Resloutions?

I avoid making resolutions.  

Like the rest of America, I have trouble keeping the darn things.  

So I figure why torment myself.  

Right? Right.

This year is a little different.  My resolution is to cross things off my bucket list. 

That I can totally do! 

There are two things that I have already taken the first steps to accomplish. One is running in a 5K.  And not be dying at the end if it. One of my friends wants to run one in March and by golly I'm going to join her.  And if for some reason I fail, the Race for the Cure is in September, so there is my second chance. 

 

 I know.  Way too goofy sexy.

I will do it. 

Run that is. 

Not walk.

I also added something to the list... "learn to knit".  This is a recent interest for me, mostly because of this magazine I found....

He he he.  I LOVE Jane Austin and apparently someone can put her name on something and have me hooked. 

Get it? 

Hooked.

Maybe that is a crocheting joke.  Don't worry I will be sure to show you my amazing creations.  This is going to be awesome! 


There's my plan for some new adventures of 2012.   Have any resolutions??

Reading list: December 2011

Here are the books I read this month:

Inheritance by Christopher Paolini

The fourth book in the Inheritance Cycle wraps up the dealings of Eragon and the wicked king of Alagaësia, King Galbatorix.  It's defeat Galbatrorix or be killed trying.  A dragon-rider and the Varden army, which is composed of elves, Dwarves, Urgals, Werecats and men, are quickly approaching Urû'baen where they will fight the remaining forces of the Empire.  A great battle awaits them since Galbatorix has placed ward after ward to protect the city and it's people.  Men who don't feel pain and structures that are unnaturally strong are just two of the problems they face. Any short summary I write won't do the 78 chapters justice.  You can't start with the end...the order is Eragon, Eldest, Brisinger and Inheritance.

Thorn in My Heart & Fair is the Rose by Liz Curtis Higgs

Set in Scotland in the late 1700's, we have a story filled with love, jealousy, deceitfulness, trickery and TONS of drama.  Jamie who with the aide of his mother cheats his twin brother out of his inheritance of the family farm.  The brother as you can imagine isn't too fond of this and wants to kill Jamie.  Jamie runs away to his uncle's house to not only have a safe place to hid, but conveniently find a bride.  He immediately falls in love with the younger sister Rose, while the older sister Leana immediately falls in love with Jamie.  You guessed it, let the drama begin.  If you know the story of Jacob, Leah and Rachel from the Bible, you will pretty much know what happens.  Higgs adds her own twists to the story though, so there are a few surprises.  I just finished reading the second book Fair is the Rose. The drama continues.  Just when you think all the conniving is done there is a whole new book full of trickery.  I can't really tell you what happens in the second book since it will give away what happens in the first.  Going to order the third one from the library today!

What books do you suggest???

You all deserve an update

My Match.com experience has been a little....random, disappointing, informative. 

First of all random.  I think it's random when a guy emails you a couple times, then texts, then says "hey, look up my facebook page" and proceeds to never talk to you again.  Was my facebook page THAT bad?!  I beg to differ.  Of course, I think it is also funny that he then posts on his page some comments about wanting to find a nice girl and how he's lonely.

 Hello!!  

What a random guy. 

Disappointing.  I wasn't necessarily expecting to find the love of my life (maybe that was my problem), but I was expecting to make more connections.  They give you "Daily Matches" according to your similar likes and interests.  I had to laugh when one of the three things we had in common was being an oldest child.  Yep, Match, that is really important to me.  How about he knows how to write complete sentences, and his last read was something other than the back of a pizza box.  Seriously, I just checked and two of my matches put something like that as their last read. 

Are they trying to be funny? 

When I get options like that of course I'm clicking "not interested". 

Informative.  I sent out quite a few emails to guys with no reply. I mentioned this to a friend that is also on Match and she said the same thing happened to her.  I wonder how many of those were A.) not interested, B.) not even on anymore, or C.) just not into girls who make the first move.  I confess there were some guys that emailed me that I didn't reply to either, but mostly because they were a little too old for me.  So maybe it wasn't informative after all.

So there is the main gist of my experience, my membership is canceled and will soon expire.  Maybe I'll try the friends of friends route for a while, and see if that works out any better.

Best Game EVER!!!!

One of my friends told me about this game and now I want to share it with all of you.  It is called telephone pictionary.  Telephone, the game where you say a word and by the time it gets around it's not what you said +  Pictionary, the game where you draw words or phrases = Extremely funny times!

Need:

1. A group of people I'd say at least 6+.  
2. Each person needs a stack of papers (one paper per person in group). I would have a stack of 6 papers if there were 6 people.  Papers need to me at least 3" x 3" They don't need to be full sheets of paper.
3. Writing utensils

Directions: 

• On the top piece of paper each person writes a word or small phrase.

•  You then pass the whole stack of papers to the person on your left.  That person looks at the word, moves that paper to the back of the pile, and draws the word or phrase.  Every person in the group performs these steps at the same time.  So in this case everyone is drawing a picture of whatever word is on their stack.

•  You then pass the stack again to the left.  This person looks at the picture, moves it to the back and writes what they see.  

•  The process continues.  If you get a word, you draw a picture on the next paper.  You get a picture; you write the word.  Just because the drawing may be amazing doesn't mean the next person will know what it is.  That's when it gets really funny.  

Here is the rest of this particular stack...

Well, there you have it.  We went from "Wookie" to "a person being tasered".  TOO FUNNY!!  I was literally in tears from laughing so hard.

A great game to play with the family at Christmas!

Christmas shopping 2011

I am a total procrastinator when it comes to Christmas shopping.  

Well I'm a procrastinator with a lot of stuff actually.  

I get more creative and have better ideas when I'm under pressure of meeting a deadline.  When I was in college there were several times that I tried to be good and work on an assignment weeks in advance.  

You know what would happen? 

I would get writers block or come up with lame ideas, but if it was due in a couple of days, I could write that same paper in mere hours.  Yes, there were a few times where my procrastination got me in trouble, but for the most part that is when I thrive! 

This year is the perfect example, I tried to be good this year and start early.  I manged to get a few things here and there, just little things really.  But here we are December 22, and I still have presents I need to buy.  I'll probably need to go shopping tomorrow, too.  I managed to find a few things last night that will be perfect for these certain someones.  Yippee!

The best part about Christmas shopping is the weird random stuff one finds.  There were a few moments last night where I went "Hmm, who would buy that!"  Here are two examples:

Yes, that's right a Twilight straightener.  Seriously?! I don't get it.  Can you read the little blurp on there?

  "Easily creates Edward's textured hair in seconds"  

That's it I'm sold!

Can you see what this is? A Justin Bieber. Singing. Toothbrush. LOL!!!!  Where you get not one but TWO of his songs. On your toothbrush.

 

Seriously laughed out loud in the store when I saw these two items.  I think the singing toothbrush is my favorite.  

 

As in "most funny", not the "I want someone to buy it" favorite.

Pigs and a Cruise

This past spring I decided that when I turn 30 (in a few years) I am going to treat myself to a cruise.  I went on a cruise with my family, compliments of my grandparents, when I was 15.  And I loved every minute of it!

Who wouldn't?!  

Food....all the time.  

Sunshine...all the time.

Beautiful weather...all the time.

I was literally in paradise.  Just thinking about palm trees makes me happy.  Remember, I have a thing for beaches and palm trees. 

Turning 30 is a big deal and I'm going to celebrate. I love birthday's and it only makes sense that:

birthday + cruise= best birthday EVER!!

So being the smart and ingenious person that I am, I decided I needed to start saving now.  Mostly because I'm a spender, and if I don't start now there's no way I'll have enough money just laying around when I'm 30.

My cousin showed me her tool for saving money. SmartyPig. I was instantly hooked.  It is a legit online savings account bank.  They are backed by FDIC, been hailed by reputable people such as The Wall Street Journal; The New York Times; Fox Business; CNN Living and many more.  It is a secure website that asks for obvious username and password, but also answers to two of your security questions.  But the thing that really got me was their great interest rate.  0.70% APY.  Since I started saving in April, I have earned $.30 in interest.  

Hello!!! 

And it's not like I even have tons of money in my account.  Couldn't believe it.  $.30!  Another perk to SmartyPig you can set up specific goals with time frames and amounts.  So my goal appropriately named "cruise" is $1,000.  I told the magical piggy when I wanted to reach my goal, and it told me how much I would need to set aside each month.  It pulls directly from my checking account, so I don't have to remember to transfer funds.  Seriously people, if you aren't hooked by now, I don't understand why not.

If you want to sign up with SmartyPig I can send you a referral (selfish reason...I get a little bonus...but you can do the same thing with your friends). Send me your email to menmoneyandme@gmail.com and I'll send you an invite. 

Have you ever heard of SmartyPig before??

P.S. They didn't ask me to write this.  I just simply love the site and want to share with you.  Because I'm nice like that. 

Red Robin...Yum!!!!

I LOVE RED ROBIN!!!  

(Sorry for the yelling; I am just really excited.)

I went to Red Robin last night for a friend's birthday, and I was so impressed with the service we received.  Refills just kept coming, food was awesome (as always) and two staff members, not including our waiter, checked on us to make sure everything was good.  I don't want to get anyone in trouble, but know that the meal included a surprise ice cream, a surprise discount and fries as an appetizer. 

I know, I know that really isn't that out of the ordinary, but believe me, you would have been impressed if you had been there.  Since you weren't able to join me in this exciting evening, I want to spread my joy just a little with you.  

How does a $25 gift card to Red Robin sound?  I would think that sounded....yummy.  So if that sounds yummy, enter the drawing!!  Red Robin didn't bribe or supply this prize, this is simply because I am a huge fan and want you to share in the amazingness.  Also sign up for their Red Robin Rewards card online.  You get a free burger during your birthday month, and when I first signed up I got a free appetizer. 

***WINNER- Kyl N.***  Congrats!

Latest weird dream had me in Tennessee...

I was in Tennessee visiting a cousin and her family.  My cousin took me around the town to meet her friends and see the sights.  One such location was a car repair shop.  Apparently a couple of her friends worked there and we talked for a while before we left in this ginormous pickup truck.  We then went to this little river or pond.  

In real life I am leery of swimming in ponds, because you never know what is in the water.  This dream just proves that point. 

As we were walking up I saw this huge snake that was like 20 feet long and had to be cousins with an anaconda come out of the water.  My cousin said something about swimming to the other side.  I freaked out and mentioned the snake that we just saw. "No big deal" she said, so we swam across. just when I thought we were safe and avoided the scary snake, it came out of the water and bit my cousin's ankle.  It then turned and bit me.  

That's when I woke up.

I really don't understand where these random dreams keep coming from.
1) Skateboarding
2) Ashton Kutcher
3) Giant snake

WEIRD!!!

Epic Fail

I have decided I need to get serious about being healthy.  I have all these aspirations....

1)Killer abs

2) Well defined arms and legs

3)Eat healthy snacks and healthy meals

Ok I guess just three aspirations.

Three days ago I told Lazy Mom that her and I were going to start working out for 30 min everyday.  Lazy Mom keeps saying how she wants to be less jiggly and I don't want to be lonely in my venture.   Since we both have crazy schedules we are going to be accountability partners.  (Like how I just announced this to the world Lazy Mom?)

Day one: Fail.  Looked for Dancing with the Stars DVD, it's lost. Crap!  

Day two: Breakfast meeting, asked sister about lost DVD, work at job #1, work at job #2 get home at 9pm and check emails and um...facebook and Pinterest.  The last one was research people!  DVD still MIA.

Day three:  That is today and I am determined to get my half hour in.  I got some ideas off of Pinterest and with or without workout DVD I want to be able to tell y'all that I did it. 

Any tips on getting motivated.  I could really use some help here people.  Especially since it is cookie eating season AKA Christmas time.

For the record Lazy Mom's day one didn't go so well either...."I already FAILED YOU. Yesterday was a very full day! wrote my blog post, worked on Natural House, ran to lunch (does that count as exercise?), returned jeans to Once Upon a Child in Perrysburg... took FOREVER to sort through their jeans to find better ones, rushed to pick kids up from school, stopped by the bank, closed up an Uppercase Living party, got ready for the Christmas minister's dinner, went to the Christmas minister's dinner. By the time I got home it was after 10pm. SORRY!!!

Like how I just put that out there too, Lazy Mom?

I had a bad experience...

Thursday I worked at the tree lighting ceremony/party for the city of Holland.  It was a great time.  We had it all...cookies, a tree outside all lit up, me inside where it was nice and warm, cookies, Santa, Christmas music, fire in the fireplace, and cookies (they were REALLY good cookies!!!).  Our church was in charge of the kid's craft area and the Angel Tree.  Our volunteers were amazing and we all had fun. 

At the end of the night all of our volunteers gathered around Santa and Mrs. Clause for a picture.  Someone suggested I sit on Santa's lap.  NO WAY!!!  Never again....I think I am scarred for life. Here's why....Ready for my Santa story? Good.

One Christmas season I went with my family, a cousin and a friend to a theme park where we ate tons of sugar and were completely silly.  We were walking around and saw that Santa was there.  We went in and waited in line to sit on Santa's lap and get our picture taken.  Now mind you I was either 18 or 19 when this happened. Finally it is our turn.  My friend sits on one knee while I sit on the other, my cousin stands behind me and snap, snap...pictures are taken.  I try to stand back up to move on, but Santa's arm is still wrapped around me, so I sit back down. Santa says, "What do you want for Christmas?"  Being the silly girls we were, I believe rich boyfriends and jewelry were mentioned.  Ha ha ha cute.  I try to stand back up again...no such luck.  I sit back down.  AWKWARD. He carries on the conversation with us a little while longer and again I try to stand up.  I'm telling you it was crazy.  So now I'm thinking Santa is beginning to creep me out.  After a couple more seconds he finally lets us go. We left and started laughing about how incredibly weird that was.

The really funny part is my sister was video taping all of this.  You can see me and my friend trying to get up several times and he just pulled us back down.  Creepy Santa.

So there is my story.  Never again will I sit on Santa's lap.  I'm pretty sure that someday when I have kids, their dad will have to take them to see Santa, because no way will I take them.

November's reading list

I feel like a failure this month. September and October offered much more reading time I guess.

I only finished two books. Started two others, just didn't finish.

Don't tell on me.

Can you Keep a Secret by Sophie Kinsella
Emma has a few secrets...ok a lot of secrets.  She is on a flight coming home from a business trip when the plane experiences some horrible turbulence.  She just knows they are all going to die so she begins to tell the man sitting next to her every little secret she has. Secrets about work, her love life, her parents....everything....and then they land.  Mortified by what she just told this man, she leaves the airport thankful she won't see him again.  That is until he walks into her office building....and she finds out he created the company.  Awkward!  I enjoyed Sophie's British humor.  A light, quick read that will having you laughing by the second chapter.

Twenties Girl by Sophie Kinsella
Attending funerals aren't fun, attending a funeral of a person you never met even worse.  So when Lara goes to her great aunt Sadie's funeral, she isn't prepared when her aunt's ghost appears and ask for Lara's help to find a necklace.  She just can't rest until she has it. It sounds hokey, but it is quite cute and funny how the two characters interact.  Sadie has some strong opinions about life and is sure to tell her great niece whats what, especially when it comes to men and fashion.  She soon has Lara out on a date in full 20's fashion complete with dancing the Charleston!

This is the same author who brought us Confessions of a Shopaholic.