Pinterest recipe #1

So I have like a ton of things pin to to my recipe boards, half of which I've never made. So I tried to add a couple of them to the rotation. Tonight was French Dip Crescents. You can find the recipe here.
The husband rates it 9 out of 10 adding that he wanted me to make them again. I rate it about a 6 out of 10. Good but not amazing.

I ate one of the slices of roast beef so that's why one is small.

Easy pesy dinner

So I made this random dinner one night in my croc pot. I was literally grabbing things I had on hand that I thought would work. Turns out it was really good. The husband LOVES it and requested I add it into our normal rotation. Bonus there is enough left over for lunch the next day for the two of us.


Ingredients:
1 jar mango salsa. I used Newman's Own because I had a coupon.
1 8oz brick of cream cheese.
3 frozen chicken breasts
1/4 cup broth. I've used both chicken and veggie.

Instruction's:
Dump all of the above in croc pot, low for 7-8 hours. Walk away.

Yep that easy. If you want to add some extras to it you can. I've made it with corn, green beans and carrots. You can either add them at the start if you're doing them from the can or if you use something like Steamfresh Mixed Vegetables just add them when you have a hour left to go(after cooking the Steamfresh in the microwave). 

Getting to healthy

So I'm in this mood where I'm tired of being tired. I've gained a bunch of weight since I got married. When I started dating Daniel I was a size 18, now that's crept up to a 24. I had just gotten out of a relationship like 6 months before I met Daniel and had been deeply depressed so I wasn't eating. I mean at all. I dropped like 30lbs. I'd love to get back to that size again. I'd really like to be a 14/16. Which by most standards is still pretty big but I'd be happy with that.


My problem is that first and foremost I suffer from migraines. My migraines are triggered by heat and bright light. Living in the sunshine state isn't the best environment for someone with my condition. The reason that wreaks havoc on my weight loss goals is that I'm pretty much trapped in the house during the summer. Even something like sitting near a window without the blinds being closed or riding in the car without my sunglasses can trigger a migraine. They are also triggered by low pressure associated with storms and hurricanes. Once the migraine hits I'm done for the day. I have to go lay down in a cold dark room with meds until it passes. IF I'm lucky I wont be nauseous. IF I'm lucky the next day I wont be completely wiped of energy. IF lucky I've managed to think ahead for dinner if not it's gonna be take out. These migraines average to about 2-3 a week. I've tried every type of medicine to try to get them under control but nothing works. It's a struggle that I deal with. I miss events with family and friends. Daniel is forced to carry the burden of working full time and picking up what I can't do in the house.

Which leads to my second hurdle. I'm bi-polar. If you're not familiar with it it's where your mood swings from crazy happy to depressed all within a couple of minutes. For the most part my moods have balanced out as I've gotten older but I still have problems from time to time. I'll be all pumped up and start cleaning everything in the house only to crash a bit later unable to do anything but sleep. Not a lot of people know about me being bi-polar as I try hard to hide it. A few close friends know but they don't see me at my worst. I'm pretty upbeat around others. I think it's one of the main reasons I'm so direct. When your mood swings you don't have time to beat around the bush with people. People don't understand my directness and take it as a sign that I'm a negative person.

So with those cards stacked against me I'm starting to try to get healthy. I have this lofty idea that I'm going to run in next years Disney Princess Half Marathon. It's a goal I can try for. It isn't out of the realm of possibility since I have a year to start working towards it. Right now my focus is on trying to eat better, trying to cut back on boredom snacking and getting more active.

I know this isn't going to happen over night so even if I never make it to the Disney Marathon if I make my weight loss goals I'll still have finished my own person marathon.

Paparazzi Necklace Giveaway

So I'm taking a break from my NBC Olympic rant to do a Paparazzi Accessories giveaway. I've been selling Paparazzi as an Independent Consultant for about 7 months and LOVE it. It's so very easy. All the products are either $5 for adult pieces or $1 for children pieces. You make 45% commission on every piece you sell. I have about 200 pieces in my inventory currently with plans to add more as we head into Fall Festival season. People are always shocked with they see the items because at $5 you're thinking it's cheap jewelry. It's not. It's about the same level as Target or Kohls. We can sell it at $5 because I don't have any overhead. People just go crazy when I bring out my products and I've had friends come over after I tweeted that my new shipment arrived and buy it directly from the shipping box. Parties are always a hit since we make them simple and easy. No presentations to listen to, no order to wait on and at $5 it's all affordable. But less talk more give away.

 This is the piece I'm giving away. It's blue and one of my best sellers. To enter just fill out the entry below. Open to U.S. residents 18 years and over.


a Rafflecopter giveaway

And if you're interested in joining one of the best and fastest growing home based business. Click here to sign up. You can start for as low as $40. My consultant id is #4043.

Here's what you missed part 2

So on to the next section that we here in the states didn't fully understand. Our lack of understand might have more to do with us vs. NBC. It's about England's National Health Service (NHS). First I just want to say something to the people complaining about how England was trying to shove their politics down our throats. Really?!?!? Are you really that simple. That while Danny Boyle was in his planning meeting trying to think of idea's that represented England he was like "Oh let's do one on the NHS cause it will piss off the Americans." I'm pretty sure our political issues didn't even cross his mind. Just like you have no idea what their Parliament is arguing about right this second, I can assure you that the English people care about that much with what our Senate is doing. 


Back on to the subject at hand. The segment in question was called, " The second star to the right and on till morning." which for you less read among us is a quote from the book Peter Pan. Peter Pan was written by Scottish novelist and playwright J.M. Barrie. Remember this as I'll come back to it later. The segment was about the English love of the NHS and about the imagination inside all children . To give it some context (without any political interjection by this writer) the NHS  is the umbrella term for the type of health care system used in the United Kingdom(UK).  It's funded by income taxes and covers all citizens, residents and even visitors (under some circumstances) of the UK. It was started in 1948 as the UK was recovering from World War 2.  The British cherish the NHS and that love was put on display in the Opening Ceremony. The scene was hundreds of beds with children being rolled around by nurses in historical nurses uniforms.  There was also a moment with actual nurses and children from the Great Ormond Street Hospital. The Great Ormond Street Hospital is a children's hospital in London and it has a long and rich history of pediatric care dating back to 1852. It's a charitable hospital which relies on the NHS to cover the cost of day to day operations and donations which allow it to be on the cutting edge of children's medicine .  It's also well known for receiving the rights from J.M. Barrie for Peter Pan in 1929 which has given the children's hospital a large amount of funding. That's how those two subjects are tied together for the purposes of the Olympics.  The segment goes on to explore the vast history of English children's literature with everything from Mary Poppins, the Queen of Hearts to even He who shall not be named of Harry Potter fame. 


Now with this added context maybe it was less about politics and more about Britain being British. 




P.S. So if you want my personal feelings about the NHS and how it relates to us as a county then you could watch this. 


  

Here's what you missed.

I'm even angrier about the NBC's hatchet job on the Opening Ceremonies. I was finally able to watch the BBC version of it and things made so much more sense with their explanations. We should have known for a show as British as that was that having a British commentary would have been miles above the inane blathering of the NBC crew. Here's what you missed:

-Kenneth Branagh was playing the part of a historical figure. He was playing Isambard Kingdom Brunel, who was an English mechanical and civil engineer who built bridges and dockyards, the Great Western Railway, a series of steamships including the first propeller-driven transatlantic steamship and numerous important bridges and tunnels. His designs revolutionized public transport and modern engineering. That's kinda important to understand what what going on with the change from the green, lush landscape with children playing into the dark, smoky landscape with smoke stacks and men in top hats dancing around. It represented the change that England underwent as they entered the industrial revolution. 

-Further along in the show after the pause for the remembrance of the two world wars you see 4 groups enter into the arena. Most people picked up on the bright colored costumes of the Beatles representing the 60's but the other 3 were left without any explanation. The first was the wooden ship. Again more context is needed. The wooden ship represented the MV Empire Windrush. It brought the first large group of West Indian immigrants to the UK after the Second World War. This is important because it the role the the colonies have played on English society.  Second group was the gentlemen in bright red coats. They are the Chelsea Pensinoers. British Army veterans who live at Royal Hospital Chelsea, a retirement and nursing home.  The third group was the people wearing the black outfits with the white designs (which were actually pearls). They are the Pearly Kings and Queens,  an organised charitable tradition of working class culture in London and who raise money for London based charities. 

And that was just in the first thirty minutes.....

Check back for more explanations.

NBC has lost it's mind!!

As a lover of all things British from their books, tv shows and music I was very excited to see the art that was the Opening Ceremony for the London 2012 Olympics...that is until NBC got a hold of it. It was horrible. I copied this from the NBC Olympic wall:


Sarah Khan NBc's butchering of the London Olympics Opening Ceremony
10. Repeated derision and backhand compliments of any country not named the United States
9. The repeated reliance on mentioning how war-torn various nations are or have been instead of mentioning their athletes
8. Commenting on North Korea by mocking Kim Jong-Il's alleged 11-holes-in-one golf game after they have already caused a delay in competition after perceived political slights
7. Four-hour tape delay in the social-media era
6. Spoiling the cauldron lighting
5. Inserting Idi Amin into conversation as Uganda was marching
4. Speculating that the Maldives can fight rising sea levels by winning medals
3. Giving zero camera time to Barbados and Ukraine
2. Cutting of the athletes', coaches' and judges' oaths
1. Cutting of the London bombing memorial segment for a Michael Phelps interview

Dishonorable mentions:
* Referring to San Marino as "sort of an island"
* Going to commercial in the middle of a segment
* Insisting on mentioning the deceased Omar Bongo as Gabon marched, over the 1-1 draw with Switzerland their men's soccer team had already achieved
*Stated speculation that Greece will never host the Olympics again
*Referring to Borat as Kazakhstan marched
*Making the Djibouti joke during a major world cultural event
*Spoiling the industrial-era and National Health Service segments right as they were beginning
*Making a big deal over the lack of a minute of silence for the victims of Munich
*Repeated mangling of countries' names
*Making reference to the Falklands War as Argentina marched
*24 commercial breaks

I so agree with everything in this statement.  The NBC coverage was achingly bad. The commentary provided by Matt Lauer, Meredith Vieira and Bob Costas was worthless and many times bordered  on racist. It was like going all the way to Broadway to see a show only to have the guy next to you talk the entire time. I could understand the need for a play by play if we didn't share a common language with the British but we do so their constant need to repeat what we could already hear was pointless. Another thing unless you've been living under a rock or have never cracked open a book in your life you pretty much understood most of the larger culture references from the ceremony which were the only one's they were explaining to you anyway.

Another issue I have with the coverage is there were whole segments of the show cut out. For the life of me I can't understand why as it was taped and rebroadcast. Did your editor not know how to pick up in the same spot as he left off? It's kinda like seeing a movie for the first time after only watching it on tv. You realize that the plot makes much more sense now that you're seeing the film as it was originally shot and not "edited for time". I don't even care that it wasn't live, but why was it edited?

I feel like someone stole the dignity, honor and well ceremony from the Opening Ceremony. Oh and NBC I'll be steaming the closing ceremony live so you can go take a hike. 

Working my butt off

So as most of you know I started selling Paparazzi Accessories in March after I stopped actively selling  mark. for over a year. I made the switch because as much as I loved mark. their prices weren't something I could to afford to keep paying. One of the things that I love about Paparazzi is that everything is $5. When I first signed up I was on pins and needles because I thought how's the quality of the jewelry if it's only $5. I was pleasantly surprised. They are really great pieces. I own several and everyone who's come to one of my open houses has fallen in love with at least a couple of things. I know I'm on to something.

The problem is getting people to see the pieces.  As most of you know, we only have one car, so during the day I can't just get up and go talk to people about hosting an event or a basket party. Everything I do is via the internet. I have a Facebook page and a website currently. Another problem is in my area 90% of the ladies are parents and since they are parents the mostly socialize with other parents.Since I don't have little league or play dates or kindergarten classes that leaves a void. This has been a hurdle to me. How do I find people willing to host an event at their home? I don't want to start cold calling people and I don't want to start guilting people into doing it.

It's starting to make me feel like a failure. I mean I'm reading all these other's ladies posts about all the parties they are having and I'm left wondering what is it about me that no one wants to host one for me? Daniel has been a huge help to me. He tries to boost my spirit and tells me that he knows I can do it I just have to keep working at it. I know that if I could just get some events and have more people see my products that this will take off but as of right now it's an uphill battle.

If anyone randomly reads this any suggestions would be great. Thanks.

Yawn

So I haven't written in a while. I honestly don't think I have anything of value to say. No one reads this thing so it isn't like I've got some vast audience out there pining for my next entry.

Nothing new to report. George Zimmerman is still free. My cousin is becoming the next Martin Luther King Jr. My parents are still being old people sitting in their house watching movies and taking naps. Lottie is still off somewhere eating something which she may or may not throw up later on the carpet. Daniel is dropping off stuff to goodwill. I started a business which I may have already talked about. I've put on a lot of weight in the last few months. I'm not watching my niece anymore. Daniel might get promoted to something something level 2. I still have no idea what he does for a living other then it involves computers.  We've got another vacation planned but because of paranoia about burglars I'm not saying anything about it. I'll blab about it when we get back. Florida seems to have skipped Winter and went from Fall to late Spring.


Nothing else to report.

Murder in the evening light.

I got up this morning a little before sunrise and took our dog out for a walk. I live in a townhouse over looking a lake in one of those gated communities. Behind the house is a paved walking trail that leads down to the community clubhouse. I've walked this trail a hundred times before.

But this morning it was different. As I walked my dog around and watched a duck swim towards a pair of geese, I started thinking what if me walking around in the predawn twilight was suspicious to someone? What if they didn't see my dog running around and thought I looked at their patio furniture a second longer then I should?

Then it got me thinking about all the times over the years that I've lived here and the walks I've taken in the cool of the evening to try to shed the pounds. About all the walks to friends houses to say hi. I know I've done some of them in hoodies because as we know I'm not really girlie and they are comfortable.

What if I had stopped to change a song on my Ipod or to unravel my headphones? My father taught his only daughter when you're walking alone to keep looking around to see if any one's coming up behind you. (That's the paranoid Navy chief in him.) What if some yahoo saw that and thought, "That person looks suspicious?"

I remember a time when I was walking with a friend and her friends thought it would be funny to pull up along side of us while we were  walking on a dirt path near the road. My first primal instinct in those first few seconds was to grab my friends arm and run towards my house. As a child you're taught about stranger danger, as a woman you're taught about rapists, you're taught to be afraid of slow moving cars fallowing you in movies and on tv. 

All those things happened to Trayvon Martin as he return from the store to get Skittles for his younger brother and a iced tea one evening. He was alone walking along when he notices a man driving slowly following him. What would you tell you kid to do? Wave and say hi or think stranger danger in their heads? What would I have done? The same thing I did as a teen with my friend, run like the wind away from danger.

It didn't end so well for Trayvon that evening. He ended up being shot by that stranger danger. He ended up dead on a side walk in one of those gated townhouse communities and I wonder if it too had a lake where a duck swam towards a pair of  geese this morning.

Update: If you haven't already PLEASE sign the petition to bring justice to Trayvon's case.

Change.org|Start an Online Petition »

Pro-life

As the vast majority of you know I'm a Catholic and probably the most leftist Republican in the state of Florida.  I'm a fiscally liberal but a highly conservative on social and religious matters. 

The one area that I will die on a hill for is abortion. I'm against it for moral reasons. My personal opinion on the subject is outside of the case of rape, incest or to protect the life of the mother I think that an abortion is murder.  My reasoning behind this is that in this day and age with all the different pills, patches, shots, sponges, caps, rings, condoms and sterilization out there, there should be no reason (other then the one's listed above) to find yourself needing to kill your child. If you're having sex you're old enough to understand where babies come from. You then have two choices, be proactive and protect yourself OR live with the baby you created.

Imagine if every time you showed up to work knowing that if you forgot to finish the project that was due your boss got to punch you in the face? I'm pretty sure you'd start prioritizing your day to get your job done. Telling women that they can go out into the world, have unprotected sex (let's not even start talking about STD's and HIV) and if they get pregnant is doesn't matter cause you can just kill your child is DISGUSTING. How are we teaching responsibility? Where does it stop? Oh don't worry about starting that fire we can always just call the fire department.  Don't worry about drinking and driving, I mean it's YOUR body, you should be able to do whatever you want with it. So what you could end up murdering an innocent person.

The most baffling thing in the whole picture is when is it and abortion vs. murder. If a mother aborts her baby it's fine but if someone accidentally hits her while she's walking through the abortion center parking lot and the baby dies it's murder. The outcome is the same, the baby is dead.

I know some people will read this and start in with the well but.....no there is no but...it really is that simple. Daniel and I have decided that we're not having any children. We love them but we'd prefer to be aunt and uncles. So we take steps to make sure we wont get pregnant. And if we unexpectedly do then we'll man and woman up and do the right thing.....and that doesn't involve murder.

Man...I don't feel like a woman.

So I've been thinking the last couple of days about me and my life in general. I'm at the happiest place I've been in a while. My marriage is great and I'm generally happy.

But there is one aspect of my life that I'm left wondering about. I'm not very girly. I don't go crazy for clothes, or shoes. I hardly wear make-up. I haven't changed my hair style since Jr. High. I'd prefer not spend the money on getting my nails done.  I do like purses and scarves but that's about it. My house isn't out of a show room. I have no sense of design. Almost everything we own has been given to us. I don't like shopping. I don't do crafts other then my knitting.

I must have skipped the girl gene line up in heaven. All the hallmarks of being a woman are just not in me.

I'd rather travel. I'd rather cook. I'd rather read. I'd rather listen to music. I'd rather play video games. I'd rather wear jeans and flats. I know I can do all those things and still be a woman but I wonder if one day God will download the girlie software update that I'm missing?

Buh Bye

So I got rid of Facebook today. I didn't really see the point of having it. I mean yes a few people talked to me on it but outside of that it was sucking the life out of me. It wasn't this joyful place to see how friends and family were doing. It was draining me of free time, of desire to be around people and goodwill towards my fellow man.

Only a few people will notice. I'm not known for my adoring fan's. Mostly it's friends that live in the same city as me who I never see. Maybe I'll get a random thumbs up from people but otherwise it's pretty pointless.

If you read my weight loss blog you will see I had a falling out of sorts with someone which lead me to not being involved with my fitness group. I doubt they'll even notice. I'm also thinking about taking a step back from my church. For a number of reason's. I've never really been a "church" person. I have a strong faith but that faith isn't wrapped up in a building or a place or a person. Daniel needs to go to church so he'll still be going but I think I'll just hang back and read my Bible in the time I normally spend at church. I'll miss the few people that I've gotten to know and who have taken the time to get to know me. It will be sad not to get a chance to talk to people and be social but in the words of my father, " C'est la vie!"

Well I'm off to put the niece down for her nap.

Crazy months

So I've been having the craziest couple of months. I broke my baby toe on my right foot...TWICE. I don't know if it's really considered two separate times or that I just re-broke it from the first time. Also I threw my back out. I've had bad back problems since I was in a horrible car accident when I was my late teens. It's been a problem that has plagued me for a really long time. It gets so bad I'm unable to walk. On top of that I had a tetanus scare after pruning the rose bushes outside the house.

Also during this time my mother and I had a falling out where it looked like we wouldn't be talking to each other ever again. It was really hard since growing up in the military my parents were the only family I had. My extended family lived states side while we roamed the Caribbean.

All of this took a toll on me mentally and physically. There were days when I just didn't feel like dealing with anything. I was supposed to be involved in a ladies Bible study but most of the time I was sick and couldn't make it. I wasn't really able to keep up with the housework. It was just bad.

It's times likes these that make me thankful for Daniel. He really is my rock. When I broke my toe the first time he moved our mattress downstairs because I couldn't make it up the stairs. He'd come home from work and clean and cook. Daniel's always been the guy who could make me laugh even when I didn't want too.

It's been a crazy couple of month and I'm just ready for the new year to begin. It will be the last year of my twenties, we'll have been married for 4 years, living in our house for 3 years and we'll be planning some big things for our future.

Covering my head.

So I've been praying on something for a really long time. As most of you know I'm Catholic and traditionally when I attended Mass I would wear a mantilla. I have my personal reason's for doing it as well as 1 Corinthians 11 2-16. Since I got married Daniel and I have always gone to either a Methodist, Baptist, or a Non-Denominational church where the tradition of head covering isn't "normal" outside of the rare hat. 


During this time something has been calling me back to wearing a mantilla. Maybe I need it to make me focus more on what the pastor is saying vs. who's walking in late. I donno. But in the last 3 years this subject has been popping up in my head. Something is leading back to wearing a head covering in church. 


Finally I broke down and talked to Daniel about it and he agreed that if it's something that I'm being lead to do he'll support my decision. Here's the interesting part. As part of the idea of wearing a head covering you are meant not to be seen as a distraction to others. When I went to Mass I occasionally saw another woman wearing a mantilla or some other head covering but it wasn't seen as "strange". Women have worn them in the Catholic church since forever. Since I go to an amazing Non-Denominational while I doubt anyone would think I was strange (maybe they think I'm strange anyway. =) ) it might be a distraction to some. During the winter time I know I can get away with a scarf and just pull it over my head when we get to church but that wont be cutting it on days when I'm serving or in the summer. I've been looking around online and stumbled onto Snood's  which are worn by married Orthodox Jewish women. So I ordered two so I can start wearing them to church. 


I feel really happy and relieved by my decision. I feel like a weight has been lifted off my heart about this since it's something that I've been praying about for a very long time. 

Toddlers and coffee tables

So for the next couple of months I'm going to babysitting my niece.

Well let me back up some. I don't have kids. And there are no real plans to change that fact. I love kids, we just don't feel the need to have any little bundles of joy ourselves. I know a lot of parents out there who are doing a bang up job raising little pinballs.....I just don't feel the need to be one of them.

Since I have the luxury not to have to work my sister-in-law came to me and wanted to know if I'd watch my niece. I said sure and jumped right into it since originally I was in school to become a teacher. I'm familiar with babies and prefer this age to older kids. There is even a kinda joke floating around at my church that if your kid gets to be 2 they drop from my radar and I'm on to the next little baby. Crying doesn't phase me, vomit doesn't bother me and changing diapers doesn't stop me.

So I'm hosting my niece Gracie for the next 7 months. Even with my prior experience this is the longest amount of time I've spent alone with a kid at a single go.

It's nerve racking. She's a human pinball. One moment she's jumping on the couch, the next she's trying to ride the dog like a pony  and then she's trying to use me as a human lazy-boy. Her favorite thing to do is open her mouth and let Lottie kiss her. She thinks this is hilarious and she'll give you this death stare if you try to stop her. I've watched the same Bubble Guppies episode like 10 times already. It's the only thing I can do that will make her sit in one spot long enough so I can take my eyes of her for a moment. If I put it on I know I have about 2 minutes to run into the kitchen to fix lunch or gab her bottle. It's nice because she's learned to say apple, milk and soap.

Daniel tries to keep the coffee table clean during the week but I just laugh at him. That's where the pin ball eats. There is no point trying to polish the coffee table because tomorrow she'll just smash whatever I'm feeding her into it because it makes Lottie jump up to lick it. She thinks that's hilarious too.

Diapers.......did I mention I don't have kids.

It's pretty tiring but it's worth it because prior to this I only got to see her every so often at family get together's. She never really took to me. But now...haha take that everyone......we have our own inside jokes now....bam bam....chicha chicha bam barm....whoaaa cha-cha-cha.

Oh and she refuses to call my dog anything but Sizzles which is my dog's father's name. 

R.A.C.K.

This year I stumbled on a blog that this lady had wrote about how her family does Random Acts of Christmas Kindness and it struck a cord with me. She uses it as a way to show her daughters,

"about loving others and in the process, sharing God’s love for others."

What she does is for every day of Advent her family does a different act of kindness. Here's a list of things she's done in the past.

• Taping candy canes to ATM machines around town
• Bringing the girls riding instructor {and barn manager} hot cocoa and a muffin early one morning
• Taping quarters to vending and toy machines around town
• Grocery shopping for the sole purpose of putting it in the “Food for Families” box in the entryway of the store
• Plugging meters around town {and lots of fun explaining to the girls what “plugging” a meter meant!}
• Donating 72 stockings with treats, candy and a craft for second graders at a school in need
• Ringing Salvation Army bells
• Handing out Starbucks gift cards {$5.00 value each}
• Paid past due library fees for 5 people
• Donated a poinsettia to the girls school
• Bought and donated toys for “Toys 4 Tots”
• Brought the girls teachers their favorite Starbucks drinks
• Brought treats to the employees of our local Post Office branch
• Purged from the girls personal “library” and donated to a school library in need

The woman who's blog I found actually stole the idea from another blogger who's website.

Anyway, the idea has really hit home with me and made me want to try to do something similar. I don't have the resources to do all of the things she talked about so I've decided on doing my own Random Acts of Christmas Kindness. This year Daniel and I are going to buy 20 $5 gas or grocery gift cards and mail them in Christmas cards to people. I settled on the gas or grocery cards because I'm a shade more practical then Starbucks and it's something you know people need. $5 might not buy much but it might help a person out. We decided on mailing them because as I was talking to Daniel about this we pasted this older lady at her mail box and I could tell all her mail was bills and it made me think, "I wonder when was the last time that lady received a nice card in the mail?". When was the last time someone mailed you a card randomly? I send and receive cards at Christmas but outside of that my mail is all junk. So on December 10th our little R.A.C.K. Christmas cards will be send out into the world. And no you wont be getting one. =)

Things I'm loving right now

So I'm like in love with two new things right now.


1) Pinterest- OMG. I've been in love with this site since I got an invite. It's like an online pin board. You can save photo's of anything found online to different boards. I have ones for home, clothes, places, Daniel and even Lottie. It's amazing because sometime I'll see something I like and when I go to look for it again I can't remember what website I saw it on. Now can just pin it. I have a pin it icon on my toolbar, so I just click it, name it, and post it to the corresponding board.   Simple!!! Plus there is a whole community on Pinterest. I can see these amazing crafts that other people have made. And then there is the recipes section. There is a never ending supply of recipes. It's great for entertaining. I've already made a couple of them. All in all there are 31 different categories for boards. Best of all you can follow your friends.

2) Pollo Tropical- We have this place here that has some of the best yummy food. They are local FL restaurants with a couple out of state. They have this cilantro garlic sauce which is divine. We stopped in today to try it out. We went through the drive through and it's a good idea to either grab a menu prior to getting to the drive through or checking it out online. There is a lot of different combination's and we sounded like a pair of noobs at the window. The food was quick and oh so tasty.

Trains vs. Planes

So I'm one of these weirdo people that like to plan trips. Not take the trips but just plan trips. At any given time I have about 4 of these mental trips going in my head. I read somewhere that planning a trip is just as rewarding as taking the trips. Any who I said all that to say this.....The rail system in America STINKS. Amtrak is failing and we don't have high speed rail her in the states. They say that is because there isn't any demand for rail. I think I know why.

When I was kicking around the idea of going to Chicago, Daniel tossed out the idea of taking the train up there. We took a local sightseeing train on our honeymoon and LOVED it so we've always wanted to take a trip via rail. So I went to the Amtrak website and plugged in the information for our fake trip. We picked March of 2012 and said we wanted to leave March 4th and return March 9th. Then I was hit with the tragic truth. To take the trip to Chicago is would cost $579 and take us 40 hours EACH WAY to get there. Whaaaaa?!?!?!? It would involve switching trains with one layover of 8 hours in DC. Just to give you an idea of how crazy that is I went to Priceline and punched in the same dates and we could fly there in less then 4 hours and it would only cost us $56 more. Hmmmm I wonder which one we would pick? Give up 80 hours and save $56 or spend $56 and save 72 hours of my life. Which one....which one?

I like traveling by train. That trip on our honeymoon was amazing and relaxing. No TSA to worry about. No weighting suitcases. No being cramped up with the seat in front of you invading your personal space. I would LOVE to say goodbye to the unfriendly skies but we don't have any other alternative.  

Oh well I'm off to plan my mental trip to Bora Bora.

Knocking them out left and right.....

1. Be a mother
2. Go to Naples Italy
   
3. Skydive
4. Take a road trip to CA
5. Stay at Disney's Wilderness Lodge
6. Learn to play the piano
7. Learn Italian
8. Bake a cake from scratch
9. Go to Vegas (Planning a trip next year)
10. See Beatles Love (Planning to see it on the above trip)
11. Attend a taping of the Martha Steward Show.
12. Go to a Sun's game
13. Do a mission's trip.
14. Learn to fly a plane
15. Knit a scarf
16. Learn First Aid and CPR(again)
17. Take Daniel to DC
18. Take a cruise (Done)
    
19. Take a trip on a train
20. Dress up for a costume party
21. See the cherry blossoms in Japan
22. Sleep in a hammock
23. Go camping
24. Go snorkeling
25. Sit on a jury
26. Own a Louis Vuitton
27. Kiss the Blarney Stone
28. Take ballroom dancing lessons
29. Do fire walking
30. See the Northern Lights
31. See the Fjords of Norway
32. Go to the Pike Place Market in Seattle
33. Read the Bible cover to cover
34. Learn to let go of anger
35. Unplug the TV for a month
36. Dye my hair red
37. Take a vacation without a camera
38. Buy something nauseatingly extravagant
39. Go to a film premiere
40. Travel to Ireland
41. Renew my vows with Daniel on a beach just the two of us
42. Do a Polar Plunge
43. Visit the White House
44. Visit Buckingham Palace
45. Have a reason to wear a ball gown
46. Own a really good camera
47. Ride in a Limo (Might do the Limo xfer from airport on the LV trip)
48. Ride the London Eye
49. Watch the sunrise at a beach
50. Watch the sunset at a beach
51. Achieve my ideal weight
52. Play a round of Golf
53. Take a social etiquette class
54. Fly First Class
55. Learn sign language
56. Take a trip with my Mom
57. Take a carriage ride in Central Park
58. Watch all 6 Star Wars movies back-to-back
59. Try and "In & Out" burger (Done while in California)
60. Log 100 hours on the Wii Fit
61. Use a metal detector at the beach
62. Spend the day at a spa
63. Go canoeing
64. See Phantom of the Opera on Broadway
65. Drive a wickedly cool car
66. Take my parents to dinner (Done on 4/26)
67. Play Poker at The Orange Park Poker Room
68. Wear a bikini in public
69. See the Taj Mahal
70. Receive flowers for no reason
71. Toured the UN
72. Rent the Hermes Vintage Crocodile Kelly Handbag
73. Attend at least one major sporting event: the Super Bowl, the Olympics, the U.S. Open.
    
74. Go back to college and graduate
75. Meet my half-brother
76. Live in New Orleans
77. Be on Jeopardy
78. Have over 1,000 entries on my blog
79. Forgive
80. Be admired by at least someone other than Daniel
81. Paint more
82. Sell one of my paintings
83. Meet either of the two remaining Beatles
84. Stop drinking soda
85. Go on a full-blown Shopping Spree at a Mall
86. Finish my year in photo's
87. Raise my children as my mother did me.
88. Buy a "little black dress"
89. Have a beach bonfire
90. Score a YouTube hit
91. Touch a pyramid in Egypt
92. Go fishing on a boat
    
93. Go completely organic
    
94. Finish reading Devil Wears Prada (Done)
95. Be in a movie
96. Rent a house at the beach
97. Own a copy of Dance in the City and Dance in the Country by Renoir
98. Buy two more pairs of Tom's shoes
99. Learn proper posture
100. Own an expensive piece of jewelry
101. Never make a list like this again. 101 things? Man it's harder then it looks.