10 Plans for Summer

I haven't done a Monday Listicles post since *gasp* February! Where has 2014 gone? But when I saw the topic for this week, I simply couldn't pass it up.

Not sure if I'll get to all of these, but here's my little summer bucket list.

1.   Train for, and run, a half marathon with Jeff
2.   Lots of yoga
3.   Lounge in the hammock on the patio
4.   Pooltime
5.   Visit the Grand Canyon
6.   Road trip to San Diego
7.   Couple good bike rides
8.   Indoor skydiving
9.   SCUBA diving
10. Create some summertime drink recipes

What are your summertime plans?
Tweet

Head on over to The Good Life to see what everyone else is up to this summer.

10 things I have memorized

Good morning! Just wanted to say THANK YOU for all the get well soon wishes I received yesterday. I wish I could say I was on the mend already, but instead I stayed home from work today to let my body rest a bit more. Hope to be feeling much better tomorrow after a solid day of rest. :)

Now, for Monday Listicles....

When I first heard the topic for this week's Monday Listicles, I thought, I don't have anything memorized! Then it occurred to me that I have a LOT of passwords memorized. The tricky part is remembering which password works for which application.

10 PASSWORDS I HAVE MEMORIZED

1. Work computer
2. Work email account
3. Billing software
4. Billing applications
5. Ad server password
6. Voicemail
7. Personal email accounts
8. Social Media accounts
9. Financial accounts
10. Jeff's accounts

What are some things you have memorized?
Tweet

10 Things in Our Apt Which Needed to be Fixed

When we moved into our apartment, they let us move in 10 days early. Even though we'd been watching the progress by the maintenance men, we were assured that it would be in move-in condition.

We were wrong.

Here is a list of the top 10 things that weren't fixed when we moved in:

1. Toilets wouldn't flush properly
2. Broken window
3. Cabinet under kitchen sink was broken and hanging askew
4. Walls needed to be painted
5. Water damage in spare room
6. Stove has mismatched oven racks and burner pans
7. Dishwasher was mildewy and wouldn't drain properly
8. Screen door to the patio was missing
9. Weather stripping was worn and incorrectly installed
10. Window pane needed to be sealed in place

And it only took SEVEN months, and a LOT of follow-up from Jeff, to get everything fixed or replaced. :-)



The theme for this week's Monday Listicles came from Christine. Now, why not head on over to Stasha's to read everyone else's lists.
Tweet

It's Monday! Time for another listicle. This week we're talking guilty pleasures, as suggested by Phoebe over at In Momopause.

Don't deny it. We all have at least a few guilty pleasures. Here's a list of 9 that Jeff and I share.

9 Guilty Pleasures

1. Chocolate. Really any form will do.

2. Driving Genie. This one is more me than Jeff, but we both really love driving our Scion iQ - even though we know we should bike more often and to more places.

3. Bread. Pretty much the same as chocolate. We could easily eat bread in just about any form. Sourdough. Whole wheat. Oat. Banana. Muffins. Dinner rolls. Etc. Etc.

4. Sallie. We love everything her. Her big black eyes melt our hearts. We snuggle with, and dote on, her more often than we maybe should.

5. TV. This one is a little more Jeff than me, but we both get sucked way too easily into TV and suddenly the night or weekend is over.

6. Shopping. Not together, but it's a weakness of both of us. He prefers to shop online; I prefer to go to a store. Either way, we can get sucked into browsing and spending money.

7. Travel. We LOVE to travel, but it's not without a little guilty. Guilt at spending money, but also guilt at leaving Sallie behind.

8. Dinner and Drinks. Pretty much the same reasons as for Travel. It's fun while we're out, but not without a little bit of guilt.

9. Fast Food. We've gotten much better about this over the past month or so, but sometimes those fries are just irresistible.

That's all we could come up with. We each have a couple guilty pleasures on our own, but nothing too crazy.

What is your #1 guilty pleasure?
Tweet

Growing up, I was not a huge fan of my name.

Clarinda

It was long.
It was hard to spell and hard to pronounce. At least it seemed that way to my teachers.

I was a little bit envious of the Jennys and Amys and Sarahs. These names were so common. Everyone knew how to pronounce them. And you didn't stand out with a weird name.

So, I was a bit intrigued by this week's Monday Listicles theme (chosen by Coletta).

10 Names I Would Have Named Myself

1. Micala
2. Brooke
3. Alison
4. Rachel
5. Rebecca
6. Christy
7. Laura
8. Sarah
9. Amy
10. Ava

Of course, I love my name now that I'm older. I love how I was named after my great-grandmother (my mom's mom's mom). I love how it's unique and uncommon. To be honest, it's been years since I've even thought of having a different name, so this list is mostly names I would have named myself today, not necessarily names I'd dreamed of back in the day.

Do you like your name? Would you have named yourself anything different?
Tweet

Monday Listicles - The Weekend

This week's Monday Listicles theme is things to do on the weekend. Our weekends are generally pretty mellow, so here's a list of some regular things we do and some things I wish we'd do more. So, in no particular order...

10 Things to Do during the Weekend

1. Stay up way too late
We don't do this every weekend, but this past weekend we were up until 3am Sat morning. Just talking about random things

2. Sleep in way too late
When Sallie is feeling generous. She likes her breakfast at a very early hour and isn't too keen on pushing that back. But sometimes I convince her to sleep a bit later.

3. Be a tourist in our own town
Of course we live in a pretty great town to do this. This weekend we went to the Stratosphere.

4. Go for a run
I try to get out for a run at least once every weekend.

5. Make a fun breakfast
Pancakes, french toast, omelettes. Not all at the same time.

6. Go for a bike ride or for a hike
We don't do this nearly as often as I'd like, but one of these weekends we'll do it!

7. ROAD TRIP!
Again, we have yet to do this since moving to Vegas, but sometime this year, I hope we take a few short road trips. LA, San Diego, Phoenix, Grand Canyon are a few of the places I'd love to go.

8. Relax and do nothing
This is how most of my weekends actually go. Or I get caught up on stuff around the house, like cleaning, organizing or doing laundry.

9. Marathon - movies or TV
Now, this is something that we'll frequently do - but we haven't for awhile.

10. NAP
Which includes lots of Sallie snuggle time. Some of my favorite moments are snuggling with her.

Tweet

Linking up with Stasha. Head on over there to see how everyone else spends their weekends and to see what next week's theme is.

Monday Listicles - Random 10

This week we're free-styling it for Monday Listicles.

10 RANDOM THOUGHTS

1. I don't understand people who do not like chocolate. I have a huge sweet tooth and chocolate is right at the top of the list. Pretty much any kind of chocolate is YUM!

2. Just because my car is small doesn't mean it's not safe. Yesterday, at Walmart some stopped and asked how I like my car. I said I loved it. She seemed surprised and asked if I wasn't scared driving it. Um. No. It's got like 11 air bags. I think I'm good.

3. We got Bountiful Baskets this weekend! I'm so excited to have so many fruits/veggies in the house again. It's been WAY too long.

4. We got some big baking potatoes in the Bountiful Basket. I've been craving baked potatoes for awhile now, so I was pretty excited to see them in the basket Saturday morning.

5. We had this deliciousness for dinner Saturday night.

I served it over rice last night, but one of the leftover nights this week it will be used as a potato topping. Yummy!

6. I haven't ridden my bike in months. :( So sad. I really need to start again, but I've gotten out of the habit and it's been so cold. Maybe I'll get in a commute or two this week.

7. I went out for drinks Friday night at the new Downtown Container Park Project to celebrate a co-workers birthday. It was really fun! I didn't get a great picture, but all the shops/restaurants are shipping containers! It's really neat. There's also a playground in the center for the kids and a stage at one end for bands. And I can't forget to mention the huge preying mantis.

8. Jeff and I need to do some brainstorming for our 2014 goals. The key to success is planning, right? Hopefully, if we brainstorm some ideas, we won't get to the end of the year disappointed.

9. I've been absolutely terrible about drinking water the past several weeks. I think it's really catching up with me now. Even my skin has gotten thirsty! I definitely need to start making water a priority again.

10. It's going to be a busy week! The way I've planned my workouts this month, I've got arms/abs + a run on MWF this week. That's not going to leave me much time in the mornings, so I'll have to be productive in the evenings. :)

Happy Monday! What randomness is going on with you?
Tweet

Monday Listicles - 10 THINGS NEW

Happy New Year Monday Listiclers!

Oh, how I've missed you! I went away during marathon training when I started posting weekly training recaps on Mondays, but I'm back in 2014!!

Not sure what Monday Listicles is? Each week Stasha over at The good life hosts a blog hop where we all create a list based on a topic. Or off topic. Whatever.


To start off 2014, I'll be staying on topic.

10 THINGS NEW

We've gotten a LOT of new things recently, so this should be an easy one. :)

1. New bowls. I'm planning on lots of soup this week and maybe for the next couple months. Better have some cute bowls to go with it.

2. New robes. It's cold here in Vegas. Well, cold for walking back from the hot tub in just a bikini, so we got these heavy, hooded, warm robes.

Disregard Jeff's expression. It was early Christmas morning. :)

3. New clothes. I spruced up my closet with H&M. I'm not really big on buying clothes online, but these were such great deals. So excited that everything fit, too!! Woot woot!! I also got a great dress from The Gap and a few things from Walmart.

4. New kitchen toy. I'd been wanting a griddle since my parents came to visit. We got this fun little thing instead. You can only make about 4 pancakes at a time, but that's way better than the 1 at a time I was doing in the skillet before. :)

5. New workout bench. It acts as a roman chair and a triceps dip stations. Also good for sit-ups and push-ups.

6. New shower mirror. Real, true fogless mirror! You actually put water in the back to equalize the temperature of the glass, so it doesn't fog up. Jeff tried it out last night, and it worked great!

Disregard the crookedness of the picture. #bloggerfail

7. New running hat. This was a Christmas gift from my boss. Isn't it cute?!

8. New massage wand. This thing is intense. Or not. I mean it's adjustable. Plus there is a heat option as well.

9. New shower head. Variable water pressure. Like you're in a heavy rain or a torrential rain.

And my favorite.

10. New phone. I'd been wanting to replace my Galaxy SII pretty much since Instagram came out with video, so in time for the New Year, I got the new Nexus 5. I'm in LOVE though I do miss the ringtones from the SII.

What's new with you?
Tweet

I'm so proud!

Last weekend, and the beginning of last was a mix of busyness and lack of posting motivation, so I missed out on sharing with you my 10 most regrettable purchases. Sad face. I've got some douzies, too. I could still share them with you, but instead I'll stick to the theme...

10 THINGS I'M PROUD OF

In no particular order...

1. Running a marathon. Not just one, but two. Yes, my last marathon was nearly 10 years ago. No, I'm not sure if I'll run another one. Still, I think it's something worthy being proud of.


2. Obtaining my masters degree. When finished my bachelor's, I vowed to never go to grad school, and although, I'm not currently doing anything with it, I'm proud that I pursued it and stuck with it even when I wanted to quit.


3. Living without a car for a year and a half. I recognize it's not for everyone, but we were living in a place that was so convenient for us to live without a car. It wasn't without difficulties. In fact, it was actually quite fun.


4. Commuting by bike. We're back to owning a vehicle, and we don't exactly live in a place were living without a car would be 100% feasible, but I'm still very proud to say that I often bike to work. It's been lacking in the winter months, but I'm excited to get back to it with more frequency.


5. Ending up in Las Vegas. If you know the story, we were headed to Belize but stopped in Vegas, so I could enjoy a mini college reunion with some old friends. We loved it, and the low cost of living, so much that we decided to stay.


6. Marrying Jeff. My life is so much better with him by my side.


7. Navigating the dirt, jungle roads of Costa Rica at night, with very limited Spanish. Imagine the worst possible road in America, and that might be close to the condition of the highways in Costa Rica. It was quite an adventure navigating through all that (Jeff was driving).


8. Creating spreadsheets at work. My workload increased vastly when my boss realized I was pretty good with spreadsheets. Now that I've created a few to track sales, etc, I love the work I've done as much as I love keeping them updated. Does that make me a dork?


9. Agreeing to buy Sallie. I really couldn't imagine life without my cute little snuggle-bug. It took Jeff a lot to convince me to bring her home from the Animal Humane Society, but I'm grateful every single day that we did.


10. Making yumminess in the kitchen. I only wish I did it more often. There is still a lot I could learn about nutrition and eating healthy, but I'm trying.

What are you most proud of?
Tweet

Earlier this year, I started a blog where I share at least one small moment in my day that made me happy. You should totally check it out. :) A Happy Moment A Day.

This week's Monday Listicle topic is 10 tiny (or secret) things that bring you joy. Easy! I'll just look at that blog to see what I've blogged about most.

10 Things that Make Me Happy

1. Jeff. He is definitely what makes me the most happy.
2. Sallie. From watching her sleep to play to cuddle, she always makes me smile.

3. Eating. It might surprise my family, but I actually do love to eat and try new things in the kitchen. All within reason, of course. ;)
4. Movies. Nothing beats relaxing after work by curling up with Jeff and watching a movie. Thank goodness for Redbox!
5. Running. I know some of you might think I'm crazy, but running really does make me happy.
6. Blogging. I enjoy writing posts but even more than that, I love interacting with other bloggers!
7. Being outside. My work day always goes a bit better when I'm able to sit out in the sun for a few moments during my lunch. Also, just sitting out on our patio brings a smile to my face.
8. Laughing. I love to laugh. I love the sound of my laugh and I like the way it makes me feel - especially the day after a hard ab workout. :)
9. Freebies. If I'm offered something for free, even if it's something I don't necessarily need or want, I'll take it. 
10. Our apartment. It's nothing super fancy or great, and there are some quirky problems, but it's got a kickass patio and it's steps from the hot tub, plus it's in Vegas! So much fun!!

What tiny things bring you joy? Now go visit Stasha to read other lists of joy.
Tweet

I ♥ My Bike

It's Monday, which means it's listicle time!! I'm straying off topic today, but I hope you'll stick with me. :)

I want to give a little love shout-out to my bike this week. Y'know, since it is Valentine's week after all. I may do a little running love later in the week, too. Stay tuned.

As you know, I'm a runner. I've always been a runner not actively, but it's always been my #1 choice of exercise, and resisted riding a bike for many years. Even as a little girl, I never really liked riding bike. I'd much rather walk.

Whenever anyone would ask me if I would ever consider doing a triathlon, I'd say, I'd love to except for the whole biking and swimming parts. I'm still not on board with the swimming, but I've really come to love my bike.

10 REASONS I LOVE MY BIKE

1. It's pretty. I like the green color and the overall design.
2. It's fancy. When we got rid of our car back in Aug 2010 and bought our bikes, we spared no expense and got a little fancy. It's got disc brakes and an internally geared 8-speed hub. That's about as technical as I can get and yes, I had to look that up to get the terminology right.
3. It allows me to slow down. Commuting by bike is definitely more strenuous physically, but it allows me to notice the mountains more and other things in my surroundings.
4. It helps save on gas. This is better on our pocketbook as well as good for the environment. Win-win!
5. It's fun! There isn't a lot of things that Jeff and I can do together outside he's not really a runner or a hiker, but we can enjoy a nice bike ride together.
6. It's cheap. Well, the bike itself wasn't, nor were the accessories, BUT I don't have to pay to use it. I just jump on and GO.
7. It's accessorizeable. yeah. I know that's not really a word. From panniers to pouches to safety lights and bells, there are so many cool things to make biking even more fun and convenient. Jeff recently ordered me a bunch of new stuff, and I'm anxiously awaiting the arrival.
8. It gives me bragging rights. You commute to work?! How many miles?! Wow! I'm jealous! I wish I could do that! I love hearing things like that.
9. It makes me a better driver. The more I bike commute, the better a driver I become. I've become more aware of what else is going on around me when driving - watching for cyclists, walkers/runners, and, of course, other drivers.
10. It gives me an excuse to eat more. This might not be such a good thing. ;-) Honestly, though, I think it helps me crave healthier, better energy burning snacks.

All that being said, I'm driving to work today. It's only 42°F feels like 34 outside with a 15 mph wind. Um. No, thank you!

Now, why not pop on over to The good life to read lists about top “OH NO YOU DIDN’T” GIFTS for Valentine's Day. I bet they'll be a lot of fun and will probably make you laugh a lot more than this one did.

If you bike ride, what do you love most about your bike?
What would be on your list of "Oh, no, you didn't" gifts?
Tweet

What's in YOUR Purse?

I usually lose at those What's in Your Purse? games at parties. I rarely carry a purse with me, but when I do, there isn't usually much in it. Any nothing all that unusual.

I considered doing something different for this week's listicle, but then I decided to go ahead and pull my purse out of the closet to see if there were even 10 things inside. Shockingly, there were. In fact, there were even a few more than what's on this list.

10 types of THINGS IN MY PURSE

1. 3 pens
2. 2 business cards (not mine)
3. 1 temporary tattoo
4. 1 DMV number/ticket thingy
5. 2 containers of lip gloss (one with 6 different colors)
6. 1 paper clip
7. 1 tampon, 3 panty liners
8. 1 crumpled up straw wrapper
9. 1 movie stub
10. 4 coins

Do you carry anything unusual in your purse?

Tweet

Don't forget to swing by The good life to see what everyone else is hauling around.

When I Grow Up

Stasha's birthday is coming up, and she thought it would be fun to celebrate with a list of dreams. Dreams of what we hoped to be when we grew up. Every child has grandiose dreams of being/doing fantastic things when she grows up, right?

10 Things I Wanted to Be When I Grew Up

1. Teacher. As a child, the only thing I can definitely remember wanting to be when I grew up was a teacher. In fact, I used to play house with my younger brother and sister. Complete with homework and tests. My desire to become a teacher started to wane while I was in high school, and by the time I started college, it wasn't even on my radar anymore. Of course I now have my master's in teaching, but am still not a teacher.
2. Famous Singer. Two problems with this. I don't sing very well. I'm a bit shy. Also, I kind of wanted this out of spite after auditioning for several school plays and singing groups only to be shot down because I wasn't good enough.
3. Dancer. Um, well, I'm actually not very graceful. Nor do I have rhythm. This was just kind of a wishful thinking dream. Like the Famous Singer one.
4. Actress. Again, there's that whole shy thing. And I don't really like how I sound on camera. Oh, and  I get so nervous in front of a camera, that I'm not very relaxed.

... And for a few more practical dreams ...


5. Piano teacher. From my home. I even considered being a music major, but some of the theory classes were too hard.
6. Computer programmer. I knew this computer science was a growing field, and I could be successful at it, but it seemed so tedious, boring, and my heart really wasn't in it.
7. Filmmaker. I even went to 1 1/2 quarters of film school. Unfortunately, there was too much emphasis on writing screenplays. I didn't want to write the movies. I just wanted to be the one behind the camera.
8. Musician publicist. I went through a music-loving phase and wanted to help musician get noticed and get contracts, but then I decided I really don't have the personality for promotions. I'm too shy.
9. Lawyer. Entertainment law. If I couldn't promote them, I could at least be their lawyer, right? It came down to not wanting to go to more school and really didn't want to have to learn about all the other types of law.
10. Doctor. This one should have probably been included in the first part of the list, because it was never really a serious consideration. It was born more out of a feeling of not knowing what I wanted to do or be after I'd been out of college for a few years and still didn't have a career.

More than any of these, though, I wanted to be a mom.

None of these have panned out for me, but what about you?
What did you want to be when you grew up? 
Did any of your childhood dreams come true?

Tweet

What's in my closet?

Kind of a fun topic over at Monday Listicles today.

My closets are kind of a little boring - especially my bedroom closet. We've got stuff, but nothing really crazy or that dates back very many years. As you may recall, we sold most of our possessions back in May of last year.

We basically have three closets in our current apartment, so here are some relatively boring things in one or another.

10 Things in My Closets

1. SCUBA gear
2. Running gear
3. Biking gear
4. Camping gear
5. Sallie gear
6. Jump starter
7. Monoscope
8. Santa suit
9. Motor oil
10. 5-gallon water purifier

And thus concludes the most boring Listicle.

That's really all I've got time for this morning. I wish I could share some pictures of my boring closets, but I've got to leave for work now.

Have a great week! Why not pop over to Stasha's to discover what I can only imagine will be much more exciting closet finds?

What's in your closet?
Tweet

10 Random Movie Quotes

Well, Monday's nearly over, but I say there's still time for Monday Listicles, right? This week's topic comes to us from Ally at Just a Normal Mom. Seriously, if you're not reading her blog, you should be. She's got great stories. Plus, she's just all around awesome.

Anyway, she tasked us with 10 BEST MOVIE QUOTES. Or ten best movie moments. Or ten something movies.

I love watching movies, and I have lots of favorites, but I also have a terrible memory for things like movie quotes. And yeah, sometimes even details. I could watch the same movie a dozen times and not remember parts. *sigh*

My husband, on the other hand, is crazy good with movie quotes! I could probably very easily come up with a list of 100. I was going to ask for his help. In fact, I still might, but I'm going to TRY to make a list all on my own.

Here goes...

10 RANDOM MOVIE QUOTES

1. "Whoa. Slippery little sucker."
2. "Lubricant. There's always time for lubricant."
3. "Thanks for breaking glass where my kids play."
4. "You have a last name, Guy." "Do I? Do I, really?"
5. "We stole the Statue of Liberty...! The small one, from Las Vegas!"
6. "Nobody puts Baby in a corner."
7. "I'm just sayin'. I want to cut the blonde one."
8. "I'm just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her."
9. "Did you love your father?" "What?" "Your father? Did you love him?" "Yes, very much." "Prove it."
10. "Well, maybe that's cause I just got hit in the head with the 10-lb ashtray!"

Wow! That was both easy and hard. I know I quote movies from time to time, but NOTHING was coming to me. I guess I'm more of an in-the-moment quoter. Something will remind me of a movie, and I'll throw out a quote. Jeff will almost always get the reference right away.

So, how did you do? I know some of these were *really* easy, but I'm interested to know how many you got right.

I'm Not Gonna Change!

We've made it a week into the New Year. If you're a resolution or goal maker, you've probably made a list, AND you've probably been pretty good about sticking with it. So far.

But, let's not kid ourselves. There's plenty that we'll likely not change in 2013, and that's just the topic of today's Monday Listicles.

10 THINGS I HAVE NO INTENTION OF CHANGING IN 2013

1. Doting on my little girl, Sallie, and taking and sharing too many lots of photos of her.



So stinking cute!

2. Watching General Hospital whenever I can.
3. Wasting time on social media.
4. Commuting by bike to work once the weather gets a bit warmer.
5. Pushing myself to work harder and run faster.
6. Waiting until the last moment to do laundry.
7. Eating cold, leftover pizza.
8. My last name.
9. My address.
10. My job.

What do you have no intention of changing in 2013?
Tweet

Totally 80s

Kate from Can I Get Another Bottle of Whine... with my morning quiet time? is the mastermind behind this week's listicle topic. She gave us 3 choices:

10 Things Totally 80s
10 Tweets
10 Crushes

Such good choices! But ultimately, I went with ...

10 THINGS TOTALLY 80s

There were so many different ways I could have done this, but I decided to just share 1 thing from 10 different pop culture trends. Obviously, I could have probably come up with a list of 10 things in each category, but these are either the first thing that came to mind or my favorite or a special memory I have.

1. Movie - Can't Buy Me Love



I don't know what it is about this movie, but it's hands down my favorite 80s movie.



2. Song - Time After Time by Cyndi Lauper





I loved this song when I was young.
Oddly, it reminds me of the swingset in our backyard growing up.
My husband likes to rank Cyndi Lauper with Shakespeare because of how many times this song has been covered. lol.



3. Band - Poison



My older sisters would listen to this band, and I remember sneaking into their room to borrow their cassette tapes.



4. Heaththrob - River Phoenix



River was one of my first crushes! Oh, I was in love. :D



5. Fashion Trend - Pinned jeans

I scoured the Internet for a good picture of pinned jeans, and I could find NONE! I was hoping to re-create one this morning before work, but ran out of time.  Hopefully I'll update this post later with a good picture.



UPDATE: I finally found a picture online. From a fellow Listicler, of course! Thanks, Ellen for letting me use your fab picture. :D



6. TV show - Full House



I watched a LOT of 80s TV shows, but I this was definitely one of  my favorites.



7. Car - Ford Aerostar



When asking my husband for help with this post, he came up with this category. And the Aerostar.  He said everyone seemed to have this car.
And then I remembered that I'm pretty sure my family had one, too.



8. Electronic gadget - Nintendo Entertainment System



I remember when this came out. It was definitely the MUST HAVE gift of the time. We got one, and my brothers played it a LOT.



9. Home Appliance - Microwave oven



I think the 80s is when this appliance really sprang into popularity. I remember meeting a new family in the late 80s who didn't have one, and I thought it was so weird!



10. Health - Jane Fonda workout videos



Lastly, since this is a fitness blog, I can't leave out a popular health trend from the 80s!

What are your favorites trends from the 80s?

Now, why not head over to The good life to read all the other fabulous lists. I wonder which topic will be the most popular this week...
Tweet

A Memory a Year

Today's theme, 10 ORNAMENTS ON YOUR TREE AND STORIES BEHIND THEM for Monday Listicles came to us from Kelly. Well, we don't have a tree or any ornaments since we don't really celebrate Christmas, BUT this last Friday was our 8-year wedding anniversary, so here are some favorite memories from our marriage - one from each year.

10 MEMORIES OR STORIES OF US 

1. We started dating in the beginning of Oct 2004. He invited me over to help him make Hamburger Helper. LOL. Decided things were moving too fast by the beginning of Nov, so we broke up. Our break-up lasted maybe three days before we decided to get engaged rather than break-up. :-) We were married six weeks later.


2. In 2005, we moved to Brooklyn, NY, but first we went for a short vacation to check it out. We were there for five days, I think, and ended up in Battery Park nearly every. single. day. Here's a conversation from one trip on the subway:
   
   

   Jeff: Check out this sign! It's written in seven different languages.
   Me: Wow! How cool!! Love the diversity of NYC.
   ***
   Me: Um, sweetie? Did you actually read the sign.
   Jeff: Nope. Why?
   Me: Well, it says that in order to get off at Battery Park, we need to be in one of the first three cars. Do you think we are?
   Jeff: No idea.
   
   

   So, we proceeded to walk through as many cars as we could, trying to get to the front of the train. We ended up getting off the train at the stop just after/before Battery Park, because we, in fact, were not in one of the first three cars. Oops!


3. In 2006 we moved from Brooklyn, NY to Dayton, OR just outside of Portland. A few weeks after moving, we made a trip back to MN for a visit. Via Amtrak. The trip out was 36 hours of hell. Ok, it wasn't really that bad, but it certainly wasn't all that comfortable. We upgraded to a suite for the return trip, and it was MUCH better. :) I actually got some sleep. ;-) Jeff, of course, loved every minute of the train trip.


4. 2007 brought us back to MN, and we moved into our first studio apartment. Now, when we first got married and were looking for an apartment, I was adament against living in a studio. What if we argued and I needed my own space. Just a few years later, I knew that our marriage would be able to survive living in a small space together. :-) Plus, it was a super nice studio. Barely a couple years old and the layout was just perfect. It even had a w/d in the unit. Yay! We really loved the location, too.


5. We moved twice in 2008 both in the Twin Cities, but the best thing to happen that year was adopting our cutie-patootie, Sallie Sue! We were staying with my parents between apartments, and they wanted to adopt another dog, so we went with them to the Animal Humane Society. Jeff immediately fell in love with Sallie, but I was unsure. We took her outside to play in the little dog run, and she promptly poo'ed. Right behind Jeff's foot. Which he then promptly stepped in. The smell was horrid!  I was pretty much done at that point. She was so expensive and her poo made me gag. Seemed like a lot of extra work. But somehow Jeff convinced me that we should adopt her. I'm thankful for this decision every single day. I really can't imagine my life without her cuteness in it.
   
   
   
   
   


6. In the summer of 2009, we took a massively long road trip 4600 miles to a nephews's graduation in WA. Instead of driving straight there, we went through SD, WY, UT, NV, CA to get to Yosemite, OR, and finally WA. We took the straight way back home. ;-) We got to see so much of the country, and it was so fun!


7. We wanted to do something special for our five year anniversary, and we had the whole month of January off from school, so we booked a trip to Water Island in Jan 2010. It's the smallest of the US Virgin Islands, just off St Thomas. We were there for a week, and we fell in love with ocean and the hot weather.
   
   
   
   
   


8. We wanted to make a January vacations our thing, so in Jan 2011, we headed to Costa Rica. We spent a few days at a volcano and then a week at the beach. We rented a car and drove across the country, which was an adventure in and of itself. Oh, the roads in Costa Rica! :)
   
   
   
   
   


9. After living nearly 2 years without a car, in May of 2012, we bought Liberty and headed off for our next adventure. Our destination was Belize, but as you probably know, we fell in love with Vegas and now call it home.
   
   
   
   
   


10. We have lots of great plans for adventure in 2013, but the main memory we hope to create in the next year is to do our first ocean dive together. We'd love to go somewhere exotic, like Belize, but that may take a little more saving, so we might settle for San Diego or Mexico. Stay tuned. =)

Thanks for tripping down memory lane with me today! If you're celebrating Christmas, may it be the merriest and brightest for you.
Tweet

10 kind of obscure SONGS I LOVE

Another Monday is here. Time for Monday Listicles. Stephanie suggested one of the topics today: 10 SONGS YOU LOVE, HATE OR LOVE TO HATE. The other topic was suggested by Rachée and Mrs RKFJ who called for 10 HOLIDAY SONGS.

I thought it would be fun to share a few songs that I love that are kind of obscure. Or maybe I'm just not cool enough to know that these songs were/are popular...?

10 somewhat obscure SONGS I LOVE

1. Sick & Beautiful by Artificial Joy Club


2. Reasons Why by Merrill Bainbridge


3. What it Feels like to be a Girl by Madonna


4. Sexy Silk by Jessica Cornish


5. Anxious Jenny by Canoe


6. Leave Your Boyfriends Behind by Leona Naess


7. The Wolf by Miniature Tigers


8. Gotta Have You by The Weepies


9. Merry Happy by Kate Nash


10. Gift of the Magi by Squirrel Nut Zippers For good measure, I've included one Christmas song. :D

All of the above songs make me want to either sing or dance or both. And, yes, I have been known to listen to them on repeat over and over and over again.

But I want to include two other songs that I love that are far, far from being obscure, but I LOVE THEM. I love the music, but more I love the lyrics and the messages. To me, these songs are so POWERFUL and I love that we have songs like this out there today that can be empowering and fun.

1. Firework by Katy Perry


2. Raise Your Glass by Pink

If you like the Firework song, watch this video from A Night of Too Many Stars, a benefit for autism. It *may* have brought me to tears.

HAPPY MONDAY, EVERYONE!
Tweet

My Favorite Foods to Smell

Okay. And eat.

Today's Monday Listicles is all about food. Bridget suggested the topic and gave us free reign over interpretation.

Ask anyone in my family, and they'll tell you stories of how picky of an eater I was growing up. The list of foods I wouldn't eat was probably longer than the list of what I would try. I'm much more adventurous now.

Still, I thought I'd take a slighty different approach, and try to come up with a list of foods that I love to smell.

TEN GREAT SMELLING FOODS

1. Fresh bread
2. Pumpkin pie
3. Roast - turkey, beef, pork
4. Potato soup
5. Chocolate chip cookies
6. Pizza
7. Flavored coffee
8. Warm apple cider
9. Buffalo wings
10. Peanut butter

There's a reason fresh bread is #1. That is without a doubt my all-time favorite. When I worked downtown Minneapolis, every morning I would walk by a Subway restaurant. I looked forward to the delectable smells wafting out into the skyway. It always made me smile, and took a lot of willpower to keep walking and not stop to simply relish in the moment of the wondrous smell of baking bread.

What are your favorite smelling foods?

Do you have any memories of the smell of a favorite food?

Tweet