January : currently

loving this new iPhone app - TimerCam.  It's awesome! I just learned that I can set my phone on it's side and take photos on a timer. It's going to come in handy for Project Life.

listening to my new 'Summer Feels' playlist on Spotify and longing for warmer weather.

craving margaritas! (see above)  John and I made a pitcher of them and watched Silver Linings Playbook on Saturday night.  It was pretty perfect.

wishing for time to go faster so it will be February and time to go on vacation!  We're going to the Florida Keys and it's going to be so amazing.

waiting for the weekend and John's birthday party.  We get to go bowling and play darts, what could be better?

missing Michigan and everyone there.  I've been watching a lot of 'Parenthood' lately and it makes me want to have big family dinners every week!



Just wanted to share a little tidbit into my mind mid week here!  I really can't wait til the weekend gets here.  But I'll bide my time by reorganizing and cleaning the apartment. :)

Hope your January is going swimmingly!

Back to basics.

Guys. I redid my blog design...again.

It was a spur of the moment decision I made a few hours ago and decided to act on it.

But come on, you have to admit that there's something about a new year that inspires you to make changes to your on line presence.  No? That's just me that thinks about myself as an entity? Huh. Weird.

Either way, I realized I hated my previous design and wanted to give this year a clean slate.  So I started with a blank template and built it from the ground up.

It's extremely basic and simplistic and I LOVE it.  All the white space? Killer.  The colors? Loving them.

Maybe I'll feel more inspired to visit this corner of the internet that I've claimed for myself now.  I'm not holding myself to it but it's definitely more inviting.

Anyway, just wanted to give you a little insight into the change in appearances.

<3

My Top 20 Christmas Movies

Guys!

I need to share my Christmas movie watch list with someone - and that someone is YOU.

So here they are in no particular order.  Unless the order is "the order in which I remembered they existed":

• Christmas Vacation
• This movie cracks me up everytime I watch it.  I can't help it.  I'm actually saving it for closer to Christmas, that's how much I love it.
• Home Alone
• We just watched this the other day.  Kevin McCallister is a sadistic little bastard.  Why didn't he call the cops? Because he's Liam Neeson as a child. That's why.
• The Holiday
• Shut up. You don't get to judge me.  I watched this Thanksgiving night, drinking in my bed alone at 9pm. And I cried (I'm a weeper). And I laughed. And you can suck it.
• Nightmare Before Christmas
• Obviously. Everyone loves this.
• The Family Stone
• I want to be part of this family.  But I have my own crazy family that's perfect.  But this story is so nice and quirky and again, I cried.
• Miracle on 34th Street
• The old one.  Not the new shit with Mara Wilson.  Classic Kris Kringle.
• It's a Wonderful Life
• This is the only movie on this list that John approves of.  And I think it's because it's a good film on it's own.  It tells a great story and it's nostalgic for everyone, you know...because it's old.
• White Christmas
• I don't care that most of my family hates this movie.  It's one of my all time favorites.  I love cheesy musical numbers. Sisters!
• Muppet Christmas Carol
• Again, obviously.  
• Love Actually
• So many adorable love stories mixed up in one great present of a film.  The scene with Hugh Grant dancing is adorable.  
• Scrooged
• This is the only Christmas movie that my step mom absolutely has to watch every year and it's obvious why. It's fantastic!
• Die Hard
• It's a Christmas movie. 
• Elf
• I'm actually watching this over several lunch breaks at work.  And cracking up out loud watching it.
• Jingle All the Way
• DASHER DANCER PRANCER VIXEN COMET CUPID DONNER BLITZEN
• The Santa Clause
• I hadn't seen this movie in a long time so I rented it this year and guess what? It's still great.  Tim Allen at his best. bahaha that's a great sentence.
• A Christmas Story
• I don't care if you hate that it's on for 24 hours every year. It's on for a reason. And that reason is - it's amazing.
• Little Women
• The movie that brought on a sizable crush on Christian Bale.  I still think it's a Christmas movie.
• Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer
• Bumbles bounce!  Such a classic.  So much so that I have a stuffed Rudolph under my tree.
• Charlie Brown Christmas
• Come on.  No one can deny this one.  It's got breakaway dance hits!
• Frosty the Snowman
• I love the old claymationy movies.  I just wish I remembered the one that talks about waffling.

5 Things I learned from the movie Sweet Home Alabama

Things I learned from the movie Sweet Home Alabama (which is one of my all time favorite romantic commedies):

• You don't always meet your soulmate when you're 10 - but sometimes you do and it's AMAZING.  This movie has an epic love story.  About 2 kids from the south who find their soulmate when they're 10 years old. And they get married and knocked up and everything just goes wrong.  So they have to go about their lives pretending that they were crazy to think they were right all along.  Well guess what - sometimes you DO find your soulmate when you're 10.  And you shouldn't fight it.

• If you lie about your background you can make it pretty far in the fashion world in NYC.  Melanie Smooter (Reese Witherspoon) is just a small town girl from the wrong side of the tracks in rural Alabama who gets caught up in young love.  When she realizes that her life isn't what she wanted, she adopts a new moniker, lies about her background, and becomes a huge success in the NYC fashion world.  BECAUSE SHE LIED.

• Apparently, songs make great movie titles.  And can serve as main plot motivators.  You can get your main characters to dance to the song!  If there's a location in the title, you can set the film there!  WOW!

• When lightning strikes sand it makes a weird squiggly glass monster.  And that is worth money! Duh. Base a business off it and impress your lover.

• If you strap dynamite to a cat and aim it at a bank not only will the cat live but you'll become a local legend.  Guys. Cat's can totally survive being blown up.  They have NINE lives.  Just make sure you're tracking how many lives they've used up.  I'm pretty sure if it's they're last life they won't make it through the bank explosion.

Post Halloween Post

It's November!!!

I'm so excited because that means I get to go home to Michigan for a whole week soon! 

But before all of that goodness, I wanted to share my Halloween costumes from this year with you because I was super proud of myself.  I actually ended up making 2 costumes for myself (after the first fell apart). And I liked the second/backup costume even more than the first!

Baby Lamb - Inspired by the lamb in Lisa's head on the Simpsons?

The Hamburglar!

The lamb costume was the one I worked hardest on and ended up ruining by not having a good way to take it off.  oops!  But the Hamburglar costume was so much fun!  I wore it to work and to buy a hamburger for lunch and it was just perfect.

What did you do for Halloween this year?