Weekend Update

So Lagoon Season Pass: Check

We had a lot of fun at Lagoon. There was eight of us in the group and we hit ride after ride in record time. Since it is still early and it was fairly chilly on Saturday there was relatively no waiting in lines for any ride. My head got a little dizzy after two rides on Wicked and then Colossus back to back to back. I'm excited to have a season pass and check out Laguna Beach. I've never been to that part of the park because I've never wanted to waste time in the pool. Summer O' Fun has begun.

Clean Room: half check

I picked it up quite a bit and there is a neat pile of stuff to be put away, but clothes are still strewn over my love sack and I need to do laundry again.

Exercise: half check

Lots of walking and sometime jogging at Lagoon helped. I need to do more though. I just might be hopeless. My new motivation plan isn't really motivating me. I'll keep trying.

Netflix Movies Watched: half check

I watched Little Foxes when I got home from Lagoon. I think I've seen it before. It seemed very familiar. Didn't get to the other two though. I think I enjoy Netflix for TV shows rather than movies most of the time.

Other things I did:

Had a bridal shower to go to on Friday night. It was a sexy themed party so I had to think of an interesting gift. I thought about just buying some lingerie but wasn't sure of the bride's size. She is uber skinny. So I went the creative route. "Items to enhance your sex life in each room of your home" I wish I had pictures but I rushed to put it all together and was extremely late to the shower but here's what it included. The Kitchen: Martini Glasses and Chocolate Syrup, The Bedroom: A toy cop hat and handcuffs, The Bathroom: Bath salts and shower gels with a sponge, The Livingroom: A feather duster, and The Backyard: a blanket. Each item had a little tag explaning what the item could be used for in a tasteful way. It was really fun putting it together and the bride loved it.

Went and saw New In Town at the dollar with the gals. It was alright. Your basic garden variety chick flick, which don't really do it for me as much anymore. Harry Connick, Jr. provided some nice eye candy though.

Had a blast doing my visiting teaching on Sunday night. I've told you about my wonderful partner Tiffanie. One of our girls couldn't be there so we just taught Caroline. We had so much fun trying to figure out the mystery of why dating is so hard and why amazing girls like ourselves aren't dating. Lot of guy bashing and laughing. Before we knew it almost two hours had gone by and I still needed to give the lesson.

Tamara made peanut butter cookies on Friday and more on Sunday. Though I told her I probably wouldn't eat any when she offered I found myself eating a few late in the evening, okay quite a few...okay several. I chalk it up to PMS.

Goals for the Weekend

Okay, I know I don't do very well at letting you know if I achieve my goals. It's probably because I don't achieve them very well. And who wants to hear that. I did spend lots of time with my mom last weekend which is probably what took away from the other goals but it was worth it. We always have a good time together.

Anyway goals for this weekend:

CLEAN MY ROOM. It's absolutely ridiculous. The problem with it now is that it is just a lot of little things that are going to be a pain to pick up and put away. Also, I'm more and more about getting a new mattress so my pillowtop mattress will stay on level and not pull the fitted sheet off. I'm quite annoyed. Also, I really need to be able to sleep on my stomach.

Go to Lagoon and get my season pass. Again totally achievable. A group of friends and I are going tomorrow. I know it's supposed to rain but hey that could be fun and perhaps less crowded. I'm excited to have a season pass and use it a lot.

Seriously Exercise. I want to reach my weight loss goal early for the first challenge if I can and I backslided a little yesterday so it will take more effort.

Watch a couple of my netflix movies. I've kept them almost a week which is not sufficiently using my membership. I have a couple of Bette Davis movies that I just need to sit down and watch.

Okay, that's good.

Today in Blogdom: Wedding ideas

I love reading wedding blogs. They are so fun. So here are some posts from earlier this week that I drooled over and one who isn't necessarily wedding oriented but can get great ideas for throwing fabulous parties.This lovely, simple cake was featured on Style Me Pretty today. It's a wonderful blog and website that highlights amazing real weddings and vendors to use. I just thought this cake was gorgeous. I'm really into silhouettes right now and also I think this cake is very doable. I go back and forth in my head whether or not I would make my own wedding cake some day or even have a cake at all. We'll see when the other steps fall into place like dating, falling love, engagement. Shouldn't take very long. (: Actually, a friend of mine said that she could see me getting married before her, maybe at the end of this year. To which I responded, puhuh!

This photo comes from Grey Likes Weddings. A relatively new wedding blog and I like it a lot because its still small and simple and I don't get too overloaded with wedding after wedding. I loved this idea of wrapping chocolate bars with pictures from the couple's life and wedding for favors. Anything to do with photos and I am there. There are several links on their post to the photographer and more pictures from the couple's wedding and even to tutorials on how to make these wrappers. Sometimes I'll peruse them but like I said it can get overwhelming. Just imagine if I was actually engaged.


How freaking cute are these?!! I love them and might have to try and recreate them someday. These adorable cupcakes were featured on one my favorite blogs, Hostess with the Mostess. Everyday she gives wonderful ideas on how to plan and decorate for any kind of party you could think of. She shows pictures of table decorations and favors and it has totally made me want to throw a fun dinner party that is decorated to the hilt with wonderful details. When the twilight dvd was released she decided to throw a small party for herself and some friends to come and watch and she came up with simple but creative way to decorate for it. Read about that here. When her husband asked why throw a party for this, her answer was "Why not?" I love that attitude. Anyway lots of her ideas could be translated into a wedding as a wedding is just a fancy party usually.

Drive-Through Pick Me Up

Most trips through a fast food drive-through rarely if ever result in a little pick me up. There could most definitely be self-loathing and guilt and sometimes stomach pains. Or is that just me? I had the first two definitely as I was driving up to Burger King today. Actually worse, because it's Sunday so double feelings of guilt for breaking the Sabbath. But what follows is my conversation with the drive-through attendant that kind of perked up my day.

Attendant (male): What can I get for you? (kind of gruffly and I think, what no welcome to Burger King)
Me: I'll have a whopper with cheese combo... (I always get cut off here)
Attendant: What size? Small, medium or large?
Me: Medium and just ketchup, mustard and pickles only on that please.
Attendant: Only ketchup, mustard and pickles? (with what sounded at first like a hint of judgement in his voice) That sounds like a very delicious meal. (Now, all enthusiastic and humorous) What to drink?
Me: Diet Coke.
Attendant: Diet Coke? That just makes it even more delicious. What else?
Me: That's all.
Attendant: Okay pull forward. It's 6.45.

Me: I'm really not in the mood for this. (I say to myself audibly as I drive forward, but with a little smile)
Attendant: Okay, it's 6.45. You know you have excellent taste in food.
Me: Thanks.
Attendant: Well, obviously, you came to Burger King. I'm so over McDonalds. There were some people who came through earlier and asked for a Big Mac and I was like we don't serve that crap.
(I just smiled and laughed) No just kidding.

Food comes.

Attendant: Okay here you go.
Me: Thank You.
Attendant: Have a good night, beautiful.

Goals for the Weekend

Spend time with my mom: This should be an easy one to achieve as she is coming out today and we'll definitely spend some time together. It feels like a long time since I've seen her so I'm excited. Also, I'll get to see my cute nephew that I haven't seen in a month or so. Probably not since the last time Mom came to town. I'm such a bad aunt.

Finish Crafting Binder: I printed out a lot of stuff, just need the sheet protectors. I'm excited to get started on some these things.

Pick up my room again: This will probably be on here every week as I can not keep my room clean. It's hard when you do your hair and makeup in there and you don't want to put it away every night just to get it out again in the morning. Plus I had to move my printer and so I could work on the craft binder and watch tv at the same time.

Finish Steaming my clothes: So that I can wear them sometime next week.

Exercise sometime, any way, just do it for half an hour.

Stake Conference: Oh I'm not really banking on this one. I can't remember the last stake conference I went to. Probably freshman or sophomore year in college. I really should go though, maybe if Carrie talks me into it. Geez my religious footing is in a slow decline, don't tell my boss. I'll get back there, I just have ups and downs.

Tess Cupcakes

So last night my bookclub met to discuss Tess of the D'Ubervilles. I've been wanting to make a cake or cupcakes that represent books that we had read for some time but just never did and so this time I thought ahead enough to actually do it.

Now if you haven't read Tess, it's sad story about a girl whose father is told that his family are decendants from an old family long since gone, the D'Ubervilles. This one event puts our heroine into unfriendly waters where she loses her innocence and her life is forever changed mostly for the worse.

These mushroom looking things in the back represent the forest where Tess was raped? still not sure if you would call it rape but definitely overpowered and taken advantage of. They were originally supposed to be trees but wouldn't really stand up and even standing they still looked liked mushrooms which I'm okay with because there are mushrooms in the forest.

The crosses. Well, Tess ends up pregnant from her unfortunate encounter, but the baby doesn't live long and dies unbabtized. She named him sorrow and buries him herself just outside the walls of the church cemetary. My friend Tonya came over to help me make these, which I'm so glad for. Saved me so much time. She iced the cupcakes and then put the coconut grass on them. We just started cracking up as I was making and placing the toppers. The cross was seriously the funniest. My writing isn't very good as you can see so I just said to Tonya, I'll just say that I'm just trying to make it look like it would have looked since Tess would have carved in the wood with a knife. That just got us going.

After Tess buries her child she finds working at a Dairy Farm, hence the cows. These are the best and Tonya's favorite. I just used frosted animal crackers and then rolled out tootsie rolls to make the spots. Everything was made from animal crackers, tootsie rolls and marshmallows. These also represent the happy time in the book for Tess, brief though it is.

These are supposed to be books, but I most people think gravestone at first, but they are books people.

Tonya and I had a lot of fun making them. I think making cupcakes, which are normally an uplifting food topped with representations of depressing events is just so hilarious. I wasn't planning on it being that way and they didn't come out as I pictured in my mind but I still love them.

On a side note on my way to get my hair done last night I passed by four geese trying to cross the street against the light on Van Winkle, which is a very busy street. It was kind of funny but I hope they made it okay. I'll post pics of my new hair soon. Nothing drastic, just more defined bangs and some highlights.

Weekend Goals: Slightly Achieved

So I know it's halfway through another week, but it's never too late to keep you updated. I know I haven't written much of my favorite blog posts, but there haven't really been any that have wowed me. So anyway...

Well, I completed the first three goals only slightly. I cleaned my room, but didn't make the bed or vacuum. I did laundry but didn't finished steaming everything that needed it, but they are all put away. And I began my craft binder. I bought these really cute binders on sale at Walmart but I forgot the sheet protectors so I just started printing stuff out. As I'm going I might need a third binder. The exercising didn't happen unless you count cleaning and then that was only Saturday so oh well. Which actually is kind of bad since I am in my first friend goal.

I have to lose five pounds by May 1 in order to have Loralee go shopping with me for fabric to make a skirt to go with a shirt that I have. Otherwise I am on my own. I'm really not off to a good start, but I'll kick it in gear here soon. So on Saturday I did my initial weigh-in and measured my body to see how things change if I stick with this new program. I have a goal lined up already for after this one so wish me luck.

Oh and tune in tomorrow for some pics of cupcakes I made for my bookclub.

Goals for the Weekend

You know how Julie has quarterly goals because that's all she thinks she handle at a time. Well after further reflection I've decided that all I can handle are goals for the weekend. I need to set them too because lately my weekends consist of me rising out of bed between noon and 1:00 pm on Saturday and then planting myself on the couch for the rest of the day, with occasional excursion for food. The last two Sundays have been very similar. But no more, I tell you. So for my goals this weekend:

- Clean bedroom and bathroom
- Do laundry (in completion meaning iron, steam, fold and put away)
- Create crafts binder
- Exercise every day

I have all of these starred items in my blog reader and bookmarks in my Delicious account for so many wonderful craft tutorials online but I'm overwhelmed when I look at them. I need them to be a bit more organized and at hand. So when I'm feeling crafty, I can just go to the binder and flip to a certain category and there you go. I'm already really excited for my first little crafts, but I can't tell you what they are right now because they are gifts and I want them to be a surprise.

Today in Blogdom: Lovely Bridal Shoot

After reading lots of blogs today, nothing was coming up that wowed me or inspired me to post about until towards the end of the day. This gorgeous bridal shoot by Anna Page Photography featured on Grey Likes Weddings, a new wedding blog I've added to my reader. The pics are so lovely, it makes me want to try to convince Loralee to let me do a photo shoot of her in her wedding dress even though she was married last August. Better do it soon before she gets pregnant. And And this could be weight loss goal. What do you say, Loralee? Check out more pics by clicking on this post's title.

Today's Blogdom Favorite: Can't choose just one

Wow lots, of blogging going on today so I had to choose a couple or maybe three to share.

First, I read a few wedding blogs. I like to see all the different ideas that people think of and inspire me for maybe one day that will come for me. So this comes from Once Wed Blog about a daffodil brunch. Check it out here. I've really come to love daffodils and if I could have a setting like this for my wedding that would be fabulous. It just looks so simple and sweet.

Next, I started reading Unclutterer a year or so ago because I thought some of their decluttering ideas were really creative, I've started to be a little bored with their articles but I like this idea and if I could incorporate this into a future house I would love it. Under Stair Storage.


Finally, I love this blog. It's called Oh Happy Day. Jordan, who writes it, is so creative and amazing. I've actually met her once, when she was engaged to her now husband and he was in our ward and I went to a birthday party that I believe she threw for him. Anyway today she talks about a birthday she threw for a friend of hers that is just awesome. If anyone wants to throw me a party that has a treasure hunt that takes everyone all over town, I would be all over it. Check it out here.

Photos taken from each blog's site.

Update on things

So I said I would give you an update on my first month of budgeting and how it went using Mint.com. Though I went over on several items, it was a first try, it really did make me stop and think about where I'm spending my money and if that's what I really want to do. The last week of the month is always hard for me in any thing I do because I'm so gung-ho in the beginning, that I've worn myself out by the end. So that's primarily where I got into trouble with going over. But I only went $76 over my estimated budget for the month and still able to put into savings $250 this month.

Things I went over on, you wonder? Food, mostly. Numerous trips to convenience stores, you know for the daily accounting department walk. I have made a separate budget for covenience store stuff for this month to curb that a little bit. I will still take the walk just maybe not get anything, but the diet coke calls to me. Also, I'm not a big fan of fountain drinks in general, but at the Maverick that we go to if you reuse your original cup then it's less than a dollar. So I do that now instead of getting a bottle. I have two sizes of cups, medium for when I'm doing okay and just need a little caffeine and a large for especially hard days. We actually haven't gone at all this week which is weird but we've all been busy and caught up in our work which is a good thing, I guess. I went over a little on shopping. I needed those fresh flowers from Costco, okay and they really perked me up.

This month will be much better because I have a little room because of how I'm using my paychecks this month, since the scheduling is working out for me to make payments on my bills, it's a little complicated but I should be able to hit my $400 goal with no problem, unless I go crazy or something.

Other things happening. Mel and I have stuck to our scheduled workout three weeks in a row now, mainly because of me. Surprise isn't it? To me too. This will be my second week of working out with Loralee, our day is Saturday, normally at 10:00 (goodbye-sleeping in). Not sure what we're gonna do this week. Working out with Mel has been fun because after we've done this dance video we hang out and watch Grey's Anatomy or play around together. We've been spending lots of time together and it has been so great.

I have finally caught up on all my blog posts. There was a lot. And to make my blog here a little more interesting and all about me and to help me post a little more regularly, I'm going to try to post my favorite thing I read about each day so you guys can enjoy all the wonderful things I find throughout the internet.

Also, I've decided that my unofficial sabbatical from crafts and cakes needs to come to an end. I've been thinking about it a lot lately. So I'm gonna make myself spend some time this weekend to scour over all the bookmarked pages of crafts on the internet that I have and decide on some things to make and who they might be for. That's right I want to make crafts and cakes with a purpose and I'm going to keep them a surprise. Along with this idea I want to start giving "just because" gifts more. I used to do it from time to time but it's been a while and I always love giving them. It's a totally selfish reason too. Sure I like to make the giftee feel good but that is second to believing that they think I am the most wonderful friend ever because I am so thoughtful. Does that detract from the idea for you? I have never been service oriented or anything like that until I felt this feeling once when I did something just because and that has been the motivater ever since. I'll keep you updated on this little project as well, with photos and everything. I'm excited. I hope I follow through with it.