Quirky Nerdy Princess

W A R D R O B E W E D N E S D A Y

2010-06-24T01:18:00.007-05:00

{top: Ann Taylor Loft - shorts: Deliahs - sandals: Old Navy - earrings: Charlotte Russe}

Alright, this is a little different of a Wardrobe Wednesday post... But I wanted to share this awesome pic of my photog buddy Jarrod took this last weekend!

We had a fantastic shoot dispite the 102 heat index... Yeah, there was a lot of sweat involved, but we're willing to look past that for our art!

You see, it was SnowFest 2010 in our town, and we weren't about to miss it!

Seeing these kids out in the snow during June, was just priceless!

There were little girls hunkered down to avoid the snowballs...

Bands with some epic bass players...

Little boys proving boy will always be boys... So cute!

I got to meet a new photo buddy!

And reconnect with my oldest and most favorite photo buddy! (Love this guy...)

Check out my Flickr account for some more pictures! It was a great day...

I promise more posts soon! I've just been so busy lately... My apologes ladies! I'll pick up my act soon, promise ♥

W A R D R O B E W E D N E S D A Y

2010-06-17T00:36:00.002-05:00

Okay, so it might technically be Thursday now... But I haven't gone to bed yet, so I think it still counts as Wednesday!

Tonight's pictures are a little different... It rained all day, so some of these are from inside the house and the last one was taken at night with only the use of our little porch light. So if you could please excuse the blurriness and awkward lighting, I'd be most grateful ♥

This dress just might be my new favorite. Oh, and the best part is it's only $13.50

{picking out my jewelry - big thanks to Becky for my fabulous and much needed haircut! }

{pearls Ryan gave me ♥ and my most favorite nail polish shade ever: revlon minted}

{dress: Forever 21 - necklace: Forever 21 - bracelet: Gift - boots: Frye Veronica Slouch}

Car Show adventures & the C U T E S T car ever ♥

2010-06-15T01:52:00.007-05:00

A few weekends back there was a HUGE car show in town. Ryan and I totally had to go because we could easily spend hours looking at beautiful classic cars. And that is just what we did!

There were 4,000 cars there! We spent hours walking and looking at them all, but there was still no way that we were able to see each and everyone. But wow, did we see some beauties ♥

And then I saw it... I saw what just might be, the cutest car ever made!!

I present to you... The BMW Isetta!

And to give you an idea of just how tiny this car is... Here's a picture I found online of Cary Grant in one!! How cool is that??

Dedicated to Charlie ♥

2010-06-15T00:52:00.006-05:00

This post is dedicated to Charlie for a few reasons. First of all a while back, I won my first blog giveaway!! I was so excited! Oh, and then when the package came... It was a week when I had been sick and nothing was going right... So let me tell you, seeing this in the mailbox, definitely gave me reason to smile!

{Oh, and Charlie, those candies were delish! Ryan kinda stole them from me though... }

And yesterday Charlie was sweet enough to award me with this lovely blog award!! I seriously can't say enough about this sweet girl. She's been a very loyal follower and always leaves me the sweetest comments ♥ If you haven't checked out her blog, go do it now!

The Rules:

Give this award to 10 Sweet Bloggers.
Make a post about the award including the picture and mention the person who gave it to you.
Put the award on your blog.

I'm passing this sweet award onto these lovely ladies:

Lindsay
Brooke
Iris
Krimly
Leigh Ashley
Chelsea
Jamie
Mandy
Nancy
Haley

If you haven't checked out these lovely blogs before, please take a moment to! You might find a new favorite, or make a new friend. Isn't it amazing how the blog world works like that? ♥

W A R D R O B E W E D N E S D A Y

2010-06-09T04:13:00.005-05:00

Alright girls, I'm going to try my hand at a new weekly post. As the title above states, this post will be about wardrobe. Some weeks it might be a post like this one, which features an outfit out of my wardrobe. Other weeks,you know the ones I'm feeling lazy, might feature an item I want in my wardrobe. Or maybe some weeks, some great sales that can help you expand your wardrobe!

{undertank: American Eagle - tank: Forever 21 - shorts: dELiA*s - shoes: American Eagle - hat: Charlotte Russe}

I tossed this together for an afternoon strolling around the park and some Thai food after (yum yum!).

I was pretty stoked to wear my new hat for the first time. I think it makes a pretty niffy prop as well ♥

Over all this outfit is a perfect example of cute (at least to me lol) ways to stay cool on these hot summer days.

MTV Movie Awards - Red Carpet Hits and Misses

2010-06-07T22:57:00.004-05:00

I wasn't able to watch all of the MTV Movie Awards last night, but I gotta say having Aziz Ansari as a host was brillant! I love him so much ♥

This post isn't so much about the awards ceremony though, it's about the red carpet. Which is of course, my favorite part of any awards ceremony ♥ So here's some of the best, the almost, and the bad.

B E S T

Cameron Diaz in this DVF minidress is just perfect! Her stylist was spot on with these shoes. In fact, I really wish they'd magically appear in my closet ♥ The casual up-do and beachy makeup makes this outfit perfect for Cameron's laid back style.

Scarlett Johansson brought a bit of Old Hollywood glamour with this belted Dolce and Gabbana dress. I love how she still makes it fun and youthful with the tousled hair and simple accessories! Oh, and how perfect is her makeup? Kudos to her stylist! Spot on ♥

Sandra Bullock in this backless Oday Shakar minidress is just pure class! Paired with sky-high Christian Louboutin heels, sleek ponytail and demure drop earrings, this is another great example of what good styling can do to an outfit ♥

Kristen Stewart shows off her quirky personality in this adorable Dolce & Gabbana piece. I love how the styling was kept simple with the strapy black heels, simple jewelry and messy ponytail. Great inspiration for an outfit for your next night out on the town! ♥

A L M O S T

Audrina Patridge looks beautiful in this silver CD Greene dress. But to be honest, these shoes and big silver bangles just ruin it... I really wish her stylist had been a bit more creative with the shoes and jewelry. I wish it had been paired with some turquoise shoes and/or jewelry, which would also make it feel more youthful and summery. This could have been a hit, but is definately a miss now!

Eva Mendes looks beautiful in this sparkly Stella McCartney dress! But once again, I'm blaming a stylist for lack of creativity. Those shoes just don't go and I really wish her hair had been swept up into a loose and casual updo to show off her beautiful neck and shoulders. This is another that could have been a huge hit, but sadly missed the mark. Oh, what could have been!

B A D

Lindsay Lohan looks like a mess in this Pamella Rolad jumpsuit. I mean, I understand her not wanting the SCRAM bracelet to show... But come on, there are plenty of beautiful maxi dresses out there right now that would have been simply stunning on her! Or even if she wanted to pair a minidress with with some boots. Just please, anything but this!

Jessica Alba is so beautiful and usually dresses fabulously. But this outfit was just a hot mess, and not in a good way! It seriously looks like she got dressed in the dark. If I were her, I'd rethink using that stylist again. I hope next time we see her on a red carpet, she'll be dressed in something as beautiful as she is!

So those are my thoughts. What did you girls think? Any thoughts on the MTV Movie Awards, ceremony or fashion? You know I love to hear from all of you! ♥

Summer Concert Plans

2010-06-03T00:28:00.006-05:00

I love music. In fact, you might say I'm a tad obsessed with it. And being a music lover, nothing quite beats the rush of seeing a gifted artist perform live. Because of this, one of my favorite things about summer, is that it's concert tour season! We've already got tickets to two on our "must see" list, and a few others that we're hoping to see... But as you know, concerts ain't cheap! (sadly...)

First, we've got Adam Lambert on July 15. I can't even say how excited I am for this show!! I think Adam has such an incredible voice, but most of all... The man was born to be on stage!! What a performer!

For those of you not familiar with Adam's music, here's a little taste for you ♥

Speaking of music videos... I can't wait for the video for his latest single "If I had You" to be released. It looks like something out of Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland" ♥

Like I said, sooo excited to see this amazing performer live!! I'm going to get as close as possible! Oh and don't worry, I will be posting pictures ♥

Then on August 13th, we will be seeing Chevelle and Shinedown(!!!)! We've been fans of both bands for quite sometime. Although, I am more familiar with Shinedown's music, so I'm probably a little more excited about them...

These guys can put on quite the show, and I can't wait to see them live and up close.

Oh, and the best part? We've got 3rd row seats!!! I get excited just thinking about it....

What concerts are all of you hitting up this summer?? Who knows, maybe I'll even bump into some fellow bloggers at these shows. You never know!

4 Wheel Jamboree

2010-05-20T03:40:00.004-05:00

Okay, so I've been guilty of seriously slacking on blogging... So this is going to be one of a few catch up blogs!

Alright, so a few weekends ago, there was a 4 Wheel Jamboree at the fairgrounds. Ryan is completely car obsessed, and I'm pretty much there myself. We've been going to car shows/events together since we were teenagers! So this event was pretty much a no brainier for us ♥

They had so many events, we were there all day!

There was mudding, which was just a blast to watch. This spunky little Bronco won! It completed the course in 3.7 seconds!

Don't let these pics fool ya, that mud was deep...

But this Bronco was epic. Look at that mud fly!

There were also some awesome BMX dudes. And wow, I don't think I could do what they do... I'd be petrified of falling!!

But these dudes, they rocked it!

Of course, what 4 Wheel Jam would be complete without a few monster trucks!

I was pretty stoked they even had the Avenger ♥ I just love the retro body style...

And to top it all off, they had the Original Bigfoot! Which is also the original monster truck.

Oh, and just to show off the sweet range my telephoto has...

That was taken from almost the top of the bleachers! Mmm, I think I love this new lens ♥

We ate nachos, pretzels, and the biggest coke I've ever seen in my life... (Wish I had taken a picture of it!) All in all, we had an absolutely amazing day together.

Award Time! ♥

2010-05-19T02:18:00.004-05:00

First of all, thank you to all my sweet commenters and followers! I'm just blown away by how amazing you girls are ♥ You have no idea how much your comments mean to me! I'm sorry I haven't been commenting back like I normally do, but I promise to get caught up this week. Life has been crazy lemme tell you... But you'll find out all about that as I get caught up with my blogging!

Anywayy... Now onto this award stuff! I've received my very first blog award!! Today was just a horrible day, so thank you sweet Liesl for this amazing treat ♥ ♥

Now, I want to pass this award onto some other great gals!

Hey Gorgeous
A beautiful and inspiring blog by the beautiful Rhiannon Nicole. PS, Happy Birthday!! ♥

Kelly Leigh Gets Busy
If you love good recipes (especially vegetarian recipes!), this is the place to go! I also love reading about Kelly's adventures living in the beautiful English Countryside ♥

Aura Joon
If you haven't read this blog before, start right now! Aura constantly leaves me inspired by her beautiful writing and photography ♥

Itsy Bitsy Brianna
It doesn't get any cuter than this blog! Brianna always makes me smile with her cheery and fun posts ♥

2 sma grisar
If you love fashion, nails or nature, check this one out! Oh, and I just love Charlie.... She's such a sweetheart ♥

Wearable Dreams
I simply love Jesa's blog! Her style constantly inspires me to dress just a bit better than I had planned ♥

Outdoor Dining

2010-05-08T17:11:00.005-05:00

One of my favorite things about this time of year, is being able to use our deck as a extension of our house. We especially love eating dinner out there. It's just so peaceful!

A week or so back, we had our first outdoor dinner of the year. It was pretty scrumptious, if I do say so myself! So I thought I'd toss the recipe up here for all to enjoy ♥

Southwestern Hash

2 cups diced potatoes
1 cup canned corn
1/2 cup black beans (drained and rinsed)
1 tbsp oil
1 tbsp butter
Lawry's seasoning - to taste
Cheese of your choice, just to top

Put a bit of oil in a skillet and add in the potatoes (not too much, just enough to let them brown). Cook until they're starting to brown, then add the black beans and corn. I then added a bit of butter for extra flavor and moisture. Then to add some spice and flavor, I tossed in a few dashes of Lawry's seasoning. Oh, and if Ryan didn't hate them... I totally would have added some diced green peppers to this! If you can't tell, I totally made this up, and encourage everyone to make their own modifications so it can fit your personal taste.

We also had Quorn Southwestern Chik'n Wings. If you're a vegetarian, or just trying to eat healthier, I highly recommend Quorn's products. They taste fantastic and are low in calories and high in protein!

This meal goes fantastic with a good craft brew, if you're into that sort of thing ♥

Park Photoshoot

2010-05-03T21:19:00.006-05:00

Last week, Ryan and I decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather by spending the day at the park. Oh, how I love soaking up the sun wandering around the park! The one we usually go to is just wonderful. We call it our hidden treasure, because there is hardly ever anyone else there! Well, other than the squirrels that is...

This park also has some beautiful little gardens, which are some of my favorite photography subjects ♥

I also had a few experimental shot ideas. I was sooo happy how these turned out! Just the way I saw them in my head. That's seriously the best feeling!! ♥

I wanted this one to have a bit of an abstract feel to it, and of course had to capture that beautiful sunlight!

I saw these little seed pod things(I don't know what they are haha) on the ground and immediately had this image pop into my mind. Ryan, who is such a great supporter of my art, was of course willing to be my hand model ♥

And Ryan didn't want to be left out, so he took some snaps of me. Eek, I'm much more comfortable behind the camera... But it did turn out pretty cute! Thanks baby! ♥

Sugar Cookies... MmmMmm ♥

2010-04-29T21:53:00.004-05:00

I have a habit of making a dessert weekly. This week I tried Pioneer Woman's Angel Sugar Cookies. This recipe is amazing ladies!! These cookies are the perfect, melt in your mouth consistency! Ryan says they're the best cookies he's ever eaten in his life. I think I might agree...

2 Large eggs
1 cup canola oil
2 sticks butter, softened
1 cup sugar (plus extra for the tops of the cookies)
1 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon pure vailla extract
4 cups, plus 2 tablespoons of flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cream of tartar

To make the dough, cream together the eggs, oil, butter, sugar, powdered sugar, and vanilla. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Refrigerate for 45 minutes to an hour. Use an ice cream scoop or spoon to drop balls of dough onto an uncreased cookie sheet. Smear a dab of butter on the bottom of a glass, then dip in sugar. Use the glass to flatten the balls of dough. Make sure you dip the glass into the sugar for each cookie. Bake for 9-11 minutes at 350 degrees.

Seriously girls, these cookies are amazing!! No, they're not diet food, but they're well worth every calorie ♥

Oh, and they go fantastic with coffee. *swoon*

Weekend Recap

2010-04-26T16:33:00.007-05:00

Friday

Friday was a rainy, kinda icky day, but I wanted to have a great weekend regardless. Ryan and I spent sometime at the mall, but hunger took over before too long! Instead of settling for food-court food, we headed over to McAlister's Deli. Mmm... I love this place ♥ It's especially good on a rainy day! After eating, we were going to just head home and catch up on tv (I know, we're exciting like that), but we got a text from some friends seeing if we wanted to get some drinks and catch a movie. Um, of course we did! So we met up at the same place we all went to last weekend and enjoyed a good hour or so of talking before we all went to see this movie...

It was absolutely fantastic!! The whole theater was laughing pretty much non-stop. I highly recommend this movie!

After the movie, we all still wanted to hang out more, so we went to hang out at The Roost. A nifty little bar, which happened to be having karaoke night. Oh my, there were some good ones to say the least! There was a Will Farrell look-a-like that had the whole place laughing with his cheese-tastic performances. All in all, a very fun night!

Saturday

Saturday I got to spend pretty much the whole day with my mom and sister! We've all been really busy lately, so this was the first girls outing we'd had in ages. I'm now kicking myself for not getting any pictures... I know, I'm a horrible person/photographer/blogger for not doing so.
We had so much fun together! We all went to see this amazing little movie...

Maybe it was just me, but the 3D on this movie seemed extra fantastic! Oh, and the movie it's self... It was just darling ♥ I think I'm going to drag Ryan to it later this week, it was just so wonderful! I definitely recommend you all go and see it. Another great thing about the movie, is it had a preview for Toy Story 3 in 3D!! I'm so excited for that movie... I'm kinda obsessed with Dreamworks/Pixar cartoons ♥

After the movie we went and had dinner at...

If you live in Springfield, and haven't been to The Grotto, you need to go ASAP! It's one of the few places in town I can get a totally vegan meal without feeling like I'm missing something. Oh, and they've got a nice craft brew menu, if you're into that sort of thing.

We had such a great time talking and just enjoying all being together! I can't wait until summer when everyone is out of school and I can spend more time with my wonderful family ♥

How was your weekend?? I'd love to hear all about it ♥

PS, I want to thank you all for the wonderful comments you've been leaving!! I'm sorry I'm behind on responding, but I promise I'll catch up ASAP ♥ xoxo

10 dresses under $30

2010-04-22T02:17:00.003-05:00

I don't know about you, but this Spring weather has me in the mood to buy some dresses! And what girl doesn't love a good deal, right?

There's a dress for every occasion here. From a night out on the town to a nice walk in the park!

Forever 21 - $14.80

Forever 21 - $22.90

Forever 21 - $11.50

Forever 21 - $27.80

Forever 21 - $24.80

Forever 21 - $17.80

Forever 21 - $24.80

Forever 21 - $19.80

Ladies and Gentlemen: Mark your calendars!

2010-04-20T16:26:00.006-05:00

Mad Men returns for it's 4th season on July 25th!

I was so happy to hear this news! Mad Men is hands down one of my favorite tv shows. From the beautiful cinematography to the breath-taking costumes and sets, this show embodies the glam and drama of the 60's.

If you haven't seen the past seasons, you're seriously missing out. I highly recommend that you rent the dvds and get caught up before this new season starts!

Fun times with wonderful friends ♥

2010-04-20T15:37:00.001-05:00

Saturday night we went to a going away party for some friends. It'll be sad to see these two go, but they're not moving that far away, so I think keeping in touch will be pretty easy.

The party was so much fun! We all started out at a local Mexican restaurant, where Ryan ordered this vegetarian burrito. Wow, was he shocked at the size!

(please excuse the quality, these are phone pictures)

After dinner we all headed out for some drinks, dancing and watching the Cardinals in a almost never-ending ballgame!

Seriously, if all weekends could be like this, life would be awesome! But then, I'd be very sleep deprived...

Oxfords for Spring

2010-04-15T01:01:00.003-05:00

I'm really loving the Oxford trend right now. I sadly don't have a pair yet myself, but hopefully that'll change soon!

These are perfect for everyday! I can just picture these with shorts and a tunic top...

Bakers Shoes - $49.99 (also in black)

Picture with a cool grahpic t-shirt, cuffed destroyed jeans, and maybe a little vintage jacket...

Bakers Shoes - $49.99 (also in black)

It's like an oxford mixed with a ballet flat! And it has a wedge! It's like the shoe gods designed it just got me...

Bakers Shoes - $39.99 (also in gray and black)

Um, yeah... These are awesome! I would totally wear these on a night out...

Urban Outfitters - $128 (also in white)

So which one is your favorite?? I think I'm kinda leaning towards the first pair. They're basic, classic and would go with everything!

What can you get for $10 or under?

2010-04-13T00:29:00.004-05:00

Well, if you check out Urban Outfitters sale... You can get all sorts of wonderful things! I already made my order, cause things are going fast. In fact, one thing I wanted was already OOS by the time I went to check out :(

They've got everything from sunglasses, to tops, to a hedgehog nail brush!

Oh, and if you order, don't forget to use Ebates! And there's a 10% off code (UOUOUO) going around so add that on there too!

Now I'm waiting, rather impatiently for my order... Once it comes I promise lots of pictures!

If all days were like this...

2010-04-10T22:46:00.013-05:00

...then life would be perfect! ♥ ♥

First thing on the agenda today, hitting up our favorite flea markets! I probably should have taken pictures there... But they were packed and I didn't want to risk knocking anything over with my camera. But I ended up finding two adorable little Pyrex cups at a steal of a price - Only $1.40 for both!! And they go perfectly with my little Pyrex refrigerator dish, which I use as a k-cup holder!

Before we knew it, it was time for lunch. For lunch we hit up a great little local spot, The Purple Burrito. It's such a great little place. I wish I'd gotten a picture of the outside, but I didn't... The building is painted bright purple and inside all the tables are made out of raw cheap particle board and metal. Sounds odd I know, but it works and is very charming!

Oh and the food... It's amazing California style Mexican food. And they've got some great vegetarian options. I always get the vegetarian burrito, which is stuffed full with green peppers, pico de gallo, cheese, guacamole, sauteed onions, sour cream, rice and beans... Oh, and it comes with a side of chips and your choice of salsa from their salsa bar :) I promise this picture doesn't exaggerate... It really is so huge it can't fit on the plate!

After this we headed over to Jordon Valley park, which is a favorite of ours. Set right by the heart of our downtown :)

We found a hilltop and claimed it as ours...

From our hill we had quite the view! In front of us was the rest of the park...

To the left overlooked the part that branches back to downtown...

And behind us was the ballpark...

I took a few pictures of Ryan...

And he took a few of me...

I love this park! It has everything...

From beautiful flowers...

To dinosaurs...

Oh, and on the way home we stopped at local wonder, Andy's!

We split a peanut butter cup sundae! And oh my... It was blissful! Just like our day ♥

Happiness is...

2010-04-06T02:36:00.006-05:00

1. My sweetheart making me the best French Toast ever for breakfast ♥
2. Long talks with friends ♥
3. Trips to the zoo ♥
4. Photo outings with my photog buddies ♥
5. Having a fabulous hair day ♥
6. Finding treasures at flea markets ♥
7. Skype convos with my bff who lives across the globe ♥
8. Reading in the sun ♥
9. Playing music until my fingers hurt during jam sessions with Ryan ♥
10. Cuddling ♥

She & Him.

2010-04-04T23:50:00.005-05:00

If you haven't yet listened to the latest album by She & Him, you are missing out! First of all, I would like to say that they were brilliant to release this just in time for Spring and Summer, as the music just calls for lazy summer days in the park. I can just picture how magical it would be to listen to on a picnic, during a breezy Spring day!

I love the soft folksy sound that this duo infuses into their songs. In my mind, they can do no wrong.

If you haven't yet tried their music, I encourage you to give it a go! Here's a little taste for your music pleasure :)

♥ Spring is here ♥

2010-03-31T19:31:00.001-05:00

I don't know if I've ever been so happy for Springtime! The Midwest had a horrible winter this year. In fact just 10 days ago we had a mini snowstorm! But it looks like that has finally come to an end :)

Today was 80, sunny and just beautiful! To celebrate, me and my little Twiggy spent the day outside reading, playing, listening to music and having a mini-photoshoot. I think the pics of my little one turned out just adorable! But of course, I am a little biased...

Hope all of you are having a lovely Spring as well ♥

A $10 mall trip

2010-03-29T22:49:00.005-05:00

When you think of spending $10 at the mall, you think of buying some cheap sunnies. Or maybe a beater tank. Well, today I got so much more than that!

First stop was Victoria's Secret. I had one of those "Free Undie and $10 off" coupons I wasn't about to let go to waste! I picked out the undies and then the hunt was on for what I wanted to use the $10 off on. That's when I stumbled upon the new Victoria's Secret Pink Go Natural line. The products are all natural and smell amazing! I especially loved the sweetness of the Vanilla Shea and the crispness of the Citrus Mint :) Best part is, they're 3 for $12! So I was able to get a body wash and two body mists for only $2! Talk about a steal, right??

And for me, no trip to the mall is complete without stopping in Forever 21! Never know what treasures you'll unearth in there :) This trip I fell in love with this awesome graphic tank. I always complain about guys graphic t's having all the cool prints, so I was thrilled to find this one!

After trying it on, I was convinced I had to have it. So I took a glance at the price tag, and it was only $12.80!! How can you pass that up... Oh, and I had a bit left on a old birthday giftcard! So that brought my mall day total to only $10 :D Not too shabby, eh?

I'm back!

2010-03-29T01:12:00.003-05:00

I know most of you are scratching yours heads thinking "Wait... who is this girl?". Yep, I've been gone from blogging a long time! I had an amazing year, with so many adventures and experiences. The only downside was that I was too busy living to blog!

But things have calmed down and I'm going to make a real effort to blog at least once a week. I figure start with a reasonable goal, and hope to beat it, right?

And to make this feel more like an actual blog post, I'm going to share with you an amazing product I have discovered!

This my dear friends, is Batter Blaster! I know at first glance it looks gross and like it must be horrible for you. But it's not, I promise! It's Organic, made with wheat flour, cane sugar and no preservatives. I love cooking, probably even more than your average girl, but sometimes you just want a quick, easy no-mess breakfast. Ryan even says they take less effort than cereal!

For more info on this wonder product, just click here!

An Australian in Wal-Mart

2009-08-31T18:00:00.004-05:00

It's midnight. You've got an Australian house-guest who is still on Australian time, and two Americans who are night owls. You want to do something. But everything is closed. What do you do? Well, the answer is simple! Go to Wal-Mart and entertain yourselves!

Sarah was in total awe of the hugeness that is Wal-Mart, and couldn't get over the fact that it's 24/7! She was pretty in love and still misses it...

Shopping and meeting a real life Mall Cop

2009-08-30T14:03:00.002-05:00

Sarah and I constantly online shop together, and we had always dreamed of the day when we could actually browse a store and try things on together. And when that day finally came... The pocketbooks cried. But we rejoiced! So it was all worth it, right??

We live in a small town and I'll be the first to tell you our mall isn't the most impressive. But to Sarah, it was heaven!! After all, it has Forever 21 and Victoria's Secret! While she was here I think we went to Forever 21 4 times and to Victoria's Secret at least 3 times. I kid you not. Those stores loved us! It was shocking the amount we spent at VS alone...

The picture below is of just one of our many shopping trips. I wish we'd gotten a picture of all the bags we collected over the trip... The guest room was flooded with them!

While at our mall, Sarah discovered that there are indeed real life Mall Cops. She was so in awe that she asked for a picture. Here's the exchange that confused the Mall Cop that we lovingly named Nigel.

Sarah: Excuse me, I'm from Australia and we don't have Mall Cops with the little scooter thing there, would you mind terribly much if I took your picture?

Nigel: Umm.. *confused look* I guess not?

Sarah: *so excited* Thank you thank you! I can't wait to show all my friends back home. See we just saw the movie Mall Cop and we thought they were just made up!

Nigel: Wait. Now that you mention Mall Cop, you can't take the pic. That was a horrible movie!

Sarah: *super sad* Really??

Nigel: I guess you still can.

*Sarah takes the picture*

Nigel: *points to me and Ryan* So are you guys Australian too?

Us: No, we're from here.

Nigel: *confused* So how do you know each other?

Us: We met online.

Nigel: *more confused* like on myspace or something?

us: No, on Yahoo chat *smile*

Nigel: *even more confused* Okay... Uh... Have a nice visit. *rides off*

Yeah... we kinda have that effect on people...

The story of my Australian sis-in-law - whom I love oh so dearly

2009-08-28T19:39:00.003-05:00

June 21st was a day that I'd been looking forward to for months! It marked the day that my best friend/sis-in-law was coming for her first ever US visit!! Just to clear things up... No, my guy isn't Australian. And no, Sarah and Ryan are not actual bro and sis. But let me tell you - these two are more brother and sister than many who actually share DNA. They met randomly in a Yahoo chat room almost 10 years ago, doing what they love -terrorizing noobs haha Neither one can pin point when they started calling each other bro and sis. It just was!

When Ryan and I started dating, I was tossed into a buddy chat to be introduced to Ryan's "Australian sister". Sarah and I instantly loved each other and she is hands down my best friend in the world!

Last fall Sarah decided she was ready for a break from her life in Aus and wanted to come check out the US. Best. News. Ever. We've all been counting down to June for so long! Getting to hug Sarah in person for the first time was awesome! It was amazing how natural it felt for all of us to be together. And of course I loved getting to hear that awesome Aussie accent!

Poor Sarah's luggage ended up in Nebraska... So she was stuck without any clothes except the ones she'd been wearing for over 24 hours on the plane. After getting her a nice hot meal (which was most welcome after just eating airline food) - we showed her the wonders of 24-hour Wal-Marts! She was able to get some clothes to tide her over until the next day when hers would finally make it to Springfield. Even though she was so tried, we all stayed up until the early morning talking non-stop!

The next day Sarah and I had hair appointments! Sarah's always been a huge fan of my stylist, so once June arrived, she told me to make her a hair appointment for as soon as she got here. She decided to be daring and ditch her dark hair for a new sexy blonde hue!

After getting all beautified, we decided to enjoy the nice weather by heading down to The Branson Landing, a fun outdoor shopping plaza that's right on the lake. Sarah and I are total shopaholics, so we were stoked to finally get to shop together! The three of us had a grand time strolling around, shopping, and most of all enjoying getting to be together in real life!

Oh, and did I mention she came baring gifts?! And I'll let you all in on an embarrassing secret. In the two and a half weeks Sarah was here... We ate all those goodies... And another care package her lovely mum sent us... It was really shocking...

I'll be posting daily until the story of Sarah's US trip has been told in full. Here are the posts you've got to look forward to!

Saturday: Shopping! and our encounter with a mall cop (not as bad as it sounds... haha)
Sunday: Midnight Madness - Introducing Sarah to 24/7 Wal-Marts
Monday: Parlor 88 - Night on the town part 1
Tuesday: Spending the day at the pool & OMG I finally won something!!
Wednesday: Barhopping craziness!
Thursday: 4th of July! Even Sarah felt patriotic :)
Friday: Photography outing! We tackle nature photography and urban photography. All in one day!
Saturday: Last night out & tear filled goodbyes :(
Sunday: I'll wrap things up with a note on differences between American and Australia living. And a little American/Australian dictionary!

Whew! Hope I can keep up with that! *fingers crossed* Oh... and that's just the first part of the summer! Now you girls know why I haven't been blogging!

I'm back!

2009-08-28T03:14:00.002-05:00

Hello everyone,

I happily return to the world of blogging! How are all of you doing?? I had the best summer ever! It ended up being so busy that I decided to dedicate all my time to living and save the blogging for when things calmed down a bit. Now that my life has returned to it's normal somewhat boring self, I have the time to share the adventures of my summer with you :)

I have so many great stories and pictures! I can't wait for you all to see. I'm having a blast writing about my summer because it's like living the fun all over again!

I'm also looking forward to getting back in touch with all my blog friends!! Hopefully you awesome gals remember me :)

First summer post will be tomorrow and then I will try to keep a steady stream of posts coming to you all! Ahhh, nice to be back in the blog world again *wink*

What I've Been Up To

2009-06-05T15:18:00.002-05:00

First of all, big welcome and thank you to all my new followers! Wow! I feel honored :)

Now then, I know I've been a little absent lately. But it's with good reason, I promise you! I've just been too tired and sore to type. You see, we're in the middle of giving our house a facelift.

This facelift includes:
Refinishing ceilings
Painting galore
New light fixtures
Total new bathroom (countertops, floors, sink, faucet, everyyything)
Refinishing the deck
New deck furniture and all outdoor goodies
New front yard landscaping

Then of course there's lots of fun extras like:
Refinishing awesome vintage furniture
Buying new decor (yayy!)

Tomorrow we're taking a break from the really hard stuff and just putting up a few light fixtures and then shopping for home decor! I'm so excited!! I'll be sure to post pictures of all my goodies!

A Game of Tag

2009-05-29T23:13:00.010-05:00

I was so excited to see Brooke had tagged me! This is my first time being tagged here in blog world. I think this is a really fun one, because we learn so much about each other :) I learned that Brooke is amazingly awesome and loves mint chocolate chip from baskins!

What is your current obsession?
Three words for you:
Epic. Pet. Wars.

What is your current favorite memory?
Oh wow... So many amazing ones to pick from! How about this one from tonight...

Getting all sanzzied up and going out for a romantic dinner with Ryan. Then going to the park at twilight. Walking, talking and swinging on the swingset. What a great night!

Starbucks or Peet's?
As long as I can get a White Chocolate Raspberry latte, I'm good to go!

What's for dinner?
Pasta House! Love this place so much... I have so many amazing memories involving this place. They even catered our wedding :)

What would you eat for your last meal?
Vegetable dinner from O'Hana. It's pure heaven! I promise I'll take pics next time I go :)

What's the last thing you bought?
Lunch for me, my mom and sister! Girls afternoon out, ya know.

What are you listening to right now?
Ryan playing Plants vs. Zombies haha

What is your favorite ice-cream flavour?
Chunky Monkey! I love to sit down and eat the whole container!! Ahhh, the advantages of having the metabolism of a caffeinated squirrel...

What do you think of the person who tagged you?
I think Brooke is adorable, quirky and all around fabulous! I feel like we have loads in common and can always count on a smile from reading her blog :) I just wish she lived by me so we could be shopping buddies!!

What was your favorite toy growing up?
I adored Littlest Pet Shop and the original Polly Pockets! I had sooo many of those things... 80's/90's had the best toys ever!

If you could go anywhere in the world
for the next hour, where would you go?
Parrot Cay in Turks & Caicos. A hour there will rejuvenate you for years! (But it apparently can't help you hold a camera straight. This was before I'd taken up photography...)

Which language do you want to learn?
Spanish! It was my dad's first language, but he never taught me. Now I wish I spoke it fluently...

What's your favorite quote (for now)?

Reason. Season. Lifetime.

Big thank you for Sarah to telling me this quote. It has made such a difference in my life! It tells you that some people are brought into your life for a reason, maybe to teach you something about yourself or to show you something about life. Some people are brought into your life for a season and even if them leaving your life hurts you, you know that it was meant to be. Lifetime is for amazing people like Sarah and Ryan, who I know without a doubt will be in my life for me whenever needed, no matter what happens.

What is your favorite colour?
ooo... Toughie! Maybe yellow? I'm pretty drawn to that lately.

What is your favorite piece
of clothing in your own wardrobe?
My new destroyed jeans! Luv 'em!

What is your dream job?
Professional photographer! I love taking pictures and capturing moments that you might otherwise miss. Nothing makes me happier than taking someones photo and having it show, not only their outer beauty, but their inner beauty and personality!

Or a stylist... I love clothes and love putting outfits together for people! I believe having clothes, hair, and accessories that expresses who you are is very important. I love doing this for all my friends and family, hopefully they don't mind too much... haha

What is your worst habit?
Probably over thinking things and worrying myself sick about things that don't really matter... Or not keeping up with housework... But I'm making a lot of progress in that department! I think I've hit my groove or something...

If you had £100 now, what would you spend it on?
Canon EF 50mm f/1.8!! Gotta love the low aperture, gotta love the low price. And of course, every photographer needs a "niffy fifty" in their bag :)

Do you admire any one's style?
I admire so many girls style everyday just walking down the street! lol But as far as celebs go - I wouldn't mind swapping clothes with Rachel Bilson, Keira Knightley or Vanessa Hudgens!

Describe your personal style?
Since the end of last year to this Spring, I've changed a lot as a person and made a lot of good and needed changes to my life. I'm kinda in the middle of a style change to reflect that. I want to my outside to reflect what I feel and who I am on the inside. So far I'm really liking all the changes :)

Right now I've got kind of an indie chic socal with a bit of 60's vintage thing going on. Maybe... I dunno how to define it! You tell me lol

What are you going to do after this?
Go watch tv and snuggle with Ryan! And I'm going to see UP!!!! (tomorrow... but still, I'm stoked!)

What are your favourite movies?
Here are my current top 5 movies.

1) Star Trek! Yes, I am a trekkie. At the end of the movie I sat there and almost cried because it was so amazing. Seeing my favorite characters portrayed so perfectly and those famous classic lines delivered anew *bliss*

2) The Dark Knight - It's awesome. 'Nuff said!

3) Casino Royale - The actors, the sets, the wardrobe. Amazing!

4) Pillow Talk - A 1959 gem that even Ryan (who doesn't like old movies) loves!

5) The Ice Age Series - I cannot wait for the new one! Scratte in the new one looks and acts, just like Twiggy.

What is your favourite fruit?
So many choices... I'll say a crisp white peach! Nothing beats that in the summer. Or watermellon... That's pretty epic as well.

What inspires you?
People who beat the odds
Big cities
People who are true to themselves regardless what other people think
Beautiful parks
The ocean
Genuine people who truly care
Zoos
Stary nights
A truly good movie

Your favorite book?
I love books! I have so many favorites... The one I'm reading right now is Eclipse from the Twilight Saga. That's my favorite of the four!

Do you collect something?
I have so many little collections... As a young girl I collected rocks! And marbles... and teddy bears... and vintage buttons... and anything I could get my little hands on! haha

Now I just have a mini-sized perfume collection.

What is your favorite smell?
My new Cherry Blossom perfume!! I usually buy pricey high-end perfumes - but this one is amazing!! It mixes perfectly with my body chemistry.

What are you most proud of?
I'm really proud that I've learned to stand up for myself and be true to myself. I don't let people push me around anymore!

What do you like most about yourself?

Probably my ability to be friends with anyone!

What is your go-to nail polish color?
Maybelline Express Finish in Racey Red. Goes with everything, and dries crazy fast! And it makes short nails look amazingly chic, which is good for this bass player.

1) Respond and rework. Answer the questions on your blog. Replace one question that you dislike with a question of your invention and add one more question of your own.

2) Tag eight folks

Brooke and I hang with the same blogging crowd, so I didn't tag any of the awesome gals she did. Not that it's a rule that you can't! I just did it this way to spread the love a bit more :) But I wanted to say why, so they didn't think they were unloved haha

I'm tagging these amazing chicks:

Sarah @ If my life were a blog post...
Maegan @ ...love Maegan
Violet @ The Quiet Life of Violet
Gigi @ love, milla jane
Anne @ Six Gun Annie
Dana @ My Simple RaNdOmNeSs!
Haley @ elizabeth haley
Lorianne @ One Minute at a Time

I wanna tag everyone! I hate picking... So if you read all the way through this - considered yourself officially tagged :) If you give it a try post a link in the comments. You know we all wanna see!

Where It All Came From

2009-05-28T14:13:00.000-05:00

Oh gosh, I can't believe I forgot to include links, let alone the store the stuff came from! I feel like I failed blogging 101 haha Thank you all for your sweet comments and glad you guys like the stuff so much you wanna know where to find it :)

White Blouse - dELiA*s

Destroyed Jeans - dELiA*s

Shoes - Jessica Simpson Camila in Antique Natural Leather

Orange Floral Top - Forever 21

White Beater Tank - Forever 21 ($3.50 and loads of different colors!)

Shorts - dELiA*s

Koi T-shirt - Urban Outfitters

Grey T-shirt - Urban Outfitters

Wolverine T-shirt - Urban Outfitters

Giraffe T-shirt - Forever 21

Plaid Shirt - dELiA*s

Fab Satin Hair Bow Bobby Pin - Forever 21 ($1.50 for 2!)

Braided Print T-shirt - American Eagle (also in that outfit Seven jeans and Ann Taylor Loft espradrills)

Yellow Dress - Urban Outfitters (sold out in the yellow, sorry girls...)

Thank you all again for the sweet comments and all the new follows!! I'm so glad that you liked everything!!

What's In Those Bags?!

2009-05-27T00:25:00.000-05:00

It's about time I made this post! I kept meaning to take pics of my new clothes, but first my batteries died, and then things got busy. So here they are! The photography is just horrible... I have bad bad bad lighting in my bathroom and hallway... *cringes*

This is one of my new favorite outfits!! The first night I wore this out, I got a compliment on the jeans, so I was happy :)

Better shot of the shoes! Any idea how hard it is to take a picture of your own shoe? It's hard, believe me!

eek, this one turned out way too warm! But the shirt is amazinggggg! Quick tip, if you want a great beater tank, go to Forever 21. They're only $3.50!! Crazy, right?

I've got a thing for Koi fish. And pale colors. So this shirt was made for me! Oh, and how awesome are these shorts?? I'd been wanting a pair like this really bad, and finally found them in my size. Score!

Trying out the tucked in style. I think I like it! And I love Urban Outfitters t-shirts...

Vintage. Japanese. Wolverine. Yeah, this shirt rocks.

Loveee this shirt - and my little cream hair bow :)

The camera strap and my hand blocked some of the detail... Stock photo saves the day!

Lovee this top!! So comfy but chic. I wore it out to dinner in Kansas City (the day I bought it haha)

Some of you might remember this from a post a while back! I'm so happy to have this dress!! I forgot to get a pic of it... So once again, stock picture saves the day!

Giraffe in heart shaped glasses. Coolness indeed.

I was out of body wash, so I popped in Bath & Body Works to see if anything caught my fancy. I lucked out and they were having a sale! Buy a perfume get a body wash free :) I decided on this fabulous Cherry Blossom scent. Mmmm, I love it!

So that my friends, sums up my shopping! I hadn't been able to go shopping for a while, but since Ryan got a fabulous promotion I was given free reign. It was quite funny though. Since I had only window shopped for a while, it took me a bit to get out of that mindset. Ryan had to practically force me to buy things at first! But once I get started... Uh oh!

"Weekend" Getaway part 2

2009-05-24T03:54:00.000-05:00

Day two began with us heading over to Zona Rosa - yet another outdoor shopping/dining district! They had some of my favorite stores like Forever 21, DSW, and dELiA*s. The weather was perfect for strolling around in the sun. I sadly didn't get as many pictures as the day before because I was plum worn out from all the activities from the day before...

I've got to give a little kudos to Ryan here - The guy was amazing! I shopped allllll day long. Looked at every single item in Forever 21 (and you know just how many items they have!) and tried on at least 30 shoes of a similar style at DSW, and the never complained once!! How amazing is that?? He gave great opinions and even helped me find some great pieces I'd missed. He's the best! What can I say :)

He was rewarded with an amazing lunch and drinks at Bravo Cucina Italiana! It was a great resturant and now I'm wishing they had one in Springfield. It's a nice mix of fine and casual dining and has amazing fresh-made food with great presentation.

We both got the Mezza Ravioli Insalata - which makes a great lunch because it's half an order of their cheese ravioli (housemade ricotta & parmesan ravioli striped with basil-pine nut pesto and cream tomato sauces over alfredo) and a side salad. And as a nice refresher from the simmery hot day, we both got mojitos :)

Later in the day we meandered on over to One Nineteen, which is the KC metro areas latest slice of shopping heaven. It has a very upscale boutique feel about it, which I loved. I pretty much died and went to heaven while in Crate & Barrel and West Elm... I prolly could have dropped 10k easily haha

They also had the cutest little frozen yogurt bar Mochi-yo. We of course couldn't resist and had to get some! Yummy stuff...

So that concludes our adventures of the week. We later headed home and enjoyed Sonic cranberry slushies and tatter tots for dinner midway on the trip home. Perfect end to a perfect trip!

Tomorrow I will finally post pics of my haul. Keep an eye out - there's some cute stuff!

"Weekend" Getaway part 1

2009-05-22T02:31:00.000-05:00

This week Ryan and I took a little "weekend" trip up to Kansas City for some shopping, eating out, and just having fun relaxing. I say "weekend" because this trip was in the middle of the week. All the shopping districts we were wanting to go to were outdoors, so we waited for the perfect weather. Wow, what a great decision that was! Nothing beats shopping til your hearts content on a beautiful summer day :)

We first headed over to Country Club Plaza, which is just amazing!

It was designed in 1922 and has beautiful Spanish architecture.

They have over 150 stores and dozens of restaurants. It's a great place for both window shopping, and actual shopping. Having a wide range of stores from Tiffany & Co. to American Eagle. They also had the most adorable specialty food shop, I was ready to buy the place out!

They also have oodles of fountains and fun statues like these penguins :) This is for you Sarah!

And of course since this was a trip for shopping... We picked up a few things :)

I was going to include pics of all my haul in this post, but my camera battery died! So you'll have to wait... But keep an eye out, cause I got some rad stuff!

We stayed at the most adorable hotel & spa ever. It's actually a historic hotel that has completed a total renovation into the chic and green Q Hotel + Spa. It might not be the biggest most luxurious hotel I've stayed at, but it as a million amenities and I felt right at home! Best part... Free made to order omelets!

For dinner we went to Uno Chicago Grill. We'd recently seen it on the Food Network, and wanted to see if it lived up to the hype. WOW, did it ever!!

We of course, had to order their deep dish pizza. After much debating, we ordered the Four Cheese - mozzarella, cheddar, romano and feta with basil pesto and plum tomatoes (my favorites all in one pizza!) I still dream about the flaky delish crust...

After dinner we headed back to the parking garage, when I had the brilliant idea to head up to the top story and get some night shots. I've never really done night photography, so I was excited to mess around a little.

I was extremely proud of this skyline style shot. I had to use a crazy long shutter speed (2 seconds!) - and I have no tripod, so that was me bracing against a thin rail atop a very very high parking garage!

And that pretty much concludes the first day of our trip :) Check back Monday for part 2!

Epic Pet Wars

2009-05-12T02:24:00.000-05:00

I have a confession to make. I've been bitten by the by the MMORPG bug... And I'm showing that I'm a nerd by knowing what MMORPG (also called MMO, MMOG, etc) means. For those of you who don't know what it means, I'll shed some light on the subject. It stands for Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game. Whew... That's a mouth full! Hence the scads of abbreviation used for it.

Some of the most common of these include, of course World of Warcraft. And most recently I believe the world of social networking has been taken over by Mobsters... I've never played any of these games. Never seen the appeal... Then while browsing the top free apps on my iPod, I saw it! Epic. Pet. Wars.

The cute little animals totally caught my eye and seeing as it's a free app, I just had to install it. That and I'm a sucker for games where you can adopt cute little pets :)

Friends, let me introduce you to my cute little warriors!

I love using strategy in this game (as you're supposed to). I'm always plotting the best and most efficient ways to level up... And so far so good! These screen shots were taken last night, and since then my careful plotting has taken little EmmyBear to a level 9 and IndieBindi to a level 8!

Seriously - addictive, cute and fun! I urge you all to give this game a try, it's free and a great way to pass some time. If you've got an iPhone/iPod grab the app, and if you don't head over to the website. Oh, and since I'm in desperate need of a posse... Please add me using the friend code braynl :)

Shame on me!

2009-05-12T02:23:00.001-05:00

I feel I owe you all an apology for the serious lack of blogging going on here! It was one of those weeks that lots of crazy stuff happened, some of it good, a lot of it fairly crummy... And I know you all don't want to hear about that junk!

But I have lots of exciting stuff going on this week that I promise to blog about! And get some more recipes up :)

Now that I've taken care of that... I will continue with my regular random blogging.

PS Thank you all so much for your wonderful comments! They always make my day :)

My kind of Saturday

2009-05-03T02:10:00.000-05:00

Today was a good day. Due to rainy, rainy, rainy weather we decided to take a cozy and laid back approach to Saturday night out.

No a-list dining tonight. I wanted my version of comfort food! Dinner at my favorite deli. Oh, and the big tv was set on HGTV! How awesome is that??

I got the veggie sandwich, vegetarian chili and the best pickles you will ever eat! Unless you're Ryan, who hates pickles, hence me having two haha Ryan got a delish Panini and mashed potatoes, and helped me finish off my chili. What would I do without him? Oh, and I got an amazing huge fresh baked white chocolate & macadamia nut cookie, but forgot to get a picture...

Then we headed out to Barnes & Noble. Where we snatched up all sorts of awesome books and curled up at coffee shop with them. Mmmm, talk about a great way to enjoy a stormy day! Due to his work, Ryan was drawn to all the marketing/business books - and due to being a guy, he was drawn to the latest Lee Child book lol

I collected a variety of photography books (of course!) and Confessions of a Shopaholic :) I bought Confessions of a Shopaholic, but decided to be content reading the photography books in the store for the time being. Saving all I can for our Kansas City trip :)

Out of all the photography books, this was one of my favorite. The photos were beautiful and I loved how they explained all the technique!

Oh yes, and Ryan's a pyromaniac... And I was proud of my nighttime lighting :)

All in all, a great Saturday :) What have you all been up to?

Pizza Night!

2009-05-02T00:21:00.000-05:00

I love pizza... Love it! And Ryan, he loves pesto. I do mean loves it! Toss those amazing things together and what do you get? A delish pesto, roma, fresh mozzarella pizza!

To make this extra helpful to all you girls with busy lives, I'm going to include time saving short-cuts that can be added to make this almost as quick and easy as delivery!

First of all, start off with your favorite pizza dough. I've always had good luck with this recipe:

3 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup warm water
1 package dry yeast (1 Tbsp)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon honey
3/4 cup water
Combine salt and flour. Dissolve the yeast in warm water; let sit for 10 minutes. Add the oil, honey, water, and yeast mixture to the flour. Stir. Knead for 5 minutes. Let rest in a warm place for an hour. Stretch dough and place on an oiled sheet (don't oil the sides of the pan so that the dough will adhere and stay stretched). Top with sauce, cheese, etc. Bake at 425 deg.

Quick & Easy Tip: Just grab a Pillsbury thick pizza crust from your favorite supermarket, it tastes great! And no one will know but you, promise!

Now take several dollops of pesto and spread it around. I didn't really measure, just put it on until it's how you like it!

Quick & Easy Tip: Use a pesto from a jar. Sometimes they're even yummier than fresh-made! And they save so much time...

Now thinly slice some Roma tomatoes (I believe I used almost 2 for this). Make sure you slice them nice and thin, otherwise they'll make the pizza watery. Also slice up some fresh Mozzarella - once again make thin slices.

Quick & Easy Tip: Have your husband chop! Other than that... I'm not sure how to make this step quicker or easier lol

Now just lay the Mozzarella evenly across the pizza. Don't use too much, a little goes a long way and you don't want to lose that wonderful pesto flavor! Then lay the tomatoes on top and you're almost done.

I lightly tossed some Feta and Parmesan to add even more flavors. It would still be delish without it, but I'm a sucker for Feta. I love the tangy flavor!

Quick & Easy Tip: Be like me and use the Parmesan out those plastic tubs! I wanted to use fresh, but I didn't have any on hand... It still tasted amazing!

Now just follow the directions that go along with whatever dough you use and you will shortly have an amazing, mouth-watering dinner! Tastes extra yummy when severed with a salad and Vitamin Water 10 in the Lemonade flavor...

Eight

2009-04-28T02:53:00.001-05:00

I consider myself tagged by Holly's post :)

8 Things I Am Looking Forward To:
-Ryan's birthday May 9th!!
-Kansas City weekend shopping trip
-Arts Fest photography with Jarrod this weekend
-Getting a new lens this summer
-4th of July!
-Swimming
-Getting to hug Sarah in person on June 21st!!
-Finishing up remodeling

8 Things I Did Yesterday:
-Watched Heroes season finale
-Ate Ocean Zen leftovers (yummy!)
-Talked to Sarah!
-Played with Twiggy
-Got a headache from too doing too much code work...
-Ran errends
-Wished it wasn't a rainy day - because all my plans were set outdoors...
-Worked out

8 Things I Wish I Could do:
-Play guitar (going to work on that...)
-Speak fluent Spanish
-Get paid to travel...
-Paint
-Think of 8 things I wish I could do...

8 Shows I Watch:
-Lost
-House, MD
-24
-Heroes
-Greek
-Dinner Impossible
-American Idol
-Make Me A Supermodel

8 Favorite Fruits:
-Oranges
-Fresh Peaches in the summer
-Raspberries
-Strawberries
-Pineapple
-Kiwi
-Blueberries
-Green Apples

8 Places I’d Like to Travel To:
-Australia!
-Maine
-England
-Italy
-Paris
-New York City
-Fiji
-Bahamas

8 Places I’ve Lived:
-Sherman, TX
-Joplin, MO
-Duenweg, MO
-Cherryvale, KS
-Seymour, MO
-Nashville, MO
-Mckinney, TX
-Ozark, MO
I've lived lots of places, nowhere interesting though! lol

Anyone who sees this, consider yourself tagged! If you do it on your blog, leave a comment with a link :)

My Baby

2009-04-26T23:47:00.000-05:00

On July 4th 2007, I found something that caught my eye. A classified ad for a little girl Pomeranian that was described as "teddy bear like". See, my husband had been wanting a little girl Pom so bad... We'd looked at lots of ads, but no picture captured his heart, or mine. I remembered him saying "I want one that looks like a teddy bear!".

So I quickly emailed and asked if the little Pom was still available and if we could see some pictures. When I opened the next email, this is what I saw...

We were caught. Hook, line and sinker!! After a bit more emailing, it was decided that we would drive down the next day to see her in person. We both promised that if she wasn't "the one" we'd wait until we found our perfect match, even though it'd be a 2 hour drive to see her. (yeah right... like we'd be able to leave without her!)

After driving out to the middle of no where, I swear I've never seen a highway that small before... We finally met the owner and he presented me with this little angel! She promptly snuggled up to my chest and gave me a quick kiss on the chin. I was sold. And lemme tell you... If you think I was sold - Ryan was sold even harder!

On the car ride home we discussed names. We wanted something girly, something cute and unique. The chosen name was Twiggy, after the gorgeous mod model herself! Our little Twiggy quickly decided she was a Daddy's girl and whimpered like crazy when Ryan left the car to gas.

Once getting home Twiggy quickly settled into our lives and our hearts. I can't even imagine life without her now!

I have to many great memories of this little Angel.

Like the one and only time she destroyed a roll of toilet paper... (btw, the bathroom has since been remodeled! We'd just moved into a fixer-upper)

Her adoreable puppy stage.

Her awkward in between stage. This picture still makes me laugh like crazy!

All grown up and beautiful!

My favorite teddy bear!

Sunbathing on the back of the couch.

And most recently, her 2nd birthday!!

10 Things...

2009-04-24T17:37:00.000-05:00

...I want!

1. Canon 50mm f/1.8 - Love the low aperture and the low price :)

2. Mango Madness Lip Balm - With the weather warming up, a good lip balm is essential. Why not get a yummy one like this? Six Gun Annie also has cherry, tropical and banana chocolate versions of this yummy trest. Check 'em out!

3. Lemon Lavender Soap - First of all, this soap sounds amazing! It's all natural and void of parabens and all that stuff. Second, it's Hello Kitty!! Need I say more?

4. Yellow Hair Barrettes - These are beautifully handmade and the yellow color is just cheery if you ask me! They'd look particularity pretty with dark hair. Miss Indie also has some adorable hats, scarves and all that jazz. Check her out!

5. Girl Genius: Volume 1 - If you haven't read Girl Genius, get started now! You'll get hooked and love the quirky characters and interesting plots twists. But a warning... It's addictive!

6. Guitar String Ring - How freakin' awesome are these?? Each ring is custom made and you color of the stopper and of course the ring size. Great for a unique gift or snatch one up for yourself!

7. Ruffle Knit Dress - This dress is so perfect for summer! I want it so badly... Also comes in navy and white, if you're not a yellow fangirl like I am.

8. Swallows Printed Plate - Urban Outfitters has so many of these! I want to buy them all and hang them on the wall in my dining room...

9. Cupcake Bandages - As UO says "What's better than a treat to turn that boo-boo into a woo-hoo?" And plus, the tin they come in is so adorable!

10. Lotus Flower Necklace - This one-of-a-kind necklace is simply stunning! I love the simplicity of the design and the combination of the pool blue beads with the pink of the lotus flower couldn't be better.

Sunshine days are here again!

2009-04-22T22:14:00.000-05:00

Today started off bright and early with our weekly chiropractor appointments. I have the good fortune of having my mom work at the office of Dr Arnold, who is top notch! He is really state of the art, and uses technology that will amaze you. I thought of taking pictures... But figured it might come off a little weird, so no pics of that event. But no worries - there are plenty of other pictures chronicling the day!

Since we had early appointments, and neither Ryan nor I are morning birds, we headed out to IHOP for breakfast. Let me just take a moment to say how much I love IHOP. Going out to IHOP always makes me feel like a princess, silly I know... But growing up, breakfast wasn't something we could afford to go out to eat for, nor were many meals for that matter. So whenever I go to IHOP for breakfast, I feel very spoiled - and I love it!

Now, I must recommend this amazing drink IHOP has for the summer called Splashberry. It's an amazing mixture of fresh OJ, Sprite and strawberries.

Doesn't it look yummy?!

My favorite thing to order at IHOP is their custom omelette . Those things are huge!! And they come with three fluffy and delish pancakes... So yummy!

My omelette loaded with broccoli, fresh tomatoes, green peppers and cheddar cheese.

After totally stuffing ourselves, due to the morning air, it was still a little cool out. So Ryan and I headed over to Best Buy, where Ryan played several acoustic guitars and found a beautiful Fender he's now lusting over. I of course was drooling over the Canon 5D, now that is a camera!!

Once afternoon hit, the weather was nice and toasty so we headed out to Sequiota Park. What a perfect day it was! We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around, soaking up the sun, and goofing off. Of course I had to get a bit of photography in!

It'd be a better pic if I wasn't so worried about dropping the camera... I have no upper body strength!

But I have abs of steel!!

And Ryan has big feet...

Geese that hissed at me... with a 50mm lens, you gotta get close!

Photography Outing

2009-04-17T04:29:00.000-05:00

This week I finally got to meet up with my photographer friend Jarrod for a photography outing. Why the word "finally" you might ask, well I shall share the story with you. I first met Jarrod on Flickr, I saw him on the Springfield Missouri group and loved his work so I added him as a contact. We started talking, got along really well and have similar photography styles - this is where the idea for meeting up for a photography outing was born.

Sadly this idea was born in January, and thanks to wintry Missouri weather we didn't really want to spend hours outside. Not to mention that unless is snows, there aren't great shooting conditions in January. So Jarrod and I keep talking and he helps me learn a lot about photography technique. Skip to April, the weather is finally getting nice, so we set a date! What happens on that day you might ask? Well, we get tornadoes! Not prime picture taking weather... No sir.

So we plan again, the day comes and thankfully it's sunny, but a little chilly for my taste... Checking the forecast shows the next day will be a sunny 67 degrees, so after some texting, we change the date for the last time and jokingly decide that if this time doesn't pan out, then "the powers that be" are surely plotting against us meeting up for picture taking.

Thankfully the chosen day turns out to be everything promised. Sunny, warm and begging for pictures to be taken! We meet up at Jordan Valley Park, and after I embarrassingly prove to be the most unobservant person on the plant by not seeing Jarrod thirty feet to my left and proceed to call him to see if he's at the park yet... We met up and get to work!

We hit the jackpot by finding a band taking advantage of the beautiful day by holding their practice outside. They didn't mind us taking pictures of them and the lead singer/tambourine player's adorable daughter. Jarrod generously let me use his borrowed 70-300mm lens, and I greatly enjoyed having some range for a change! We got some amazing shots of the group and made sure to give them our Flickr URLs so they could see the pictures.

We then continued to explore the park and surrounding downtown area, so many great photo ops there! We took full advantage of us both having Canons, and swapped lens as needed. I loved getting to use his Sigma 18-50mm f/2.8 and of course the 70-300mm (I don't recall the stats on this one... Sorry folks). It was great because I was able to get some great wide angle shots of some amazing buildings, yet also get some tight close-ups and some long range shots. All in all it turned out to be a great day! It ended with both of us getting some amazing shots, and me having sore feet from all the walking lol

Hopefully this will become a regular event, because I had an absolutely amazing time. It was great to blab about photography to someone who could understand, and I feel like my composition and technique were much improved on this shoot.

There were far too many great pictures to post them all here - for the rest check out My Flickr and Jarrod's Flickr.

What it's all about

2009-04-01T16:14:00.001-05:00

I'm creating this blog to share my exploits with anyone who cares to take a peak into my life. Here's a snippet of what you can expect to find in my future posts:

Photography I love photography and am pursuing it for a career. I will be chronicling my journey and all the joys and struggles I stumble into along the way. I have my first paid job coming up soon and am very excited! All the deets will be posted!

Baking/cooking I adore baking! I'm learning all sorts of new decorating techniques. I also love to cook and have a slew of vegetarian dishes to share. Expect yummy recipes and drool inducing pictures!

Fashion and beauty I fell in love with all things fashion and beauty at a very young age. My mom says that I got this from my oh so fabulous (and delightfully quirky!) Grandma! I can pretty much guarantee my fashion and beauty picks and random postings of things I love.

Random events/activities My husband and I are very active and love being out and about and taking mini trips!

Music I'm hoping to get a nifty new camcorder soon, so hopefully I'll be able to get some videos of me playing my bass and my husband playing guitar.

So that sums up what will be taking place here - I hope you join me in exploring life, following my dreams and trying new things!