A Monday without a case of "the mondays"

Its a brand new week and despite the horribly rainy/stormy weather we have had all weekend, it has been a pretty good day! It has been storming something awful since Saturday. We have had rain, hail, thunder, lightening and tornado warnings all in a weekend! So I spent most of this weekend curled up with me Nook reading some fabulous books. I read The Secret Lives of Dresses this weekend and it was amazing, I couldn't put it down! I  highly recommend it! It was a great way to spend a Sunday.

Despite my terrible commute to work today (it took almost an hour to get 13 miles!!!! I hate bad weather for this reason alone) and the fact that we are slated to get a lot of rain this week does not make me happy! I think I might need to invest in new rain boots. Plus, Annie hates the weather, she was terrified of the storms, she curled up in a ball under the covers the past few nights and was quite difficult when it came to going outside.

But on the bright side I had a great day at work, and an even better time shopping after work :) Recently my mother went shopping at Hobby Lobby, which is like 5 minutes from my apt and I never even noticed it and told me to go check it out. OMG its like home decor/arts and crafts heaven! I can't believe I've never been in there! I got some great stuff for our apt and I only spent $20!!! YAY for good deals! I'm making Ben go back with me this week!

AND finally, the count down is almost over, 4 days until my favorite Spring event... CAROLINA CUP!!!! I'll post more on that tomorrow!

Today is a Terrible Thursday.

Today is a terrible Thursday. I am overworked, under paid and beyond tired tonight. I am grumpy, stressed and burnt out. And this is my blog so I can vent as I please.

AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Thank you for listening to my venting. It has been a long week, and its far from over. I will be insanely busy at work tomorrow, and will have to share part of my Saturday and Sunday with work. If I knew how to make the angry face here I would. <insert ANGRY/GRUMPY face here>

Please pray that I survive the next week until my lovely three day weekend I have starting next Thursday afternoon. I am desperate for it to be here. I need that break like you wouldn't believe.

p.s. I promise I will be cheerful in my next post. Today, not so cheerful.

p.p.s. I am beyond ready to have my little done with boot camp so that I can talk to her again. I miss her way too much and it sucks not talking to her. I don't think I've gone more than 2 days without communicating with her in some way since the night she walked into the Phi Mu house for recruitment.

Its finally Spring!

Its the first day of Spring!!!! How exciting!! and totally fitting that our weather has been beautiful this weekend! Yesterday, the temps were in the 80's, it was totally amazing- I am loving every bit of this warm weather. You will not hear me complain one bit about it.

This past week has been stressful, daylight savings  has thoroughly messed up my life. I just cant get used to it, every morning is a struggle to get out of bed. I feel like I am dragging my butt up every morning, grrr.
The only positive to it, is that its lighter much later in the day. Which means I get to go to the park with Ben and Annie after work. I have started walking/jogging almost every day! Which is exciting, I'm still contemplating a gym membership though. Just still thinking about the decision financially. So until then I will be walking my little booty off. And using the small fitness center at our apt.

Recently, I bought a skirt on sale from J Crew when I was in Greenville. And I am discovering that I LOVE IT! I wish I had it in another color! Its so versatile and goes with so much of my wardrobe. Plus, its super comfortable and it has pockets!!! The color I bought is all sold out, but the skirt looks like this..

But mine is a medium khaki color, very pretty though. Too bad the pink is only available in 00 now or I would buy it too!

I'm off to play with my baby girl who is jumping up and down right now trying to get my full attention! She is so silly and such a spoiled princess but I love it! p.s. running with a greyhound will kick your butt!!

Hello Hello!

Once again its Sunday, and that means the weekends almost over! Boo to that! This week has been crazy busy and I've loved just being lazy this weekend, which is why I don't want it to end. I have done zero housework lately, so today I have endless laundry and grocery shopping to do! Its okay though because its been worth it to blow it off until today. This week was not only my birthday but also Ben's birthday!!

Thats right, this week I turned 25! Happy birthday to me!

And Ben surprised me by getting me the Nook Color!!!! I've been wanting it for awhile but its not exactly cheap so I've been holding off on buying it. ITS SO COOL and I love it! I've been reading all week long! Thanks Ben!! If any of you have a nook add me as a Lend Me friend! :)

Yesterday, I went to a Phi Mu Alumnae luncheon in celebration of founders day! And it was so much fun, I love being around sisters, especially ones from the 60's and 70's and hearing the stories they tell. They are always a good time. We had our luncheon at Maggiano's in Buckhead and it was divine! I was in heaven with the food we had. Absolutely Amazing! Happy Founder's Day to my fellow sisters out there in the blogging world!

While I was in Buckhead, I visited the Lilly Shop in Belk and picked up a few great dresses!

I'm super excited to wear them!!! Yay for birthday money!

I hope you all have a great Sunday and a fabulous week, I'm off to go to Red Bandanna for dog food and Trader Joe's!!!

p.s. have you heard this song yet??? I love it!

The Happiness Issue

At the suggestion of a fellow blogger, I picked up this months edition of Whole Living. Which happens to be the happiness issue! Overall, I wasn't too into the magazine, its a little too holistic for my taste but it did have some great stories about happiness. One quote that stood out was "Happiness is a fickle house guest: she shows up at surprising times, but when she leaves, you know she'll be back."I found that statement to stick out and say hey pay attention to me!! It really got me thinking about happiness in my life.

I've spent a lot of time lately trying to figure out what makes me happy and what I am supposed to be doing with my life. Not an easy task, especially when you have been trying to live up to unobtainable expectations of others. Have you ever noticed that when certain people feel bad about themselves they take it out on you? Not a fun situation, especially when they are family members. Anyways, that's a whole different topic. Back to happiness. Even though I don't necessarily have everything figured out I have found quite a few things that make me happy and I would say over my life is happy.

What makes me happy...

1. Curling up with a good book. I could easily spend all day reading especially on rainy, yucky weather days like we have had this weekend.

2. Grocery shopping. Yes, I know this is weird. But I love going to Publix and wandering down the aisle's with my grocery list thinking about what I am going to cook during the upcoming week. Luckily for me Ben strongly dislikes this chore!

3. Cooking. I love cooking and baking! Its a great way to de-stress from work, I look forward to coming home, putting on my apron and putting together a great meal. I love searching for  new recipes and cookbooks to try out. The Pioneer Woman is one of my favorite places to get recipes from, I even got her cookbook for Christmas!

4. Spending time with Annie. Having Annie can be stressful sometimes, i.e. traveling, training, constant playtime. However, it is totally worth it to have an animal that loves you unconditionally. The fact that someone gave her up and didn't care for her just amazes me everyday. Each day that we have her I adore her even more. She is always happy, and so excited that you cant help but smile around her. Coming home to her running up to see me just melts my heart.

5. Window shopping. Not actual shopping, which I do totally love as well. But I love going and wandering through the stores looking at all the new stuff and getting inspiration for outfits, or for decorating my apartment, and maybe one day my future house. I love looking online and I love love love catalogs, especially the pottery barn ones!!!

6. Reading blogs. I love the time I set aside each day to read my favorite blogs. I enjoy reading about others live, interests and thoughts. Its amazing what you will find you have in common with people you have never met.

7. Four years later still being close to my sorority sisters. Its saddens me think that some people will never experience the friendships and bonds I have created with some of the most amazing girls ever.

8. A good nap. Yesterday, in the midst of doing laundry, cleaning and having a busy Saturday I took a nap with my wonderful boyfriend and dog. Curled up on a bed with nothing but the pillows because the sheets and blankets were being washed. And it was an awesome nap! Sometimes you just need to slow down and enjoy being with those you love.

I am off to go spend my Sunday with my lovely little family, I hope all my readers are having a great weekend!

Rainy Day Blues

Rainy Day Blues by kblumsack featuring acrylic jewelry

Oh, Wednesday

To my lovely readers, I apologize for the lack of posts recently. Life has been, well, crazy. Yes this is a lame excuse, but is still the truth. Last time I posted, I was trying to fight off being sick which was definitely unsuccessful. I felted like a got the wind knocked out of me for over a week. It was horrible, and I missed out on seeing some of my favorite people ever, including my little. Who left for boot camp yesterday. I am still a little upset I didn't get to see her before she left. More on that later. Being sick also made me fall behind on almost everything, work, household chores, spending time with Ben and Annie... and my lovely blog! I've missed writing, reading my blogs is something I look forward to on a daily basis, and writing was becoming that way too. With this week winding down I should hopefully get all caught up on my blog!

So the last two weeks have been crazy... this is what has been going on....

1. Ben and I bought a washer and dryer for our apartment! Until this apartment, we have always had a W/D in either his or my apt, which was great. Then we moved here! and NO W/D!!!! Let me tell you it has been pure agony taking our stuff to the laundry facility... lugging it up and down the stairs (we are on the third floor), letting it build up, etc etc. It just became a hassle that was not worth it any more so we got a nice, affordable, quality set! Which I totally love and was worth every penny. But the best part about it? FREE DELIVERY AND INSTALLATION!!!!! i.e. SOMEONE ELSE CARRIED IT UP THE STAIRS!!!!! :)

2. Reading, lots of reading. I went to my lovely local library and got a bag full of books which I have devoured. I absolutely love reading and haven't done a lot of it until recently.  It was so nice to sit and read for awhile. I got the book P.S. I love you. It is very different from the movie, which I love!!! And lucky me, the book was great too! It goes in a totally different direction, but I couldn't put it down, I spent all night last Sunday reading it.

3. Visits and visiting. Last week we got a visit from a few of Ben's fraternity brothers and some of my favorite boys ever, who were on their way to PCB for spring break. It was so great to see them, I don't really miss WCU a whole lot, but I do miss the people, and those three are some of them! We had a great time with them and I definitely stayed up way later than I have in awhile, I was dragging butt the next day at work! This past weekend Ben and I went to lovely Greenville, SC to visit his parents. It was so nice to get out of Atlanta for a few days and we both to Monday off! Yay PTO and four day weekends.  It was exactly what we both needed, no stress, no work and beautiful weather for a few days. It was heaven.

4. My little left for boot camp yesterday. And I miss her already. She has been planning on joining the navy for awhile, and when she signed her paperwork a few weeks ago they told her she would be shipping out in two weeks!!! Which was yesterday. It was so fast! I am really excited for her and proud of her, she is destined for great things. Yet, I am going to be lost without her while she is at Boot Camp for eight weeks and I cant talk to her on a regular basis. Little and I have a very special relationship, to most people we are sorority sisters. To me she is my sister, my other half. We are probably one of the best matched big/little pairs my chapter has seen. So for the past two weeks I have been talking to her on a daily basis/sometimes several times a day basis. I am so used to just being able to pick up the phone and call/text her whenever I want and its weird to think I wont be able to do that.

5. I have been doing a lot of thinking about my life lately and what I want out of it. And what I want to do with it. I have come to some conclusions and have been working on setting some goals for myself and my family. I'm not really at that stage of sharing yet (still figuring it all out), but I will later on this month. Just keep me in your thoughts and prayers :)

This has turned into quite a post! Hopefully, I haven't bored you with the details of my life! I'm saving my exciting fashion finds for tomorrows post, but I do want to share with you a little quote I read this morning that I loved....

"Never underestimate the power of dreams and the influence of the human spirit. We are all the same in this notion: The potential for greatness lives within each of us." Wilma Rudolph