thankfully, Coop seems to be back to 100% now.

Yeah, I'm a Superman dork. I even had a friend lined up to go with me! But, I stayed home and watched my pup all weekend (yeah I'm paranoid). And as this week is shaping up, I'm not going to have the opportunity to go until Saturday (stupid grown up duties) - so I'm closing my eyes to all social media that may spoil it for me!!

And, if I have any followers, does anyone know etiquette on who you invite to a bridal shower? Def not for me - my sister - and she wants to invite almost every single woman she is inviting to the wedding. Do you really need to invite someone you haven't seen or been in contact with in several years? I understand it's a family/childhood friend, but inviting them to the shower seems like you are begging for another gift - am I wrong??

Weekend Recap

Not much exciting occurred this weekend, but I guess every weekend deserves a recap. I mean that is 2 whole days that I don't work go to work. 

The highlight of the weekend was by far my haircut. I have a FANTASTIC hair guy, and I wasn't even planning on getting anything done for a few weeks, but he squeezed me in before my business trip. Of course I didn't think I needed anything done, but since my fashion and hair sense is at -5 I guess I really did. 

So here I am putting it out there - first selfie ever (OK I've taken pics of myself before, but have never even shown them to my dog, let alone the entire blogging community). 

Not too terrible. Yeah my chin is going on for miles. Yeah I'm wearing an old OSU tee-shirt because I was already home and in my "comfy clothes" before I realized I didn't take a picture. And yeah, you can't even see the best part of my haircut, but here it is!! The highlights are perfect, and the back is AMAZING. Wonder if I can figure out how to take a picture of the back of my hair . . . of course it won't look anything like it did after I emerged from the salon . . . 

Sunday I spent the entire day cleaning everything in my house that possibly needed it. I have this extreme hatred of mowing the lawn, and did just about everything I could before I busted out the green tennis shoes. The lawn did get done, but while I was cleaning everything with a q-tip I wondered, why don't I have a cleaning lady? I mean I work hard for my money, and I can do what I want with it right?? I often ponder why I spend all week working to spend one day each weekend cleaning. And then my OCD and anxiety kick in and I realize I don't really trust anyone to clean anything as good as I do. Well anyone other than my mom, but honestly, the house is always pristine when she comes over because I don't want to let her down. 

So there you have it. I got a haircut (even though I didn't think I needed one) because my hair guy told me to. And I cleaned all weekend because even though I don't like spending all my time working and cleaning, I have issues and don't trust anyone to clean my house good enough. 

But this weekend will be MUCH better because MAN OF STEEL is out! Pretty sure Nerky Meg is the only one in the blogging community that agrees with me on that one!! 

My Garage

Follow my blog with Bloglovin My garage door hates me. Has since the day I moved in. Well technically since the 7th day I bought it (but hadn't moved in yet) when hurricane Ike put a nice big dent in it. Since then it's been nothing but a pain in the butt. 

In February the spring snapped, so I had to replace it. Well turns out there was a lot more wrong with it than I thought. About $1000 later I had an entire new door. 

Fast forward to Wednesday, and it's broken again. This time it's the opener, or more accurately, the sensors that prevent you from killing your dog if he runs under the door while it's on the way down. 

Luckily, when it decided to not work, my co-worker (and carpool buddy) was over. He helped me get the door closed, and promised he would help me for real fix it the next day. 

Long story short, I am VERY thankful he was willing to help me out. It took over an hour and a half of just moving things slightly and tweaking wires before it would even come close to shutting. And eventually it did. I don't know how he had the patience for it - after about 15 mins of moving something 1/8th of an inch, and pushing the button, and having nothing happen I was ready to call it quits. Seriously - decided to talk to the little boys across the street about their turtles. I could NOT handle that kind of tedious work. I'm all for a project, but I need to do something and see results - I just can't sit around and try the same thing over and over and over with no success. Glad my co-worker could - and I only had to give him a few beers!!

While he was in my garage, he spotted these:

I got these from my aunt when she passed away. They are replica beer cases from the 1800s. Constructed all of wood, and have a hinged top so you can store things in there. 

So my co-worker put the idea in my head . . . how can I turn these into tables of some sort? Maybe end tables for the basement? How else could I use these in my house other than just sitting on the ground storing a blanket or something?? They have some serious character and I completely agree with him - they shouldn't just be hiding in my garage. Any suggestions??

Have a great weekend!

SO WHAT Wednesday!

My first link up to SO WHAT Wednesday!




This week I'm saying SO WHAT if . . . . 

• I let my dad do all of my yard work this weekend. It looks 1000x better when he does it, and honestly - he enjoys it! 
• I then left the lawn bags on my driveway for 3 days before trash day. They were HEAVY and I wasn't about to drag them to the back yard and back out front for only 3 days. 
• I'm already nervous about my plane ride next week. I'm only cutting years off my life and giving myself an ulcer right?
• I had a full page of chores to accomplish this past weekend and did about 3 of them. They will still be there this weekend.
• I refuse to get on a ladder to get in my attic or top shed storage without someone there. I'm not afraid of heights, but I am afraid of falling to my death, no one finding me for days, and Cooper eating my body.
• I am officially on a countdown until "Man of Steel" comes out. Yeah, I'm a Superman freak.
• The weather is absolutely gorgeous and perfect temperatures for sleeping, but I still have my AC blasting. The allergy coma I'm in the next day isn't worth saving the electricity. 

And, I WILL get to working on my blog this weekend. I know I'm missing a lot of things and it's pretty plain. First weekend without visitors or travel - at the top of my list! 

Have a great rest of the week!!