One day we're gonna look back at what we did and say, "did we really do that?"

Lately I've been missing my friends more than ever.  We don't get to see each other as much as I would like, but that's okay because we are all taking off in our careers and are super busy! I wouldn't want it any other way since I would ALWAYS wish the best for them!  But lately I've caught myself drifting back to "yester years" when I was in college. Oh...the days.  Less than two years ago, life was simple.  I didn't have to worry about paying bills, buying a car, taking time off to see my friends, working long hours, or being independent (thanks mom and dad!!). Those were the BEST four years of my life.  My friends are like my sisters. They would be the first to tell me when my outfit looks hideous, the first to tell me when I was wasting my time with a guy, the first to call me on any BS, and the first to be there if/when I needed them.  I wanted to post this because I wanted to post some pictures and remind them how much I love them/miss them....

Oh girls!! Looking at these makes me miss you more.  Thank you for always being there, always listening, and being the best friends a girls could have. I love you all dearly!! MISS YOU!!

No worries: The throwback tribute will be posted some time as well. I have uncovered Sparks night, Cowgirl and Indian night, as well as several other doozies!!

"Ride that beat, beat, beat like a pony..."

I've been working so much this week that I've neglected my blog. Shame on me! I actually missed blogging, so even though I just walked in the door from work 15 minutes ago, and I will be asleep in an hour, I'm avoiding making coffee, packing lunch, changing into PJ's, and packing for the wedding in order to blog!

***

I love my job, I truly do. I work a lot, I truly do. Some weeks when I'm putting in 50-60 hrs. the LAST thing I want to do is get my butt to the gym.  Tonight I almost avoided going in order to finish a tax return...really!?! Nevertheless, I went, and got a decent work out in for the week.  The only thing that keeps me motivated at the gym is my iPod. I'm in love with that thing and I'm going to be in a world of hurt when something happens....600+ songs....GONE!! I'm still on my first one (hope I didn't jinx that), and I have all kinds of playlists for my runs, my lifting, etc.

These are the songs right now that make me drip sweat:

1. Papa Roach-Last Resort---I love to start my 3-6 mile runs off to this!!
2.Rihanna-Hard----Where dem blonde girls at??
3.Black Eyed Peas-Imma Be
4.Metallica-Enter Sandman
5.Daughtry-You Don't Belong <3 l.o.v.e.
6.Dorrough-Ice Cream Paint Job
7.Ting Tings-That's Not My Name
8.Limp Bizkit-Just Drop Dead and Break Stuff
9.Ludacris (and Alvin the Chipmunk-hahaha)-How Low
10.Daughtry-Life After You <3 l.o.v.e more

***

Thank you Apple and iPod for keeping my butt in gear when I want to be lazy!!

***Note: In reference to songs #5 and #10...Did I mention I will be going to see him in concert in June? Did I also mention I'll be in the 8th row? Lastly did I mention he WILL see me, and I think I'll be up on stage before the end of the night? Just so you know...

It's Electrifying!!

Yeah I know you saw this title and you busted out singing the song from Grease. But that is not what this is about. Do you ever have one of those days where your hair is out of control? Yeah...I had one of those days....

I had enough static electricity to send some serious charges through something. I mean it was out of this world. I used to have it bad as a child, but this is ridiculous. Bad hair days= bad day. period.

*Tip: Dryer sheets are awesome at smoothing out hair and getting rid of static electricity. Clearly I needed the whole box!!!

just another day in the office.

I had to post this because it is hysterical and soooo true! If you work in an office environment (a sometimes stressful one at that) you know that sometimes you feel like doing the same things when your day is going so horribly wrong.  I haven't felt this way yet, but I also haven't been working 70 hours...yet. In order to avoid these situations I sometimes listen to Limp Bizkit-"Break Stuff". Horrible song, horrible band, but in a weird way it helps me take out my frustrations!

Kiss and Tell....

Yep, I kiss and tell, especially when the one I'm kissing is so amazing. Matt and I had a wonderful 5th Valentine's Day together. My job took me to Charlotte so we actually got to spend 5 days together. We spent our time...

....Exchanging gifts

{Yes, you are looking at this correctly. I don't get Matt candy for Valentine's Day...he's just that weird (or just that healthy). He was more excited about "Eat This Not That" than anything else.  He was happy when he learned he already ate everything on the "Eat This" side! Bravo Matthew!

I definitely fall on the "Not That" side. You know what they say about opposites attracting one another. I love reese cups and am OBSESSED with red velvet cake. So, when I heard about this red velvet cheesecake at The Cheesecake Factory I had to have a piece.....we got two!}

...Flaunting our Maryland gear

Matt found me some Under Armour Maryland shorts and had to get them for me! I love them, not because I love Maryland but because he WANTS me to love Maryland that bad....you know when that day will come sweetie! ;)

....Stealing kisses

{We do this quite well}

We had five great days together and learned the following during my stay:

-We learned that we can't cuddle. We like space, and that's just how it is!

-We learned we have been together for 4 years and never taken a real vaction together....no biggie EXCEPT my co-worker said something to me like "A couple who can travel together, can stay together." WOMP WOMP! I'm going to go out on a limb and say that we'll be okay!

-I learned that Matt really is crazy about working out! Who wants to wake up on Valentine's Day morning and do Ab Ripper X before we go to a romantice breakfast? Matthew does! So I did it with him.

-To go along with the previous lesson I learned that P90X will surely be the death of me.

-We learned that we enjoy coming home from work to each other's company. Best lesson learned.

Snow in Charleston!!!

On Friday, February 12th, it SNOWED in Charleston!!! Charleston never gets snow; the last snow recorded was 1990!! Granted it only amounted to a few inches but it was beautiful.

"The South" freaks out about snow as I'm sure you can imagine.  A couple inches down here could be considered crippling.  I guess because I grew up in Virginia, I know what real snow looks like. So I find the whole things a little comical.  Snow in Charleston means several things:

1. People are freaking out and loading up on eggs, milk, canned goods, bottled water, etc. (Some may have purchased a generator...."just in case")
2. People forget how to drive. Granted they can't drive down here anyway, but add snow to the mix and you can imagine what it's like on the road.
3.Everything in the city shuts down about 6 hours prior to the storm in anticipation of the snow.
4. The entire force of salt trucks (all 2 of them) are in force and ready to take action.  Oh and they use sand, not salt down here.

Nonetheless it was beautiful and I was such a little tourist.  I took a million pictures. Even though I had seen tons of snow before I knew I wouldn't see snow in Charleston for a long time!

Snow shot outside my house

Our gorgeous house in the snow!!

Of course I had to take pictures of the snow covered palms

Our intersection

My one tourist shot. I know the umbrella is a little much, but I was so excited about the snow that I didn't know what else to do so my camera wouldn't get soaking wet.  I promise I have legit snow clothes but they are in the place where it legitimately snows....VA.

And the best part about snow in Charleston....

This was the view the next day. So we got the beauty of the snow, the beauty of the sun, and NONE of the inconvenience and hassle of tons of snow!! Perfection.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I won't be in town for Valentine's Day, but I hope that everyone has a special day celebrating their love or their independence! To each his own...

Since it's Valentine's I wanted to do a short post on romance. I'm still slightly obsessing over Dear John and came across a little Q & A that some writers had with Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfriend.  Here is a small piece of that....

Q: Filming “Dear John” brought you both to Charleston for the first time. Impressions?



Tatum: Charleston is one of the most romantic places I think I've ever been.


Seyfried: It was the best time I've had shooting the movie. I ran every day on the battery. It's slow and Southern. I lived right off Colonial Lake. My house I stayed in was the most beautiful old house built in the 1850s. I was so inspired … to write music, to play music all night. I was just in love with life. I'm still planning one day on buying that house that I lived in.

Charleston is such a romantic city. It is a traditional southern town on the water. It's gorgeous and if you are ever in need of a getaway with your hunnie, you should come visit Charleston for a little southern hospitality!! I can recommend some fabulous places!

***

Next, what Valentine's Day isn't complete without a marriage or proposal? Without a doubt the most common day in America to get engaged/married. Actually, according to statistics, 2.2 million couples get married each year. Approximately 10% of those engagements happen on Valentine's Day...wow. So, if you want to be original (well... besides the fact that you are getting engaged on the day when 219,999 other couples are getting engaged) you should take a look at this video I stumbled on.

Warning: it is long, but it is so sweet!

http://www.daviddreudesign.com/videoproposal.html



Have a wonderful weekend and remember..." Don't be cliche' on Valentine's Day!"

Weekend Plans

This weekend Matt and I will be spending our 5th Valentine's Day together!  I'm pretty excited about seeing him and:
1. Going to see 'Valentine's Day'
2. Eating red velvet cheesecake
3. Going to a great dinner
4. Being together~xo~

***
I remember our 1st Valentine's Day together...how could I not? It's probably the reason we are together in the first place. ;)  I actually asked Matt out for Valentine's Day in 2006. Someone had asked me if I wanted to do something that night, and I IMed Matt (when AOL was cool) and told him and said, "but I don't want to do something with him, I want to do something with you." BEST decision I've made in my life thus far! 

***
I'll never forget that Valentine's Day EVER!! Matt got me the best gift ever. "Adventures in Babysitting" on DVD. It was perfect for our first v-day. I love that movie and it was so thoughtful that he went out of his way to find it.  I'll also never forget it because I thought Matt was taking me to a pizza joint for dinner (I'm not sure why I didn't have higher expectations for him...).  We went to a great Italian restaurant instead, and laugh about that to this day.

(Valentine's Day-2006)

***

Thank you for 4 awesome Valentine's Days. You know me SO well and you KNOW I wouldn't want to spend the most cliche' day of the year with anyone else!!

i.love.you.

Superbowl Sunday

I realize that my posts are lacking (I blame that on my 12 hour work days!!), but I wanted to catch everyone up on this past Sunday.

****

I don't get into football (unless it's the Redskins), BUT I do get into making good food for others to eat for the big game!  For the superbowl, Tracy and I went to our friend Paul's house for the big game.  I was most excited about cooking and making some delicious goodies...

First I made pizza dippers. Simply pepperoni and mozarella rolled in crescent rolls. * I got turkey pepperoni instead--WAYYYY less fat, and I served them with pizza sauce for dipping.*-big hit-

Next, I made ham and cheese calzones. These were not for the superbowl, but for quick dinners while I'm busting out tax returns this week.

(Note: This picture is pre-bake and doesn't include the swiss cheese or tomatoes!!)

These are so simple, ask me for the recipe if you want to give these a shot!

...MMMM great calzone!!

Tracy made some WICKED brownies. They were peanut butter chocolate brownies, and they were heavenly!!

It was a good time with great food, and to top it all off the SAINTS won!!! Everyone likes to see the underdog win!!

Dear Readers...

...Go see Dear John.

It made me smile, made me laugh, and broke my heart at all the same time.

I'm a sucker for true love and fate and this is the epitome of true love.

It was filmed in Charleston!! Look for Coast (restaurant), Folly Beach, College of Charleston, and more.

(p.s. I had no idea and I MISSED Channing Tatum!)

The movie ends different and BETTER than the book!!

And then after you see it and you want a second dose of this cutie, go rent Step Up. HOTT!!

Forty Six!

Almost to THE milestone!!!

(4 years)

To the man I love with all my heart,

To the man I grow with every day,

To the man whose competitive nature pushes me to be better at everything I do,

To the man who is SO gifted and talented at what God wants him to do,

I love you.

I miss you every single day.~xoxo~

See you next weekend!!

Delicious Chili

Last weekend I made some SUPER easy white chicken chili. This is a great recipe for the domestically challenged!

1. Start with 1 tbsp. oil on med. heat in large skillet
2. Cut 1 lb. chicken breast into bite size pieces, add to med. heat and cook until no longer pink.
*I also added chopped red onion, green peppers, and tomatoes at this point as well. Oh, I sprinkled my chicken with garlic salt and and Creole seasoning to add a little extra flava!
3. Once chicken is no longer pink, stir in 1 cup water, one package of 'McCormick White Chicken Chili Seasoning Mix' and 1 can (15 oz.) of white beans (undrained).
*Note: white beans are difficult to find. I still don't really understand what I was looking for, but I substitued Great Northern Beans (southern style), and it made the chili really thick which I liked!!
4. After step 3, bring all ingredients to a boil, then reduce heat to low, cover, and let simmer for 10 minutes.

Serve with shredded cheese and light sour cream.

BAM-- an awesome, cheap, and hunger-satisfying chili!!

THE Princess of Paramus

I have had a request from one of my LOYAL blog followers (ahem...Kerry) to post pictures of myself from the guido party.

Please don't jump out of your computer chair with excitement over this....

Here is Kate, Sarah, Tray, and myself before the party

(I SWEAR I had a poof--props to Snooki-it's HARD)

That's A LOT of bronzer..yikes.

Fightin' the beat

What guido party, or ANY party is complete without Single Ladies??

I'm going to break my hand one day flapping it around to this song!!

Dance Party!

Ok, so there you have it. See I told you not to get too excited. The reason there weren't a lot of pictures of me on Carolina Nightlife is because I was fully clothed and uninteresting!!

HAHA, love you Kerry. Thanks for following. xoxo.