Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

 

I love this time of year and this sugar-filled holiday. Rhyno and I celebrated the spooky day with some friends at a costume party last weekend--it was a blast! We are spending the actual Halloween evening passing out candy and watching Hocus Pocus and trying not to eat all of the aforementioned candy.

 

We had a fun experience with our costumes--I was SO excited to buy our costumes online. I spent a couple of hours eyeballing and price comparing every costume. I finally settled on the cutest looking gnome costumes and had to have them rush shipped to us before the costume party. So they arrived and I was pleased as really good punch...until we tried them on. Um, remind me next year to just sew our dang costumes instead of trying to bargain buy them.

 

These costumes looked like garbage...worse than garbage. My "cute" gnome dress added about 30 pounds to my frame (which I don't need) and gave the illusion that my boobs were down to my waist (oh hell no). Rhyno's gnome beard was knotted and kind of questionable. We had the fun task of running out to find something with only three hours until the party.

 

So...what costumes did we wind up wearing into the bar?

 

I didn't realize until now that we didn't take ANY photos together. Bummer dog.

 

Hot diggity dog! Yeah, this is real life. Don't I look happy? Also that was not Rhyno's hat...

 

Do you dress up for Halloween? What costume are you rocking?

Currently.

 Cutie Violet takin' a Sunday snooze.

 

I am currently...

 

....eating so many avocados. We are getting to the time of year where buying an avocado is dicey--I have already purchased two that were straight up nasty. So now when I find one that is perfectly ripe, I slice it up and gobble it faster than you can say "Avocado Lover!"

 

...making Christmas gifts! I am so excited to give all my nephews and nieces homemade and awesome gifts. No fruitcake for this frugal gift-giver!

 

...on my To Do list deep cleaning our house before winter! I always like to do one last big clean before freezing weather sets in so I can open some windows to let fresh air in. I need to do that this week.

 

...listening to Runnin Around by Rilo Kiley. I have said before Rilo Kiley is my FAVORITE BAND EVER. I fell in love in high school and they basically just keep me alive (despite being broken up). I bought their RKives for myself as a birthday gift and I love it so much. I cried out of sheer happiness when I first gave it a listen (because the break up means this was the last new thing I might ever hear). Runnin Around reminds me of one of my newest and favorite friends and I love it so. Can't stop. Won't stop.

 

...reading Crazy Sexy Diet by Kris Carr. It is changing my life hardcore.

 

...watching so many documentaries. I watched Blackfish last weekend and I was straight up haunted. As a longtime animal lover, I already knew the injustices of the fur and meat and pet mill industries but SeaWorld was a little shock. I grew up wanting so badly to be a dolphin/whale trainer. I had no idea the real depression whales face in captivity and now I can't NOT think about it. Hashtag Free Tilly, right? I have watched this doc two times in two days. So good. We also saw Gravity last weekend and I am in love. I was sobbing most of the time and I thought it was so amazing. I want to see it so many more times. I love outer space and whales...now both of those things are making me sad. WHY!?

 

...loving  my naughty little Violet. She is real crazy. We are learning to jog together and I find it calms her down a bit. Rhyno and I are still debating getting her a sibling so she has someone to play with and they can even one another out. Today I caught her laying on the coffee table and then she tore apart an entire box of tissues. Butt.

 

...hoping for a book deal! Just kidding...sort of. Just like everyone else, I have been outlining some things and I'd really like it to work out. I have been laying out pages whenever I have a few minutes to spare and my office looks like a crazy villain's post-it filled lair.

 

...thankful for every dang thing. Hot damn, my life is so good.

 

 Have the best Halloween-Eve!

 

If you also partake in Currently posts, please link up in the comments!

Almost New Year's Resolutions.

Hey, how the heck is it already almost 2014? Like, time, am I right? I am really excited for the upcoming holidays, I love this flingin' flangin' time of year.

 

Feel free to listen to this as you read this post. I am.

 

I love a good resolution as much as the next chump. I love to believe that every new year brings with it the chance to be the perfect version of myself. With the new year looming in the not-so-distant future, I can't stop thinking about my resolutions and maybe just getting a big, ol' jumpstart on them now.

 

via

 

So...what are my initial resolutions and what can I do now?

 

1.) As usual, my  biggest resolution is to be as healthy as possible. I'm done with back-and-forth of being fat and thin, I just want to be healthy and I'm working toward it. I recently purchased Crazy Sexy Diet by Kris Carr and I am so inspired. I am loving dry brushing and oil pulling, I can't wait to take even better care of my health. I have been planning more clean eating meals (posts to come) and trying to move a bit more.

 

2.) Only do what makes me super happy. Oddly, this is hard to do. As someone who tends to "lay down and die" when it comes to conflict, I'm trying to learn to stick up for myself and my own happiness a bit more.

 

3.) Get pretty! I used to really pride myself, however vain, on putting time into myself. I am making a conscious effort to put more time into how I look--no matter my size. I find that when I've gained some weight I stop dressing adorably and I just stop trying. I am trying to put more time into the face I present to the world and taking time to really making myself CUTE.

 

4.) Be good. I just want to be good...basically in my whole life. I spent some time being bad and being MEH. I want to be good to my family and best friends and close friends and other friends and strangers. I want to give more and take less.

 

Are you already thinking of your resolutions? Or am I just nutty?

Paddling My Own Canoe.

 

Sometimes my friends tell me cool stories of living in the city and bumping into random small-time celebrities or hitting up book signings after work and I feel a PING of "aw, shucks, wish that was me" self-pity.

 

But then I moved to the country and just happened to buy a house in the town riiiight next to where one of my favorite actors/authors grew up. Then a year or so later he stopped by his hometown and did a book signing/reading/sing-along at his old elementary. If you already know who Nick Offerman is without clicking the link I already think you are way super awesome cool, if you have to click...well, then click away and fall in love. He is funny and mustached and insightful and sweet in the manliest way and, hey, he's Ron effing Swanson. Dang, I love Parks & Recreation.

 

 

 

Sorry for the shitty photo quality--my camera AND phone died before the reading even started so I had to use Rhyno's rinky-dink garbage phone camera.

 

 The senior Offerman, Nick's dad, introduced the evening and it was kind of the most precious thing ever. Nick Offerman's entire family was in the audience and it was cool to see a hometown celebrity come back home and be so modest and hilarious. He told funny stories about wanting to be a break dancer (his name was Tick Tock) and gave a list of reasons why he loves his wife (Megan Mullaly) so much and told the audience how much it meant to him to grow up in this teeny, tiny town in the middle of almost nowhere. He ended the evening with "Bye, Bye Lil' Sebastian" which any Parks & Rec fan would die over. I died over it. I'm basically dead.

 

Um, so then came the book signing and I nearly barfed in my mouth because I was so dang excited to meet him.

 

In the effort of saving time, no one was allowed to take an actual photo WITH Nick. So my homemade mustache that would make for the perfect photo opp went unused.

 

I have met a handful of celebrities in my time and I sometimes act like a dingbat. I once met one of my very favorite authors (Susan J. Gilman) and was so awestruck by her hilarity and intelligence that I ditched the pre-made speech I had in mind and nervously yelled, "I LOVE BOOKS!" and whipped her own hardcover at her face. I could not do that again. So when I got to the table I very calmly admitted, "I am freaking out." Mr. Offerman simply said, "No. Do not do that. Let's just talk like humans." And we did. And it was rad. I told him how much I loved Somebody Up There Likes Me and he told me a bit about working with the director and how proud he was of that movie and how nice Chris Pratt & Amy Poehler are. I was grinning like a buffoon and happy as a clam.

 

 It was one of my very favorite moments of 2013. Thank you, Mr. Offerman.



Sister Birthdays.

So on my birthday my lovely cousin-like-a-sister wrote this sweet, humbling, wonderful post. I hope I can half repay that favor.

 

She: in all black. Me: Unfortunately in all peach.

 

Samantha is my sister, whether or not you or the universe likes it. She was born my cousin but I will always think of her as my closest family. She is one of those people who makes you feel understood, is willing to gripe with you, and makes you almost pee your pants with laughter every dang time you see her.

 

Seeing my Samantha become a mother has been something kind of magical. She has transformed into this amazing woman-hero  who is capable of baking, child rearing, working, and blogging all in a span of a few hours. Like, are you Superwoman? Get outta here! Plus she chats with me via Facebook IM the whole time.

 

Honestly? I don't know what I'd do without her. If it's good news or bad news, she is one of the first people I tell every single time and I sprint to her for advice at every obstacle. I love her face and guts and heart and soul. She is someone who is forthright with her feelings, she will make you feel like a million bucks and like you are worth an actual million bucks.

 

Kaeli, Samantha, Me, My Mom

 

Sam always works to better herself as a human--which sets the bar high for the rest of us since she's already really great. She is my cousin, my sister, my bestie, the coolest.

 

I love you, Mantha! Happy birthday!

 



Positive Things.

Just a lil' happy thought for the day.

 

via

 

Have a happy Friday Eve!

Happy Anniversary.

Happy third anniversary to my favorite man meat, Rhyno!

 

There are so many things I'd change about our wedding day if given the chance--the people involved, the photographs, the prep beforehand, the food served--but I would never change the person waiting for me at the end of the aisle. I would  never change the confidant smile on your face as I walked toward you or the heart-thumping excitement I felt while turning the corner to see you at the altar. I would never change my dad's refusal to cry that also helped me stay dry-eyed and laughing. I wouldn't change teeny-tiny Addie as our flower girl despite her day-of protest. I wouldn't change the delicious tortellini. I wouldn't change our family and friends laughing and dancing around in celebration of our love. I wouldn't change you rubbing my feet at the end of a long wedding reception or first dancing with you to a song neither of us was too crazy about. I wouldn't change our hand-carved pumpkins or s'mores favors. Dude, I would never change those cupcakes we ate in place of a giant wedding cake. I would never, ever change our Disney honeymoon and the week we spent just enjoying life and our new marriage and each other and lots of soft pretzels and pictures of Mickey Mouse.

 

Most of all I wouldn't ever change the feeling I had when I glanced at you right after our vows, the first glance at my husband. The feeling that my heart had found its missing piece and I was whole. The feeling that I was safe and loved and beloved.

 

Of all the things I would change, I would never change you.

 

Happy third year, my dear, and cheers to many more!