Keeping up with the Carlson's

You smell like Sunshine...

2011-04-03T19:14:00.000-05:00

I know... i know..
It has been a while since I have entered the blogging world. I thought about it a couple of times, but then I also thought how if I started would I be able to continue and keep it up. The jury is still out, but while the deliveration is going on I figure I can do a little catch up.
This weekend has been perfect and helped me to realize how blessed I am.
I got back from Florida on Friday afternoon and met Kelly and Back Nine where I take golf lessons. Kelly played a virtual course while I caught him up on the weeks worth of activites he had missed out on. The project I have been working on since I started dropped last week and we were there to make sure everyone was on board and understood the process. I also spent a lot of time in a Mazda 3 rental car and in tornado warnings. Besides planning the trip I was also the official dinner coordinator. This cherished honor wasn't bestowed on me until we were actually going to dinner the first night, so I did the only logical thing to think of.. post it on FB. I got a large number of recommendations and love social media for that very reason.
If you are ever in the Orlando area let me suggest- Brio & Crave.
Saturday I had an appointment at Wellquest for a much needed massage. I then decided I should do my workout outside. PS. It is was hot.
Kelly played golf and I ran the standard Saturday errands. I was also fortunate enough to accompany Alexis and Walker on their daily walk. Callaway was my date and seemed to be much harder to pacify than 4 month old Walker. After every inch of the neighborhood had been marked as Callaway territory we headed home for a romantic dinner. Where my hottie husband told me that I smelled good.. "Like Sunshine." I like that. That sounds like a happy smell.
Today was the end of the HOBY conference. If you aren't familiar with HOBY it is a leadership program starting for high school sophomores that helps them also realize that community envolvement is important at any age. My dad is on the board and very involved and called in a favor. They have about 170 students from all over AR and through out the weekend they narrow it down to 10 to finalist. The winner will receive a scholarship and go on the represent the state in the national conference. This was a lot of pressure for this kid... so I called in reinforcements. Who better than my college professor friend, sweet Amanda. Amanda has such as passion for learning and I knew she would be great to help.
It was a great experience and it really made me thankful for everything that I have.

What else is going on?
HUmmm. My sister in law got a JOB.. In NWA. Super pumped..Now I feel like we have more of a shot to get the inlaws here.

I love my new job.. also love the fitness center....and the travel, except that I do miss my boys when I am gone.

Got to go to DC. UM, yep pretty cool city! I can't wait to go back with Kelly and see more of the city!
My boss and I tried to see the White House, Got yelled at by secret service.. no big deal. Took a picture of the Capital may go to jail for that one too. I didn't really obey the NO PHOTO sign.

Race for the cure is getting closer and I am super busy. This week I have a meeting every single day regarding the race. I have recruited a couple of friends which makes my life easier. I wrangled Alisa in and now she has gotten several Paw Partners for the race.

We got a house keeper. This is a HUGE step in the Carlson house. We have gone back and forth on this subject for a while and after about 2 months in the job and Kelly started back to school we realized it was not worth the time, energy or argument so, Katie was hired. I can honestly say that I would probably give up coffee, chocolate, or.. GASP peanut butter if it would keep Katie in our lives!
Kelly laughed at me after the first time she came. I had no clue what to do with myself. I just kept looking for things to do.

Kelly and I have our 5 year wedding anniversary this month. 5 years, I really do feel like it was just a while ago when we got married. This milestone also marks the Italy trip. 6 months from now we will be walking through the streets of Rome! Our Itinerary so far is:
Cinque Terra- 2 nights
Rome- 2 nights
Orvieto
Tuscany- 2 nights
Pisa
Florence
Chianti
Venice- 2 nights
Assisi
Pompeii
Sorrento
Capri-2 nights
Naples

Obviously I am counting down the days.

I love it when you contain me!

2011-01-23T17:20:00.000-06:00

I kind of wish with the weather the way that it is we had a holiday coming up! I could you a R & R day!
This week was busy and the weekend was even busier.

My boss was really sick this week so I had the opportunity to work on quite a few things and I even go to lead some meetings. I am involved on several projects, but one in particular that it pretty big and time consuming. This one I have had the most exposure to and and I feel the most comfortable with. So, when she was sick and asked if I could run them I felt pretty confident that I could.

I also took a training class on Wednesday it was for the Birkman Method. I had never heard of this, but apparently it has been a while. They break you in to four colors. Red, Green, Blue, & Yellow. I was a green. Motivated by people, a leader, a direct communicator, and a planner. Not big surprise here.
They also told me that I get stressed if I get indirect communication.. Which I realized on Friday is very very true. For example: we are implementing a new project. It was supposed to be set up on Thursday in order to be presented on Friday. Well since no one had to go to work on Thursday (more later) they needed anyone and everyone to come in on Friday and help set up prior to the presentation. Get there Friday am and they as me and another guy to set up the modular. So I ask. What is it supposed to look like? Well no one had that information. This automatically stressed me. I need to know what you expect me to do and what the expected results we are trying to achieve. If I don't get direct instructions from a defined authority I get stressed and begin to "see the worst" according the the test. Everything turned out fine and we were able to set it (unlike anything I am sure it was supposed to look like) but I guess I don't keep like I am giving 100% until i know exactly what you need from me.

Thursday was a snow and Ice Day. Do you know how excited I was when I got the email from my boss telling me that her first priority was safety and that is why I have a laptop!WAHOO!
I understand that people have jobs that require them to be at work and not everyone has the resources to stay home, but I also think if you have a job that would let you work from home with no hindrance on your job performance... WHY NOT? I loved my old employer, so when I say this know that I truly did like working for the company and they treat their associates very well, but the one thing they were horrible about was that. I just think that if you have a job that will allow you to work from home when the weather is bad you should do it. Why risk it?

Friday was HSC's 30th Birthday! I slaved over a shirt from him and brought it up every 5 minutes until he put the shirt on..

and the back...

Alexis is always a great host even if she has a pumpkin in her belly! We had a wii bowling tournament since it was a Big Lebowski themed party. Ps never seen the movie.. Kelly made it all the way to the semi finals.. Gosh I am so proud of my little slice of heaven! Until........ this is what I woke up to on Saturday morning at 7am.

Nope not a strange child in my bed, but I couldn't find a picture of anything else to show how sprawled out Kelly was. I tried to move him, but it wasn;t happening. It did make me thinks of that new show perfect couples. Have y'all seen it?
We watched it on Thursday and it was pretty funny.
Kelly's favorite line, "I love it when you contain me."

Saturday we were having a game night so I got up and started working on that. I got a new machine for Christmas which is what helped me make the yuppie shirt for HSC & this for game night:

This is a story from our Life Group with church. When kelly & I first got married he always called us Team carlson and whenever I made him mad he would call me team pangle. So we had some trash talkers in our group and I needed to make the sign to prove a point.

When Kelly woke up this is what he wore all day... I am not going to lie it absolutely INFURIATED ME.

If you can't tell what this is it is long johns. For some reason they made me angry. I just feel they are nasty and old man ish and gross. I kept telling him to change, which only led to him wanting to wear them more! This is all I see when I think of long johns..

It kind of makes me skin crawl...

Here are some game night pictures..

My camera is dead.. SO I will upload some more soon..

To BLOG or not to BLOG.. Was that a question??

2011-01-14T19:15:00.000-06:00

Hi!
I haven't blogged in so long I had to resend my password! Lets start with what has been happening since Novemeber!
1- I got a new job. My life now consisit of the following things:

AHH the crackberry.. As much as it is painstaking to have you attached to my ear, hip or at the bottom of my giant purse.. you make my life SO much easier.

OH the gantt chart- you are the bane of my existence right now. I will master you sooner rather than later, but at this moment in time you kind of make my want to vomit.

I started the new job the week of Christmas which was a pretty good time to make a change.. a slow time that is perfect for learning. We went to AZ for Christmas and It was a great time.. I got every single thing on my list! This is always a plus!

My Vera Bradley Computer bag

My Serger! & my Silhoutte! Please take note of the craft section I have set up!!

Here are some of the things I have made..

Razorback Burp cloths

Razorback taggie blanket

Rag Quilt

LOOVE the way this one turned out!

It was a GIANT pain! Totally worth it, but a pain. You have to cut every singe one of the square.. the instructions say to get spring scissors.. I scoffed at this.. Probably shouldn't have cause my hands were numb for 2 days!!

This is the non rag side

I went and got 3 fat quarter bundles from Hancock fabrics. I love the color combinations. Alexis and HSC don't know what they are having yet so I tried to make it a dual gender quilt.

My sweet friend Amy is due in Feb so this weekend I am going to get more fabric to make baby Bryson one!

I think I am going to start selling them on Etsy. I saw one for 100 bucks.. YO!

LOVE how this apron turned out.

No clue who I will give it to, but I guess this can go in to my etsy pile.

This is next on my list.. I really want to learn to make a tshirt quilt. Oh how I need more time!

Other things.. I know that you all know how OCD I am about my water..
I now have a filtered water dispenser!! I love that I can fill my water bottle up ALL the time!
I also have a cafe. Full of an oatmeal bar, omelet bar. & coffee bar!
So my first week I join the gym.. YEAH! with the 10 degree weather these days we had a small motivation issue when it came to running! Anyway 3 days in to the new job I forgot my badge. UM HUGE NO NO!! it is like the Secret Service when it comes to getting in and if you have no badge you are out of luck. So, I walk up to security and I am like, "HI! my name is cortney & i forgot my badge." Cue my big smile..
CIA- "Do you have your discount card?"
me- "No sir, I don't I haven't gotten it yet. I am new and I just started..(cue big smile again) and I am still trying to get use to everything.."
CIA- "Sorry you have to have that.. What is your name?"
Me-"cortney Carlson"
CIA- "nope. don't see you."
Me- "there is no U in cortney."
CIA- " OK.. I got that."
ME- "oh, well right there you are typing a U in it.."
CIA-" Well i still can't find you, Since I don't see you.. you have to have your manager come get you.
Me- "Sir, it is 715 they don't come in until at least 730.. maybe 8"
CIA-Well I have to have someone vouch for you"
Me- "Sir, I really don't know if there is anyone here..
15-20 MINUTES later.. we find some one that will vouch for me and they let me in!!
So I go to warm up my oatmeal and right as I take it out of the microwave I spill it all over the floor.
FABULOUS! Hi, I am the new clumsy girl!
So I go back to my desk to grab $$ so I can get some food.
I grab some biscuits and gravy and spill the gravy on my shirt.
SERIOUSLY? This is my day?

Other things--
I got a hair cut. One that requires me to fix my hair now.. SO far we are going ok with it.

Please ignore the clothes on the tub.. That is what I miss soo much is an on site dry cleaning service... anyway it was dry cleaning day so disregard.
Me, My SIL & my MIL all won 3rd in our age group in a 5k on thanksgiving day!

I am trying to get better in the blogging..
Side note-- I got the numbers in on Voyage-- My auction raised about 15k!!
Have a fabulous weekend!!

Take it back... TAKE IT ALL BACK!

2010-12-09T17:09:00.001-06:00

So we had our girls weekend and it was So much fun.

We got to KC around 530. Just in time to put the food in the oven. Andrea made her fabulous enchiladas and Carly made some Ah-mazing guacamole. Which we all know how much I heart some guac! We all sat around and talked for most of the night catching up, telling stories and maybe a little bit of gossip! Leah, Kathryn & I were staying in the hotel so we headed home around 1230. We THOUGHT our friends were going to bed too, but turns out they headed out to the bar down the street and stayed up a little to late.

So when Leah and I woke the next morning saw the pictures they posted on FB from the night we figured they were going to be: a. feeling like crap b. really tired or c. all of the above.

So we headed out to shop while they slept it off. We met the 3 sleeping beauties around 11 for brunch at a place called ingredients. I had a wonderful breakfast burrito and 2 LARGE cups of coffee. I also learned that in the time that it takes me to drink 1 regular coffee & 2 large coffees, it takes Leah to drink a small. Andrea appeased me and Kathryn by taking us to Nordstrom's.

That is one thing I will say that I really miss about Dallas. At the time I really didn't shop there all that much, but now I realize what a fabulous store it is and how I WISH we had one.

We also got SUPER crazy and spent a while at Babies R Us for KABB. Andrea made the comment about how much things have changed, we now spend girls weekends at Babies R US!

For dinner Andrea took us to a tapas place and it was really good. I had goat cheese, which I have tried several times and I still have determined that I am not the biggest fan of the goat cheese.

The next morning Andrea took us to the great restaurant where she use to work and I really think that I my weight in Huevos Rancheros. Plus they had this awesome appetizer bar set up for you to eat at while you are waiting for your food. If was alone, I may have licked the plate. The humus was so good!

All in all it was a really fun weekend and I loved spending time with everyone. I am not going to lie though, I was very excited to get home to my sweet hubs and precious pup!

I am on the way out of town and Kelly texts me to remind me... that Joseph A Banks is having a sale.

Well Sunday I am sitting on the couch...

Hubbs- "They are having a shirt sale at JAB."

Me- "Great babe.. is it the SAME sale you mentioned to me on FRIDAY?"

Hubbs- "Yep, did you get a chance to go this weekend?"

Me- "No babe I didn't."

Hubbs-- "UGH whatever I hope you are kidding."

So I sneak in to the bedroom and get my card number and type it in to my phone so he won't see it.

I go and sit on the couch and start online shopping. Well I added all the shirts to my basket and I was ready to purchase but I got distracted.

Well Kelly gets the computer and starts shopping and ends up getting on the JAB site. He then proceeds to check the cart history. He is such a SURPRISE RUINER!

I then decided to go after work on Monday.

Well I get home and I am sneaking to put the bag in the closet and I hear

"HEY, can you help.. What are you doing babe?"

Me- "AGH! did you see?"

Hubbs- "yeah I saw the bag"

Me- "Did you see what was in it?"

Hubbs- "NOPE"

I then proceed to wrap presents..

Hubbs- "Did you just wrap my presents in front of me?"

Me- "Yes I did"

Hubb- "So you just wrapped my shirts in front of me"

Me- YES BABE"

Hubbs- "AHA! So you did get me shirts.'
Seriously?? I am taking them back.. ALL of them. BACK!

So Kelly is out of town this weekend. I am fine with our little weekends alone, but I feel like we haven't spend quality time in a while.

I am excited to have the WHOLE bed to spread out on, not excited to sleep alone.

I am excited to watch girl movies (which include Fa La La La Lifetime & the Xmen series), but sad I have no one to snuggle with.

I am VERY excited to eat whatever I want for dinner and not have to worry about cooking... Last time I was alone I ate a whole cucumber and rice with salsa. This time I am thinking hot dogs! Don't judge me. I heart hot dogs. Maybe I will get a little crazy and cut up the hot dogs and throw them in some mac and cheese!

I am NOT excited about running my 11 miles alone.

Girls Just want to have FUN!

2010-12-02T17:09:00.001-06:00

These are the cupcakes I made for Kelly's birthday
Vanilla Pumpkin with Cinnamon Buttercream frosting!
Not gonna lie these are slap yo momma good!

Hope everyone had a great thanksgiving. The whole Carlson family was in town so that is always fun. Thursday we got up and did the annual Turkey Trott.

This tradition started about 6 years ago. The Thanksgiving of 2004 when I went out to visit Kelly & his family in AZ. I remember it was the first time I had ever really ran. I was working in LR at the time and I would come home from work and run laps around the track so I could make sure and run the whole 3.1 with his family.

The tradition has been carried on every year since. Even if we don't have an actual organized race we will still got out and run as a family. Last year we had to run 6 since we were training for the Memphis Marathon and the weather was beautiful. This year we woke up at 6:30 for the 8am race in Springdale.

The temperature was 32 when the race started. Which yes, that is cold and miserable enough, but when you add in sleet and a strong wind it is almost unbearable.

Kelly won, with me in 2nd, Kaylee in 3rd, Bobby & Julie crossing together, & Kurt and Kelsey dropping out. Well we stuck around to find out the all 3 Carlson women placed 3rd in their age group. We were freezing but we just kept repeating that these were memories..

Friday I did a little black friday shopping with Julie. Kaylee was supposed to go with us, but she was not about to leave her bed at 3:30 am.

Julie and I hit up Belk's & Target before 6am and stopped by Bath and body works before heading home. Well then we saw the sign for Gap that said 50% off of everything in the store until 10am. So we had to stay and shop there too!
After that we went and picked up Kaylee and hit a few more stores including Hobby Lobby where I got stuff to make my MIL some burp cloths for her hairstylist.

Here is how they turned out!

When I got home I decided I better run cause if I didn't just put my big girl panties on and do it there was no way I was going to run. So on went the big girl underware and I headed out for a fabulous 10 miler. PS the wind was BRUTAL, but I made it through!

Friday night we went to Table Mesa for Kelly's birthday dinner. I try to get something new every time and every time It is AMAZING! After we ate to much we went over to the new ice skating rink to look around. We were a little tempted to try it, but it was so cold outside we all changed our minds!

I leave for Kansas City tomorrow for our girls weekend.

Here is our hotel

Here is our Dinner

la bodega

Here is our After Dinner

Skies

There will also be lots of shopping on the plaza!

P.S....

I got a new job...

Peanut Butter & Jelly

2010-11-24T11:36:00.001-06:00

Dear Peanut Butter:

You are 29 today! I can't believe how fast time has gone!

I remember meeting you for the first time in the Bentonville High school cafeteria. You had on the Eddie Bauer shirt that reminds me of a napkin. You were the new kid in school and I really just didn't have time for you. OH how things change. Fast forward 1 year and 1 broken heart later and who was there? The cutie in the napkin shirt.

I remember working at the bank in the supercenter and you were a CSM and every time you would walk by I would watch you.

May 21, 1999 I went to a graduation party and you had a curfew. I got a call on my way to the party from you asking me if I would be your girlfriend. Since you were just about the sweetest thing I didn't even hesitate.

We both thought it was going to be a summer crush.. over and done, but one year later May 20, 2000 it was our own graduation and you were going to Harding & I was staying here we decided we should just see where it goes. Over 11 years later it is still going pretty well.

God knew when he brought us together what he was doing.

You helped me to be the Christian woman that I am today. You challenged my faith and helped me to grow and be a better person.

You balance me. The things I stress about are the things you laugh about.

You are so generous. You truly live the turn the other cheek lifestyle. When I hold the grudge and want to wash my hands of things you are there with your giving heart.

I love how insanely excited you get about Christmas & how as long as it is for Christmas I can break the budget.

You challenge me to try new things. From trying spicy food to running to camping and learning to golf.

You brag about me when I am not around. It feels so good to have people come up to me and tell me how highly you speak of me when I am not around.

You will indulge my crazy ideas.. like painting a chair bright red or even when I want to camp in the backyard.

You know how anal I am about things and you will usually allow the neurotic to come out is small doses. You then reel me in when they are taking over me!

You love to spend time with me.

You have fabulous hair and beautiful eyes.

You are the spiritual leader and are my accountability partner.

We are both on the same page of our lives. We are content with just the 2 of us, ready for Europe, then children.

When you don't think I am watching I love how cute you are with the dog. I can only imagine what a great father you will be.

You can't stay mad at me. Whether I am hitting cars or just infuriating you, you are only angry for about 15-20 minutes.

Your competitive nature.

I am so proud of you working full time and getting your masters.. with a 3.85 GPA

I love that you refer to my student loans as OUR loans

I love how honest you are...most of the time!

I love that you have just as big of a sweet tooth as I do!
I never could have imagined how my life was going to end up, but I am so thank that I have shared 11 years of it with you. I hope you have a wonderful birthday!

I love you very much!
Love-Jelly

I hope everyone has a fabulous thanksgiving! The Carlson Clan will be at the Turkey Trot and then watching lots and lots of football!

Silhouette Machine Giveaway with a wknd wrap up!

2010-11-22T17:20:00.001-06:00

I am not going to lie I am glad last week is over. It was a very long and exhausting week & weekend! Tuesday I got tickets to a charity event in Fayetteville so me and megs spent the evening at the Celebrity Chefs auction. It was fun. I always have fun with megs.. she is my spontaneous friend. But I didn't get home until late and bed even later.. so starts the vicious cycle of my week! Then Wednesday I got a text from Tammy stating that my auction items were in a state of confusion and I needed to come quick.. Not as life threatening as I make it sound, but this was a pretty big deal to me.

I should explain that Tammy,Terri (the other girl that helped me with the auction) and I spent a good 3 hours pairing items together and getting baskets set up on paper so the night we got all the stuff we would be quick and efficient. Disclaimer...I love volunteers and I know that they are giving of their time and have great intentions and with out them things wouldn't get done. Having said that I will say it was very overwhelming to walk in to the building on Wednesday and to see the chaos. Terri spent Tues. working with everyone getting the baskets in order. Telling everyone please group the items according to the lists that we had printed out & if any basket is done to please leave it alone. Well when I came in Wednesday I was told, "The list is gone.. and we aren't using it." Now if I hadn't spent 3 hours the week before organizing everything and giving it a home then I may not have been as upset as I was. So we ended up doing triple work.. Terri making things on Tuesday night, Volunteers changing everything on Wednesday, and then me changing everything back on Wednesday night.

Friday I left work & went straight to the Embassy to work on decor for the auction room.
Here are some pictures of the room.

It was a long night. we had over 180 auction items that had to be set up. Including a crib that had to be put together. Around 9 the staff from the Embassy came in to hang our records from the ceiling. Well by 10 they had to leave and the records weren't done, but they assured us they would get to them Saturday. You know that wasn't good enough for us. So after the staff left I hear this.. BEEP..BEEP..BEEP and I look out in to the hall to see 2 of the volunteers driving the scissor lift down the hallway in to our ambassador room. I was laughing so hard I couldn't breathe. So for the next 30 minutes they finished hanging the records. While we took stock of the seating arrangements.

The razorback lounge was in the auction room, problem was there was only 1 couch and a 32" tv. HUMMM.. this could be a problem. So after talking it through we all kind of decided people were going to be pretty frustrated with the lack of seats & crowding around the 1 tv. So we decided we for sure needed more chairs. Where could we get them? Steal Borrow them from the Embassy of course! So at about 11pm we were going up and down the hall swopping the orange chairs that were used throughout the facility. PS. They are not the lightest thing incase you want to try to steal them. We then figured we should have coffee table for people to set their drinks on or prop their feet up on. Where could we get those?? Borrow them from the Embassy of course. So me thinking I am big stuff I run out to the hall way very eager to make my point with visuals, I try to lift the table. HOLY COW. Yeah.. they are granite. PS. Granite is even heavier than the orange chairs. So we scoured the place and found the bell carts and helped ourselves to them to get the job done. I think you can see them in one of the pictures above

Kelly & I were 60/70's, The necessary's were 50's and the Wilson's went 80's. We could not have picked a better group for the event! Alexia came over and helped me out with my hair and I swear between my Bouffant hair and Christy's Cindy Lauper hair there is a hole in the ozone above 1800 SW sequoia. I used some hot rollers and some Aquanet, but it still didn't make it through the night!

I won a contest at COL & got a fancy limo to pick us up and take us home for the night. Jason our driver was there at 6pm. Kelly & Alexis love Christmas so we asked Jason to stop by the Square where they were doing the lighting on the square. Unfortunately the weren't lit yet, but we tried.

Aaron & Christy

Alexis& HSC

Groovy

no words.. but oh how I love you!

Malt shop?

Chocolate or Vanilla?

It really was so much fun and I am so glad that our friends were there! They made the night for sure! So on our way home we asked Jason to drive by the square again. The lights were on so he graciously stopped for us to get a picture!

yeah to jason!

We decided Alexia was missing all the fun.. so the boys went and woke her up.

Aaron & Callaway love to dance to NKOTB.

Silhouette Machine Giveaway

I got an email from aunt Jamima and she told me about this FABULOUS give away!! It is for the Silhouette. that I would probably give my pinkie toe for-cause lets be honest here people do you really need your pinkie toe? I mean what is it good for? Not to say that this is a small sacrifice on my part! I will look quite funny in my sandals in the summer, but you have to do what you have to do in order to get a Silhouette! Or you could just take the time to enter this give-a-way. I will be honest though I had a moral debate on if I should share this or not. Since Santa Claus is watching me though I figure I will tell you all about it!! JWOW has one of these and it is kind of fabulous and every time I look at stuff now I think about how easy it would be to make if I had one! SO go enter. If you win.. share!

PS. My AARP bound hottie is turning 29 on Wednesday. 29!!!!!!!!!!!!! I mean wow! I am considering trading him in for a newer model!

OH my SHUTTERFLY!

2010-11-17T16:50:00.000-06:00

Christmas is getting so close! 38 days away! Which means I need to get to sewing, AND Decorating. I was blog stalking the other day and I came across a girl that was promoting shutterfly & there Christmas cards. Have yall ever used Shutterfly? I use them all the time to upload my digital pictures and then to have them mailed to me is super cheap and so easy! Well this year I saw some of the FABULOUS designs. One of the reasons I like them so much is because they let you have a good 4 images on your card. For me this is a huge plus since I can never pick one picture and when Kelly & I got our pictures taken this year we didn't have the dog & yall know how I am about the dog! Last year was so hard I had two different designs. I needed more that the quantity would allow me so I figure I will just do 2 different orders with 2 different pictures. Well this proved to cause me some heartache since I was then faced with the dilemma of which card I send!! So quite a few people ended up with 2 cards. This year my plan is to use Shutterfly and get a collage of shots and go with ONE card. Here are the ones I am loving right now!

Christmas cards they look like this..

So then I found these and fell in love with them it would be so easy to just put all of our stuff in a photobook. I use to scrapbook. USE TO being the operative word here. I don't have time. None! I am just now to when we got Callaway... 3 years ago!!! We have done a bunch since then! So I look at these books and think of it as a total problem solver! It would be great gifts for people with kids.. I some how don't think that my in-laws would want a book of the "gran-dog"

What do yall normally do for Christmas cards?

Also, decorating... How do we feel about putting the tree up before Thanksgiving?

Kelly wanted to put both of them up last week and I was able to deter him for a little bit longer, and please don't get me wrong. I love Christmas, But I love my fall decor. So I want it to be up and prominent for as long as possible! I did see this older lady at Hobby Lobby the other day and she had a picture from Pottery Barns catalog and was imitating the whole table set up from Hobby Lobby. The total cost at Hob Lob $65 bucks. The total cost at PB $185. GEEZ!

So moral of the story. Try to re-create whenever possible.

Merry Christmas Cindy Loo hoo!

2010-11-15T17:05:00.005-06:00

This weekend Ali threw Jason a surprise party for his 30th birthday. It was Caddy Shack style and a lot of fun. Allison, Amy, Kristi & I met to discuss details a couple of times and Allison went above and beyond for a birthday party.

Here are some of the pictures..

Kristi, Ali, Me & Amy

Kelly trying to get the dance party started...

After the party we stopped by HCS & Alexis' house to check on Alexis. Good news, the prayers are working on her mom please keep them up. Anyway while we were there we were talking about the crazies and the end of our streets who have not only have lights up but the whole penguin snow village up and inflated. HSC is the grinch and Alexis is the complete opposite serving as Cindy Loo Hoo. She and Kelly have a common thread with their love for the holiday season.

Saturday we were supposed to run, but it was cold and kelly was bound and determined that we were going to get Christmas lights. So we headed to Lowe's and Home Depot and got close to 6 boxes of led lights. We originally were going to do the whole trade in you old lights at home depot, but Lowe's had a really good deal going on so it made more sense economically to get them from Lowe's and keep our old ones.

Next we had to head to cheap thrills since the sexy 70's outfit I got Kelly was a little to snug in the polyester pants, plus they were to short. So we headed to fville.

We did find him an even better outfit, but of course when we got there Kelly decided he needed a matching jacket and maybe some platform shoes.. I finally had to drag him out.

After that it was around 3 and we were both getting hungry since we had missed lunch so we took Kelly to Grub's to have his first Grubs burger. He was very impressed. We decided we should just split something since it was 3:30 by the time we sat down to eat, so we had the Banana Fire burger and it didn't disappoint.

We stopped by Sam's and walmart and on our way home from those Kelly mentioned we still had a ton of lights left.

K- "Wouldn't it be funny if we put them on Marcus' house."

Me- thinking through the logistics of how in the world we would be able to do that? they would hear it wouldn't they? "Yes that would be hilarous.. but how could we do it?"

K- "They went to the game didn't they?"

Me- "PERFECT!!!"

Me- "You know he is going to be soooo annoyed."

K-"Alexis we like it though right.. I mean she loves Christmas right?"

Me- "oh yeah I think she will think it is funny.. HCS will be super annoyed though."

K-"oh, ok good."

So we drive one street over to casa de carlson, grab the ladder and we were ready. 35 minutes later and we had a Christmas Masterpiece!

Since it was only 6:30 we decided to leave them unplugged until at least 1/2 time so we didn't waste their electricity.

I even text Alexis to see if they were still at the game. Around 9ish Kelly went to turn the lights on.

So then.. we wait.

By like 10 Kelly was antsy and wanting to know why we hadn't had a call yet. So he does a drive by. He barrels in to the house.. "THEY AREN"T HOME YET!!!

I MEAN THEY HAVE A PREGNANT GIRL SURELY THEY NEED TO GET HER HOME!!"

I start laughing and remind him that Alexis is not your average pregnant girl and doesn't use the pregnancy as an excuse.

So we wait.. for almost another hour.. until I get a text from Alexis..

"Sooo our house has Christmas lights on it"...

I then send her this picture of our hard work!

Needless to say HSC was not the biggest fan of our little joke. I wanted to remind him it could be much worse we could have done tacky lights that didn't match!

Yesterday we ran 8. Kelly hasn't been running as much since school is taking up a very large part of his time. I have been almost closet training. Not that it was a secret, just more of the fact that I could see him just springing it on me that he wanted to do a race and me not being ready. Also I just didn't make it completely public how much I was running. When I left one of mine runs are the garmin and he saw the pace he decided that he was no longer letting me run alone. So yesterday we laced up the shoes and headed to the Bentonville trail. There is 2 pretty big hills along the trail and for the mile leading up to the hill I could just feel the weight pressing on me I once read that running is 20% physical and 80% mental.. Let me tell you I agree. Because just thinking about running up that hill made me want to quit. I finished though and the time wasn't the worst. It was right at a 9 minute pace. No, not my best, but it will do. It did help me to realize that i need to do more hill training on my runs!

*did you know that less than 1/2 percent of the US population has ran a marathon as of 2009.*

run like your pregnant?

2010-11-14T15:10:00.002-06:00

When I first started running, my mom told me she was worried about me jostling my ovaries and other internal parts around... She is not the only one. When I went in for a Dr. appointment one time the Dr. told me that running wasn't good for your body. So, while I was reading the September Runners World (yes I am behind.. I've been a little busy) and it talked about the two women running through their pregnancy it got me wondering.. If people tell you running is so hard on you when you are not pregnant.. imagine what they say when they see the preggo girls booking it down the street at sub 6 minute miles!

I also want to say... I DON'T have baby fever by writing this. I do think I caught my running bug again.

Mainly I just think these women are hard core and pretty darn impressive so they get a post.

First thing is, I am 28. More than likely I will not be ready for a bebe until I am 30. We are going to Europe next year and we will be ready after that. One thing that worries me is how everyone acts like if I wait until I am 30 I might as well be waiting until I am 100. I always get the, "well what if you have problems?" This has worried me many times until Kelly & I talked about it. He very calmly told me that if the Lord doesn't want me to have kids at 30, what makes me think he will want me to have them at 28?

Plus... This chica really wants to visit Italy before I do anything else!

Anyway.. Kara is 32 (Marathon time 2:25) and Paula is 36 (Marathon time 2:15). They are both having kids. Yeah! I feel better!

Next they have an insane training plan...

Pre pregnancy:

"logging about 100 miles a week and maintaining a 5:40-permile pace over 26.2 miles is simply part of the job"

I can not even run one mile at 5:40 let alone 26.2! They still work out 2 times a day.

Paula talks about how she runs in an antigravity chamber and some days she would set the chamber to 128 lbs and be able to run 8 miles at a 4:50 per mile pace. Then she said other days with out the chamber she was only running 7:30 miles.

Her 1st trimester she went from 100 miles a week to 50 miles per week in the 2nd trimester she was back up to about 80 & in the 3rd she was somewhere in between.

KARA GOUCHER: "Because this is my first pregnancy, I didn't know what to expect. During my first trimester, I felt tired and nauseous, but usually 10 minutes into a run, I'd feel better. By the fifth month, I felt great—I was able to train twice a day and lift weights three days a week. But priorities definitely have shifted. Training isn't about staying fit as much as staying sane."

PAULA RADCLIFFE: It's hard when people say, "Are you sure you're doing the right thing? What if you're shaking that baby to death?" That worried me the first time. I'm more relaxed this time. I mean, obviously I still do all of the checks to make sure that all of the kicks are still there in the right places and that I'm eating right. I don't regret anything I did through my pregnancy with Isla [her 3-year-old daughter]. She came out perfect, so hopefully the same thing will happen again.

How do you think being active influences pregnancy, childbirth, and recovery?
PR: Being fit definitely helps. Even if you have a complicated pregnancy, the fact that you're fit is still going to help your body handle that situation. And I think that being fit through labor helps. The mental techniques you know from getting through races help to keep the concentration and stay focused. You come back stronger because you're happier, because you have a child that you love and cherish, and it's something you really wanted in your life. You probably become a little bit more focused as well, because your priorities are sharpened. And the time away from intense training means that you come back more refreshed. There is a flip side, though, because you are so used to being in tune with your body, and having this body that responds so well to what you ask it to do. You can't do that during pregnancy. You feel frumpy and fat. You kind of have this anxiety because you know you have to put on a certain amount of weight and hit the target so the baby is healthy, but it's hard to get fat and to go through that.
Paula, how did the pain of labor compare to racing?

PR: The pain of labor is more intense. But I found that it was just not comparable. When you run a marathon, your body is working with you and you've trained and prepared for it. With labor, for me, my body seemed to be working against me. But you handle it because you're in shape and because you have that mental outlook of getting through training or a marathon.KG: My husband was tossing around the idea of a natural, at-home birth, so he rented this video, The Business of Being Born, and it had the exact opposite effect that he was hoping for. I'm open-minded. I definitely want to deliver in the hospital, and I want the option of the epidural. But I'm in denial about the whole birthing process still

Notice the running skirt..

Oh how I heart the running skirt.

Have you experienced any uncomfortable moments on runs? Bladder issues?PR: I think we had one nightmare run, didn't we?KG: I've had a few.PR: Kara and I were in Portland on this long run, and I just had to keep stopping. You have to just listen to your body. You can't ignore it. Some days I feel really uncomfortable. And if I stop and get down on all fours just to kind of move the baby, suddenly running will be a lot more comfortable.KG: I'm sure all the people in my neighborhood have seen me pop a squat. It just comes and there's nothing I can do. At first I was horrified. But then my husband's like, "Just laugh about it."

Emotional Basket Case.. yep there is a group for it on Facebook...

2010-11-12T16:43:00.000-06:00

So I wrote the post for the last entry on MONDAY. then today I realize.. I never posted my Monday musings!

Today is going to be a ranting of sorts so please forgive me.

This week has been a really tough week. I think I am on estrogen over load! I have not cried this much in quite possibly years!

It started off bad when I got in a minor fender bender at the beginning of the week. To make matters worse it was with my BIL who has a case of the OCD and it is heightened when it comes to his car. When Kelly found out about the car he was soo angry and told me that however much it cost it was coming out of my girls weekend trip. This caused me to break down. Now, I get that actions have consequences, but at the same time I have been looking forward to this trip for such a long time. Then BIL took his car for estimates.. he took it to 3 and they were all around 1k mine was over 600. UGH! I had a full on break down as I was driving down the road on my way back from the body shop. Not only did it break my heart about the girls trip, but also that is a whole lot of money to me... I feel like that is a whole lot of money to anyone, but is a big ole student loan payment for me!

I find someone that is a friend of a friend that runs a shop who is approved by our insurance, he told me he could fix mine not through insurance for 400, but BIL was still 1k so we decide to just file a claim.

There are a few other things I have going on right now and as much as I would like to share the whole story I am just not able to write about it at the moment. I am just very stressed and having a hard time with things. I continue to repeat Proverbs 3:3 & 3:5-6 and I know that God has a plan for me and my life, but sometimes it really is hard to muddle through and see the big picture. Then I think maybe I am not meant to see the big picture. I am supposed to just walk by faith. Today at work a co-worker was talking about a special she had seen on tv. It was about the writers of tv shows. The writer said that when she started writing the story line she already knew what the series finally was going to be. Do you think that is what our lives are supposed to be like? God has the script and the cast already lined up and knows what the series finally is before he even starts? I am choosing to go with this thought, some how it brings me some comfort.

The hubs is really stressed right now. Which makes me really stressed. Last night he told me I make his life harder. This crushed me. I tried really hard not to cry. Really hard. I bit my lip and walked in to the closet and sat down and cried. Yes it is a random place, but my MIL uses that as her place and I figure she has things figured out pretty well I will follow this example. So I sat there and cried and prayed.

I know that sometimes a comment like this would have just rolled right off, but after the week I have had it didn't it hurt and I spent a good 45 minutes crying in the closet. With that being said when you are saying prayers.. any sent my way would be appreciated.

To lighten to mood after my ranting...... And while we are getting personal I noticed these things about myself today:

1. I feel guilty if I use paper towels over the hand dryer. Some days I just want to reach for a paper towel, but the little voice in my head tells me to, "save a tree use a paper towel"

2. I pick out my underwear and socks. To the point that I will dig through the drawers and put pairs back if I'm not "feelin it"

3. I kiss Callaway good bye and tell him I love him when I leave the house

4. I don't know how to take compliments. A guy at work told me he saw my picture in Citiscapes for Komen and then in something else for Make-A-Wish and I didn't know how to say thank you for some reason.

5. Sometimes if I really like the shoes I have on for the day I get sassy. Today they are patent leather & a shade of red-which should equate to a good day right?

so the conversation went a lil something like this..

2010-11-12T07:37:00.001-06:00

I have been searching for a costume for Voyage (which is the 20th if you want tickets!) I couldn't decide which era I wanted to do, but I figured I would have to come up with a costume that would appease the hubs. So I went with the easiest. Dazed and Confused.. Mathew McConaughy style. I got him some fabulous brown polyester pants and a great pearl snap shirt. I picked 2 dresses out for me..

I wanted to wear some sassy white go-go boots, but apparently they don't make a mass quantity of them, and the ones that I found locally you can't have any bit of a calf or they wont fit! So I come in to work on Friday and randomly ask one of the girls at work..
Me-"Hey, D you got any roller skates?"
D- "yeah they are out in my trunk."
Me- "seriously.. not only was I not serious, but there is no way I would expect them to be in your car?"
D- "yeah I use skate all the time."
Me- "so these are like legit skates, not ones form when you were like 12, or the ones you strap to your shoes, or even the inline kind right?"
She goes out to the car.. and comes back in.. with these!

SHUT up!
I promptly put these on and acted like a Sonic car hop for all of 10 minutes.

Friday night we went over to our friends Patric and Megans house. We played poker. It has been a while since I played poker and it made me very thankful that my daddy taught me how to play a long long time ago! I beat Kelly on a couple of hands which is saying something.. one because I am not the best at lying. My neck turns a crazy bright color of crimson and I am unable to hide the expression.. two because like I said it has been a while since I played.

Saturday we ran errands and even went to the golf course for me to get some practice. I had my long run this weekend did it in about 8:30 which is good if I can continue to build on my mileage but still be able to keep that pace. If I was that would make my marathon time more impactful. If I was able to run the Marathon at a 9:30 pace.. I would finish the thing in just over 4 hours.

I have been busy at work.. we are putting on this event in December and I am in charge of making sure it goes off perfectly. So I am in extreme OCD mode is making sure everything goes perfect.

Kelly put him on the train so I could get some pictures.. He was sooooo scared this was my first shot

Stupid new blogger wont let me rotate the pictures!!!

As you can see by the ears.. he wasn't happy

those are kellys legs... and yes he is crazy!

SEW close to Christmas!

2010-11-03T16:52:00.001-05:00

Can you believe there are only 52 days until Christmas?

Callaway isn't worried about it though, he is just chillin'.

This seems absolutely crazy to me! With getting in to the Christmas spirit here are a few things that I am loving right now...

Over the knee boots. No not pretty woman style boots, but more of the rebel without a cause motorcycle style. I am thinking black is what I need most of, but I keep getting drawn to the precious brown ones!!

These are Steve Madden from Victoria's Secret

$289--ouch LOVE is painful!

These are also from Vikki's they are by Sketcher and only

$99

Last these are from Jessica Simpson

middle of the road with $160

Dear over the knee boots.. i heart you!

A serger.. I have been really working on Christmas presents here lately.. which if you are my mother and reading this you need to stop right this minute.

Do not pass go, do not collect 200 dollars, and STEP AWAY from the HP! Anyway, I have been working on what i am going to make everyone this year. I am very excited about these projects because I love shopping for people and taking the time to pick out the perfect present. I do not love when no one tells me what they want and I have to do a stupid giftcard. Don't get me wrong sometimes they are ok, but I just like the personalness that comes with picking out something and now even making something.

So for my mom it was tough, but I thought I could make her a bag. She can either use it as a casual purse, a small travel bag, or even a sassy lunch bag!

These were at a local store here and I had to take a picture.. the Hog ones... THIRTY bucks?? for real? I can do that! The other was 15!! DONE. I am making those this weekend!

This bag was a great project and I really liked working with the canvas material and will probably make another one. I am working on my SIL & MIL's gifts too, but I don't have pictures of theirs yet as soon as I do I will post.

Which brings me back to the fact that if I had a serger some of the projects would be much easier.. but at the same time I have done ok without one, but i just kind of feel like it would make my life easier...

Next up the Silhouette. Jenni from the Block has one and not gonna lie it is a whole big cup of AWESOMENESS.

There are a bunch of really cool projects that I could make and I feel like all those baby showers I go to, gifts would now be a snap!

A jacket... My Northface got a substantial amount of paint on it when we moved in to our house (since we were painting at the beginning of February)I found a couple of cute ones online...

Guess what I found these past few weeks? MY RUNNING SHOES! They didn't runaway on me after all. I was a little worried there for a bit that they were going to peace out on me since they hadn't seen the light of day for about 3 months (DANG YOU SUMMER). Well I picked up my precious pearl izumis and they hadn't missed a beat. Now I can say with complete honesty that I am not one of those people who can take the months off and then pick up my Paula Radcliffe speed back up.. WHO am I kidding? I never had Paula's speed.. Oprah maybe, but never paula.

Marathon Time.. 2:15:25

lets all just have a moment of silence for RR's abs....

Ryan Reynolds, NYC Marathon, 2008 (3:50)

Oprah Winfrey, 1994 Marine Corps Marathon (4:29:15)

Katie Holmes, 2007 New York City Marathon (5:29:58)

Mario López, 2002 Boston Marathon (5:41:42)

It does make me feel FABULOUS that I dominated Mario's Marathon time...
Now if only B would run a marathon I would be a happy kid.

So I went ahead and took the leap and got my lil training plan all mapped out. This will help me be ready to go for the moment that it gets in to Kelly's head that we are in fact doing the LR full. I have been mentally preparing myself. Each week I have been adding miles. Well this weekend I was supposed to run 6 for my "long run."

(The way the plan works is 3 days a week I run. Monday is an easy run, Wednesday is a speed/hill/tempo run, and Saturday is the long run. Most people start a marathon plan with the long run already up to about 8 miles. Well Since I haven't seriously ran since May I needed to get back to that point. Then each week you and 2 miles to your long run..) Since I am starting this so far out we are able to add 1 mile a time on our long runs up until the 14-16 milers. Well I waited to late to run and I was still really full from breakfast on Saturday so Queen Quits-a-lot stopped after about 3 miles. Me being SUPER frustrated with myself I headed to Hobby Lobby to get some fabric.. and while I was there I treated my quitter self to some Andy's frozen custard..

Now in my defense I have wanted some of this since the beginning of October and had yet to indulge. I did it up right though.. James Brown-(vanilla with brownies) But instead of the hot fudge that goes in the middle.. this fat kid got peanut butter in the middle. I did this so when Sunday rolled around my inner skinny would yell at the outer fat that ate the custard and BOOK IT!

Sunday I ran 5 @ 8:30 pace. UGH! Then on Monday I had channeled my inner skinny again and was READY.. well it was thundering and lightning so no go there.

Which brings me today. On the schedule we had 5 mile tempo run. 1 warm up 3 @ 8:10 pace & 1 cool down.

I did the first mile in 8:36

mile 2 in 8:05

mile 3 in 8:01

mile 4 in 7:50

mile 5 in 8:18

Right at 41 minutes...

Which I am pretty proud of! With an average of 8:10 per mile. Since I was only really supposed to do 3 miles at that pace.. it will work just fine for me!

**PS** here is what I made with the fabric from Hobby Lobby..It is going to be a quilt.. this is my first square***

This is the cape I made for Luke.. Jim's Son... No pictures yet of him in it..

Yep.. kids.. I am big time.. that little beauty is in fact reversible!

pig sooie princess

2010-10-20T08:03:00.002-05:00

Friday night Kelly & I met up with HSC & Alexis.. who by the way has started a blog!.. necessarynesting We hung out with them for a while, but we had to get home early since we had a service project the next morning.

Jess & Alisa

Katy & Kelsey

Jimmy loves to paint

Katy & Kristen working hard

Dallas working the corners

cute sisk family

Team Carlson

Saturday we got up early and headed up to the church to meet the rest of our life group. Our Service project was with Youth Bridge in Fayetteville & Centerton.
The whole thing was a bit of an issue to begin with.. We were originally supposed to go and work on a farm for an organization that provides food to the needy. We they gave me the run a round and never really helped a sista out, so I called my contact at the United Way and she helped me to get the word out. They sent an email out to everyone they worked with and Youth Bridge was one of the ones to respond. They put me in touch with Margret and she was the best volunteer coordinator I have ever worked with. If you ever have a chance to volunteer they are a great organization and she was wonderful to work with.

After we got back I went to go see grandma. My dad was out of town and we try to take turns checking on her. So I took her to the craft fair. Unfortunately we didn't have time to go to the good ones. But we walked around and found some interesting things...

By the time I got home from errands it was 630. Kelly & I did something we never ever do.. Made a frozen dinner. What? Don't judge me! I was tired and Bertolli looked way better than anything I could have made. But I got a wonderful surprise when I got home..HE put the tent up!! we have yet to camp in it so Saturday was our first night to use it. It was pretty cold that night so I got the sleeping bags out.

Obviously Callaway thought they were for him.

So I take those outside, grab another blanket and some pillows. Kelly scoffed at me.

"what do you think babe.. that we are going to get cold?"

Me: "Um yes, it is really stinking cold out!"

hubs: "NAH..(cue wink) we have our body heat to keep us warm"

He then comes to the tent in just athletic shorts..no shirt or socks...

Fast forward to 5am and there I am wrapped up in the blankets & there is Kelly shivering and clinging to Callaway for any type of body warmth he could get. Between teeth chatter I heard ppphhhlleeeasseee can we go in I am fffrreeeaazzingg.

Sunday we were hosting life groups at our house so I spent a good amount of the day getting ready for 15 people over. I made a fix it and forget it meal from the crock pot & potato soup.

other things that have developed...
I got my results back from the Dr.
Prognosis? Take vitamins, Say no, & get more sleep.. Humm good call. This week I have been home every night so far. That is a start right?

Work. I am currently a Market Research Analyst at work. That role had a defined job description when I first started in this role. Well like most jobs your role can change or evolve. We have a girl in our life group who has just recently had this very thing happen to her. I have had this happen to me, and for me it is a great blessing. This has allowed me to learn more about what we do and it has helped me to learn a lot of different programs and to be able to work on my word and excel skills. I am not gonna lie.. I need some help on my skillz with word & exel.

Crafts. Currently I am working on MIL Christmas present. That I can't post on here since she reads it! I am also working on SIL. She is a little harder.. I am not quite sure what I want to do with hers.
We have a bebe shower at church this weekend and Kelsey & I are in charge of the diaper cake. Funny that they gave the 2 girls that don't have kids the diaper cake! I was like a man in victorias secret. I was overwhelmed by all the choices. Distracted by all the colors. Confused by all the sizes. So I stopped some girl with a bebe strapped to her back and asked her to help the special kid. She helped me pick out some diapers so I took it home and set to work..
For the shower though I had to make some gifts.

Below is the trial tutu I made for Kim and her sweet bebe Kate.. she can now be the cutest little pumpkin for Halloween!

Here is the onsies I made for gifts. The Boss Hog one is for Alexis and HSC. They don't know what they are having so. I went with neutral.

The Pig Sooie Princess is for the baby shower this weekend. I want to make a tutu like the one I made for Kate. I hope to have time for it tomorrow.
JWOW let me use her sillouette to make it & WOW I am in love and I want one for Christmas...hint hint

Here is the finished product of the diaper cake

these are at my grandma's house!

Happy fall!

This is our fall treat...

just call me michelle... michelle wie

2010-10-12T21:37:00.001-05:00

We had a busy weekend & I am still trying to catch up on sleep!
Friday night we had a family BBQ at my grandparents. It was a lot of fun and the food was SO good.
Kelly made my mema's day when he told her he loves my cherry dump cake, but he loves her's more! Sadly it was true though. Mema's dump cake is better! We took callaway too and I was so glad we did. The kids wore him out! They kept playing fetch and keep away with him. Piper, Jen's daughter is absolutely the cutest thing ever. She is 2 going on 13. Jen said she tells people that too. She took the camping light and ran around with it. Every time she would want to talk to someone she would turn the light on unaware that she was spotlighting and potentially blinding her conversation partner.

We then moved our attention to the doggie door and how we could get cousin Brodi through it?
It proved to be a very difficult task... I know we probablly should have stopped this, but it was SO funny.

This was as close as we got.

Saturday we went to watch the game with HSC & Alexis, Aaron & Christy, Derek & Alexia, & Scott. Kelly rolled up in his aggie shirt and annoyed the whole group. Thankfully his cheering was kept to a minimum. After the game HSC, Alexis, & team carlson went to Fayetteville to meet JWOW & Kyle for dinner at Hammontrees. We had to make a detour and drop the rest of the crew off at Jose's for Scott & Brenna's joint bachelor-bachelorette party.

After dinner we headed back to pick up the rest of the crew at Jose's. That is when we got the FABULOUS idea to make smores! So all 8 of us stopped at Walmart and loaded up on:
Campfire marshmallows, vanilla carmel marshmallows, graham crackers, reeses chocolate bars, carmel filled chocolate bars, and then the standard chocolate bar... They were some really good smores!

Sunday.. Kelly took me golfing.

Do we see a resemblance?

Well my first actual lesson is on Wednesday, so I wanted to refresh on the basics..

Monday I had a PAL--Running Scared 5k meeting.

The top right corner has a place on my blog for you to register if you want to participate! If you register to run in the 5k you get entered in to win a Brinkmann smoker. You also get admission in to the haunted house!!

Today was my Dr. apt.. Cross your fingers and say your prayers that they figure out what is wrong with me. Also, James a co-worker of mines dad is having some health issues and could use your prayers. D, another co-worker's brother was in a car accident and on the long road to recovery so pray for them too.

**Thursday is a fundraiser for Make-A-Wish @ Eddie Haskel's. A portion of the proceeds raised with go to grant a wish. So please stop by if you have a chance.

working towards a walker...

2010-10-07T20:56:00.001-05:00

I guess yesterday caused some buzz with the blog. Amy (pretty good friends in high school.. got in to some trouble together.. not as close now, but we can hang out and pick right back up) sent me a message yesterday asking me about the test picture. "did you take all of those today???"
Me- "Heck no, I only took one but I googled pictures and threw the nasto pee stick away"
Amy--"GOOD, I was worried because all of those were positive and I wasn't quite sure how to tell you."
This made me laugh out loud...
Just so you know I went to JLO's house and took a nap again today..
So my SO sweet mother in law text me.. she is concerned for my health and tells me that she read my blog and is worried about me. Don't worry family I will be going to the Dr. next week.

I was thinking though yesterday after work.. I am an 80 year old in a 20 something body.
* I go to bed around 9:30 --if I had it my way I would be in bed by 9, but a majority of time I don't get that luxury.
* I go to the Library... I love to go to the library and check out books, as well as books on cd. I listen to those on the way home from work. On the way to work I like Mike & Mike in the morning.
* I heart the Farmer's market and I like to go on Saturday's with my daddy & grandma
* I have a miniature schnauzer.
* I like to eat dinner before 7pm.
* I talk to Callaway all the time.. in the morning I tell him bye, I love you, & have a good day.
* I love to sew
* Last but not least... I picked up my golf clubs today and will be taking lessons soon!

Tomorrow is Friday. TGIF.
We have the BBQ for mom tomorrow.
Sewing glass Saturday am--let me know if you want to go!!
Komen thing at the mall after that
Razorback game with some friends
Date night with HSC & Alexis &
CAMPING in our new tent!!!

nobebe nobebe NO!

2010-10-06T16:59:00.000-05:00

Well the good news is there is no little carlson on the way yet. The bad news is that I have consistently felt like crap for about 2 weeks now.. which lead to the forced peeing on a stick.

I started feeling kind of bad the weekend of the Alabama game & no, it was not because the Hogs lost. Nancy (fabulous hairstylist who has known me since I was 15--and has loved every minute of the Kelly Cortney story since it start May 21, 1999) made a comment that I seemed stressed. Kelly (she only likes to do our hair when we are both there.. i think she enjoys our banter) jumped in immediately telling her that I have taken on to much and he told me to say no to some things... blah blah blah..

So for the last 2 weeks I have been going to bed as close to 930 as possible, with the exception of a few nights that hit the 1030 mark. I get up every morning feeling like I was run over by a MAC truck (symptom #1) I then drag myself through the first half of work and I am unusually cranky. Not to say that I am always Mary Poppins, but 90% of the time I am in a good mood. The other 5% is stress induced. The remaining 5% would be husband induced. I eat my breakfast, which is either cereal- Honey Bunch of Oats or Cheerio's or Activia light yogurt with oats and almonds. I eat this everyday,well I alternate cereal and yogurt, but the past couple of weeks, right after breakfast I feel like I may lose it. (symptom #2) Struggle to feel better throughout the morning and I then leave for lunch and if I do not have something on the calendar for that day I drive to the near by park and sleep in the back of my jeep... like a hobo.. for the next 59 minutes. (symptom #3).

All of these things were brought to my attention by sweet lil JWOW. This in turn lead to the forced action of me peeing on a stick today after my car nap. When I say forced. The pitiful lil pregnant girl had to waddle herself to the closest Walgreen's and endure weird looks from the cashier as she bumped her 9 month pregnant belly on the counter as she was trying to pay for this test that I did not want to take. SO, I figure if she was willing to go through all of that I should at least man up and take this stupid test... and nobebe nobebe....Which I said lots and lots of prayers before taking the test that if it was meant to be I would accept whatever the result was. I was going to be terribly sad if Europe was going to be put on hold for a extended period of time!

The Harding meeting was good. They talked a lot about the new program they are having at the Bentonville campus. It will be a hybrid and classes will be 6 weeks long. Some will be on-line and you will be required to post & discuss 5 out of 7 days, the other will be meeting once a week for 3 hour at a time for the 6 weeks. Pretty cool concept. I am just praying for the day when Kelly is done... Looks like next Halloween will be a joyous time of the year.

After the HU meeting I was supposed to meet Ali, Kristy, & Amy for a COE meeting at Crabby's. Which brings me to something else. Seafood. I wish with all my heart that I could like seafood. My mom said when I was little I ate shrimp like it was going out of style. I also loved crappie.

Now, no way no how can I eat it. I have tried on multiple occasions, but I just don;t like it. Once we went some where and I tired a bite of salmon. It was horrible, but it wasn't my favorite. So Kelly thought maybe I had been cured of my aversion, he immediately went out and bought salmon. Nope after like 2 bites I was done. I tired scallops once and those seemed to be ok. I don;t know if it is a texture thing or the taste of ocean that I get when I eat it, but something is stopping me from eating it.

Last night at Crabby's all the seafood sounded so good. I was even tempted to try some. But.. I stuck with the boring ole chicken sandwich. I think I need to do some assembly line taste test one day and just try all different kinds of seafood and see if I can find any that I will eat..

Revenge on Riordan

2010-10-05T17:13:00.001-05:00

Today, despite still feeling like something callaway threw up.. was a very good day. I had a meeting with Mike Rush at Rush Running. He agreed to do a silent auction item for Circle of Life which was already great, but he also told me he wanted to buy a table... which made my day. Then dad called and wanted to go to lunch after we got to talking he had some people that may be willing to help.

Friday was the pink ribbon lunch for Komen. Honestly, it didn't even cross my mind that I needed to be there. Well sweet casey called me at 10ish to see what time I was getting there. Whoops. Turns out, when you are the Co-Chair you kind of need to be at everything PINK! I am so glad I went though. I got to talk to our honorary chairs Peaches and Coleman Peterson. Peaches was my college prep counselor and she helped me apply for scholarships for college. She was so sweet and gave me some of the sweetest compliment, which were much needed! I hope to get some pictures soon!

We had the reunion this weekend and I am still wiped out. I haven't been feeling the best lately and I am sure adding a long tiring weekend didn't do much to rehabilitate the immune system!

Friday night was the football game. Which was neat to go back to the old stadium... oh WAIT it wasn't the old stadium. They now have some crazy fancy stadium complete with a jumbotron! Ok, so I may be lying about the jumbotron.. but it might as well be! I was disappointed with the way the school handled the alumni portion though. We had given them about 4 months of notice that we were all coming about ended up selling about 30 tickets to the game and they roped off this TINY section.. which was for every other alumni there. So needless to say we didn't last long.

Saturday was Family day So we headed to Riordan early to set up for Saturday night. Nicole, Christie & I spent the remainder of the morning wrapping tables in black and gold.. and hanging memorabilia. Family day was fun.. I however was family-less so I missed out on all the showing off of how cute every one's kids are. Kelly has some HUGE project do for his MBA and I felt a little odd walking up to family day with Callaway. I think I would have been dubbed the crazy dog lady.

How cute is preggo mandy!!

Saturday night was a bit of a cluster. For those of you who thought about going to Riordan Hall in Bella Vista for any type of event. Let me help you.. DON'T.

I will spare you all of the massive amounts of drama that came with this, but it was bad. We were promised things and they never delivered. The events planner no showed on the morning of the event so I was not able to express my concerns to her regarding the things that were wrong. She then kicked us out 1 hour early for people being rude. Can you do that?

It was great to see everyone and it made me a little sad that it has been 10 years and most of the people I haven't seen since high school...

Right now I got:

Amanda Faubus painting

Chucky Cheese

Razorback basket

Alberto Culver basket

Rush Running

Tano purse-Masons

Photography session with Sweet B's

Lost Springs gift certificate

Harps -cakes

Junior League-Cookbooks and Winter Dreams tickets

Lane Fuller Coleman-Custom furniture
If you see get a chance to shop at any of these places, or use their services.. DO cause they are sweet and donate to charity!

Then he told me the really good news... He got me golf clubs!! I played when I was younger, but haven't played much since then. Dad keeps telling me he will teach me, but he never does.. so... He GOT ME LESSONS too! Yeah. I asked the golf pro if I would be ready to play PineHurst when Kelly & the Carlson men go.. he told me if I was as good as my dad says he sees no problem in that!

Tonight we have a meeting with Harding about there MBA program coming to NWA..Do we think they need a teacher? I know a cute one that looks like McDreamy?

The first step is admitting you have a problem...

2010-10-01T15:03:00.002-05:00

Just say no!

Ok that is what I will do from now on when I feel like I am taking on to much.

I also promise to try really hard to read the warning signs when I am getting close to taking on to much.

This weekend is the reunion. After that I can take a small baby breathe and recharge a bit.. before Voyage & the holidays! I think I just get in my mind that since the events are spaced out.. I will be okay to work on a bunch of different things. Besides, I like to be busy right?? WRONG. I knew I had a problem when last weekend Kelly looked at me and said.. "I miss you being home"

Last weekend was the Charity Challenge. Kelly & went to the Dinner on Friday night with my new friend Amy & her husband Matt. They moved here recently from Atlanta. They unfortunately are Alabama fans, but I won't hold that against them.. Kelly & I won a tent. and he tried very very hard to buy the black lab that they were auctioning off. He even had a name for him.. Birdie. 1 because it is a bird dog & 2 because that is what his favorite thing to do when golfing, which he justified would go great with Callaway. Who got a new dog bed I might add..

It was a long day cheering for the Razorbacks

Good morning my Love BUG!

Who needs bebe's when you have the sweetest bebe already!

I tried very hard to get Kelly to put the tent up the night we won it, but he said midnight was no time to pitch a tent. He did apease me with the promise of camping soon. So next weekend we are going with HSC & Alexis!!

Saturday night we had the Party at Eddie's. Allison, Kristy, & I worked the door.. Could have been cooler if we had ear pieces and walkie talkies, but what can you do? Love these girls they are fabulous. Can't wait to hang out with them again!

Kristy, Ali, & I

For some reason everytime I save this picture it flips it.. GRR..

Do we like the hat? Kelly hates it. I think i even heard referance of "Michael Jackson" come out of his mouth.

Also,
The laptop broke. After 10 good years it was done. So Kelly tells me HAVE to go get a new one. He first tells me that we are getting an ipad.

I do some research on this and find there are several reasons why we do not in fact need an Ipad. I present him with these facts & my research and he agrees. Good. Laptop price has now dropped from 800 to 400.

He then tells me we need a netbook.
I once again present him with the facts on why in face we do not need a netbook. He also agrees. Good..

Laptop price raised from 300 to 500. Not my favorite, but it is better than trying to blog on a bebe netbook. I am not getting any younger here.. One of these days when I do actually need glasses I am not going to want the bebe screen.

So we head out to shop. I tell him that I would like to price shop. I thought this would deter his spirits.. what was I thinking? I just gave him a present. Hours of wondering around the electronics aisle, yes please. I then realize my opportunity and seize it before it passes. "We can go to all of these store, and while we are out we need to go by Hobby Lobby and I need some fabric." I then strategically place it in the middle of the stores, so if he loses interest quick I still have the other stores and my threat.

Well as soon as we walk in I can tell I am losing him, so I promptly give him a project of finding me patterns. He is digging through the file cabinet for me, retrieves the assigned number and meets me at the fabric cutting counter. Where he begins to politely whine. Only to be cut off by some women we go to church with. They then proceed to dote on him about what a sweet husband he is and how sweet it is that he comes to help me and supports my passion.. Of course... Kelly is playing it up for all that it is worth like this is just a typical Saturday of him accompanying me to Hobby Lobby, next we will go see a romantic comedy, I will pick the restaurant, and the evening will end with me getting a back massage and a bubble bath... UM NO.

I wanted to laugh and tell them the real reason he was there is because he was about to get a new 500 dollar toy and knew he needed to be on his best behavior, but I let it go. Now I am sure he will be the talk of the ladies bible class on Thursday mornings as they are crocheting.. "oh that Carlson boy he is just so sweet.. he goes to hobby lobby and everything" Which don't get me wrong he is great, but he was pretty much stomping his feet as we were walking in to Hobby Lobby so I found the whole situation quite amusing!

Pearls,Pinafores, & sew much more....

2010-09-17T16:27:00.001-05:00

Yesterday was our Sewing class for aprons. Oh my Goodness they are so stinking cute. I am literally holding myself back from jumping up right now and going to hobby lobby to buy the pattern and make SEVERAL! I feel like the look of them is very 1950's. That the girls should be in dresses, heels, & pearls...

This one used Bias tape with was a new thing for all the girls.. jenni from the block had used it before, but no one else had.

You pick 3 different fabrics

Then cut 3 almost half moon circles out of the 3 fabrics you have chosen.

sew the bias tape around the bottom of the half moons.. all 3. It is easiest if you iron and then pin as you go along.

after all 3 layers have the tape on them, then sew all 3 layers together.. Longest one on bottom, middle then shortest one on the top. then you will sew your waist band on easiest way to do this is place the "pretty side" of the apron face up, and then pin the "pretty side" of the fabric to the apron. Sew together then flip up the waist band and iron. fold over and sew to the "ugly side"

then you sew the ties to the waist band and......TADA

I was a little late to the sewing class because I was part of a healthy living focus group.

I haven't done one before and I just go this email asking me to be apart of it.. The thing took an hour to do.. which wouldn't have been that bad, but I was late to sewing so I was annoyed. Not to mention that everyone from the group seemed to be from the NE except me. Right off the bat I could tell these people were nothing like me & that Wal-Mart & Quaker were the companies that were pedalling their service & backing this focus group. I was the only person without kids, the only person from the south, & the only person under the age of 30... which I wonder why they picked me. All of the products they were demoing revolved around living a healthier lifestyle and saving you family time in the morning. So while everyone else through out the 8-10 ratings.. this kid was giving out 3-5's..But i have no interest in a program that is going to help me pick foods that are most nutritious for my hubs & then different products that are going to be most nutritious for my baby.. I have probably been banned from the group for being to opinionated..

Tonight Megs & I are goody bag stuffing for charity challenge next weekend.,then tomorrow I have to work at the samplework at the sample sale for C.C.... It starts at 10 am at the Fiskars office if any of yall want to go..should be some good stuff & the $ goes to C.C. which funds the crisis center...

The Sunday night life groups start back up. Since Kelly & I are leading one this year we are having it at our house.. then Monday MIL comes in for the week...

Monday night reunion meeting, Tuesday is a Komen Meeting, Wednesday is COL, Thursday is sewing, Friday, Sat, & Sun is the Charity Challenge... and I am tired just thinking about it!

I hope you pretties have a wonderful weekend!!

PS. jwow's shower was today. She got me Bath and Body Works for saying thanks.. HOLY COW. Autumn is the candle she got me.. I am in love it smells so so good!

What about Wednesday--- pregnancy

2010-09-15T16:45:00.002-05:00

Last night was the Komen kick off party. It was a pretty good time. I wish we would have had a better turn out, but everyone one else seemed to think it was a good turn out. We had it at the embassy. They had some cute decorations and we talked about the race for next year!

This is my attempt to take our picture..

Me, Stephna, & Casey

table decor

Couldn't do it with out volunteers

So I have been a HORRIBLE Blogger and I really am trying.. I think I have taken on a little much, and something has got to give.. so sorry dears it is the blogging. I have accepted I have a problem and I am working to make it better.
What about Wednesday--
Pregnancy is in the water & happily/sadly it is a fast moving virus going around to all my sweet friends..Lets count down my friends:
First up was Emmy (Bff & college roommate)
JWOW( cubicle mate & "work friend")
Alexis (neighbor, friend, married to marcus)
and now... KATHRYN ann!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Bff since about birth

So let me tell you I am super excited for all my friends.. happy they are going to have their very own bundle of joy. It also makes me sad. Sad for the fact that we aren't there yet & despite what everyone says when they see me sew a baby dress. If I have the baby fever, it is a mild case- temp read--99 we are entering the low grade stage.. not a high baby fever stage.. I mean if I was a baby you totally wouldn't even take my behind to the DR!!
So I am sad because they are all there and all experiencing these things and we are still a year or so behind them. This is no reason for me to increase my baby making temp, and I will not, because truth is we aren't ready yet. I also know that having a kid does not make you put your life on a complete hold, but it is life altering. No longer will I be able to call kathryn ann and have her meet me for dinner after work to talk about the horrible day I have had.. There is now another person to think of..JLO and I will no longer be able to go sew after work.. bebe to think of.. got to pick him up from day care.. In case you missed the memo.. big changes can sometimes stress me if I have not planned for them. Kathryn ann getting prego was not a large change that I had planned for...hence the small freak out.

I love bebe's and I am excited about when Kelly & I have one, but right now it just seems like everyone i know is PREGGO!
Random bebe things:

the "Nosefrida" which allows loving parents to literally suck the snot out of their children's noses.

Baby Bottom Fan

Upon wiping the meadow muffin off of your beloved’s hiney, why not give her the cleansing pleasure of a Baby Bottom Fan? This eerily phallic-shaped mechanism boasts the ability to dry excess moisture off of your baby’s behind and prevent various skin ailments. We were disturbed by the “built-in anti-microbial fragrance dispenser” as it is not recommended to use more than the mildest of soap on an infant.

Tutu time

2010-09-14T16:20:00.001-05:00

This weekend was a good one. It would have been better if I had another 3 day weekend, but can't have it all huh?

Friday I went out to dinner with a group of friends from church.. Nope no pictures. GEEZ I am a loser.. I have got to pick it up! This camera situation has gone from bad to critical!

We headed to olive garden for my friend Kirsten. She wanted some of the never ending pasta bowl.. Not gonna lie, wasn't bad! We tried the 2 new sauces one was a meat the other was a mushroom. I love mushrooms normally, but this one wasn't my favorite.. They went a little over board on the bread crumb topping and it really over powered the sauce.

Saturday Kelly was building a house for Habitat for Humanity and I was left to my own devices..

I got it in my head on Friday that I wanted to make a tutu. So after my Saturday morning run I came home and had a hard-core urge to clean. I blame this on Alexis. I was over there last week and she had labeled cabinets.. like with a label maker, this made me feel a little inadequate in my organization skills, which lead me to do a fall clean to squash and question about my organization skills.

Step one take clean all counters until they shine

2 Clean all stainless steel appliances.

3 take all things out of the cabinets and organize:

Now all blue serving pieces are in one place. All red dishes and cookware is in another location. All white pieces are in the china cabinet. All other items are with Pyrex. Ahhh the balance has been restored to the carlson house. I then took everything out of the pantry, got the shop-vac and went to town.. The pantry was shop-vacd, all baseboards are vacd as well as the hardwood floors. Life is complete!

I then headed to Hobby Lobby for some tutu making essentials!

Here was my inspiration.

Materials:
2 yards of orange tulle
1 yard of black tulle
elastic 3/8 inch
1 1/2 inch ribbon

I got the pumpkins to put in between to layer.. they were a little to heavy so I was forced to hot glue them in.
Totally burnt the top layer of skin off my finger so BE CAREFUL!
I cut the tulle to 24" long (then folded in half)
made the wait 36"
36" ribbon
cut elastic to 18"

sewed the tulle together
sewed the ribbon to the elastic on both sides to make a casing
stuffed the elastic through the casing
sewed the elastic ends together

Model on the dog...
CUE husband yelling a demand the dog be removed from the girl tutu...

Do we like?

I heart short weeks & Cross Canadian

2010-09-10T08:04:00.000-05:00

I heart long weekends! One of the main things I love about a long weekend is a SHORT week...Friday night was Cross Canadian!! I also Heart me some ragweed!

HSC & Alexis

aaron & christy

My friend Casey has the hook up and got Kelly & I the "vip" table passes. Which basically means you get your own bathroom, bartender, and a table to sit at. We were just super pumped they were free!
We went with HSC, Alexis, & Aaron & Christy. Before the concert we all headed to Louies to grab some food. By the time we were done Reckless Kelly was already playing so we went straight in and sat with everyone on the lawn.

BUT, by the time Ragweed got on I'm not gonna lie I Geeked out and started jumping up and down. I didn't care about sitting at the silly vip table, but I did care about getting as close as possible. So Kelly gave his pass to Christy and we headed to the front.

This is where we started

we slowly made our may closer

Iphone pics.. don't judge

And THIS is where we ended up!!

Saturday morning I had a wake up call at 6:30. Since I went to bed closer to 1am this annoyed me greatly! We dog sat Bella for Kurt this weekend. Which don't get me wrong I love bella, but Kurt didn't bring her any food so she didn't eat Friday which means Saturday am she was very very hungry. So at 6:30 this is what I woke up to.

I headed out to get her majesty her food..and then we got up and started getting ready for the Razoback game. I have no idea what happened to me, but I didnt take any pictures and I am pretty sad about that.. We started out at Jwow's tailgate for the first hour or so, then headed to see HSC & Alexis on our way to meet Kathryn Ann at Tanners tailgate. I am soo glad college football is back!

Sunday morning we went to church and I went and saw grandma. She cracks me up. She is full of sass and I love her so much. After I got home Kelly and I loaded up he pups for a walk in the park. It was a little difficult to get a rotweiler and miniature schnauzer in the back of the jeep, but we managed it.

Kelly and I thought people were probablly looking at us like:
Why in the world would you get two totally different dogs? or Do you think they each had their own dog before they got together? Bella was like a sled dog dragging Kelly through the trail. They had a lot of fun and were so tried when we got them home.

Then Kelly did something that he never does, he requested we go out for chinese food! I love chinese food, but it isn't kelly's favorite so I was very happy to complie with this request. We also rented 2 movies. Percy Jackson and the Lighting Thief & Clash of the Titans. Both were really good. I kind of got excited about Greek mythology and started studying up on the stories. I even want to read the Odyssey just to remember the stories again. Kelly told me to head on down to the library for that one!

Monday we went to HSC & Alexis' house. They were smoking meat all day and we were having a neighborhood cookout. We had brisket, pork, buffalo dip, cheese dip, stuffed mushrooms, grilled veggies, capri salad, baked beans, & bacon wrapped dove. A TON of food.
I made Volcano cake with my new Pampered chef rice cooker and YUM it was so good. The next time I make one I think I will try a red velvet cake.

Sew SOMETHING..HAWG style...

2010-09-03T14:58:00.001-05:00

Last night was sewing class.. We made tote bags. This was a great project even for "beginners"

AJ did good she printed out the instructions and had them ready for everyone. She has such a talent for putting fabrics together..

ALWAYS bring your book.. incase ~~we break~~ something falls apart!

Christie

JWOW

They all turned out really cute. They would be a great gift for bridesmaids. I was even thinking about getting them embroidered.. Cute huh?

My next obsession if a t shirt dress. I want to make one so bad. I have told anyone and eveyone that will listen. I think I have told Alexis about 5 or 6 times.

Tonight is the Ragweed concert!!! Tomorrow is HOG football!! Gonna be a good weekend kids!!!

2010-09-02T16:50:00.002-05:00

I know now the feeling of writers block. I really and truly have nothing exciting.. so I will do little bits and pieces of what has happened as of late.
I had a huge huge craving for ramen noodles the other day. I use to eat them all the time when it was just me and my mom.. I loved them. Well I was talking to one of the guys at work and he mentioned something about ramen noodles and I just wanted some so bad.. so I texted a few people and... Ladies and Gentleman.. we have Beef Ramen and I am Happy, and full of sodium!

The other day I was coming home and we have a small laundry room, well the iron and ironing board was out and I had my big pack mule size bag and I ran smack in to the ironing-board and knocked off the VERY heavy iron on to my toes. I said some not nice words to the evil iron and then refused to look at my toes because I was scared by the amount of pain i was in could only equal broken toes. finally I put my big girl panties on and looked. THIS picture does not do it justice!!!!!! i swear the non bleeder was PURPLE you just can't see cause the lighting isn't good, but I swear it is bad.

JB Hunt sponsored a wish kid on Friday and Amanda and I put together.. here are some of the pictures.. thanks to James B for being our photographer!

I call callaway bug.. short for love bug.. now you see why

Tomorrow is.........

Tonight is our 2nd Sew Something class...

we are making tote bags!

Come back tomorrow for pictures!

wish apon the stars

2010-08-27T16:30:00.002-05:00

Proverbs 3:3-6

Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man. Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.

Yeah for Friday!! This has been a very long, very tiring(is this a word?) week.

I had a horrible morning yesterday.. It reminded me of something Alexis said the other night. She saw something that said, "If you don't think God has a sense of humor.. try making plans for you life."

Point taken.

Today our wish kid is getting her wish granted! She is going to Disney World! JB Hunt had a jeans day fundraiser & was able to grant her wish from the $ that was raised.. Amanda and I have been working on getting her some things donated and so far we have a lot!

Disney Products is donating a basket of stuff

3 Monkey's donated an outfit

School Sqared donated an ativity pack

Sign Sealed Deliverd donated a banner

Threads donted a travel basket

Shelby Lynn's donated a cake

Pinnicale car service donated a limo

Estitiques donated a pedicure

Mazzio's donated Pizza

Then we got her a camera and some stuff! I am so excited to be able to grant her wish I will take lots of picutes and post them on Monday!!!

We had out Circle of Life meeting today at lunch..The theme is voyage throughout the decades..today I was asked to do all the decorations.. which, NOT gonna lie.. I am kind of pumped about!

Last night we had our reunion meeting, always a good time. They were giving me a hard time about being a type a personality. Which I am guilty as charged. I look at it this way, If I could pick my dream job it would be events coordinating. So any time that I get the chance to plan an event I go all out. I like to make lists, I like start a project, oversee it, and then be able to check it off when it is completed. Which means that when we are planning the reunion I am the Nazi that keeps everyone on task. I like to be able to move things through quick and efficiently. I will then follow up ever so often until the task has been complete.

I AM sorrry for no pictures.. hopefully I will be back to normal on monday!

MIA!!

2010-08-25T16:49:00.002-05:00

Sorry Dear's for being MIA the past few days! I has been a busy week.

Did everyone have a good wekend?

Ours was pretty busy..

Friday night HSC & Alexis had us over for a cookout. Kelly & brought smoked sausage, they made guacmole, and scott & brenna brought the veggies. We all sat out on the back patio until about 12:30 when Kelly & realizes we had to be up at 5 we figured we better head home and get some sleep!!

Saturday morning we were volunteering at Tritoremember and had to pick up chic-fil-a at 6. We then spent the rest of the morning directing traffic, filling water cups, and cheering on the participants. It was a sprint tri so they start off with 500 meter swim, then 15 mile bike ride, finishing with a 3.1 mile run. The hills on the course were CRAZY big! I mean intense!

After that I was pretty tired for the rest of the weekend.. I didn't even participate, but this kid was tired just cheering for it!

But, I was not to spent to join Alexis in shopping for cowboy boots! We all know I have wanted these things more than anything, but everytime I go to pull the trigger i end up needing something else more.. So with Alexis going with the sole purpose to buy boots it was going to be easier to commit. I warned her prior to walking in the store that I was very indecisive. She warned me that she was very picky.

Well I am sure the store associate hated us because we would take a pair all the way across the store, try them on in front of the mirror, then decide we wanted to try on a different pair.. This went on until we each had 3 or 4 pairs in front of the mirror. Finally we both decided on these..

Before you ask... yes they were in the budget, sortof? I did some taste testing and made about 75 bucks... then I sold some clothes to Cheap Thrills in Fayetteville.

So it is like they were in the budget...right???

Then Monday we had the Naturals game. We had a lot of fun. I was slightly annoyed that they delayed the game for 45 minutes to fix some lighting issue...

happy to be waiting!

Tuesday I had a Komen meeting.. we divided us race responsibilities... I have the actual running of the race, bark for the cure, train for the cure, and survivor breakfast. Sounds like a lot huh.. Well it is!

Today was Charity Challenge (golf & tennis tournament) I am excited about being involved with this it is a great cause and I am excited to help!

I know i have no funny stories, but this kid has something every day at lunch and after work this week. I am tired.

Nerotic clean up on aisle five..

2010-08-20T16:38:00.001-05:00

know that I have some serious necroses. I accept that and I present them to other people (like my wonderful 39 followers!) and I try to make light of the fact that I have them, but the truth is I put it out there for you so I don't take myself to serious.

We had our first Sew Something class last night and it went really well! More on it in a minute. Well Kelly's sister Kaylee was going to KC for a visit with some of her friends, so they were staying with us on their way through. Well they got there at like 930 ish. We talked to them for a bit and then went to bed.

I woke up this morning and Callaway wasn't in the bed. I go to check on him and he is in the bathroom laying on his own bed, scratching at his face. I them look closer and his eye is completely matted shut. I instantly get worried. My baby couldn't even open it.. (Again.. I know that I am a freak. LORD HELP ME when I have kids!) My mind starts racing.. "the vet isn't open yet," What do I do when that happens to me? "will this be permanent?" "how can I fix this??"

So I grab Callaway and put him in my arms like he is my bebe.. I go to the faucet get a warm wash cloth and start wiping his eye.

Kelly is like, "Babe he will be fine.."

I still hover over him for a few more minutes trying not to make a big deal of it so Kelly doesn't think I am a complete freak.

I then hear Kelly letting him out side.. he is being so quiet he is whispering..

"come here pup"

"lets see you" I hear the jangle of the collar --which means he is rubbing him behind the ears..

"It's gonna be ok pup, you are gonna be ok" more collar jangle...

"you're a good boy"

HA! See how cute is he.. trying to be all hard and manly macho.. but deep down he is worried..

I am sure he said the You are going to be fine comment, because he knew the minute I walked in to work I would call the vet & google.."dog with matted eye, swollen shut"

Call the vet.. Dr Vaughn (LOVE HIM) he says, "yep, infection. come by today all get ya some drops. 2x a day for a week.. good as new)

Ahhh sigh of relief..
Thank you for indulging me in the necroses.

Nope.. it is not a sweat shop...

It is Sewing class...

SO MUCH FUN!! If you couldn't come we are having another one, You should BE THERE!

We covered the basics.. How to turn on your machine.. how to thread a bobbin, how to thread a needle... then we got to the fun stuff

Each girl made a flannel burp cloth, and then one from the cloth diapers..

The finished product...

Don't our students look GOOD!

The very proud assistant teachers!

kind of a cluster...

2010-08-18T11:25:00.000-05:00

Yesterday am it was so pretty in the morning I got up and ran. It is making me happy that it is cooling off. I am so sick of this heat. Well since I am supposed to be getting back in the habit of running (Kelly and I are non summer runners-- we would both rather run when our eyelashes have ice silicles on them and the snot freezes to the side of our face than when we sweat so much it looks like we took a fully clothed shower)

Kelly wants to do Little Rock in March. I am not ready to sign back up for one, but at the same time I would love to have a better time... so I am a little stuck. The other bad thing is we will be running in the coldest part of winter.. I guess when I am running 22 miles I won't be THAT cold..

Anyway I go to the gym and the owner stopped me to talk...She saw my Runners World and asked me what I was training for.. I told her about LR and that I was on the fence..but it was in hubs head already so I figure it is inevitable that we will lace up the pearl izumi's and make a run for it.. She mentioned she wanted to do St Jude (Kelly and I's first) so I start going on and on about it and how it is a great race. She then tells me this will be her 15th.. WOW. And One shot of an Inadequate cocktail over here please..I shut up and let her talk from then on.

This morning was a cluster. Which is why we will have What about Wednesday tomorrow! Cause I have to tell yall about my morning.

10pm last night head to bed.. I got up at 440 and worked out twice.. Princess was tired. So I set my alarm, read my Bible and go to bed.

5am this morning I hear an insanely loud crunching noise. Callaway has this bone that he eats on (it is plastic, but don't tell him that) well he found it this am and brought it to bed.. I wake up annoyed and throw the bone no clue where it lands, but a few minutes later he is back with it thinking it is play time. So I put it on the night stand where he can't get to it. A little bit later I hear this whine and wake up to realize he is half sitting on my head staring at the bone on the nightstand. Super annoyed now I am about to flip out like the lady who couldn't get her nuggets and McDonald's and I realize it is 625. Humm guess who has to be at work at 7?

I jump out of bed and begin texting JLO to tell her I am going to be late.. Then proceed to the cluster I will call my morning..

Kelly was counting on me to get him up too.. whoops now we are both late!

Go to the sink start putting make-up on

pup whines, go to the backdoor to let the pup out

go to the laundry room to plug in iron.. never fails I need to iron when I am late!

back to the bathroom

realize I have lost my makeup somehow.. retrace steps... hit the button on the coffee pot to start

find make-up on dryer

dog barks, go to back door to let him in

Coffee not brewing?? What the HECK? Is it broken? NO NOT TODAY I NEED COFFEE> oh wait i forgot to add water!

Add water to coffee pot

back to the bathroom

pick out an outfit? UGH! decide on a top at least. Put that on and go to finish make-up

Hubs looks at me like I am CRAZY. I now have my shirt picked out and my shoes on-3" sandals.. nope haven't decided on the skirt yet..

Brush teeth, bump in to hubs with mouthful of toothpaste spit.. dribble on top.. CRAP!

Go to laundry room take off spit shirt throw in basket.. get pups food ( this is hubs job, but I am trying to help) let dog eat

finish make-up smudge mascara on left eye.. MUST fix later

pick out new outfit

hear dog food being poured..Hubs telling the pup to sit,shake, & speak (he must do these tricks before he eats)

"oh babe I already fed him.. I'm sorry I was trying to help!"

Hubs --in overdramatic tone-- "SORRY pup.. MOOMM says I can't feed you. Sorry."

Callaway looks at me... I swear he understands.. and was shoot death daggers at me.. he is a fat kid that looovees food.

Grab stuff, kiss hubs, run to the car.

pull out of drive and flying through subdivision

crap I forgot my lunch.. oh well..

CRAP I forgot my iphone!

The big question.. to turn around or not to turn around..

Not really a question at all kids..

U-turn in subdivison--parents hate me..

get phone!!

Drive super fast.

make it to work by 715

I am a cluster.........

930 am... JWOW says "what is wrong with you eye make-up"

dang it!

Can I just start over?

I scream you scream we all scream for Coach.. or Kate Spade?

2010-08-16T16:44:00.032-05:00

I hope everyone had a good weekend!

Who wants a coach purse? Lots of people.. Who wants one for only 50 bucks??

Well then buy mine! I got this a while ago and sadly I don't use it.. AT ALL. I am a big ole diaper bag kind of girl.. If you will remember the post I did a little while ago of what all was in my purse then you will understand why I can't have the smaller coach purse. Paid about 175 for it still in the brown Coach Bag... I found on online for 90 bucks.. So ladies you are getting a DEAL!

What about Kate Spade?
30 bucks on this one.. it is a little older.. but still super functional and very very real.. It also comes in the authentic Coach bag.

Also think of it like this.. you are contributing to a great cause the "Buy Cortney Cowboys Boots Cause"

Send me an email if you are interested.. cortneycarlson@gmail.comKelly &

I didn't do much this weekend which was kind of fun.. Friday night we went to the pool with HSC (Marcus), scott, & our new friends Aaron & christy. We always loose track of time at the pool! HSC his wife Alexis, Aaron & Christy are all going to the CCR concert at the AMP in September. I was so excited when HSC text me on Friday to tell me about CCR. He saw my pictures on FB of megs and I at the concert and wanted to know if we were going.
I knowing that Hubs hates music so I figured it was a lost cause. Thanks to a little help of my friends, and HSC playing CCR ALL night at the pool I think I am getting him a little closer to actually being open to the idea.. If not I have already set my radio to kix 104 so I can listen for free tickets, because they are not in the budget.
Saturday we slept in until 830 which is very unlike us...
I did go see my grandma and took her to sam's. I like that she will atleast get out more. When I came home I came home to this..

This winter Kelly & I made the rookie new home owner mistake of not detaching our hose from the faucet on the outside of the house. Well it caused the pipe to burst and it was on Kelly's list of things to do so I guess on Saturday he decided he wanted to take care of that item.
It was a bigger project that he thought and it for sure spilled over in to Sunday. So after church we spent a good 2hours shopping around for the right part. $60 later the pipe is fixed, but we are sOO not going to the concert.. spent our ticket money fixing pipes. Ahh the joys of home ownership.

Ok now for the most exciting thing to happen to me in a while..

I WON A BLOG AWARD!!!!!!

Whitney from A Child to Love gave me an award
Whitney has such a beautiful little girl.. love her name Eden..
So I say thank you to Whitney and now I am supposed to tell you 7 things about myself...

1. When I was in 1st grade my dad managed a house rental company and he came home one day and told me that the New Kids on the Block were coming to Bville to do a benefit concert.. I went back to school and told everyone and everyone called me a liar.. then dad told me it was supposed to be a secret, so I had to go back to everyone and tell them I was lying.
So when the NKOTB came to town they let me hang out with them the day of the concert, and go on stage at the concert, and I got Jordan's bucket hat...

2. Favorite ice cream is Chubby Hubby by Ben and Jerry's or Birthday Cake by Blue Bell
3. Fall is the best season there is
4. After Europe, the place I would most like to visit in NYC
5.Favorite Band- Cross Canadian Ragweed
6. I have never taken my wedding band off... nope not once.
7. The first time I went gambling I went to Tunica.. Some guy gave me the rest of his coins (about 5-6 bucks worth of quarters) I put it in and pulled the lever. Won 100 something dollars. He told me I could keep it.. I walked directly to the vault and cashed it in. Bought my first pair of Citizen jeans. Thank you 60 year old man in Tommy Bahama.

I am then supposed to Award this to other Blogs I really enjoy reading so here are my top 7:

Jenni from OverAmbitious and Lazy

Tara from Jimmy Choos and Tennis shoes.. met her at kitchen Queens.. super sweet and loves her dog as much as I love mine

GRIZA family IGriza.. not sure homegirls name.. but she cracks me up..Not many people are this real

Amanda from Becoming a Ware .. Such a strong Christian woman.. Love her!

Rachel from Footballs and Crowns.. So funny and such a great mom

Leslie from A Blonde Ambition.. love her blog .. and her trend watch..

Julianne from Fabulous Life of Jules.. love her name.. and her blog

2010-08-13T16:12:00.000-05:00

It is finally Friday!!! this week has been a long one.

I have absolutely nothing to be funny or witty about.. so I thought I would share some of the random things that make me a giant nerd..
I heart the X Men.. I LOVE THE all things X Men with a deep true love, I think it started with Hugh Jackman, prrr. Then I just fell in love with all the Characters ( I was an only child and my dad obviously never got a boy, so I also had the comic books- thanks dad, so don't think I am so fair weather fan.. I am legit) Kelly knows that if he ever wants to got to the movies and XMen better be out soon so we can go..

Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool

double prrr

Remy LeBeau/ Gambit..

I also love James Bond & Ethan Hunt (Mission Impossible) These are also ones that will get me to the movie theatre

I drink Pickle Juice Straight of the jar. I use to hide this weirdness from the hubs, but now I embrace it.

I listen to books on CD to and from work, most of the time... which brings me to the next thing

Mike & Mike & Colin Cowheard, & ESPN radio, during football season the cd's go up on a shelf and I become a football freak and listen to Mike and Mike in the morning & the heard at lunch.

This past year I read the entire harry potter series, twilight, women's murder club, and I am just waiting to the last nora roberts book to come out from the bride quartet to finish it.

When I was in high school the only thing I wanted to be was Reba McEntire

Have a fabulous weekend!!

what about wednesday..Gun Control

2010-08-11T16:32:00.000-05:00

Proverbs 3:5-6

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.

Thank you all for the sweet comments and texts. It really means a lot to me. I just have some stuff going on right now and I REALLY need to keep my faith in God and understand that he will take care of me and has a plan for me.

Matthew 6:25 -34

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

First off let me say congrats to ERIN... who won the give-a-way!!
Erin... let me know what size dress you would like Jenni From the Block to make you...
Thanks for following & commenting!!

Next up WHAT ABOUT WEDNSDAY??

How do you feel about guns?

"Who's this? Hope this ain't the law, draw out the bushes with my sawed-off shotgun."
Every time I hear someone say sawed off shot gun it makes me think of that Bone-Thugs song.. I was obsessed with in high school..

Last night I went to Young wives.. I didn't want to. I wanted to lay on the couch and spend quality time with the cute lil slice of heaven i call my hubs.. But I wanted to see Kelsey so I went. We went to Dinks for dinner, not bad, but my opinion is go to Whole Hog, same price with better food.

It was good to have some girl time, but we didn't really have a lesson which was a little disappointing since I could use one this week.

Kelsey dropped me off and I noticed Callaway was playing in the back yard. I decided to go through the gate and play with him for a min. Well after I got hot I went to the backdoor and walked in.

there next to the couch is my "little slice of heaven or LSOH" with his gun ready to aim and fire (no bullets so don't completely freak)

LSOH "What the HECK???"

LSOH " I could have SHOT YOU"

me "what the crap were you doing you weirdo?"

LSOH "I was looking at my gun & then I started watching thus scary movie.. and then you come in through the back door!!!"

Me-- laughing so hard I have to cross my legs as to not pee on myself. "You are such a freak"

LSOH "I could have SHOT You, if it was loaded"

Me--snap picture to blog about

LSOH "No way are you putting that picture on your blog"

So the question is for What about Wednesday.. What do yall think about guns? Are you ok with them in your house? All guns or only hand guns?

Would you got out and just shoot guns? I went out once with Hannah Montana and her hubs Tyler. Kelly shot, me not so much. Why is this such a guy thing, do you think it is just the "power" that comes with a gun?

My grandma has a real little gun with a pearl handle, I would consider carrying it, but it is so small it probably wouldn't do much to anyone.

golf = death

2010-08-09T16:50:00.001-05:00

****GIVE A WAY**** don't forget to comment on Thursday's post!!!

Last night I very seriously considered what would happen to me if I murdered my husband.

He went golf with some friends and I guess he decided to demo one of the drivers they have. The Taylor Made r9 8.5 degree to be exact... Price tag on this bad boy a mere 435 bucks plus tax. So, hubs is playing along doing great and all the sudden it goes flying out of his hands. I am not sure exactly how this happens, but the rumor is that it did.

I am at home engrossed in the last episode of Pretty Little Liars and I hear sweets hubs ring tone. I think that it is him calling to tell me that he is on his way home so that I can start dinner. Nope.. He is calling to tell me that the sky is falling chicken little.

Hubs-"Here is the deal babe, (dramatic pause here) I borrowed the demo driver and I was crushing the ball. I mean crushing it, then all the sudden I get to 14 and it goes flying out of my hands. So it is about 30-35 foot up in a tree."

Hubs- "hello?" pause...""Babe, we may have to buy this if I can't get it out of the tree."

Me- " I have nothing constructive to say to you right now.I am hanging up"

Dial tone..

I then text jenni from the block to let her know I may not be at work tomorrow due to the fact that I will be in jail for attacking my husband! I then text Marcus (HSC) to tell him that I will need him to feed callaway while I am away and kelly is recuperating..

I then proceed to eat one skinny cow and 2 mini Hershey bars (ok fine.. they were also completely covered in peanut butter-the organic white chocolate peanut butter too)

Don't judge me!

2 hours later, He comes home happy as can be and no club. He tells me this crazy story about how they had to go get a ladder from maintenance and pair it with the ball retriever and some pvc pipe and knock it out of the tree. thank goodness he came how without the driver.. I am not tough enough for jail..

Other than that eventful Sunday we had a pretty low key weekend.

Friday I had Pink in the Park at Arvest ball park. It was a lot of fun, hot, but fun. Thankfully, I didn't have to throw out the first pitch, Stephana did.

After the game we were supposed to hang out with HSC & Alexis, but I was super tired and grouchy so we moved it to Saturday.
Saturday am Kelly & I met Alexis & HSC and went to the farmers market. Got some tomatoes and onions and Alexis got a crepe, but other than that we just walked around. After HSC is working with the developer of the Liberty Bell subdivision and we got to look in some of the new houses over there. I really liked them. One has a really open floor plan that I fell in love with.

After that we had to go to the golf store because kelly wants a new driver.. humm.. do we think the Sunday story was a coincidence?

We made stuffed peppers for dinner. I took a picture because I was so proud of them! We cooked the pepper for about 20 min to get is soft, while that was cooking we sautéed 1lb of ground turkey meat, 1 pkg of Italian seasoning, 1 diced tomato, garlic clove, 1/2 onion and some cooked brown rice.

We put that in the peppers and cooked for 20 min. Very good and very healthy.

When we were done with dinner we walked over the HSC & Alexis' house and sat outside and talked until late. Alexis made this amazing dessert. She hollowed out apples and baked them with cinnamon. She served it with fat free yogurt. I don't like cooked fruit, but she didn't make the apple all soggy so it was pretty good. Kelly loved it.

Sunday we went to early church and my mom met us there. She wasn't able to stay for class, but Larry taught again and he is SUCH A GOOD TEACHER. He is very knowledgeable about the Bible and really puts things in to perspective for you. Yesterday we talked about forgiveness.

I know it is hard to believe, but my feelings get hurt pretty easy. I try not to let things bother me, but they do. Normally I don't say anything, but I will hold it in and I will be upset about things for a while with out saying anything. I am so non- confrontational that I never tell anyone when they have hurt me, which after listening Sunday I may need to work on that. He also talked about forgiveness and how if we have offended someone we need to make it right.

Just a few highlights..

Also if you could keep me in your prayers I would appreciate it. I have some things going on and I could use all the prayers I can get.

other to keep in mind:

Kate Garner- Sara pp's SIL was in a bad car wreak

The Queen's- Kyle is looking for a job

Jenni from the block-for baby Bradley that will be here nov 2nd.

Alexis -just found out she is preggo

Throw like a girl

2010-08-06T16:17:00.001-05:00

DON'T FORGET ABOUT THE GIVEAWAY! Go HERE if you missed it.
I had my first Pampered Chef show was last night, it was a lot of fun. I was so thankful for my wonderful friends for showing up! We had some wonderful food and it was great to see everyone.. I had a plethora of people there.. Mothers, nonmothers, runners, salsa dancers, cake decorators, church friends, family, personal trainers, high school friends, & work friends oh my! I got a pretty good amount of sales so I am excited to go shopping. Kelly has already demanded another PC knife.. He loves those things!

Next, We are planning our 10 year reunion. Holy cow. I did not know it was soo stressful to do this!! There are a couple of things that we have already ran in to.. People complaining that we didn't start planning it soon enough.. Probably right on this one, but it is what it is. We are having everyone go through our web page and pay through pay pal.

Also, a huge pain in the rear is trying to all the people's addresses. Not even sure what the best way of doing this is. Right now we are relying on facebook. Anyone have some suggestions?
I would love to hear them if you do.

Tonight Komen is having a deal at the ball park, it is a fundraiser & the race chairs have to be there. Well they told us about an hour ago that we may be throwing the first pitch or participating in the games.. ps.. i don't DO baseball. Buy me some peanuts and cracker jacks sure, but I need nothing else of the sport. So everyone say your prayers that if the first pitch is to be thrown by me... I don't roll it like a bowling ball.

Last, donating blood.. Do you do it? If you don't you should! I am O negative and a universal donor so every time they are low they call me... like today.

I am off to donate blood, throw balls in the dirt and on-line shop for my Pampered Chef goodies!

Come on if Monks can do it so can you!!

Ps.. I promise on Sunday night I will get plenty of sleep and be witty and entertaining, so please forgive me for the blah of a post today!

Thread Thursday & a GIVE-A-WAY!

2010-08-05T14:11:00.001-05:00

Ok so here are some random things that have happened to me this week at work.

One, there is a guy that works near my group who eats a bag of bread... yep like a big ole bag of dinner rolls... just snacks away on them all day. Random? Yes I think so!
**come to find out he has some allergy and he can't eat certain foods. I guess atkins is a no go for him?

Two, there is also a guy that I run in to often in the breakroom, we must be on the same lunch schedule or something, but while I am in there heating up my chicken and veggies he is heating up his corn. Corn, just corn , it looks to be straight out of the Del Monte can. he does put a healthy amount of butter and pepper in it, but just corn for lunch?

Three, ok so this one happened at the gym, but still. I have started a 21 day trial and a X fit gym in Bentonville. I got up early before work to go and while I am getting things ready to go I get this massive nose bleed? Who gets those after the age of 6? I kept dripping and trying to clean it up, but every time I would bend down to wipe it up it was like a rush of more came. So I leave and head to the gym with a paper towel up my nose. I then throw the paper towel out the window prior to pulling in to the parking lot. I didn't want the paper towel to be outside my car and all the people at the gym to wonder who the freak is with the bloody paper towel next to her car. I go in and I am still dripping a little not to mention that the first bits of the bleedy are on my nose. I almost tell the 16 year old behind the counter that no I am not addicted to crack, the air is just dry and then I decide against it.

After my work out I am in the shower and a fellow gym girl gets in the shower next me. I then hear the unmistakable sound of the "nose blow honk."

Seriously? Can you do that? I mean I know some times you can't help it and sometimes it is ok if you do this action in the privacy of your own home, but in a public locker room is a little to much! Agreed or no

I get back in the car and Kelly had sent a text or two.. he was just a little worried. I am sure after the trail of blood I left all over the house he was figuring someone had abducted me and there was a struggle..

MY FIRST GIVE-A-WAY IS TODAY!!!

Did I mention... it is reversible

Ok, now to the important stuff. I am doing my very first give-a-way. This is a shameless ploy to get more followers!! What don't judge me. One of these days I want to be SAHB (Stay at home Blogger) as opposed to the traditional SAHM (stay at home mom)... and yall can help me get there!!!

Anyway.. Who loves free stuff?? EVERYONE DOES!

Jenni from Overambitious & Lazy gave me a dress for a giveaway!

You pick your size: 6-9months, 12-18 months, 2T & 3T

How can you get this beautiful dress handmade with love?

1. Follow my blog (1 entry) if you already follow comment telling me you already follow

2. Follow Jenni's blog (1 entry)

3. Blog about the give away (2 entries!! comment with a link to your blog)

That is 4 chances to enter!

I will give this away on Tuesday the 10th at 10am!

Good Luck!

one more random thing.. My purse..

I have one of those big ole tano purses, and today I cleaned it out.. this is what I found:

1 purple grape

a bag of flaming hot cheetos

1 travel pouch of Peanut Butter & Co. Dark Chocolate Dreams

2 travel size notebooks

ipod charger

camera cord to download pictures

3 jolly ranchers

1 melted Hersheys kiss

a sunglass charm that we got in St Lucia

Cajan Shrimp nail polish

OPI Nail Envy

A headlamp--the one that I took to the Dallas trip

a black necklace

wallet

chapstick

lip gloss

7 pins

timex watch

2 packs of gum

2 of those flavor water packs

camera

2 pairs of sunglasses

print out of our landscaping plan

floss

& hand lotion

What about Wednesday.. not your average nickname

2010-08-04T16:15:00.001-05:00

What about Wednesday is all about nicknames..

I made it all throughout school without having a nickname. I loved that I wasn't one of those shortened names. I hated Cort and no one ever called me that.

My dear friend Emily gave me one that was just completely random (one of the reason's i love her so) and she called me pangle (maiden name) puff she would then skip around our small college dorm room and sing puff the magic dragon. So, I was known there after as Puff. Em called Sara Ruby Ruth.. Honestly, I can not remember where that came from but it was better than what we were calling which was Sara pp.. she wasn't a fan of either.. I can not imagine why! Then there is Emily, you can shorten that to em, then I found out she hated emmy.. so she became Emmy.

Fast forward 5 years and I some how get called Cort.. ugh.. there is absolutely nothing I can do about this. The minute anyone knows that Cort is super annoying and that I use to FLIP out if my name was shortened it becomes like the plague. That is all anyone calls me. Now 2.5 years later and that is all I hear.

Thankfully Kathryn ann still calls me Pangle which is completely fine because even Kelly's guy friends still call me pangle.. You can tatoo pangle on to my forearm before I would ever consider introducing myself as CORT. All of my friends still proceed to call me cortney, but unfortunately at work where I am 75% of the time.. I am not Cortney, Cortney Mae, or even Pangle.. it is cort..

Kelly & I were talking one day, probably 2-3 years in to the marriage and we decided we just "go together, kind of like milk and cookies or peanut butter and jelly"

Since then we have loving referred to each other as peanut butter and jelly.

Now that Jlo is preggo.. she was concerned with what the nicknames for sweet baby Kimpel would be. She has decided on Bradley she has been very adamant that he would not be Brad. I completely agree with this thought process. You have got to think about nicknames that your kid will be forced to deal with!!

My dad is Pickle? Pickle Pangle. Not sure where that one came from, but everyone that has known him for a while knows him as pickle. This is usually a good indicator of how well they know him... If they call him pickle they know what a mess he is. If they call him Steve chances are he only deals with them in a professional setting and I am safe from the stories of his crazy youth.

Aunt Jamia (SEW SOMETHING--parties start on the 19th) Jenni from the block and I all went to lunch. A.J. (aunt Jamia is way to long to type) brought a friend with her.. who I love she is sassy.. but sadly, I have met her 2 times and I have yet to remember her name.. She needs a nickname! PS. I am sure that Jenni & Jamia love their nicknames that I have given them! Anyway, our sewing business has started. We met over sweet potato fries and discussed our class situation. I was the idea behind it all-also self proclaimed marketing executive, A.J. is the talent behind the business, and Jenni is the patience and assistant teacher. We have lesson plans and will start classes on the 19th of August. There will be everything from sewing basic's, to tree skirts, to razorback t-shirt dresses!

Let me know if you are interested!!!

nails on a chalkboard

2010-08-03T16:38:00.001-05:00

The older I get the more I realize that I have some things that absolutely drive me crazy. I know I should try a little harder to have some patience, but there are some things I can just not handle!

This morning I was in the bathroom at work and the girl in the next stall walked out.. fluffed her hair and then proceeded to leave the bathroom without washing her hands. This to me is absolutely gross. I will admit, I use to not wash my hand. I never really thought about it. After living with my sweet friend Sara in college I gained a whole new respect for the hand washing thing. Sara was a nursing major and enlightened me on the importance of not spreading germs.

I also want to vomit when I hear the noise of people clipping their nails. I hate doing it myself so hearing it from other people just turns my stomach. There is a guy at work who does it every Monday morning. EVERY Monday morning. Never fail. This drives me crazy on several levels...

1. It is gross.. those things can fly everywhere. I will not be able to go by this person's desk for fear that I will step on or see some clippings

2. You have a house. If you do this every week at work.. you can do it every week at home over your trash can or toilet.

3. The repetitive noise is like nails on a chalkboard and I HATE IT

I also have a small problem with whistling. No, I am not Satan and I love puppies and rainbows, but for some reason whistling annoys me. Unfortunately Kelly loves to whistle. Thankfully it annoys Julie to so we can usually get Kelly to stop with out to much force.

Lastly I hate matching socks. I know that this is a mindless task that I can do in front of the TV, but I hate how I end up getting one random sock left over and it annoys me.

On a positive note I got the china hutch picked up and loaded and in to my dining room last night. I called my handy dandy daddy and asked him to help me with the heavy lifting. Kelly was still at work when I got off and when my dad could meet so I recruited my friend Stephen to help. After about 30 minutes of tying and retying we got the hutch strapped in. When we got it home I set straight to work on it.. I was super excited to put all my stuff in it.

Here is the "finished" product, but I am sure I will add more!

105 & a white wedding or should I say a wet wedding?

2010-08-02T16:26:00.038-05:00

Nice day for a white wedding..

We survived Dallas! Friday after work Kelly, Kurt, and I all headed south to celebrate his cousin Krystin's wedding. As we were heading out Kurt told me to grab Kelly's golf club because they were playing in the morning.

Well after Chic-fil-a for dinner we got on the road and I was saved by the grace of the Iphone... I watched MTV's true life, Criminal Minds, and The Gates all on my phone. A random mix yes, but It was what had been downloaded the last time I synched my phone so it was better than nothing.

Ps this is sleepy me.

I thought I was pretty smart. I brought my camping head lamp so I would be able to read while we were in the car!

We rolled in to Dallas at about 1130 and stayed up talking to the family until 230!!
Saturday, little did we know when Kurt told me to pack the clubs he hadn't checked with the rest of the family!!!

He did it all on his own. Julie (MIL) had worked so hard in convincing Bobby (FIL) that they wouldn't have time to golf & then Kurt goes ahead and plans the outing! Bobby was laughing and so proud that Kurt and Kelly wanted to golf so bad that they would plan it no matter what.

Wedding started at 6pm.. did I forget to mention it was outside! Oh My Goodness!
An outside wedding in July in Dallas. yep 105 was the temp. Cool and breezy!
Well Kelly & Kurt were having NO part of this. They came up with this super plan to hide out in the locker room and watch the wedding from inside.

So about 20 min until the wedding started we stealthily took our places. Only thing was Kelly abandoned TEAM CARLSON and was every man for himself!! He totally bailed and leaves me out in the hallway to seek cover in the men's locker room.
Right then the bridal party comes down the hall. I would have made James Bond proud with the wall hugging manoeuvre I accomplished. I even put my fingers in a gun position to get the full affect. I was shuffling against the wall trying not to be seen for a good 10 minutes before the wedding planner called them to take their places. Conveniently the boys emerge from the locker room looking happy as can be. Punks!

After the wedding party had cleared out we made our way to the cafe to watch the ceremony so we could honestly say we saw the whole thing!

This is our view from inside the clubhouse

People's once light blue shirts we almost navy from the sweat..

I hugged Kelly's aunt and she looked at me with a raised eyebrow..

"Your skin feels cool?"

BUSTED!!!!!

Oh well at least I was cool!

Kelly, Me, & Kurt

This is my hubs.. who says he wants to wait a little longer for bebe's..

Lets take a vote.

Does this look like a man who wants to wait for bebe's?

Yep, didn't think so.

Nana wanted a family picture. I think this is one of the the things that I love about my in-laws.. they love pictures as much as I do. So, nana wanted a picture so the entire family headed out to the lobby. Well Kelly (the I'm not ready for bebe's guy) grabs his little cousin Connor (6yrs) and Camryn (3yrs) and carries them to the lobby. He sits Connor down on the counter while we are getting everyone ready. I look down and realize.. he sat Connor down alright.. ON THE WEDDING CAKE! Thankfully it was already wrapped in plastic so there was no evidence on Connors rear end, but we pulled Connor off and walked away really fast. I started laughing because I thought it was the other wedding parties.. not ours (they were a realllllyyy rude group and said some nasty things about Krystin's wedding, so we weren't a fan from the begining...please don't think I go around trying to ruin wedding cakes!) Then I realize that Nick (the groom) went to SMU, well the cake was an SMU mustang cake! WHOOPS! The poor thing looked like a fat out of shape blob by the time we got done with it.

Callaway spent the weekend with our sweet friends Jimmy & Kelsey..

He got home and stayed in this position until this morning when I got up!

Dear Chi...

2010-07-30T14:04:00.000-05:00

Dear Chi,

I would like to thank you for helping me to have straight hair. On the occasion that I actually get up with enough time to use you, you do work wonderfully.

I do however, have a complaint. Why would you not make a timer on your machine? If you have two plates that get so hot that can burn through some serious objects, you would think some smart kid in R & D would develop a timer to shut down after a certain period of time.

Now, whether this is due to the fact that I bought you on-line from a random hair styling store--which could quite possibly be a basement in china town were you are using underage children to stamp on the logo of said chi, or due to a laziness in the R& D department I do not know. I do know you owe me one bottle of Twilight Woods lotion and some serious air freshener. I am to believe that after I ran you through my hair yesterday I did not remember to shut you off. I am also to believe that you worked you little heating heart out until 10 pm when I got home last night and realized you will still on and still heating... right on through the twilight woods.

Please replenish the items that you ruined it is the right thing to do.. since you are lazy.. or made in china.

thank you,

cortney carlson

take me down to china town

2010-07-29T16:28:00.000-05:00

As I am sure you read yesterday because you all ~~absolutely love to~~ read my blog daily, know that I am getting a china hutch! We should be picking it up on Monday and I will take pictures for you. Here are some to hold you over.

Well I have had some serious sleepless nights worrying about this whole china pattern thing. yep I know I am a complete anal retentive freak show that worries about stupid things, but this is me.. stay a while. So anyway, my china is white, silver, and blue.. please see below.

Now I still to this day think that it is beautiful and I love it. However, every thing in my house is warm tones as opposed to the cool blue in the china. STRESSED! Well when I went to decorate the house I just went with all the colors I loved and decided not to worry about it. Now that I actually have a china hutch for my china this has become something that i think of all the time. When I come home and look at my house I start thinking about how I will make this flow.

I like this one.. To busy with plates & it is MUCH thicker than my fancy dancy china

Then I liked this one.. Still a little to busy...

Well for a while I searched for patterns that had red and the blue in it. Everything that I found was much to busy. So I began to think of colors that would look good and I thought of orange. Then today I got an email from Dillard's letting me know that now through Saturday you can get an addition 40% off of clearance. yes please. I went to the store on lunch and was super annoyed when I realized that the store is only doing 30% off. With the shipping for my purchase though it did make more sense to buy it in the store. I purchased this pattern to tie in the orange and reds that are in the other rooms.

Then there was this one.. Aww just right...

Ok so what do yall think?? I got 4 place setting of this set (minus the coffee mugs) PLUS the teapot & a big serving bowl.

I also saw this one, but it is about 75 bucks more?

Ok pretty girls & boys.. I would LOVE your comments on this one!

Do you see my vision or am I color blind?

Tomorrow is Friday!

1 Corinthians 15:58

"Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain."

What about Wednesday.. fashion phony

2010-07-28T16:34:00.001-05:00

For what about Wednesday we have new fashion trends and some that I am not quite sure about. First off I am not some Vogue obsessed girl, nor do I resemble a 5 year with the Sears Christmas Catalog for the newest issue of InStyle. I am usually pretty conservative and not the first to purchase what was debuted at New York's fashion week. The older I get the more that I try to incorporate trendy pieces, but again.. not much!

So here are the things on the What about Wednesday list:

Shirt Dresses- I get it. They are cute and they look really good on a lot of people, but it should cover your rear. I feel that once you get past a certain age you can rock this trend, but pair it should come to at least midthigh--call me granny if you want. They should also be paired with leggings.. not tights.

Pants? YES PLEASE.

Ok so this one.. BIG FAN!

Velvet- This is big for the fall. When I first saw this I turned up my nose and went straight to a post 90's fashion revival. Then I realized I have a pair of velvet pin striped pants from The Limited. I heart them.

My pants look similar to those.

There is though a fine line with velvet.. beware

Lastly- Sheer...this is also on the list of thing for fall 2010. Do we think I could sport this to the office?

"WHY WE LOVE IT

Jessica Biel is one beautiful show-off! She revealed her shapely silhouette in a stunning crimson gown in sheer chiffon. Classic accessories, along with the dress's demure cut kept the look as sophisticated as the star.
courtesy of InStyle...

****ALSO, guess who is getting a china hutch? ***
Dear Craig's list, thank you for not failing me. Since I have conducted this search for the past year, you will now see a dramatic drop in your hits as I will not be checking you every hour hoping for a new post.**
Thank you,

2010-07-26T16:43:00.000-05:00

We had a wonderful weekend! I hope you all did too.

Friday was my dad's charity golf tournament for Ron Meyers. I went out there at lunch and hung out a bid on a few items for the silent auction and hung out with Dayna her and her husband build the most beautiful houses and I am ABSOLUTELY in love with them! Cornerstone Construction, Look them up.. use them! Anyway I was walking around the auction and saw 10 tickets to sit in the box at a Naturals game, with a complete catering... 20 bucks was the bid. Are you kidding me? So I put our bid on there and walk away.

Team Carlson has a honey do list.. for 1, so Kelly has this list in his blackberry and shows it to me the other day. He was like If I do all of these what can I get? I almost respond with, What do I get for doing all the stuff around the house, but I figure this is a little disrespectful to him and bite down (hard) on my tongue. So I don't say anything at all and give him the we will see to appease him. Anyway, they had a giftcard for a four-some and cart. I put a bid on it thinking that if I get it at this price it will be worth the list getting done. Later on Friday my dad calls to tell me that I won the bids. YEAH! I am very excited, only problem I now have to put names in a hat and draw out who we are taking since we only have room for 8, but I told Kelly if we don't take them to the game he can take them golfing.

The golf tournament raised 10k bucks for a family in need. I was very proud of my dad and how he put the whole thing on.

After I got off work I talked to Marcus and we decided we all needed to get together. Kelly and I love hanging out with Marcus & his wife, Marcus is so laid back it helps me to chill out a little! Well we went over to Aaron and Christy's house to hang out at their pool. Kelly met Aaron at the Ducks Unlimited golf tournament a few weekends back and really hit it off with him so I was excited to meet Christy. Right off the bat I knew we were meant to be friends when she told me she was a closet ABC Family watcher and she loves to mountain bike. The next thing we know it is 1230. We decided to meet A&C for a bike ride in the morning to go to the farmers market.

745 Saturday morning they were ready, and they brought me fresh basil. I have mentioned like 100 hundred times that I want to make homemade pesto. So now I had some basil to work with! We hung out at the farmers market in the square until about 945 then we had to go meet our wish kid at the airport. She was going to Disney World to meet Tinker Bell. She was so excited and had her autograph book ready. MAW sends the children that wish to go to Disney to a fabulous place called Give Kids the World. It is a "hotel" where they are treated like royalty. Mr & Mrs Claus come and visit every week, they can eat ice cream 24/7 and they get breakfast with the characters.

After that Kelly was confined to work on his paper about job satisfaction and how it relates to pay, benefits, and the work place environment. Sounds riveting I know.

I went and saw Grandma for a while. Then made my weekly trip to wal-mart. I did get ingredients to make pesto though! After talking to sara one time she told me to pair it with cream cheese and I added some triscuits. So good and super easy!

I came home and spent the rest of the day cleaning the house. When I say cleaning.. I mean I got the rag and cleaned each tile on my hands and knees. Unfortunately I only made it through 2 rooms, so the rest well have to wait. although, I am sure by the time I get back around to cleaning the rooms I missed the ones I cleaned will be unrecognizable! Well I am having a Pampered Chef party on the 5th, so I guess I should wait until then to do the hands and knees cleaning.
Sunday we got up and went to early service and then class. We have a new teacher in class and he is absolutely amazing. We talked about out selfishness vs the servant attitude we are supposed to have. He talked about the My,MINE, Myself mentality we all seem to have these days. This I feel is very true. I also think that if I (we) were less selfish I would have less arguments. If I gave in and didn't fight for what I thought was going ti be the best thing for me.. myself I may cause less frustration with the others around me. So this week I am really going to try to have a servants heart.

After class we came home and Kelly went right back to work. I went to my cousin Jennifer's house they were having a BBQ and hanging out by the pool. I love them they are so funny. Piper jenn's youngest is 100% girl and as sassy as she can be, this is very very amusing to me since jen hated everything girl and threatened to no longer be related to me when I announced that I wanted to be a cheerleader.
Tonight is sewing with Jamia.. we are working on something for a give away as well as working on lesson plans for the sewing classes we are starting.

So many people want to learn to sew, but I think they are intimidated by the whole concept. So after finding a flyer for this store that was doing classes I called Jamia.

My thought is you offer classes, 2 hours long,snacks-maybe some wine, charge 25 bucks.. each time you come home with a project. We already have 5 or 6 people for the first class. I told J this was she can become famous in the etsy world and I will use it to shamelessly promote my blog so that I too can become a famous blogger some day.

I want you... yep.. YOU

2010-07-22T16:52:00.003-05:00

Time to get involved..

It is no secret that I liked to get involved in things.

Well here is your opportunity to serve & give back when we have been so blessed ourselves.

Currently I am working with my cousin Sara who is helping to put together a sprint triathlon. The race will be 500 meter swim, 15 mile bike ride, and a 5k run. For those of you that have absolutely no desire to do any of those activities, you can come and volunteer. The race is in Bella Vista at Lake Windsor, Tri To Remember on August 21st from 7am to 11am. The proceeds go to The Alzheimer's Association. It is a really great cause and the people that actually do the race really appreciate course support. I know that at my last half marathon there is no way I would have finished under 2 hours if I didn't have all the people there cheering me on. There is something about knowing people are watching you and wanting you to finish. There is also something about telling everyone what your goal is. It pushes you to achieve it much harder than if it was something you kept to yourself, but that is for another entry.

Now, you should not, I repeat, SHOULD NOT volunteer just for the free stuff, but I am a give-a-way junkie and take whatever I can get and this one has some cool stuff. You get breakfast and lunch while you are there and a dri-fit sprint triathlon shirt.. plus i think if you are really good they throw in a sexy orange vest and a whistle!

After that we have the Charity Challenge.

This one is being head up by friend Allison. She also does the NWA Healthy Women. Well it is in September at the Pinnacle country club. It benefits the Crisis center. They are the ones that handle rape crisis, suicide, and things like that. This event is very important for th fact that the fundrasier supports the cost to run the center for the year. It is a golf and tennis tournament. The next meeting is August 12th.

Make-A-Wish. Kelly and I became involved in the wish council first. They are the ones that actually fund the wishes. The cost is about 7k a wish. After that we decided we wanted to do the Wish Granters. This is actually where we go and grant the wishes and plan the parties for the children. We are having our next meeting at the Springdale Library on September 17th at 6:30pm.

In October we have the PAL 5k. PAL is the Police Athletic League. They are putting to get together a 5k it is in conjunction with the haunted house they do. The race is Friday October 22nd at 6:30pm located at the Benton county fairgrounds. The race is going to run through the cemetery. I think this is the coolest part of the whole thing! Our next meeting it Wednesday July 28th in Bentonville.

November is Circle of Life Hospice. The actual Voyage party will be November 20th at the John Q Hammons Center. I am helping with the theme and logistics, but I have also been tasked of getting some silent auction items... So far we have some good stuff! A photo session with 2 canvas prints from Sweet B's Photography. A 4-some of golf with cart from Lost Springs golf course. A canvas painting from the fabulously talented Mandy Faubous. 2 HUGE baskets from Alburto Culver salon products. A Baseball package from Hogs baseball. The next meeting is Thursday the 29th in Springdale.

Ok last is my Race for the Cure. Since I am Co-chairing the race this year I have already started recruiting for committee members. I hit sara up when she asked me about the tri to remember.. The meeting will start in September with the race in april 2011. The most exciting news is we had our Chair meeting on Tuesday night. We were tasked with coming up with the media for next year. We were each to submit ideas for the brochures and guess who's got picked? Mine!! Now I know that is it not like I actually cured cancer or even contributed much, but I am pumped that they are using mine! It was to revolve around "promise" Since Nancy Brinker started Komen with a Promise to her sister Susan G Komen, that she would stop the suffering for other people and families.

If you are interested in getting involved in anyone of these great organizations let me know!

"Do not keep talking so proudly or let your mouth speak such arrogance, for the LORD is a God who knows, and by him deeds are weighed."
1 Samuel 2:3

what about.. what about.. what about wednesday?

2010-07-21T14:56:00.003-05:00

I have decided to try to start doing a "theme" each week.I am thinking about Wednesday should be the day.. Mainly because I could come up with a catchy "segment" name that went well with wednesday's.

So today we are doing:

What about Spa Botanica for the What about Wednesday.
Does this remind you of a Jr High cheer? yep!

Monday night I had my massage. I am in love. Angie at Spa Botanica was absolutely amazing.
First off let me tell you how great the spa is and why all of you should go.

When you walk in to the Embassy they have this wonderful apple drink, one cup. Yes please.

I checked in to the spa and the take me back to my locker. Inside my locker is a soft fuzzy robe and some spa shoes.

You then proceed to the relaxation room where you sit on these large chase loungers and have candles and serenity music. They also have a rock type waterfall so the whole feel is very soothing! I hung out there for about 15 minutes before the massage. Then angie called me back.

She asked where I wanted her to work and if i had an injuries. A few minutes in she asked if the pressure was ok. I said yes. She waited, asked again and it was a little deep, this time i spoke up and told her. she adjusted. After working on my back for a while she asked if she could use the hot stones (ps for those of you non massagers ...this is a totally different massage and costs extra.) she said I was tight in my shoulders and the hot stones would make me feel better. I told her sure, thinking at this point even if she charges me more for this it is Totally worth it.

After it was all over she lead me back out to the locker room and they have showers and a steam room. She turned on the steam and told me to hang out as long as I wanted to. It was fabulous. I wanted her to call the hubby and tell him I will be staying the night at the embassy.

What about yall favorite massage? Deep tissue, Swedish, Hot stone? Have you ever had one? Do you remember where your favorite one was?

Polenta please

2010-07-20T12:52:00.003-05:00

Friday I went to the grocery store after work and they had polenta. Emmy turned me on to it when we went to visit and they had some sun dried tomato kind at walmart so I needed to figure out what to make with it.

Saturday morning Kelly and I got up early and went for a run. We then went to the farmers market and walked around. We saw our friends Erin, Todd and Mandy working Mandy's booth. After we walked around we were both sleepy and needed some coffee stat! We went in to Kupcakes and debated what to get. In the end I got the Tiramisu cupcake and kelly went with the sausage egg and cheese cupcake. We did what we always do cut them in half and share them! Kelly got an iced coffee and I did a mocha. It was all really really good and I am glad we stopped in.

After we got home I had to get ready for the sewing party with Denise & Chrissy's family. Meg's had mentioned some pool time so I brought my suit just in case.

I got so much accomplished and MAN was I so thankful for Jamia and her sewing expertise. I felt like I actually knew what I was doing. I was able to make 2 taggies. I finished the one for emmy and then made another for whoever is next on our baby list of friends. It was a great group of girls and HOLY COW was there some food. If I hadn't cancelled out my run with the cupcakes I sure did with breakfast.

Chrissy made Reese a dress... SO cute

Around 2 megs was at the pool and I was in my own little martha stewart land so I headed over to see her Alisa and Jess. I got home from pool around 4 and started making dinner.
Recipe:
Polenta sliced 1/4" thick(cook in skillet evoo, for about 1 minuted on each side)

line the bottom of casserole dish.
Layer pesto over the polenta
over that with fresh spinach
a layer of mushrooms
pour marinara sauce over that
layer ricotta cheese

Layer some fash cooked zucchini

cover with mozzarella cheese
Sprinkle olives over it

bake 375 for 25 min

I was so proud of this recipe.

girl time is the right time

2010-07-15T16:27:00.009-05:00

Tuesday night since the reunion meeting was moved I went home and decided to work on craft projects. jlove jokes with me that my sewing machine only seems to work when we have sewing parties.. kind of true. I think part of that has to do with the fact that i don't really have a place to set up.. I have to haul the sewing machine out and then get everything set up which by the time I have done that the urge has passed. Well Kelly finished his homework and I let him go out and play for a little bit. Our friend Marcus sent him a text asking him to hang out. I got a little upset by this text. Marcus and I have known each other for a very long time and I guess I expect a text as well. Well Kelly played it out for a while before finally telling me it was guys night and I was not allowed.

So I pulled up the DVR and started some girl stuff! We started with HGTV's design star. I heart Dan, he is so sweet, and not to mention beautiful blue eyes. Well he is TO sweet and tried to help everyone else and his stuff took a back seat, so he got kicked off. You can however go on to HGTV and vote for him to have his own show!

After Design Star was Bachlorette, so long Kirk. I like Kirk a lot more than Frank and I am pretty sad that he is still in the running. Then I finished up with The Gates! Always good to watch some cheesy vampire drama.

After my girls show fix I got out the staple gun and recovered another one of my chairs.

I then cut some fabric for our sewing party this weekend.

Yesterday was girls night at Mojito's and Eclipse. I loved Eclipse. The movie was so good. They did a really good job of making you fall for jacob. Well I at least fell for him all over again!

So we all know I am on the hunt for a china hutch.. I found one that is absolutely perfect. The girl from craig's list won't call me back. Kind of sad about this. It was a great price, and kelly even liked it. Sad day. I am assuming they sold it, but some small piece of me keeps hoping that they are out of town. Probably not though huh?

Also, stay tuned because I am doing a give away!!! I will have a very creative guest to share some fun things!

Sew cute!

2010-07-13T16:52:00.001-05:00

Last night we worked on dresses with aunt J... They are soo cute, mine was pretty good for my first time... with J's help of course! I really like the fabric Jenni from the block used, it has a retro look to it. (her's is on the left) I think I am going to try to make another one for a girl at work.. I need all the practice I can get! To bad there are not super easy boy things you can make. Sewing is SEW much better when you have a girl. I think it benefits you more, you can make all sorts of dresses and tops and bows for girls. Boys are kind of stuck with the one piece romper thing.

We didn't get a chance to work on appliques, but maybe next time. I think one of these days aunt J needs to be a full time stay at home momma and then I can do the marketing for her business..she will make clothes and curtains and then she can even teach classes, so many people would pay her to teach them to sew. She is fabulous.

This is what I want to make next.. they had the pattern at hobby lobby

Tonight was supposed to be our reunion meeting, but it go moved to thursday which means my massage is moving to monday and tonight I think I may recover one of my chairs. My dad came by and saw me today and he brought me a staple gun loaded and ready so hopefully I will have pictures of the finished product tomorrow!

Here are some pictures from our balcony at night...
slowly but surely you will get a recap!

Is it Friday yet??

love me some lazy

2010-07-12T16:17:00.005-05:00

Captian's Dinner

I downloaded the pictures from the cruise.. all 500 of them! I downloaded them on our home computer as opposed to the laptop. Well that requires me to go and sit in the office and upload those to the blog. So, I am sorry but I am lazy and there was a harry potter marathon on this weekend, which means I really didn't want to go and hang out in the office. Which means one day when I am lacking my creativeness I will try to post pictures.

bed friends that came to visit nightly

this was a really cool church we saw in barbados

Klee and I ventured out to Barbados alone while the boys golfed and Julie got some sun. Not gonna lie I have decided that when we travel oversees I want the whole family to go. I know that I may sound stupid, but after being in some of those places it just made me think. What would we do if something happened to us.. we don't have phones, but if we did who could we actually call?

The dock at Saint Maarten

the 4 of us before we went ziplining

ok so i took this cause it is random..a HUGE wheel of cheese for ONLY 29 USD!

St Maatren our favorite island

We learned that St M is divided, half of the island is Dutch and the other half is Frence.

Something on the Dutch side was 99 cents, the French 3 bucks!

Where would you shop?

the dutch chocolate shop, yep i bought some don't judge me

Nothing says I love chocolate like a naked boy peeing!

the special kid plays in sand!

Kurt didn't want the water to get him so he built a retaining wall.

This weekend Kelly was playing in a golf tournament and he had to be there at 7am Saturday morning. Well I couldn't go back to sleep so I got up and decided since it wasn't 100 degrees out I would try to run. I did about 2.5 miles at a 8:20 pace, just like old times except that I could only run 2.5 miles and I was really mad at myself. So I decided to ride my bike to meet my grandma and dad at the farmers market. We walked around for an hour or so and I got some okra and onions. After that I went home and got the jeep. I figured I couldn't carry all the groceries and ride my bike. I cleaned the house and finishes laundry and waited for Kelly to come home.. He finally got home at 6 he started helping with the tournament and got caught up.

Sunday we went to church and had a pretty uneventful Sunday. I did make dinner and I was pretty proud of my accomplishment and took a picture!

Potato's, onions, and okra with a protein style turkey burger with tomatoes and fat free pepper jack cheese. SO GOOD!

Tonight is sewing class with Aunt J and JWOW. We are making dresses and maybe working on appliques! I am pretty excited,I am making my friend amanda's daughter a dress, if I get really good I may send one to my friend Tonya in texas. We were really close when kelly and I lived in dallas and I haven't seen her or her sweet baby ana in about 3 years!!!The appliques came from a blog I stumbled upon.. I will take pictures if resembles the project it was modeled after. If it turns out like crap yall can't see!

This week is super busy. Kelly joked with me that I wasn't going to be able to make my lunch for the next day or I may not have time to pre-fill my water bottles. He thinks he's funny. Today was lunch with my daddy and grandma at Fred's cause that is all gma likes! Then sewing tonight.

Tomorrow is lunch with my friend allison, then meeting up with some friends at eddies for the ole class reunion meeting. Wednesday a big group of girls from work are seeing Eclipse and then Thursday I am super excited to have lunch with sassy amanda. Thursday night is my massage and maybe by friday I will be able to remember my name!

(the massage is totally in the budget. they were like 200 on the ship, and I figured why spend that on a ship when I can be out in the sun? I will just get one when I get home and it will be like I prolonged the vaca!

Anyone have any good recommendations for a masseuse?