Parlor Night

This weekend was loaded with family time. I spent most of Saturday shopping with my mom and sister.  My sister was looking for wall/classroom decor.  At the beginning of the summer, she was offered a position at a different high school that she decided to take.  She will be teaching AP 11th graders instead of 9th grade English.  We literally spent 8 hours - EIGHT HOURS - shopping.  I picked up some workout gear, nail polish (like I needed more), and a couple other things.

Saturday night, my parents hosted dinner and Parlor Night.

BTW - everything about that first photo is typical - typical Husband acting like a Bad A and typical sister sticking her finger in the frame at the last second! =)  

 

 

Yes - I really am as uncoordinated playing pool as it seems in the above photo! I was also laughing pretty hysterically when I FINALLY hit the cue ball!!

 

 Dad gets FIERCE when he plays - he is very competitive...think I should be the pot or the kettle today???  oh well - at least I get it honestly!

 

   

BTW - see the dart flying through the air up there?! yeah I was excited about that ha - and it only took ONE photo attempt =)

      

I made everyone get together for a family shot.  The men on the ends complained but this is honestly one of the more believable shots of the two of them lol!  

I am so glad that we live so close to one another.  The night wasn't wild or crazy; the cops weren't called and we didn't go streaking; it was a lot of fun though and I'm very fortunate to have such a fun group of people to call my family.

What do you like to do when you get together with your family?

Ruger Day 2.0

Happy Friday!!! Since I don't post on the weekends, I thought I would celebrate Ruger Day just one day early.  Ruger Day is August 10th.  We rescued our sweet little pup on August 10, 2008.  Since then we have a little mini celebration and give the pup an extra something - toy, treat - just an extra little something.  I know he doesn't really know what is going on but I like celebrating =) 

You can read all about our rescue here I will definitely have to share what we do and/or treat him with next week =) I'm hoping we take him on the lake for a few hours - that is definitely his favorite!

 

     

 

Awwww - his little muzzle is getting so white/gray!! I could have sworn he had ALWAYS had that but after looking through tons of pictures, I see that isn't the case. He's such a sweetie =)

Did you rescue your pet?

Do you celebrate the day you brought your pet home? 

Happy weekend, Everyone!

Naked

Before you go and get too excited, this isn't that kind of post.  I know I know - I could at LEAST grace you with a little eye candy of that kind of teasing right?!

sooo if any of you follow me on twitter you would know that, sadly, I had all but run out of my beloved lipstick by Urban Decay.  I went to the store to pick up more when I discovered that UD was no longer even PRODUCING lipstick! just gloss...umm sometimes gloss is just too sticky and leaves a funny feeling on my mouth. Plus every time I use gloss I think of what my friend Tim told me:

"Lipgloss is like condoms for lips"

It's kiiiiinda true.  I still laugh about it and unfortunately, I use to love lip gloss but don't wear it too often any more.  PLUS my lips are pretty pale so I like having a little pop of color.

Enter: Urban Decay Lipstick in Naked.
I bought it about 2 months before our wedding. I instantly fell in love with the creamy formula and the color.  it was neutral, subtle without being non-existent.  I LOVED it.  Well it finally got down to the very bottom of the tube and I couldn't buy more.  So I spent a LOT of time trying to find a dupe for it...after weeks (maybe even months) of searching, I found NYX Thalia

As you can see - the match is PRETTY close.  The reality is it is actually very different - NYX is a touch darker and not nearly as creamy as the UD.

Fast forward a few weeks to last night.   LAST NIGHT people.  I was sitting at the table while The Husband was making dinner and I was getting ready to flip through the new Ulta ad and there it was ON THE FRONT PAGE!!!

I honestly could NOT believe it so I went to UD's website:

There it is!!!  I am so excited! I know the price is a little high for lipstick but that sucker lasted me three years! ok it probably wasn't THAT long because for the first year I didn't use it EVERY DAY but after that I was pretty faithful in putting it on at least once a day.  So this girl will definitely be picking that sucker up in the next couple days.  To say I'm excited is, sadly, an understatement! I told The Husband that I will buy one now and hope for one in a stocking at Christmas haha! That should last me a while!
 

Puppy Love & Excellent Customer Service

The other night, I took out our DSLR.  I am so tired of looking at phone pictures. I KNOW that they are a lot better than they use to be but I love pictures from an actual camera.  The Husband wanted nothing to do with having his picture taken, so I played with the pup. 

    

At first he was being all GQ and pensive.... but I got him excited about pictures by playing with his squeaky crown.

 

Almost a year ago (to the day!) I told you about my new favorite kitchen thing.
We used that thing several times a week.  I went to use it one day and it slipped out of the cupboard where it was balancing precariously - I blame The Husband but he said he would have never put it away like that.  Anyhow - this was the result. 

It happened AT LEAST a month ago - probably longer. I was really sad.  I just kept it on the counter pushed together as if the magic dish fairies would come and make it all better.  Finally I decided to contact our rep from whom I bought it.  She said that this stoneware has a THREE YEAR WARRANTY!! All I had to do was send a PIECE back and they would send me a brand new one.

About ten days ago, I sent the piece to the address my rep gave me and waved good-bye, thinking there was no possible way they would send me another, at zero cost, in any decent amount of time.  That was a Friday.  On THURSDAY of the next week I came home to this:

 

This is brand spankin' new people!!! I was really really stunned.  The turnaround was SO fast and I didn't pay anything except shipping for a tiny piece of ceramic.   If nothing else, I fully expected some sort of inquiry because let's be honest, the thing didn't break because of a defect, I literally dropped it (albeit not far) on our kitchen floors which are tile.  OF COURSE it was going to probably chip, if not break. 

I just love when a company backs it's product.  I'm sure if it happens again, there will probably be more of an inquiry.  BUT my fingers are crossed that it doesn't, I was very sad the day it broke!  I will say that I am thrilled that there are still companies who care about their customer satisfaction for real and not just on paper!

Have you had an excellent customer service experience?

Do you share it as often as possible?

Bottoms Up

WEEEEEEEE!!! It's FRIDAY!!!! 

I don't know about y'all but I am so looking forward to the weekend! not that those feelings differ from any other week!! I thought The Husband was going to have to be out of town for the weekend but he isn't! WOOO!!! I love spending time with that man =) 

We have a couple different option of what to get into this weekend - happy hour, margarita-fest...yes you read that right. MARGARITA FEST!!! 

It is all you can drink margs downtown! shut up - I know! I LOVE me some margaritas! The only roadblock at this moment is that The Husband doesn't love to go downtown sooooo maybe we will do happy hour at a Mexican restaurant that serves 2 for 1?!  

I'm definitely going to do my best to convince him to take me to SOME sort of happy hour where I can drink up some margaritas because I'm really feeling that cuisine at the moment!  Maybe I can convince him to take me to the beach so I can soak up some sun AND margs...I won't hold my breath for that one haha!

And while I KNOW this song isn't necessarily about drinking, the title is at least relevant haha! 

HAPPY WEEKEND!!!

Oh, How Pinteresting!

Wooo!! Halfway to the weekend! who's excited!? THIS GIRL!!! 

Great news though - we worked on my craft room this past weekend.  we didn't get it completed which means I haven't started moving my stuff back in or organizing.  BUT I have been paying a lot of attention to storage ideas for all my crafting goodies.  My biggest problem is that I want to be organized which means I want everything to LOOK organized.  If you Google craft rooms, you will see a lot of open shelving - which I love and is part of what we (read The Husband) built but now I want to make sure the storage is cute and not too cluttered.  

We did however, complete the laundry room!!! yay!!! Now I just need a little decor here and/or there and we are finito!!!  I just have to decide what kind of decor I want on the walls, because that is basically where there is room for it.  I was THINKING about getting those paper mache/cardboard letters and spraying them with silver metallic paint and spelling out "laundry" but there is a vinyl that I found that I love that states "laundry today or naked tomorrow".  It is so funny but I don't know if it will work in the room.  

Otherwise, I didn't finish the curtains for the bedroom - no surprise there.  That's about it for me right now - I have lots to share but nothing is completely done.  THEREFORE, today I am linking up with Michelle for Oh, How Pinteresting!

Curtain Update and My Next Project

Y'all are going to be SO PROUD!! I cut out ALL the gray material for the curtains for our bedroom windows and slider.  Now all I have to do is cut out the gold.  I should be able to get that finished by tomorrow and maybe even start sewing!! WHAAAAA?! i know I'm pretty excited and impressed too =)

I posted this picture last night to FB and Instagram:

 

I wanted to know which gold fabric to go with - I had asked The Husband and he preferred A over B.  The majority of people also preferred A over B.  I didn't realize until someone else mentioned something about the pattern that it kind of looks like two DIFFERENT fabrics.  They aren't.  It is two different sides of the SAME fabric...a heads and tails.  Same exact pattern.  

As for my upcoming weekend - the plan is to get these curtains finished and hung.  And finish the craft room....is there an echo in here?! I know, I know - same sad song.  Seriously though we have been talking about it for the past week that I would like to get it done.  He is frustrated because all my craft room stuff is in totes in the office and blocking the closet in there. The Husband is not thrilled with that - nor was I this morning when I had to move a bunch of totes of the way to get a jacket since it was actually storming out! Legit - thunder and lightning style...before work...before 8!! ridiculous!

If we get that finished on Saturday, I am leaving towards gel staining our bathroom vanity.  I'm so scared to do it but I want to so badly!!! I don't love the color of the vanity in relation to the color of the walls. It just doesn't work for me.  I found a tutorial on Pinterest (anyone surprised? no? ok, moving on).  I want to go from this to this - pretty much just like One Good Thing by Jillee did:

 

 Seriously - I can't wait to have this completed.  It will look so much better with the deep gray I painted the walls in the master bath. Unfortunately, I have to order the gel stain because apparently it isn't sold in stores.  booo!!! I am going to trek to some of the local hardware stores and see if I can't find some of the stain recommended in her post.  It is sold through Sears online but not available in stores.  Why must they do this to me?!  Well since that won't get done this weekend, maybe we will finish my plans for the spare bathroom or the laundry room...yeeessssss!!! =)

As always, I am definitely being ambitious in what we will accomplish this weekend.  I know I can do the gel stain on my own while The Husband does something else. The craft room would be a much bigger challenge so I'm going to go ahead and let him take care of it =) 

If absolutely nothing else I am finishing those silly curtains....hopefully.... ;)

Woo - it is almost Friday!!!