Spring projects & weekend words

I've been feeling more productive the past few days...I've managed to organize a lot of stuff in the bedroom, vacuum 90% of it, pulled out all my warm weather shoes, (even though the weather still isn't cooperating...which is cool, I don't mind extra winter) and even have a few spring projects to work on this week.

First up is a simple hem, but a major update...I bought these as pants last year, and then cut side slits, but only ended up wearing them a couple of times. I decided yesterday to cut them into shorts. There's still about a 3" slit on each side, and I like them much better now!

I'm also hoping to find time to make a bracelet...based on these gorgeous Chanel bracelets from the Resort 2013 collection:

Here's a sneak peek at what I'll be using for mine:

I'm actually pretty excited about that, I've had that scrap of seersucker for a while, but couldn't ever seem to find a project that seemed good enough to use it on...same goes for that anchor charm. A friend of mine gave it to me a while back, it used to be a clip-on earring, but it's long since lost the clip, and I don't have the pair anyway.

One more fashion trend I've been craving for spring is a good pair of lace shorts. I've had my eye on this pair of alice + olivia ones, but was pleasantly surprised to find these really similar (but more reasonably priced) ones in the new Pearl by Georgina of Marchesa collection at J.C. Pennys! I'm hoping to get them next month.

Here's a side-by-side comparison of them:


...Pretty sure I can find plenty of things to do with the $335 that I'll save!

Our weekend has been pretty uneventful...as usual. Well except for Josh creating his own little fiasco last night/this morning. He got drunk, and I went to bed, and apparently some weird stuff went down but he doesn't remember anything. I think I'm happier not knowing.

We walked to Family Dollar this afternoon because we forgot dish soap while we were at the grocery store yesterday, and tonight Josh grilled steaks and a lobster tail, and I made the saffron & lobster mashed potatoes. They were good, but not $36 dollar good. The saffron threads didn't seem to add anything special. I may make them again because we still have a bunch of saffron left, and I really don't know what else to use it for, but I think I'll have to mess with the recipe some...maybe add cheese. I don't know. I feel the same way about the spicy shrimp dip I made last night. Good but not great.

Anyway, on the menu this week are a couple of new dishes (superfood salad, and pineapple pepper pork chops) along with some of my recipes (spaghetti, crock pot jambalaya, and almond crusted cod). Not as adventurous as last week, but that's ok.

Still doing good on my goals for this month. Should be able to finish the month with only having bought 4 things, (sunglasses, a skirt, and two sports bras) and with a decent weight loss. (Not quite 10 pounds, but that was a long shot for a 28 day month anyway.) So far, five pounds this month, so if I can bring it down one more by the end of the week, that'll be perfect! Hopefully my knee will stay calm and I can get in my normal amount of workout time this week.

Well for some reason (oh, maybe because I'm on my 4th cup of Mio for the day) I have a ton of energy, so I'm going to go use it productively...or just dance around the living room. Whatevs.

White Christmas

Well, Christmas certainly proved to be an adventure this year! Dinner was a total bust. We had heated up the ham, and my mother-in-law had cooked stuffing (dressing? is there a difference? I don't eat the stuff), and some yams (sweet potatoes? again, something I don't eat) but my poor mashed potatoes were on the stove when the electricity went out...and never got mashed. Josh was supposed to be roasting a pork shoulder on the grill but ran out of charcoal (we didn't take into account the effect the below-freezing temperature would have on the grill, since it's not something we usually have to deal with.)

After that failed attempt we came inside, ate semi-cold ham, and played a card game by candlelight, then went back out and my brother-in-law built a fire out of one of my pallets (freezing rain all day had left us with no dry wood) and we heated up some water for coffee and hot chocolate. Not too much after that it started snowing and we all ran outside to play in it. It was cold, and wet, and absolutely, hands down, the Best Christmas Ever. (And my first white Christmas!)

It snowed hard for a good long while, and once it finally slowed down we walked around the block (so pretty!) and then brought Orion outside and let him play. He loved the snow. He was a little freaked out, though, because it messed with his sense of smell and he kept forgetting who Aaron (Joshs brother) was unless he talked to him.

After we came in, changed, and were trying to get warm two huge branches fell off the tree right next to our house...luckily they fell straight down and went in between our house and our neighbors fence, and didn't land on anything!

Our power didn't come back until last night, and we're under another winter weather advisory for tonight (snow and sleet that will turn to freezing rain when the sun comes up tomorrow) so I hope that the power stays on...but if it doesn't, at least we're prepared this time! Batteries charged, everything is washed, and we have plenty of non-perishables, paper plates, and candles.

I really didn't mind any of it, it's all one big adventure to me. The only thing that made me mad was that I hadn't thought to charge my camera battery before Tuesday so all the pictures I have of snow falling are on my phone. We went driving around town today, though, and I got some nice shots, but still...I should know better! Anyway, here's a few bunch of pictures of the snow, and a video of Orion trying to get into a snowball, because for some reason he kept thinking there was treasure inside of them or something.

Sorry if I bombarded you with pictures, but I can still count the number of times I've seen snow falling on one hand, and this was by far the most snow I've ever seen at once! It was just so exciting to me! I still love it, even the sloshy, dirty snow that's left out there. :)