Winner, Winner

Sooo....I've been a very bad blogger and have just now taken the time to post this. Sorry girlies!! I sincerely appreciate you thinking of me for a nomination! :) 

I was nominated by....

Lindsey @ A Plane Doctor, His Nurse, & 3 Little Passengers

Laura @ Walking in Memphis in High Heels

Courtney @ exodus31three

The lovely ladies I nominated are daily reads for me, so I strongly suggest you check them out! They're all marvelous!

The Rules:

1. You must post 11 random things about yourself.

2.  Answer the questions that the nominator set for you.

3.  Create 11 questions for the people you nominate.

4.  Choose 11 blogs you love (with less than 200 followers) and link them in your post.

5.  No tag back (but please leave me a comment on this post with the URL to your Liebster post so I can learn more about you)!

And since I'm a bad blogger, I'm going to cheat on the rules and make a hybrid of all three lovely ladies' questions!

Random Things:

1. I have a habit of reading a book at red lights while waiting for the light to turn.

2. I can't stand for my food to touch on my plate. eww.

3. I have an obsession with polka dots (currently wearing my polka dot pjs!)

4. I am my husband's beautician. (I can only do buzz cuts, so don't come to my home wanting a fancy do.)

5. I get carsick very easily.

6. And speaking of carsick--I can't stand the thought of vomit. If I see/hear it in a movie, I immediately feel sick.

7. I can't stay up late without feeling yucky the next day.

8.Which makes me a major morning person. I would rather be at work by 6:00 AM as to stay late.

9.  I drink coffee every night before bed--and still go to bed around or before 10.

10.  I only wash my hair about once a week. (hooray for dry shampoo!)

11. I am not very domestic, but I'm trying! :) 

The Nominees:

Mary Margaret @ dreaming with my eyes open
Elizabeth @ The Better Belle Project
Lauren @ For it is by grace
Lura @ Domesticability
Jamie @ Forever 81
 Mason @ Mason...Like The Jar
Jennifer @ Mrs. in Memphis
Kaitlyn @ put a bow on it
Coley @ Planned Spontaneity 
Nicole @ Probably Polka Dots 
Bri Marie @ Work Clothes, I Suppose 

Your 11 Questions:

1. What’s the #1 most played song on your iPod?
2. If you won the lottery, what is the first thing you would do?
3. If you could learn to do anything, what would it be?
4. If you knew the world was ending in 2012, what would you do differently?
5. When you have 30 minutes of free-time, how do you pass the time?
6. What was the last movie, TV show or book that made you cry or tear up?
7. What was the first thing you bought with your own money?
8. What’s the best/worst gift you’ve ever given/received?
9. When was the last time you were nervous?
10. What’s the hardest thing you’ve ever done
11. What is something you learned in the last week?

My 11 Questions:

1.  What is your favorite color? Can I pick two? Pink & Navy--preferably together.

2.  Why did you start blogging and how long have you been doing it? I started just a few months ago. I was working out of town for a few months and was extremely bored. I decided blogging would be a great way to document my life. An online scrapbook of sorts.

3.  What do you do for a living? I'm a tax accountant--which is why this blog will probably start being neglected in the coming months. blah

4.  What household chore is your least favorite? Umm..I honestly hate all of them. haha! Probably mopping if I had to choose.

5.  Dogs or cats? DOGS--no question!

6.  What are your favorite hobbies? Reading and watching television. I do both way too much.

7.  What was your first concert? Reba!
8.  Who can make you laugh the most and why? Definitely the hubs--that's why I keep him around! :)

9. What's your favorite & least favorite thing about the city you live in? Least favorite is hands down the lack of eating places! I love to make plans to eat out every weekend, and there are not many options for Olive Branch. (I don't technically live in Memphis, so we have to drive a little if we want to eat any place good.) My favorite would probably be my church home and the wonderful friends I've made here!
10.  Flats or heels? I prefer to wear heels (I'm of the camp that wearing heels makes you look skinnier), but my husband and I are the same height. I don't like to be a Nicole to his Keith.

1.   Finish this sentence...if you want to spoil me rotten, buy me...? Kate Spade anything--she can do no wrong. 

Weekend Update - Downton Style

Watch Downton Abbey: Official Seasons 1 & 2 Recap on PBS. See more from Masterpiece.

I had such a great weekend! That always makes it so difficult to come back to work on Mondays. Oh who am I kidding..it's always sad to come back to work after time off.

This is how I feel about Monday.

via

Friday

 Our tax software was down all day, so there may have been a little bit of goofing off. 

Louis is jealous of my fur vest

It was also difficult to focus on work when I had a fun night planned! My poor hubs was not feeling well,  so he wasn't able to join in on the fun. 

Janell and I drove to Oxford to watch the first hour of the season 3 premier of Downton Abbey! I was super impressed with the setup. They had this whole event for free! They had "tea time" with drinks, scones, and sandwiches. Several people dressed in period pieces, so it was really neat to see all the different outfits.

This video of seasons 1 & 2 recap is too funny! They showed it before the preview.

 

Saturday

We stayed the night in Oxford to go shopping on the square the next day. School hasn't started back yet, and half the town was gone to Birmingham for the bowl game. It was seriously dead. Oh well..nobody to get in our way while shopping. :)

 

If you ever come to Oxford, Big Bad Breakfast is the place to eat. It seriously is the thing I miss most from living in Oxford. My stomach is growling just thinking about it! yumm!! As always, it was delicious and didn't disappoint.

My rebels won their bowl game! yay!

Rodney was feeling a little better when I got back home, so we went to dinner at Outback. Love those cheese fries. 

I learned a very important lesson at dinner. When you're creepin' on someone, don't leave your flash on your camera. Thankfully the victim didn't notice.

I have a friend that is obsessed with gypsies, so I had to send her a pic, right?

After we ate, we got the movie "10 Years" at redbox. Neither one of us had heard of it, but it had several big name people in it, so we rented it. I would highly recommend it! It was a really good movie!

Sunday

 Church in the morning followed by a yummy lunch with Rodney & Mary Margaret. 

We went to Starbucks after lunch. Have you tried the new Vanilla Spice Latte? It is seriously amazing! You must try it immediately!

Now, I'm anxiously waiting for Revenge and Downton to come on so I can watch the full 2 hours. :)

This is a very exciting television week! Bachelor, Nashville, Private Practice, and New Girl are at the top of the list.  

I hope you all have an amazing week!

Holiday Vox Box

I'm a new member of Influenster, and I'm excited to participate!

Basically, per their website, Influenster is a place for culture junkies to come together and share their unique opinions of products and experiences. Active members of Influenster get exclusive access to deals, promotions, and swag from brands that thrive off the input (the good, the bad, and the ugly -- they just want to know what's up). 

1. Quaker Real Medley Oatmeal

I have seriously been wanting to try this for a while, but I hadn't heard anything about it. I hated to spend the money on it and it end up tasting awful. I usually eat oatmeal every morning, and the oatmeal I eat is pretty expensive. This would definitely be a cheaper alternative, so I was hoping for a good taste. It did not disappoint. It was delicious, so I will definitely be buying some more of this.

2. SoleSociety

This is a coupon for $25 off my purchase. I seriously don't need any shoes at all right now, and I'm already in trouble for all the clothing purchases I've made recently. I did browse around their website for a while and their shoes are beautiful! There are several classic pieces as well as some trendy. When I need shoes in the future, I will definitely check out SoleSociety! The shipping is free both ways (I hate paying for shipping). The prices are very reasonable too!  

This code can be used by anyone, so if you find something you like, use INFLUENSTER25 to get $25 off. It's only good through the end of this month.

If you would like to join, click here. 

3. EBOOST

I'm the type of girl that drinks coffee every night before bed, and I have no trouble falling right to sleep. The fact that I received no energy boost from this stuff isn't surprising. It tasted good though!

4. Goody Quikstyle Brush

 I have very thick and frizzy hair, and this brush totally did not work for blow drying my hair. The concept is really cool with the microfiber fabric pieces in the brush to cut your drying time down. When I'm trying to blow dry my hair straight, I have to have major tension to pull it straight. This brush won't allow you to shape the hair or anything. If you have stick straight hair or hair that doesn't require you to work with it to make it straight, I would assume this is the brush for you. This is definitely not the brush for me though. I made my sister try it too since she has pin straight hair. She said she didn't like it and really didn't notice a difference in drying time. Neither one of us are super great with fixing our hair, so it could be a user error and not the brush's problem. ha!

5. Kiss Nail Dress

I work in an accounting firm, and while this is a pretty print, it's probably a little wild for my conservative office. I've heard great things about these peel and stick nails though! I may try them when I'm off work for several days. :)

6. NYC New York Color Liquid Lipshine

My absolute favorite part of this lipgloss is the applicator. Most wands only allow a tiny bit of the gloss, but this wand is extra long. With only one swipe, you can coat your entire lip. It's obviously a neutral color, so it would look great over other lipsticks also. I'm only wearing the gloss by itself in the picture above.

Leave me a comment with your email address if you would like for me to send you an invite to join Influenster! 

 I received these products complimentary for testing purposes from Influenster.

Life Lately

We had a very uneventful weekend. Just lots of movies and eating, so instead of giving you a play by play of my weekend, I thought I'd tell you what is going on in my life lately.

First, here are all the movies we've watched this week.

Killer Joe - terrible movie..I absolutely hated it

Beasts of the Southern Wild- Even worse than Killer Joe...awful

Les Miserables - I'm not a super big fan of full on musicals where every single word is sung, but overall, I really liked it a lot!

Jack Reacher - loved it! Great movie!

The Hobbit - super long, but a good movie!
Arbitrage - so-so...I liked it okay.

And here are a few things that have been happening lately.

It's finally cold here! I love getting to pull out my sweaters now! (I'd gotten to wear them a few times, but it kept warming back up after a few days.)

I bought some Christmas fabric on sale for cheap and hope to use it to make the ruffle tree skirt I'm sure you've seen on other blogs and on Pinterest. 

 

Rodney and I didn't buy a gift for each other to unwrap this year for Christmas. His gift from me (and I guess to myself kinda) is a trip to Utah. We're going to the Sundance Film Festival and are going to ski a couple of days while we're there. I've only snow skied once and Rodney never has, so we're a little nervous. He has been like a little kid picking out the movies we're going to watch while we're there. He's so excited and has always talked about wanting to go, so I can't wait for the fun we're going to have!

Our neighbors that back up to our backyard are going through a foreclosure right now. I think they have gone the "destroy" route while they're heading out the door because there are boards in the windows, the yard is torn to pieces, and many many other things. I heard a loud noise from the back yard recently, and I looked to see them cutting through the wrought iron fence that we share. I don't know if he was taking it to sell for scrap metal or what, but we no longer have a fully enclosed fence. Needless to say, I'm not too happy about the way it was handled. Oh well..nothing we can do now. 

How's that for a random assortment of information?  :)

Hope you all have a safe and happy New Year's Eve!

Christmas Recap & Photo Dump

We're finally back home from the Christmas family fun. These last few days of the year after Christmas are always a let down to me. 

The house is always so cheerful from all the pretty Christmas decor, and once I take it down, it seems like there's something missing. 

We went to starbucks this morning, and I got a plain white cup. How boring! I still want to drink out of a pretty red holiday cup! 

We've had so much time visiting with friends and family, and now Rodney and I don't know what to do with all this free time just sitting around. 

We've eaten such delicious food all week, and now we're stuck with my plain ole cooking. 

Does anyone else have these thoughts? Oh well...something to look forward to come next Christmas! :)

I got a ton of clothes, shoes, jewelry etc. I'm really excited to try out the shellac at home manicure set I got. Also, we got a Nikon DSLR camera. I'm kinda scared to use it because I'm still pretty intimidated at this point. But...something to look forward to on the blog is fewer grainy iphone pics!

I'm always so happy when spending time with family, and everyone knows I'm always happy when my belly is full. Those two together made for a very happy Christmas for our little family!

Sweetest Thing Ever

Hope you find this video as adorable as I do!

Merry Christmas to you and yours!

May you pause to remember the true reason for the season. :)

Weekend Update -- Christmas Edition

We're home for the holidays and so excited to be spending time with family! Here's a recap of our weekend.

Friday -- Rodney was off all day, and I took a half day (hallelujah for no work until the new year!). We went to watch The Hobbit, and we both really enjoyed it. My favorite part of those movies is definitely the scenery. My goodness at how beautiful everything is! After the movie, we watched Magic Mike at the house. I know there was a ton of girls ooohing and ahhing over the movie, but I honestly thought it was pretty bad. The story line was weak and there was no resolution. I'm glad it was a Netflix and not one we bought.

Saturday -- We laid around the house all morning putting off our packing. When we finally loaded up the car and came home, we immediately met Rodney's parents and drove another hour to eat dinner and watch another movie. (Our hometown is not near much of anything, so you have to drive to eat or to the movie theater.) We watched The Guilt Trip, and we thought it was cute. My mother in law was hee hawing the whole time because she said she could relate to the actions of the mother. The highlight of the movie was definitely my father in law falling asleep and snoring in the theater. Too funny!

Sunday -- We drove a few hours to see my dad's mother in Birmingham, AL. 

Me and Hannah ended up be unplanned twins on our bottom halves.

And we also made silly Step-Brothereque pictures to entertain ourselves.

Can you tell that Rodney was a little tired?

After visiting my grandma, we ate lunch at Jim & Nick's. Yummm.

And finished up our trip with a fast mall run to the Summit.

I am so excited to be spending some quality time with the family as we celebrate the birth of Christ!

Hope you and yours have a very merry Christmas!!