A Sunrise on Saturday

My weekend was better than yours. Sorry...but I'm pretty sure it was. Here, I have evidence. 

On Friday night I went to a baseball game with Andy and his family. It was such a great night, complete with fireworks after the game and late night dessert at Mimi's!

     After dessert, we went back to my house. Saturday was the Rise Worship sunrise service on the beach and since Andy and I were expected to be there at around 3, that's 3 AM, instead of getting about 4 hours of sleep we decided a movie marathon was the obvious choice. We picked up a couple Redboxes and about a gallon of iced coffee, built a blanket fort to spend the night about 3 hours in, and hunkered down.

     We successfully made it to the service in time, and set up went off perfectly. The service was awesome and the sunrise was gorgeous. I loved it so much that I'm promising myself that when I get back to Jax, I'll drag myself out of bed for some quiet mornings on the beach at least once a week.

The money raised at the service all went to Tiny Hands International, an awesome Christian non-profit everyone should check out.


Church on Sunday morning was great and so was lunch after! We went to Possum Crossing and I had my first plate of chicken and waffles. And oh good gravy, I may have a new favorite food. I may be a Connecticut girl at heart but, me oh my, do I love the South.

And yes, that is my new Lilly skirt in the background!

Lilly and Chuck

I spent my weekend doing not too much of anything. The boyfriend was sick and so I tried my best to play nurse....Let's just say I have no future in the medical field. I'm not the most sympathetic to the sniffly. In fact, I mostly just see them as icky.

So Andy laid on the couch and pretended he just got hit by a bus or something, and I took advantage of eBay keyword search: "Lilly Pullitzer."
Oops.... Sorry bank account.

The upside is that I can score a deal on eBay like nobody's business. 

Here are my conquests from the last few days.

Briar Skirt in Resort White Spritz
Originally: $98
I paid: $21

Leila Top in Yellow Star Fruit
Originally: $78
I paid: $19

A yard of fabric in Coral Siesta
$20

I'm thinking of using the fabric to make a paper bag skirt. Any other ideas for 1 yard projects?

My mom has been out of town so I have been babysitting chauffeuring and feeding my sixteen year old brother and my step-dad. Let's just say I have a whole new appreciation for how my mom deals with these two all the time.

Tonight's Dinner

My favorite green beans: I make these wayyy too much. They are so yummy and easy. I just toss them in a zip-lock with about a teaspoon of olive oil and Parmesan cheese and Alexander's Parmesan Bread Dip Seasoning. Shake em up and stick em in the toaster oven until they brown up.

Chucks Favorite Mac and Cheese: Holy Macaroni! I don't know who Chuck is but his taste in mac and cheese is top notch. And best of all it's super easy to make and tastes fantastic as leftovers.

Johnsonville Chicken Apple Sausage

Just call me Martha Stewart.

Five on Friday

Hello folks of blogland! Happy Friday! My first Five on Friday! This is a link up I’m going to try to start doing every Friday. Here it goes, five little pieces of randomness from my week.

1. Publix Key-Lime Lowfat Frozen Yogurt: Holy deliciousness and perfect for summer. It’s got little nuggets of the pie crust in it and....ohmygosh I’m gonna go eat some right now. It’s so good.

2. Painting Pottery: Last week Andy and I went to one of those little places where you paint pottery. The one in downtown Melbourne is called Get Fired Up. We I had tons of fun getting our artsy fartsy on. We go to SO many baseball games, where Andy gets to be the one that knows everything, that it was a nice change of pace for me to be the one in my element. I had a blast and I’m dying to go back. It was just a teeny bit expensive {my plate was around $15}, but you can start a project then leave it there and come back again to finish it. I think it would be fun to do that and make something really detailed, but I don’t think I’ll be able to lure Andy back unless this place starts selling burritos or something.

Can you guess whose is whose?

3. Breaking Crafter's Block: You know like writer's block? Andy’s cooler was in that DIY phase where it’s like 90% done....and I was lacking all motivation to finish it. That happens to everyone, right? He kept nagging reminding me about finishing it, and I can’t blame him; his birthday was a month ago. I was just in a big ol’ rut. But I finally got up the motivation to get it out of the garage and keep plugging along. Almost done!

4. Goop.com: Warning: If you haven't yet been to this website don't. It's a trap. You'll be stuck basking in the awesomeness for hours. Seriously. Shout out to my idol Mindy Kaling for recommending it in her book. Read more about my Mindy Obsession here.

5. Cobblers: I broke my favorite pair of sandals a week ago. I was devastated. But then today something amazing happened! I got them fixed! Ok, I know this sounds ridiculous. But I can’t be the only person who throws their shoes away when they break. I had no idea cobblers could repair broken sandal straps! Am I the only one who didn’t know this? Anyone? Bueller? This guy just fixed my babies up good as new in two minutes flat. And the best part? It cost me TWO DOLLARS. Can you say life changing? I may never throw shoes away again.

The Boy Behind the Blog

Today I am joining Mallory at Mal Smiles to do “The Boy Behind the Blog” link-up.

I had to lure Andy to my house with fajitas to get him to play along. Here’s how it went down.

1. What celebrity would play you in a movie?

Andy: Ashton Kutcher’s looks, Ben Afflecks no-nonsense attitude and a twinkle in my eye that resembles Morgan Freeman’s charm.

Me: I think Jessie Eisenburg. Specifically from The Social Network.

Andy: No way. That guy’s a nerd.

2. What is your dream car?

My uncle’s 1973 Corvette.

3. Do you have any tattoos? What? Where? And why?

Andy: I have one of those “mom heart” tattoos. Just like my hero. Popeye.

Me: No you don’t.

4. Boxers or briefs?

Andy: Boxers. The range of motion is impeccable...Wait what are these questions for again?

5. List three random facts about yourself.

Andy: 1. I once threw up blue Slurpee from laughing too hard. 

But in my defense it was really funny.

2. I am the Sports editor of The Collegian, Mississippi College’s newspaper.

3. I weigh 178 pounds.

Me: Andy, that’s not interesting say something else.

Andy: 3. I have good work ethic.

Me: NO.

Andy: 3. I’m color blind.

Me: Fine. You’re done.

And now as a special treat, the story of how we two fell in love. As told by Andy.

The year was 2006, and I sat, scanning my 8th grade Geometry classroom on the first day of school. My eyes stopped on a beautiful young girl. Her hair was blonde, and as I fixated on her, she turned and looked up with her bright blue eyes. I was young and nervous, so I quickly looked away. I risked a glance back to see her adorable face once more, and she cracked a beaming smile to me. I knew she was special.

Time passed and we became friends, and a few months later, I was invited to her birthday party. I told my mom that I needed a great gift, so we bought her a cute little necklace and a CD, by Anberlin I think. I wanted to impress her, and I knew girls love jewelry. This was my surefire plan to make her mine. I showed up at the party, which was mostly girls. Was I just another one of the girls? Gift opening time would surely clear up my intentions.

After opening my present, she was thrilled. She told me that I would make a great husband to someone someday. Sweet, right?

Wrong. I was defeated. Clearly I had made my way into the friend-zone. Where had I gone wrong?

Years passed, and whenever I saw Martha, the eighth grade feelings of both love and sadness resurfaced . We were amicable, but we never really saw each other enough for the bubbles to simmer into anything more. Then during our senior year, we had a class together. This changed everything.

I had changed a lot over the years. I developed a dynamite sense of humor and a certain inexplicable and undeniable charm. Martha had to take notice of me now.

We joked around and grew closer throughout the semester, and soon it was clear that we were meant to be. One night, I finally overcame my old fears and texted her, and things quickly turned into a relationship. I asked her to be my girlfriend on January 6th, 2011, and we dated until we went off to college in the fall. We never really stopped talking, and soon we were dating once more.

It took me about 5 years, but I am really glad to be with that little girl from Mrs. Pearce’s Geometry class. She colors my world, just like I told her in her birthday card when she turned 13.

My Summer Reading List

Literally the first thing I did after my mom, my brother, Andy, and I returned from our little epic road trip, and I mean first thing (as in still wearing my yoga pants from the car ride) was to go to Best Buy and get myself a Kindle.

Pretty much everyone in my family jumped on the ebook train years ago, but I’ve been holding out until now. Not for any reason....Don’t worry. I wasn’t one of those people saying things like, “I love the smell of library books.” or “How can you replace the feel of turning a page?” I just hadn’t gotten around to asking for a reader for Christmas or buying one for myself.

Let me tell you, HUGE MISTAKE.

This was the possibly the best $69 I ever spent on myself. I was worried that I would be spending tons of money buying all the books I wanted to read,. But between forcing my mom to lend me all of her books and hooking up my public library account, I have read like 7 books this week and only paid for one!

SO obviously here’s my list of my favorite poolside, sunbathing, skin bronzing, diet coke sipping, summer books to read in your bikini. 

1. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling

As if Mindy wasn't already my hero enough between her hilarious sitcom and being a writer/producer/star on my all-time favorite show The Office, reading her book gave me a full blown, incurable case of Mindy-fever. We are talking Stage 5 girl crush here people. I haven’t researched her fan-club yet, but if there is one sign me up. Her book was the funniest and most relatable thing I've ever read. No. Seriously.

2. The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls

This is actually my all-time favorite book and I re-read it every couple years. It’s a great memoir about the author and her (literally) insane, and sometimes homeless, family. They’re about as dysfunctional as it gets, probably more than that. I’m super excited that Jeanette Walls has a brand new novel, The Silver Star. It’s at the very top of my “to-read” list.

3. The Hunger Games Trilogy by Susan Collins

Sorry to be so predictable, but seriously how good are these books!? For the few of you who have been living under a rock like Andy, and haven’t read them, get on it. I finally convinced him to read the first one and he’s totally hooked.

4. Literally anything by Meg Cabot

Obvious choice again, I know. What can I say? Sometimes a girl’s just gotta have some good old fashioned, fluffy and pointless chick-lit, and when that what I’m craving I turn to Meg.

5. The Women’s Murder Club series by James Patterson

Definitely not as corny as the title implies. I basically accidentally got into this series, when the 11th book was the only one of the rent-able audio-books at Cracker Barrell that Andy and I could agree on. We listened to it the whole last leg of our road trip and by the end I was totally hooked. When we got home I rented book one from the library, and I’ve been picking up one after the other ever since.

6. Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang by Chelsea Handler

When I got to the end of Mindy’s book, I didn’t want it to end. And since Mindy has yet to release a sequel, I decided reading another female comedian's book might be the next best thing. And I was right. Chelsea’s sense of humor was a little too raunchy for my taste, but her book was hilarious and definitely subdued my thirst for Mindy. It’s kind of a collection of short stories, and just ridiculous things, like Chelsea’s fight with her boyfriend (the CEO of the E! Network) over the practicality of keeping a dolphin in the aquarium in their condo. What’s next in this genre? Tina Fey’s Bossypants....whenever I get off the darn waiting list at the library...and Chelsea’s other three books. Hopefully those will hold me over until Mindy pulls through for me.

7. Defending Jacob by William Landay

Usually I would label the term “legal thriller” an oxymoron. With the exception of the Casey Anthony trial, all things courtroom related generally bore me. But my mom insisted recommended I read this “courtroom drama.” What can I say? Mother knows best. I couldn’t put Defending Jacob down, which wasn’t a problem because I finished it in like a day. Basically it was giant episode of Law and Order SVU...but like I said, I wasn’t bored.

Did You Miss Me?

I haven’t been a very good blogger the last few weeks. Well....I‘ve basically been the worst blogger I could possibly be, but the good news is I’m back and I’m going to try my best to get all caught up. 

Here’s the problem: A lot has gone down in the last month.

1. Andy’s 20th birthday. That’s right a whole fifth of a century!

In the two and a half years since Andy and I first started dating, we have never rarely been able to successfully surprise each other. Unfortunately, this birthday is no different; Andy figured out both of his presents weeks before his birthday. I know. What a brat right? And a spoiled one too, since I got him tickets to his favorite rapper Kendrick Lamar AND painted him a cooler. His cooler isn’t quite finished but I’ll post pictures after I put on the final touches. More updates on how an ex-sorority girl fared at a rap concert to come.

Here comes Kendrick!

2. Both of my parents’ birthdays- My mommy’s 51st 49th and my step-dad’s 50th birthday party. Hooray! No one throws a patio party like my mama, and this was no exception. Even though Andy and I were the youngest ones there by at least 10 years, my step-dads friends are so dumb hilarious that we still had fun.

My present to Jim was a homemade corn-hole set. Andy built it (mini size so it could be played inside our back porch Jim’s Man Cave) and I painted the boards and sewed the bean bags. I painted one for the Giants and one for the Cowboys to reflect our household, ever divided.

3. An epic road trip to New England including

a. A relaxing weekend in Cape Cod

b. An invigorating day trip to The Big Apple

c. Andy’s first trip to Stew Leonard’s

d. Reuniting with my oldest and best friend in the whole world

Meet my future maid of honor, Rachel!

e. Riding about a thousand roller coasters at Six Flags in Jersey

f.  And finally a day tubing in the Atlantic

4. Finally, we returned home to cross of numbers 6, 7, 9, 11, 12, 19, 23, 28, and 29 off The List!

I know, a lot to take in. Here’s the good news, Andy is officially back working all day, so I have plenty of free time during the day to do productive things like read books, run on the treadmill, and write blogs. Well...maybe not that treadmill thing...