What I was Into in March

Are you kidding me with the passing of time? I feel like I blinked and this month has passed! I think a large part of that has to do with having a full time job now (yes - full time employment for the win!) It's amazing how quickly a week passes when 40+ hours are spent at work! So, now for the things that kept me amused when I was outside the office. 

Books I Read

An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon - Book Seven! I'm moving right along with the Outlander series people...well, kind of. I only started it about eight months ago. And of course, I always tend to get sidetracked by other books as the month progresses. I'll finish the series one day - I promise! Granted, probably not in April because that's when the show Outlander comes back on and then I'll be watching that instead of reading - sad but true.

Wind Done Gone by Alice Randall - Book club book...ha-ha! Definitely an interesting read, this story tells a tale similar to Gone with the Wind but from the point of view of a slave girl, Cynara who is a mulatto and is also the half-sister of Scarlett O'Hara; Cynara is the product of a relationship between Gerald O'Hara and Mammy. The story follows Cynara as she lives her life as a rival to her sister Scarlett; only ever referred to as Other in the book. Cynara writes in a "diary" about her life as she strives to best Scarlett in every way possible since she couldn't quite ever divert Mammy's attention from Scarlett to herself. Apparently the book was thought to be too similar to Gone with the Wind and Margaret Mitchell's publishing company sued - and lost. 

Books in the Queue

I'll be honest - I have no clue what is in the queue. I don't even know off the top of my head what the book for our book club is going to be. I'm sure I'll read plenty over the next month but I don't have any set book picked out that I want to read, so I guess whatever strikes my fancy will be what I pick up off the shelf.

Can't Miss Television

House of Cards - Yes, I carried this over from last month because by the time I finished the third season, it was March! Granted, it was only March 1st...but still; at least I had the restraint to not watch all 13 episodes in one day. The only episodes I actually watched in March were the last 4 or 5 - but the last 3 episodes of the season were definitely the best; the episodes where once I started one, I had to just go ahead and bite the bullet and finish the season. I could have done without so much Doug; or as my Mom always says when I reference him - "Stamper?" - whiny and sad Doug is the worst. The last episode was so explosive...and the last ten minutes just blew my mind. I can't believe it will be another year till I can know how ALL THAT resolves itself. Whoosh!

How long till the House of Cards collapses?

The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt - Another Netflix show y'all...it's taking over my life, ha-ha! I watched one episode of this and was immediately hooked - the 90's references alone make this show hilarious. Kimmy Schmidt is a thirty year old woman who has finally been released from being held in a bunker in Indiana for the last 15 years of her life by a religious zealot (hey Jon Hamm!) and decides that she wants to make up for the life she's missed. She moves to New York, moves in with a gay black man, gets a job working for a wealthy upper East sider and generally just goes after life with all she's got. She has a refreshing take on life and an upbeat attitude - not to mention, since Tina Fey is one of the producers, this show has jokes aplenty.

This show is hilarious!

New Girl - Okay, I submit 100% that I am hooked on NetFlix and the joy it offers. My little sister and one of my very best friends have been begging me to watch this show since it premiered 4 years ago, but I already watch too many things and so I passed. Well now I have Netflix and almost 4 years worth to catch up on...so when my weekend plans fell through in March, I may have binged the entire first season in 48 hours. Eek! In case you've been living under a rock - the show follows Jess; a newly dumped and single gal who moves in with three guys: Nick, Schmidt and Winston. Jess endears herself to the guys in short order and the four of them, along with Jess' best friend CeCe form a tight knit family involved in no end of misadventures as they navigate love, friendship and just life in general. This show is also hilarious.

I think Nick is my favorite...

Movies I Watched

Cinderella - I have been looking forward to this movie since I saw the first preview - which is funny since Cinderella is probably one of my least favorite of the Disney princess films. I think my anticipation of this movie had a LOT to do with Prince Charming being played by Richard Madden...who once upon a time was Robb Stark on Game of Thrones. I was a little more intrigued when I realized Cinderella was being played by Lily James, who stars on Downton Abbey...and another DA cast member was playing one of the ugly stepsisters. The story is a classic and nothing about it changed but the film was magical - there is just something about the cast and the story that clicked perfectly and made for an absolutely enchanting movie. I loved it. That's all I really have to say for it - it's excellent, so go see it if you haven't!

*sigh*

Insurgent - Well, I enjoyed this. I wasn't sure if I would because I'd heard a lot of mixed reviews from friends but I thought it was really good. The story; of course, continues to follow Tris and Four as they look to escape Jeanine's clutches and live life free from the corrupt faction system. This volume was a lot more violent than the first; so much shooting! I feel like there is still so much more that has to happen for this series to wind itself up...I guess it's a good thing they split the last book into two movies. Two things I take from this movie: Naomi Watts does not look old enough to be Theo James' mother (honestly - in real life she's 46 and he's 30...so I guess maybe...but not really) and that new haircut that Tris did all by herself...just nope. She looked like a hoot owl and in this case, that's not a good thing.

Music I Listened To

Drops in the Ocean by Hawk Nelson - Such an awesome song; I heard it on the way to work one morning and couldn't listen to it enough...so of course I went to the all powerful iTunes and added it to my collection.

More Than You Think I Am by Danny Gokey - Danny Gokey has really become an artist I enjoy listening to; this song in particular is so fascinating, it challenges the notions we have of who God is and reminds us that he is much more than we'll ever think He is. And it's pretty catchy too! :)

Because He Lives by Matt Maher - A new take on an old classic; I really love this song. It's such a great reminder of how much we have because of the life that Christ gave for us - a wonderful daily reminder of how blessed we truly are. The song's message is especially poignant with Easter right around the corner.

One Direction - oh my geez, as a thirty year old woman I admit...I bought some songs by One Direction this month. Zayn left the group and all of a sudden their music was everywhere and I realized it was pretty catchy and it was a downward spiral from there. Some of the songs I bought are: Story of My Life, You & I, They Don't Know About Us and One Thing. Don't judge me. :)

Theater & the Like

Nothing like that here this month.... At least there was no driving in a snowstorm while throwing up in the backseat to try and get to the theater this month. Blegh.

Yummy in my Tummy

The Celebration Frappucino from Starbucks definitely springs to mind in this category! My cousin Alisha posted pictures (yes...more than one picture of a drink) on Friday the 27th and so I had to check it out for myself. Apparently it was only out for the weekend of March 27-29 but it was absolutely delicious...and it had pink whip cream! Hello - awesome!

Lime Delight Peeps... I must say, as I get older I'm a lot less interested in Peeps. I even made sure to specifically tell my Mom that I didn't want very much candy for Easter & I didn't think I wanted any Peeps. My sister is probably having heart failure reading this...she is a diehard lover of Peeps. I stumbled onto these bad boys at Target...the bottoms are dipped in lime "fudge" and they are absolutely lovely. So, I may have requested that I get some of these (in either lemon or orange) for Easter.

What I'm Looking Forward To

Okay...this might be terrible but the second half of the first season of Outlander (why did they split it up, I don't know...so silly though) premieres on April 4th and the fifth season of Game of Thrones premieres on April 12th! Yes...I'm excited about TV y'all. What a huge shock that is, right?

Oh Claire & Jamie...

Philip Carter Winery Tour...because ever since I moved to this area, I've been interested in taking a wine tour. There are winery's located all over the place in Northern Virginia and I've heard great things about Philip Carter (from my Mom and my sister, ha-ha) and so when a tour popped up on Living Social, I jumped on it. I'm going with my good friend Rachel and I can't wait for this experience!

Seeing the Cherry Blossoms bloom in DC! This has been on my bucket list forever and I thought a couple years ago that I'd get to see them...but crazy weather (what a shocker) pushed the bloom dates back and I missed them. Well, this year I live only an hour away...as opposed to 13 hours...so I've got big plans to go with my friend Danielle to DC for the day to see them. I can't wait!

I'm going to see this! I am!

And oh yea...did I mention....GAME OF THRONES!

YES! I can't wait!

So - that's all for the month of March! I cannot believe a fourth of this year has already come and gone! So far, 2015 has been an awesome year for me and March was no exception. I can't wait to see what the rest of this year has in store - if the first quarter was any indication, this year is shaping up to be excellent!

Springing toward April

Another week - another week's worth of tales to tell to you. This past week; looking back it doesn't seem like it was that busy but when I think about it and being in the middle of it, it seemed busy while it was happening.

Okay - so it wasn't great coffee.

Monday started off with a jolt - just when I thought I was going to have time to sit and leisurely sip my coffee (cup one...there are always more cups of coffee) before heading to work, my Dad oh so kindly passed along his task of taking something to my Mom at her office..."because I was already dressed and headed in that direction..." and so off I went. I was struggling because...hello...I hadn't had any coffee yet. Once I dropped off my Mom's ID card, I had big plans to go to Starbucks - I don't have to be to work until 8:30 and so I still had 30 minutes to kill. Target opens at 8, so surely the Starbucks inside would be open too - it only makes sense.

Guess what guys? The Target was open but the Starbucks WAS NOT. I was; at this point, still suffering from the realities of Monday morning (come on...we all have to face Monday as best we can, it's Monday...) and I'd still not had any coffee. At that point, I moved from slightly disgruntled to irate - how is Starbucks not open at 8 AM??? You serve fuel to get people moving in the morning and you aren't open at 8 AM? I was ready to smack someone in the head. A cafe/bakery actually opened on the 23rd in the shopping/business center where I worked and so I went to them for reprieve - and while I got some coffee, it was not that great. I'll give them a second chance and I appreciate that they were there for me when Starbucks wasn't...but come on Starbucks. Come! On!

Creeping on this squirrel that sits outside my office window...

I feel you baby girl - it has been a Monday for sure!

Oh hey...would you just stand still so I can use you to pull up on?

A bunch of us (okay...maybe 5 isn't a bunch, but you get my point) went out to eat Monday night for my friend Jennie's birthday and then we came back to our house to have cupcakes and ice cream. It was pretty routine as far as a birthday celebration goes - there were coffee cake cupcakes and birthday cake ice cream, so we definitely took care of that whole agenda; I sweetly shared my ice cream with Amelia - because what 8 month old doesn't need a sugar rush at almost 9 PM? Hehehe! Amelia also showed off her new crawling skills, debuting them for us on Monday night and because I'm awesome, I managed to catch it on camera! Score!

Sugar is good! Sooo good!

Another thing infants need? Coffee! Hadley getting an early start on her coffee habit. 

Tuesday was pretty monumental for me - it was my last day working at Hallmark! Hallelujah! I have taken a lot from Hallmark; the most important thing being the friends I've made, as well as lessons about how life doesn't always turn out the way you think it will - but that isn't a bad thing! Working at Hallmark wasn't a bad experience by any means...just very frustrating at times; very being the optimal word. It wasn't anything like what I had planned when I moved to Virginia...but again, life is very infrequently what YOU plan it to be. I'm so thankful for the friends I made working there for the past nine months; most of them friends I plan to have in my life for years to come. I turned in my key on Wednesday morning and there was definitely a feeling akin to unlocking a chain that had kept me tethered to the mall, to retail and weekend that weren't my own. It wasn't a bad chapter by any means, but I am glad I've been blessed to turn the page!

When Target has shoes buy one/get one 50%....I'll probably buy shoes. Hehehe.

The first perk of awesomeness at my new job - my boss got us all pedicures on Thursday! 

A Spring thunderstorm rolling in on Thursday night.

Watson in his blanket bunker on Friday morning. 

The rest of the work week passed without any incident or much of interest happening - we went to Bible study on Wednesday night but it was just our fellowship night, so we ate things and talked. We are about to start a study next week called Conversation Peace by Mary Kassian - anyone done this study before? We just finished a study by her and since it was so good, we just kept going with another of her books. It rained on Thursday evening and so instead of going to Long Branch to hear a speaker, we all just decided to hunker down at the house instead. I had big plans to be lazy on Friday night but they got shifted a little bit when my Dad was unable to go to a Nicole C Mullen concert with my Mom - I got drafted. We ate a quick supper at Panera and I must admit, I really enjoyed the concert...even if it wasn't how I thought I'd spend my Friday night. I also really enjoyed the Celebration Frappucino that I got at Starbucks on the way home - delicious!

She's almost 50 - and she does NOT look it. Whoa.

Celebration Frappucino - so delicious. I'm pretty sure they were only around this past weekend though, so I guess you'll just have to take my word on it.

Watson couldn't take my word on it - he basically attacked my straw & helped himself.

Saturday and Sunday passed so fast - weekends always pass quickly though! I slept in on Saturday and then we had a late breakfast/early lunch (hey - that's brunch, huh?) at IHOP before my Mom and I went to a baby shower. There was so much girly sweetness at that baby shower and I'm pretty sure the new baby girl will have enough clothes that she won't wear the same thing twice...ever! I spent a huge chunk of the shower cuddling and amusing Amelia...which is always wonderful. I drug my parents to Old Navy late on Saturday afternoon because they had cardigans for $10...however the only colors they had were black, gray and tan...not that great a deal. Boo. We watched House of Cards on Saturday night; my parents are getting so close to season three and I can't wait! Sunday was the usual - church and some afternoon laziness thrown in before the rush of the week starts all over again.

Would you like this treat?

Determined not to smile since I was trying to get her to...little stinker!

Eating cantaloupe!

I bought him a hoodie on sale at Old Navy - he rocks it, obviously.

He just cracks me up.

Another Saturday in the books! 

Sunday morning Starbucks run for a friend - so I got something too, of course!

After Starbucks let me down on Monday, they managed to redeem themselves on Sunday with a lovely Tiramisu latte that I downed in no time flat. What can I say, I do love myself some Starbucks and when a friend needed some coffee ASAP, I couldn't deny myself a little something too!

Watson is tired just thinking about another work week.

Old School Update

So - just a little over a year ago I wrote this blog post originally and I thought it would be fun to try and do this post around the same time each year...just to see how things change and how things stay the same! I know things in my neck of the woods have changed - mostly because my neck of the woods has changed, ha-ha!


What is the last thing you watched on TV?
Actual TV or does Netflix count? I think we're going to let Netflix count, because shows on Netflix get nominated for Emmy's...and those are awards for TV shows. Having made you sure knew that CRITICAL information - the last thing I watched on TV was New Girl. I binged the whole first season recently and I am not even ashamed. Loved it.

Small detour - I used to watch so much TV and it was because I didn't have a life, ha-ha. No really...no life. I haven't sat down and watched TV at all this week because I've been doing stuff every evening after work. It's awesome and not at all upsetting to miss TV shows because I'm actually LIVING life instead of watching it on TV. That being said, I plan to make my parents binge some episodes of House of Cards on Friday night because they have got to get caught up to season three. That's all. Detour ended, please merge with normal traffic patterns...

When did you last step outside? What were you doing?

I was last outside as I was walking into work - so, what I was doing was walking into work. Ha! It finally feels like Spring outside, so that's pretty much amazing and glorious.

What is on the walls of the room you are in?

Well, I'm in my office so the wall in front of me has some pictures of the area around the office - the Shenandoah Valley and the like. My other walls are windows...so I'm looking at a lovely subdivision on the edge of Kernstown Battlefield!

If you became a multi-millionaire overnight, what would you buy?

Travel. I would travel all over the place all the time and buy homes in London, Rome...maybe Scotland...all over the place basically. I'd be international.

Tell me something about you that most people don’t know.

Well...I don't know if I even knew this about myself until I moved to Virginia... I have always been shy almost to the point of it sometimes making me anxious in social situations - and I've come to realize that it may have been because I was shy as a child and it just became something that was a "part" of who I was, because I grew up with the same people and they'd always known me as shy, so I was shy.

Apparently that's not who I am anymore. I've been in Virginia for 9 months and I've had no end of people telling me how sociable, outgoing and bubbly I am...which I would have never used to describe myself. I was told recently that I seemed confident and self-assured, which are also words I don't tend to associate with myself. 

Obviously I'm very outgoing, confident and self-assured...and I didn't even know it! 

Who made the last incoming call on your phone?

My sweet Momma!

If you could change something about your home, without worry about expense or mess, what would you do?

I just want to have my own home again! I have been so blessed to be able to live with my parents since my move to Virginia in June but one of the things that I'm most looking forward to now that I have a job is beginning the process of finding my own home here in Virginia!

What was the last thing you bought?

Boring Purchase - lunch at Panera on Wednesday

Not Boring Purchase - This amazing shirt that I'll be wearing with pride!

Would you go bungee jumping or sky diving?

Oh no - I wouldn't do either. No thank you.

If you could eat lunch with one famous person, who would it be?

I'd still really like to have lunch with Benedict Cumberbatch...although his wife and baby momma might not care for that too much... It can only be one person? I know - I'll pass on Cumberbatch and have lunch with Sam Heughan...who plays Jamie on Outlander. 

And yes - I realize that for the past two years I've picked attractive male celebrities and I could probably be more original...but maybe I just want to look at something pretty while I eat lunch. Ha-ha!

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Which store would you choose to max out your credit card?

I could probably go pretty nuts in Old Navy....

Is the glass half empty or half full?

It's half-full!

What’s the farthest-away place you’ve been?

This one hasn't changed...it's still Canada! But hey, ask me again next year! ;)

What’s under your bed? 

Not much - two Thirty-One totes filled with DVDs, my laptop carrying case and a plastic storage tub filled with pictures/paintings/random art from my house that I don't currently have anywhere to put!

What is your favorite time of the day?

Since becoming gainfully employed, I guess I'm a fan of 5 o'clock - even though I cannot stress enough how much I love my job! I guess it lines up with what I said last year, I like the part of the day where life begins to wind down - the sun starts to drift toward the horizon and the sky usually takes on some pretty amazing colors. So, it's still evening. Twilight. I do love the sunset.

What Inspires You?

I'm just inspired by being in this new (it's still kind of new) place - I'm inspired to make a life for myself here, make friends and try new things. So I guess just living and enjoying life right now are pretty inspiring for me! 

So - a year later, life is a little bit different. I have to say, I absolutely love this different - it's wonderful! I can't wait to see what my life looks like a year from now. One thing is for sure, I'm sure it will have changed...life is always changing. 

Watson Wednesday

Just like I wish Spring would stay, I know this little guy does too!

I Published this without a Title...True Story...

Spring - something that Northern Virginia has flirted with all week. It really likes the idea of warmer weather, fluffy clouds and gentle breezes but can't decide if it's 100% ready to commit. However, 95% of the citizens of Northern Virginia are ready for it to make it long term and usher in sandal season. This week started off absolutely lovely and descended into a less lovely place all week long - well, the weather that is. The week itself was fairly lovely and left me with no complaints, ha-ha!

Gorgeous Spring skies on Monday afternoon.

The creek that christened where I work as Creekside... I wish it was closer to my office...

The weather for sitting on the porch in the afternoon & early evening is almost here again! 

The start of the week feels like such a blur! Monday night was the only night I had at home until Friday rolled around and I tried to make the most of it by enjoying some time sitting out on the deck with Watson on Friday evening - that little dog loves the deck - and just relaxing in general. This past week was my last "full week" at Hallmark; I will only be working one day this week and then I'll be done! I've settled into my job at CWM really well and I just decided working 50-55 hours a week wasn't really for me. Thankfully they were very understanding and so supportive of my decision - and I was so glad for that because on Tuesday and Thursday I left the house at 8 AM and didn't arrive back home till 10 PM and I didn't really relish doing that every week. Yikes! So, that's why Wednesday seemed to arrive almost out of nowhere - because Monday evening through Wednesday evening passed in a haze.

Oh my - yummy tea.

Wednesday morning - drinking all the coffee. All of it & then some more. 

Wednesday night fun - tasting an Oreo for the first time! 

When Thursday rolled around, I was starting to struggle for sure - I don't know about you but I need my sleep and I need it to be good and consistent. I also need down time and by the time Thursday arrived, I hadn't had much of that. I'd been going all day every day until I fell into my bed at the end of the day and I was straining for Friday. I was literally having pep talks with myself, ha-ha! Coffee certainly helped the struggle...but when does coffee not help, lets be honest? Hehehe.

Thursday morning sunrise - never quite as magnificent on camera as it is in person.

Please let this be a joke...

As I mentioned, this week started out as sandal weather and I was loving it - although I do need a pedicure... That's neither here nor there, I was wearing some sandals on Monday and even on Tuesday but then the temperature decided to start creeping toward the colder end of the scale - not good. No me gusta. By the time I left work place #1 (at least until Tuesday, March 24th...after that work place #1 will be work place THE ONLY ONE) to head to work place #2, we were under a Winter Weather Advisory for Friday. Rain that was most likely going to turn into 2-4 inches of snow...on the first day of Spring. Apparently that happens here a lot; snow on the first day of Spring. Funny, right?

So - this is amazing.

Happy First Day of Spring 2015!

My house vs. my office - they're 15 minutes apart...

I woke up on Friday to rain, which that's fine...April showers and whatnot (I know - it's not April yet). My co-worker text and asked how things were weather wise at my house and I let her know it was just raining. Her response? She sent me a picture of the 2-4 inches of snow at her house. I was blown away! I set out to work in the rain and after I'd gone about 5 miles up the road, it was like someone flipped a switch - there was snow everywhere! The ground was covered, the cars I passed were draped in it and it was swirling from the sky! I have to say that has been the most interesting drive I've had in a long while...probably since that really interesting drive where an 18-wheeler decided to fling me off the road. Ha-ha! Wait...what...

My Friday night was a Netflix marathon - Watson decided his Friday night would be a nap marathon...in my bed.

Saturday was gorgeous - 65 degrees & sunny! The weather; as mentioned, just can't make up it's mind.

Post cat encounter - still at the ready, should the little cat come back for round two.

I had all kinds of plans this weekend but somehow they all fell through - my Saturday afternoon and evening plans crashed early Saturday afternoon and so I used the sudden free hours to go to Old Navy and pick up a pair of jeans (and two cardigans and a new tank) and then stop by Country Treasure to grab a gift. Watson and I took a couple long walks around the neighborhood in the awesome sunshine and I began a New Girl marathon on Netflix. Yeah - my weekend turned into a Netflix marathon weekend. It had been the plan for Friday night but when my Sunday afternoon plans didn't materilize either, I did some more shopping at Target (all their shoes are buy one, get one 50% off this week - go, go and get some shoes!) and walked all over the place with Watson some more and watched even more New Girl. This post could have been much more thrilling but I basically was a bum this weekend - so, there's that.

Sunday night supper yumminess. Except the soup wasn't as good as I wanted it to be.

She is so serious & she was seriously not sure about that bow in her head.

Sunday afternoon nap!

I will never understand some of the weird ways he sits...he thinks he is human.

So - the week passed in a blur, the weekend passed even faster...isn't that always the case though? I can't believe April is almost here! I've been at my job almost a month and that seems even more unbelievable. Another good week in the books; not a great week but not a bad week either, life keeps rolling along and I'm enjoying the ride...so...on to the next!