some good decisions

I feel like I have been on a roll lately. I was in a slump for a while (hello blogging break) and couldn't get out of it, but when I started my new job it's like a switch was flipped and everything is happy and sunny again. It's amazing what happens when you actually change out of your pajamas in the morning and go somewhere.

The decision to get a new job in an actual office was just the start. I decided to make a list (they're all the rage right now, right, Buzzfeed?) of some other good (and silly) decisions I have made lately.

1. Buying this champagne. Kroger (THERE IS NO S AT THE END, A) has a clearance bin when you first walk in, and this just so happened to be in there.

Tell me - how could you pass that up? YOU CAN'T. Especially when it's only $8.99. It was really good, too. Not too sweet and not too bitter, just perfect. An added bonus? The winery just so happens to be south of Houston! I've already made plans to take Ashley and Alexa when they come to Houston in (OMG!!!!) less than 60 days. 

2. Buying the nest. Yep, we gave in. The A/C company allowed us to return the cheap-o one we bought from them, so we upgraded to the nest. I haven't gotten to play with it much, but it's just so fancy and adorable (can an electronic device be called that?) and can be controlled from my phone! Yes, I am nerding out over this and I am not ashamed. 

3. Finding this blog. You are welcome and I apologize personally to your boss because you won't get any work done after clicking over to this gem. Just TRY and stop reading after one post, I dare you.

4. Buying this skirt. 

The pattern is just so Christmassy and I feel like a Catholic school girl every time I wear it. Four for you, J.Crew Factory. You go J.Crew Factory!

5. Spending time with my little Reid man. Okay, so this isn't exactly a recent new decision per say, but I always leave a little happier and with a big smile on my face, so I guess each time I choose to go over (or in last night's case, am asked ever so nicely to come help because my BIL lost his keys at the hospital and my sister was at a work dinner and the nanny had to go home…phew!) is a good decision. I mean, just look at him! So what if right when I walked in he took one look at me and said NO KIKI! GO HOME KIKI!

6. Starting an ISPY membership. 

Oh, and getting the world's cutest coffee mug from Starbuck's. I am no make-up girl. I don't really even know how to put it on…or what products to buy. But I do know that Ipsy is the greatest thing to happen to mail and that I will FOR SURE use every product in the bag, and I actually needed new bronzer so it's pretty perfect I would say.

7. Buying Bowden this "tom brady" sweater. So what if it means he hates me? 

8. Last but not least because it's actually my favorite thing I've done in a while…hiring a maid. It's not that I hate cleaning (ok maybe it is), I hate DEEP cleaning. I would rather do soooo many other things than devote an entire Saturday to cleaning our house. I can keep up day to day, but let's face it…Norma is way better than I am at deep cleaning. I walked in our house Monday and couldn't take the smile off my face for hours. Yes, I know it's a luxury. Yes, I know one day we might need to devote the money we're spending for her to come once a month so something else. But gosh darn, I'm going to enjoy it while we can have this luxury. And it's really not that bad since she's only coming once a month, right?

why I drink champagne

If you're new around here you may not know this, but I love Champagne. As in LOVEEEE. I tailgate with it, my cocktail of choice is either a French 75 or a Kir Royale, I drank that and only that at my wedding, I drink it on a Monday night...get it? Got it? Good. The only beer I like is Cider Beer (I wonder why? Maybe because it tastes like champagne) and if a liquor drink tastes anything remotely like the liquor you just put into it, I can't handle it. You vodka and water people are insane, vodka tastes DISGUSTING. 

Oh and a disclaimer: I feel as though some people reading this may think that all I do is drink. This just makes me laugh because that is so not even close to being true. I just like to talk about champagne a lot. And apparently I like to take a lot of pictures with it. 

This all leads me to the best article I've ever found on the internet. 

According to research published in the April 18 issue of Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, Champagne may help protect the brain against injuries incurred during a stroke and other ailments, such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases.

So this whole time I've actually been making my brain better. They say you're supposed to drink it "responsibly." That means not driving after you drink it, right? If so, I've been responsibly drinking it this whole time! 

Sometimes I might switch it up a bit and drink red wine so I can make my heart stronger. It's all about the health in our house. 

pop. fizz. clink.

My weekend plans went pretty well if I do say so myself. Minus the reading Safe Haven and studying for the dreadful GRE, I did fantastic. If only all goals were as easy as drinking champagne. 

Friday night we went out with one of A's groomsmen who was in town to ride on the Saturday night parade. 

Champagne and dancing described the night. Don't go contacting animal control. I do not let my dog drink champagne. He just really likes to try to...what can I say, the man has good taste. And a champagne roadie is always necessary. ALWAYS. And no, I wasn't driving. And our most favorite thing to do prior to going out is to jam to "Trouble" by my girl T-Swizzzzzle. Love her or hate her, you cannot deny that it's a JAM. And then we went home around 11. When you live in a college town, you can only handle so much of the college bars. Maybe I need to drink more Champagne before we go out next time. 

Saturday we watched Skyfall. I've never watched a James Bond movie from start to finish before - gasp! We aren't done yet, but I like what I've seen so far. And Bond is a man whore for sure. 

Then we went to the Krewe of Rio parade and grabbed sushi afterwords with friends. I love sushi, but I don't think I would like it outside of Louisiana. The only rolls I like are the Ragin Cajun - fried gator - and the one with crawfish in it. OH and this one I tried once with steak in it - Cowboy Caviar or something. HA. 

Bowden didn't want us to go to the parade and leave him all night. He was enjoying all of our cuddle time!

And yes, I realize that today is not Monday, so the weekend update is late, but yesterday was a day sent straight up from the Devil himself. So let's pretend that I'm on time with this? 

hotdogs are killing you

Oh well hello there Friday, how nice of you to finally come around. I'm not going to be friends with you today until around 4, I just can't handle it until then. 

As a follow up to yesterday's post, my sister commented that she did, in fact, try to pluck my eyebrows and I told her to stop because it hurt. Poor baby Kaitlyn - beauty is pain and this is a lesson that I did not learn soon enough. But it's all good because that cute boy ended up dropping out of college somewhere around five times and has one of those serial on again off again relationships going on. I win!

Next weekend is Mardi Gras, which means that this weekend shall consist of absolutely nothing. If I party hard this weekend, there is absolutely no way I'll be able to do anything next weekend/Tuesday. Oh yea, that's right, we get Tuesday off work. Pretty much the whole city shuts down - and in college we got Monday through Wednesday off. Take that people who think Louisiana sucks! We are awesome!

I'm a firm believer in the writing down practice. As in, if you write it down, you will do it. So I'm "writing down" my weekend plans and I fully intend to accomplish everything. 

I am way behind on Teen Mom 2 so I plan to do some catching up. (Catching up really means watching and yelling at the TV because they are always so stupid.) || Champagne will be popped at around 5pm today. It makes everything better. || I plan on getting some QUALITY sleep on our bed from Heaven. If you're in the market for a new one, do yourself a favor and get the icomfort. || I know that this book will end up being EXACTLY like all of his other ones, but I have to read it. And yes, this cover must be the one I buy because movie covers are never OK. || There will be lots of puppy cuddles going on. Never enough.

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I'm going to have to suffer through watching this guy fake cry for all of the attention when the Ravens win. They are going to win. || But I'm also going to get to stuff my face with Brie Dip from my homeboy TJ || And Charleston Cheese Dip from my homegirl Trisha || And Hot Dogs...even though the website I found this photo from told me they were even worse than cigarettes. And they will give me cancer. Ooops. || More champagne will be had. Never enough! || And if I have time, I guesssss I will study. What a buzz kill!

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Now hopefully I can check back in on Monday and check every single thing off that list. Even the killer hot dogs. 

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PSSSSSSS:

I still cannot believe it myself, but Taylor & Whitney featured little ole me on The Browse today! They came up with a new feature, The Blogger's Best Week Ever, and yep, you guessed it, I had the best week ever! Go check it out, and if you haven't heard of The Browse before, you are seriously missing out. I have found SO many amazing blogs because they were featured there. It's worth your time!

i'm a TJ addict

Well I failed at blogging this week majorly. I like that I get to go on trips for work but being out two days mid-week ALWAYS messes me up. Coming back to 300+ work emails (I really wish that was an exaggeration) just makes the rest of the week SUCK.

I meant to prepare a Wedding Wednesday and a Si.Pi.Di post ahead of time so they would post while I was out, but it's just been one of those weeks. January CAN NOT come fast enough!

Anyways, as you know from my last pathetic post, I was in Chicago the last two days. Usually on my trips I have some "me" time, but I was only there for exactly 24 hours this time.

 

 

I have a goal with every city I travel to. I HATE looking like the tourist, so right when I land, if I have the time, I like to walk around a bit and immerse myself in the city. And I also have a problem. I'm addicted to Trader Joe's and I WILL go to one in every city I visit. NYC - check. Dallas - check. Chicago - you betcha I went.

 

 

 

 

Over thanksgiving one of the dips we had as this Herb Brie did from TJ's. I was obsessed with it. So naturally, I put my bags in my hotel and marched right on over to TJ's. (I did good this time, my hotel was only 2 blocks away. In NYC I had to walk two miles. Worth it? YES.) I found the dip and some delicious fresh bread.

 

 

No cheese and bread lunch is complete without some wine. And GUESS WHAT? TJ's is kinda known for their wine. And by known for I mean it's SUPER CHEAP. Seriously - that bottle was four dollars...and it was not the cheapest one there. It was pretty tasty I must say. Especially tasty when drank (drinked? drunk?) out of those cheesy clear hotel coffee cups. 

 

This is for you TJ newbies - they have the best candy/dessert known to man-kind. Those Milk Chocolate Salted Caramel Butter Cookies? Yea. May or may not have scarfed down a whole tray in five minutes. They taste like super fancy homemade Twix bars. I usually just get the normal Fleur de Sel Carmel's but I had to step it up this time, and I am SO glad I did. I'm sure the cocoa truffles are equally as deelish but I'm waiting to eat them until I give them to my father-in-law the cocoa truffle addict.

 

After my amazing TJ experience I could have just lounged all night and watched HGTV/be a fatass, but I had our company "holiday" party to get to. Fortunately I have great friends all over the place so I was able to meet up with a sorority sister of mine. It was really fun to gossip catch up on everyone ;)

 

Last year the company party was INSANE - and by insane I mean that I fell asleep on the bar (yes, at the party) and got kicked out of the next bar because I tripped. (You guys probably think I have a drinking problem. I seriously don't and this proves it - I don't drink a lot so when I do, I don't know when to stop. EMBARRASSING.) So this year I stuck to water until everyone decided that must mean I am pregnant. Nothing like that to make you switch to champagne ASAP.

 

After the party some of us were hungry so we went to billy goat's.

 

 

If you ever go to Chicago, make sure you stop here for a late night snack!

 

It's true what they say in the SNL skit - they won't get you get a single. And really, the double is like a normal single at most places because the patties are so thin. It's not the greatest burger ever, but the history inside the place makes it a great spot.

 

I'm already planning my next trip - for fun this time - because there is SO much to do there and 20 hours is not enough! Can't wait!