eh

i've been feeling eh about blogging lately. who knows why.

giving up tv didnt last
now im trying to give up red meat . . .for a week. so far so good.
i like this mini little projects :)

neill just brought home ice cream and milk (for tomorrow morning cereal). swoon.

just the way it is

so . . .in a few moments neill and I are heading out to Midway to catch a flight to Buffalo, NY. We are going to meet up with his family to watch his younger brother's play their last ever college tennis match. Woot. They are seated second (i think) going into the MAC big last tournament conference big big game. Yay for them! ive been a bit slow picking up on the whole tennis thing, but it will be fun to hang out with everyone and (hopefully) watch them win. cause you know how winning is everything. {side note: i realize im going to be missing miriam. boo. im baaad}

in other news, no tv is still going strong. getting easier as time goes by. I didn't even WANT to watch tv yesterday. as stephanie wrote, i should be reading instead of interneting. but i sort of secretly don't totally love reading so . . . guess the cats out of the bag. Don't get my wrong, i love a quick read just as much as the next guy. but, i also feel as though those sorts of books aren't even worth reading (or buying for that matter). so, hence my dillema. what is a stuck up reader who doesn't really like reading stuck up books to do!??!

more interestingly than my tv strike, i have some big news to share with everyone. yesterday, neill and I met with a Rabbi to talk about our wedding! eeee! He was very, very nice. Young, down to earth, easy to talk to, laid back. All good things. So . . it looks like we have someone to officiate at our wedding! yay! it means so much to me to be able to have a traditional jewish wedding. we are still waiting to finalize the reception plans...but I'm hoping to share the info with you soon! (and refer you to our super cute fabulous wedding website!) Neill is a techie god. <3

Other news? Once I've stopped working, I'm starting a "explore new things" goal. Mission: try every single bar in the neighborhood one at a time. starting point will be whatever is closest to us and then we will work our way up and down North Ave, Damen, and Milwaukee. im ridiculously excited. any places you guys are interested in checking out with us?

this is hard

came home from work. eating pretzels. yearned to turn the television on. forced myself to listen to music instead.

but is lurking on people online really that much better than vegging in front of the tube!?!?

im not perfect

So . . . this no tv watching is kind of difficult.

I made an honest effort last night. I swear! I prepared and ate dinner, wrote my zadie a letter, (which I've been meaning to do forever), caught up with Nish, and thought about wedding shtuff. But then, it was 9:30. and I was bored. and I didnt want to clean. or read. or be online. or xyz. so i succumbed to millionaire matchmaker. damn i am fucking helpless when it comes to Patti aka my soul mate aka my hero.

today has been better. I didn't even miss the tv when I got home for work.

Tonight Neill and I are going to grill and then work on our wedding website so that should keep us busy. but we might watch the new episode of House. mmm sexy gimp. . . .

hey you!

so unfortunately cupcakes were a disaster. I guess the recipe was for real serious when it said to fill the tin only about 3/4ths full. Note to self: cup cakes rise. duh. the cupcakes rose and rose and rose until the whole pan was covered with batter (and then baked on cake). not very pretty at all. still tastes okay, but i wanted to bake with the nutella and then give it away. it was the giving away that was important. who wants fucked up looking cup cakes? no one. blah.

in the same vein of not eating nutella...i have got to get back on my diet and work out routine. i gained 5 pounds this past month. i've got to stop that right now. no more cheese (something i've been eating waaaay too much of lately) and I've got to seriously cool it on the sweets. even though it is really neill's fault because he is a bad influence and always wants us to order pizza, i've got to stay strong on this :)

In other news, I'm starting a no mindless tv watching week. the amount of tv just slowly creeped up on me. first, i was just turning it on to watch paula dean and rachel ray after work to unwind. Then it was while I was cooking dinner (or while I was watching neill cook dinner). Now, on my days off, I easily watch a few hours a day.

sick.

So . . .thats it. I'm putting a one week ban of mindless tv watching. I say mindless because I will still watch tv at the gym (seriously, a good episode of law and order is the best thing for me to watch while working out) and I'll still watch shows (with no commercials!) with Neill. These seem less mindless...more purposeful. Not just turning on the tube out of habit, living with the tv on as back ground noise, or getting sucked in to some pointless show out of boredome. Because, honestly im usually not planning on whatever junk I end up watching on tv. It just happens to be there.

so there you have it kids. no tv. healthier eating. more working out. better following of directions. and . . .

I put in my notice at work today! my official last day of work will be in the beginning of may. booyakasha.

EEEEEEEEE

I'm so excited! I think Neill and I found the place for our wedding. we both just sort of knew that it was right for us! it is nontraditional and very flexible in terms of working with us and our ideas. i don't want to jinx it so it shall remain nameless for now...but keep your fingers crossed for us!

grocery shopping!

So Neill and I officially met our goal and went two weeks without grocery shopping. It wasn't as bad or as has hard as I thought it was going to be. We did run out of fresh produce after the first week or so, but we still had some frozen veggies so it could have been worse. By the end of the two weeks though we were hurting. Our fridge was looking empty and we were close to being out soy milk, coffee, cereal, bread, and all those other necessities. We went shopping today and restocked with apples, bananas, lettuce, broccoli, bread (3 different kinds!), cereal, soy milk, chicken, pork chops, jim beam, eggs, sweet potatoes (10 pounds of them!), sliced turkey, and snacks. yummers.

At some point in the next few days I'm going to bake these delicious sounding nutella cupcakes.

mmmm

Of other news . . .I'M GOING TO GRADUATE SCHOOL NEXT YEAR! booya.

slum dog millionaire

finally watched it last night.
what a beautifully charming movie.
perfect mixture of drama and love.
moving
sad, but not too depressing
joyful, but not noxiously so

I'm probably the last one to see this movie, but if not- you should watch it too!

Flash Friday

yellow

yellow jenny yoo gown, prada shoes, and fabulous chair. featured here

flickr

these comes with instructions!

yellow flowers blue sky

groovy invites




3 great yellow finds from here

i wish i was one of the girls in this picture.

yellow BCBG bridesmaid dresses featured here

probably smiling because she is wearing yellow


yellow and cream DIY table number assignment board. see the wedding here.

to buy or not to buy

So remember my shopping bug? During my last jaunt at the gap I tried on this dress. They only had my size I wanted in a yellow/grey color pallete so I didn't buy it, but I left with the intention of buying the blue one on line once I got home. Now, of course, I'm having second thoughts.

+ Has sleeves! Its so hard to find a summer dress with sleeves.

+could be dressed up or down

+still modest. I don't like feeling all exposed and because of the high neck this dress feels pretty modest. Also, me legs arent as all as long as the models so it only comes about an inch or two above my knee.

+could be worn at an engagement party or in puerto rico! (yes, I'm already shopping for a trip that isn't planned)

-60 dollars.

-I probably wouldn't wear it more than two or three times this summer. I'm not a big dress lover so its not like I would be wearing it all the time. Let's face it, I don't have that many places I need to wear a dress

vote?

a girl can dream

and dream and dream and dream

catch up

So we never ended up getting indian food. Nic, the drummer of RTD and the whole reason we made the plans to go up for Indian buffet, got sick and had to stay home and drink chicken noodle soup and sneeze and all the things you do when you're sick. Instead, Neill and I made a super yummy dinner of teriyaki salmon, sticky white rice, and chicken pot-stickers. We love CostCo!

Which actually reminds me, I think we are addicted. We came home from grocery shopping on Tuesday night and literally had to stuff our fridge because we have so much freakin food. You couldn't fit one more thing in our freezer either! Hence, we have come up with a challenge. And by me, I mean me. no more grocery shopping for two weeks (April 13th would be the end date). So far so good. On Wednesday we had the salmon and last night we had sun dried tomato ravioli and salad fresh tomatoes and mozz. yum. Neill is out of town tonight so i don't know if I'm going to actually cook anything new...probably do a repeat of last night. Not that anyone cares about all the delicious food I eat, but I will keep yall updated on how we fare these next two weeks.

On other news, I've had the shopping bug! On Saturday night I went shopping with Grace and Cathy out in Northbrook or something. Fun! Then on Tuesday I went shopping with my mom around here. AND now today I went to the GAP after work. This last one really wasn't my fault though. I had to go to subway to buy lunch, and everyone knows I can't pass a GAP without going in and it just so happened there is a GAP right near subway. AND they were having a great sale ....buy 4 sale items and get 30% off the whole shabang. Beautiful! So i stopped in on my lunch hour...grabbed some goodies to put them on hold...and then went back after work to try on and buy.

As a penance for my shopping, i cleaned out my closet tonight. I went through all my clothes and purged the ones I no longer wear. So, I've got a big bag full of clothes to bring to The Ark to donate. I gotta keep the balance :)

Anyhoo....now it is just time to eat, watch, shower, and sleep. Work tomorrow. blah. I'm actually seriously considering quitting my job so that I can go work at Circle Pines this summer. Also, so I can have time to do the million other things I want to do this summer: trip to Puerto Rico with Neill, Grace, Alex, and Cathy, trip to West Virginia to visit Neill's family, trip to West Palm Beach to visit my grandfather, and . . . I could have sworn there was another one. Hmm. I'm hoping my big huge hunk of tax return will pay for puerto rico.

don't even get my started on my taxes. the only good thing good thing about the whole business is h and r block is telling me I should be getting a big check back. thank god. guilt free vacation = best week ever.

behind

im behind on life for a moment.

who has time for blogging when there are episodes of big love to catch up on?

Im on the second episode of season 3 and holy fuck this is the most stressful show I have ever watched.

Soooo cray cray.

Neill will be gone to moline tonight though for a show* and so I will have lots of time to blog and twiddle my thumbs.


*ready the destroyer has built up a loyal following of fans in the moline area...go figure.